The importance of the Friendship Committee depends on politics in Lebanon and US foreign policy. Darin LaHood will remain in the forefront after the midterm elections. But the strong influence in this period belongs to the US State Department, where dealing has become direct on files with Lebanon as a state, and the objectives include Lebanese sovereignty, helping the Lebanese army, and peace between Lebanon and Israel, despite Iranian obstruction of these objectives. Also, the US ambassador to Lebanon, Michel Issa, is of Lebanese origin, which forms a strong link between Beirut and Washington.
We do not want subsidies. It is over. We support opening the market, but the quality of imported goods must be checked. How can industry develop amid the faltering banking reform?
An Annahar report examined the role of the US-Lebanon Friendship Committee in Congress, which includes Republican and Democratic members and issues recommendations on Lebanese sove…