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Sen. John Kerry: Syria Conversation 'Worth Having'
Sens. John Kerry and Christopher Dodd met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday and discussed the need for Damascus to cooperate with efforts to maintain the unity and stability of war-ravaged Iraq, state media reported.
The U.S. Embassy in Damascus said the meeting, which lasted two and a half hours, covered "a full-range of topics relating to U.S.-Syrian relations and regional issues."
"I feel quite confident in saying this was a conversation worth having and that the (Bush) administration ought to pursue it," Kerry said in a telephone interview with the Associated Press from Jerusalem where he traveled after the meeting with Assad. "I feel very strongly about that. . . It's worth following up on a number of avenues."
Kerry said he told Assad the new Democratic-controlled Congress has serious concerns about issues such as the flow of "money, weapons and terrorists" through Syria into Iraq and Lebanon.
Kerry has criticized the Bush administration for refusing to engage with Syria and Iran, a move that was recommended by the recently released Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel.
Story Continues Below The Democratic senators, both prospective 2008 presidential candidates, and Assad "reviewed the situation in Iraq and stressed the importance of supporting the current political process to arrive at setting a timetable for the withdrawal of foreign troops," SANA said.
Talks also dealt with ways of stopping the escalating violence in the Palestinian territories, the agency said.
The Bush administration has accused Kerry, Dodd and other senators who have met with Assad of sending mixed signals and has insisted that the U.S. will not make concessions to Damascus to win its help in Iraq.
"We discourage the travel of members of Congress to Syria because we believe it undermines the cause of democracy in the region and particularly" Lebanon's government, White House spokesman Blair Jones said Wednesday night. Syrian-U.S. relations have been strained for several years. The U.S. government has expressed reluctance to seek help from Damascus on Iraq until the Syrians curb their support to radical Palestinian groups and to the Lebanese Hezbollah and reduce their influence in Lebanon.
The two American lawmakers arrived in Damascus on Tuesday as part of a Middle East tour to investigate Syria's readiness to help bring about stability and security to neighboring Iraq.
© 2006 Associated Press.
Editor's note:
Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Sen John Kerry Inside Cover Stories
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