Hmmm so naturally criticism was rained down upon the Republican lead congress and Hastert in particular for his foreign policy sticking his nose where it don't belong mistakes:

quote:

At the same time Congress was attaching human rights conditions to U.S. security assistance programs and negotiating a formal end-use monitoring agreement with the Colombian defense ministry, other lawmakers were secretly assuring Colombian officials that they felt such restrictions were unwarranted, and would work to either remove the conditions or limit their effectiveness. One example of this was a congressional delegation led by Rep. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) which met with Colombian military officials, promising to “remove conditions on assistance” and complaining about “leftist-dominated” U.S. congresses of years past that “used human rights as an excuse to aid the left in other countries.” Hastert said he would to correct this situation and expedite aid to countries allied in the war on drugs and also encouraged Colombian military officials to “bypass the U.S. executive branch and communicate directly with Congress.” In another cable (See Document 54) U.S. Ambassador Myles Frechette decries the fact that a shipment of items destined for the military – which had been held up pending negotiation of an end-use monitoring agreement – arrived in Colombia while the Hastert delegation was in country, undermining Frechette’s leverage with the Colombian military leadership. http://www.gwu.edu/%7Ensarchiv/NSAE...BB69/part3.html

Come now, congressional fact finding trips are nothing new. And it's hardly surprising to see a bi-partisan effort by congress to actually heed the report of the Baker-Hamilton report calling for increased dialogue with Syria. It's rather silly to isolate Pelosi from the other house republicans in their dialogue with Syria. Congressional participation in foreign policy has been a shared role with the executive branch as outlined by the state department itself:

http://fpc.state.gov/fpc/6172.htm

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