[LCM Articles] Lebanese Poles of Strength (blog)

[Loai Naamani]

http://lebop.blogspot.com/2005/11/lebanese-poles-of-strength-mehlis-is.html
Thursday, November 03, 2005



Lebanese Poles of Strength - Mehlis is Lebanon's Backbone 


As the fine citizens of the Gulf pour into Beirut to celebrate the Muslim Holiday of Eid al Fitr and clog the streets of Hamra
asking pedestrians where to find the nearest brothel (this happened to me four times last night in a ten minute period), Lebanese
politicians are back to their old tricks.

Lebanese politicians are unfamiliar with accountability. They believe that the job of the politician is to bend and sway with every
issue. They have no set ideology, and few have red lines that cannot be crossed - besides getting themselves elected to their next
term. If you think the politicians where you live are bad, meet the luminaries we've got here.

The Three Poles of Political Strength

The three groups below are not typical Lebanese political groups. They are much more powerful and have far more credibility
precisely because they do not bend on the most important issues to them. That is their primary source of political power.

1) The Maronite Patriarch

The Patriarch will always exercise more power than a politician. The same could probably be said about Muslim religious leaders. 
The Patriarch serves at the behest of the Pope, and can only be removed by him. He is not elected. His power emanates from Rome, and
no one in this country can undermine that (not even supporters of Michel Aoun during wartime).

The Patriarch is a partisan figure. He makes no claims to representing all of Lebanon. He has little interest in the needs of Sunni
and Shia. He is the leader of the Maronite community, but also the leader of any Catholic and any other Christian group in communion
with the Pope in the region. His religious authority spans continents.

The Patriarch is not a Lebanese leader. He is a spiritual leader who resides in Lebanon. His duty is to care for his flock, and to
such extent he defrays battles within his community. He protects the interests of his people and involves himself in politics
because politics guides Lebanon more than spirituality. The Pope tried to assert influence on the EU Constitution.

Pope John Paul II chastized Latin American priests for their involvement in politics. The very same Pope created the position of
Cardinal for Patriarch Butrus Nasrallah Sfeir. The Pope changed his plans to visit Lebanon after Samir Geagea was imprisoned, as
noted in William Harris' Faces of Lebanon.

The Patriarch will not allow Maronites and Uniate Christians to be undermined in the chaos of Lebanon. He does not involve himself
in the minutiae of Parliamentary debate. His red lines are broad and general, but firm.


2) Hezbollah

Hezbollah refuses to negotiate. They're strength isn't so much in their anti-Israeli rhetoric as much as it is in their refusal to
negotiate about removing their weapons. As long as they refuse to broach the topic, the majority of Lebanese politicians will
appease them, and Hezbollah will remain in a skewed position of power.

Hezbollah's weapons also prevent debate on other issues. The threat of violence prevents groups from speaking publicly in favor of
stabilizing relations with Israel, removing weapons from Syrian backed Palestinians, and foreign policy amongst other issues.

Hezbollah's weapons are targeted by the international community, thus their power is constantly checked - unlike the Patriarch.
Hezbollah also operates at the behest of two countries that do not serve the interests of Lebanon. Hezbollah is not serving a flock
that independently chooses to follow a leader. Hezbollah is serving leaders that want to command the flock.

In doing such, Hezbollah undermines their own community, even if they maintain their own strength. Ayatollah Fadlallah, a man with
the respect of the flock, has been moved aside because he does not subscribe to every political view emanating from Teheran. The
people endowed Fadlallah with his title, but he cannot fully exercise his role because of the political games being played by
Hezbollah and Amal in the name of Syria and Iran.


3) The Hariri Family

This is the least stable pole of the three.

Rafiq al Hariri was a billionaire politician. That put him in the same league as Silvio Berlusconi, Michael Bloomberg, and Thaksin
Shinawatra. But unlike the others, his power was always tied to the interests of Syria and Saudi Arabia. Those two nations exerted
actual power on him that he could not resist, despite his massive wealth.

The Hariri family is currently freeing itself from the burden of Syria. The process of doing this has gained them increased
authority, not only from political resolutions, but also a sense of moral authority.

However, like all other Lebanese politicians who lived under Syria, the Hariri family is unfamiliar with governmental
accountability. The Hariri family, including Shaheed Rafiq, are not a bunch of wise politicians. Neither are Berlusconi and
Bloomberg. However, unlike the former, the Hariri family does not have a specific agenda it is interested in enacting. Rafiq Hariri
wanted to rebuild Lebanon and make it Singapore on the Mediterranean (ie, one of the best countries in the world). But his family
has not shown similar desires.

However, unlike other Lebanese political families, the Hariri's employ an army of brilliant advisers. The Hariri family is not only
waging a political war. They are waging wars on many fronts, from making the advertising market fair (ie, into a market) to breaking
diamond and jewels monopolies.

The problem is that the family has not attacked politics in post-Feb. 14 Lebanon with the same aggression with which they attack the
private sector. The learning curve is steep, and there aren't too many Lebanese political advisers advocating a shift. In fact, the
biggest players in Lebanese politics are all telling Saad Hariri - the leader of the family - to negotiate. Druze leader Walid
Jumblatt (who is somewhat of a pole, but the dynamics are changing quickly in the post-Syrian Druze community) and members of the
Future Movement are frightened to take any risks. They've never really done so before. Jumblatt and An-Nahar editor-in-Chief Gebran
Tueni have taken the most risks of any of them, but even they are more cautious than they should be.

The Hariri family has learned the hard way that other political groups and even other politicians within their own parliamentary
bloc (like Walid Jumblatt) are not on the same page about the most crucial issue to the family: finding out the truth about the
assassination and prosecuting the criminals. This is the only red line for the Hariri family, and yet members of their own coalition
are crossing it. Now, Lebanese Forces Commander Samir Geagea is negotiating with Hezbollah.

The problem is that the Hariri family has not codified a specific agenda. The agenda was Rafiq's, and it partially died with him.
His vision was not presented in policy papers because Syria would not have allowed that. We have to believe his closest aides to
find out what his plan was. Saad Hariri and Nazek Hariri - the former Prime Minister's wife - might not even know.

This leads to another problem: different factions within the family and within the Future Movement use Rafiq Hariri's legacy in
different ways. There isn't one set agenda.

Mehlis' influence on the Hariri family

The Mehlis Commission investigating the assassination is keeping the Hariri family and the Future Movement in line during a
troubling time. Saad Hariri had a tremendous amount thrown on him. He is not the perfect politician by any means, but he has learned
a lot in a short amount of time. Bahia Hariri - the former prime minister's sister and sitting parliamentarian - has still not
gotten over the death of her brother.

The Mehlis Commission is entirely setting the agenda for the Hariri family. Mehlis is defining their enemies and creating a
political agenda for them - like reforming the security apparatus and removing all of the spying tools they and Syria implanted all
over this country.

The Hariri family is no longer just another political family in Lebanon (although they never were). They are Lebanon's family. UN
resolutions and international declarations are made to bring peace to them, but also to bring stability and peace to Lebanon.
Lebanon's independence is being built on this family's sorrow. And everyone in Lebanon believes that they should have the truth.
Even Syria and Lebanese political parties allied with it have declared that they want the Hariri family to have the truth. The issue
is not negotiatiable.

The Hariri family has an agenda for all of Lebanon unlike the Patriarch and Hezbollah. The repercussions of Hariri family actions
effect all of us, and for the better.

The Hariri family must recognize its strength and allow the technocrats within the organization to unleash their wrathe against
Syrian apologists and the constructors of terrorism.


Widening the debate

The debate in Lebanon must be widened. We cannot stand by and say that everyone is okay simply because they are Lebanese.

Hezbollah likes to assert that some Christians are negotiating with Israel. Well, let's put a face to an assertion. Instead of
convicting the entire Lebanese Christian population, let's have a Lebanese politician held accountable for his views. Let him loudly
advocate his support for Israel, and then the debate can begin.

It is often claimed that Christians want to ally with France. Where are all of the French advocacy groups?

We are hiding in Syrian shadows. Our voices should ring loud now.
Once the voices are made clear, most conspiracies will shatter. 

 

posted by lebanon.profile at  <http://lebop.blogspot.com/2005/11/lebanese-poles-of-strength-mehlis-is.html> 2:55 AM

http://lebop.blogspot.com/2005/11/lebanese-poles-of-strength-mehlis-is.html

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