U.S. to Syria: Leave Lebanon

MichNews ^ | Feb 15, 2005 | David Gollust

[AliVeritas]

US Condemns Hariri Assassination

David Gollust, VOA News -- The United States Monday strongly condemned the assassination former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. U.S. spokesmen made no direct charges of blame, but said it is time for Syria to heed the U.N. Security Council resolution calling on it to withdraw from Lebanon.

Mr. Hariri, a wealthy businessman-turned-politician, was well-liked in Washington for his work to re-build the war-torn country, and for being an independent voice amid heavy Syrian influence in Lebanon.

His assassination in a car-bomb attack Monday in Beirut was condemned by the White House as a "despicable act," and an attempt to stifle efforts to build an independent, sovereign Lebanon.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the United States will consult with other members of the U.N. Security Council about what can be done to punish those responsible, and to restore Lebanon's independence by ending what he termed foreign occupation.

Syria sent troops into Lebanon under an Arab League mandate at the height of the country's civil war in the 1970s, and continues to have about 14,000 soldiers there despite a 1989 agreement in principle to withdraw them.

The United States, working closely with France, succeeded last September in getting a resolution approved by the U.N. Security Council calling for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon.

[Rebelbase]

No blood for falafel.

/leftist protester mode.

[libs_kma]

"...but said it is time for Syria to heed the U.N. Security Council resolution calling on it to withdraw from Lebanon"

And everyone knows that Security Council resolutions are not just fun and games. They are serious business... /sarcasm

[Mi-kha-el]

Unless US enforces them.

[libs_kma]

And irony of all ironies, when the US enforced that UN resolutions against Iraq, all the UN could do was say that we were enforcing those resolutions illegally.

Good job UN, good job.

[SunkenCiv]

selection of related topics:

Assassination in Beirut
Washington Times | Tuesday, February 15, 2005 | By Nadim Ladki
Posted on 02/14/2005 11:55:49 PM PST by JohnHuang2
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1343399/posts

Hariri Murder Was Syrian Warning To France, Say Commentators
The Tocqueville Connection | 15 Feb 2005 | The Tocqueville Connection
Posted on 02/15/2005 5:00:28 AM PST by Cornpone
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1343511/posts

Initial Reactions to the Assassination of Former Lebanese President
(Iranian TV-"It's the Jews")
MEMRI TV (Middle East Media Research Institute) | February 14, 2005
Posted on 02/15/2005 1:23:10 AM PST by Stoat
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1343445/posts

[dervish]

I think this was aimed at US not France. It is the US that is putting the squeeze on Syria with sanctions and pushing the UN agenda. Pres Bush specifically mentioned Syria in the Stae of the Union address. A satellite station for the axis of evil? Frankly France is largely irrelevant.

I think Syria sent a message back telling the US - we not you are running the show in Lebanon.

Also Assad is supposedly to be a real nobody. It is the Syrian generals who are really in charge.

[DoctorMichael]

Carpet-bomb Damascus.