Jumblatt: Hizbullah involved in assassinations

(/satire off)

In an interview with Wolf Blitzer on Sunday, Jumblatt said Hizbullah was involved in the assassinations of March 14 leaders, and reiterated that Lebanon cannot be stable as long as Bashar Assad feels secure. Below are a few highlights, courtesy of Ya Libnan. 

"It is impossible to have good security in Lebanon, we are hiding in our rooms…"

When asked "who is behind these assassinations", Jumblatt responded "Syria and its allies Hezbollah. I have no doubt about it. The tribunal will give its verdict next year, but until next year it is quite a long time, anything can happen."

"As long as Bashar al-Assad in Syria feels secure, as long as there are no military or economic sanctions against him, he will just go along in Lebanon killing us one by one. As long as we have this tyrant, this butcher in Damascus alive, we will never have a stable democracy in Lebanon"

"Our opponents have a private army in Lebanon, private security, they have weapons provided by the Syrian regime and Tehran, while we have international solutions, we are not asking for military help, we are not asking for military bases, they already have military bases in Lebanon - an Iranian and Syrian military base, and they are behind the assassinations."

"We've got to stay alive, survive the next few weeks, and if we are still alive and still the majority, we can elect one of us that will abide by international law, and also abide by the international tribunal of justice, that will one day bring the murders, bring Bashar al-Assad to trial."

"The Syrians don't need to have their military or intelligence in Lebanon as long as they have their unofficial brigade in Lebanon - Hezbollah. This alliance between Iran, Syria and Lebanon (Hezbollah) has been an indirect occupation."

Will Jumblatt and March 14 stay alive? Will Lebanon survive the international laxity in effectively and seriously dealing with the Assad regime? Or will we see more insipid attempts by EU ministers to "unite" March 14 politicians with their counterparts in the pro-assassinations camp? And on the domestic front, can the Maronites, the ones that count anyway, find their role in steering the country away from the Iranian-Syrian swamp?   

Comments

[ghassan karam]

One more time Walid Jumblatt seems to be the only major March 14 figure who is courageous enough to be rational. No other person in March 14, definitely not Saniora and not Hariri, has dared to look at the emperor and say that he has no cloths on. He has declared upon a few occasions that the Lebanese project cannot proceed forward with any form of HA partnership and finally he has connected the dots to make the circumstantial case that many had refered to over the past two years. HA's total opposition to any form of a tribunal to investigate the assassinations of Rafic Hariri and the other 6-7 figures (I have lost count) leads to the SUSPICION that there is a high probability that the group was involved in these abominable acts. Where are the other March 14 pols and in particular where are the Lebanese masses to lend this lonely voice the support that he needs?

[Bad Vilbel]

Amen, Ghassan, Amen.

Why is it that no other M14 "leader" even comes close to speaking rationally like Jumblatt? Why are they busy still trying to make deals with the opposition?

[fubar]

(Daily Star) SIDON: The wife of fugitive Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker al-Abssi denied over the weekend that the Lebanese government had "any sort" of ties with the Al-Qaeda-inspired militant group her husband headed. "The Lebanese government did not facilitate the entry of Fatah al-Islam militants into the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, and MP Saad Hariri has never provided funding to our group," Rishdiyeh al-Abssi told a group of journalists at Sidon's Al-Arqam Mosque, where she resides with the families of other Fatah al-Islam militants.

******

Not that I am suggesting otherwise but still...

HELLO! Anyone with more than two brain cells working at the Daily Star? -- This is the same twit of a woman who misidentified her own freakin' husband's body, for crying out loud. Since when did she become a reliable source for anything, even on a slow news day.

[J.]

Watched Jumblatt's interview this Sunday morning on CNN with Blitzer and he appeared calm and assured. Let's hope these Washington meetings secured the proper guarantees to stay the course!

[Shunkleash]

I saw that interview as well and i noted his admission to being "obliged to make an accomodation" with Syria after they killed his father. I think even wolfie boy was a bit taken aback by that comment as he had to ask him..."even after they killed you father"? I guess that Einstein has just discovered his theory of reality. Golly how things have a way of working in round abouts...things certainly have come full circle for old Walid.

As I have previoulsy posted, no US adminstration is going to take any pol in lebanon seriously until they start to take active steps to fend for themselves. The continued willingness of our pols to be touchy feely and accomodating with an oppostion that has done everyting except post a billboard that says "WE ARE GOING TO KILL YOU" only reinforces the belief that not one of them is worth saving. Again i pose the question. Why would any member of the US administration stick his neck out for harriri, weeping willow or any of them?

So yalla ya jum jum you go boy! I got your back brah! Just don't forget the bullet proof vest before you get off the plane.

3:1 odds walid is next to learn the big bang theory...any takers?

Ayesh lubnan

[fubar]

"3:1 odds walid is next to learn the big bang theory...any takers?"

Duuuuuude...that is some cold hearted wagering there. I would say Walid should be worried about your having his back given your financial conflict of interest and all...

[Ramzi S]

I think Hizb and Syria know that the dice roll is too unpredictable if they go after Jumblatt. They assasinated the big man Harriri and that blew in their faces. Their not about to make that mistake again.

But hey, since when did the opposition and Syria have rational thinking? Extemists, and dictators always stumble that is why in the long run Lebanon will survive to the vision of the March 14th demonstrations, and Hizballah/Aoun will just be an embarassing memory for their supporters.

[Shunkleash]

LOL!

Believe me Fubar, deep down I don't really bear any ill will towards Mr. Einstein. I appreciate that the vittles at the table of political "accomodation" are meagre and sometimes you must suck salt, or knaw at a bone before being passed the taters and gravy. Nevertheless, I think old walid realises, like the others at hotel california, that his/their continued existence in this world is in the hands of someone in a land far far away (rhymes with Myria) than in the hands of his/their maker.

With that said, don't hold it against me...but i gotta make a livin yo! Anyway, i did remind the guy to wear the kevlar!:-)

Peace!

Ayesh Lubnan

[Riemer Brouwer]

Two comments:
1. People thinking that with the election of a pro March 14 president, calm will be restored in Lebanon are hopelessly optimistic. Most likely, more killings will follow to prevent March 14 from having the president *and* the house. In that sense, the election of a March 14 president is only the starting gun (literally) for a next round of killing.

2. Jumblatt's statement are getting more and more bizarre by the day. Shameless plug alert: check my blog on his statement about revenge killing. How low could he sink?

[david]

Was this post satire like the last two? I could not tell ...

[Jeha]

Most killings in Lebanon are likely the work of semi-private "contractors", who coordinate with sub contractors in the PSNS and the (now retired) Hobeika.

some of Hezb'O's guys may well be implicated peripherally in this, but the party/pasdaran outfit is not likely to have performed the entire thing.

[naja]

Jumblatt's relationship with Hezbollah broke down completely the day his close ally Gibran Tueni was assassinated. I think it says it all.

[Ace]

Am I the only one who remembers that one of the HA "negotiations" with Moussa was that not all of the assassinations go under the tribunal? There is no way that all of this could have occurred in Lebanon without Hezbollah either giving an OK, or being involved. It's extremely unlikely that each and every murder was done by the same person/group. Very likely the "orders" all came from the same source.

Only Jumbi has the never to call a "spade" a "spade".

[Danny]

God's speed Lebanon...May the devil's bearded ones vanish... Purge basharties and isolate HA...ONLY then Lebanon will have breathing room. This can only happen if Israel decides that their ally Bashar is not useful to them anymore...

[J.]

Shunkleash,

I am not defending Jumblatt's stand over the decades and I am certain he had his share of blunders, but I think the guy really had no choice given his father's demise. When he says he was obliged I can understand that. As the leader of a small minority during a civil war what choices did he have? I think in retrospect he's done an excellent job sparing his sect major confrontations with Syria, and more importantly relegating their political role to the abysmal position of the Druzes in Syria!

As for your bet, it's not my style. But something to ponder is Jumblatt's stand within March 14 then I'd say it might be THE spark of another civil war...

[ghassan karam]

Shunkleash,
There comes a point in life when individuals have to accept their role in society and become at peace with themselves. Fighting the inevitable is destructive a nd unproductive. The fact that Walid Jumblatt is a prime target for the Syrian and Iranian agents is not a secret and I believe that the man is resigned to his role and his fate. That is the only explanation for his outspokeness and his uncanny ability to hold the feet of March 14 to the fire. Over the past year and a half Walid Jumblatt has evolved into a most precious specimen, a politician with the courage to speak his mind and be principled.

[naja]

Ghassan, this is probably the most lucid and succinct analysis of Jumblatt's stance. If there was anything Walid Jumblatt learned from his father, it was that uncanny ability to play realpolitik to the letter. One should not forget that he called his son Taymoor, after the Mongol leader who practically laid waste to Syria (a name which, incidentally, you will find amongst many young hardened Syria-hating maronites). I for one read the message quite clearly back then, and it was not surprising that Walid and the Assad Snr. waltzed while looking hard into each other's eyes, with mutual wariness the name of the game. Bashar, however, failed to read the levantine intricacy of this M.A.D kind of relationship and never realised that at the heart of it lay warriors' mutual respect and communal vested interest. The balance was far too delicate to remain and the Jumblatts have a long, elephantine memory. Assad Jnr. simply didn't understand and didn't read his history carefully enough. Like you, Ghassan, I respect anyone who has the courage of his convictions, even more so when he marks himself voluntarily as a dead man, all - in his words - for history to be the witness.