U.S. Lawmaker Rejects Aiding Lebanese Army if Hizbullah is ‘Calling the Shots’
A high-ranking Republican legislator has said that the U.S. Congress should cut off funding for the Lebanese army if Hizbullah plays “even a minor role” in Premier-designate Najib Miqati’s government.
Representative Steve Chabot of Ohio, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on the Middle East and South Asia, told The Daily Star in an interview published Friday that Congress should not donate U.S. taxpayer money to Lebanon if the assistance winds up under Hizbullah’s control.
“If Hizbullah is calling the shots or playing a major role or even a minor role in calling the shots, then, as far as I’m concerned, not a penny of U.S. (funding) should go to assist in terrorist-connected activities,” he said.
U.S. President Barack Obama has pledged to give about $100 million to the army this year; since the departure of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005, the U.S. has contributed more than $700 million to the Lebanese military.
“The funding of the Lebanese Armed Forces was initiated under very different circumstances than we find ourselves in now,” Chabot told the English-language newspaper.
“We’ve clearly had a shift in the government and the power,” he said in reference to Miqati’s nomination by the Hizbullah-led alliance to form the new cabinet.
“The spirit of the Cedar Revolution was very strong then … but Hizbullah is flexing its muscles and is clearly very involved now in running things in Lebanon,” Chabot added.
The lawmaker expressed support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and said that justice should prevail in ex-Premier Rafik Hariri’s assassination case.
He said he believed that the Hizbullah-led alliance toppled Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri’s government over fears that the tribunal’s indictment would name Hizbullah members.
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