This past February a remarkable and peaceful demonstration took place in Lebanon. Hundreds of thousands of mainly Sunnis marked the first anniversary of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Some carried signs, the AP reported, "calling for ‘The Truth'…. Others carried placards critical of Syria and its president, Bashar Assad. ‘Isn't it enough, Bashar?' said one, listing the names of anti-Syrian Lebanese who have been slain in other bombings in the last year. ‘Those who killed Hariri meant to kill Lebanon, but they failed. A new united Lebanon was born,' said Samia Baroudy…. Holding a Lebanese flag, she said Hariri's death was both 'a disaster' and 'a miracle' that brought the Lebanese together." In December 2005, Secretary Rice wrote in the Washington Post that "had we done nothing, consider all that we would have missed in just the past year: A Lebanon that is free of foreign occupation and advancing democratic reform." At the time, there was also momentum for UN-imposed sanctions on Damascus for its obstruction of the Hariri investigation. But lately, the international pressure on Damascus has ebbed while the regime remains a destabilizing force in the region. David Satterfield, senior advisor to Secretary Rice on Iraq, recently stated to the Al-Hayat daily that Syria remains a "main passageway for suicide bombers in Iraq." And Beirut's Daily Star reports that "prominent Lebanese politician Walid Jumblatt lashed out at Damascus on Sunday, saying he 'feared the current Syrian regime is trying to turn Lebanon into another Iraq by exporting Al-Qaeda fighters into the country.'" Lebanon has come a long way, as Secretary Rice wrote a few months back, but the road to its continued progress leads to Damascus -- and keeping Assad's feet to the fire is critical if Lebanese democrats are to prevail.