BEIRUT, 1 October 2005 — Lebanon’s prime minister has rejected criticism from Islamic groups for seeking help from abroad to deal with a wave of politically motivated murders, arguing that they are not ordinary crimes.
“We are not dealing with an ordinary criminal and we are going to seek the aid of numerous countries, who have much greater technical capacity than we, to form, train and equip our security forces,” Fuad Siniora said late Thursday. Speaking after what he described as a “lively” four-hour Cabinet meeting, he said “it was agreed to pursue this policy, which Lebanon has always adopted in the past. We will not spare any means to win the fight against terrorism.” An MP close to the government said yesterday the meeting, tasked with adopting a security plan to curb the wave of bomb attacks this year, was marred by bickering. “It was one of the worst Cabinet meetings,” the deputy said.
Siniora’s pledge that his government would continue to seek support from all states ready to help in the fight against terrorism, including the United States, came despite objections from the Shiite movement Hezbollah.
