Democratic senator shrugs off Bush policy, reaches out to Syria

WASHINGTON — Defying the Bush administration, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida met Wednesday in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad, saying after the meeting that he believed that there was a "crack in the door" to continue discussions with Syria on curbing the violence in neighboring Iraq.

Midway through the Florida Democrat's conference call with reporters, however, the White House issued a statement denouncing the Syrian government's human-rights record and calling on it to "immediately free all political prisoners."

The White House has expressed reluctance about diplomatic outreach to Syria because of the country's role in Lebanon, where it is suspected in several political assassinations, and its support of the militant Islamist groups Hezbollah and Hamas, which the United States has designated as terrorist organizations.

The Bush administration said the statement on Syria's human rights was unrelated to Nelson's visit, but White House spokesman Tony Snow said the administration didn't "think that members of Congress ought to be going there."

Nelson, a member of the Foreign Relations and Armed Services committees and an incoming member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, acknowledged that the State Department wasn't happy with his decision to meet with the Syrian president to discuss whether the country could help the United States find a way out of Iraq.