Bush Renews Sanctions Against Lebanese, Syrians
U.S. President George Bush has said an executive order, which calls for blocking property of persons undermining Lebanon”s sovereignty, will continue one year after its adoption.
Executive Order 13441 calls for blocking the property of certain persons undermining the sovereignty of Lebanon or its democratic processes or institutions.
In the order, Bush says he took this action to deal with the threat to the national security and foreign policy of the U.S. "constituted by the actions of certain persons to undermine Lebanon”s legitimate and democratically elected government or democratic institutions, to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in the rule of law in Lebanon…to reassert Syrian control or contribute to Syrian interference in Lebanon."
Bush said in a statement that "because these actions continue to pose an unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States, the national emergency declared on August 1, 2007, and the measures adopted on that date to deal with that emergency, must continue in effect beyond August 1, 2008."