While a bit misleading, there is not one photo that sums up Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Syria more than the one to the right, in all it’s large glory.  Pelosi decided to wear the scarf while visiting the Ommayad Mosque to view the tomb of John the Baptist in Damascus.  Clearly it’s the right thing to to do honor your host’s religion when honoring could be done so simply.

But the issue of the headscarf is not just a symbol within the Islamic world, it’s also a signal in the Western world of oppression and utter dhimmitude.  Pelosi wearing a headscarf does not indicate she is a dhimmi, however her entire trip to Syria to present what Rep. Tom Lantos (D-CA), a member of the delegation, calls  “an alternative Democratic foreign policy.”

There was at least one more time in the United States when there were two foreign policies presented by two parties.  That time was the Civil War and it was one of the reasons behind the conflict.  Americans united outside our own borders is simply a mirage, or at least at this point in time.

Compare and contrast Pelosi’s trip and meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad with U.S. President George Bush’s 2002 State of the Union speech.

These enemies view the entire world as a battlefield, and we must pursue them wherever they are.  So long as training camps operate, so long as nations harbor terrorists, freedom is at risk.  And America and our allies must not, and will not, allow it.

It is known Syria supports both Hamas and Hezbollah.  The leader of Hamas resides in Damascus.  It is known Al Qaida in Iraq uses Syria as a transit point into Iraq.  All signs point to Syria for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rufik Hariri.  Syria is a state sponsor of terrorism and terrorist groups and would fall into the group whom President Bush mentions as being on the outside.

Pelosi, on the other hand, believes “the road to Damascus is a road to peace.”

It’s an alternative foreign policy, or at least that’s the way it appears, and when the majority of foreign policy while fighting groups who hate is over the hearts and minds of a large populace, it is the wrong message to send.