Syria looking forward to diplomacy with US

[babylonsister]

Assad urges US to rebuild diplomatic road to Damascus

In rare interview, Syrian leader calls on Obama to restore envoy and make good on promise of dialogue


Syria expects the US to send an ambassador to Damascus soon to make good on Barack Obama's offer to engage in dialogue with countries the Bush administration shunned, President Bashar al-Assad told the Guardian today.

Assad used a rare newspaper interview to set out his hopes for a new relationship with the US now the Bush era is over – one he hopes will see Washington act as the "main arbiter" in the moribund Middle East peace process. "There is no substitute for the United States," Assad said.

Referring to Obama's call for countries to "unclench their fists" , Assad said he believed the new US president had been referring to Iran. "We never clenched our fist," he declared. "We still talked about peace even during the Israeli aggression in Gaza."

A US decision on whether to send an ambassador back to Damascus is part of a review Obama ordered on taking office. The US is attracted to the idea of engaging with Syria, seeing potential for bringing Assad in from the cold, helping with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and loosening Syria's close ties with Iran.

Later this week, Assad will see Senator John Kerry, the influential chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee and the most senior American to visit Damascus in years. Kerry has been advocating the swift return of a US ambassador, which was withdrawn in 2005 after the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri. The killing was widely blamed on Syria, despite strenuous denials from Damascus.

more...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/17/assad-interview-syria-obama

[mmonk]

1. This is one of our better moves in foreign policy.