Syria-Lebanon Pact

I must say I think your editorial of May 24 (“Reading Between the Treaty Lines: Syria-Lebanon pact may not threaten Israel�) largely misses the point. The main questions raised by this so-called “cooperation pact� should not be centered on Israel’s security. Israel can take care of itself. The real significance of this “pact� is that it is perhaps one of the last tolls of the bell knelling the death of Lebanon as an independent nation.

Few realistic observers would argue that the Lebanese government of President Elias Hrawi is anything more than an obedient Syrian puppet, and this new pact signals a crucial victory for Syrian President Hafez Assad in his patient but determined effort to gain total control of Lebanon. It gives Assad a dangerous and unprecedented political pretext for the continued occupation of Lebanon.

The language of Assad at the signing of the pact (“We say that we are one people in two separate states�) is chilling in its disregard for Lebanese sovereignty, and one cannot help but recall similar assertions by Saddam Hussein on his right to Kuwait. However, while Assad is at least equally as ruthless as Hussein, he will not repeat in Lebanon the same mistakes the brash Hussein made in Kuwait. Assad prefers a subtle if more insidious approach: to gradually infiltrate the entire country.

While Lebanon in the last 16 years has become a symbol of suffering and hopelessness to the outside world, it nevertheless remains a beautiful nation of rich cultural, geographical and historical diversity. It also remains home to some 4 million people, the great majority of whom cherish their sovereignty and are deeply wary of the territorial ambitions of Syria.

PETER RAMMING, Santa Monica