The media should stop trying to demonize the Congressional delegation that visited the Middle East by referring to it as "the Pelosi commission." Attaching the House Speaker's name makes it look like a single-minded individual carried out a deluded mission.

The Congressional delegation was actually a large, bipartisan group that included a Jewish-American - Tom Lantos - and two Arab-American Congressmen of both political parties. And praise should be extended to our own Rep. Louise Slaughter, the powerful chair of the House Rules Committee, another participant.

The delegation carried out exactly what the Baker-Hamilton Study Group recommended to Congress: it spoke to both the antagonists and peacemakers connected to the present perilous situation in the Middle East. Who can deny that with the tens of thousands of casualties being suffered in Iraq, a change of course is not desperately called for?

Who can deny that Syria, adjoining Iraq, is a critical component in the movement of local fighters into the war-torn land? Who is unaware that Syria is critical to peace not only in Iraq but in Lebanon and to the very critical Palestinian issues? And who cannot accept that bloodless discussion with the main decision makers is infinitely preferable to continuing to sacrifice tens of thousands of lives of our own service people and other human beings?

In the Middle East, the Congressional delegation has been generally well received by both the governments and media. Al Jazeera, a major news source, and the Beirut Daily Star, an English-language Lebanese daily, in effect editorialized, "Why has it taken so long?" Even the Israeli daily, Haaretz, supported it and wondered why diplomacy hasn't taken place more often.

What these news sources reflect is opposition to a Bush administration policy that blindly wages war while eyeing Middle East oil, but refuses to confront or conciliate the issues behind the war. In the present climate of death, destruction, fear, and misunderstanding, there must be more Congressional delegations that try to bridge the ignorance and misunderstanding between the West and the Middle East.

The delegation's visit offers two salutary shoves forward for the blind and bloody Bush administration. It paves the way for more diplomatic moves in the war-torn region, and it provides an opening to settle the critical Palestinian issues which, little known to most Americans, continue to unsettle most Middle Easterners.

Mitch Kaidy, Crittenden Road, Brighton