Delusions Versus Reality
By: Elias Bejjani
LCCC Media Chairman
11/4/03
The patriotic recommendations of the Los Anglos Maronite Conference and the remarkable
success of the Syria Accountability Act in the US last year have led the Syrian regime to
instruct its Lebanese-installed officials, politicians and clergymen to wage a war of
hypocrisy, through the media and the judiciary, against Lebanon's Diaspora activists.
These known bootlickers and hired mouthpieces allege that the Lebanese should not be
betting on the US, nor should they be playing its regional political games. These thugs
shamelessly advocate for an unconditional Lebanese subservience to the Syrian occupation
and its annexation of its freedom and decision-making. In short, a strategy of willful
slavery.
In reality, there is no betting or gambling. There is only transparency, a logical
and wise reading of the pre- and post-September 11 terror events, coupled with an active
and intelligent strive by a number of Lebanese Diaspora individuals and organizations, in
the press and in academia, who continue to work to change American foreign policy towards
Lebanon. It was that policy that sacrificed Lebanon's independence and sovereignty
in 1990 and handed over the only democracy in the so-called Arab world to the Stalinist
Syrian regime.
Those who are intentionally blind and deaf to the "global world" we live in
after the fall of the communist USSR should have learned by now that the latest dramatic
changes in the region refute their Syrian-imported arguments. They should know that
American and Western strategy planners have finally and irreversibly recognized that
American sponsorship and nurturing of Arab and Mid-Eastern totalitarian monarchies and
theocracies has failed to bring about security for America. Instead, these regimes have
become a serious threat to America and world stability.
The US administration kept a blind eye for many years on the horrible human atrocities
committed by regimes it protected against their own people, especially the Syrian and
Saudi dictatorships. The outcome of this American deliberate indifference has cultivated
an awkward fanatic mentality that produced the most notorious and organized terrorist
groups the world has known such as Al-Qaeda. These groups did not only terrorize their own
people, but have made the entire Western world an arena for their hatred, fanaticism,
destruction, and crime.
The shock of September 11, 2001 was the detonator that awakened US and Western societies
from their dormancy state. It made them recognize that the regimes they were protecting
are fully responsible for the creation of, and nurturing of ongoing criminal activity by,
all the terrorist groups without exception. It was also recognized that the information,
intelligence and military services that these regimes were offering to the US in the area
of terrorism are a sword with two edges.
As an example, the Stalinist Syrian regime that brutally massacred the Sunni Moslem
Brotherhood organization, or that harbored and then betrayed the notorious Carlos and the
Kurdish rebel leader Abdullah Ocalan, is the same regime that offered the US precious
information on Bin Laden's Al Qaeda and helped the CIA in this domain. This same regime
still harbors, nurtures, finances and manipulates more than a dozen well-organized fanatic
groups listed by the US and Canada as terrorist groups. These groups see in the US as
"The Great Satan".
This kind of double standard previously applied by American administrations has proved
that there cannot be both acceptable and non-acceptable forms of terrorism. There is
but one kind of destructive terrorism that should be eradicated worldwide, beginning with
the regimes that harbors it. Accordingly, terrorism is not limited to groups and
organizations, but extends to state-level trends, mentality and practice. The Stalinist
Syrian Baathist regime is a perfect example in this field.
Based on this striking reality, Lebanese Diaspora activists have actively advocated at all
levels of government, media, and academia of the US, Canada, Australia and Europe for a
new policy towards occupied Lebanon, and for a deterrent approach towards terrorist states
like Syria. The enormous support of the "Syria Accountability Act" by US
legislators in both houses has been extremely encouraging, although this Act is not passed
yet. There is no doubt that US policy is changing in regards to the Syrian occupation for
Lebanon. All the latest American official statements have been in support for an
independent, sovereign Lebanon that is free from foreign forces.
As freedom activist Mr. Elias Zoghbi said last month in an interview to Australian radio
station "Marhaba Lubnan":
"There will be no Noah for the salvation of Syria. The Stalinist Syrian regime and
all similar totalitarian regimes can't be saved. However, there will be a Lebanese Noah, a
salvation mechanism for Lebanon. Lebanon and the Lebanese have all the needed potentials
and qualifications to rebuild a free, democratic, multi-cultural country that honors human
rights and champions tolerance. Lebanon will reclaim its role model as a peaceful society
where civilizations can integrate and not clash".
Meanwhile, the free Lebanon that patriotic Lebanese dream of will not be a reality with
the kind of politicians and officials that have been installed in power by the Syrian
occupier since 1990. These thugs can't give what they don't have. They can't give
dignity, integrity, patriotism, altruism and faith. A future Lebanon will be rebuilt
by its youth, its courageous patriotic university students, and all other educated and
hard-working Lebanese who believe in the 10,452 km2 doctrine.
Accordingly, we strongly believe that the war shock in Iraq was badly needed for all
Middle Eastern countries in a bid to put an end to a paralyzed civilization that has been
producing regimes of dictatorships, totalitarianism, fanaticism and slavery, similar to
the one oppressing the Syrian people and occupying Lebanon today.
Lebanese activists in Diaspora are not betting on the US. They are only trying to change
its policy towards Lebanon. America's previous policies that okayed and blessed the Syrian
occupation of Lebanon favored the Middle East regimes and ignored their people. These
policies are now in a process of change and re-assessment. All recent signals from
American officials indicate that a new positive policy towards Lebanon is in the making.
Hopefully this new approach and understanding will help the Lebanese people rid themselves
of their oppressive regime and the Stalinist Syrian occupation that have hijacked Lebanon
for many decades.
Long Live Freedom