A columnist for a Syrian government newspaper has lauded Sen. Barack Obama and his running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, explaining the two will “not deceive the [American] people regarding the danger of terrorism [and the need] to fight it,” Aaron Klein, Jerusalem bureau chief for WorldNetDaily, wrote August 28, 2008.
Nadia Damiati, a columnist for the Syrian government daily Al-Thawra, said Obama’s and Biden’s campaign slogan of “change and experience” indicated that “the Americans aspire for their country to take a moral stance, be an honest broker, act in accordance with the U.S. constitution, not ignite wars, not spill the blood of innocents in the world, and not deceive the [American] people regarding the danger of terrorism [and the need] to fight it.”
The newspaper entry was translated into English by the Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI.
Obama’s positive coverage in Syria follows some Syrian-related controversy for the presidential candidate after it was revealed one of his key foreign policy advisers traveled to Damascus where he reportedly urged Syrian officials to fast-track negotiations with Israel.
Both Israel and Syria announced in May they were holding indirect talks aimed in part at an Israeli evacuation of most of the Golan Heights, which looks down on Israeli population centers and twice was used by Damascus to mount ground invasions of the Jewish state.
The talks have been progressing at a very slow pace, with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Russia last week discussing military cooperation between Damascus and Moscow.
But Daniel Kurtzer, a top adviser to Obama on Israeli-Palestinian affairs who visited Syria last month, reportedly has offered Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem some advice.
“I urged him to move ahead in the Israel-Syria negotiations as much as possible so that whoever is the next president would not start from too far down the track,” Kurtzer disclosed in an interview with the New York Sun.
“I did not say anything about Obama or McCain. I said whoever is the next president is not going to want to inherit a process that isn’t going anywhere,” Kurtzer said.
He stressed he was not in Damascus as part of Obama’s campaign but instead visiting as a private expert attending an international lawyers conference. The event is co-sponsored by British organizations and arranged by the British Syrian Society, chaired by Dr. Fawaz Akhras, the father of the wife of Syrian President Assad. The conference was aimed at helping Syria develop legal programs and expand international contacts for the country’s lawyers.
Kurtzer last month joined Obama in his visit to Israel. Kurtzer is a high-profile Obama adviser on Mideast affairs identified by Israeli diplomatic sources as likely to become the Illinois senator’s envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian issue if he wins the presidency. It is unlikely Syrian officials did not associate Kurtzer with Obama’s campaign in their talks with him.
Kurtzer said he informed the Obama campaign of his trip to Damascus.
The State Department considers Syria a state sponsor of terror.
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Our citizens may be deceived for awhile, and have been deceived; but as long as the presses can be protected, we may trust to them for light.--Thomas Jefferson.
Daniel Kurtzer is an Israeli citizen while he is also an American citizen. Now, that’s interesting that he’s a top adviser to Obama on Israeli-Palestinian affairs. When acts and policies that are more often than not carried out by US government appointees who hold powerful positions and who are dual American-Israeli citizens, the policies they support are often exclusively beneficial to Israel, and are often to the detriment of America. So I wonder if Kurtzer pledges allegiance to the flag of the United States of America or the United States of Israel?
ATW
Oh goodie. We aren’t going to fight them any longer.
They can just finish moving here and taking over.
Right after they blow up Israel. I feel so much
safer just thinking about it don’t you?