The Minister of Interior should resign and the FBI should help with the investigations. The reasons have nothing to do with politics.

(Cartoon from Today’s Annahar, it reads: “Dear Ghosts, Please leave some clues in your next attack, thank you”)

When the Minister of Interior Hassan el Sabe’ took the podium on Tuesday to allay the people’s fears and to give them a sense of confidence and resolve, he failed miserably. He blamed the terrorists (whom he called “ghosts”) for not leaving any clues behind them. He was also visibly tense and defensive.
Of course it didn’t help that he was assailed by hostile journalists who felt personally touched by the May Chidiac incident, but still, his performance was a great sham. It actually made the people feel even less secure.

Today, the news is of a cabinet session where some ministers (Hezbollah and Amal) are going to protest P.M. Seniora’s request of the Technical Assistance from the FBI. They will claim that this would amount to “American interference in our matters”. Mr. Seniora should ignore them. Just today, the government of Trinidad and Tobago asked the FBI for teams to help “deal with a surge in violent crime.”

The two issues have one thing in common: They are both matters of technical nature that are being cheaply politicized. When minister Sabe’ found himself cornered, he started waxing poetics about our new independence and liberation. But this is not his job, his job is our security. The same goes to the Ministers of Hezbollah and Amal. They know that the FBI agents are just doing field work, this is why they should relax their political rhetoric a bit.

Saad Hariri has a great opportunity: The removal of minister Sabe’ can send very strong signals to all parties. It will show that the government is willing to do the right thing even if that thing is being demanded by the opposition (Aoun). It will indicate that the government is taking our security seriously. It will also tell all officials that if they don’t do their job well they will be sacked, no matter who backs them. Saad can start the accountability ball rolling by dropping his own man.
Saad already partly acknowledged official shortcomings by saying that all parties should double their efforts, but this is not enough. What is required is to change the culture of impunity so pervasive in Lebanon. There should be people who accept responsibility.

When hurricane Katrina hit the US, most Americans wanted to know whose fault it is that it caused such damage. The Lebanese I spoke to on the other hand found that bizarre. “How could you blame the officials for God’s actions?” most of them wondered.

Elias El Murr has finally blown the whistle. The President should be on very shaky grounds now; the fact that his own son-in-law has abandoned him doesn’t bode well for him.

When Elias El Murr was first proposed for the position of Interior Minister in a Hariri Cabinet a few years ago, I scoffed at the rampant cronyism that let a presidential family member become a Minister.

Yet Elias el Murr has surprised me by proving to be one of Lebanon’s best Interior Ministers. He showed a great amount of professionalism and it was he that introduced the tradition of a minister showing up personally to a crime/disaster scene.

When P.M Hariri was killed, Elias El Murr seemed visibly tormented. He had lots to say, but he also had lots of reasons not to say them.

Finally, his conscience has triumphed in a stance that could prove crucial to the Mehlis Investigation.

Chapeau Bas Mr. Murr.

Hariri and Aoun stand to benefit a lot from each other, will it ever Happen?

Aoun’s website has a small side news story: Saad Hariri has met one of his delegates in Paris. In the demo yesterday, there were some orange flags amid the LF and Future ones. Yesterday, Aoun reacted differently to May Chidiac’s assassination bid than he did to Elias el Murr’s one. He is keeping noticeable distance from Lahhoud. Is anything happening that we’re not aware of?

The Footsoldiers of Aoun and of Hariri are deeply skeptical of each other. But the leaders seem to be aware how important it is for them to get together (remember the famous “we have 95% in common between us”?).

Will it happen? Not before the spoilers are silenced.

Stop the hypocrisy. Lebanon is a terrible place for the free word.

My mother, a fan of May Chidiac, told me this today: “We Lebanese are used to the freedom of expression. This is why it’s impossible that the perpetrator be Lebanese”. This is a very common misconception. In fact, our politicians brag all of the time that Lebanon takes pride in its freedom of expression, and that (this is my favorite), the Lebanese will not be afraid of freely expressing their opinions.

To listen to all these people talk, you’d think that boldness and free speech is in the Lebanese DNA. With all due respect to all of us, it is not.

Take a look at our Lebanese Blogosphere. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it is the collection of all the blogs that have to do with Lebanon and the Lebanese people. You can find a nice summary of them here. See if you can find a single blogger who proudly wears his/her full name. Hardly any.

Why is it so? It’s because we DON’T have freedom in our DNA. What we really have is FEAR. The Reporters Without Borders can be “deeply shocked” at May Chidiac’s fate. The Lebanese on the other hand are upset, very upset, but they’re not “deeply shocked”. When I first put up my picture here on my profile, my friends and colleagues were “deeply shocked”. “Are you insane?” seemed to be their instinctive reaction.
It’s part of being Lebanese and it’s not only about politics. This lady writes mostly about social issues, but just because she’s a bit “open minded”, she thought it would be better to hide her identity. It doesn’t matter that she lives thousands of miles away from Lebanon, it’s just the way things are. Another Lebanese Blogger from the same list hides his identity because of his sexual orientation.

This is Lebanon, the country that banned “The Davinci Code”, the country where you could be arrested for “devil worshiping” if you were listening to Muse, the country that shutdown a TV station, the country where religious figures are sacrosanct, the country where journalists die if they side a bit out of the conventional.

Lebanon is a great and beautiful country, but we have a very long way to go before we understand the true meaning of free speech.

There are some ways you could be of use:

• Send May flowers or a letter of appreciation as indicated in the poster above.You can send flowers online from here, here, here or here
• If you’re a Blogger or you manage a website, please use the above poster in your site.

Most importantly, let’s all stay calm, remain resolved, and be confident in a better future, Lebanon cannot be killed!

May Chidiac will never walk again.

All over the world, the Lebanese got used to May Chidiac’s smile. But it’s now hard to see her smile again. This image-conscious lady has just lost an arm and a leg to another savage explosion.

Who did it?

May was definitely one of the first prominent journalists to start criticizing Syria. She’s also a prominent Christian symbol (in other words, killing May would be the equivalent of bombing Ashrafieh or Kaslik).

But there’s another interesting factor that makes May stand out. There has recently been a very public and virulent exchange between her and Mr. Hassan Nassrallah from Hezbollah. He was referring to her as “malicious media figures that distorted the facts”, and she regularly attacked him for his comments over the majorities and minorities in Lebanon (he had said that the Christians in Lebanon are becoming a small minority). You could smell the mutual distrust.

This will once again divide the Lebanese. If you trust Hezbollah, you’ll say that the perpetrators are trying to drag Hezbollah into something they don’t have anything to do with. If you don’t trust them, you just got them red-handed.

I personally don’t know what to think. Let’s wait to have more info. Let’s also see how Hezbollah behaves.

As the cohabitation between Seniora and Lahhoud is officially dead, respected voices are asking for Patriarch’s Sfeir intervention to end Lahhoud’s tenure.

When P.M. Seniora said from Washington that President Lahhoud should resign, the presidential palace did what it does best: cling to the letter of the constitution: I have not committed treason and i have not violated the constitution, answers the president, hence “the President is bent on shouldering his responsibilities until the end of his term”

But whether or not Mr. Lahhoud is technically entitled to the presidency is beside the point. The matter in question is Lahhoud’s embarrassing effect on the Christian community. This is why the solution is for the influential Patriarch to intervene and take his mantle off President Lahhoud. Or so Argue The Daily Star’s editorial and Edmond Saab from Annahar today.

The Daily Star had this to say to the Patriarch :

The Christian contribution to Lebanon is vast and well appreciated, but it is now potentially damaged by the continuation of a presidency that has placed obstinacy above credibility. This failed presidency needs to be ended quickly, with the combination of dignity, composure and respect for the rule of law.

Edmond Saab, well known for his “Christian” positions has gone a step further.
In what sounds like a veiled threat to the Patriarch, he had this to say: “If a capable Maronite was not found to replace the current embarrassing president […] we will let (P.M.) Seniora drive the ship. Because he’s currently the most honest, courageous, loyal, and the one worthy of everyone’s trust.

In other words, find us a decent Christian President or we’ll have to follow the Moslem guy.
That should get the Patriarch moving.

Hurricane Rita will be Bin Laden’s strongest propaganda tool.

Albert Einstein once famously said: “God does not play dice with the universe”. So why is he making life so hard for us who are struggling to tell people that Bin Laden is not on God’s side?

Hurricane Rita, which is now a category 5, is expected to be the strongest that has ever hit the United States. This is just after 2 weeks from Katrina which wreaked havoc on the gulf coast.

Here’s a not-so-funny story line that I can already imagine fanatic mosque preachers telling: “The first Hurricane (Katrina) hit the biggest American oil producing area, as a punishment for their Iraq adventure. The second one is going straight to Huston Texas, George Bushes’ own turf . Allahu Akbar!”

A look at the expected path of Rita (above) can only make their case more plausible to their zealous audiences.

God, please have mercy on the victims of Katrina and Rita.

As a testimony to the growing popularity and clout of Bloggers (with all humility), Reporters Without Borders have published this Handbook:

The purpose of the book is to teach bloggers and blogger-wannabes to go around sensorship, remain anonymous and be heard. I’m not very sure if we need it as strongly in relatively free Lebanon. But an extra knowledge won’t do any harm. Also, if you’re thinking of entering the Blogging world but you’re still afraid of having your identity exposed, this book can help you.
I haven’t read it yet, i just found it here.

You can download the PDF version here

The Future Movement is beginning to expose its assertive face.

So much symbolism in today’s Morning news. It seems the Hariri camp is no longer in an accommodating mood and they are starting to show their “ugly” face.
They’re losing patience, and now they’re in their famous counter-attack mode.

Hezbollah is bothering them? Put a big picture of Seniora shaking hands with Dick Chaney on the front page of their Almustaqbal Daily.
Nabih berri is grumbling? “the legislative branch should start getting used the separation of powers” shoots Seniora.
Walid Jumblat is making noises? Privately force him to retrieve his statements while publicly declare an “unflinching alliance” with him.
The terminology is also telling: “We will not be baited into a political crisis in Lebanon on the eve of the U.N. report about his father’s assassination” Saad announces. In a first-of-its-kind statement, Seniora declares to the Washington post that Lahhoud was “Syrian imposed”.
Finally, the fact that Saad Hariri made his statements to his own Almustaqbal newspaper (as opposed to alsafir or alnahar) is symbolic. It says: we are not in a reaching-out mood.

The Future Movement has to carefully tread their assertive tone though. A bit of firmness every now and then is helpful, but they have to remember that in Lebanon, you cannot shoot at everyone, even if everyone is misbehaving.

But for someone like Seniora to lose his patience, you have to know the kind of mess we are in.