press releases 2008
Comments at the Farewell Dinner Hosted by Prime Minister Siniora, Grand Serail
January 18, 2008
Prime Minister, thank you for this evening. Prime Minister, I am deeply moved by your words and by the friendship that you and the others around this table have extended to me over the past three and a half years. Thank you for gathering people whom I admire and whom I now am honored to consider not only as colleagues but, more importantly, friends. At the same time, I am sorry that this is a week in which, once again, Lebanon is mourning for those killed simply because the Lebanese want an independent and normal country.
As I was reminded this week when the attack came fairly close to home, I frankly am in awe of the courage with which each one of you face each day. I am humbled when I recall the sacrifices that these cabinet ministers have made for Lebanon. Is there any other cabinet in the world in which two ministers have survived assassination attempts, one was murdered, a fourth is the widow of an assassinated president, and all must take extraordinary security precautions in order to conduct the business of the state? I cannot begin to describe my deep admiration for each one of you. I feel like a very small person next to the large people around this table.
Prime Minister, I remember the first invitation you extended to me. On December 10, 2004, you kindly included me -- still inexperienced and "green," as we say, after only four months in Lebanon -- at a farewell dinner for French Ambassador Philippe LeCourtier, in your house on Bliss Street. Rafiq Hariri was there.
You may remember that Rafiq Hariri took me out on your balcony for a chat. This was part of an extended conversation that I had with Prime Minister Hariri over a six-month period and that took place in the Serail, in Faqra, in Qoreitem, by phone, and -- on that unseasonably warm December night over three years ago -- on your Bliss Street terrace. As you all know better than I do, Prime Minister Hariri's ambitions for Lebanon were enormous, and he used this extended conversation to sketch out for me a vision for an international partnership that would support Lebanon, that would help restore decision making for Lebanon to the Lebanese people.
With the crime and tragedy of Rafiq Hariri's murder, it has fallen, Prime Minister, to you and this cabinet to implement this vision of an independent Lebanon. If anything, the political, financial, and security challenges you have faced have been even greater than Prime Minister Hariri anticipated. And yet you and this cabinet have created an unprecedented regional and international partnership to support Lebanon and the aspirations of the Lebanese people.
In an environment in which some are shamelessly trying to cripple the institutions of the state, it is sometimes easy to forget the astonishing success that you and this cabinet have had in establishing an international agenda for Lebanon. What your friends in the international community describe as our successes were actually defined and inspired by you and your colleagues, who consistently articulated a clear and compelling case for Lebanon.
Only a year ago, Paris III exceeded expectations in overall financial support for Lebanon. The seven points that you delivered in July 2006, Prime Minister, became building blocks for UN Security Council Resolution 1701, ending a war and expanding UNIFIL. The Special Tribunal developed directly from a request from this cabinet and has been shepherded along by this cabinet. Emergency support for the LAF and the long-term international commitment to the LAF and ISF are a direct result of the case made by this cabinet. In short, you all deserve the credit for creating and sustaining the regional and international partnership for Lebanon, and you successfully established the agenda that we followed.
Let me take the example of the United States and how our own approach to Lebanon has changed. I often speak publicly of the billion dollar commitment we extended to Lebanon over the past 18 months. This sum is attributable directly to the credibility of this cabinet. But that assistance is actually a by-product of a far more significant change. Prime Minister, you and your colleagues have revolutionized the way the United States looks at Lebanon. We once viewed Lebanon through the prism of our regional policies. Lebanon was part of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Lebanon fell under our policy vis-à-vis Syria. Lebanon was a small piece of a larger regional puzzle.
Now, besides seeing Lebanon in the context of those other issues, we also see Lebanon as Lebanon. In addition to our other regional policies and objectives, we now have a Lebanon policy that is focused on Lebanon. Prime Minister, you and your cabinet deserve credit for focusing us on independent Lebanon as a policy goal in its own right, for probably the first time in our bilateral history. This is an incredible legacy that you leave for all of our successors, Lebanese and American. When I hear people talk about this cabinet being in the service of the United States, I can only shake my head in wonder at such brazen attacks: instead of listening to us, this cabinet has, in fact, moved us, enlisting the power and prestige of the United States on behalf of Lebanon.
I appreciate that some of you have expressed regret that I am leaving Lebanon during a critical transitional phase. I am touched that you see me as having made a positive contribution here. (I'm not sure everyone in Lebanon agrees!) But U.S. policy is not just Jeff Feltman, and the U.S. Embassy is not just Jeff Feltman. The U.S. commitment to Lebanon -- the commitment that all of you did so much to establish -- is strong, enduring, and bipartisan.
And I assure you that my own commitment to Lebanon means that I will do whatever I can, wherever I am, to continue to promote the goals we have defined during my tour here. Prime Minister, thank you again for hosting this evening. To all of you, thank you for your friendship and support over nearly three and a half tumultuous years. I wish you and Lebanon the best.
