Day after another, new scandals are revealed by the US cables, known as WikiLeaks…
On Monday, Lebanese daily Al-Akhbar published new cables, showing the dangerous level of conspiracies, led by the so-called March 14 forces, against the Resistance in Lebanon and Hezbollah.
For instance, the cables quoted the head of the caretaker government Saad Hariri as urging US help to fight what he called Hezbollah ‘terrorists’ in a flagrant adoption of the American and Israeli rhetoric. They also quoted him as claiming that Iran has taken control over Lebanon.
AOUN WANTS TO BE PRESIDENT
According to the cable, dated May 15, 2008, the head of the Future party in Lebanon Saad Hariri met with then US Charge d'Affaires Michele Sison at his Quoraitem residence just as the Arab League delegation was beginning its press conference announcing that Lebanese political leaders would meet in Doha on May 16 to re-launch the National Dialogue. Hariri advisors Ghattas Khoury and Nader Hariri, MP Boutros Harb, and Hariri note-taker also attended the meeting.The cable states that Sisson, who had met with the Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblatt earlier in the day, noted that the Druze leader did not plan to attend the National Dialogue in Doha, citing the need to visit villages in the Chouf affected by recent fighting. Hariri assured her that Jumblatt would be convinced to come, which Jumblatt himself later confirmed to Sisson by phone.
The cable quoted the US Charge d’Affaires as also noting that the head of the Change and Reform parliamentary bloc MP Michel Aoun had expressed dissatisfaction with Doha "formula" of 14 top political leaders, which Hariri ascribed to Aoun's dislike of MP Michel Murr (father of Defense Minister Elias Murr), representing the Greek Orthodox Christians. However, Hariri did not react to the Charge's comment that the Free Patriotic Movement leader hoped to secure either the Ministry of Finance or Interior for his party, other than to say, "I won't discuss ministries."
Aoun wants to stop the Dialogue by increasing his own demands, Hariri said, when what he really wants is to be president. Some of us have doubts regarding Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) Commander General Michel Sleiman, Hariri admitted, shooting a look at Harb and eliciting laughs from both men. The cable notes that Harb, one of March 14's two preferred candidates for president, had himself hoped to become the consensus candidate by reaching out to Speaker Nabih Berri.
Hariri, meanwhile, said Arab League delegation head Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Hamad bin Jassin did not expect the talks to last more than three days. Harb, however, added that the 1989 Taif negotiations – which were also expected to last a mere three days - expanded into 24.
WOUNDS VERY DEEP
Yet, Hariri did not appear optimistic that Doha would produce a solution to the ongoing political crisis, repeating a grim "we'll see" several times throughout the meeting, the cable stated. "The wounds are very deep," he said, and the events of the last week had reopened many of them to the extent that they might not be healed easily. According to him, the army had managed to "put sense into the people" and prevented a near-massacre of Sunnis near Tripoli. But for how long?, he wondered.
Hariri claimed that Hezbollah had suffered more casualties than were being reported, claiming they had lost 45-50 supporters, including Hezbollah General Abu al-Fadl, whom Hariri described as an "Intervention Regiment Commander." Al-Fadl's death was the catalyst for Hezbollah’s attack in the Chouf, he claimed, prompting Walid Jumblatt's counterattack. Although the violence had since calmed down, "there will be a next round," he warned, "but I am not going to become a militia."
Hezbollah had tried to remove any mention of its arms from the agenda, but failed, he said, attributing its acceptance of the National Dialogue to its need to "get out of the streets," which tarnished its image in the Arab world. He added that another dangerous development was the multiplication of internet sites promoting jihadists, and Hezbollah’s irresponsible decision to air pictures of mutilations on videos and U-Tube.
The head of the Future party, meanwhile, told his US guest that the agreement to re-launch the National Dialogue did not change the reality that Iran has taken over Lebanon. They have demonstrated that, if they don't have a blocking minority, they will use arms to prevent the government from taking actions, he claimed, and added that Speaker Nabih Berri himself had threatened that if the government did not rescind its May 5 decisions against Hezbollah, he could not be held responsible for any actions on the ground. As I told you six months ago, Hariri said, the
Syrians and Iranians will pull a Gaza in Lebanon.
During the meeting, Hariri repeated several times that Lebanon was now the US's problem. According to the released cable, Sisson responded that the purpose of Acting CENTCOM Commander LTG Dempsey's March 14 visit to Beirut had been to show support for the LAF as a state institution and stress to Sleiman that the $331 million in US assistance over the past two years was contingent upon the LAF doing its job. Hariri agreed that Sleiman's attempt to blame the Internal Security Forces (ISF) was not credible, since the ISF was under his LAF command during emergencies.
Hariri stressed that the LAF's performance over the past week should not affect US assistance; on the contrary, if the LAF had been better equipped, it would have been able to stand up better to the M-16s, Russian missiles and RPGs of the Hezbollah "terrorists." We need a Marshall Plan for the army, he went on to say. Unfortunately, equipment was taking "forever and ever" to reach Lebanon; we are still waiting for helicopters and HumVees, he said. The Charge responded that the US would soon send a significant shipment of ammunition, and was working on the questions of up armored Humvees, night vision goggles, and body armor.
 |
| Hariri Militia AT Work |
The cable notes that, following the Charge's meeting with Saad, A/DCM spoke privately with Nader Hariri, who expressed dismay at the lack of international response to Hezbollah’s takeover of downtown Beirut. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak waited five days
before returning the majority's telephone call, he said, and the French were not much better. Furthermore, readouts he had received from (unspecified) French-Egyptian discussions also were lacking in substance in terms of what to do about Lebanon. Asked why the government had taken what it knew would be controversial decisions on the eve of a major labor demonstration, making it easy for Hezbollah to turn the demonstrations into a political protest, and just when March 14 forces had been gearing up to force an election on May 13, Nader said that Defense Minister Elias Murr had assured the cabinet that the LAF would defend the government's decision, and that in any case Hezbollah would have found another excuse to start trouble.
Noting that the Bristol Hotel, a mere 300 meters away (and, ironically, home of the 2004 Bristol Gathering that denounced the extension of then President Lahoud) had been taken over by Hezbollah, he said that the
Future Movement had made a difficult but conscience decision not to distribute arms to its followers. He explained that Rafiq Hariri did not have blood on his hands, and his son did not want to see himself transformed into a militia leader either. Nader did not expect the Doha talks to produce much, dismissing them as yet another stalling technique by the opposition until the tide turned more in its favor. The majority, meanwhile, was now negotiating from a position of weakness, while Hezbollah had gained newfound strength, he said.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
No comments:
Post a Comment