October 29, 2009 Yesterday in New York was a day for Lebanon and a memorable day for Issam Fares where an expected ceremony to honor him with former US Presidents George Bush W.H. and Bill Clinton was held. The event illustrated the great discrepancy between a nation gripped with its governmental crisis, its complications, and personal interests, and great men who raise high the name of Lebanon.
He who heard two of the world leaders like Presidents Bush and Clinton and what they said about Issam Fares, praising his good virtues and achievements, and he who saw the grandeur of the audience, was full of pride and glory.
In the details, Waldorf Astoria Hotel witnessed Wednesday a large crowd of political, diplomatic, academic, and media personalities and figures active in peace-loving. Was present a large number of Lebanese and American personalities of Lebanese descent who came from various states of America to participate in the honoring ceremony, alongside the Fares family, upon the invitation of the International Crisis Group, one of the most prominent organizations that deals with the peaceful settlement of the international conflicts.
Prior to the ceremony, President Clinton held more than half-an-hour meeting with Issam Fares. The reunion revolved around the prevailing situation in Lebanon and the peace prospects in the region. The reunion provided the opportunity to renew the friendship ties between the Clinton and the Fares families and to invite Clinton to deliver a conference at the Balamand University, an invitation President Clinton promised to accept, and the details of which shall be later elaborated in coordination between Clinton’s and Fares’ offices and the University.
Clinton was quoted as saying, ‘Five years ago, an explosion claimed the life of the former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri whom many in the audience know. The blast took place next to the location of Hala, the wife of my friend Isssam. However, they were not injured thanks to the existence of a building between the place of the blast and their residence’.
Clinton also evoked the role of America in realizing peace in the Middle East in spite of the impeding obstacles and setbacks. ‘Even if President Obama’s efforts to realize peace meet with failure, the President should not be portrayed as unsuccessful because every time an American President attempts to secure peace, less people die’.
Addressing the audience on a video tape, President George W.H. Bush praised the dynamism of the International Group and its field role in the conflict zones from the Middle East to Afghanistan and Pakistan, and its making of what he called the ‘personal diplomacy’ that gives world leaders truth and assists them in settling conflicts. ‘The International Crisis Group’, he said, ‘does not hesitate to tell the truth to decision-makers at a time when it takes balanced decisions to provide security for all’.
It is to note that President Bush’s granddaughter Lauren received the award and delivered a nice speech on the occasion during which she congratulated Presidents Clinton and Fares.
Addressing the audience on videotape, President Bush stated, ‘It is an honor for me to be awarded with my friend President Clinton and my dear friend Issam Fares who is a SPECIAL individual’.
Both Presidents Bush and Clinton agreed upon appreciating their friendship to Issam Fares whom Bush portrayed as a SPECIAL individual. Clinton, for his part, applauded Fares’ role and the Lebanese people’s role in the region’s economic future.
Veteran US diplomat Thomas Pickering, the former ambassador and senior State Department official, presented Issam Fares, lauding his full record in economic development, education, philanthropy, and charitable works, his support for universities and his permanent backing for peace, democracy, and economic prosperity, both in Lebanon and the international community.
For his part, Fares expressed pride for being honored with his friends Presidents Georges W. H. Bush and William J. Clinton, and talked how he forged his relationship with the International Crisis Group when his friend Senator Mitchell visited him with a number of successful personalities involved in intellect, economy, and politics. ‘They had invited me to join a new international institution that is involved in peace and that concentrates on the prevention of the outbreak of conflicts and wars. I applauded the idea, joined the group and we held our first meeting in Lebanon. Thanks to this Group, I moved from the limits of the area to the no-limits of the world and its complications. It opened me wide the horizons of Earth without however me disregarding the urgent and pressing concerns of my nation and area’, he remarked.
Fares added that among the International Crisis Group’s high qualities is that ‘it raised us above our local problem and that it is concerned about the human’s being situation in any place whatsoever. It taught us to emphasize the principles of justice, freedom, equality, and human rights’.
Fares went on saying, ‘Being a Lebanese, I have experience the war in all its tragedy, and you witness enough barbarism, aggressiveness, and underdevelopment during wars. This is why I believe it is our duty to work for the support of this institution in realizing its dream to secure world peace. The Institution invited us to honor us; however, we should be honoring its men and women who are stationed at the conflict zones in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Southern Asia, and Latin America, and who risk their lives to realize a just and lasting peace for each of us.
Fares also remarked that the awardees share their love for justice and peace, and their enthusiasm to support the national, regional, and international institutions that aim for spreading justice, stability, and peace. Is there a more noble and honorable aim?
It is to mention that famous CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour was the master of the ceremony during which she raised the role of the International Crisis Group in dealing with crises during conflicts.
The event was attended by Lebanon’s Ambassador to Washington Antoine Chedid, Lebanon's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Nawaf Salam, Governor John Sununu of New Hampshire, representatives of the American Task Force for Lebanon, American diplomats who had served in the administrations of Presidents Bush and Clinton, as well as scores of international political and diplomatic personalities, among whom figures a delegation from the Board of Directors of the American University of Beirut and the Balamand University, members of the Administrative Board of Tufts University and New York University, in addition to representatives of the United Nations and media figures in America and the Middle East, as well as scores of businessmen.