Deep Desire for Serious Agreement over Disputed Issues
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said that he had fears concerning the recent Syrian troop deployment to Lebanon’s northern borders. Geagea said that his apology on Sunday night for any possible Lebanese Forces mistakes committed during the civil war was not intended for politicians, but rather the people of Lebanon. Geagea said that he hoped that other politicians who participated in the civil war would follow his lead, by taking responsibility for their mistakes and apologizing.
After meeting with a delegation from the Maronite League on Wednesday, Geagea thanked the league for their efforts to calm tensions in the Christian community. Geagea said that the league had insisted holding dual meetings with Christian leaders. Geagea said he had responded by saying that he supported any step that helped “cool” the atmosphere, and moved politics back to “its natural framework as an intellectually noble pursuit rather than as a rumor mill.” Geagea said he would rely on the league to create an appropriate mechanism for dialogue, adding that Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir would follow up on the matter.
Geagea said that he insisted on “a complete and transparent investigation in the Koura shooting, and we reject any attempts to improperly end the investigation and wrap up the case.” Geagea it was critical that the results of the investigation be announced to the public so that no one escaped responsibility, and similar events were not repeated in the future.
Geagea responded to those who said his speech on Sunday closed the door to reconciliation, by saying that some had no interest in reconciliation and took a superficial view of politics. “I encourage and support all reconciliations, but we must seriously handle matters, because I do not know to what extent reconciliations that do not take place on a firm basis would work out,” he said, adding, “If they do, this will be for a short time and would not lead to the required results. What I suggested last Sunday comes from a deep desire for serious agreement over disputed issues.”
Geagea responded to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad’s assertion that anyone in Lebanon who did not support Syria was an Israeli agent with his own assertion: “I divide the Lebanese into two categories: Syrian agents on one hand, and liberals who want to establish a strong state that exercises its sovereignty across all of Lebanon, including Shebaa Farms and Kfar Shouba.”
Geagea said that everyone had participated in the civil war in one way or another, but that he would remain ethical and not start pointing fingers. However, he called on his detractors to stop making accusations or he would announce the “strategic mistakes they did which led to the destruction of the country.”