If President Obama and Eliot Engel are at odds over one thing in particular, it’s Syria.
In the debate over Syrian diplomacy, the man who waited half a day to shake hands with President Obama at the State of the Union address, has been anything but friendly with the Prez.
Engel has sided with most Republican lawmakers (and a few Democrats) in opposing Obama’s appointment of an ambassador to Syria, whom the United States severed diplomatic relations with in 2005. In February — when Obama announced the move — Engel told the Jerusalem Post it was a “mistake.”
But the nomination process continued, essentially unhampered, until the scud news….
Here’s the deal:
- Earlier this month Israel accused Syria’s government of providing the radical Islamic group Hezbollah with scud missiles, capable of striking anywhere in Israel.
- Then, on Wednesday the U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs told a House of Representatives Foreign Affairs panel that, ““If these reports are true I’d argue that Syria made a mistake. Syria has made mistakes in the past. We need to have an access to the leadership in Syria in order to voice our concerns. We need to deliver our message to [Bashar al-Assad, the President of Syria] loud, clear and directly. We would like the ambassador to be conformed and placed now. I disagree that sending an ambassador is a reward.”
- On Thursday, Engel and Rep. Mark Kirk (R-Ill) introduced a resolution calling for the tightening of restrictions against Syria.
Engel’s statement, via UPI:
“This transfer of these highly lethal weapons … endangers American as well as Israeli lives, destabilizes the Middle East and is an existential threat to Israel and the independence of Lebanon,” Engel said in a statement.
He urged U.S. President Barack Obama to reconsider naming an ambassador to Syria and “enforce all existing sanctions against Syria.”