Posted on 02/24/2005 1:23:27 PM PST by PrincipledObjection
BEIRUT (AFP) - Beleaguered Lebanese Prime Minister Omar Karameh said he was ready to quit in the face of intense pressure to end Syrian domination of his country and find the killers of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.
Karameh spoke as US President George W. Bush (news - web sites) kept up the heat, repeating a joint demand he and French President Jacques Chirac made earlier this week for Syria to withdraw its troops immediately.
"I am ready for the resignation once we agree on a new government in order to avoid a vacuum," Karameh told AFP.
The prime minister spoke before the opposition announced it would put a censure motion before parliament Monday, but he insisted he was unfazed by the prospect and would himself have sought a vote of confidence in his government.
After a meeting in the home of Druze leader Walid Jumblatt later, opposition MPs announced they were demanding the "departure of the entire (pro-Syrian) regime."
They called for the dismissal of Lebanon's intelligence chiefs and an independent international inquiry into Hariri's assassination.
They welcomed a call by business leaders for the country's banking and commercial sectors to shut down for Monday's debate to back opposition demands.
The opposition has blamed the government and its political masters in Damascus for Hariri's killing and is demanding an end to Syria's dominant role in Lebanon, where it has about 14,000 troops stationed.
Karameh's Syrian-backed government has faced mounting calls to resign since the February 14 assassination of Hariri, a five-time prime minister and billionaire who spearheaded Lebanon's revival after the 1975-1990 civil war.
"This government has to resign, we cannot continue like that. We want to stop this dictatorship," opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh told AFP.
"The best thing to do is a transitional government which ensures security, fires the heads of Lebanese intelligence services, votes a new electoral law and oversees the legislative elections" due in May.
"It has to be a neutral transitional government in which there will be no members of the opposition or pro-Syrians. Then, after the elections, we can have a national union government," he said.
Elias Attallah, head of the Democratic Left opposition movement, said the resignation of Karameh's government was "already a fait accompli."
"Effectively, the entire regime is considered as having resigned."
He said the opposition was more interested in the shape of a transitional government, which "should cooperate with an international probe into Hariri's killing, take a clear position from the Syrian pullout ... and oversee free and transparent elections."
Speaking during a visit to Germany Wednesday, Bush said "Syria must withdraw not only the troops but its secret services from Lebanon."
He added that Damascus must not try to influence the parliamentary elections due this spring.
Chirac warned that the UN Security Council could slap sanctions on Syria if it failed to comply with a French- and US-sponsored resolution passed last September demanding the withdrawal of all foreign troops from Lebanon.
He and Bush made a joint call on Monday for Syrian soldiers to pull out.
US deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield was due in Lebanon later in the week to discuss the fallout from Hariri's killing and press the Security Council's demands.
On Tuesday, Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud dismissed the renewed calls for a Syrian pullout as "nothing new".
But after a meeting with the minister, Saudi ambassador Abdulaziz Khoja said Syria was ready to redeploy its forces.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak (news - web sites) sent intelligence chief Omar Suleiman to Syria for talks Wednesday amid the growing pressure on Damascus, a spokesman said in Cairo.
Time to revisit Domino Theory.
Thank you President Bush.
But,naaaah we shouldn't have gone into Iraq.
Liberal retort: Iraq has nothing to do with it. We didn't find any WMD.
resign or meet all-duh
Democracy Domino Theory Authored by GWB
It's amazing what a little fear of anihilation can do for a person. I love how the article had to mention Jack Chirack as having a voice in this matter. I think I could be safe in saying that the big stick the Bush Admin. carries in the Middle East was all that was needed to scare Syria.
First Lybia, now Lebanon - cool!
"Time to revisit Domino Theory."
Exactly. Bush was right. Iraq is becoming democratic, Syria will end up having to withdraw from Lebanon, and I read there may be a regime change, internally driven, in Syria too, right after there is one in Lebanon, and in Lebanon, another domino is falling.
"Effectively, the entire regime is considered as having resigned."
Yup!
As a matter of fact, IT's ALL Bush's Fault!!
Maybe he can work with O.J. or John Ramsey.
Afraid of retaliation?
Yes, it is a revolution, and a good one ... I've linked to articles in my blog about this... I'll link to your article tomorrow.
http://freedomstruth.blogspot.com
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