The Guardians of the Cedars issued the following communiqué:
At
long last, the American president has decided to impose some sanctions
on Syria in accordance with the "Syria Accountability and Lebanon
Sovereignty Restoration Act" passed by Congress in 2003. While the
Lebanese people can only be thankful, they raise many serious
questions, of which the following are a few:
-
Why has it taken President Bush so long to agree to implement the law,
when it passed unanimously in both chambers, the House and the Senate,
of Congress? And why did he apply only a fraction of the sanctions and
not all of them, since their impact is anyway more symbolic than
effective? Economic sanctions, for example, are of little impact, and
there are loopholes for evading financial restrictions, consisting
primarily of Lebanese banks and financial institutions that are totally
controlled by the Syrians. Political pressure has never, and it won't
now, change the Syrian position. To the contrary, it will harden it
vis-à-vis American policy in the region. Lest we forget, the policy of
sanctions that was used by US administrations for decades on certain
countries like Cuba, Iran, and North Korea, have so far fallen short of
their objectives and have met with total failure.
-
Which leads us to the second question: What is the reason for the
difference in the US position towards the two Baath regimes of Iraq and
Syria? While the former was handled with severity, decisiveness and
determination, the latter was dealt with timidly, at times cajoled and
favored, even as the US knew for a fact that the Syrian regime was more
dangerous than its Iraqi twin, surpassing it in violence, oppression,
and blood-thirstiness, possessing a large arsenal of weapons of mass
destruction, and sheltering the most dangerous terrorist organizations,
some on its own soil and some in Lebanon. And the US also knew that its
shaky situation in Iraq is in large part due to the constant fanning by
Syria of the flames in Iraq, the continued dispatch by the Syrian
regime of volunteers across the border into Iraq, and its incitement to
resist the American project in the region in general and in Iraq in
particular, and its zeal to ensure that it fails and see the defeated
US forces evicted from Iraq as they were defeated and evicted from
Lebanon. All the evidence points to the success of Syria in its
endeavor – or is at least on its way to succeed – if the American
administration persists in dealing softly with the Syrian regime.
-
Assuming that Syria ultimately will decide for one reason or another to
control its borders with Iraq, shut down the offices of the terrorist
organizations present on its soil, and give up its weapons of mass
destruction, will the American administration maintain the pressure on
it until it withdraws from Lebanon? Or will it be satisfied with this
much cooperation by the Syrians to lift the sanctions regime and reward
them with a free for all carte blanche in Lebanon, yet again, as happened after the first Iraqi Gulf War???
-
But the question that befuddles the Lebanese the most and stirs their
anger is: What is the secret behind the warm courtship between the
European Union and Syria? For even before the ink had dried on the
signatures over the American sanctions regime on Syria, a European
economic delegation rushed to visit Damascus to discuss means of
cooperation in exporting Syrian oil and natural gas to Europe and
integrate Syria into the regional power networks and link it with the
power market of the European Union. In fact, to a question by a
reporter on the position of the European Union vis-à-vis the American
sanctions on Syria, the head of the delegation, Mrs. Loyola DiPalacio
answered: "the European Union will continue a long-term strategy of
engagement with Syria and it hopes to sign the Association Agreement
with Syria in the near future…"!!!
The
Lebanese people have many questions, and more than the questions, they
are utterly disgusted and despaired by the negative policies of Western
governments towards their country. Lebanon is marching to its certain
death and elimination because of the Syrian occupation that has been
choking the country for the past 3 decades, without so much as an eye
blink by American or European officials. Instead, their reaction has
been one of competing with one another for supporting the executioner
in finishing off the victim!
The only hope
that the Lebanese have these days has become limited to the growing
phenomenon of beatification of saints in Lebanon year after year, which
may help free them and their country from the grip of all the Satans
and Lucifers.
Lebanon, at your service,
Abu Arz,
21 May 2004
