"BECAUSE I AM LAHOUD":

An Anschluss brought down by errors and hubris (William Harris, March 22, 2005, Lebanon Daily Star)

"I am the only one who has the right to select the Lebanese president and no other person, Syrian or Lebanese, has that right." Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri reported this remark of Syrian President Bashar Assad in an interview shortly before being murdered, with 16 others, in a massive explosion on the Beirut seafront last February 14.

Through 2004, Hariri opposed Assad's determination to extend the term of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud beyond the latter's constitutionally allowable six years, due to end in November 2004. In August 2004, Assad summoned Hariri to Damascus to order him to have the Lebanese government and Parliament change Lebanon's Constitution to extend Lahoud's presidency, "because I am Lahoud." Hariri bowed to the diktat, but resigned shortly thereafter. It was a throwback to Hitler's treatment of Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938-39. The international community did not allow the affair to pass. Both the White House and French President Jacques Chirac appealed for a normal election. The Syrian leader, displaying breathtaking hubris, brushed both aside. In response, the United States and France co-sponsored United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559, requiring the withdrawal of foreign forces - meaning Syria's - from Lebanon, the termination of external interference in Lebanese politics and the disarming of militias, meaning, mainly, Hizbullah

Syrian backing for Iraqi insurgents had already angered the U.S., and Chirac felt personally affronted by Assad's behavior. Bringing the U.S. and France together was a signal Syrian achievement, given the estrangement between the two powers over the U.S. invasion of Iraq. This, combined with Lebanese internal reactions, inaugurated a serious crisis for Syria in Lebanon, entirely provoked by Assad.

Fortunately, dictators seldom have more than a passing acquaintance with reality.

Posted by Orrin Judd at March 21, 2005 9:04 PM