Pelosi takes seat where no Saudi woman can

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia - House Speaker Nancy Pelosi yesterday visited Saudi Arabia's unelected advisory council, the closest thing in the kingdom to a legislature, where she tried out her counterpart's chair - a privilege no Saudi woman can have because women cannot become legislators.

Pelosi said she raised the issue of Saudi Arabia's lack of female politicians with Saudi government officials on the last stop of her Mideast tour, but she refrained from criticizing the kingdom over it.

"It's a nice view from here," Pelosi said as she sat in the chair, facing the ornate chamber with its deep blue and yellow chairs and gilded ironwork. "This chair is very comfortable."

Rep. Tom Lantos (D., Calif.), the Foreign Affairs Committee chairman who was traveling with Pelosi, looked at the gavel in front of her and quipped: "It's a small gavel, Madame Speaker. You may want to wield it."

Pelosi later sidestepped a question on how she felt about the absence of female Saudi council members, saying: "I am very pleased that after 200-plus years in the U.S., we finally have a [female] speaker. It took us a long time."

Asked whether she raised the issue at yesterday's meeting with the council members, Pelosi said: "The issue has been brought up in our discussions with the Saudis on this trip."

The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council, was expanded and given more powers in 1992 as a gesture toward forming a legislature. Its 150 members are chosen by the king and advise him, and the body has the power to propose new laws for the government's approval.

Saudi King Abdullah has spoken of reform in this key U.S. ally, but change has been slow and limited. The kingdom, ruled by the strict Wahhabi interpretation of Islam, held its first elections in 2005, choosing local councils. Women were barred from voting or running.

Pelosi arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, meeting with Abdullah at his farm outside Riyadh.

Earlier Wednesday, she met in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, drawing a sharp rebuke from the White House. The Bush administration said the visit undermined its policy of isolating Syria, which it accuses of supporting terrorism.

Pelosi and her delegation - which included a House Republican - aimed to challenge the policy, arguing that talking with Damascus was the only way to push it to change its ways. Another Republican congressman, Darrell Issa, met with Assad yesterday, the latest in a string of lawmakers from both parties who have made the trip in recent months.

The Pelosi visit brought no immediate change in Syria's positions. Pelosi said afterward that she gave Assad a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that Israel was ready for peace talks with Syria, and that Assad told her Syria was also willing to hold negotiations.

Olmert's office quickly issued a statement making clear there was no new peace initiative, underlining Israel's stance that Syria must first stop support for the extremist groups Hamas and Hezbollah.

"Despite Israel's desire for peace with Syria, Syria continues to be part of the axis of evil and an element that encourages terror in the entire Middle East," the statement said. "In order to conduct real peace negotiations, Syria must cease its support for terror."

Pelosi spokesman Nadeam Elshami said the speaker made clear to Assad that if he wanted peace with Israel, he should stop support for Hezbollah and Hamas and prevent insurgents from crossing into Iraq.

During her meetings, Pelosi did not wear the long black robe, or abaya, and head scarf that Saudi and non-Saudi women have to wear in the kingdom. Visiting female dignitaries are not expected to wear it.

Lebanon's pro-Syrian parliament speaker has asked Saudi Arabia to host a meeting to resolve a dispute over an international tribunal to prosecute suspects in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said yesterday.

Ban said Nabih Berri, a key opposition figure who has blocked tribunal plans, had informed him of the request to Saudi Arabia and asked whether the United Nations could provide legal advice.

Berri refused Tuesday to call Lebanon's legislature into session to approve the tribunal for the third time in three weeks. The anti-Syrian majority in parliament then sent Ban a memo calling on the U.N. Security Council to independently establish an international tribunal.

Saudi Arabia supports the government of anti-Syrian Prime Minister Fuad Saniora of Lebanon. Berri told a private Lebanese TV station that a meeting in Lebanon, with Saudi mediation and

the involvement of Saudi King Abdullah, was necessary because of fears that the Lebanese had lost confidence in one another.

- Associated Press

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