BEIRUT, Lebanon - Hundreds of protesters blowing whistles and chanting anti-Syrian slogans returned to central Beirut on Tuesday after forcing out the pro-Damascus prime minister, and Lebanon's president sought candidates for a new government.

About 400 people marched through downtown demanding the resignation of pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud and the withdrawal of Syrian soldiers. On Monday, 25,000 flag-waving demonstrators demanded --� and got --� Prime Minister Omar Karami's resignation.

"We will be here every day until the last Syrian soldier withdraws from our land," one activist said through a loudspeaker. The crowd, blowing whistles, chanted back: "Freedom. Sovereignty. Independence."

Opposition leaders --� a diverse group of Muslim, Druse and Christians --� were expected to meet later Tuesday to chart their course. It wasn't clear if they would seek to keep up the street pressure or --� as some have urged --� step back to work through the political process to ensure a new government less tied to Damascus.

Of course, this renewed popular effort for a free and independent government has nothing to do with the new free and independent governments established in Afghanistan and Iraq, right? I mean, Bush's policies in the middle east couldn't possibly be working now, could they? When Bush talked about spreading freedom he was just giving lip service to the idea, right? He couldn't have known that the liberation of Afghanistan and Iraq would trigger a larger pro-freedom movement in the region, could he?

Nooooo...of course not. This war was for oil. And for Halliburton. The fact that the middle east is seeing a massive shift toward freedom and democracy is meaningless.

/sarcasm

More here and here.