It appears as though France and the United States are working on a UN Resolution demanding Syria stop their occupation of Lebanon:
The United States and France introduced a Security Council resolution Wednesday demanding that 20,000 Syrian troops “withdraw without delay” from Lebanon and that Syria stop meddling in the country’s November elections. It threatens to consider unspecified “additional measures” against Syria to ensure compliance.
The resolution reflects mounting frustration by Washington and Paris that Syria is seeking to rewrite Lebanon’s constitution to guarantee that the country’s pro-Syrian leader, President Emile Lahoud, can remain in power after his six-year term ends on Nov. 24.
After the bloody civil war in Lebanon, Syrian troops essentially invaded the country, and Lebanon has been a client state to Syria ever since. Granted, a UN Resolution is essentially toothless and the resolution will likely not pass – but it is something, and something is better than nothing. For all the disagreements between the United States and France, it’s good to see that we can set aside our differences even if in a small way and support the right of the Lebanese people to once again reclaim their land.
In what way is a toothless U.N. resolution (but I repeat myself) that won’t even pass better than nothing? In fact, it’s worse because it creates the illusion that it is something.
It does let Syria know that the pressure is on. A toothless UN resolution is one thing – but 140,000 American troops next door tends to make a strong message. We can’t move overtly against Damascus for a while, but we certainly can keep the pressure on them in any way we can.
How are you so sure the resolution will not pass? I would say it will. There’s nothing toothless in the U.N if it wasn’t for its largest member to not care about it.
Lebanon has been occupied for to many years with no one saying anything. If one thing was good about having all these american soldiers in Irak, it would be to free Lebanon. I just hope that in this event, Bush and co will not be tempted to move all the way to Damas (which of course the french wouldn’t support).