U.S. Ambassador Returns to Lebanon, Backs Regime

U.S. Ambassador John McCarthy, pulled from Lebanon 73 days ago under pressure from supporters of Christian Maj. Gen. Michel Aoun, returned Saturday and urged the rebellious Aoun to “fall in line behind civilian authority.”

McCarthy drove to Ehden in Syrian-controlled northern Lebanon to present his credentials to a Foreign Ministry official at the home of President Rene Mouawad. A Beirut newspaper reported that the United States is considering reopening its mission in Lebanon but moving it out of the region controlled by Aoun.

The presenting of credentials underscored U.S. backing for the new head of state, whom Aoun opposes, and intensified the general’s political isolation.

Earlier, a small bomb exploded outside the home of Armenian parliamentary deputy Khatchig Babikian in Christian East Beirut, causing damage but no casualties, police reported.

It was the seventh attack on a Christian official since legislators defied Aoun and elected Mouawad president on Nov. 5 to oversee implementation of an Arab League-sponsored plan aimed at ending 14 years of civil war.

The accord was reached by the legislators in 23 days of talks in the Saudi Arabian resort of Taif.

McCarthy and his bodyguards arrived in Ehden in a five-car convoy.

“I wanted to bring the greetings of President Bush to President Mouawad,” McCarthy said.

“My country was very, very pleased to see the developments that took place in Taif, to see the election of a new president here, to see that the situation that had been ambiguous in terms of legality has now totally cleared,” he added. “You have a president. That’s a wonderful thing.”

In remarks aimed at Aoun, McCarthy said: “Lebanon has a long tradition of constitutional democracy. In that tradition, as far as I know, military officers have always followed the civilian authority.”

The envoy said he assumes that Aoun, “like the good soldier he is . . . will very soon fall in line behind civilian authority. I certainly hope so.”

McCarthy said the Bush Administration “has a good deal of respect for Gen. Aoun” and agreed with his goals. “It was really the means he was using that we quarreled with.”

The general opposes the Taif accord because it does not include a guarantee for the withdrawal of the Syrian troops, who were deployed in 1976 under an Arab League mandate to quell fighting.