Monday, February 28, 2005

Lebanon Government Dissolves Itself

Filed under: World Scene by Chad at 1:26 pm CST
;Courtesty of the Jerusalem Post
 

Following the developments in Lebanon has truly been a miraculous scene. While thousands of protestors took to the streets demanding Syria withdraw its estimated 15,000 soldiers from Lebanon, international pressure upon Syria remains. What no one expected though, at least this soon, was for the Syrian backed Lebanese government to step down.

Prime Minister Omar Karami announced his government’s resignation Monday, prompting a cheer from more than 25,000 flag-waving opposition demonstrators protesting against the government and its Syrian backers near parliament.

“I am keen that the government will not be a hurdle in front of those who want the good for this country. I declare the resignation of the government that I had the honor to head. May God preserve Lebanon,” Karami said.

In an act that some pundits are already comparing to the Berlin Wall being destroyed, this clearly is a remarkable turn of events for not only the Lebanese people, but for the entire world. The Lebanese people went to the streets to demand their government enable them to live free and the government stepped down in order for the process to begin. This is history in the making.

Let’s recap what has happened in the Middle East over the last two months. First the Palestinians held their own democratic elections. Next the Iraqis streamed to the polls to elect a representative body responsible for writing the country’s constitution. Saudi Arabia held elections for lower level government positions. Within the past two days alone, Egyptian President Mubarak has declared his intentions to open up Egypt for presidential candidates and the Lebanese people forced a pro-Syrian government out of office. Freedom is on the march.

Will this be the domino that pushes more democratic reform in the Middle East? In reality, the domino was the Iraqi election. Since that day millions in countries in the Middle East have witnessed what promise democracy can bring and the democratic whispers have started turning into louder voices. They are all voices that need to be heard and voices that have long been silenced. Provided the international community can provide direction and support, the dominos will continue to fall.

A few pundits have already weighed in on whether or not this is vindication of President Bush’s foreign policy. It is to a degree, but Bush’s foreign policy in his first terms was not one of spreading democracy. Bush’s plan for the past three years was to install democracy into Iraq. This is done. It was believed that once Iraq welcomed democracy other countries in the Middle East would start their own political transformations to democracy. We are seeing that now.

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