Lebanese Maronite Patriarch Butros Sfeir held talks with George W. Bush in Washington last night as the U.S. president reiterated his demand for free elections in Lebanon this spring. Following his meeting with Sfeir Bush said: "I assured his eminence that United States policy will work with friends and allies to insist that Syria completely leave Lebanon so the election process will be free and fair."Sfeir, who as the head of the 900,000-member Maronite Catholic Church has been a longtime critic of Syria's control in Lebanon, added: "We want an independent Lebanon and a full Syrian withdrawal according to UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and the Taif Accord, as they do not differ. A total withdrawal will be completed. And if it isn't then I am sure those who have been monitoring the issue will continue to do so." Sfeir thanked Bush for what he called his "sincere interest" in a free and peaceful Lebanon. Bush insisted Syria must withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, and its intelligence services, which he said "are embedded in all the Lebanese government's functions." He said: "I firmly believe in the examples of Iraq and Afghanistan. I believe there will be a Palestinian state. I believe we'll be able to convince Syria to fully withdraw from Lebanon or else she'll be isolated. I believe those examples will serve as examples for others over time are examples of democracy."
Sfeir's high profile visit to Washington had been seen by many as an attempt to sway U.S. opinion regarding Lebanese resistance group Hizbullah. But Sfeir, who supports integrating Hizbullah into Lebanon's political mainstream, insisted the issue of Hizbullah was not raised during his discussions with Bush. Sfeir said: "We discussed the Lebanese issue in general without going into details and we did not discuss specific parties."