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Coercion
does not cause real change
Syria
has had troops in Lebanon for nearly three
decades. But the times they are a-changin',
and the Lebanese are showing Syria and the
world they want self-rule. The impending
end of occupation is a real lesson in self-started
democracy, and the United States had little
to do with it. We can help create democracy,
but this demonstrates where real change
comes from.
Admittedly,
there was the Syria Accountability and Lebanese
Sovereignty Restoration Act. Passed by both
the Senate and the House in the middle of
2003, it was signed by President George
W. Bush in December 2003. It was, however,
little more than a standard case of pressuring
a country to do America's bidding. The usual
litany of "do nots" were included,
such as "do not use their banks"
and "do not sell them anything they
can use as a weapon." These standard
sanctions always give a boost to spark imports,
but don't do anything useful.
The
wonderful "go democracy" part
of it was the statement that Syria needs
to remove its 19,000 troops and secret police
from Lebanon. That's an idea we can all
get behind, but the House and Senate have
said it in seven separate bills since 1990.
A perfect case of much talk with little
said.
Legislation
and officious statements aside, what got
the Lebanese into the streets and started
moving the Syrians towards the door was
the assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafik Hariri a month ago. He was killed
in a Feb. 14 bombing in Beirut's seafront
district.
A
whodunit worthy of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle,
there's no shortage of potential suspects.
But it's not the characters who make this
show so interesting. It's the result.
The
Lebanese took to the streets by the tens
of thousands. Yesterday, the New York Times
reported that several hundred thousand citizens
packed downtown Beirut in an event described
as "what was probably the largest demonstration
ever seen in Lebanon."
These
protests are pressuring the Syrian government
to leave far more effectively than any American
sanctions or grandiloquent statements of
principle. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
has gone so far as to agree to set a timeline
for the Syrian exodus. The New York Times
has also reported there will be an April
7 meeting between the two countries to get
a hard-and-fast time on when the last Syrian
will leave.
It's
splendid that America wants to promote democracy
in the Middle East, but to paraphrase T.S.
Eliot, they will do as they do, and there's
no doing anything about it. We cannot bring
a carrot and a stick to the region and think
the might and glory of America will bring
democracy into the hearts of the natives.
America
can help freedom lovers in any country by
giving them guns or money. It's a worthy
concept, but it's not as effective as our
government would like to believe.
Until
people actually want democratic self-rule,
nothing will change. It's simple. Real change
comes from within.
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