Dominoes Falling: Lebanese Government Resigns, All of Them!

Recently, hundreds of thousands, if not millions had demonstrated against Syria and its attempt to re-take Lebanon through a puppet government. The people have spoken and it worked. Effective today, the entire Lebanese government, and much of the legislature, have offered to resign. No doubt they feared American intervention, or an internal revolution that would have left them imprisoned, on trial, or executed.

Here's the link. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,148962,00.html

Here's the article:


Lebanese Gov't Resigns Amid Protests
Monday, February 28, 2005

BEIRUT, Lebanon — With shouts of "Syria out!," more than 25,000 flag-waving protesters massed outside Parliament on Monday in a dramatic display of defiance that forced the resignation of Lebanon's prime minister and Cabinet two weeks after the assassination of an opposition leader.
Cheering broke out among the demonstrators in Martyrs' Square when they heard Prime Minister Omar Karami's (search) announcement on loudspeakers that the government was stepping down. Throughout the day, protesters handed out red roses to soldiers and police.
"It is the first victory, but it will not be the last," opposition leader and former information minister Ghazi al-Areedh told the crowd in a scene broadcast live around the Arab world.
But in the northern port of Tripoli, Karami's hometown, about 50 supporters angered by his resignation shot pistols in the air and blocked a street in front of his office.
However, opponents drove around the city, honking in joy.
Many in Lebanon accuse Syria (search) and Karami's government of being behind the slayings of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (search) and 16 others in a huge Feb. 14 bombing, pressing hard in the two weeks since for the government to resign and for Syria to withdraw its roughly 15,000 troops positioned in Lebanon (search).
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"We want no other army in Lebanon except the Lebanese army!" protesters chanted, climbing the martyrs' statue and praying before candles at Hariri's flower-covered grave, which lies at the piazza's edge.
Syrian President Bashar Assad said in a newspaper interview published Monday that he would not withdraw troops from Lebanon until Damascus had guarantees and there was overall "peace" in the region. Syrian intelligence agents also are present through much of the country and could be used to crack down on the opposition movement.
In Washington, the White House praised the resignation of Karami's government, saying it opens the door for new elections "free of all foreign interference" from neighboring Syria.
"We are closely watching developments with great interest," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "The resignation of the Karami government represents an opportunity for the Lebanese people to have a new government that is truly representative of their country's diversity."
Karami's Cabinet will continue as a caretaker government. The next step is for the president to appoint a prime minister after consulting with parliament members. The new prime minister consults parliamentary blocs to form a Cabinet that must withstand a parliamentary vote of confidence.
Karami had replaced the billionaire Hariri, credited with playing a key role in rebuilding Lebanon after its devastating 1975-1990 civil war.
"Today the government fell. Tomorrow, it's the one huddled in Anjar," opposition leader Elias Atallah told the crowd to cheers, referring to the Syrian intelligence chief based in the eastern Lebanese town of Anjar. He said the opposition will continue its actions until all demands are met.
The protesters went further, immediately shouting for the resignation of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.
"Lahoud, your turn is coming!" they said.
Speakers urged demonstrators to stay put, saying the leaders of the security services also must be ousted.
"The heads of security agencies are responsible for what happened in this country and they must pay," legislator Ghattas Khoury said. "Do not leave this square before they resign."
Others in the sea of red, white and green flags chanted, "Syria Out!" and "Freedom, sovereignty, independence!" Many wore the red bandanas adopted by the opposition in what has been termed a peaceful "independence uprising."
The protest continued after nightfall, complete with images broadcast on a large video screen, a scene that recalled anti-government protests in Ukraine late last year. Banners proclaimed in English: "United We Stand, Divided We Fall."
Lahoud's six-year term was renewed in September by Parliament, under apparent Syrian pressure to change the constitution, which banned further terms. A U.N. resolution demanded Lebanon hold presidential elections, Syrian troops pull out of Lebanon and Syria stop interfering in Lebanese affairs.
"The battle is not over. It is just beginning. We want to know who killed Prime Minister Hariri," opposition legislator Faris Saeed said to demonstrators.
The crowd, some flashing "V for victory" signs, responded loudly and in unison: "Syria! Syria!"
Assad said in remarks published Monday that a Syrian troop withdrawal depended on achieving peace in the Middle East.
"Under a technical point of view, the withdrawal can happen by the end of the year," Assad told the Italian newspaper La Repubblica. "But under a strategic point of view, it will only happen if we obtain serious guarantees. In one word: peace."
The Bush administration Monday demanded anew that Syria comply with a U.N. resolution to pull its troops out of Lebanon and stop interfering in Lebanese affairs.
"Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel need to leave the country," McClellan said. "That will help ensure that elections are free and fair."
The Syrian troops were deployed ostensibly as peacekeepers during the civil war.
U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Satterfield met Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud on Monday to reiterate Washington's demand for a withdrawal of Syrian forces.
One analyst raised fears of a return to the dark days of the civil war, which killed more than 150,000 people.
"The government had to stand down without a doubt to at least acknowledge their failure to protect someone of regional and international stature (Hariri), but to tender their resignation in the climate of Lebanon today may very likely escalate things," said As'ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese political science professor at California State University-Stanislaus.
"This won't be Ukraine of 2004, but maybe Lebanon of 1975," he said, referring to the days when Lebanon was wracked by constitutional crises and political disputes.
Interior Minister Suleiman Franjieh had banned all protests Monday on grounds of "supreme national interests." The security forces cordoned off Martyr's Square early in the morning, but they made no serious effort to disperse the demonstrators, many of whom had slept in the square.
Some soldiers and police even sympathized with the protesters and were seen advising newcomers on how to evade the cordon.
During the parliament session, legislators stopped their debate and stood for a moment of silence at 12:55 p.m., the exact time Hariri died two weeks earlier. Hariri's sister, legislator Bahiya Hariri, addressed the parliament in black and called on the government to resign.
"All the Lebanese want to know their enemy, the enemy of Lebanon who killed the martyr Rafik Hariri, those who took the decision, planned and executed it, those who ignored and prevented the truth from coming out," Bahiya Hariri said, holding back tears