Lebanese Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt: We Should Treat the Syrian Regime the Same Way It Treats Us: With Car Bombs, Assassinations and Destruction. Bashar Al-Assad Is a Liar.

Following are excerpts from an interview with Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, which aired on Al-Arabiya TV on December 28, 2006.

Walid Jumblatt: We should treat the Syrian regime the same way it treats us. It uses car bombs, assassinations, destruction, sends terrorists – the most recent were the "Fath Al-Islam" – and uses threats of Al-Qaeda [attacks in Lebanon]. It is only natural and logical for us to treat them the same way.

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Since all [Bashar] understands is murder, assassination, car bombs, and destruction, we should treat him the same way – Bashar and his family… sorry, Bashar and his regime.

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Does he have the right, by means of his yes-men - Hassan Nasrallah and others – to open war whenever he wants, to arm half the country, and set up a country within a country? Who gave him the right?

Interviewer: But Hassan Nasrallah is a Lebanese, a Lebanese leader.

Walid Jumblatt: He is not Lebanese. Forget it, he is not Lebanese. He gets his orders from the Syrian regime and from the Republic of Iran. If he wants to be Lebanese, he should accept the legitimate Lebanese authority. Hassan Nasrallah has his own country, his own weapons, his own public, his own treasury, his own economy, and his own culture, which is completely different from our culture. This is a culture of martyrdom-seeking, which is, ultimately, a culture of sorrow, death, and despair. It is not like our culture of love, hope, and life.

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I support Lebanese independence from Syrian and Persian hegemony. I am against making the country an eternal battlefield to serve the aspirations and designs of the Syrian regime and Persian imperialism.

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Yes, I accuse [Hizbullah] of being behind some of the assassinations, if not all of them.

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With the Syrian regime, there are no guarantees. [Bashar’s] father, who was also highly skilled in crime, would keep his word, at least with some Arab leaders, especially King Abdullah. This one is a liar. He is known around the world, and among the Arabs, to be a liar.