SENIORA : A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

Mister Seniora is definitely something else . Less than a decade ago the Lebanese went out of their mind when PM Hariri- the father- appointed him as authentic minister of finances to the great shock and objection of many, for the simple reason everyone knew that Mister Seniora was a certified thief. The Lebanese knew then that their money was not in good hands and they were right.

A graduate from the American University of Beirut, Mister Seniora has been since his university years working on a brilliant career, not necessarily academic but -probably- political and business oriented. Being a long time friend of Hariri, originating both from the same southern capital of Lebanon ie: Saida , Mister Seniora was considered as a wizard in finances . He even surpassed his master Hariri in the art of making money to the point that Hariri himself - before his assassination - thought of getting rid of him gently by relegating him to administer some bank far from where the big money was . Even then Seniora managed to make his way through and his new position that was supposed to be a form of exile turned out to be quite lucrative .

The servant was more skillful than the master and, once again, Hariri felt uncomfortable and even threatened by his greedy long time friend and was thinking again about where to place him in some other remote place when the Israelis attempted at his own life and killed him on Valentine’s day in year 2005 .

During all the obsequies and the great havoc that followed the death of Hariri and the false flag Cedars’ revolution that was rallying the masses against Syria and against president Lahhoud, Mister Seniora was not to be seen anywhere nor heard in any place ; very few knew about the differences that had opposed him to Hariri. . It was like a secret meal was being prepared somewhere for the expected time to come when all will be invited . Something was cooking for which the death of Hariri was only a prelude.

Not heard and not seen, Seniora was making his way through again – silently- not as a mere minister of finance, but as a Prime Minister, president of the Lebanese cabinet . A big step indeed and the money expert whom Hariri wanted out of sight because he had turned into a nuisance, had reappeared to take the place of his master and rule in his place. Now Seniora will have to show more of his well known skills and it is not until later that the Lebanese people will know what has happened during these years of great insecurity and havoc .

Nevertheless Seniora posed as a ruler until Hariri’s son reached maturity (if he ever reached it) and he was happy to fill in the gap until the son grew his own wings . Now , and for so many years, Lebanon would not be able to recover from the fatal blow given to its finances by Seniora and company because what the first investigations showed was that 16 billions were missing from the treasury since Seniora ruled before the son of Hariri took over . Seniora cannot provide any documents that showed where these huge amounts of money were spent , not only this, but a big portion of this money- including some donations that amounted to few billons- were transferred to individual private bank accounts that were kept secret .

This is what Lebanese had reaped from the rule of Seniora and Hariri the son, when they had not quite recovered from the rule and bad economic policies of the father. And this is not all because , while Hariri the father was not willing to implement the UN resolution 1559 that sought to disarm the Lebanese Resistance , we see Mister Seniora and Hariri’s son rushing - after his death – to please their western partners by going to any length required in order to see the resolution implemented, including pushing Israel to launch its war on Lebanon in summer 2006 and then feasting with Condolezza Rice at the US embassy while Lebanese were getting killed by hundreds.



River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian   The views expressed in this article are the sole responsibility of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of this Blog!