Quotes by Slain Lebanese Journalist


"You must realize that many Lebanese are not at ease either with Syrian policy in Lebanon or with the presence of Syrian troops in our country." -- March 23, 2000, in an open letter to Bashar Assad published in An-Nahar, the first time a Lebanese journalist directly challenges the Syrian leader. * __ "We are on the edge of a new era. It can be something completely positive for Lebanon, and it can be something completely dark for Lebanon. ... That's why we are really at a turning point where anything can happen." -- May 2000, in an interview with The Associated Press after the Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon. * __ "Don't think it is easy for anyone to be forced to live abroad, far from his country, colleagues, wife and children. But sometimes I think, maybe if I am far away I will spare them difficulties and problems. I would transfer the danger to somewhere else and I would not involve those I love." -- Undated, interview with LBC television station. * __ "Yes, there may be other attacks and assassination attempts. One of us may pay the price. Anyway, hopefully it will be us, not anyone else." -- March 14, 2005. * __ "The Lebanese security authorities and the remnants of the Syrian system in Lebanon, and directly the Syrian regime from top to bottom, is responsible for every crime and every drop of blood spilled." -- June 2, 2005, following the assassination of colleague Samir Kassir. * __ "It is time for us to put an end to our fear for which we paid a very heavy price, to face all the lies of the Syrian security regime." -- Dec. 1, 2005, editorial in An-Nahar. * __ "The Syrian security regime should know ... that despotic regimes and tyrants who committed massacres against humanity were pursued, prosecuted and collapsed