U.S. Congressman Ackerman: Lebanon Not for Sale

by **Admin** Sun Apr 27, 2008 5:32 am

Chairman
of the Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia in the U.S.
Congress' foreign affairs committee Gary Ackerman said on Friday that
"during the Bush Administration, Damascus has literally been getting
away with murder."

The
New York House representative accused Syria of "counting on its
continued ability to make trouble and to upset the situation in Lebanon
as leverage to avoid accountability. They're deluding themselves if
they think so."
"Peace can not be purchased by rewarding aggression. There will be no deal with the dictator in Damascus.

Lebanon is not for sale and justice is not a commodity in which the United States should trade," he stressed.

Ackerman
added "The Special Tribunal will proceed and the guilty will pay for
their crimes. Neither bombs, nor threats, nor hollow promises of peace
will avert the justice that is coming. The Assad regime must know that
salvation will not come from well-intentioned American politicians
ready to sell the freedom of others to buy the illusion of security for
themselves."

The
U.S congressman highlighted the fact that "Syria facilitated the
movement of jihadis into Lebanon, armed them, and set them to make war
against the Lebanese state. Many brave Lebanese soldiers and
Palestinian refugees died in the fighting in Nahr al Bared in order to
preserve Lebanon's sovereignty".

"Together
with Iran, Syria is responsible for the arming and rearming of
Hizbullah. In defiance of U.N. Security Council mandates, Syria is
continuing to provide arms and to facilitate the movement of arms from
Iran to Hizbullah in order facilitate that group's efforts to undermine
Lebanon's sovereignty and independence," he added.

Ackerman accused Syria of carrying on assassinations of Lebanese politicians and journalists during the past two years.

Ha
said "in its attempt to restore Lebanon to its previous position as
Syria's footstool, Damascus has almost certainly been responsible for
the wave of murders of Lebanon's pro-independence leaders beginning in
2005, with Rafik Hariri and including cabinet ministers,
parliamentarians, prominent journalists and dozens of innocent
civilians."

The prominent U.S. diplomatic addressed the ongoing governmental crisis.

"Today,
as has been the case since November 2007, Lebanon's government remains
without a president and unable to resolve its political crisis."

Ackerman
accused "Lebanese in positions of power" naming the leaders of
Hizbullah, Amal and the FPM of committing themselves to "the interests
of Syria, Iran and themselves than they are to their own country."

"A
deal with Syria and Iran may be possible, but I sincerely doubt that it
can be bought or sustained by sacrificing others, or by offering just
carrots and no sticks," he stressed.