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http://www.dailystar.com.lb/12_07_02/art6.asp Daily Star July 15, 2002 Berri scoffs at threats from American senator bush sees middle east issues �with an israeli eye� Speaker claims Florida Democrat Bob Graham feigned illness to avoid meeting �because he knew me and I knew him� Elie Hourani Daily Star staff Speaker Nabih Berri on Thursday dismissed threats voiced by US Senator Bob Graham earlier this week alleging that terrorist camps were thriving in Lebanon and Syria. The speaker told the president of the Journalists Union, Melhem Karam, that the American threats were nothing new. Berri said that ever since US President George W. Bush came to office, �He has been looking at the area�s issues with an Israeli eye. This is not fair.� Berri pointed out that he did not meet with Graham when he came to Lebanon last week, as Graham, who was indisposed at the time, did not accompany a US Senate delegation that visited his office. The speaker brushed aside the claim that Graham had been ill, commenting that it was �because he knew me and I knew him. So the delegation came and he was not part of it.� Berri added that foreign delegations �come here �loaded� and they �unload� here. But they don�t take anything back from here to objectively �unload� there.� Turning to the country�s economy, he renewed his demand that the government declare an economic state of emergency, a call he first made on Sunday, citing the economic �threat� as outweighing any military dangers. �This threat is the most serious threat facing the country. And we should deal with it as such,� Berri said. As for a proposed �Paris II� conference of donor nations willing to help Lebanon, Berri told Karam that �French President Jacques Chirac is dealing faithfully with Paris II, as if he were Lebanese.� Berri added that Chirac had assured Beirut that Washington would not put obstacles in the way of the conference. �But we told (Chirac) that this wasn�t enough. We want the Americans to take an active part in this conference to make it succeed,� Berri said. Lebanon�s economic crisis was real, Berri added, saying it made no sense to deny it. �We must admit that there is an economic crisis and it concerns all the Lebanese. We should face up to it,� he said. He said the Lebanese were �intelligent people who cannot be outsmarted by the rulers.� He called for telling the Lebanese public the truth without camouflaging worrying facts, citing the example of the agriculture sector. �Up to 42 percent of Lebanese live off agriculture. Despite this fact, (agriculture) is not receiving enough government attention,� said Berri. Some experts put the figure of those who are employed in the sector closer to 10 percent. With regard to the World Maronite Congress in Los Angeles three weeks ago, which saw calls for an immediate Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, Berri said he had been contacted by Muslim expatriates who wanted to hold a conference of their own in response. Berri said he had rejected the idea. �There were contacts among Muslim expatriates in the United States to hold a counter-conference. I thank them for contacting me and I advised them against the idea,� Berri said, adding that he was �opposed to holding a Muslim conference in answer to the Christian one.� �There will not be a Shiite conference in reply to the Maronite one, because one cannot deal with such things this way,� he said. The speaker also criticized the phenomenon of sectarianism, calling it �the AIDS of (Lebanese) politics. �That�s what is undermining Lebanon,� he said. Berri said that, at the time of the Los Angeles conference, he had called on the Maronite patriarch to secure a reconciliation with some of the Maronites who attended the meet, before seeking their reconciliation with Syria. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Autos - Get free new car price quotes http://autos.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
