Thousands hear call to disband Hezbollah

From ABC (Australia) Online, Monday, September 25, 2006. 6:09am (AEST), by Middle East correspondent David Hardaker and wires ...

...Tens of thousands of Maronite Christians have rallied at a hilltop cathedral to hear anti-Syrian leader and one-time warlord, Samir Geagea. Mr Geagea has scoffed at Hezbollah's claims of victory in its conflict with Israel.

"We are the victors, and yet we do not feel it was victory but rather that a real catastrophe befell our country, and that our fate and destiny are at the mercy of the winds," he said.
"We are the victors because it was us who were demanding the [Lebanese] Army's deployment [in south Lebanon], backed by UNIFIL, while they were opposed."

....Mr Geagea, who served 11 years in prison ... as a leader of the LF militia in Lebanon's civil war, has called for Hezbollah to disarm. He has also called for an end to Hezbollah's power as a state within a state. "They demand a strong state, but how can a strong state be built with a statelet within its midst?" he said. "How can it be done with arms and ammunition continuing to flow in, when they force the state to follow their own schedule?"