"I heard with my own ears and saw with my own eyes... the lectures on nationalism and pan-Arabism delivered by 'our officers' during morning classes. Whenever [they] left [Lebanon], these officers piled into buses that returned by night to Damascus and Hims. These buses were [like] markets packed with [loot] – everything needed in the markets [of Damascus and Hims]. I saw the military vehicles carrying away even bathtubs, doors and window frames made of expensive wood that had been torn from [Lebanese] homes after their owners had left or abandoned them.

"I saw with my own eyes how the Lebanese people of the north Al-Matan region begged to be allowed to harvest [the pine nuts from] their pine trees, since this was their source of livelihood, but their pleas were ignored... Our brave soldiers girded their loins and undertook the task [themselves]... The tasty pine nuts were sold in the markets of Damascus...

"I saw Lebanese [people] being publicly humiliated at Syrian military checkpoints, and being 'lectured' by illiterate [Syrian] soldiers on various matters, great and small. I saw a lot of things, but my shame keeps me from speaking out about them.

"Fifteen years after leaving Lebanon as a soldier, I returned there as a civilian, my mind still filled with the sights [that I had witnessed] in places that I had loved, and whose [inhabitants] I had liked. To them and to all the Lebanese I [now] offer my apologies. I am deeply convinced that a civilized people like the Lebanese will [be able to] forgive and forget."