Anytime an Independent Figure is Assassinated all Aoun’s Statements Should Be Reviewed
Ali Hamadeh responded to accusations by Change and Reform bloc leader Michel Aoun, telling NOW Lebanon on Friday, somewhat sarcastically, that it was strange that Aoun was now in charge of media censorship.
“He appoints himself in the position of observing and targeting the media and journalists,” Hamadeh said.
“When Aoun discusses my article which talked about the collapse of Nahr al-Bared,” Hamadeh said, “and considers it to attack the army and its command, we ask him: What did you do with the dignity of the army and its command, when you provided political cover for the military helicopter attack, in which Captain Samer Hanna was killed, and then went further asking what was the military helicopter doing in Soujoud.” Hamadeh also said that Soujoud was a Lebanese land and the army was legitimate.
Hamadeh asked where Aoun had been “when Captain Wissam Eid was assassinated and when there was an attempt to kill Captain Samir Chehadeh, both of whom worked on revealing the terrorist crime that targeted independent figures.”
“How did Aoun allow himself to say his agony was greater when General Francois Hajj was assassinated on a road in Baabda…is this in an attempt to cover-up the true crime?” he said.
Hamadeh said that it was not new for Aoun to target journalists and the media, pointing to Aoun’s charges against An-Nahar newspaper, and L’Orient Le Jour regarding their coverage of the August shooting of a military helicopter.
Hamadeh said that any time an indapendant figure was assassinated all Aoun’s statements and interviews should be reviewed.
“Aoun is the one who attacked the Lebanese state, which was subjected to the worst kinds of terrorism and attacked the security forces who were trying to decode the crimes,” he said.
“In my opinion, Aoun is one of the basic tools to cover-up these crimes. We knew before his return that he made a deal with the Syrians, and then damaged the path of independence, and was and still is standing on the side of the murderers, as he is their true ally,” Hamadeh said.
Hamadeh said that when Aoun spoke about Nahr al-Bared, he did not intend to defend the honor of the military institution but wanted to criticize President Michel Sleiman and the Army Command, especially since he just quoted a part of the article at the time when the goal of the article was to reveal the true relationship between the Syrian regime and Fatah al-Islam with Shaker al-Absi and Nahr al-Bared.