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| Al-Akhbar's front-page screamer |
This morning, a Beirut daily’s one-word front-page screamer
read: Erhal إرحل , Arabic for “Buzz off!”
It was addressed to President Michel Sleiman.
It marked one of the unique times in Lebanese
peacetime that a newspaper tells a sitting President of the Republic to step
down.
The newspaper is al-Akhbar,
Lebanon’s mouthpiece for Hezbollah, Iran and Syria. The author of إرحل is
none other than its editor-in-chief Ibrahim al-Amin.
Amin slammed the president and told him to quit for doubting
the wisdom of Hezbollah’s military involvement in Syria and urging a national
defense strategy to end the twofold possession of legal (read Army) and illegal
(read Hezbollah) arms.
Sleiman was speaking Thursday during celebrations of
Lebanon Army Day.
Overnight, three rockets slammed into Beirut’s
Fayyadiye, Yarze and Baabda districts, all home to presidential and army
facilities.
Back to Ibrahim al-Amin’s إرحل editorial:
Strange is President Michel Sleiman.
What’s happening to him? Who’s pushing him? What’s he
thinking? What’s he worried about? Who’s his team? Who does he consult? Who
thinks for him or on his behalf and whispers to his ear? Who’s he addressing
today?
Strange is this president.
Who put in his mind that he is the number one
statesman? Who made him believe Lebanon’s salvation can only come through his
hands? Who told him his words are sacrosanct? Who put in his head the country
lives by his words and by his thoughts?
Strange is this president.
Who put across to him that extending his presidential
term is inevitable? Who made him believe he is the eternal commander in chief
of the Lebanese Army?
Who made him believe he is the trusted master of the
country and people? What’s his grasp on facts in the country, the region and
the world?
Which facts does he gather and how does he discard
what needs to be discarded and highlight what needs to be highlighted?
What calculations govern his steps when figuring his
conduct as President of the Republic?
Why his family members’ haughtiness – whether in
charities, or by ruling the roost in clubs and municipalities, or in the way they
commute back and forth from their homes?
Yesterday, President Sleiman expressed a sudden
whim.
He said: “The Army’s task becomes more difficult when
one or several Lebanese factions get embroiled in conflicts beyond the borders,
thereby importing external crises to the interior (…)
“The Army’s task becomes more difficult, if not
impossible, if the twofold possession of legal and illegal arms persists (…)
“It is urgently necessary to address and approve the
national defense strategy, given developments in the region and the sudden
redirection of Resistance weaponry to a target outwith Lebanon’s borders.”
What the president said is that he decided, without
us knowing, that the Resistance is putting the country and its people at risk.
His Excellency decided yesterday that the Resistance
has exceeded its limits – and Lebanon’s limits as well.
Discussing with the president his remarks is of no
consequence anymore. Discussing anything with him is useless anyway. Debating
his or his aides’ brilliant ideas and creative proposals is pointless.
The only logic, or the only language, or the only
short expression that can be used with him today and tomorrow is: “Time you
left office. Buzz off!”
Separately,
U.S. Ambassador-Designate to Lebanon
David Hale said in a statement at his Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing
yesterday:
…The Syria crisis is having a profound
effect on Lebanon. The spillover
threatens to disrupt Lebanon's progress toward democracy, independence and
prosperity. There are those who
would drag Lebanon into the Syrian conflict.
Hezbollah is putting its own interests
and those of its foreign backers above those of the Lebanese people.
Hezbollah’s active military support for
the Syrian regime contradicts the Baabda Declaration, violates Lebanon’s
disassociation policy and risks Lebanon's stability.
My mission, if confirmed, will be to do
everything possible to support the Lebanese in their policy of disassociation
from the Syrian conflict, help them maintain their sovereignty and ensure that
America is helping to meet the humanitarian and economic challenge posed by
refugee flows into Lebanon.
Violence is already spilling over. The
work of the Lebanese Armed Forces and Internal Security Forces to protect
Lebanon from these consequences reminds us that U.S. security assistance is a
pillar of our bilateral relations and serves U.S. interests.
We work with these two institutions to
fight common terrorist threats. We
have a strong commitment to support the Lebanese as they build-up these
institutions so they can project state authority to all corners of
Lebanon. Only with such
institutions can Lebanon ever attain stability, sovereignty and security.
There are over 700,000 refugees from
the Syrian conflict in Lebanon, a nation of four million.
The strain is great. Our humanitarian
aid helps the refugee population as well as Lebanese host communities, many
disadvantaged themselves, with food, shelter, healthcare and schooling. If
confirmed, I will seek new ways to support Lebanese protection and assistance
for those fleeing the terrible violence next door.
Lebanon's banking sector is the
backbone of its economy. For the
financial sector to continue to attract capital, it must meet international
standards on countering money laundering and terror financing. If confirmed, I
will work with the Lebanese banking community to ensure that it remains a stabilizing
force for the economy…
