An important clarification for outside observers who are overstating Mr. Lahhoud’s statement.
The outgoing Lebanese President did NOT declare a state of Emergency or Martial law. The statement that caused the confusion was this: “the threats that require a state of emergency prevail over Lebanon”.
What Mr. Lahhoud effectively did was assign the Army to take care of the security on the ground. A redundant procedure given that the Seniora government had already done that.
If anything, the statement by the soon-to-be ex-President reveals his incapacity to do anything more serious. All comparisons with Pakistan, Jordan, or Egypt, where the Army heavy-handedly represses the people, should immediately be removed from your heads.
Hello, my name is Mustapha and I have been blogging about Lebanese society and politics since February 2005. You can also find me on 
“…the threats that require a state of emergency prevail over Lebanon”
How cunning.
Even AK fell for it.
Anywho, good riddance.
Lahoud Reji3!
yek yek yek
Hey,
the initial confusion. However, in Lebanon everyone interprets it their way much like the constitution…We’ll stay tuned.
State of idiocy. Emil’s idiocy.
.
Yes I agree the Army taking charge for the next 7 days.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071123/ap_on_re_mi_ea/lebanon_election
“”BEIRUT, Lebanon – President Emile Lahoud said Friday that Lebanon is in a “state of emergency” and ordered the army to take over security powers, hours before he was stepping down without a successor and leaving a political vacuum in the divided country.”"
Bull Shit….. This guy should be in prison.
It is time for M14 to just elect a president that is 100% Lebanese. We should not have vacuum.
LebanesePatriot
Well we got rid of Lahouss, that’s still something.
MK,
I converted your comment into a new post.
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Because some geniuses want to avoid confrontation for fear of conflict and complete chaos. What they forget is that out of conflict new opportunities to resolve crises arise.
Unfortunately, many groups take “new opportunities to resolve crises” to mean “it’s ok to shoot the neighbors”.
Instead, we are being constantly bombarded with consensus and preserving civil peace slogans.
Yep. The people in charge today remember the past and do not want to repeat it. You may want to read this-
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lebanese_Civil_War
Specifically…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_Massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Saturday_%28Lebanon%29
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karantina_Massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damour_massacre
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tel_al-Zaatar_Massacre
…and that is far from a complete list.
Please consider the possibility that the people talking about consensus and civil peace have good reasons for doing so.
Vox, i don’t think that you can say this. We were not able to rid ourselves of Lahoud. That is a shameful loss for M14 who promised to put Lahoud out two years ago. He did stay until “the last minute” of his mandate. Lahoud ‘aratna kellna!