Corrected at 5:05 p.m. on March 16.

Robert Stephen Ford, the administration's choice for ambassador to Syria, offered an upbeat assessment of the often rocky relations between Washington and Damascus at his Senate confirmation hearing today.

Ford cited a laundry list of thorny Middle East issues in which he said Syria could play a positive role.

Both Israel and Syria are open to normalized relations, he said, and Washington should play a role in helping jumpstart negotiations.

On Iraq, Syria has been helpful on some fronts. It already hosts somewhere between 250,000 and 1 million Iraqi refugees. And it has cut down on the number of foreign fighters flowing across its border, from a high of 100 per month in mid-2007 to 10 per month today, Ford said.

"To put it short, it's very problematic relationship, but one where, frankly, we should be able to persuade them to be much more helpful," Ford said. "They have a real interest, both economically and in terms of their own security, to have a better relationship with Iraq."

While a recent meeting between Syrian President Bashar Assad, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah raised eyebrows, the fact that Syria can accept a Middle East that features Israel and Ahmadinejad cannot creates an opening for the U.S.

Ford's nomination has been controversial not because of the nominee himself -- he is a former ambassador to Algeria and speaks Arabic, Turkish, German and French -- but because President Obama is sending an envoy at all.

Five years ago, the State Department pulled Ambassador Margaret Scobey from Damascus after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, which was widely blamed on Syria. Some GOP lawmakers have grumbled that by returning an emissary to Damascus without any concessions from Syrian leadership on its nuclear program or support for terrorism amounts to a diplomatic capitulation.

Eight Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton on March 5 urging the administration to reconsider the nomination.

"Engagement for engagement's sake is not productive," the senators wrote. "However well-justified that engagement is, the U.S. pays a price for lending even a modicum of international legitimacy to a regime like Syria's."

Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., a member of the Foreign Relations Committee who signed the letter, did not attend the hearing. Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., another member of the committee who signed the letter, attended but did not ask any questions.

A spokesman for Inhofe said the State Department has not replied to the letter.

Ford, for his part, rejected concerns that Damascus would feel emboldened by his appointment.

"Returning an ambassador to Syria would not be a reward to Syria, nor would it mark a change in the fundamentals of our concerns with that important country," he said in his opening remarks. "If confirmed, unfiltered straight talk with the Syrian government will be my mission priority."

The committee is expected to vote March 23 on Ford's nomination.

CORRECTION: Barrasso attended today's hearing; the original version of this report incorrectly stated that he did not.