(Washington, DC) - U.S. Rep. Gary Ackerman (D-NY) today led debate in the House of Representatives on his resolution condemning Iran and Syria for the campaign of murder, terror and intimidation they have instigated against the government and people of Lebanon. Ackerman, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, introduced the resolution, his second regarding Lebanon, following the recent visit of Sa'ad Hariri, the son of murdered former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, and the leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority. Ackerman’s resolution passed this evening by a vote of 375 to 5.

Coming up for consideration amid a wave of violence that has targeted members of Lebanon's ruling parliamentary majority, and has overshadowed Lebanese efforts to choose a new president, the resolution condemns Syria and Iran for their gross interference in Lebanon’s internal political affairs and likewise pillories Lebanese political parties who have allied themselves with Damascus and Tehran.

“Syria and Iran are responsible for the crisis in Lebanon” said Ackerman. "They have trampled on Lebanon’s sovereignty and in doing so, have clearly violated numerous U.N. Security Council resolutions protective of Lebanon. They are the puppet masters pulling on the strings of Hezbollah, Amal and Aoun.”

Pointing to Syria and Iran, Ackerman said "The assassinations of Lebanese members of parliament are their work. The bombings are their work. The threats to establish an extra-legal second government are their work."

"Syria and Iran are attacking Lebanon’s sovereignty no less than if they sent a fleet of bombers, or a wave of tanks, or a swarm of infantry" Ackerman added. "That this aggression, this naked aggression, is being done by proxies, and by terrorists, by car-bombs and by telephone threats does not make it any less aggression, or any less a crime."
 
The resolution, which was cosponsored by two Lebanese-American Members of Congress, Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Charles Boustany (R-LA), as well as House Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Lantos (D-CA), also declared Lebanon's sovereignty and independence in the national security interests of the United States, and called on the President to use "all peaceful means at the disposal of the United States" to help safeguard Lebanon’s future.

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The following are the remarks Ackerman delivered on the House Floor during debate of the measure:

“Mr. Speaker, when the House last discussed Lebanon on September 25th, I said that Lebanon was being bullied. That statement, though true, is insufficient. Lebanon is not being harassed by invisible unworldly forces. Lebanon is not a victim of fate or destiny or bad luck. Lebanese politicians and public figures–beginning with Rafiq Hariri and continuing to this day–are not being assassinated and blown to bits by falling meteors or volcanic eruptions.

Arms do not appear in Lebanon by magic. Hezbollah’s billions don’t fall from the sky like rain.
Palestinian terrorist groups don’t find rifles falling out of trees or by the side of the road. The Fatah al-Islam, and its war against the Lebanese state, were not the product of spontaneous auto-genesis. Like maggots, their origin can escape the casual observer, but their birth was no accident or mystery.

Syria and Iran are responsible for these crimes. Syria and Iran are responsible for the chaos. Syria and Iran are to blame for the shadow of civil war that hangs over Lebanon.

Lebanon’s politics are complex and the interaction within and among confessions is daunting for the outside observer to contemplate. Where interest and principle merge and depart is hard to judge.

But we know some things about Lebanon for certain, and they are spelled out clearly in the resolution at hand.

Syria demanded the extension of the President Emile Lahoud’s term in 2004, and Damascus got its way. The principle opponent of this grotesque intrusion into Lebanon’s affairs was former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. There is credible evidence uncovered by UN investigators showing that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad first threatened and then ordered the assassination of Rafiq Hariri for his defiance of Syrian diktat.

In response to the murder of Hariri, and, let us remember, 22 other civilians, the Lebanese rose up against their Syrian overlords and demanded, with the full support of the international community, the expulsion of Syria’s occupation forces. A new government was formed, through a free and fair election, led by Lebanese not in the service of Syria, and not in the debt of Iran.

This development, both surprising and hopeful, of a Lebanon free to chart its own course, was one that Syria and Iran couldn’t tolerate. In their minds, Lebanon is a fiefdom, or a toy. Lebanon is a playground for their ambitions and a canvas on which to splash their rage and hatred for the United States and Israel and the modern world.

Lebanon, in the minds of Syria’s overlords and Iran’s ayatollahs, is not for the Lebanese.

And this intolerance, this greedy self-interest, this bitter contempt for the rights of others, is why we are again speaking of Lebanon in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Lebanon is in grave peril. Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty is under attack by Syria and Iran, and their bootlicking Lebanese proxies, Hezbollah, Amal and the Aounist bloc. Extralegally demanding control of the presidency, and threatening civil war, this coalition of the wicked and the selfish have again brought chaos, violence and terror to Lebanon.

It need not be so. It should not be so.

Syria and Iran are responsible for the crisis in Lebanon. They have trampled on Lebanon’s sovereignty and in doing so; have clearly violated numerous UN Security Council resolutions protective of Lebanon. They are the puppet masters pulling on the strings of Hezbollah, Amal and Aoun. The assassinations of Lebanese members of parliament are their work. The bombings are their work. The threats to establish an extra-legal second government are their work.

Mr. Speaker, there is no mystery here. There is evil, there is greed, there is indecency, and were I Lebanese, I might say treason as well. But there is no mystery.

Syria and Iran are attacking Lebanon’s sovereignty no less than if they sent a fleet of bombers, or a wave of tanks, or a swarm of infantry. That this aggression, this naked aggression, is being done by proxies, and by terrorists, by car-bombs and by telephone threats does not make it any less aggression, or any less a crime.

Many vital interests of the United States are at stake. If we want every nation to be secure in its own borders, we can not tolerate cross-border aggression. If we want to see the Middle East at peace, we can not tolerate the resumption of Syrian and Iranian control of Lebanon. If we want to encourage self-governance around the world, we cannot tolerate Lebanon’s democracy being subverted by thugs and fanatics.

If we want to see people rising up against tyranny, as they are today in Burma, we can not tolerate the reversal of Lebanon’s glorious Cedar Revolution. If we want to see the United Nations become a true guardian of peace among nations, we can not tolerate the will of the international community being scorned by rogue states.

America must lead. Even today, even with Iraq, there is still no other state that can mobilize the international community like the United States, and the hour is desperate. Only if they are convinced that the world will not tolerate their aggression against Lebanon will Syria and Iran back down. This outcome is not impossible.

The stakes are exceedingly high, and it is my hope that both the Lebanese government and the Bush Administration will see this debate in the House as proof that Congress is watching closely, and that we stand ready to help secure Lebanon’s future as an independent and sovereign state.

If we want to end the bloodshed in Lebanon, and foreclose the prospect of still greater violence, we must act now, and in concert with the community of nations. There is wide support for Lebanon both in Europe and in the Arab and Muslim world just waiting for a catalyst to give it expression. America must be that catalyst. We are here today to sound the wake-up call. A brighter future for Lebanon, for the Middle East and for ourselves awaits our clarion call.

I urge all my colleagues to support the resolution and I reserve the balance of my time.”

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