U.S. Must Act Against Syria To End Killings in Lebanon

How many more deaths in Lebanon will it take before President Bush decides to put his diplomatic muscle where his mouth is?

On Tuesday, another Lebanese opponent of Syria, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, was shot to death in his car, joining a long list of anti-Syrian patriots assassinated, crippled, or severely wounded by hit men in the past three years alone.

Every time it has happened, the American president has come out to repeat a mantra: America stands "squarely" behind the pro-Western Cabinet of Prime Minister Siniora, who is the target of Syrian skullduggery.

But we are way past solidarity here. The Syrians are pretty much in the process of picking off Cabinet ministers of the Siniora government one by one. Their project is to reduce the Cabinet size by one third so as to bring it beneath the legal limit it needs to govern.

As it is, the Syrians and their Iranian friends have induced six ministers loyal to them to quit in the last few weeks and have now killed one, Mr. Gemayel, who belonged to the Lebanese opposition to Syria. They activated their Lebanese understudy, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, to issue fire-breathing threats. All they need to do now is to kill one more Cabinet minister and start some fireworks. That is why condemnations will not do.

In addition, platitudes become indecent when we realize that men close to Mr. Bush are actually suggesting that we negotiate with Damascus.

Over what? Surrender?

This appears to be one conclusion of the blue-ribbon "Iraq Study Group" headed by Bush family friend and consiglière, James Baker III.

Lest we forget the degree of Syrian criminality in Lebanon, let us briefly note some prominent victims of the mayhem:

• A former prime minister, Rafik Hariri, whose convoy of 22 people was blown up in February 2005;

• A journalist, Samir Kassir, who was blown up by a car bomb;

• A politician, George Hawi, killed the same way three weeks later;

• Defense Minister Elias Murr, who was crippled by a car bombing after saying he has been warned to stop criticizing Syria;

• The publisher and editor of An-Nahar newspaper, Gibran Tueni, who was killed by a car bomb,

• And a TV anchorwoman, May Chidiac, who lost her left leg and arm in a car-bombing in September 2005 and continues to anchor her show as a handsome blond amputee.

The degree of Syrian coarseness is evident especially that Mr. Tueni's father — Ghassan Tueni — is a giant figure, incontestably the most distinguished living Arab publisher, editor, and newspaper columnist today and a scion of a Christian Lebanese dynasty that goes back to the Middle Ages.

Hence, when it comes to the likes of the Syrian president, Bashar Al-Assad, it is futile to contemplate further condemnations or conversations. Only muscular actions are appropriate.

Like what, you might ask?

For starters, the vile Syrian ambassador in Washington should be kicked out. A slimy operator, Imad Mustafa has asserted that murders in Beirut are the work of Israel and America. In the past, he went so far as to suggest that America may very well have had a hand in perpetrating the 9/11 attacks against itself, feeding into much of the psychological warfare championed against America in the Islamic world. Instead of leaving him to pollute the airwaves on CNN, he should be immediately expelled.

That's not all.

On his own authority, Mr. Bush should state that America will not hold talks with Syria until those responsible for murders in Lebanon are brought to justice. American oil companies active in Syria should be ordered to pull back immediately. All oil technology of American origin – which is about 60% of what is available globally — should be withheld from Syria.

Furthermore, Syrian officials should be banned from traveling to America and to the European Union. Our close ally and Lebanon's friend, France, could help enforce this.

America and Europe can induce Interpol to place those already cited by the United Nations as having ordered the murder of Mr. Hariri — as of now, they include Mr. Assad's brother, his brother in law, his vice president, and himself — for immediate arrest. Finally, all Syrian assets that are still floating around should be frozen under American pressure.

In short, Syria should be made into a global pariah.