The repercussions from the murder of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri continue to gain momentum. Hariri and 14 other people were blown to bits by a homicide bomber on Monday. This political assassination was mostly likely carried out by Syria, Iran, and/or their proxies (Hezbollah), a group I like to call the “Axis Against Democracy.” The Axis hoped to intimidate the forces of reform in Lebanon, but their calculated, cold-blooded murder is having the opposite effect.

Thousands of Lebanese demonstrators took to the streets after Hariri’s death, noisily criticizing Syria, who has brutally occupied their country for years. Today, several Lebanese opposition MPs called for a “peaceful ‘independence uprising’ and said the government should step down.” In another sign of dissent, Lebanon’s tourism minister resigned today. These MPs and protestors have guts, knowing full-well Syria’s track record of supporting terrorism and quelling dissent. Look at what happened to Hariri.

Hariri had openly called for the end to Syria’s occupation of Lebanon. In September of last year, he threatened to bring down Lebanon’s government in reaction to Syria’s meddling in internal Lebanese affairs. Due to pressure exerted by Syria, Lebanon’s puppet parliament voted September 3, 2004 to amend the country’s constitution and allow puppet President Emile Lahoud to remain in power for another 3 years. Lebanon’s constitution had originally banned any president from serving two consecutive terms in office. Lahoud was due to finish his first 6-year term last November. Hey, if you don’t like a constitution, just rewrite it.

Instead of killing each as they did so well during Lebanon’s long civil war (1975-1990), Lebanese have shown restraint – that is, towards each other; NOT to big brother Syria. According to the BBC,

Crowds of Lebanese of all religious faiths have been gathering at Hariri's grave since his funeral on Wednesday.

For many Lebanese, Hariri - a self-made billionaire businessman - symbolised the revival of their country after years of bloody civil war.

And pressure, especially from the U.S., is building against Syria. Both President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice have publicly lambasted Rogue-Nation-Syria. The U.S. recalled its ambassador to Damascus a few days ago. This is a far cry from the White House’s lukewarm stance against Syria in 2003, when the the administration opposed the Syria Accountability Act (SAA), believing they needed Syria's support in the war on terror. Steven Plaut has aptly termed this misguided thinking as "Good Terrorist-Bad Terrorist." In his words, to fight the "bad terrorists, you need to conscript for your cause lots of good terrorists, including Syria, Iran, and the Saudis."

But Bush came around and signed the SAA into law; he also imposed sanctions on Syria. Even the UN and… THE FRENCH?!?!... have gotten involved. In September of 2004, the U.N. Security Council passed a resolution calling on Syria to pull out of Lebanon. The resolution was sponsored by the U.S. and none other than Syria’s traditional ally, France. This week, even UN Secretary General Kofi (Cupcake) Annan called on Syria to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.

Maybe some of this is just realpolitik as usual; maybe not. But add all the parts into one sum – especially the demonstrations in Lebanon – and you have more pressure building on poor-baby Syria. Enough empty talk from the Left, the Arab/Muslim autocrats, and the Islamists about Israel’s “occupation” of the West Bank and Gaza. Time to talk about Syria’s real occupation of Lebanon. Lebanon must be free.