[NYer]

A Lebanese protester flahses the V-sign next to a portrait of slain former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut, as Syrian military intelligence units began pulling out.(AFP/Ramzi Haidar)

[NYer]

US President Bush (news - web sites) is to meet Wednesday with the patriarch of the Maronite church, Nasrallah Sfeir, a vocal opponent of Syria's dominant role in Lebanon and a leading figure in the Lebanese Christian opposition.

Updated schedule of His Beatitude Patriarch Nasrallah Peter Cardinal Sfeir

Tuesday, March 15, 2005:

Private conferral of honorary Doctorate Degree at Catholic University of America;
Meeting with USCCB President and Cardinal Theodore McCarrick;

Wednesday, March 16, 2005:

Private meeting with President George W. Bush;
Private reception with Senators and Congressmen at Capitol Hill;
Press conference;
Private evening reception at the Embassy of Lebanon;

Thursday, March 17, 2005:

Morning interview with CNN;
6:00 p.m. - Eucharistic Liturgy at the Shrine of the Immaculate Conception;
9:00 p.m. - Reception at Pope John Paul II Cultural Center

[conservlib]

Assad is better than his dad.