Kanaan says Lebanon 'hostage' to US-Syria spat

Premier says country still suffering from effects of civil war
By Nafez Qawas
Daily Star correspondent
Monday, April 14, 2008

BEIRUT: Premier Fouad Siniora said Sunday the Lebanese have still not overcome the devastating effects of the 1975-90 Civil War, and urged them to practice unity and avoid past mistakes. "The painful anniversary of the Civil War passes this year, and we still have not overcome the effects of the pain and the painful memories which haunt us and disturb our dreams and our wishes," Siniora said in an address to the Lebanese.

On Sunday, Siniora discussed recent developments on the Lebanese political scene with Jordanian King Abdullah II in Amman.

Siniora described the commemoration as "unnerving" and "heavy," adding that it risked being associated with the revival of the past as a "shadow chasing our memories, thoughts and perceptions."

In his letter, Siniora said some Lebanese were asking whether the plight and clashes among the Lebanese - or among others on their land - would return.

"Others promote black ideas and tragic expectations," he added.

"Like you, I ask myself every day: What is to be done? How do we break the impasse we fell into or were placed in? Is the answer to surrender to the desperate expectations raised by some? Is falling into the abyss the fate of the Lebanese? If some people, who live on our pain and misfortunes, never hesitate to deepen our crisis, do we accept what is drawn for us?"

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Monday, April 14, 2008 : Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir said on Sunday that some Lebanese were willing to sell the interests of their country, adding that "money evaporates while the nation survives." In his weekly Sunday mass at the Notre Dame Church in Bkirki, Sfeir said Lebanon was witnessing "the disintegration of the homeland."

"The government is truncated and the lawmakers do not meet, and this means that we will see them move down the road toward collapse," he added.

"This scene does not encourage us to do the impossible to save the country, which is threatened by imminent dangers," the prelate said.

"We ask God to inspire us for the salvation of our nation and our own salvation," Sfeir added.

On Friday, Senior Shiite cleric Sayyed Mohammad Hussein Fadlallah said that the Lebanese political crisis remains at a standstill despite widespread talk among both the opposition and pro-government alliances of commitment to the Arab initiative, which he said was "a point of contestation."

"Even some of the larger countries now ... have no problem freezing the presidential issue, to ensure the government remains in power," Fadlallah said during his weekly sermon at the Imam al-Hasanayn Mosque in Haret Hreik.

Fadlallah said Arab nations are divided on the Lebanese issue and noted that the proposal for an Arab foreign ministers meeting to discuss Lebanon had no effect on Syrian-Lebanese relations. "The language of incriminatory enmity is not the language of friendship and openness," he added.

The Arab initiative to solve the political deadlock calls for the immediate election of the head of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as the new president, the formation of a national unity government and the drafting of a new electoral law.

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Monday, April 14, 2008 : Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri said after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo on Sunday that rival Lebanese parties must play a leading role in resolving their country's protracted political crisis. "Egypt, Syria and Saudi Arabia can offer help, but they cannot replace or act on behalf of Lebanese parties," Berri said.

The speaker said that he briefed the Egyptian president on his recent talks in Damascus, but denied delivering a message to Mubarak from Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Berri reiterated that his call for national dialogue did not conflict with the three-point Arab initiative to end the crisis. "The initiative has reached a dead end. My call for dialogue is aimed at giving more momentum to the initiative," he said.

Responding to criticism from the ruling coalition about his "ineligibility" to call for dialogue, Berri stressed that he is willing to act as a mediator during dialogue sessions.

"Despite being part of the opposition, I am more than willing to act as a referee during dialogue sessions," he said.

Many members of the ruling coalition said earlier that Berri, as an opposition leader, was not capable of sponsoring dialogue among the rival parties.

Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said last week that dialogue should only be held under the auspices of a new president.

Asked to comment on accusations about "shutting down" Parliament, Berri told reporters that he had called Parliament to session on 17 occasions to elect a president. "My duty is to call Parliament to session, but I cannot force the lawmakers to attend," he said.

"There is a political problem between the opposition and the ruling coalition. All that I am trying to say is that we should try our best to solve this problem through dialogue," he added.

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Monday, April 14, 2008 : Daniel Bellemare's first report into the Hariri assassination and the 10th by the special United Nations Commission has in its absence of transparency and any useful facts revealed the beastly face of hypocrisy within the world's foremost international organization.

The report continued the same pattern of calculated vagueness established by the dubious Serge Brammertz, who was blamed for deliberately stalling progress in the investigation and according to critics of using the pretext of secrecy to allow time for politicians to suck the air out of the justice balloon. All this occurred under the approving guidance of the UN secretary general, yet surely it is a step too far to accuse the UN of not only excessive political cynicism and expediency but of being an accessory to the orgy of assassinations and political murders that followed Hariri's murder.

Accusations against the UN of corruption and mismanagement have become almost typical in recent years. University textbooks typically teach undergraduate students that its cumbersome bureaucracy, opaque administration and political favoritism in selection of officials have for decades undermined the credibility of the institution. Newspaper articles frequently highlight a list of scandals such as the food for sex by aide workers in Africa reports or the oil-for-food program that was effective during the embargo against Iraq under Saddam Hussein that even reached the son of the then secretary general, Kofi Anan.

In Lebanon, the reputation of the UN is equally tarnished. The role of UNIFIL until 2006, which was one of the most expensive long-term UN operations since its inception in an unstable world, cost millions annually but was virtually useless. The only effective peacekeeper in Lebanon's South was the fine diplomatic and military balance between Israel and its foes in the region as well as an international understanding to control the conflict as defined by the 1996 April Understanding following the Grapes of Wrath aggression waged by then-Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres.

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