General Michel Aoun reply to president Bush

[Malak]

General Michel Aoun reply to president Bush:
the lebanese desire to change government is at heart of America's values

November 2, 2006
General Michel Aoun Press Office

IN RESPONSE TO PRESIDENT BUSH’S STATEMENT GIVING HIS FULL SUPPORT TO THE SINIORA GOVERNMENT, FORMER PRIME MINISTER MICHEL AOUN ISSUED THE FOLLOWING STATEMENT: It is unfortunate that the highest levels of the American government have been penetrated with misinformation alleging that we—those who fought longest and hardest for Lebanon’s independence from Syria—are now trying to bring back Syrian tutelage over Lebanon. It is our sincere hope that America will recognize such misinformation for what it is: Manipulation and deception from former Lebanese operatives for Syria whose only interest is the maintenance of their own positions of power. The history of those who taunt us in foreign capitals would be empty if not for corruption and submission.
We, on the other hand, represent only the interests of Lebanon and the Lebanese people. We refuse the notion that our adherence to our sovereignty, liberty and independence means that we must harbor animosity and hatred toward others. We seek friendship with everyone and submission to no one. We are and will remain truly independent, and we will freely conduct our affairs without any external imposition, neither Eastern nor Western. Our path toward genuine democracy and freedom in Lebanon will not be sidetracked by those whose real purpose is to defame us.
After 1½ years, the Siniora government has proven that it cannot deliver any worthwhile reform to the Lebanese people, nor any valuable achievement to the international community or human welfare. It is time for the U.S. Administration to realize that the desire for a new government in Lebanon comes from the Lebanese people. If the U.S. truly desires democracy, then let it not lend its support to an unrepresentative government which came about as a result of a Syrian-imposed electoral law, and let it work together with all, I mean all, Lebanese to achieve a government by the Lebanese people, of the Lebanese people, and for all the Lebanese people.
The desire of the Lebanese to replace a government which has brought nothing but instability, corruption, and debt upon the Lebanese people, and to replace it with a new and truly representative government of unity and reconciliation, should not be looked upon with suspicion, but rather, with pride and support. Such desire is at the heart of America’s values. I ought not be the one invoking the American Declaration of Independence, which says: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed…[W]henever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government...[W]hen a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”