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In an interview with
Reuters, General Michel Aoun stressed the need to have a change in the
cabinet warning that the current attitude of the “so-called” majority
cannot resolve any crisis Lebanon is going through.
September 12, 2006
Tayyar.org
Q: General you are asking for a national government, can
I ask you why?
A: The current government is the
product of an alliance between Hezbollah and the Hariri movement.
This government is split in 2 parts,
and they are opposing each other therefore they cannot rule the country
lacking with the minimum harmony required. They are unable to deal with
the main problems facing the country which happen to be very complex
and hard. Therefore we need stability and unity to make people accept
some hard decisions and to prevent mistakes from being repeated.
However they didn’t accept my offer,
so I said okay.
Nevertheless the change in the
government will occur, at a certain moment with no specific timing, and
then they won’t have the time to prepare their departure.
Q: Since they have the majority in the parliament and elections are not
due for a while, how will the government fall?
A: This government doesn’t have any
majority. The elections were falsified because of the 2000 electoral
law. I said that we represent the third, for we have 21seats in the
parliament, and Hezbollah- Amal have 34 seats. While Hariri with his
allies won 72 seats.
We contested the result of 11 seats,
so they dissolved the constitutional council and didn’t allow us to
have a ruling, so everything seems as if Lebanon doesn’t have a
government, but a mafia, a group which is trying to confiscate the
power, a kleptocracy.
Q: Some believe that after the war with Israel, now is not the moment
where Lebanon needs more divisions, but a time to pull everyone back
together. What do you say to that?
A: They want to continue with the
corruption and steal the money offered to Lebanon by the other
countries.
They have a notorious reputation in
corruption, all of them.
I wonder how they can participate with
Hezbollah in building the country and not with us. These people are
lying all the time, for one Rafic Hariri’s government sued me in the
past because I testified before the American congress against Syria.
And now they are the American men.
They are changing allies constantly;
they win their alliances by making promises and now they are in trouble
because they’re never fulfilling them.
Q: You say that you stayed the same, but for many people your position
is very confusing.
A: Well I’m up against a media that’s
distorting my image, but in reality I’m still the same. Syria is out of
Lebanon and I m always opposing Syria’s interference in our business.
At times, I criticized Bashar Assad for naming our prime minister a
slave, and it was necessary to remind him to respect Siniora.
And I criticized Assad another time
when when the Syrian courts issued a subpoena in the name of Lebanese
MPs, and the last incident was recently, when Assad labeled the
government as an Israeli product.
So as you see, I contradict Syria
whenever it’s necessary but I don’t insult it randomly, we don’t need
to create problems where there isn’t any.
Q: So you’re saying it’s okay for you to insult Siniora but not for
Assad to insult him, right?
A: Well yes, I’m allowed to criticize
his and the government’s behavior, it’s an internal affair. I’ll always
oppose Syria whenever it is necessary.
Q: You are also politically allied with Hezbollah?
A: Never, there was an electoral
alliance between Hariri, Hezbollah, Amal, Jumblatt, Phalanges, and the
Lebanese forces. And we can see all of these parties inside the current
government, and I’m out.
Hezbollah and I share common grounds
just as we have conflict points, so we created a framework to solve
these points, thus creating a peaceful aura for implementing 1559.
I should add that right after we
concluded the Free Patriotic Movement-Hezbollah understanding; merely
everyone pinpointed it as a Syrian-Iranian paper. And that was their
biggest mistake, for they were really seeking war with such an
attitude, and not peace. The purpose of the paper was to be adopted by
the government. The war didn’t change what we agreed upon in the
understanding regarding the disarmament of Hezbollah.
I told them we have to develop at
first trust then we start fixing the problems. We need to rebuild the
confidence between Hariri and Hezbollah.
After the understanding we cannot
disregard the fact that there’s a huge change in Hezbollah’s mind and
language, for it restricted its resistance to Lebanon.
Q: Do you think that Hezbollah was right to do what he did?
A: May I ask Israel: does capturing 2
soldiers deserve initiating a war against all of Lebanon? The same
question can be asked to both parties.
Hezbollah wasn’t awaiting such a
massive response from Israel, and likewise, Israel wasn’t expecting
such a resistance from Hezbollah. The war is always a result of
miscalculation and false movements from both sides.
Q: The impact of the war was felt by all Lebanese; however the decision
of going to war was taken by one man who isn’t in the government.
A: The war was declared by Israel and
not Hezbollah. Since 1982 the rules of war were respected by both to a
limit, and today the Israelis changed the rules of the game.
Q: But it was Hezbollah who gave them the pretext and not the Lebanese
government?
A: We have read in the American
newspapers that this war was prepared and approved by the US prior to
the abducting of Israeli soldiers, and there were meetings being held
in Israel by former prime ministers and they decided this war.
Therefore saying that Hezbollah declared the war isn’t quiet accurate.
Q: Does what happened show that there’s a need now to change the way
that Hezbollah operates?
A: Certainly, but Israel also needs to
approach this issue differently, in a nonviolent way in order to solve
it.
If we want to foresee the future,
Israel has to comply with non-violent means. I believe that 58 years of
battle should be sufficient so that Israel changes its approach to
solving problems.
Every Jew in the world is living
better and more securely than he is in Israel. And this does not make
us happy because we would like to see everybody living in peace while
respecting each other.
Q: Do you feel that you represent the Christian community in general?
A: Yes, yesterday they published a
poll regarding my behavior during the war, and got 45% of the Lebanese
agreeing on my becoming the next president.
Q: When you say you got one third of the votes, what does that mean?
A: It is at a national level and 73%
of the Christian population. So in a democratic system when u have the
2 thirds as in 66% of the people cheering for you then you can change
event the constitution. And you might realize that these numbers don’t
add up to the parliamentary seats I occupy, and that’s due to the
electoral law that gerrymandered the votes and thus misrepresents the
people.
And I want to mention here that
Hezbollah and us, we agreed on the form of a future electoral law.
Q: Where is the Christian voice at the moment in Lebanon?
A: It is with me, I’m playing the
Christian role to unify the country. But I don’t hold the position of
the president of the republic so that this role would be recognized,
here and in the Arab world. But I played the first role to keep the
national unity intact during the war and preserve the stability.
Q: So are you saying that it is time for the president to resign?
A: He is free to do as he wishes, but
at this moment I shall not demand that of him.
Let’s do some statistics and the polls
will show who is mostly representing the people, it is true that the
president has to be a Christian Maronite, but it is crucial for him to
be accepted by other communities in the country. Moreover, he has to be
supported by the mass.
The parliament is misrepresenting the
real forces on the ground now because of the electoral law which we can
name “the Syrian 2000 electoral law”. So I call for new elections which
will manifest the will of the people.
Q: But the constitution says that the president should be elected by
the parliament?
A: The current parliament isn’t good
enough so let’s have early elections, that’s very easy. Democratic
regulation states that when the parliament isn’t respected it must be
dissolved, or else it will lead to conflicts and confrontations.
Q: You seem to be calling for street protests, will you use any violent
means?
A: No, we demonstrated for 15 years
peacefully against the Syrians never using but peaceful non-violent
means.
Q: Are you in favor of the international tribunal regarding Hariri’s
assassination?
A: Well, yes we support the idea, as a
matter of fact I was the first to address this issue, and I suggested
that we have a mixed Lebanese and international tribunal; Lebanese to
restore and respect our sovereignty, and on the other hand make use of
the international presence to strengthen our position.
However we still don’t have any
suspects yet.
Q: But you have 4 generals in custody, aren’t they suspects?
A: These four generals haven’t been
faced yet with legal charges.
Q: Do you think that the series of assassinations has stopped for good?
A: Lets hope so, but there is
definitely more than one side in Lebanon who could be responsible for
these crimes. One it could be the Mossad, and other key players.
Therefore we need to consolidate our security system.
Q: Are you saying I shouldn’t assume that these assassinations were the
work of Syria?
A: There are many assumptions
regarding the identity of the criminals, but we still lack any
incriminating evidence. Mr. Brammertz will tell us if he reached any
lead in the investigation.
Q: Are you concerned that during the run up to Mr. Brammertz report,
that there’ll be more attacks on the opponents of Syria?
A: No, I don’t see any reason for that.
Q: It seems that the way the Christians can have power now is by
allying themselves to a Muslim group, and there’s no longer an
independent Christian voice?
A: Sure there are: my voice and my
block’s. And we may be more independent than necessary.
Q: Do you have any concerns for the Christian community?
A: No, we are crossing a temporary
situation, and it will pass.
Q: Well a lot of young Christians are looking at the country and saying
we have no future here.
A: this is a postwar moment, not only
the Christians are feeling this way, it is a general crisis for all
Lebanese.
Q: Do you think that the balance of power will change soon? Will the
government fall?
A: Yes, we’ll have at least a
government change, because they can’t continue like that. They’ve been
in office for a year, and they’re starting now their second and they
haven’t implemented one single paragraph from the ministerial
declaration.
Q: Would you like to see the government in Syria change?
A: I don’t care. I am in Lebanon
practicing my independence without aggressing Syria and in return I
won’t have to defend myself against it.
Q: How can you maintain your independence given that Lebanon has a very
weak government and state, and all these powerful countries around it?
A: We stay open minded to everyone,
and insist on being a Lebanese dimension outside Lebanon, not foreign
dimensions within Lebanon.
Q: In the past many of the foreign parties tried to improve their
position in Lebanon by allying with certain Lebanese parties.
A: Yes, but my movement hasn’t allied
with any outside power to fight a Lebanese group, therefore I am in a
position to seek support from outside.
There are different approaches to deal
with Syria and Iran.
The Lebanese cannot be Lebanese and
Iranians, but they can be friends with the Iranians, or Syrians…
However the Hariri party doesn’t want
to form friendship ties with the Syrians because of some vengeance they
have towards them. And certainly we cannot build a country based on
vengeance.
If we really want peace in the Middle
East, we have to approach the issues in a civilized and peaceful
manner, where the force must be at the service of justice.
And in Lebanon the force must be a
monopoly to the state, and because of our social structure we need to
have a government that’s a real representative of the people, believing
in the concept of sharing the power and the decision making.
bravenet.com