This general will self-destruct

Michel Aoun is arguing with his opposition comrades over the Arab intiative. In short, he doesn't want it. Reportedly, he got mad at Amal for refusing to announce, during the Sunday protest, a plan to storm the Grand Serail and take Siniora hostage, and to call for civil disobedience. According to al-Hayat, he came close to boycotting the Sunday event.

Berri's Amal wanted to give the Arab initiative some time, unlike Aoun who wants to form a new government and find his own Sunni PM as soon as possible (assuming he really wants a Sunni to head his transitional government).

Aoun announced the "plan" anyway, upsetting the token Sunni in the "opposition", Islamist preacher Fathi Yakan, who today lashed out at the former general for seeking to change the government and occupy the Serail, saying that such a move would lead to a massacre and consequences worse than Iraq. (LBC)

Of course Aoun, irresponsible and immature as he is, couldn't care less. He is feeding off of Hizbullah's intransigence to further his own Napoleonic goals. I think the time will come when he finds himself ostracized by his own allies. The "Christian cover" could soon self-destruct and drag his new buddies along with him.

Comments

[BadVilbel]

Not a moment too soon, either!

He actually called for taking Siniora hostage? Doesn't THAT constitute, at the very least, sedition? Arrest the bastard and throw him in that underground cell Geagea spent so many years in, in Yarze. Heh!

[ghassan karam]

Aoun is not to be taken half as seriously as the media suggests. He is , in a sense , a creation of the media. A new face that is tempremental, vocal, ambitious and is willing to strike any Faustian bargain. What the media has missed is that his apparent popularity resulted from a confluence of events for which he is tangentially responsible at best. The win in the parliamentary elections was fueled more by Christian voters who were dissatisfied with the system than with Aouns 's eloquence , charm or lack of both. HA is using him for political expediency only, he gives them the cover that they so covet. He makes them look as if they have some appeal outside of the Shiite community. I believe that when he becomes a liability HA will dump him in NY second. The man is dispensable and only a two bit player. My only interest in this man is the hope that his fall from grace will at least tarnish his newly found allies HA/Amal. Unfortunately I dont think that the appeal of HA/Amal will be diminished as a result of the faux pas of Aoun since both HA and Amal appeal to a hard core sectarian base but I am hopeful that their image as a national group will be finally shattered. That will go a long way towards weakening their hand. Poker anyone?

[Jay]

In another blog, I predicted the demonstrations ending in Serail being stormed and Siniora killed. Apparantly this was the plan all along; HA/Amal (Hamal?) and FPM merely disagree on the timing.

[charlie]

Aoun, what a character. He is not going to rest till he sees Lebanon back up in flames. He pushes into the Seril and that might be the last thing he will ever do. Even Karami doesn't want much to do with that crew. Aoun spent 15 years in France and didn't learn shit about democracy.

[Louis-Noel Harfouche]

Wanna hear a funny story? I met the 'mon General' (well, kinda met him) in Paris years ago during a research stint at the MAE and Langues O. Here's how I (kinda) met that smug nobody, and here's how irrelevant he had become, even then, in 1999-2000. One afternoon, having left the archives earlier than usual, I decided that, rather than taking the metro at Invalides to go home I should perhaps take a walk--a very long walk it turned out--to the Champs Elisées to get to know the city. After about an hour's walk, as I was nearing the Place Etoile, I sort of locked eyes (for a fleeting moment) with a short stocky safari-clad Lebanese-looking bald man walking towards me. Thinking to myself "I've seen that stupid face somewhere before" I did a double-take trying to figure out whether I should say hello or something (especially that by now a broad self-satisfied smile had begun to overtake his face.) "I must know this guy" I kept telling myself as we both kept inching closer towards one another, "and he seems to know me too, otherwise why would he be smiling at me" (this is France, not the U.S afterall! You don't smile or say hello to complete strangers on the street unless you're a hypocrite or you're otherwise trying to pick them up.) Unable to put a name to that familiar "smile", I turned my eyes away... But as I walked by him, catching a glimpse of a visibly disappointed look on his face, it dawned on me; "crap, it's the 'mon General' damn it, and he's all by his 'glorious' little self walking down the world's busiest avenue. How can this be?" But this is how irrelevant he had become! Even back in 1999-2000, this is how irrelevant he had become! Anyone could have popped him right then and there, but even HE knew how irrelevant he had become, and how no one would even give him the time of day, let alone bother popping lead into his skull. "Still," I thought to myself afterwards, "what an ass, to have had the audacity to smile at someone he suspected might have recognized him--and could have even rushed to ask 'his grace' for an autograph, or a handshake, or a hug." Yuk! I shudder at the mere thought that this smug ass might have even had a fleeting illusion that an expat would even accost him. And you have blockheads in Lebanon who still think this the the man who would be king.

[Umm Kais]

Safari-clad? What the hell was he wearing? A jungle print/khaki shirt? Yikes. Better than orange I guess.

[BadVilbel]

Interesting story, Louis.

Contrast that with the near-worshipping following the General (and others like him) manage to get in Lebanon. That's why our "so-called" leaders continue to hold the antiquated system in place. Lebanon is the only place in the world where any idiotic has-been can relive his glory days and find throngs of adoring fans where there should be none.

There's some parallel to "Sunset Blvd." (the classic) movie here, but I'm too lazy to elaborate.

[Tony Mourani]

Few Moinths ago, Hariri and his Sunni fanatic followers wanted to invade Baabda and replace the president with a puppet of their own.

This was a lesson by Michel Aoun to Hariri, go play in KSA, Lebanon will never be a toy in Sunnis hand.

Sanyoura will fall soon and Ben Laden will follow him after that.

Long Live Free Lebanon (Free from Sunni fanatics)