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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Abdo: Hezbollah considers Aoun a 'winning lottery ticket' |
| 2008-06-12 |
| Former Ambassador Johnny Abdo said during an interview with May Chidiac on LBC Television on Tuesday, June 10, that dialogue is the priority in Lebanon today. According to Abdo, "Not only is dialogue an urgent and more important need than the formation of the government, but it will also help eliminate the obstacles blocking the government's formation." Abdo stressed that President Michel Suleiman should call for national dialogue amid the latest Sunni-Shia tension. "Yet a meeting between MP Saad Hariri, head of the Future Movement, and Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah is necessary to diffuse tension in Beirut and other regions." "Head of the Change and Reform bloc MP Michel Aoun does not want Michel Suleiman as president," Abdo added. "Once he lost the biggest victory, that of becoming president himself, he started creating illusory victories. This is like psychiatric therapy for him." "I don't believe that the role of Christians in Lebanon is only in the Christians' interest. It is in all of Lebanon's interest... I can't be against someone calling for Lebanon first." Abdo accused the Free Patriotic Movement of imposing unnecessary burdens on the president. "Aoun was forced at Doha to accept Suleiman's election as president. He was about to quit and withdraw from political life when Suleiman's election was decided." Abdo added that Hezbollah considers Aoun a "winning lottery ticket," because "the General is providing a cover for Hezbollah's actions, whether right or wrong." He also said that Hezbollah's controversial network of landlines connects all of the party's allies. "There is a line to Rabieh, too," he said in a reference to Aoun's home. The former Lebanese intelligence chief further stressed the need for the new president to be given the ministries of Defense, Interior and Justice, "as he is the commander in chief of the Armed Forces." On the security situation, Abdo said that "politicians must not give the impression that there are no men in the country capable of solving the crisis," calling this a big problem that requires a quick solution. Commenting on the violent incidents that started on May 7, Abdo said the Army Intelligence Services passed MP Walid Jumblatt the information on Hezbollah's telecommunications networks and the surveillance camera the group had set up at the airport; information that that Jumblatt revealed, sparking the conflict. "A campaign was directed against Jumblatt and not the source that gave him the information," Abdo said, adding, "Did someone push Jumblatt to do this?" He slammed the opposition, especially Hezbollah, for its attack on Beirut and the Mountain. "Are the residents of the capitol and the Chouf the ones who made the decisions regarding Hezbollah's network and Brigadier General Wafiq Choucair?" Abdo asked, in reference to the head of the airport security services, who was sacked for his alleged ties with Hezbollah. Abdo also said that when Hezbollah gunmen invaded Beirut, they were looking for specific people as if their search was based on a list of names, which "reveals that the party possesses a reconnaissance network that covers Beirut." Abdo compared Hezbollah's current status to that of the PLO during the Lebanese civil war. "It is written on Hezbollah's flag: 'The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon', not 'The Lebanese Islamic Resistance.' This means that Hezbollah's agenda has nothing to do with the state." "Hezbollah is saying, 'We have our own state and institutions, and we want a share in your state and then take control,'" he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |