On August 31, Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri made a speech to a crowd in the southern town of Nabatiyeh marking the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of Imam Moussa al-Sadr, the Shia cleric who founded the Amal Movement. The following are excerpts of the speech posted by the Lebanese News Agency:
 
… On the 30th anniversary of the disappearance of our imam and the imam of the homeland and the Resistance, His Eminence Leader Sayyed Moussa al-Sadr and his two companions, Sheikh Mohammad Yaacoub and Journalist Abbas Baderiddine, we announce that we have toppled the last Libyan attempt to wipe out the case at the judiciary level through one of the Italian courts, the features of which were revealed
lately by acquitting the Libyan regime from the crime of his disappearance…
 
We want to say that the Lebanese judiciary – and Lebanon is still fine as long as there is one impartial judge – has strongly extended efforts ever since last year, and it will not hesitate to fulfill its role at this level, and it made progress in determining responsibilities for the disappearance and kidnapping operations.
 
We also add that the success of the Libyan regime lately in signing an agreement with the United States to exchange victims of mutual terrorism in Sert with the victims of Lockerbie in return for some money will not beautify the image of the Libyan regime, but it will rather deteriorate the image of the American regime in the world vis-à-vis the kidnapping and disappearance of Imam al-Sadr in 1978, which preceded the mutual terrorism operations in Sert in 1986 and against the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988. I want to ask why they forgot the attempts to kidnap the oil ministers in Austria in 1985.
 
Once again, we tell the head of the Libyan regime Muammar al-Kaddafi: You are personally responsible for the disappearance of Imam al-Sadr… We will follow up on this issue, and there will be promising days in the case of Imam al-Sadr, which will pursue you in your days and nights and nightmares.
 
As every year, we stand on the anniversary of Imam al-Sadr to offer a summary of the national events and the regional and international realities related to our country.
 
First of all, I can assure that the Amal Movement played a key role in preventing sedition and tensions and contributed through our various dialogue and consensual initiatives to take Lebanon to a safe harbor.
 
In all we have done, we were always committed to the path and discourse of Imam al-Sadr in getting Qatar and its prince and his state's officials take the necessary initiative, until we reached the Doha Agreement, and we should thank Qatar for every word this
agreement included. Thank you Qatar for the agreement, which saved Lebanon and allowed us to elect a president [President Michel Sleiman] and restored the functionality of the institutions.
 
But from Imam al-Sadr's platform, I want to say: As you know, over the past two years, Lebanon had enough political crises, and we sacrificed a lot and endured much. While the majority group was hitting us on our left and right cheeks, some of the opposition were also [verbally] attacking us. Hence, we bear pain and bitter words and accusations, and we only raised the [slogan] of the constitution.
 
We endured accusations and disturbances only because we refused to succumb to sedition and refused to fall into the trap of schemes. We refused to make Lebanon an arena for sectarian and factional political tensions. Every time, we used to seek dialogue and propose new ideas and fill people's hearts with hope, to the extent that some media
outlets circulated that Nabih Berri is selling hope and making it easy on people. They thought we had certain information, et cetera. The truth is that we had faith in God and in our homeland and in ourselves and in the movement of Imam al-Sadr and in the Resistance and in the army.
 
Now, and in this political moment, I tell the Lebanese: Don't be very reassured, sleep while your eyes are open, and allow me – contrary to the past – to exchange selling hopes with selling caution, and to tell you candidly that Israel and terrorism are two sides of the same coin. They want to nail down and destabilize Lebanon and strike its various sectors, especially the tourism, banking and investment sectors, and the revenues coming to Lebanon.
 
In this regard, I call upon you to take the Israeli threats seriously and to be aware of reports circulated by the Israeli War Ministry about the aircraft missiles movement on the border. [Addressing Israel, he said]: If you are afraid of the missiles sent to Hezbollah and the Resistance, the equation is simple. Stop your airplanes from violating
our airspace…
 
Back to the Israeli threats, I affirm with confidence that our resistance and army and people will manage will to deter any aggression. Here, I reiterate the following:
 
1 - The Resistance was and still is a vital need…
 
2 - The Resistance was a result of Israeli aggression that has not stopped since 1948, especially since 1978, despite the truce agreement. The Israeli aggression continues through daily violations of Lebanese airspace and water…
 
3 - The Resistance was the state's failure to protect and defend the South…
 
4 - The Resistance was a result of Arab failure to support Lebanon and fulfill Arab agreements towards Lebanon and to abide by the agreement of joint Arab defense, not only toward Lebanon, but toward all issues pertaining to national security.
 
5 - In light of the idea and project of the weapons of the Resistance, we should remind everyone that the failure of the Israeli war on Lebanon in summer 2006 in finishing off the Resistance and toppling the Israeli deterrence theory, led to initiating the
constructive chaos scheme through sectarian sedition projects and through provoking tensions in order to pressure and weaken the Resistance and render it at odds with the Lebanese state and with its people, sects and sides.
 
The solution to this issue comes from the state, which is based on the slogan of national unity and adopts all goals of liberation stipulated by the ministerial statements and that are the goals of the Resistance. As for the function of the Resistance and its mechanism
and its position in the defense strategy, there should be a committee between the army and the Resistance to follow up on field issues and coordinate the steps, in order to preserve sovereignty and liberate the land and rights, whether by diplomacy or resistance.
 
In this regard, we say frankly that throughout history, no people were able to liberate their lands without the support of a friend or an ally. The question should not be: Why is it that the Islamic Republic of Iran or this or that country helping Lebanon with
liberation? We should [rather] thank whoever helped and helps with liberation. The question should rather be: Why was not the Lebanese state and army provided with the capacities and power to liberate…?
 
Dear ones, at the regional and international levels and their repercussions on
Lebanon, it is important to point to the international events that are taking place at a quick pace, and which stirred up one of the Cold War axes in Ossetia and Abkhazia and the Russian border…
 
The military events that took place in that region and the calm and settlement plans will be definitely reflected as, from now on, international decision making, particularly in relation to the Middle East and the Iranian nuclear file. Hence, we call on the Lebanese to benefit from time and the chance represented by the Doha Agreement, which should be implemented in full, until we establish diplomatic relations with Syria, hoping that these relations will open a new page of relations, not only between both countries, but both people as well.
 
We tell those who wagered on a military strike against Iran, or those wagering on a change in the Syrian regime or a strike against the Resistance: Stop your mistaken gambles, and stop wagering on warships. Pervez Musharraf, like the Shah of Iran, failed to find anyone that would offer them political asylum…