Press Release
Boston, Massachusetts, October 13, 2003

Carpe Diem: October 13 and Reasons for Hope

It is ironic that on this 13th commemoration of October 13, 1990 when Syria invaded Lebanon and toppled Prime Minister Aoun's last free government, events have taken a course that should give hope to the Lebanese people and  lift them from the despair that the Syrian occupation and its agents have inflicted on them:
1. The Syria Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Restoration Act of 2003 is only days from becoming the law of the land of the United States of America, thanks in no small way to the principled tenacity of Prime Minister Aoun during 13 long years of exile. With more than two-thirds of the US Congress as co-sponsors, no one can veto the will of the American people to
reverse the anomalous US foreign policy forged by the State Department and its Arab friends against the people of Lebanon. And the greater irony is that when the rubber hit the road all of Syria's friends are nowhere to be found: the American Taskforce for Lebanon, State Department Arabists, the Kornet Shehwan Gathering, and all the other Assad choir boys are silent, except for occasionally spewing their angry bile against General Aoun. Truth be said, the man held fast to one position and no other, and he stands today vindicated by the actions of nations who finally recognize that there are no terrorist organizations; there are only terrorist states, and Syria is chief among them.

2. The Israeli attack against Syria last week has finally, after 3 decades, showed everyone what Prime Minister Aoun and the Lebanese people always said: The problem was never Lebanon. The problem has always been Syria, and the Israelis have finally gotten the message and the green light from a Bush Administration who has given up on the Syrian dictator. For Lebanon to have been the victim by proxy for 30 years, getting the shelling, the occupation, the massacres and, adding insult to injury, the blame, is a great shame on the international community for allowing this charade to go on for such a long time. To the Syrians: your time is up and the clock is ticking on you. To the Israelis who trashed Lebanon as an artificial nation of unruly tribes bent on killing each other, when the truth was that Syria and Yasser Arafat's PLO were burning, raping, looting, and yes, bombing the streets of Lebanese cities and villages: now is your turn. Show us what kind of nation you are. For thirty years you blamed and retaliated against the victim Lebanon, even allowing the Syrian airforce to fly unchallenged ­ for one day
only on October 13, 1990 ­ over Lebanese airspace and bomb the Lebanese government into exile. Show us how you deal with Yasser Arafat, Syria, and the terrorist organizations both within and outside your borders. Prove to us that your war is not a "civil war", and tell us why your policy of retaliating against barbaric suicide bombings with equally barbaric targeted
assassinations is more morally justifiable than the siege of Tal Zaatar or the massacres of Sabra-Shatila. And if you decide to deport Arafat, please drop him off in Damascus. You obviously know by now that the road to Damascus does NOT go, and never went, through Beirut.

3. The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this week to an Iranian human rights activist, Shirin Ebadi, in yet another sign of Middle Eastern Glasnost. For one, the world should now know that there are courageous people like Ms. Ebadi all over the Middle East who are putting their lives on the line to fight vulgar and tyrannical regimes in defense of the ordinary people of
their countries. For once, the Nobel Committee, and by extension the international community, have recognized that the peoples of the Middle East strive for justice and democracy like everyone else, and that they deserve the same support that was once given to the dissidents of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.

To the people of Lebanon we say: Lift your heads, look forward, and take action. The pendulum is now swinging in your direction. La fortuna ayuda a los audaces: CARPE DIEM!

Long Live Free Lebanon