Thursday, March 31, 2005

What you will not read in the US press? What Bush will not brag about? First, did the Hassan Fattah team of the New York Times report about the peaceful demonstration in front of the US embassy in Lebanon? Or will that conflict with the Bush's and US media's insistince on the validation of the Bush's doctrine? There was rain in Saudi Arabia this year, and the Bush team took credit for that, attributing rain to US bombings in Iraq. Also, I read this exchange in As-Safir today: I shall translate verbatim. It is during a press conference by Rep. David Dreir of California who was visiting Lebanon with an equally ill-informed, have-no-clue, members of Congress:
"Lebanese Reporter: Why do you push for Syrian military withdrawal from Lebanon while you do not pressure Israel for withdrawal from the area of Shib`a Farms?
Congressperson Dreir: The biggest concern that we heard from the ones that we met here, and through out monitoring is that there is Syrian influence prevailing in Lebanon and that produced many problems. And we had the opportunity during our visit to the gravesite of the martyr prime minister Rafiq Hariri to see the students there in the Martyrs' Square. And the message that they sent was clear and loud, and it is the demand for freedom of expression, and this is an essential matter after the Syrian influence was prevailing in Lebanon.
Lebanese Reporter: What about the continued occupation of the region of Shib`a Farms:
Congresspperson Dreir: Discussions continue on this matter. And what we focus on currently regarding Lebanon is the conducting of parliamentary elections according to its constitutional schedule...."