[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 23]
[Senate]
[Pages 31581-31582]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                LEBANON

  Mr. BROWNBACK. Mr. President, every so often a defining moment 
arrives, capable of dramatically altering the future of a Nation and 
its people. The country of Lebanon, which will hold its Presidential 
elections as soon as November 21, is on the brink of one of these 
moments.
  Lebanon is a country whose vision for a socially rich, prosperous, 
and democratic future could serve as a model for what we hope to see in 
the

[[Page 31582]]

Middle East region. Yet in spite of the courageous and unwavering will 
of the Lebanese people, extremist forces led by Syria, Iran, and 
terrorist groups--primarily Hezbollah--conspire to undermine the 
democratic majority in Lebanon and remake the country in their own 
oppressive image.
  Ever since Lebanon's Cedar Revolution in 2005, when a third of the 
Lebanese people flooded the streets in peaceful protest against Syria's 
foreign domination, Lebanon has struggled to remain on the path to 
peace and democracy.
  The cultural and media capital of the Arab world, Lebanon is 
comprised of a uniquely rich social and religious fabric where 
Christians, Sunnis, and Shias live in relative harmony. Polling data 
from Lebanon indicates that the majority of the Lebanese people desire 
an independent and stable country, free from Syrian and Iranian 
influence. They want the militias, including Hezbollah, disarmed, and 
they want an international tribunal to investigate the assassinations 
of Rafiq Hariri and other members of their Parliament.
  On November 21, the Lebanese Parliament is scheduled to meet to elect 
the country's next President, an event which will serve as a harbinger 
for the future of independence and democracy in the Middle East. The 
stakes could not be higher--a fact that has not been lost on Syria and 
Iran and that certainly must not be lost on us.
  Desperate to regain its lost foothold in Lebanon, Syria has adopted 
the macabre strategy of systematically assassinating members of the 
March 14th parliamentary majority, the embodiment of the Cedar 
Revolution's ideals. This tactic is designed to ensure the election of 
a President sympathetic to Syrian hegemony. As the election date 
approaches, Lebanon's prodemocracy members of Parliament have been 
forced to enter complete seclusion in Beirut's Phoenicia Hotel. They 
cannot go outside, or even look out of windows, for fear of a sniper's 
bullet.
  If we are committed to ensuring a free and democratic future for the 
Middle East, safe from terror and extremism, we must not remain silent 
or passive about the need to ensure that the constitutional 
Presidential election process in Lebanon remains untainted by foreign 
meddling and coercion by terrorist groups like Hezbollah. We must be 
unequivocally clear in our support for our March 14 allies in Lebanon.
  I commend Secretary of State Rice for her recent statement that ``any 
candidate for president or any president [of Lebanon] needs to be 
committed to Lebanon's sovereignty and independence, needs to be 
committed to resolutions that Lebanon has signed on to . . . and needs 
to be committed to carrying on the tribunal.'' I also strongly agree 
when she says that ``the March 14 majority should not be put in a 
position of having to accept either extra-constitutional measures or 
measures that would undermine the program that they stand for.''
  In light of the precarious situation in Lebanon, we must ensure that 
the United States will not support anything less than the untainted 
election of a constitutionally legitimate President in Lebanon.
  We must make clear to the regimes in Syria and Iran, in no uncertain 
terms, that the United States will not support a puppet President that 
seeks to thwart the will of the Lebanese people, nor will the United 
States remain silent in the face of the spread of militant Islamic 
extremism.
  We must not allow Lebanon to be dragged back into chaos and war. 
Lebanon's enemies should understand that we are fully dedicated to 
Lebanon's future as a model for independent and sovereign democracy in 
the Middle East. We cannot abandon the Lebanese people and our shared 
ideals at this critical moment. The stakes are simply too high--for 
Lebanon, for the Middle East, and for us.

                          ____________________