Hizbullah is terrorist and 100% under Syrian control, Aoun once said

BEIRUT - Alternative Staff

January/February 2006

Kesrouan MP Michel Aoun has always accused his political opponents of corruption turning coat while praising himself for his non-changing views and principles. Some days ago, Aoun held his first meeting with Hizbullah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah and the two parties produced what they called a joint declaration of understanding.

The declaration clearly illustrated a huge shift in the position of the "General" that he and his supporters would never admit. While some of these supporters might agree that Aoun's political stunts are aimed at his election as Lebanon's president, they argue that Aoun's stunt remain inline with his very first political principles and that when Aoun strikes alliances with the different political parties that have been his enemies in the past, he does it after they change their stance and not him.

Alternative publishes below an interview in September 2002 in which Pat Robertson, America's most racist figure, with Aoun on Hizbullah and how Aoun believes that the party has always been a Syrian tool of terrorism. Of course, the interview is published courtesy of the website of Aoun's party, the Free Patriotic Movement. It can be also found on the link http://www.tayyar.org/files/gma2/aoun120902_CPN.htm.

Intro: Syria is a nation which is known to support terrorism, but for years its agenda of subversion in Lebanon, Israel, and elsewhere has gone unchecked. Now Congress may vote on the Syria Accountability Act. To learn more about the persecution of Christians, and the threats posed by Syria, Pat Robertson spoke with General Michel Aoun, the elected Prime Minister of Lebanon who was forced from power when Syrian forces seized control of Lebanon.

PAT ROBERTSON: Just think, Lebanon was a model country, a beautiful country, and the Christians elected the president. The Christians have roughly half of the population of Lebanon, its a little less than 50 percent now. But they are second class citizens, they're being trampled underfoot by the Syrians, and nobody seems to be doing anything about it.

With me is General Michel Aoun who is the former prime minister of Lebanon and the former commander-in-chief of the armed forces. General Aoun, delighted to have you with us on The 700 Club, welcome. Tell me about Hezbollah. We hear about the terrorist group Hezbollah. What relation do they have to Syria?

GENERAL AOUN: Hezbollah is not a separate entity from Syria. It is under the Syrian operational control.

ROBERTSON: The so-called terrorist group is under the operational control of Syria?

AOUN: Yes, 100 percent, no question about that.

ROBERTSON: I understand that Damascus is the headquarters of a number of other terrorist organizations that have received aid and assistance from the Syrians. Can you tell us what they are, those other terrorist organizations?

AOUN: There are about 11 organizations of terrorism in Damascus. Among them, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front and the General Command Front of the Palestinians [Liberation Army], all of them are listed in the United States as classified as terrorist organizations.

ROBERTSON: I understand that there were estimated as many as 10,000 Katyusha rockets that were moved from Syria into Lebanon to reinforce Hezbollah against Israel. Is something like that the case?

AOUN: Yes, since Lebanon was occupied by Syria, they extended the base of their terror operations to Lebanon, and they are stationed in Syria, but they act from the Lebanese territory.

ROBERTSON: Bashir Assad [leader of Syria] made a shocking statement that you called into account. He said that all Israelis are combatants and therefore there's no such thing as an innocent civilian in Israel. Could you comment on that?

AOUN: Yes, during the Arab Summit in Beirut last March, I think, he made this declaration that there is no civilian in Israel, all of them are military.

ROBERTSON: So you can shoot any one of them you want to as a combatant?

AOUN: He did not say it like that directly, but it means that.

ROBERTSON: All right. What happened and how did Syria get control of Lebanon? Lebanon was essentially a Christian country. How did they gain this dominance in the country?

AOUN: They first destabilized the country by opening the Syrian borders to the Palestinians and they came from Syria with the refugees who were stationed in Lebanon. Together they destabilized Lebanon and called it a civil war, but it was not a civil war.

ROBERTSON: Then they came in to stop the so-called civil war that they engendered?

AOUN: They created it. That's what we call in military terminology "indirect strategy." You make a problem and then you come to solve it.

ROBERTSON: What is the danger to world peace? We are engaged in a war on terror and yet the Syrians are in the United Nations Security Council how can that be?

AOUN: Its a big contradiction that we have to solve in the world. Because people, the terrorist regimes, they are still, you know, having good stature in the world. And there are terrorist regimes like Syria that are generating terrorist organizations. Therefore, I propose a plan that first, to disarm the organizations; second, to democratize the regimes; and then to help them to develop their country.

ROBERTSON: What do you think of President Bush's initiative to go against Saddam Hussein to help democratize Iraq? Is that a wise course or not?

AOUN: I would like personally to see that all of the United Nations resolutions be implemented. And if Iraq complies with these resolutions, maybe it would be a happy end for everybody.

ROBERTSON: Okay. What is happening to the Christians? When I was there in 1972, Beirut was the Paris of the Middle East, a beautiful city, and then little by little its been torn asunder. What is the role of a lot of the Christians now? What is being done to them in Lebanon?

AOUN: They are rejected as second class citizens and they don't enjoy liberty and freedom. And they are threatened.

ROBERTSON: We have pictures of Lebanese Christians being beaten by Lebanese soldiers who were apparently in the employ of Syria. How does that happen?

AOUN: There are some collaborators in Lebanon, especially among the politicians. We have a puppet government, and they represent the Syrians instead of representing the Lebanese people. They do everything that they are asked to do. Between those, they have some military units especially organized for that. And between these military units, we have many intelligence agents and they participate all the time to torture and arrest and beat people.

ROBERTSON: Arrest, torturing, and beating, and no more freedom of speech now.

AOUN: No, no more.

ROBERTSON: This resolution is before the Congress, the Syria Accountability Act. What would you like to see done and see America do?

AOUN: First we would like America to support this bill, to vote for it in the Congress and the Senate. And also to pray for the Lebanese, you know, to liberate Lebanon. Because Lebanon is a pluralist society that may help spread the human values all around.

ROBERTSON: You are a man of great courage, and I thank you for being here. Many times your life has been in danger and you have been extremely brave, so thank you very much for being with us. God bless you.

Ladies and gentlemen, what the General was speaking about, there is an initiative now before the United States Congress called the Syria Accountability Act. It is supported by 150 Democrat and Republican sponsors in the House of Representatives and a remarkable 35 sponsors in the Senate. The principal sponsor in the Senate is Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat of California and Senator Rick Santorum, a Republican from Pennsylvania. So it is a bipartisan initiative.

This picture on your screen that you see shows, on the one hand, there is a rally of the Christians to pray and celebrate and mourn with America for its attack on September 11th. And on the right hand side are the Syrians and those opposed to the Christians, burning the American flag. So that's the choice we have.

Folks, this bill is kind of like a no-brainer. But we understand there's a gentleman named Dave Satterfield [U.S. deputy assistant secretary of state for Near East affairs] in the State Department, who is opposed to the Christians in Lebanon. And he wants Lebanon to stay under the Syrian domination. But I don't think one holdover from the Clinton administration should stop a bill that has this kind of broad sponsorship in the Congress.

And I understand the White House is asking Henry Hyde not to bring it forth in the House. But it needs to come out in the House of Representatives, and the President needs to get behind it. He's a Christian and he's against terror and to think that there are 11 terrorist regimes being given sanctuary in Syria, which in turn is tied in with Iran, which in turn is tied in with, I'm sure, Al Qaeda and the other terrorists that have been coming against America.

This is the bill. I think you ought to call not just your congressman, but the White House. This has overwhelming sponsorship. It is called the Syria Accountability Act. I would like you to call the White House and say the President should to stand on the side of the Christians in Lebanon, and get Syria out of Lebanon, and be free as it should be, and have its own government and its own authority as it had for many years. And the Syrians are invaders and they ought to come out of there. The White House phone number is 1-202-456-1414, fax number is 1-202-456-2461.

Or you can write to the White House, and address it President Bush who I know would be on the side of freedom and liberty, and this would be a blow against terror. We want to shut down 10 or 11 terrorist organizations currently headquartered in Syria, if you can believe it, a nation on the United Nation's Security Council. Write or call the White House, also let your congressman or senator know. This needs to get passed. If the State Department doesn't like it, that's tough luck. I think its time we stand up for freedom around the world, and not just kowtow to terrorist regimes who we think might help us somewhere along the way. No way! Syria is bad news and we need to hold them accountable and get them out of Lebanon.