by Ghassan Karam
Where is the outrage? Where are the Lebanese that should be demonstrating in the streets their dissatisfaction of living by the law of the jungle, of being ruled by vigilantes and of being assassinated whenever they dare to stand up to the truth. If the stands of Rafic Hariri, Samir Kasir, Pierre Gemayel, Gibran Tueini and others did not pose a threat to the groups of illegitimate armed gangs then why kill them? Wissam Al Hassan has joined today that select group of courageous Lebanese who believed in the power of the ideas and in the power of the truth.
Whether one shares the ideas and beliefs of Mr. Hassan or not is not an issue today. What is at stake is whether human dignity, personal freedom and the right of individuals matter or not. What is at stake today is the soul of a nation that has been practically suffocated over the past 30 years or so. It is up to us to decide whether we value decency and the rule of law because if we do then we have no excuse except to shout from the roof tops that the emperor has no clothes. Today we are all Wissam Al Hassan
There are no accidents in life. Outcomes, good and bad, are the natural result of policies and actions that have combined to form these outcomes. The current lawlessness, economic stagnation, social tension and continued fraying of the national fabric are the result of a cabinet that is composed of various members that are antagonistic and have irreconcilable differences. Not only that but each party in the cabinet acts as if national cohesiveness is a second thought and that each of them was there to promote its own selfish interests. Each group has acted as a cabinet within a cabinet. It is time that Mr. Mikati pulls officially the final plug on this contraption that was born in an ER facility and that has not been permitted to gain enough strength to be released. (Please click on the link for a video clip)
It is clear that the killers of Wissam Al Hassan are probably the same ones that had killed Gibran Tueini. In both cases both men were outside the country and were blown up within hours of their arrival in Lebanon. The above is a solid circumstantial evidence about the high level of planning and the inside information that is available to the assassins. That the assassins are well connected is not a mystery and their potential allegiances and associations can also be easily deduced. We know that they are not connected to March 14, the Jumblatt bloc or any of the other small independent groups. This implies that the suspects of these heinous and egregious acts probably enjoy strong ties to the Syrian regime, or any of the March 8 political bloc could have had access to the information about the travel plans of Mr. Hassan and the ability to act on it. I am sure that some of the political groups within March 8 will proclaim their innocence but before they rush to do so they have to be reminded that they are guilty even if they did not pull the trigger. They are guilty because they had lent support and cover to murders and to those that do not believe in democracy. It is crucially important not to forget that Mr. Al Hassan presented a threat to the four indicted conspirators in the Hariri assassination and that one of his young staff members has also been assassinated. One must also not forget the important pivotal role that Mr. Hassan has played in derailing the string of planned assassinations by Mr. Michael Samaha who was acting on direct orders from the highest level of Syrian officials, possibly including the president Bashar Assad who is not satisfied in spreading tyranny and fear among the Syrians but who also harbors visions about destabilizing Lebanon and the region.
We have a duty to stand on hilltops and to shout that the emperor has no clothes. Enough is enough. We will not be cowed any longer and we will not be a party to our own demise. This cabinet must go, elections must be held and the Lebanese people have to vote their conscience.
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