Hearing of the Middle East and South Asia Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee - U.S. Policy and the Road to Damascus: Who's Converting Whom?

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REP. JIM COSTA (D-CA): Thank you as well, Mr. Chairman, for, I think, what is an important and timely hearing. I have to be on the floor at 10:00, so want to defer my time to our witnesses so that they can inform us of their position.

I will observe, very briefly, that in conversations that a number of us have had with former Secretary of State Jim Baker, his comment about the need to continue to have dialogue with the Syrians -- as he says, 16 visits before he finally was able to reach some breakthrough on issues of interest, I think are important. I think we have to continue to -- notwithstanding the fact that we have tremendous differences, continue to maintain the dialogue.

Certainly what took place last year with North Korea and Syria -- attempting to develop a nuclear facility that apparently was eliminated -- continues to, I think, draw the target on the country of Syria as to what their true intentions are in the region, and whether or not they intend to play any sort of constructive role.

There's a lot of questions I have about this regime and the -- and what continues to keep it sustaining. So, I will look forward to the testimony and, hopefully, we'll get some additional insight in this area. Thank you very much.

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