The Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 is a just and important - very important - document that can only help disenfranchised Lebanese, as well as help the national interests of the United States. Nevertheless, Lebanese struggling to free their country from the ravages of an illegal Syrian occupation must question whether this bill will free their country from Syrian hegemony and allow them to establish a sovereign state that will support peace and democracy. A close examination of the bill finds that it is an important step in the pursuit of these goals; however, we feel that other more important initiatives must begin immediately, as the present situation is too precarious to rely on the Act exclusively.
The bill details possible sanctions by the U.S. government against Syria. It depends on a determination by President Bush that Syria is in violation of specific requirements of the bill and may include a ban on military exports to Syria, a ban on U.S. business investments in Syria, and downgrading the U.S. diplomatic representation to Syria, along with other measures. The bill also contains a provision whereby President Bush can waive the salient provisions of the bill, as he did in the prior bill, "...for one or more 6-month periods if the President determines that it is in the vital national security interest of the United States to do so and transmits to Congress a report that contains the reasons therefore."
These provisions and conditions are too tenuous for a reliable and predictable effort that will support and free Lebanon; therefore, the Lebanese Foundation for Peace respectfully suggests a parallel approach that offers success in our quest for freedom within a reasonable period of time.
We have waited for help for many years and we offer our services, our lives, to regain Lebanon. Yet, we feel that an effort, a winning effort, must be effected quickly, or hope will be lost. Any meaningful effort must proceed immediately, first by recognizing that sanctions alone offer little hope, as will witness the many years that Iraq ignored the many sanctions placed upon it by the United Nations. It was after the failure of the sanctions that the U.S. made the decision to replace the Iraqi regime, yet we cannot wait that many years for a possible action by the U.S.
Damascus will never leave Lebanon willingly or under political pressure. It will enhance its military grip over Lebanon, as Lebanon is the source of capital from the drug traffic that Syria runs out of the Lebanese Bekaa valley. In fact, the Syrian economy is absolutely dependent on the enormous profit that Syria takes out of Lebanon every day.
What is needed from this U.S. Administration is a green light for a military change. A military change that will reverse the outcome for those regimes supporting terrorism and opposing the expansion of the U.S.-backed peace process. The regimes in Syria, Lebanon and Iran are resisting political pressure from the West, while U.S. firms are offering oil contracts to Syria, which will use the proceeds from the deals for delaying tactics while it organizes a deadly and costly presence in Iraq.
Let us not divert our focus from the daily military attacks on U.S. forces in Baghdad and let?s limit our scope to the post-Saddam era. This is not happening by accident. If we try to understand the logic of the current dynamic playing in this region, we understand that Teheran and Damascus are managing the present crises and supporting the anti-U.S. resistance currently active in Iraq. They are transforming the Iraqi theater into another Lebanon for the United States.
As the presidential elections are getting close in the U.S., these Middle East rogue nations, supported by President Jacques Chiraq of France, are carefully inflicting daily losses on U.S. troops in Iraq. This daily, deadly formula in Iraq will adversely affect President Bush's political status in the next elections.
The American political reaction to this Middle Eastern strategy is unhealthy. Instead of promoting, boosting and supporting the function of the pro-U.S. democracies in the Middle East, Washington is inadvertently prolonging the longevity of the regimes supporting terrorism in the Middle East. These regimes are key contributors to attacks on U.S. forces, which face new disasters on the ground in the Middle East. Furthermore, their tactics will politically damage the Bush Administration in the U.S.
We cannot make this mistake, Mr. President.
Therefore, the Road Map came too soon to the region. No peace can progress forward in an area where effective terrorism is still playing its role and manipulating well the masses aligned against the West, the U.S. and Israel, in particular.
* Syria is the conduit for arms and supplies to the Arab insurgents attacking the U.S. presence in Iraq. The well-respected Middle East Newsline, July 3, 2003, reports that "U.S. officials said Syria has failed to stop the flow of Islamic combatants from entering and leaving Iraq. They estimate that hundreds of Iraqi, Lebanese, Saudi and Syrian nationals are entering Iraq to battle U.S. troops."
* Syrian-Iranian collusion is fueling the violence on the ground in Israel and Iraq with daily suicide attacks, to prevent any American progress towards stability in the area.
* Pressuring Israel for more concessions is a mistake at the current time, before a regime change in Syria and Lebanon.
* HizbAllah, with the help of Syria, has sent thousands of fighters to Iraq to organize, support and execute deadly resistance against the U.S. forces.
* HizbAllah, with the help of Syria, has sent coordinators and advisers into the Gaza Strip to help Hamas perfect its suicide attacks against Israel, as it did against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
* The latest Hamas talk of cease-fire is only a political diversion to delay any retaliatory U.S. action against the remnant terrorist groups in the area.
A reasonable assessment based on the foregoing is that any U.S. push toward peace is doomed to failure at this stage.
The "War against Terrorism" is far from over and is now entering a critical stage. The U.S. military victory in Iraq will be short-lived if Washington doesn't hold Syria and Lebanon accountable for Islamic militarism, supported by Iran, that is spreading successfully into Iraq. It will continue to do so if democracy is not restored in Beirut, Damascus, and Teheran.
A military action to change the regimes in Syria and Lebanon is a must to implement a durable peace in the area as the populace are trained at an early age to attack any U.S. presence in the area. Only with a dramatic change in these two countries can the U.S. monitor and secure the improvement and progression of the peace track in the Middle East. Sanctions against Syria will not eradicate terrorism from the Middle East, nor will Syria withdraw its army from Lebanon. However, it will prolong and protect the active terrorism that is deeply rooted and institutionalized in the Lebanese and Syrian states.
Most of Middle East nations are in need of an infusion of democracy for a better world. The attempt to create an Iraq and a new Palestinian entity living peacefully side-by-side with the Israeli state will not succeed without changing the balance of terror in Lebanon and Syria.
We understand the intrinsic political problems of the new elections in the U.S. and what the Bush Administration might face by committing more military forces to the Middle East. Instead of pressuring Prime Minister Sharon for more concessions and destabilizing an already fragile area, the U.S. should give him a free hand in greatly enhancing a successful military campaign for the implementation of security and peace in the Middle East, as was done in 1982 under the guidance of former Secretary of State Alexander Haig. Only then will terrorism be effectively rooted out and peace introduced as a new instrument of culture and stability in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The tyrants in Lebanon and Syria may prolong their tenure by the implementation of the Syria Accountability Act, and regional stability may suffer for the next few decades. A military solution will solve the regional problems of terrorism in a matter of a few weeks, as it did in Iraq . For these reasons, while the Iraqi theater was approached successfully, the U.S. may not accomplish its goals with its approach in Syria and Lebanon. Let the Department of Defense secure another chapter of success in the war against terrorism. The State Department will then have the benefit of promoting regional peace, within the lines suggested by the D.O.D., with the new emerging democracies in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Peace, in our modern day, is a complex word. It is difficult to achieve. Sometimes, it is necessary to do so by military means, when up against a balance of terror expanding by its own deadly means against the free world.
In order to reduce the level of attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, U.S. troops should be sent to Lebanon to help fight and dismantle HizbAllah. The security of the U.S. is derived from security in the Middle East - for every nation in the Middle East. By promoting democracy in all the countries of the region and crushing terrorism, the U.S. is not interfering in another nation's political affairs; by not allowing terrorist groups to function and survive in the new post-Saddam reality in the Middle East, it is preventing another 9/11.
The U.S. should not negotiate with Hamas, HizbAllah and their Syrian army and intelligence infrastructure; rather, they should be the next military target of the United States? effort in the fight against terrorism. Without taking adequate measures against Syria and Lebanon, President Bush is undertaking an enormous political gamble that may jeopardize the peace process, and his election.
--------------------------------------------------------
Nagi N. Najjar is the Executive Director of the Lebanese Foundation for Peace.
The bill details possible sanctions by the U.S. government against Syria. It depends on a determination by President Bush that Syria is in violation of specific requirements of the bill and may include a ban on military exports to Syria, a ban on U.S. business investments in Syria, and downgrading the U.S. diplomatic representation to Syria, along with other measures. The bill also contains a provision whereby President Bush can waive the salient provisions of the bill, as he did in the prior bill, "...for one or more 6-month periods if the President determines that it is in the vital national security interest of the United States to do so and transmits to Congress a report that contains the reasons therefore."
These provisions and conditions are too tenuous for a reliable and predictable effort that will support and free Lebanon; therefore, the Lebanese Foundation for Peace respectfully suggests a parallel approach that offers success in our quest for freedom within a reasonable period of time.
We have waited for help for many years and we offer our services, our lives, to regain Lebanon. Yet, we feel that an effort, a winning effort, must be effected quickly, or hope will be lost. Any meaningful effort must proceed immediately, first by recognizing that sanctions alone offer little hope, as will witness the many years that Iraq ignored the many sanctions placed upon it by the United Nations. It was after the failure of the sanctions that the U.S. made the decision to replace the Iraqi regime, yet we cannot wait that many years for a possible action by the U.S.
Damascus will never leave Lebanon willingly or under political pressure. It will enhance its military grip over Lebanon, as Lebanon is the source of capital from the drug traffic that Syria runs out of the Lebanese Bekaa valley. In fact, the Syrian economy is absolutely dependent on the enormous profit that Syria takes out of Lebanon every day.
What is needed from this U.S. Administration is a green light for a military change. A military change that will reverse the outcome for those regimes supporting terrorism and opposing the expansion of the U.S.-backed peace process. The regimes in Syria, Lebanon and Iran are resisting political pressure from the West, while U.S. firms are offering oil contracts to Syria, which will use the proceeds from the deals for delaying tactics while it organizes a deadly and costly presence in Iraq.
Let us not divert our focus from the daily military attacks on U.S. forces in Baghdad and let?s limit our scope to the post-Saddam era. This is not happening by accident. If we try to understand the logic of the current dynamic playing in this region, we understand that Teheran and Damascus are managing the present crises and supporting the anti-U.S. resistance currently active in Iraq. They are transforming the Iraqi theater into another Lebanon for the United States.
As the presidential elections are getting close in the U.S., these Middle East rogue nations, supported by President Jacques Chiraq of France, are carefully inflicting daily losses on U.S. troops in Iraq. This daily, deadly formula in Iraq will adversely affect President Bush's political status in the next elections.
The American political reaction to this Middle Eastern strategy is unhealthy. Instead of promoting, boosting and supporting the function of the pro-U.S. democracies in the Middle East, Washington is inadvertently prolonging the longevity of the regimes supporting terrorism in the Middle East. These regimes are key contributors to attacks on U.S. forces, which face new disasters on the ground in the Middle East. Furthermore, their tactics will politically damage the Bush Administration in the U.S.
We cannot make this mistake, Mr. President.
Therefore, the Road Map came too soon to the region. No peace can progress forward in an area where effective terrorism is still playing its role and manipulating well the masses aligned against the West, the U.S. and Israel, in particular.
* Syria is the conduit for arms and supplies to the Arab insurgents attacking the U.S. presence in Iraq. The well-respected Middle East Newsline, July 3, 2003, reports that "U.S. officials said Syria has failed to stop the flow of Islamic combatants from entering and leaving Iraq. They estimate that hundreds of Iraqi, Lebanese, Saudi and Syrian nationals are entering Iraq to battle U.S. troops."
* Syrian-Iranian collusion is fueling the violence on the ground in Israel and Iraq with daily suicide attacks, to prevent any American progress towards stability in the area.
* Pressuring Israel for more concessions is a mistake at the current time, before a regime change in Syria and Lebanon.
* HizbAllah, with the help of Syria, has sent thousands of fighters to Iraq to organize, support and execute deadly resistance against the U.S. forces.
* HizbAllah, with the help of Syria, has sent coordinators and advisers into the Gaza Strip to help Hamas perfect its suicide attacks against Israel, as it did against Israeli forces in southern Lebanon.
* The latest Hamas talk of cease-fire is only a political diversion to delay any retaliatory U.S. action against the remnant terrorist groups in the area.
A reasonable assessment based on the foregoing is that any U.S. push toward peace is doomed to failure at this stage.
The "War against Terrorism" is far from over and is now entering a critical stage. The U.S. military victory in Iraq will be short-lived if Washington doesn't hold Syria and Lebanon accountable for Islamic militarism, supported by Iran, that is spreading successfully into Iraq. It will continue to do so if democracy is not restored in Beirut, Damascus, and Teheran.
A military action to change the regimes in Syria and Lebanon is a must to implement a durable peace in the area as the populace are trained at an early age to attack any U.S. presence in the area. Only with a dramatic change in these two countries can the U.S. monitor and secure the improvement and progression of the peace track in the Middle East. Sanctions against Syria will not eradicate terrorism from the Middle East, nor will Syria withdraw its army from Lebanon. However, it will prolong and protect the active terrorism that is deeply rooted and institutionalized in the Lebanese and Syrian states.
Most of Middle East nations are in need of an infusion of democracy for a better world. The attempt to create an Iraq and a new Palestinian entity living peacefully side-by-side with the Israeli state will not succeed without changing the balance of terror in Lebanon and Syria.
We understand the intrinsic political problems of the new elections in the U.S. and what the Bush Administration might face by committing more military forces to the Middle East. Instead of pressuring Prime Minister Sharon for more concessions and destabilizing an already fragile area, the U.S. should give him a free hand in greatly enhancing a successful military campaign for the implementation of security and peace in the Middle East, as was done in 1982 under the guidance of former Secretary of State Alexander Haig. Only then will terrorism be effectively rooted out and peace introduced as a new instrument of culture and stability in Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
The tyrants in Lebanon and Syria may prolong their tenure by the implementation of the Syria Accountability Act, and regional stability may suffer for the next few decades. A military solution will solve the regional problems of terrorism in a matter of a few weeks, as it did in Iraq . For these reasons, while the Iraqi theater was approached successfully, the U.S. may not accomplish its goals with its approach in Syria and Lebanon. Let the Department of Defense secure another chapter of success in the war against terrorism. The State Department will then have the benefit of promoting regional peace, within the lines suggested by the D.O.D., with the new emerging democracies in Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq.
Peace, in our modern day, is a complex word. It is difficult to achieve. Sometimes, it is necessary to do so by military means, when up against a balance of terror expanding by its own deadly means against the free world.
In order to reduce the level of attacks against U.S. forces in Iraq, U.S. troops should be sent to Lebanon to help fight and dismantle HizbAllah. The security of the U.S. is derived from security in the Middle East - for every nation in the Middle East. By promoting democracy in all the countries of the region and crushing terrorism, the U.S. is not interfering in another nation's political affairs; by not allowing terrorist groups to function and survive in the new post-Saddam reality in the Middle East, it is preventing another 9/11.
The U.S. should not negotiate with Hamas, HizbAllah and their Syrian army and intelligence infrastructure; rather, they should be the next military target of the United States? effort in the fight against terrorism. Without taking adequate measures against Syria and Lebanon, President Bush is undertaking an enormous political gamble that may jeopardize the peace process, and his election.
--------------------------------------------------------
Nagi N. Najjar is the Executive Director of the Lebanese Foundation for Peace.