WikiLeaks: Hamadeh Said the Army Would be Humiliated if Hizbullah Hands Over Arms
Al-Akhbar daily on Thursday unveiled what it said was a WikiLeaks cable exposing MP Marwan Hamadeh telling former U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman that the Lebanese army would be embarrassed if Hizbullah handed over its weapons to it.
Al-Akhbar published the Arabic translation of the document filed by Feltman dated July 29, 2006, during the Israel-Hizbullah war.
The cable quotes Hamadeh as telling Feltman that the army would be embarrassed because it would have to train its personnel on the usage of the arms.
Hamadeh also reportedly said he didn’t want the war to end and that the March 14 movement was mistaken in agreeing to make Hizbullah part of the cabinet.
The MP informed Feltman that he had told Hizbullah cabinet ministers that the Shiite party implicated Lebanon in the war without prior permission and that the government should take an immediate stance from that move.
According to the WikiLeaks document, Hamadeh informed Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri on the sidelines of the Rome Conference on July 26 that he shouldn’t return to Beirut because he would find “20,000 refugees at Qoreitem begging for food.”
| Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. | https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/4193 |