General Michel Aoun
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| - | In December 2006 every Shiite minister resigned from Fouad Siniora’s government, and, directed by Hezbollah, began the largest series of protest rallies in Lebanese history. They protested the government’s refusal to set up a tribunal looking into alleged voter fraud in the 2005 parliamentary elections, as well as making the more general Shiite criticism that the current government is a purely Sunni-Druze alliance. Hassan Nasrallah has promised that the Shiite community will overturn the Siniora government if they do not become more responsive to Shiite demands. Your Christian followers have joined in these protests, though you and your FMP representatives have not resigned from government. In a massive rally on December 10, you threatened to march on the capitol if the Siniora government did not resign, proclaiming that the corruption of Hariri, Siniora and company could no longer be ignored. You have called for an immediate “national dialogue” to hammer out the terms of a constitutional commission to investigate these corruption charges, echoing the demands of the Shiite community. Your choice to openly defy the balance of power in this way, and the fact that you chose to do so in an alliance with Hezbollah has alienated many of your Christian supporters and profoundly divided the larger Christian community. All the same, you remain the absolute leader of parliament’s largest opposition bloc, and as of early 2007, it is uncertain how far you are willing to push Lebanon’s fragile parliamentary system. | + | In December 2006 every Shiite minister resigned from Fouad Siniora’s government, and, directed by Hezbollah, began the largest series of protest rallies in Lebanese history. They protested the government’s refusal to set up a tribunal looking into alleged voter fraud in the 2005 parliamentary elections, as well as making the more general Shiite criticism that the current government is a purely Sunni-Druze alliance. Hassan Nasrallah has promised that the Shiite community will overturn the Siniora government if they do not become more responsive to Shiite demands. Your Christian followers have joined in these protests, though you and your FPM representatives have not resigned from government. In a massive rally on December 10, you threatened to march on the capitol if the Siniora government did not resign, proclaiming that the corruption of Hariri, Siniora and company could no longer be ignored. You have called for an immediate “national dialogue” to hammer out the terms of a constitutional commission to investigate these corruption charges, echoing the demands of the Shiite community. Your choice to openly defy the balance of power in this way, and the fact that you chose to do so in an alliance with Hezbollah has alienated many of your Christian supporters and profoundly divided the larger Christian community. All the same, you remain the absolute leader of parliament’s largest opposition bloc, and as of early 2007, it is uncertain how far you are willing to push Lebanon’s fragile parliamentary system. |
Current revision
Michel Aoun
Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement
Quotes:
"[Hizbollah is] one-third of the Lebanese people. We cannot isolate them. We cannot kill them."
“Yes we are extremists: extremists in preserving the sovereignty and independence of Lebanon, in safeguarding the free decision making, in leading moderate lives. Moderation is in the coexistence and reaching out to the other.”
"Hariri and his group were pro-Syrian. And they took advantage of that and made fortunes from the resources of the country, so what's going on now is that these people collaborated so much with Syria that they have to show some hate, some extremism, in speaking of Syria."
Background and the Lebanese Civil War:
You were born to a poor Maronite Christian family from southern Beirut in 1935. You say that you grew up in a religiously mixed area, so from a very young age you learned to look at Muslims and Christians from an unbiased perspective. You were hardworking and ambitious from a young age, but in Lebanon, where politics was traditionally the past time of elite Christian, Sunni, and Druze families, your poor background limited your potential upward mobility. You chose the only route available to you, and joined the army. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s you received advanced training in France and the United States, and progressed steadily up through the ranks of the Lebanese army. You were a powerful but relatively unknown figure until the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war, where you earned a reputation for bravery and loyalty to the embattled Lebanese government, regardless of your own sectarian background. In 1982 you were the only Lebanese general to actively confront the invading Israeli army as it entered Beirut, and in 1983 your elite 8th Brigade successfully defended government positions against Palestinian, Druze and Syrian attacks. For your bravery during these dark years you were appointed overall commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Army in 1984, and by the end of the war you were so respected that Lebanese of all sects simply referred to you as “The General.”
Syrian Intervention and Exile:
In late 1988 outgoing Lebanese president Amin Gemayel appointed you interim prime minister of the Lebanese government until elections could be called: since the Prime Minister of Lebanon must by law be a Sunni Muslim and you are a Maronite, Syria’s allies seized on this opportunity to attempt a pro-Syrian coup. Beirut divided into a Syrian-backed western enclave and a small eastern territory controlled by your government. After a number of skirmishes with Syrian forces, you actually declared war on Syria in March 1989. You received moral support from the west, but most observers abandoned your cause as hopeless. Ironically enough, your biggest international supporter was Saddam Hussein, who was a staunch enemy of the Syrians. Despite this grim situation, your government, supported by Lebanese citizens of all faiths, actually survived until October 1990, when Syria launched an all-out assault on east Beirut. At this point the US and its allies were preparing to eject Saddam Hussein’s troops from Kuwait, and they had secured Syria’s help at a heavy price: the United States agreed to allow Syria to occupy Lebanon. In the wake of Syria’s assault you sought asylum from the French, and began a 15 year life in exile, while Syrian supporters assumed control of Lebanon. In exile, you started a political movement known as the “Free Patriotic Movement” devoted to freeing Lebanon from Syrian occupation; in the course of your exile you met heads of states, testified before the US Congress, and even appeared on the 700 Club to denounce Syrian encroachments on Lebanese sovereignty. You went into exile as a legend, the only soldier in Lebanon who had consistently served the government and defended the country against all foreign aggressors. This came at a terrible price, however; your war against Syria turned 90% of Beirut’s residents into refugees (almost 900,000 people out of an original population of 1 million) and was ultimately unsuccessful at securing your country’s independence. Some people said you had fallen victim to your own legend, and led your country into a catastrophic situation that produced nothing more than the continued suffering of the Lebanese people.
Return From Exile:
You dramatically returned to Lebanon in May 2005, following the withdrawal of Syrian troops as a result of the “Cedar Revolution” that sprung from outrage over the assassination of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. You were greeted by cheering throngs in the streets of Beirut, and using you Free Patriotic Movement supporters, you immediately became a strong contender in the chaotic 2005 parliamentary elections. The overall winners of this election were a broad Sunni-Druze coalition called the “March 14th Alliance,” headed by allies of the assassinated Rafik Hariri: his son, Sa’ad Hariri, the Druze chieftain Walid Jumblatt and Hariri’s longtime associate, the new Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. You fared well in Christian areas, but ultimately lacked the votes needed to seriously challenge this coalition; you moved into parliament as the leader of the opposition (your FPM gained 21 out of 128 parliamentary seats), and you began attacking the new government with a vengeance. You accused them of voter fraud in the elections, as well as being narrowly devoted to Sunni and Druze interests. In a more serious set of accusations, you asserted that the new government’s leaders, elected on a staunch anti-Syrian platform, had actually enriched themselves during the Syrian occupation. To prosecute your new role as leader of the opposition, you began to make a number of unusual political alliances, particularly with pro-Syrian Maronite strongmen who had been your enemies during the civil war and the subsequent Syrian invasion. Your political enemies have accused you of cynically abandoning your old national loyalties to further your political fortunes; you have shot back that the government is in no position to accuse others of corruption or cynicism.
Alliance with Hizbollah:
Your most unusual political move came in February 2006, when your FPM signed a memorandum of understanding with the Shiite movement Hizbollah. This agreement calls for a crusade against corruption in Lebanese government. The memorandum proposes an invigorated Lebanese judicial inquiry into corruption at all levels of government, with a definite timetable to ensure its enacting. More distressing to your Christian base, this memorandum also calls for a broader “national consensus” in government, which effectively means opening the government to greater representation by the Shiite Hezbollah. You defended this action by claiming that the only path to security for Lebanon’s Christians lies in cooperating with their more numerous Muslim neighbors, especially the increasingly numerous Shiites. You claim that your current cooperation with Hezbollah is based on acknowledgement of Hezbollah’s leading role in Shiite affairs, and not necessarily any endorsement of that organization’s military agenda. Your opponents disagree. Supporters of the Siniora government say that you only made this alliance to increase your own political power, exploiting the credibility Hezbollah gained by surviving their war with the Israelis in July 2006. Moreover, they claim that Hezbollah is using you, and will dump your from their agenda as soon they have finished exploiting the divided Christian community through your Free Patriotic Movement.
Open Opposition:
In December 2006 every Shiite minister resigned from Fouad Siniora’s government, and, directed by Hezbollah, began the largest series of protest rallies in Lebanese history. They protested the government’s refusal to set up a tribunal looking into alleged voter fraud in the 2005 parliamentary elections, as well as making the more general Shiite criticism that the current government is a purely Sunni-Druze alliance. Hassan Nasrallah has promised that the Shiite community will overturn the Siniora government if they do not become more responsive to Shiite demands. Your Christian followers have joined in these protests, though you and your FPM representatives have not resigned from government. In a massive rally on December 10, you threatened to march on the capitol if the Siniora government did not resign, proclaiming that the corruption of Hariri, Siniora and company could no longer be ignored. You have called for an immediate “national dialogue” to hammer out the terms of a constitutional commission to investigate these corruption charges, echoing the demands of the Shiite community. Your choice to openly defy the balance of power in this way, and the fact that you chose to do so in an alliance with Hezbollah has alienated many of your Christian supporters and profoundly divided the larger Christian community. All the same, you remain the absolute leader of parliament’s largest opposition bloc, and as of early 2007, it is uncertain how far you are willing to push Lebanon’s fragile parliamentary system.
Roleplaying Hints:
In the shadowy world of Lebanese politics, you are an especially complicated player. You have publicly avowed that your current actions are for the good of Lebanon, as you try to create a real bridge between the Christian and Shiite communities while simultaneously forcing Druze and Sunni politicians to acknowledge the need for a more inclusive political system. There is good logic to back up such a claim, seeing as the majority of Lebanon’s recent history has been devoted to warfare along religious lines. All the same, your choices strike many as very cynical. Your opponents claim that everything you are doing now is laying the groundwork for your own bid to succeed Emile Lahoud as President in 2007. You claim that political offices mean less to you than the establishment of a stable Lebanon, but it cannot be denied that you have built up a web of alliances which could catapult you into the presidency should you make a bid for it. Your alliance with Hezbollah and your opposition to the current government might stem from your feelings of betrayal on returning to Lebanon. You devoted half your life to resisting Syrian control over your country, even during exile, and returned home to find that your country had been taken over by Walid Jumblatt, Fouad Siniora and Saad Hariri, all individuals who prospered under the Syrian occupation and had only recently declared themselves “anti-Syrian.” You, on the other hand, were exiled for such beliefs, left out in the political cold by this new Sunni-Druze alliance. If this is true, you have shown that you are willing to seriously bend the rules of Lebanese politics in order to oust individuals you see as collaborators, even if that means allying with traditional Syrian ally Hezbollah. Your patriotism is undeniable, and this might prove your political undoing: in safeguarding the sovereignty of Lebanon you have become an implacable foe of the Syrians and their constant attempts to meddle in Lebanese affairs. You resist the current government because they are corrupt, and represent to you the type of cynical political elite who have always ruled Lebanon in an almost feudal style, cooperating with the Syrians to ensure their own political survival. To effectively combat this group you have made an alliance with Hezbollah, the most powerful political faction (other than your own) which operates outside the Sunni-Druze alliance. Unfortunately, this means you have allied with a traditional ally of Syria, and many analysts believe that this will ultimately be a political situation you cannot sustain. When you break from Hezbollah, it is unclear what other allies remain for you, and your attempts to safeguard the interests of Lebanon’s Christians might backfire and ensure their total alienation from an increasingly Muslim political order.
References:
http://www.meib.org/articles/0101_ld1.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aoun
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_Patriotic_Movement
http://www.mideastmonitor.org/issues/0602/0602_3.htm
http://www.tayyar.org/elections/political_program_fr/data/downloads/programanglica.pdf
http://www.tayyar.org/tayyar/englishdis.php
http://www.tayyar.org/files/gma1/030917aoun_congressHearing.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4086828.stm
http://www.beirutbeltway.com/beirutbeltway/2006/11/michel_aoun_the.html
