``In the context of international legality and a new (U.S.-led) world order, they can get Syria to withdraw. They did it for everyone else, why don't they do it for Lebanon?'' Aoun asked in an interview with Reuters.
``Who can do it? Those who attacked Iraq after it invaded Kuwait, those who went to Kosovo and to Timor, all those who want to apply international law can do it,'' said the Maronite Christian leader who lives in exile in Paris.
A former prime minister, Aoun arrived in France in 1992, almost a year after being ousted from power by Syrian forces who bombarded his headquarters in Lebanon's presidential palace. He had initally taken refuge in the French embassy in Beirut.
Aoun was critical, however, of the United States, who he said acquiesced to Syrian control over Lebanon where it is now the only foreign military power after Israel's hurried overnight withdrawal under pressure from Iranian-backed Lebanese Moslem fundamentalist guerrillas. Syria has 35,000 troops in Lebanon.
``Is it logical that the United States should back Syria in Lebanon and simultaneously keep Syria on its list of terrorist nations?'' he said.
Aoun said he wanted to appeal to U.S. public opinion but Washington had twice refused his requests for a visa.
``They don't want to upset the Syrians so they treat me like a terrorist too,'' he said.
He was scathing about Lebanon's current government which he described as Syrian ``puppets, a stooge government.''
``The government distinguished itself yesterday (in southern Lebanon) by its absence.
``The whole region is now under the arbitrary rule of Hizbollah (Shi'ite Moslem guerrillas) which is not a solution for the Lebanese people who need regular Lebanese troops to control the situation and apply Lebanese law,'' he said.
The ``Lebanese state must express its sovereignty over the whole of the country.'
Aoun's backers in Lebanon, members of the Liberal National Current (LNC), held a series of demonstrations in Beirut last month to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops.
The LNC, a mainly student organisation that existed throughout the 1990s, became more active as Israel announced its plans to pull out of Lebanon this year.
Syria has been the main power broker in Lebanon since 1976 when its forces entered as peacekeepers during the civil war which lasted from 1975-1990.