USA: Lebanon's Anti Syrian leaders Walid Jumblatt and Marwan Hemadeh speak out against Syria, Hezbollah and Iran on a visit to Washington DC

Lebanon's outspoken anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt is lashing out against Syria, Hezbollah and Iran. During a visit to Washington D.C., Jumblatt warned that letting democracy fail in Lebanon will have major consequences across the entire Middle East. Lebanon's Druze leader Walid Jumblatt and Minister of Telecommunication Marwan Hamadeh are in Washington D.C., hoping to gather more aid and support from the Bush administration. The two prominent lawmakers, who form the anti-Syrian parliamentary bloc, are calling for the establishment of an international or UN-backed tribunal to punish those behind the February 14, 2005 assassination of Lebanon's popular former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Hariri's allies blame Syria for the bombing and many more political assassinations since, but Damascus denies involvement. Plans for a U.N.-backed court are at the heart of Lebanon's worst political crisis since its 1975-1990 civil war. Jumblatt is scheduled to meet with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday (February 28). He spoke Monday (February 26) at a conference at the American Enterprise Institute. Jumblatt warned that the West could not afford to let democracy fail in Lebanon. "As I said the consequences of failure would be enormous for the whole Middle East. If we, if this emerging democracy, thanks again to the free world, is to crumble, a state of instability would rule everywhere, who knows, everywhere. It will be the end of the moderates - intellectuals, politicians, rulers in the whole Middle East - we will have everywhere rulers a la Nasrallah (referring to the Hezbollah leader) or a la somebody else, a la Bashar (referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad). And also it would be end of this prosperous model of coexistence, multi-confessional system of Lebanon diversity, free market, free press," Jumblatt said. Lebanon's government, controlled by Saad al-Hariri and his anti-Syrian allies, has already approved a U.N. plan for the tribunal. However, the Shi'ite Muslim Hezbollah and Amal movements, both Syrian allies, want to discuss the court's mandate. Hariri and his anti-Syrian March 14 coalition say Hezbollah and Amal are acting on Syrian orders to derail the process. U.N. investigators are probing the Hariri killing and attacks on other anti-Syrian figures. Three journalists and politicians were killed after Hariri in 2005 and a fourth, cabinet minister Pierre Gemayel, were assassinated last November. Senior Syrian and Lebanese officials were implicated in the Hariri killing by U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis, who led the early stages of the enquiry. But Serge Brammertz, who took over in 2006, has so far given no indication of who he suspects. Druze anti-Syrian leader Walid Jumblatt accused Hezbollah in December, for the first time, of being behind some of the killings. His allies have not repeated the charge. "We are not against a settlement at any time. But a settlement at the expense of the international tribunal, or at the expense of justice in Lebanon, which allows for the release of those murderers who killed our leaders, will not be a basis for a settlement," Lebanon's Minister of Telecommunication Marwan Hamadeh told Reuters. Hamadeh, who himself survived an assassination attempt in 2005, said that: "A negotiated settlement must respect the international tribunal and allow for a new president of Lebanon. We cannot continue with Emile Lahoud (Lebanon's pro-Syrian president) as its leader." Jumblatt and Hamadeh are scheduled to remain in the U.S. capital until Thursday (March 1) when they head to New York for meetings with UN officials.

ITN Source | February 28, 2007

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