Tyrants and terrorists

By Salah Eissa

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Following the assassination of Rafiq Al-Hariri the issue of Lebanon assumed on a new urgency with all indicators suggesting a Euro-American agreement to increase pressure on Syria to implement Security Council Resolution 1559. If matters worsen and the players involved lose control of the situation, Resolution 1559 could be transferred to Chapter 7 of the UN charter, which allows the organisation to ensure implementation through military force.

The original causes and subsequent developments of the Syrian and Iraqi issues are very different. What they have in common, however, is that the deprivation of democratic freedoms is taken as an excuse for international intervention. They both involve popular movements that either encourage, demand or support -- or at least do not oppose -- intervention. The actions of the Iraqi opposition during Saddam Hussein's rule are no different to Walid Jumblatt's open demands for international protection.

But rather than lead to democracy, international intervention in Iraq produced exactly the opposite: a religious and nationalist extremism. This is what military intervention in Lebanon will likely create.

If we want to avoid a repeat of the Iraqi disaster there is one simple solution: to hold Lebanon's general elections on time (i.e. next May) with international observers to guarantee they are free and fair. This would allow the elected representatives of the Lebanese people to determine a formula to resolve the crisis that would be in the interest of their country.

This week's Soapbox speaker is editor- in-chief of Al-Qahira weekly newspaper.