Wikileaks
"... Two days after the meeting, Feltman had dinner with Michel Suleiman. It lasted three hours in the officer's club at Yarze. Feltman explained the 'call' (07BEIRUT1641) as an attempt by Suleimann 'to correct the bad impression left by his performance during his meeting with Adelman'. Suleiman expressed his displeasure with the charge against him as a 'Syrian agent' and expressed his fears that Damascus was concocting bad things for Lebanon..... Suleiman talked with admiration of Elias Murr, and Saad Hariri. He added that the Sunnis 'discovered the Lebanese army' thanks to Hariri... Suleiman wanted to leave a strong impression in Feltman's mind that he is 'independent from Syria', ..... Suleiman also spoke very negatively of President Emile Lahoud, in terms (according to Feltman, November 24, 2007, 07BEIRUT1852) that were never used in Diplomatic cables ,.... . At the end of this meeting, Feltman saw that Suleiman succeeded in convincing the Americans that he is not a 'Syrian agent'. But as far as presenting himself as a candidate for the presidency, Feltman goes on to say that Suleiman failed....
12 days later (07BEIRUT1723, October 30, 2007), Feltman noted that 'Suleiman's positions evolved' significantly. Feltman visited him to inform him that the U.S. government was poised to impose sanctions against any individual who'd accept appointment to a second government formed by President Emile Lahoud. Suleiman commented by saying that this was 'clear and good', .... Suleiman often reminded Feltman of his 'evolution' and stressed his conviction that the army should NOT remain neutral should one of the parties decide to change the status quo by force. Feltman believed that the 'evolution' in Suleiman's position was due to three things: (1) the intervention of Elias Murr has, and (2) a threat by Walid Jumblatt that the Druze officers would not stand idly by and (3), Suleiman's 'ambitions'.... Suleiman saw that Hezbollah's declared support for his candidacy was to 'burn' him.... Suleiman saw that once Hezbollah & Syria's allies support a candidate, the later loses his appeal as people will brand him as a 'Syrian lackey'... When Feltman asked for Suleiman's advice for any future President whether to keep Elias Murr in the Ministry of Defence, Suleiman replied that the Ministry of Defense is not important, especially if the relationship was good between the President and the government and the commander of the army...... but the presence of Murr, a rival for Hezbollah, in the Ministry of Interior, was thus essential..."
Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 11:11 PM
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment