The Political Situation in Lebanon

THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN LEBANON HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA OF THE COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS FIRST SESSION APRIL 18, 2007 Serial No. 110–47 Printed for the use of the Committee on Foreign Affairs ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.foreignaffairs.house.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 34–714PDF WASHINGTON : 2007 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS TOM LANTOS, California, Chairman HOWARD L. BERMAN, California ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American DAN BURTON, Indiana Samoa ELTON GALLEGLY, California DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRAD SHERMAN, California DONALD A. MANZULLO, Illinois ROBERT WEXLER, Florida EDWARD R. ROYCE, California ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York STEVE CHABOT, Ohio BILL DELAHUNT, Massachusetts THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York RON PAUL, Texas DIANE E. WATSON, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona ADAM SMITH, Washington JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri MIKE PENCE, Indiana JOHN S. TANNER, Tennessee THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas RUBE´ N HINOJOSA, Texas J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina DAVID WU, Oregon CONNIE MACK, Florida BRAD MILLER, North Carolina JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska LINDA T. SA´ NCHEZ, California MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas DAVID SCOTT, Georgia TED POE, Texas JIM COSTA, California BOB INGLIS, South Carolina ALBIO SIRES, New Jersey LUIS G. FORTUN˜ O, Puerto Rico GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona RON KLEIN, Florida VACANT VACANT ROBERT R. KING, Staff Director YLEEM POBLETE, Republican Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York, Chairman HOWARD L. BERMAN, California MIKE PENCE, Indiana DAVID SCOTT, Georgia STEVE CHABOT, Ohio JIM COSTA, California JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia RON KLEIN, Florida THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan BRAD SHERMAN, California JOE WILSON, South Carolina ROBERT WEXLER, Florida J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri BOB INGLIS, South Carolina SHEILA JACKSON LEE, Texas CONNIE MACK, Florida DAVID ADAMS, Subcommittee Staff Director HOWARD DIAMOND, Subcommittee Professional Staff Member GREGORY MCCARTHY, Republican Professional Staff Member DALIS BLUMENFELD, Staff Associate (II) C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES The Honorable C. David Welch, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, U.S. Department of State ...................................................................... 7 Mr. Mark Ward, Senior Deputy Assistant Administrator, Bureau for Asia and the Near East, U.S. Agency for International Development ..................... 14 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING The Honorable Gary L. Ackerman, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York, and Chairman, Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia: Prepared statement ................................................................. 3 The Honorable Mike Pence, a Representative in Congress from the State of Indiana .............................................................................................................. 6 The Honorable C. David Welch: Prepared statement ........................................... 10 Mr. Mark Ward: Prepared statement .................................................................... 18 (III) THE POLITICAL SITUATION IN LEBANON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 18, 2007 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND SOUTH ASIA, COMMITTEE ON FOREIGN AFFAIRS, Washington, DC. The subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:10 a.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Gary L. Ackerman, (chairman of the subcommittee) presiding. Mr. ACKERMAN. The subcommittee will come to order. A bit more than 2 years ago, on February 15, 2005, the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, along with 22 other people, was killed by a massive car bomb. Nothing in Lebanon has been the same since. Aroused from their torpor and disorganization, the assassination of Rafiq Hariri prompted the Lebanese people to undertake a long- overdue democratic revolution and reassertion of their national independence. Syria’s brutal gamble on assassination was intended to reinforce its domination of Lebanon. But rather than solidifying the system of foreign control, the murder of Hariri instead led to the expulsion of the Syrian military and intelligence forces which had occupied Lebanon for a generation, and the democratic election of a modern, liberal, Western-oriented Lebanese Government. Only a year ago, Syrian President Assad was answering ques- tions posed by the Chief U.N. Investigator. The new Government of Lebanon, led by the March 14 movement with a majority of 72 out of 128 seats, was, if not gaining strength, at least gaining its sea legs, and working to build a consensus on the most difficult and divisive issues in Lebanon. But over the summer of 2006, Lebanon’s hopes were nearly extinguished due to the war initiated by Hezbollah’s unprovoked cross-border aggression against Israel. Though power in Beirut had shifted, Iranian and Syrian ambitions had not been extinguished; and Hezbollah, that terrorist attack dog, was more than ready to plunge Lebanon into a war for the sake of its own greater glory and thirst for political power. Yet again, Lebanese interests were sacrificed in a gamble on violence. And yet again, it is the ordinary people of Lebanon who came out the losers. The summer was materially devastating for Lebanon, but the damage to Lebanon’s democracy remains to this day unhealed. (1) 2 Beginning in December of last year and continuing to this day, Hezbollah and other pro-Syrian forces within Lebanon have been engaged in an extra-legal attempt to bring down the government of Prime Minister Fuad Siniora through massive street protests and targeted acts of violence. The proximate cause was the Leba- nese Government’s decision not to shield the Assad regime in Syria, and to support the International Tribunal investigating the death of Rafiq Hariri. In truth, the struggle in Lebanon is much more fundamental. It is about whether the majority or the minority will rule. It is about whether the democratically-elected government or a foreign-backed terrorist mob will govern. It is about whether legitimacy in Leb- anon derives from the consent of the governed, or from the whims of foreign interests expressed through murder. The United States has an enormous stake in the outcome of this struggle. And I am sorry to note that since the Donors’ Conference in January, the Bush administration has been excruciatingly quiet about Lebanon. Based on their history, the Lebanese people have a deep-seated and well-founded fear of abandonment. Unfortu- nately, the lack of regularized public attention to Lebanon by our Executive Branch has done much to validate their concerns. Clearly, the $1 billion of assistance the United States has pledged to Lebanon is nothing to take lightly. I am proud that the House, when it passed the fiscal year 2007 supplemental, included the $770 million the President requested for assistance to the government and armed forces of Lebanon. But more important that our money, though, it is vital, though it is vital, is our steady and clear commitment to Lebanon’s democratically-elected government, to Lebanon’s independence, and to Lebanon’s sovereignty. I have called this hearing for just this rea- son. It is also true that there is a limit to how close Lebanon’s leaders can come to the United States. Thanks in large measure to the policies of the Bush administration, the extent of our nation’s unpopularity makes an American embrace more like the kiss of death for any Lebanese, or indeed any Arab politician. But there are still ways for us to show our support without taint- ing those we mean to help. The most obvious is for the United States to make greater use of the broad international consensus in support of the Lebanese Government. With the Secretary of State now committed to regular travel to the Middle East, it would be more than appropriate for her, while in the region, to arrange regular consultations with other interested nations on the question of how to continue to support the government of Prime Minister Siniora. Moreover, strong consideration should be given to establishing a formal contact group on Lebanon that would include all the donor nations, the moderate Arab States, the United Nations, and the international financial institutions supporting Lebanon’s financial and economic reform process. This group should have regularly scheduled high-level meetings to review and coordinate the provi- sion of aid pledged to Lebanon, to monitor political developments within Lebanon, and to consult on ways to improve the implemen- tation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. 3 I would note here that while the Lebanese armed forces are fi- nally operating in South Lebanon, the regular reports of Hez- bollah’s rearming should give us and the entire international com- munity additional motivation to work aggressively in the present in order to prevent the repeat of last summer’s horror show.

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