press releases 2007

On behalf of the United States of America, I condemn in the strongest terms the murder of the distinguished judge and Member of Parliament Walid Eido, as well as his son, his bodyguards, and others.  I offer my deepest condolences to the Eido family and to the Lebanese Parliament and Lebanon's vibrant independence movement for this terrible loss.  We extend our sympathy to the families of the other victims, and we pray for a speedy and full recovery of those injured.

Unfortunately, Judge Eido and the other victims were only the latest in a terrible series of assassinations, assassination attempts, bombings and other threats.  The pattern is clear:  those who have worked so hard for Lebanese independence and sovereignty have been those targeted.  When one looks at the long, sad list of those killed or intended to be killed in recent years, one sees what they had in common:  a commitment to Lebanon's freedom and unity and a commitment to end the era of Syrian manipulation and control of Lebanon.  Those who murdered Judge Eido intended to silence another voice for Lebanon's liberty and to intimidate others.  While nothing will reverse the deaths of Judge Eido and the others, I am convinced that the murderers will not succeed in preventing the Lebanese from building a strong, independent, democratic state.

There are many in Lebanon and beyond who continue to facilitate, deny, apologize for, or justify Syria's interference in Lebanon.  I hope that the shock of the death of another Member of Parliament -- the fifth killed in cold blood since February 2005 -- will force those people to face reality at last.  They should, in my view, look long and hard at the list of victims and ask themselves the following:  who was so threatened by Judge Eido and other politicians and journalists that those individuals had to be murdered?  In the newspapers yesterday, I was quoted as saying that I did not know what March 14 politicians want:  let me use the heinous crime of Judge Eido's murder to make myself clear:  I do indeed understand what March 14 politicians want:  They want a free, democratic, sovereign, strong, prosperous and united Lebanon. They want a Lebanon where the Lebanese decide what is best for Lebanon.  That is what Judge Eido wanted, and that is apparently the vision that was so threatening to some that they condemned him to death.

The Lebanese I have been privileged to know also want to live in a Lebanon without fear of an assassin's bombs, where a father can go out with his son without fearing his murder.  The international community sympathizes deeply with the Lebanese people's goal to live in freedom and in security.  That is why the international community has been so supportive of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, to end the sad era of impunity for murder.  Let us all work to see that yesterday's victims are the last in Lebanon's nightmare of unsolved, politically-motivated attacks aimed at extinguishing the hope for Lebanon's freedom and unity.  As someone who feels honored to serve my country in a nation I have come to admire, I say:  it is time for the Lebanese and friends of Lebanon alike to stand together and tell those who would use violence and terror against them that they will not achieve their political goals in ways that the Lebanese people themselves reject.