Geagea gets pledge of support from officials in Washington
Lf leader discusses Syria, hizbullah with rice, hadley
Lebanese Forces (LF) boss Samir Geagea, who left for the United States on Saturday, met on Tuesday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice as part of a tour of America.
US National Security Advisor Steven Hadley has told the LF chief that America was strongly committed to helping the Lebanese build an independent state, the An-Nahar daily quoted a White House source as saying on Tuesday.
“The US is still strongly committed to help the Lebanese people fulfill their dream of building a free, independent and prosperous state,” Hadley told Geagea in Washington on Monday, according to the source.
The source said the talks touched on ways to help the Lebanese government achieve such goals and US worries of “continuous efforts” by Syria and Hizbullah to “undermine” Premier Fouad Siniora”s Cabinet.
The same source also told An-Nahar”s correspondent in Washington that the Hadley-Geagea meeting “reflects our appraisal of him as a major March 14 movement leader.”
The LF said in a statement Tuesday that Geagea held talks at the White House with Hadley, Assistant to the Vice President for National Security Affairs John Hannah and Chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia Gary Ackerman.
It said Geagea and his accompanying delegation discussed among other issues the US government”s support for the Siniora government, including military and economic aid.
A source close to the LF said that Geagea discussed with the US officials the issues of the occupied Shebaa Farms area and Lebanese prisoners held in Israeli and Syrian jails.
The source said talks also focused on the status of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and the need for an official US stance on the issue.
The delegation rejected the naturalization of Palestinians in Lebanon, the source added.
Meanwhile, LF lawmaker Antoine Zahra ruled out the possibility of electing a president on March 25.
“March 14 forces are still holding to Army commander General Michel Suleiman as a consensus president, irrespective of the date of the Arab Summit,” the MP told the Saudi daily Okaz on Tuesday.
Zahra said it is becoming more evident every day that Syria, Iran and their Lebanese allies insist on blocking the presidential elections by attempting to impose their conditions and turn Lebanon into an open ground for regional and international confrontations.
Zahra said March 14 was considering what to do in the event that consensus over the presidential election is not reached.
“Our choice cannot be other than the primary choice, which is the Lebanese state and its institutions. As for the means to build this state and run it, the March 14 Forces will declare any decision we make at the appropriate time,” Zahra added.
The March 14 pro-government coalition held a conference at the Bristol Hotel Monday to announce the agenda of its inaugural general assembly, which will be held Friday at the Beirut International Exhibition and Leisure center.
The “Spring of 2008” assembly will see the declaration of a general political platform for the parliamentary bloc.