As the much-awaited Election Day approaches in Lebanon, empty propaganda has reached unprecedented levels, in an attempt to deviate the attention from the total failure of the Orange party to impose or achieve anything within the March 8 Coalition.
There have been sacrifices from all parties within the March 14 Coalition for Lebanon, and no one should deny that: today, the Traditional Christian Parties are strongly back to Southern Mount Lebanon, with a solid representation for the National Liberal Party, the Lebanese Kataeb and the Lebanese Forces in the districts of Aley, Shouf and Baabda. It should be mentioned that in Shouf, the Future Movement sacrificed one of its longtime loyal supporters, Ghattas Khoury, to the advantage of the March 14 Christian Parties. Moreover, the likes of Antoine Andraous and Abdallah Farhat, members of the Democratic Gathering Parliamentary bloc, were also replaced; the foothold of the Christian Partisan representation is becoming increasingly strong in Southern Mount Lebanon.
Furthermore, when uninformed followers praise Michel Aoun for having lobbied in Doha for Christian rights (after having happily covered the invasion of Islamist Miltiamen of Beirut and [Part of] Mount Lebanon), they fail to notice that Aoun did not support the proposal of the Lebanese Forces Representatives back then, that had suggested to move the Maronite seat of Tripoly to Batroun and the Maronite seat of Baalbeck-Hermel to Becharreh. Aoun did not do so because he thought that his allies would offer him the seat in Baalbeck-Hermel, while he would have zero chances to contest it in the LF's stronghold, Becharreh/Deir-el Ahmar. Today, the behavior of the Muslim parties in both camps clearly reveals who cares about allies and who just uses allies to cover projects and actions: Effectively, in Tripoly, the Maronite candidate on the March 14 list was chosen to be from one of the main Lebanese Christian Parties: Kataeb's Samer Saade; while in Baalbeck-Hermel, Aoun was not even invited to any negotiations, and the seat was offered to Emile Rahme, who despite having zero representativity in the Christian street, was ahead of Aoun in visiting Teheran and presenting his blind obedience to the Wali Faqih.
Northern Bekaa is just one example among a series of such proofs that show that Michel Aoun did not receive anything in return for his free obedience to the party leading the March 8 Coalition, Hezbollah.
- In 2005, Aoun had a candidate for the Catholic seat in Zahrani (Colonel Bou Farhat); in 2009, after having become a follower of the Hezbollah-led Coalition, Aoun was not even invited to any negotiation table regarding that seat, and Nabih Berri kept Michel Moussa running there without an eye blink.
- In the whole Mouhafaza of South Lebanon (except Jezzine), Aoun was not allowed to nominate any Christian candidate; even the very un-charismatic Issam Abou Jamra had to be kicked out of his Marjeyoun hometown to the advantage of the proud killer of President Bachir Gemayel, Assad Hardane of the Syrian Socialist Nationalist Party.
- Even in the majorly-Christian Jezzine, Aoun's concerns were completely disregarded by his allies: in fact, the Orange Leader tried to put a veto on MP Samir Azar, since he considers that Azar disrespected him when he did not welcome his orange presence in Jezzine. Nabih Berri and Hezbollah behind him, were not willing to listen to any of Aoun's concerns, and they insisted on keeping Azar, despite Aoun's allergy towards him. This ended up obliging Aoun to run alone in Jezzine, spending energy and efforts to try to counter the victory of Azar. Out of Principles? Of course not. Simply out of personal ego --- Michel Helou, the second Maronite Candidate on the "Reform" Orange list, is linked to corruption files in relation to Bank al Madina.
While not allowing Aoun to negotiate over any Christian seats in the Shia strongholds of Hezbollah and Amal, the Shia Parties did not mind challenging and putting ultimate pressure on Aoun around the Shia seats in the predominantly-Christian districts.
- Baabda: While the Orange Party has always tried to wear the "secular dress" through the candidature of Aounist activist Ramzi Kanj, the March 8 Coalition had a different say in that -- Hezbollah imposed two out of two Shia candidates on Baabda's list, confirming that both Hezbollah and Amal are not willing to offer anything back to Aoun in return for his good services.
- Nabih Berri is even intervening in Zahle, in an attempt to impose Amal's Ali Abdallah instead of the Member of the Change and Reform Parliamentary Bloc, Hassan Yaacoub.
More crucial questions are the following:
What did Michel Aoun gain from covering the July 2006 Hezbollah-triggered war, the May 7 2008 invasion or the killing of Lebanese Army Officer Samer Hanna by Hezbollah in the South? What did Aoun achieve from visiting Syria and Iran? Did he manage to heal the pains of any of the families of the Lebanese detainees in Syrian Prisons?
Michel Aoun served the Masters of the March 8 Coalition for free, providing a Christian cover for the Iranian interests in Lebanon.
On another hand, the different March 14 parties made mutual sacrifices: the LF sacrificed Richard Kouyoumjian in Beirut 1 for the sake of smooth relations with the March 14 Armenian Parties (Henchag, Ramgavar and Free Lebanese Armenian Movement-FLAM); while the Armenian Parties sacrificed the FLAM's Leader Nareg Abrahamian in Zahle to the advantage of a pro-LF candidate. The Kataeb, the Future Movement, the Democratic Renewal Movement, the Democratic Gathering and all the other constituents of the March 14 Coalition for Lebanon also exchanged sacrifices for the sake of the Cedar Revolution and ultimately for the sake of a strong and flourishing Lebanon that is governed by its central government, rather than by a group of militias with non-Lebanese sponsorship and goals.
Parties who offered time, efforts, tears and blood for the sake of the dear Land of the Cedars, won't be irritated nor "ashamed" by an additional sacrifice to the cause for which martyrs donated their lives. What is the importance of giving up a seat when compared to losing Ramzi Irani or Pierre Gemayel? We will gladly sacrifice in order to protect our people and save our country. We will understand the specifics of every district and respect its local particularities. At the end of the day, our goal is Lebanon and every firm believer in our objectives may represent our aims inside the Parliament.
We need the Deputies to be Patriotic VOICES in Nejmeh Square, not simple VOTES that fuel the ego of a totalitarian despot. We will be proud to hear the likes of Michel Mouawad, Salah Hnein, Sejaan Azzi or Georges Adwan voicing our concerns while others will be adding to their counts the likes of Zaher Khatib, Ghassan Achkar, Gilberte Zouein or Elie Ferzli.
May 23, 2009
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