Beirut: General Michel Aoun, the leader of the Free Patriotic Movement and the official Hezbollah candidate for the presidency, challenged former Prime Minister Sa‘ad Hariri, the head of the Future Movement, to a live television debate. Even if Hariri accepted, it was unclear what was the purpose of such an exchange, except perhaps to revive a moribund campaign that seems to go nowhere. In the event, neither Hariri nor the nominal March 14 candidate, the Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea—who should have been the logical contestant—responded as of mid-day on Sunday.
Aoun once again claimed that he spoke for the majority of Lebanese while confirming that dialogue with the Future Movement was not going anywhere.
The Future Movement was no longer responsive to Aoun’s doctrinaire positions, which could be the reason observers say, for his latest attempt to grab attention.
Aoun reitterated his grievances against Hariri’s party saying it broke ‘various promises’ over top security and military appointments.
Aoun dragged his March 8 alliance members into an intractable position and stood at odds with Speaker Nabih Berri and the vast majority of the Lebanese over the issue of extending the terms of top security chiefs, wishing to ensure the top military billet for his son-in-law, Brigadier-General Chamel Roukoz.
Berri and just about everyone else outside the March 8 coalition favor the extension of existing mandates, just like they engaged in several extensions of parliament—in which all March 8 deputies sat—over a vacuum in the top military and security posts. The Prime Minister and his Minister of Defense must soon address the questions of upcoming retirements in top posts, including those of Major-General Walid Salman, the Army Chief of Staff (September 7), Brigadier-General Edmond Fadel, the director general of the Army Intelligence (September 20), General Jean Qahwaji, the Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces (September 22), and Roukoz, the head of the Army Commando Unit (October 15), though an impossible situation within the cabinet prevents a consensus on reappointments or replacements.
Aoun considers Hariri his political rival, although this latest challenge highlights profound dilemmas given that the former premier was part and parcel of a coalition that by and large rejected the Aoun aspirations for the presidency. In a moment of candor during the Saturday interview on the Sawt Al Mada radio station, Aoun lashed out Hariri and the March 14 alliance, accusing them of “swimming against the current and behaving like mobs... They don’t even have legitimacy from the people.” “I am walking in the right direction,” insisted Aoun, “and they are violating the Constitution and laws.” Although Aoun and Hariri were not known for their oratorical skills, many Lebanese wondered what would be the point of a debate between members of parliament outside the legal forum that stood vacant.
