On December 26, the Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) quoted Arlen Specter as stressing “Syria’s pivotal role in the region.” Yesterday, SANA quoted Michael Etitia Deputy Secretary General of Catalonia’s Communist Party in Spain as praising Syria’s “pivotal role in the region.” The senior senator from Pennsylvania may call his 16th tax-payer funded trip to Syria the necessity of oversight, but is it in the U.S. national interest to fulfill the same propaganda role on Syrian television?