Thousands mourn Lebanese official killed by car bomb
Members of Lebanese police intelligence division units carry the coffin of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan who was assassinated on Friday by a car bomb, as police officers salute during his funeral procession at the Lebanese police headquarters in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday Oct. 21, 2012. / AP Photo/Hussein Malla
BEIRUT Soldiers carried two flag-draped coffins through a central Beirut square packed with thousands of Lebanese mourners who turned out on Sunday for the funeral of a top intelligence official and his bodyguard. The men were killed in a massive car bombing that many blame on the regime in neighboring Syria.
Soldiers set up road blocks and cordoned off Martyrs Square, where the coffins of Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hassan and his bodyguard were brought for burial.
"We came for Lebanon's future to show that we will not be scared," said Arama Fakhouri, an interior designer from Beirut in the cheering crowd. Many people were shouting that al-Hassan was a martyr who was struck down while trying to protect Lebanon.
Al-Hassan, 47, was a powerful opponent of Syria in Lebanon. He headed an investigation over the summer that led to the arrest of former Information Minister Michel Samaha, a Lebanese politician who was one of Syria's most loyal allies in Lebanon. He was among eight people killed in the attack on Friday.
"He was killed while he was defending his country," said Samer al-Hirri, who traveled from northern Lebanon to attend the funeral.
Ahead of the burial, there was a memorial ceremony attended by government officials and al-Hassan's wife Anna, his two sons, Majd and Mazen, and his parents.
Even before Friday's bombing, the civil war in neighboring Syria had set off violence in Lebanon and deepened tensions between supporters and opponents of President Bashar Assad's regime. The attack heightened fears that Lebanon could easily plunge back into cycles of sectarian violence and reprisal that have haunted it for decades.
France's foreign minister said it was likely that Assad's government had a hand in the assassination. Laurent Fabius told Europe-1 radio that while it was not fully clear who was behind the attack, it was "probable" that Syria played a role.
"Everything suggests that it's an extension of the Syrian tragedy," he said.
Dozens of anti-Syrian protesters erected eight tents near the Cabinet headquarters in central Beirut, saying they will stay until Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government, which is dominated by the Shiite militant group Hezbollah and its allies, resigns. Hezbollah is Syria's most powerful ally in Lebanon, which for much of the past 30 years has lived under Syrian military and political domination.
"The Syrian regime started a war against us and we will fight this battle until the end," said protester Anthony Labaki, a 24-year-old physiotherapist who is a member of the right-wing Phalange Party. He said the protesters will not leave the area until Mikati's government resigns and those behind al-Hassan's killing are uncovered.
Syria's hold on Lebanon began to slip in 2005, when former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, an opponent of Syria, was assassinated in truck bomb along Beirut's Mediterranean waterfront. Syria denied any role. But broad public outrage in Lebanon expressed in massive street protests forced Damascus to withdraw its tens of thousands of troops from the country.
For years after the pullouts, there was a string of attacks on anti-Syrian figures in Lebanon without any trials for those responsible. Assad has managed to maintain his influence in Lebanon through Hezbollah and other allies.
Samaha, the former minister arrested in al-Hassan's investigation, remains in custody. He is accused of plotting a wave of attacks in Lebanon at Syria's behest.
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Any rational person who cares about peace is voting Romney. Consider:
Al Qaida is stronger in more countries now, than they were in 2008.
US alliances that stood for decades are shaky or gone.
Radical Islamic extremists are better off now than they were 4 years ago.
Egypt -
The only lasting foreign policy "success" of the Carter (!) Administration was the Camp David Accords, the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt. That almost lasted 30 years. Now we have: Iranian warships allowed passage through the Suez Canal, Gas pipelines to Israel and Jordan blown up, Al Qaida and others launching attacks from Sinai, Egyptian heavy war material moving into Sinai, and, most disturbing of all, the Egyptian government saying that Camp David needs to be revisited and reevaluated. Hosni Mubarak was with Sadat for the Camp David Accord. Hosni Mubarak was with the United States during Desert Storm. Hosni Mubarak was a facilitator of Israeli Palestinian Peace Talks. Where was Obama, when the Mubarak administration could have used some guidance and support, or even tough some love.
Why did Obama have a hands-off approach when the IRANIAN people rose up against Ahmadinejad in 2009, but a sympathetic approach to the Islamic Brotherhood forces overthrowing Mubarak. Mubarak was no saint. But Morsi is even harder on the press, on women, on minorities, and on peace with Israel.
Obama told Univision that Egypt is not an ally of the United States. This was not the case in 2008. Sadly it may be true now. Mr. Obama's 2009 Cairo SPEECH may have won him a Nobel Peace Prize, but his POLICY failures have pushed peace further away. The fact is, last year the Israeli Embassy in Cairo was overrun,
and this year the embassy of the United States in Cairo was overrun with the Al Qaida flag literally raised over it.
2.Libya -
Like George W. Bush, who succeeding in ousting Saddam Hussein, Obama succeeded in aiding the overthrow of Kaddafi. But what did he do AFTER Kadaffi was out? Good question. For months Obamas diplomats pleaded for better security. It was no secret. They were loud, they were specific. Obama's job as commander in chief was to KNOW what was going on in Libya. This IS the president's job. Not just the State Department's job! Obama's job was to attend those intelligence briefings he skipped. The American people want to know why the Obama administration let down a great American diplomat like Chris Stevens. Where was he for those intelligence briefings he skipped? Let's not even debate how many days (too many) it took Obama's administration to stop blaming a juvenile amatuer YouTube video. What the American People want to know is, where was Obama in the MONTHS before, while BOASTING about Libya in the campaign trail as a foreign policy succcess, while being oblivious to pleas from the US diplomats and security experts on the ground in Libya.
If you want someone to blame, blame Bush for going after Saddam.
Saddam was a evil tyrant, but he stood between extreme islam and the west. Now look at what your boy did.
There are a lot of things the American people want to know.
Because it's an election year, instead of supporting our president in a crisis, your good ole boys chose to criticize his policy and after being the most uncooperative congress in history.
I have this to say about our President. He is a trustworthy man, and as long as I can remember, Republicans have demonstrated they are not.
Vote for President Obama.
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