Obama Sending Ambassador to Syria

Middle East | Wed, Jun 24, 2009 at 12:11:10 pm PDT

Barack Obama is reopening the US’s diplomatic mission in Damascus: U.S. to Return Ambassador to Syria After 4-Year Absence.

President Obama has decided to return a U.S. ambassador to Syria after an absence of more than four years, marking a significant step toward engaging an influential Arab nation long at odds with the United States.

The acting assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, Jeffrey D. Feltman, informed Syria’s ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, tonight of Obama’s intention, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the decision had yet to be made public.

By returning a senior U.S. envoy to Damascus, the Syrian capital, the Obama administration is seeking to carve out a far larger role for the United States in the region as the president works to rehabilitate U.S. relations with the Islamic world and the Arab Middle East.

The Bush administration withdrew its ambassador in February 2005 to protest the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq al-Hariri.

I guess we stopped caring about that. Why let a little political murder get in the way of diplomacy?