Pentagon Strategist Urges Non-Stop Pressure to Rescue Lebanon from Syria

Naharnet Beirut, Updated 09 Sep 04, 10:15 A senior Pentagon strategist has urged continuous pressure on Damascus to force President Assad's regime to stop treating Lebanon as a Syrian satellite, amid reports that President Bush planned to add Syria to his self-styled Axis of Evil if he is reelected in November. "We have to keep up the pressure in Lebanon. We have managed to unite with France and seven other U.S. Security Council member-states to pressure Syria into stopping its treatment of Lebanon as a Syrian satellite," said U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, the top architect of the Iraq war. "Lebanon is a state that had proven in the past its ability to rule itself within the framework of a democratic system. It's a tragedy that it cannot manifest this now," Wolfowitz said in a speech marking the third anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington, As Safir reported Thursday. His speech was indicative that the Bush administration would seek another U.S. Security Council resolution next month that may clamp economic and financial sanctions against Syria for defying resolution 1559 and imposing Gen. Lahoud as President of Lebanon for three extra years in violation of the Lebanese constitution.