Secretary Clinton In Beirut to Promote Free/Fair Elections

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, shakes hands with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, right, at the Lebanese Presidential Palace, in Baabda east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday April 26, 2009

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Lebanon today ahead of important elections set to take place in that country:

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says the United States will never sell out the Lebanese people by making any deals with neighboring Syria.

Speaking to reporters Sunday in Beirut after holding meetings with Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Clinton said Lebanon is an independent, free, sovereign nation and the United States won’t endanger that in any Middle Eastern negotiations involving Damascus.

I want to assure any Lebanese citizens, that the United States will never make any deal with Syria that sells out Lebanon and the Lebanese people, Clinton said. You have been through too much, and it is only right that you are given a chance to make your own decisions, however they turn out, amongst the people who call Lebanon home, who love this country, who are committed to it, who have stayed here and done what you can to navigate through these difficult years.

Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh, right, seen with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, left, during a press conference at the Lebanese Presidential Palace, in Baabda east of Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, April 26, 2009. (AP)

Advertisement