[Congressional Record Volume 142, Number 117 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1498-E1499]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




      LET LEBANON BE LEBANON: GIVE BACK ITS TERRITORIAL INTEGRITY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. NICK J. RAHALL II

                            of west virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, August 2, 1996

  Mr. RAHALL. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a House Concurrent 
Resolution, expressing the sense of the Congress regarding the 
territorial integrity, unity, sovereignty, and full independence of 
Lebanon.
  You may ask what that means, and you may ask why it is prudent or 
necessary to introduce such a resolution. I will tell you.
  As a Lebanese-American Member of Congress, I am aware of recent 
events in the Middle East which despite secret diplomacy may have 
slowed the peace process. I have seen resolutions introduced in this 
body which would do the same by calling upon Syria to get its Armed 
Forces out of Lebanon--as though Syria is the only occupying force that 
needs to get itself out of Lebanon; as though Syria is to blame for 
every single averse thing that has happened to Lebanon in recent years.
  Mr. Speaker, Syria is no angel--but Syria isn't the only problem 
Lebanon has, or that the Middle East has, for that matter. We all know 
that to be true.
  The biggest problem today appears to be that everyone views Lebanon 
as some kind of bargaining chip, or pawn, to be used by Israel and 
Syria and then whoever else find themselves with an ax to grind in the 
region--not an ax to grind with Lebanon necessarily--and they then 
proceed to grind their axes at will and at Lebanon's expense.
  The most recent grinding of axes in and around Lebanon was called 
Operation Grapes of Wrath. And the axes were turned into shells and 
rockets and so-called precision weaponry that allegedly could penetrate 
buildings in the middle of the city of Beirut and search out a floor 
with a window that supposedly was concealing Hizbollah, without harming 
the innocent mothers and children also living in that building. But the 
precision weapons turned out not to be so precise, and more than 100 
Lebanese civilians were killed, 400,000 were displaced and many left 
homeless, injured, and suffering.
  This resolution is for Lebanon and about Lebanon. It isn't about 
Israel or Syria--except that all non-Lebanese forces are asked to get 
out of Lebanon. It is an idea whose time has come and perhaps a point 
of discussion in current secret diplomacy and/or other talks.
  Another idea whose time has come is that the United States 
Government--the Congress--the President of the United States--need to 
reformulate their policy toward Lebanon and they need to reaffirm their 
support for a country that has long been friendly toward the United 
States. Not only do they need to reformulate a policy, the policy needs 
to be implemented.
  Lebanon has a government, and it has an army, and it is rebuilding 
and it is getting stronger and more secure every day. It is time that 
the United States Government began

[[Page E1499]]

looking at and considering Lebanon as the master of its own house--the 
captain of its own ship--and understand that the United States 
Government should negotiate directly with Lebanon's government on 
issues concerning Lebanon and its future.
  There is no need for the President, the Congress, or anyone else to 
look toward Syria to the North, or toward Israel in the South--they 
have no right to decide Lebanon's future.
  As a matter of fact, our Government needs to look backward 18 years 
ago--and recall United Nations Security Council's Resolution 425 which 
calls for the withdrawal forthwith of Israeli forces from Lebanon and 
for which the United States representative to the United Nations voted.
  The Taif agreement regarding Syria did not go far enough because it 
did not call for withdrawal. It did call for a redeployment of Syrian 
forces to the entrance of the Bekaa Valley and the disarmament of all 
militia in Lebanon, both of which Syria has ignored.
  And so, Mr. Speaker, I introduce this concurrent resolution, urging 
the President to take the necessary steps to activate the Consultative 
Group for Lebanon's Reconstruction, which was established by the April 
26, 1996, understanding between Lebanon and Israel--entered into after 
Operation Grapes of Wrath, which rained so much death and destruction 
upon innocent civilians in the land of my grandfathers.
  By this resolution I and my colleagues who cosponsor with me call for 
the withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon so that she will 
no longer serve as the preferred battleground for her neighbors.
  It tells the President that he need not wait upon the reconvening of 
the official Middle East peace talks, or the finalization of a 
comprehensive peace accord with all nation states in the region--to 
help Lebanon get non-Lebanese forces out of Lebanon.
  The resolution calls upon the President to negotiate directly with 
officials of the Government of Lebanon on issues pertaining to Lebanon. 
To negotiate directly means just that--without any middlemen.
  In closing Mr. Speaker, I submit this resolution to the House, 
calling upon Lebanon to assert more independence to assure the 
international community that Lebanon has the political will and the 
military capability to guaranteed security along her borders, for 
herself and her neighbors, and to disarm all militia upon the 
withdrawal of all non-Lebanese forces from Lebanon.
  Let Lebanon be Lebanon.

                          ____________________