White House criticizes senator's trip to Syria

WASHINGTON -- The White House escalated its criticism yesterday of Senator Bill Nelson's defiant diplomacy trip to Syria as a parade of other senators prepared to meet with the president of the country.

At a press briefing, White House spokesman Tony Snow repeated his contention that the Florida Democrat's trip was "not helpful" and "not appropriate." He charged that "lending a further specter of legitimacy to that government undermines the cause of democracy in the region."

President Bush has accused Syria of backing the insurgents fighting in Iraq.

Nelson, on what he described as a fact-finding tour of the Middle East, told reporters on a conference call Wednesday that he met for an hour with Bashar Assad. He said the Syrian president "clearly indicated the willingness to cooperate" with the US or Iraqi Army to secure the border between the two countries.

A spokesman for Nelson said yesterday that senators "meet with heads of states all the time" and called Snow's criticism "the same-old, tired, mean-spirited partisan politics. "Instead of launching partisan attacks, they should be doing what they recently promised to do: conduct business in a bipartisan way," said Nelson spokesman Dan McLaughlin.

Though the Iraq Study Group is recommending a stepped-up diplomatic effort involving Syria and Iran to stem the violence in neighboring Iraq, the White House has expressed reluctance, pointing to Syria's backing of terrorist groups and its record of meddling in Lebanon.

Snow insisted the visits were not undermining the president's stance. But he said the meeting at the presidential palace, along with planned visits by Senators John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, Christopher Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut, and Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania, could send confusing messages about the US stance toward the country.