Annan: Assad OKs Complete Lebanon Exit

If Assad is serious then this is a major accomplishment for the severely tarnished and corrupted United Nations. As I've stated in previous columns, if the UN and the EU want a legitamate say in world affairs seperate and apart from the United States then they have to earn it by producing results. The EU has to stop the Iranians from building a nuclear bomb and the UN has to stop genocide from occuring. As in the case of Syria or in recent history Iraq, the UN has to back up its resolutions or their words will be singularly meaningless. As much as I criticize the UN and EU, there needs to be a balance of power in the world or, as we've seen in the Terry Schiavo case, the ruling party seems to go insane within record time. The US, God bless her, cannot be allowed to be the only superpower making semi-unilateral decisions in the world that seemingly only benefit the American business class. However, I'm not comfortable with giving up power to paper tigers in the name of political correctness or expediency because then we will surely have a repeat of the 1919 scenario that eventually led to World War II. This story as well as a few others gives me some degree of hope that the UN and the EU may actually rise to the occasion and become legitamate powerbrokers in the global community.

This from the AP: ALGIERS, Algeria (AP) -- U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said Tuesday that Syria's president has agreed to present a firm timetable by early April for a full withdrawal of his country's troops and intelligence agents from Lebanon.

Annan announced the commitment from President Bashar Assad after talking with the Syrian leader on the sidelines of the Arab League summit where the region's leaders largely sought to skirt the major issues facing the Middle East.

"The withdrawal has begun and it continues," Annan told reporters. "He's working out a timetable in consultation with the Lebanese authorities and will withdraw his troops completely into Syrian territory. Not just the troops but also the security service, as well as all the logistical and material equipment to Syria."

In recent weeks, Syria has pulled back its troops and intelligence agents into eastern Lebanon toward the border, while facing strong international pressure and widespread street protests in Lebanon demanding a withdrawal from the neighboring nation it has dominated for decades.

"We are going to work with him to ensure that it is done," Annan said.

Syria suggested previously that a date for a full withdrawal would be set at an April 7 meeting between Syrian and Lebanese military officers.

Officials of Lebanon's pro-Syria government have said 4,000 of the 10,000 soldiers that Syria had in Lebanon already have left the country and the others are now concentrated in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon.

Besides the turmoil in Lebanon, the Arab world has seen signs of other deep-running change in recent months.

After national elections, Iraqis are struggling to put together a new government, one that will likely be the only one led by Shiite Muslims among the Arab League nations. Elections also have been held by the Palestinians and, on the local level, in Saudi Arabia - and Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak is promising a multi-candidate election for president.

But the mood was defensive among the 13 heads of state from the Arab League's 22 members who attended the summit. Other leaders stayed away because of health reasons or personal disputes, sending lower-level representatives.

The host, Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, rejected U.S. pressure for democratic reform in the Middle East - a region where most countries are dominated by autocratic regimes.

He said Arab nations are making changes at their own pace. "These reforms were not and will not be imposed on us. We implemented them willingly and out of conviction," he said.

At last year's summit, the leaders said they would sign a pledge on democratic reform, but that never took place.

Ahead of this summit, Arab leaders rejected a Jordanian proposal for a sharp change in the Arab strategy in dealing with Israel, offering the Jewish state normal relations without it first returning land as Arab nations have traditionally demanded.

"This shouldn't be," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said. "It should be commitment for commitment. Then we can reach a balanced peace and close the issues of the conflict in order to establish relations in parallel with the withdrawal and the establishment of a Palestinian state."

Still, several Arab nations, particularly Morocco, Qatar and Oman, are considering reviving or upgrading ties with Israel.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said the only way to solve Arab-Israeli difference is through negotiations. "A position that says we will not talk to you until we solve all the problems is self defeating," he said.

The two-day summit, which ends Wednesday, is expected to reiterate a Saudi Arabian peace initiative, first approved in 2002, that offers diplomatic relations with Israel only in exchange for its full withdrawal from occupied Arab territory, the creation of a Palestinian state and settlement of the Palestinian refugee issue.

Iraq heard words of support, but no solid gestures of help. "Iraq is threatened in its stability and lives in a situation where Arab help is needed," Moussa said.