[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 31 (Monday, August 6, 2007)]
[Pages 1037-1038]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Message to the Congress on Blocking Property of Persons Undermining the 
Sovereignty of Lebanon or Its Democratic Processes and Institutions

August 1, 2007

To the Congress of the United States:

    Pursuant to the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, as 
amended (50 U.S.C. 1701 et seq.) (IEEPA), I hereby report that I have 
issued an Executive Order declaring a national emergency to deal with 
the threat in Lebanon posed by the actions of certain persons to 
undermine Lebanon's legitimate and democratically elected government or 
democratic institutions, to contribute to the deliberate breakdown in 
the rule of law in Lebanon, including through politically motivated 
violence and intimidation, to reassert Syrian control or contribute to 
Syrian interference in Lebanon or to infringe upon or undermine Lebanese 
sovereignty, contributing to political and economic instability in that 
country and the region. Such actions constitute an unusual and 
extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the 
United States.
    This order will block the property and interests in property of 
persons determined by the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation 
with the Secretary of State, to have taken, or to pose a significant 
risk of taking, actions, including acts of violence, that have the 
purpose or effect of undermining Lebanon's democratic processes or 
institutions or contributing to the breakdown of the rule of law in 
Lebanon, supporting the reassertion of Syrian control or contributing to 
Syrian interference in Lebanon, or infringing upon or undermining 
Lebanese sovereignty. The order further authorizes the Secretary of the 
Treasury, in consultation with the Secretary of State, to block the 
property and interests in property of those persons determined to have 
materially assisted, sponsored, or provided financing, material, 
logistical, or technical support for, or goods or services in support 
of, such actions or any person whose property and interests in property 
are blocked pursuant to the order; to be a spouse or dependent child of 
any person whose property and interests in property are

[[Page 1038]]

blocked pursuant to the order; or to be owned or controlled by, or to 
act or purport to act for or on behalf of, directly or indirectly, any 
person whose property and interests in property are blocked pursuant to 
the order.
    I delegated to the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with 
the Secretary of State, the authority to take such actions, including 
the promulgation of rules and regulations, and to employ all powers 
granted to the President by IEEPA as may be necessary to carry out the 
purposes of my order.
    I am enclosing a copy of the Executive Order I have issued.
                                                George W. Bush
 The White House,
 August 1, 2007.

Note: This message was released by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
August 2.