U.S. Congressman Ackerman: Lebanon Not for Sale
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.