Lebanon's Liberation Approaches

Submitted by Anthony Letayf (Lebanon), Mar 20, 2005 at 20:58

First and foremost I'd like to thank Daniel Pipes for this article. It's about time people read some good news about Lebanon.

I do, however, have a question to ask Mr. Pipes. You assert in this article that had Basil el Assad been the one in power at this present time things might have been completely different. I beg to differ, it is my belief that the Bush administration has its eyes set on democracy in the Middle East and no matter who is in power in whatever country they are set on helping it along the path to democracy.

The Lebanese lobby has also been more active than ever before. Do you believe it possible that Basil would have been able to stand in the way of such factors?

On another note, our first priority as Lebanese, is the complete withdrawal of Syrian occupational forces from Lebanon so that we may be able to hold free and fair elections that will hopefully produce truely representative leaders.

The second goal is the disarming of Hezbullah. For Lebanon to be truely sovereign the only force holding arms should be the Lebanese army. I would like to emphasize that we want the disarmament of Hezbullah, not the disintegration of the party. Hezbullah was a major factor in the expulsion of Israeli occupational forces and as Lebanese, we reject any occupation be it Syrian or Israeli. Hezbullah also provides much welfare to the people of southern Lebanon and should be a factor in the Lebanese political system as long as they are a democratic partner.

I would also like to comment on a posting posted by "George." In it he asks the U.S. and Israel to help the Lebanese. I am a hundred percent behind peace with Israel if certain conditions are met but to ask for Israeli help is a little to much. We cannot forget that like the Palestinians, and Syrians, Israeli troops were also part and parcel of the civil war and they were involved in the killing of Lebanese civilians as much as Syrians and Palestinians were. This is not a shot at Israel, I just would like to give George some perspective.

The peaceful fight for democracy is one that is being waged by us, the Lebanese opposition. The international community is assisting us but we are the major factor. Without is there would be no change in what has become the status quo in Lebanon.

Thank You.

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