Pelosi shrugs off White House criticism

ZEINA KARAM | AP

BEIRUT, Lebanon — House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Monday shrugged off White House criticism of her impending visit to Damascus, saying she had "great hope" for reviving U.S. relations with Syria and changing its behavior.

Speaking hours after arriving in Lebanon, Pelosi indicated the Bush administration was singling out her trip to Syria while ignoring recent visits by Republican members of Congress.

"It's interesting because three of our colleagues, who are all Republicans, were in Syria yesterday and I didn't hear the White House speaking out about that," Pelosi said, referring to the Sunday meeting of Reps. Frank Wolf, Joe Pitts and Robert Aderholt with Syrian President Bashar Assad in Damascus.

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