USCFL - Open Letter to President Emile Lahoud

Mr. President,

I guess being the “top dog” of a country that is economically bankrupt, ethnically fractured, diplomatically isolated, militarily dominated and politically corrupt such as Lebanon must not be an easy task, especially when even your own Maronite community is starting to lose faith in you by the minute.

Here are a couple of pointers that I hope you will seriously take into account if you want to go into Lebanese history as a President who made a difference for his country.

1. Change your attitude and the content of your futile speeches: Nobody really gives a hoot if you like the Prime Minister, the Speaker of the Parliament, the feudal warlord of the Chouf or the mullahs of the South. Nobody also cares if you are clean, honest and come from a good "bourgeois" family. What people care most about today is to be free, prosperous and most importantly, respected. So wake up pal and come to terms with this reality before it is too late.

2. Beware of the politicians who will use their connection with you to promote their own agenda. This will come to haunt you at one point in time and will make you look like a total idiot. I am talking about people such as Michel Murr, Issam Fares, Sleiman Frangieh and the likes.

3. Do not repress human rights, media and other activists but protect them: They are only here to raise your awareness on some very important issues you might have missed. Their purpose in life is not to bring down the "Lahoud" mystique and good family name and bruise your ego but to better our society.

4. Bring back Michel Aoun to Lebanon and get Samir Geagea out of jail. They are no threat to you or to anybody but will only bring the Lebanese community closer together against our common enemy. You cannot marginalize one sect of people and expect harmony to prevail in the country.

5. Disband all current political parties from the Lebanese Forces to the National Liberal Party, Kataeb, Amal, Hizballah and all of the Syrian Ba’athist groups and have them all re-apply for new permits, or amend their charter to include the following: A declaration in the belief in Lebanon as a final nation, one, sovereign, undivided, secular, for all its people regardless of color, race, religion, age, sex, or ethnic origin.

6. Eliminate Confessionalism: A nation cannot be built with political powers divided among ethnic groups as percentages. When demographic changes occur in 10 or 20 years, should Lebanese go through another crisis to re-divide the spoils?. Time has come for the Lebanese to understand that the only common denominator is the Lebanese Human Being, the Citizen.

7. Curb Syria's military and intelligence power in Lebanon instead of promoting it: Haven't you learned by now that the Syrians will be on your side as long as it suits them? They can get rid of you as quickly as they put you in power. Have you already forgotten what happened to Rafik Hariri, Elie Hobeika, and a number of other Lebanese cronies as soon as they were of no use to the Syrian power structure?

8. Get closer to King Abdullah of Jordan and the other North African and Gulf moderates and stay away from Syria, Iraq, Iran and Libya: The latter have nothing to offer you but headache while the former can offer you very liberal markets, waiting to be exploited.

9. Explore the world as much as you can; and take with you on these trips key members of your staff: A little exposure to democratic culture and values and some personal, frequent contact with Western counterparts should do wonders for you and your cadre of military people who sadly have no clue of how free societies function in today's world.

Sincerely,

Ziad K. Abdelnour
President
U.S Committee for a Free Lebanon, Inc.
http://www.freelebanon.org

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Article:	Open Letter to President Emile Lahoud: “Wake up and smell the coffee Mr. President.”
Author:	Ziad K. Abdelnour -- e-mail: ziad@freelebanon.org
Date:	October 2000