Bush Welcomes Progress Achieved at Rome Conference on Lebanon
27 July 2006
Conference opened "diplomatic way forward," president tells reporters
Washington – President Bush expressed satisfaction with the outcome of the July 26 Rome conference of the Lebanon Core Group, saying it laid the groundwork for further diplomatic action.
“Yesterday's meetings were successful in this way: It showed a diplomatic way forward,” Bush told reporters at a July 27 press availability in Washington.
Foreign ministers from 15 nations and representatives of three international organizations met in Rome to discuss a solution to the two-week-old conflict between Israel and Hizballah militants. (See related article.)
Recapping the conference with reporters en route to Malaysia July 26, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice outlined the United States’ basic objectives going into the meeting.
She said she hoped to achieve agreement that the solution to the crisis lies in the extension of Lebanese government sovereignty over its entire territory, the disbanding of all militias and the introduction of a U.N.-mandated international stabilization force. She also sought an international commitment to provide humanitarian aid and reconstruction assistance to Lebanon.
“I was very heartened by the consensus around the table … about what the elements [of the solution] are. And I will now work with the parties to see if we can get this resolved,” she said.
The secretary said an immediate cease-fire is not a solution to the problem.
“[T]he fields of the Middle East are littered with broken cease-fires. And every time there's a broken cease-fire, people die, there's destruction, and there's misery,” she said. “We need to try, this time, to put together an international effort that sustains an end to the violence.”
President Bush expressed complete agreement with Rice’s statement, saying the United States does not want “a fake peace” that allows the problem to arise again.
“[N]ow is the time to address the root cause of the problem. And the root cause of the problem is terrorist groups trying to stop the advance of democracies,” he said.
“I view this as a clash of forms of government. I see people who can't stand the thought of democracy taking hold … in the Middle East. And as democracy begins to advance, they use terrorist tactics to stop it,” he said.
Speaking to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in Washington July 27, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Hizballah simply would take advantage of a temporary cease-fire.
“History shows us that it would only allow them time to regroup and plan their next wave of kidnappings and attacks against Israel,” he said.
Rice said she expects the United Nations will hold a meeting in the coming week to discuss the composition of an international stabilization force. She said the United States likely would not contribute combat forces.
In his Senate testimony, Bolton outlined a number of issues that must be taken into consideration as the United Nations creates the new multinational force.
“Would the new force be empowered to deal with the real problem, namely Hizballah? How would such a force deal with Hizballah armed components, and would it be empowered to deal with arms shipments from countries like Syria and Iran that support Hizballah? How would the new force relate to the existing U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, which already has been there for 28 years? Finally, would such a force contribute to the institutional strength to the Lebanese Armed Forces [LAF] to help fully implement Resolution 1559?” he said.
U.S. officials have stated repeatedly that Syria and Iran bear a large responsibility for the current crisis because of their financial and strategic support for Hizballah, but Rice dismissed the idea that either country should be involved in the resolution of the conflict.
“It needs to be between Lebanon and Israel with international support,” she said. She said Syria’s obligations with regard to Lebanon are clearly outlined in U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 and that Iran should understand that any effort on its part to undermine a peaceful resolution of the conflict will deepen its international isolation.
Rice said that the recent spread of democratic movements in the Middle East means that circumstances there have changed since the last crisis of this nature. She said the international community must take this into account in crafting a response.
“[T]he Middle East is different now and we do not want to undermine … the different Middle East by the way that we resolve this situation. This needs to strengthen the elected Lebanese government and everybody needs to keep that in mind,” she said.
Rice said the ultimate goal of the process must be “a Lebanon that can control its own territory, a Lebanon [where] … the government has a monopoly on arms, so you don't have armed militias crossing the blue line and provoking attack, and a Lebanon that is then sustained through economic assistance and reconstruction. That's the path.”
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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