Last week, Speaker Nancy Pelosi led a congressional delegation to the Middle East in an attempt to "restart" the peace process. Instead, confusion ensued after a visit with Syrian President Bashar Assad, where Speaker Pelosi supposedly delivered a "message" from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

From the Washington Post on Sunday:

The leader of the congressional delegation, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said earlier this week that she had delivered a message from Olmert that Israel was ready for peace talks, and that Assad had replied that "he's ready to engage in negotiations for peace with Israel." But Olmert's office later issued a statement saying peace talks could take place only if Syria stopped assisting terror groups.

Of course, the White House was not thrilled with this latest diplomatic adventure. Why? Well, it doesn't help that Speaker Pelosi initiated the meeting without the approval of the Commander in Chief. However, there is an even bigger issue at hand in that the US government considers Syria to be a state supporter of terrorism.

This is a terrible precedent to set, but not surprising! With the recent "strategic" action by House Democrats in approving a troop withdrawl date in the Iraq supplemental spending bill, what's next?!?

Our advice....Let's hold off on any more "congressional (photo ops) visits" and allow the State Department experts to handle the diplomatic missions abroad.