Geagea: World Recognizes Lebanon as Independent State

by **Admin** Tue Mar 18, 2008 2:27 pm

Samir Geagea, the leader of the Lebanese Forces said today " we should not be concerned about any dialogue between USA and Syria , because this dialogue will reach no where and besides the world has changed and it now recognizes Lebanon as an independent state.

Geagea told the Kuwaiti newspaper al Rai during an interview the following;

He urged the American officials to exert their efforts to solve the Palestinian problem "because it is the only road to solving the other problems in the Middle East.

He also called on Americans to put pressure on Israel to return Shebaa Farms to Lebanon's sovereignty and to refuse the resettlement of Palestinians in Lebanon.

Regarding the participation in the summit of Damascus he said "Our position is that Lebanon should not go to the summit. The Syrians do not recognize Lebanon , do not have diplomatic relations with us, do not want to demarcate the border and have occupied the country for 30 years. During the last 3 years there were clear and explicit accusations that they are behind the assassination of former PM Rafik Hariri and all the assassinations that took place in Lebanon. Considering the above situation how could we attend the Arab summit in Damascus?

Half plus one : Resorting to election by half plus one means the failure to elect General Michel Suleiman as the President. In his case we could not resort to half plus one because he is an army general and the constitution should be amended to elect him . If we fail to elect him we will nominate another candidate from within March 14 alliance and elect him on Half plus one basis.

Geagea said recent elections of the Syndicate of engineers clearly demonstrates that we are the majority . 131 out of 141 seats were won by March 14 alliance candidates . This result should not be underestimated
Regarding the election law Geagea said : We need more equitable law than the 1960 law, as was expressed by Patrirch Nasrallah Sfeir. If we had to chose one , will chose Fouad Boutros Law or any similar law .

Asked about an outbreak of a civil war he said "the army has proved to be very effective during the past three years . Besides neither the majority nor the Hezbollah led-opposition wants a war . Only Syria wants a war and Syria alone cannot ignite such a war. As far as we see Hezbollah does not want a civil war until further notice ."

Asked about the International Tribunal , he pointed out that "the International Tribunal is in place and will begin work soon, and will be active between June and September because the judges and administrative staff have already been recruited. Funding for the first year has been secured and we do not foresee any financial problems for the future years of operations ".

Geagea who is on an official visit in the United States has met several key officials including US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice . He is also expected to meet President George W Bush and VP Dick Cheney, before returning to Lebanon. On Monday he met with UN secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon.