Obama Reaches Out To Syria

Obama hasn't been sworn in yet- he's still officially a Senator- but one of the first things he has chosen to do as President-Elect is to send an advisor to the Middle East, specifically to Syria and Egypt.

The Middle East Newsline has confirmed that Presidential-elect Barack Obama has dispatched his senior foreign policy adviser Robert Malley to Egypt and Syria to outline the Democrat's policy on the Middle East.

Mr. Malley, who served in the Clinton administration, relayed a pledge from Mr. Obama that the United States would seek to enhance relations with Cairo as well as reconcile differences with Damascus.

"The tenor of the messages was that the Obama administration would take into greater account Egyptian and Syrian interests," an aide to Mr. Malley said.

As opposed to Israeli ones. Jewish voters, are you taking note?

The aide said Obama plans to launch a U.S. diplomatic initiative toward Syria, regarded by the Bush administration as a leading supporter of the al-Qaida insurgency in Iraq.

So Obama has prioritised talks with Syria- a regime which is enabling attacks on American forces in Iraq.

And please note this too- Malley is described as a senior advisor to Obama- but Obama apparently sacked him during the campaign season. It took, what, a day or two for him to be re-hired once all the votes were in?

One of Barack Obama’s Middle East policy advisers disclosed yesterday that he had held meetings with the militant Palestinian group Hamas – prompting the likely Democratic nominee to sever all links with him.

Robert Malley told The Times that he had been in regular contact with Hamas, which controls Gaza and is listed by the US State Department as a terrorist organisation.

Now that Obama has the Jewish votes he needed to win the election, the guy who talks to Hamas is back on the team. Oh, and look what the Obama team said at the time of his sacking-

Ben LaBolt, a spokesman for Mr Obama, responded swiftly: “Rob Malley has, like hundreds of other experts, provided informal advice to the campaign in the past. He has no formal role in the campaign and he will not play any role in the future.”

Can we believe anything Obama's said?

UPDATE - More on Malley here. Worth reading- his anti-Israel stance has a long history.