Democrats Challenge Overture to Syria : Terrorism: Bush-Assad meeting was ‘ill-advised,’ Senate Majority Leader Mitchell says. But Republicans defend the President’s action.

Democratic congressional leaders expressed strong reservations Friday about President Bush’s discussion of the Persian Gulf crisis with Syrian President Hafez Assad, whose nation remains on the State Department’s list of countries that support terrorism.

While Republicans guardedly defended the President’s meeting with Assad in Geneva, Democratic leaders of the House and Senate urged Bush to avoid forming a new alliance with Syria just because it opposes Iraq.

The strongest criticism came from Senate Majority Leader George J. Mitchell (D-Me.), who called the meeting “ill-advised.”

Noting that Syria has a “worse than dismal record on human rights” abuses as well as a history of “condoning terrorism,” Mitchell said he had “grave reservations” about the meeting, which ended a decade-long U.S. policy of shunning high-level contacts with the Syrian regime.

Although lower-ranking U.S. emissaries have met periodically with senior Syrian officials, including Assad, the meeting in Geneva was the first summit-level session between the two countries in 13 years.

House Speaker Thomas S. Foley (D-Wash.) was less critical, saying Bush’s decision was based on “pragmatic” considerations. However, he said he shared Mitchell’s “serious concern” because of Syria’s record of supporting terrorism, including its implication in the midair bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, two years ago.

“Obviously, there are deep concerns about Syria’s connection, in our country’s opinion, with incidents of terrorism,” Foley said in an interview on the Fox Morning News.

Defending his decision to meet with Assad, Bush told reporters that, despite his differences with Assad, he is willing to “work closely with” any country that joins the anti-Iraqi coalition and that “stands up against aggression.”

Mitchell and Foley’s Republican counterparts, Senate Minority Leader Bob Dole of Kansas and House Minority Leader Robert H. Michel of Illinois, both supported that view--with Michel likening it to the Western alliance with Soviet dictator Josef Stalin in World War II.

“We married up with Stalin in our own self-interest,” Michel noted, suggesting that Syria’s support could be crucial in the event war breaks out with Iraq.

Dole said that while “we don’t have to embrace Assad . . . and must be very careful in our dealings with him,” it is useful to have a dialogue with Syria because “we happen to be on the same side” in the present crisis.

Dole added that Syria had been “helpful” in arranging the release of some of the Western hostages held by pro-Iranian groups in Lebanon and expressed the hope that Bush’s meeting with Assad could lead to more releases.

Nevertheless, the controversial meeting is likely to add fuel to an already smoldering fire on Capitol Hill, where hearings begin next week on Bush’s gulf policies.

Democrats called the hearings after Bush announced last week that he is nearly doubling the size of the U.S. military deployment in the Persian Gulf.

The announcement ignited what House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.) called a “mini-firestorm” of criticism because of concern that Bush may be preparing to abandon diplomacy in favor of military action to force Iraq’s withdrawal from Kuwait.

Mitchell and Foley, just back from Saudi Arabia, where they joined Bush in celebrating Thanksgiving with American troops, said they are now convinced that the additional buildup does not yet signal a change in policy.

“There is no decision yet to use U.S. forces affirmatively or offensively,” Foley said in an interview on CBS’ “This Morning.”