(Newsweek) Christopher Dickey - Walid Jumblatt, the hereditary leader of the Druze religious sect in Lebanon, deserves not only our attention but our hearts. Jumblatt has taken a stand so far out in front of other Lebanese politicians, and so far beyond anything Washington is willing to commit to publicly, that it's not surprising his admirers think he'll be killed in the next few days or weeks or months. Jumblatt is calling not only for freedom in Lebanon, but in effect for the overthrow of "the terrorist tyrant Bashar al-Assad." "Jumblatt knows that whatever he does, the Syrian regime will not forgive him," says a mutual friend. "He figures that since there is no forgiveness, he's a dead man walking - and that's why he can say what he says."
2006-02-17 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive