Washington Opening Up To Suleiman?
The US is cautiously reciprocating Suleiman’s expression of goodwill.
Suleiman The Hedger
A few days ago, the head of the Armed forces publicly thanked the Americans for their help with ammunitions at the start of the Albared assault and declared that he is fighting “Alqaeda”.
Today it seems, the US is returning the gesture.
Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the director of the US state department’s office of Levant affairs told Alhayat that the US “doesn’t mind” changing the Lebanese constitution and that what matters are “the qualities” of the candidate. She even said that the candidate shouldn’t have “a strong link” with Hezbollah, a step down from “no links at all” which meets Suleiman halfway. Here are her statements in Arabic:
وقالت مديرة مكتب شؤون المشرق في الخارجية الأميركية جينا أبركرومبي وينستانلي في مقابلة مع «الحياة» أمس إن الادارة الأميركية «لا تعارض تعديل الدستور» لتمكين ترشح بعض الأسماء، معتبرة «أن الأولوية هي في مواصفات المرشح» و «ضمان حصول العملية الانتخابية في الاطار اللبناني واحترام سلطة البرلمان والعملية الديموقراطية».
وأكدت وينستانلي أن «أولوية واشنطن هي في وصول مرشح ليس له ارتباطات مع منظمات ارهابية» و «لن يرهن سيادة لبنان للمطامع الخارجية»، مشيرة الى أن ما يتبقى من تفاصيل حول آلية الانتخاب أو أسماء المرشحين هو «مسألة داخلية تعود الى اللبنانيين».
وفي تحديد أدق للمواصفات، أكدت المسؤولة الأميركية أن واشنطن «سترفض أي مرشح على ارتباط وثيق مع حزب الله ويعمل لاستعادة نفوذ سورية وتدخل ايران في الشأن اللبناني»، واتهمت هذين البلدين بـ «العمل على زعزعة استقرار لبنان».
And before one thinks Ms. Abercrombie is a wide-eyed state department outsider, it would be good to review what she told Aljazeera back in July, when she essentially confirmed her credentials as a pro-Seniora hardliner.
Michel Aoun spoke of a policy reassessment in Washington, but what he probably missed is that the change could be more “Sfeir-esque”, not one that inches towards his side.
Update: The state department has countered Abercrombie’s statements and said the US is against changing the constitution.
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
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I’m interested to know what you guys think we would gain from having Michel Suleiman as President?
How would Lebanon be better off with a military President with no ‘official’ view on any issue? or any particular view of the country’s future and direction for that matter?
In a nutshell, I believe that making him President is basically agreeing to disagree. It is basically agreeing to uphold the status quo of indecision and uncertainty regarding Lebanon’s future.
Are we going to remain a ‘farm’ for regional conflicts while the massive surpluses in petro-dollars are rushed and diverted away from Lebanon to Syria, Jordan, Morocco and Egypt? They develop while we remain stagnant and cheer on stone-age ideologies and rhetoric? Where are we headed ppl and what do we want from Lebanon?
All I can say is that the Lebanese will not choose their president. The Americans and the Syrians will choose him for us.
(Administrator’s note: Precisely, that’s all you can say)
And the pro-Sleiman “coincidences” keep coming.
m is right, as unattractive as the choice may be, what are the alternatives? A weak guy? Is Sleiman/Suleiman all bad? He could be, and there are many questions to be sure. Could he have a “Nixon goes to China” asset that will enable him to tame Hezbo?? Many things to ponder.
PS m, have u left that Remrakz blog now?
M, unfortunately for a large segment of the population “we want” what we have always “wanted” - A FREE RIDE! No effort, no direction, no loyalty to state just the guy who gives me free stuff and best of all…we want to party!
NO NO my friend we are not a “farm” by any stretch of the imagination…we are a BROTHEL! Disgusting!
Ayesh Lubnan!
Ugh. Yet another step in the wrong direction, for more reasons than one.
1. I agree with M. We are once more taking the easy way in Lebanon. Refusing to confront the REAL problem (the system itself) and moving towards preserving the status quo, prolonging the indecision and the lack of progress towards a modern, democratic and sovereign state.
2. We are once again allowing foreign “projects” to determine the future of our country. Be it Syria, the US, or whoever else. It’s still foreign. And in 3 years, I guarantee you we’ll all be whining about it, and about Suleiman, and blaming it all on Syria or the US or Israel. When will the Lebanese learn that there are no shortcuts, that we can’t continue to have others make all the hard decisions, and then simply complain and whine like old bitter housewives. If we want a true state, we need to build it ourselves.
[...] While, on the other hand, Beirut Spring sees that the General’s chance are actually increasing especially since the USA administration seems to be opening up to him: Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the director of the US state department’s office of Levant affairs told Alhayat that the US “doesn’t mind” changing the Lebanese constitution and that what matters are “the qualities” of the candidate. She even said that the candidate shouldn’t have “a strong link” with Hezbollah, a step down from “no links at all” which meets Suleiman halfway. [...]
[...] بينما, من ناحية أخرى, ترى مدونة Beirut Spring أن فرص الجنرال آخذة بالتزايد, خصوصا أن الإدارة الأميركية قد بدأت بالانفتاح عليه. [...]
[...] Many of us who were inspired by the Ideals of that glorious March 14 day (Rule of Law, A strong state, sovereignty and Independence) are disheartened by the prospect of a Michel Suleiman presidency. “Colorless”, “boring”, “insipid” are just some of the words used to describe him, as even America, the godfather of the Cedar revolution, starts taking him seriously. [...]