[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 31 (Thursday, March 11, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H1014]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               ANNIVERSARY OF LEBANESE WAR OF LIBERATION

  (Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN. Mr. Speaker, 15 years ago today the Lebanese people 
and their last legitimate government, headed by Prime Minister Aoun, 
courageously engaged in a war of liberation against Syria.
  For 19 months, this heroic people fought to save and defend that 
which Syria wanted to destroy, Lebanese sovereignty and independence. 
Tragically, the Syrian regime overpowered them and succeeded in turning 
Lebanon into a captive nation.
  Today, Syria harasses, arrests, imprisons, tortures and disappears 
anyone who speaks out against Syria's domination of Lebanon, and its 
campaign of intimidation extends here to the U.S. Congress.
  Late last year, General Aoun appeared before the Subcommittee on the 
Middle East and Central Asia, which I chair, to address Members about 
Syrian occupation of and terrorist activities in Lebanon. For this, he 
was charged with treason, tried in absentia and sentenced to 15 years 
of hard labor.
  We must send a clear message to Syria that its continued occupation 
of Lebanon will not be tolerated. Lebanon is a captive nation, and we 
must not rest until Lebanon is free from Syria's regime and their 
strangle hold.

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