Honoring the Life and Legacy of Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
HONORING THE LIFE AND LEGACY OF FORMER LEBANESE PRIME MINISTER RAFIK HARIRI -- (House of Representatives - February 16, 2005)
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 91) honoring the life and legacy of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, as amended.
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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, today I rise in support of House Resolution 91, introduced by the gentleman from West Virginia (Mr. Rahall) on February 14, 2005, that condemns the terrorist bombing attack that occurred in Beirut, Lebanon, which killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and killed and wounded over 100 others. I and my cosponsors had a hard time writing this resolution with the gentleman from West Virginia, not because there was not an abundance of material, not because the attack was not heinous, but because it is so hard to summarize in a few words on the House floor the devastating effect that his assassination has already had on the people of Lebanon and on this troubled region. As we speak, day after day, the people of Lebanon march in the streets and they chant, ``Syria out. Syria out. Syria, who's next?''
There is no proof that Syria is directly responsible for this assassination, but there is no doubt that Syria has remained in Lebanon far longer either than their mandate or than the agreements under the Taif Accords of 1989. Syria has claimed to be the responsible party in Lebanon for security. Yet even after warnings of the possibility of an attack on these and other leaders who have voiced their opposition to the continued presence of Syria in Lebanon, this heinous attack was allowed to occur.
This resolution calls on all foreign forces in Lebanon to leave the country. This resolution calls on many things. But for today, I would like all of us to remember it calls on a remembrance of the life of a man who had great personal wealth, who had great success, who had been granted even the citizenship of another country in which he had worked but returned to Lebanon, and, at his own expense and at his own peril, campaigned tirelessly for Lebanese citizenship, Lebanese nationality, Lebanon for the Lebanese.
There is little more that we can say. I would hope that all of us would not forget today, and that day after day and month after month we would return to this body and deal with his legacy until his dreams become a reality.
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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, many people today have spoken and many more will insert into the RECORD their comments on the devastation to the Lebanese people of this assassination. I suspect all of us can only sit by in horror and imagine the effect if one of our heads of state running to regain, in this case equivalency of the Presidency in many ways, were to be assassinated by parties unknown who opposed his politics, what a chilling effect that would have on elections.
Mr. Speaker, this spring there will be elections in Lebanon. If I may speak for a moment as best I can, as though I were Rafik Hariri, what would he say here today in order to protect the country he loved so well? I suspect that he would say, ``To the people of the world, to the people of this country, make those elections this spring free and fair. Empower the Lebanese people and their candidates not to be chilled by this terrible event.'' And as the prime mover of the Tai'f Accord, a man who came as a Sunni Muslim to a troubled region and said it does not matter if you are Sunni, Shia, Kurd, Orthodox or Maronite, we must come together, we must put behind us the many sins of the past.
I believe that Prime Minister Hariri would not say ``Do not find out who killed me,'' not for a moment. But I think what he would say is, ``The best memory that you can have, the best way to eulogize me, is to make my country free. Have all foreign forces leave my country, including their secret police. Allow my country to be what it once was and would be again, given the opportunity to be free of foreign influence.''
Mr. Speaker, I believe very strongly that those words, and more, would be from this great man, who cared more about freedom for his people and about peace than he cared about vengeance.
So as Americans we must demand to know who killed this great leader, this selfless servant of the people. But in his name we must also make sure that those elections go forward in a way that presently they will not. We must take the steps to make sure that we do that. I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to craft such legislation or to urge the administration to bring such sanctions and such force to bear that will cause that to happen.
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