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Bush: No patience for Syria's Assad |
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Written by News Editor
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Thursday, 20 December 2007 |
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WASHINGTON (AFP) — US President George W. Bush on Thursday ruled out direct talks with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, saying his "patience ran out" on the Syrian leader "a long time ago."
"So if he's listening, he doesn't need a phone call, he knows exactly what my position is," Bush said at a year-end press conference, after being asked whether he would talk to Assad to work on ending Lebanon's political crisis.
"My patience ran out on President Assad a long time ago, and the reason why is because he houses Hamas, he facilitates Hezbollah, suiciders go from his country into Iraq and he destabilizes Lebanon," said Bush.
The president said he was particularly vexed by what he said were Syria's continued alleged efforts to foment instability in Lebanon, despite having withdrawn troops from there in April 2005.
"It is very important that Lebanon's democracy succeed," Bush said.
"I worked with the French to get Syria out of Lebanon, and Syria needs to stay out of Lebanon. Syria needs to let the process in Lebanon work."
Earlier Thursday, Syrian Foreign Ministe0r Walid Muallem accused Washington of blocking what he said were Syrian and French efforts to end the Lebanese deadlock.
"The United States is not supporting the inter-Lebanese agreement," Muallem said in Damascus, adding that he regretted France had not distanced itself more from US efforts to block a solution.
"They want the (parliamentary) majority to monopolise the political decision-making process, instead of, as we and the French believe, all the parties being treated equally."
He said a proposed Damascus-Paris solution aimed to agree a declaration of three principles; election of the army chief, General Michel Sleiman, after amending the constitution; formation of a national unity government and a fair rewriting of the electoral law.
In reaction, Lebanese Information Minister Marwan Hamadeh said Muallem's remarks were "deceptive."
"As usual, the Syrian minister is fooled by his own deceptiveness, believing that it is still the era when Syria formed Lebanese governments," Hamadeh said in Beirut.
"The Lebanese will elect their president free of any foreign intervention (and) will not accept any compromise that brings their institutions into question."
Anti-Syrian politicians in Beirut have accused former powerbroker Damascus of being behind a wave of assassinations that have rocked Lebanon since October 2004, when Hamadeh himself was targeted, a charge Syria has vociferously denied.
The assassinations, including that of former premier Rafiq Hariri in February 2005, have unleashed the greatest period of turmoil since the upheaval of Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war.
In the most recent of those attacks, a car bombing killed top Lebanese army General Francois El-Hajj earlier this month.
Hajj, 54, had been tipped to replace General Sleiman.
Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud's term ended without a successor in place.
The government and the opposition have agreed on Sleiman as a compromise candidate to replace Lahoud but remain at odds over the election process and the shape of a new government.
Bush on Thursday urged them to resolve their differences.
"I appreciate the sides trying to work on a common ground for a president, but if they can't come for agreement, then the world ought to say this: that the March 14th coalition can run their candidate in their parliament, majority- plus one ought to determine who the president is, and when that happens, the world ought to embrace the president."
The March 14th coalition is the pro-Western majority in parliament.
Bush's remarks came as he prepared to head to the Middle East next month, mostly to advance the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
"I want to continue to work with our Arab friends on reconciliation with Israel," Bush said at his press conference.
He added that he hopes during the trip to be able "to ensure people in the Middle East that we understand" and to demonstrate America's "strong commitment to the security of the region and ... to the security of our friends.
"It is going to be a great trip," the US president said.
The president's January 8 to 18 trip -- his first to Israel and the West Bank -- also will take him to Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, and comes on the heels of a peace conference he launched in Annapolis, Maryland late last month. |
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