Mustapha
I agree with you that the statement he made about the cross-dagger is false ,maybe he forgot:-)

but to be fair with LF, they have released a statement about the site you mentioned, it looks like it was hi-jacked by some one…. here is the statement of LF:

القوات اللبنانية تنظم مواقعها على الانترنت 19/10/2005 07:20:28 م

اصدرت دائرة الاعلام والتوجيه في القوات اللبنانية في الخارج بيانا جاء فيه:

“ان الدائرة واستنادا الى القرارات والتوجيهات السياسية العامة للقوات اللبنانية, وحرصا على مصلحة القوات اللبنانية وصورتها امام الرأي العام, وفي اطار اعادة ضبط وتنظيم المواقع العامة باسم القوات اللبنانية على الانترنت تقرر ما يلي:

1- تشكل لجنة اعلام لفترة موقتة تعمل باشراف مسؤول الاعلام والتوجيه تعنى بمواقع القوات العاملة على الانترنت من الرفاق التالية اسماؤهم: ادمون الشدياق, ايلي سمعان, تريز عساف, جان خوري, جوزيف العلم, جورج نصر, زاهي هليط, عادل سليمان, نقولا شحود ووسام نصر.

2- يعتمد موقع الانترنت التالي موقعا رسميا وحيدا للقوات اللبنانية, معبرا عن توجهاتها وخطها السياسي http://www.lebanese-forces.com

3- يعتمد http://www.lebforces.org/forum LF Official Forumموقعا رسميا للمناقشات ولتبادل الآراء.

4- تعتمد شهادتنا كنشرة توجيهية داخلية تصدر عن امانة الاعلام والتوجيه في القوات اللبنانية http://www.chahadatouna.com

5- ينتهي العمل بغرف المناقشة كافة “البالتولك” القائمة حاليا, ويستعاض عنها بغرفة بالتولك واحدة باسم “القوات اللبنانية” Lebanese Forces Paltalk Room تعمل باشراف دائرة الاعلام والتوجيه, تضم جميع الراغبين من الرفاق القواتيين والاصدقاء.

6- تعتبر باقي المواقع والغرف العاملة باسم القوات اللبنانية والتي تطلق على نفسها صفة رسمية او غير رسمية مواقع خاصة غير تابعة للقوات اللبنانية, تعرض المسؤولين عنها في حال الاستمرار للملاحقات القانونية كونها منتحلة صفة.

7- استكمالا لتوحيد الشكل الذي تطل من خلاله القوات اللبنانية على العالم, وبناء على توجيهات قيادة القوات اللبنانية, يعتمد ابتداء من تاريخه, الى جانب العلم اللبناني, شعار القوات اللبنانية (الدائرة الحمراء التي تتوسطها الارزة على الاعلام واليافطات والمطبوعات كافة في الاجتماعات والمؤتمرات والمناسبات والتجمعات الشعبية والسياسية كافة, دون غيره من الشعارات.

يضاف الى جانب العلم اللبناني وعلم القوات اللبنانية علم البلد الذي يستضيف هذه المناسبات في حال حصولها خارج لبنان.

8- يطلب من جميع الرفاق التعاون في سبيل وضع هذه المذكرة موضع التنفيذ.

Mustapha,

Your post contains a lot of inconsistencies. I have no great admiration for the man’s past but for the sake of posterity let me make a couple of comments:

- Firstly he did not “found” the party.
- The website you have linked to is not the official party website; it doesn’t even claim to be the official website. This is the official party website (http://www.forces-libanaises.com/). Not to be confused with another supposedly “official party website” (http://www.lebanese-forces.org/). Serious efforts are underway to have one common and official party website. But for now this is the one associated with Geagea and as you can see no dagger cross.
- To say that Geagea “pretended he didn’t know about” the cross is grossly misleading. How can you deduce that from the statement he gave? The statement was aimed at the prevailing usage of the cross as the motto and not at its existence within the party.

Man, if this symbol irks you then you must have seeeerious issues with the flag of Hezbollah.

I really believe that the Hakim is a changed man. But he has to be careful and walk a fine line, if he shows that he is too much pro FM and their allies, he might lose much support among the christians, just like Fares Said and Nassib Lahoud, and GMA can then claim most of the Hakim supporters. Unfortunatly the confessionalism disease is still existing in Lebanon despite the high cost that Lebanese has paid because of it in the last 30 years. I just hope that the deputy Georges Adwan is not speaking in the LF name, because he seems to me that he is more and more speaking like an Aounist than an LF.

A thug is a thug is a thug is a thug.

But what matters is that we all hate Lahoud.

FGA

The ‘dagger’ cross wasn’t initially indented to be a dagger, even if most people (Christians and Muslim) see it this way nowadays. If you look closely at the cross, you’ll notice that it’s not really designed to be a dagger. This cross appeared in a special context, at a time when the presence of the Christians in Lebanon was threatened and it was rumoured that Kissinger was in favour of relocating the Christians abroad. The cross was designed so that it could be pushed in Lebanon’s soil, symbolizing the fact that Christianity was rooted in Lebanon – hence Bashir Gemayel’s favourite expression : ‘wa nabka’, ‘we’ll stay’.

I personally don’t wear a cross and don’t think that this important symbol should not be politicized. The original meaning of the cross was something positive, but it’s not the case anymore, because most people associate it with a dagger. I think that people should stop using this cross but that it will not happen because Middle Eastern Christians historically associate hiding or removing the cross to religious persecutions. I mentioned this subject with several LF militants and the answer was always the same, and it’s not related to stabbing Muslims. They always gave me the same reply: ‘ we are not ashamed of the cross and we will never be afraid to wear a cross in our own country’.

In the comment above, I meant:
“I personally don’t wear a cross and think that this important symbol should not be politicized.”

Khaled and First Anonymous,
Thanks for bringing to my attention the website’s issue.

Anonymous (first), i will fix the founding of the party part. but I’m not convinced with what you said about the cross dagger. why would he cut a cake with that sole symbol on it if the symbol didn’t have any strong icnonological value? (like being a logo for instance)

As for the Hizbullah Logo, you can say that again. You’re probably a new reader but i’ve mocked them twice before

The risk is that if Samir Geagea tries to shift the LF too much in a different direction, he will alienate the LF rank and file.
Although most LFers look at Samir Geagea as a God like figure, and will follow him regardless for the most part, there are still limits to what he can and can’t do, without losing their support. For example, regarding the issue of the LF Cross, although he said that he doesn’t want it ot be associated with the LF anymore, the word on the street is that most LFers in the open want to follow their leader and the party line, however, in private, most don’t want to see the Cross taken away, and will still use it.

If Samir Geagea can’t get rid of a symbol, how can people expect him to do much else?

Mustapha,

With reference to your comment at 8:02, I provide you with this link.

http://www.lebaneseforces.com/lfcross.asp

That aside, please check the new look of the official website.

http://www.lebanese-forces.com/

Things are going to quick, just give us some time, would you?

Regards,

The cross was the symbol of the Christian Resistance, and should not be confused with the Lebanese-Forces political party
don’t get lost, if u search&read well u can see that the cross is “Salib al moukawama al Loubnaniya” and not “salib 7izb al kouwat al loubnaniya”
c’mon guys, search well before criticizing!!!
best regards…