Remarks by Walid Maalouf
Alternate Representative of the US to the 58th GA of the UN

The Lebanese Information Center
Washington, DC
Friday, December 31, 2003

I am delighted to visit with you for a short time tonight to wish you and the Lebanese American community a wonderful New Year.

It seams if you want to remember any thing from 2003, it is the year of the beginning to speak about the Sovereignty of Lebanon at the United Nations. Thanks to President Bush's new policy in the Middle East . This policy is well explained in his two speeches at the National Endowment for Democracy and at the Whitehall Palace in London .

He said" now we're pursuing a different course, a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East .And by advancing freedom in the greater Middle East , we help end cycle of dictatorship and radicalism." I believe that Lebanon is included in this strategy and President Bush will not leave Lebanon behind.

For the first time ever the Sovereignty of Lebanon was mentioned in the United Nation's General Assembly, thanks to President Bush's administration, which is the first US administration to touch on this subject on this multilateral stage such as the United Nations. I received hundreds of emails, letters, phone calls from all over the country thanking President Bush for this historical beginning.

He sends his greetings to you this evening and I assure you that I will not let you down in your message to his administration. Thank you and May God bless you and this great country of ours.