The Lebanese Army needs Canada's urgent help and support

(Open Letter to Canada's FM, Mr. Peter MaCkay)

By: Elias Bejjani

LCCC Chairman

June 8/07

Dear. Mr. MaCkay

 On behalf of the Lebanese Canadian Coordinating Council , and its affiliated organizations, groups and individuals, and on behalf of those in our community who share with us the same values and principles of peace, democracy and the UN Human Rights Charter, as well as the right of the Lebanese people to a free and dignified life in an independent and secure country under a strong and modern state ruled by law and justice, we extend our gratitude through you and Prime Minister Steven Harper to the Canadian government for the strong, effective and decisive support to the UN resolutions pertaining to Lebanon, foremost among which are resolutions 1559, 1701 and 1775.

We reiterate our support to the policies of your government on the war declared by the Free World against fundamentalist and religious terrorism. We would like to share with you a few matters of concern to the Canadian Lebanese community and offer suggestions as to the assistance that our dear country Canada may provide to support the legitimate Armed Forces of Lebanon:

Your government is fully aware that the war on terrorism, in all its aspects and after September 11, 2001, has become an international war which no free country can claim to be neutral from or reluctant to participate in.

The Lebanese Army has, for the past two weeks and in spite of its very limited capabilities, valiantly confronted one of the most dangerous terrorist and fundamentalist organizations, Fatah Al-Islam, in the Palestinian camp of Nahr Al-Bared in the north of the country. At the same time, the Army has deployed a force of 15,000 troops alongside the UNIFIL forces in the Lebanese south, and has deployed other troops in downtown Beirut where Hezbollah and other Lebanese opposition factions have been conducting a destructive and coup-minded sit-in. The Lebanese Army is also trying to control the borders with Syria, especially in those areas where military camps of the Palestinian rejectionist organizations operating for the Syrian regime are located. Moreover, the Army has had recently to surround the camp of Ain Al-Helweh, the largest Palestinian camp in Lebanon where tens of terrorist organizations have set up shop, including Jund Al-Sham, Fatah Al-Islam, Osbat Al-Ansar, Al-Intifada Fatah, the Ahmad Jibril Group and other Palestinian factions that coordinate with Al-Qaeda and the two Axis of Evil countries Syria and Iran with the objective of undermining the peace process in the Middle East and sow chaos around the world.

Consequently, we request that your honourable government urgently extend assistance to the Lebanese Army in the form of equipment and technology that Canada may have at its disposal and which the Lebanese Army badly needs at the present time. We propose that your government contact the Command of the Lebanese Army and the government of Prime Minister Siniora for coordination.

Mr. Minister, it is the fate of Lebanon, one of the smallest countries of the world, that its army and people fight terrorism on behalf of all free countries. This is why we, here in Canada who have declared war on terrorism, who are proud of our faith in rights, justice, and international peace, and who have effectively contributed in many countries, particularly Afghanistan, we call for not abandoning Lebanon and for urgently providing it with the weapons and technology it needs, while emphasizing that the proper channels be used to ensure that those weapons not fall in the hands of Hezbollah and other similar groups.

It is our hope that the world today will not adopt the same idle – and fatal – attitude it adopted in 2000 when it abandoned the South Lebanon Army that had fought the fundamentalist terrorist groups in south Lebanon for decades. The world then – and there’s the tragedy – undertook to legitimize the terrorist mini-State of Hezbollah in that part of Lebanon after Israel withdrew from it. That part of the country continued to be an active center for terrorism until last summer’s July War which visited devastation upon Lebanon and led to the deployment of the UNIFIL forces along the Lebanese-Israeli borders pursuant to resolution 1701.

Again, we reiterate our appeal to the government of Canada to urgently and promptly extend assistance to the Lebanese Army.

Sincerely,
Elias Bejjani

*Elias Bejjani
Chairman for the Canadian Lebanese Coordinating Council (LCCC)
Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.
Spokesman for the Canadian Lebanese Human Rights Federation (CLHRF)
E.Mail phoenicia@hotmail.com
LCCC Web Site http://www.10452lccc.com
CLHRF Website http://www.clhrf.com