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❊ Hariri’s Interview: An Angry Man With No Apparent Plan.

Make your opponent angry. An angry person is less capable of using judgment or perceiving where his or her advantage lies. Arthur Schopenhauer, 1896.

The good news about ex PM Hariri’s TV appearance yesterday is that he did not resign from politics and that is ready to fight for justice till the very end.

The bad news is that he didn’t tell us how.

Don’t get me wrong. I do get the whole “democratic opposition” thing and I understand how an effective opposition can drive public opinion against the government, and if lucky, push it to resign. What is still concerning me however is Mr. Hariri’s lingering anger.

Mr. Hariri’s anger is perfectly justified: There is a relentless, malicious campaign to discredit and scuttle the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the international body in charge of finding the truth and giving him justice for his father’s assassination. There’s also a concerted political drive by his foes and some former friends to finish him politically.

This Maelstrom of treachery, conspiracy and drama can break the back of the hardest of men. Unfortunately, Mr. Hariri cannot afford the luxury of anger. He should learn his lessons and move as fast as possible to the role of calm strategist.

His opponents are playing chess. They have masterfully executed a plan that used a combination of intimidation, bribery and alliance-making to oust him. I couldn’t find in Mr. Hariri’s interview any response of an equal caliber. To the contrary, it appeared to me that he made some unnecessary gaffes.

For example, what was the strategic benefit of calling Mr. Miqati and Mr. Safadi names in the interview? Was this part of a (risky) plan to turn the Tripolitan voters against them? Or were these words only used to express his feelings of betrayal on TV? Mr. Safadi and Mr. Miqati have legions of followers in the northern capital. He should have dealt with them more carefully.

To the best of my knowledge, Mr. Hariri’s plan has two components:

  • “Wait and see” for the Syrian uprising and the Tribunal’s work
  • Constant pressure on the Miqati government from the inside and the outside, to generate a public backlash against it.

This could turn out to be a great plan, but Mr. Hariri’s supporters deserve more than a fuzzy plan: They deserve a calm leadership that can face down those who want to turn the country into a lawless statelet.

18 thoughts on “❊ Hariri’s Interview: An Angry Man With No Apparent Plan.”

  1. For one he had time to calm down and then speak- but I don’t think he can have a plan anyway. Simply, whether he is right or wrong- he’s a crappy politician. And its great they want to fight to the end but how about we make the STL legit for everyone and stop the games. Hezbollah and their allies may be 100% wrong and indictments may be true but till we see a proper STL, everyone is a liar. No need to defend or feel bad for anyone. They all suck.

  2. Mariam said it well. In the end, Saad Hariri is not fit to lead, period. Whether he has one or ten million supporters, he’s still a dufus. He should let someone else from the FM lead, because he has taken it from mistake to mistake

  5. Why is everyone obsessed with March 14 ‘plan’? There is no plan. The plan is to wait.

    HA, Mikati, and Safadi played it ‘all in’ with Syria. If Syria goes down, they all go down. That is what Hariri is waiting for.

    If Syria doesnt go down, the gov. has enough problems to deal with: STL, International community, Appointments, fierce internal opposition, Michel Aoun,…etc

    Fast forward to 2013 and let them deal with voters for everything they did.

    In my opinion, Hariri is in a very good position. He just needs to wait.

  6. even if Syria goes down, all the actors you mentioned have support bases that will not vanish with the Assad regime…Shiites would continue to vote HA, Aounists – Aoun, and Mikat and Safadi have at least 60 percent of Tripoli’s votes….you think they’re stupid?

  7. Am I the only one who see that it was very “childish” of Mr. Hariri to lash out on Mr. Safadi and Mr. Mikati, while keeping a “friendly” tone to Mr. Jumblatt??!!

    How can you convince me your are not talking out of sectarian backgrounds, when you attack the two “Sunnies” and play it soft to the “Druze”, even though if you are to balme or accuse them of treason, ALL of them are guilty, and especially late Mr. Rafic Hariri’s best friend and ally; Walid Beyk!

    Even ifnyou say that he doesn’t wanna upset the Druze votes, he would better think twice about the Tripolitanian votes in the capital of the north; should Mikati, Safadi and Karami make a coalition for 2013 elections, Mr. Hariri should start kissing the 8 seats of the city goodbye!!!

    Good intentions, maybe, but to be honest, very vague and childish excutuion, if you want my opinion….

    • not foolish, politics. harrir wants tripoli in 2013. has to fight rivals now build idea mikati sold sunni to nashralla.

  8. Sorry for the cast comment “many” spelling mistakes. That’s what happen when you trust iOS auto-spelling correction! Lol

  9. I do agree that Mr. Harriri did not make good shape in this interview. He allowed to a B-Class interviewer like Walid to drag him into a “names game”.
    Worse was the last part: He shouldn’t have sent any “messages” to politicians , especially like Assad and Mikati. This puts him on the same level as them.

    Mr. Harriri lacked a great opportunity to dismantle the STL conspiracy theory. Not a single March 14 politician really approached the issue this way. Hizballah succeeded in putting them in the defensive. The right waywould be making clear, that March 14 will not allow an accused to put the court to trial!

    I personally did not expect a clear plan on how March 14 intends to overthrew the gvt.. But rather hear the drums beating… this was out of place!

    Neverthelesse, I am able to find 2 positives:
    - Mr. Harriri is one of the few politicians who is not sectarian (attacking 2 Sunni politician does not make him guilty of sectarism)
    - His “unprofessional” and emotional way reveals his honesty

    Regards

    • he will grow to be good politician like his fatehr. takes time to mold into a leader. he was thrown into the role from those that kill his father. many men do not choise their path but they take it on honorably. harrari did this for lebanon.

  10. I can only draw comparisons with the previous day’s interview with Jumblatt: Walid beyk was a master politician in that, ducking and weaving and trying to look statesmanslike, whereas Hariri was emotional and extraordinarily transparent as a result. You can say anything you want about the man, and I for one used to despise him, but he was far far better than any commentator in this forum, choosy as they were about his words, could see. And frankly, his sadly true comment about his businesses and politics being the only ones that are nonsecular and mixing religions haphazardly is one monument to his father’s legacy – which is to ignore the sectarian divisions of the country. On this alone, and for the fact he upholds it, he should be appreciated, compared to practically everyone else in Lebanese politics. I, as a March 14 critical supporter, thought he was brilliant.

  11. “I, as a March 14 critical supporter, thought he was brilliant.”

    Ever heard of the word dogma?

  12. Dear Rami Assmar,
    Letting go of Jumblatt’s continuous heavy blows on M14, STL, and toppling Hariri’s government, while attacking Mikati and Safadi for their last stand is SECTARIAN act by all means!!!

    Why exactly ain’t he mad at Jumblatt? And please spare me the talk about l wafa for wht he did back in 2005! The guy turned 180 degrees, and washed away all his actions with his new position. Attacking M14 and toppling Hariri,s government, and now questioning STL….what else should Jumblatt do to make Hariri upset with him??!!!

    And the other reason is that Hariri doesn’t wanna upset the Druze voting majority by attacking Jumblatt! Well guess what, Hariri’s Sunnies supporters at Chouf and Ikleem should make Jumblatt worried, not vice versa! While in Tripoli, Hariri should be very worried, if he continued to go head-to-head with Mikati-Safadi coalition!!!

    The true reason for attacking Mikati and Safadi, is that Hariri sees them as true competitors in his own playground, there can be only one way; either you are with me, or I shall unleash my rage over you!!

    An experienced politician should handle things differentily, either you try to win them back, or do whatever you can to break their alliance! Attacking both of them and calling them names, will only make them stick together farther, and increase Tripoli support for them. After all, they are playing in their own land, while Hariri visit there ONLY during elections…..

    • Hello Fadi,

      the Oxford Dictionary for English defines “sectarian” as “(of an action) carried out on the grounds of membership of a sect, denomination, or other group”. And this for sure does not fit into the behaviour of Mr. Harriri.

      With the best will, I can not see any “sectarian” behaviour for not attacking Mr. Walid Jounblatt… And for sure, not in attacking politicians from his “own” sect.

      Regards

      • Dear Rami,
        Sectarian definition in Oxford dictionary is NOT relevant to what we are discussing here!
        We are discussing political behavior of Lebanese politics; sectarian here has a different meaning.
        That being said, we shouldn’t argue over the word, we should focus over the different approaches by which Hariri is dealing with Mikati,Safadi on one hand, and Jumblatt on the other.

  14. نقلت صحيفة “الانباء” الكويتية عن أوساط وزير المال محمد الصفدي قولها انه “عندما سأل رئيس الحكومة الاسبق سعد الحريري ماذا فعلنا مع محمد الصفدي، كان عليه أن يسأل ماذا فعل الصفدي لنا؟”، مشيرة الى ان “الإجابة حاضرة في جعبة الحريري”.

    واشارت الاوساط الى “إننا استقبلناه في طرابلس عام 2005 عندما كان لا يعرف كيف يمشي في شوارعها، ورفض الصفدي الاستقالة من حكومة فؤاد السنيورة الأولى، ما عرضه لمخاطر جدية، أليست تلك تضحية يستحق عليها الشكر مثلما شكر جنبلاط؟ عليه أن يكون واقعيا ويتواضع قليلا”.

    وعن اعتذار الحريري من أهل طرابلس والنائبين السابقين مصطفى علوش ومصباح الأحدب، لأنه لم يتحالف معهما بدلا من رئيس الحكومة نجيب ميقاتي والصفدي، ردت أوساط الصفدي بالقول: “نحن علينا أن نعتذر من الطرابلسيين، لأننا قبلنا تحالفا فرض عليهم زعامات من خارج المدينة، ونائبا من خارج نسيجها هو سامر سعادة، وقبله إلياس عطا الله”، معتبرة أنه “لو لم نتحالف معه عام 2009، وخضنا الانتخابات مع ميقاتي في وجهه، لما نجح له نائب واحد في طرابلس”.

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