Geagea Says Lebanon a 'Prison with No Security', Hits Out at Aoun, Nasrallah
إقرأ هذا الخبر بالعربية
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Friday said that Lebanon has become a “prison without walls” where there is no security or authority due to the factional “interests” of some political parties, hitting out at Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun without naming them.
“These days, I'm avoiding to talk politics in order to avoid repetitiveness, but this doesn't mean resigning from politics but rather maintaining our firm stances, because endurance is sometimes more important than action,” Geagea said at a Maarab rally marking the ninth anniversary of his release from prison.
“The Cedar Revolution freed me from prison … but nowadays we, in the Levant, are in a prison that is much bigger than the one I was in," the LF leader lamented.
He noted that prior to the Arab Spring uprisings the Arab world was in a "big prison" and "now it is trying to break free from it."
"The situations that the Levant was living were imposed through the clout of dictatorial regimes, but now it has started to write its real history. Unfortunately, this is happening with the highest possible cost and the worst possible way,” Geagea pointed out.
In Lebanon, “the government is several governments and authorities are only present where they want, while they are absent elsewhere,” Geagea added.
“We are also in a prison cell that they are always trying to put us in, although it does not have any walls. This is the worst prison. A prison without a state which is rife with bombings, weapons and suicide bombers,” the LF leader lamented.
Criticizing Aoun, Geagea said the country "does not have a president" at the moment under the excuse of "preserving the rights of Christians."
“His policies change according to his interests and his interests always come first,” he added.
“We're saying that Lebanon comes first, and he's saying I come first and last,” said Geagea.
And in an apparent jab at Nasrallah, the LF leader said “his policies are not Lebanese, his aspirations are not Lebanese and his plans have nothing to do with Lebanon.”
In 1999, the Judicial Council convicted Geagea and several other LF members of involvement in the 1987 assassination of then-premier Rashid Karami.
Geagea was tried for ordering four political assassinations, including Karami's. He denied all charges and described them as politically motivated but was found guilty and sentenced to four death sentences, each of which was commuted to life in prison.
The LF leader was then imprisoned in solitary confinement for 11 years until the parliament voted to grant him amnesty in July 2005 in the wake of the Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon.
Y.R.
S.D.B.
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25 July 2014, 18:55
Geagea: The jailers in Lebanon have forgotten that throughout history we have remained here and they all were forced to leave.
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25 July 2014, 18:54
Geagea: This prison cell "does not have a president" under the excuse of "preserving the rights of Christians."
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25 July 2014, 18:53
Geagea: In Lebanon, we are also in a prison cell that they are always trying to put us in, although it does not have any walls. This is the worst prison. A prison without a state which is rife with bombings, weapons and suicide bombers.
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25 July 2014, 18:52
Geagea: The Levant was in such a jail because of the regimes that were ruling it.
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25 July 2014, 18:52
Geagea: Nowadays, we in the Levant are in a prison that is much bigger than the one I was in.
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25 July 2014, 18:52
Geagea: The Cedar Revolution freed me from prison.
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25 July 2014, 18:49
Geagea: While in prison, my biggest concern was that my father could die while I'm in captivity, but God spared me such an experience.
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25 July 2014, 18:40
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea in a speech marking the 9th anniversary of his release from prison: These days, I'm avoiding to talk politics in order to avoid repetitiveness, but this doesn't mean resigning from politics but rather maintaining our firm stances, because endurance is sometimes more important than action.
25 July 2014, 18:44
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Hakim W'basssss Habib Al Malayeen Bil Rou7 Bil Damm Nafdika Ya Hakim;)
25 July 2014, 19:56
33
Geagea is just reflecting on the reality of the situation. Nasrallah's policies indeed have nothing to do with Lebanon, and his speech in Dayhe showed that. The only group who doesn't recognise Israel's right to exist is Hezbollah. All the others have moved on because the truth is that Israel isn't going anywhere.
25 July 2014, 19:59
45
It is not the person that I focus on, but on the ideas that person presents.
He is right on all accounts. The Lebanese people are in a virtual prison. The Govrnment cares less about the needs of its citizens but serve their interests. Aoun puts himself ahead of the nation. Nasrallah (and few others) have an ideology that is foreign to the Lebanese culture or interests. The demographics of Lebanon has changed so much in the last 3 decades that we have too many non-Lebanese dictating Lebanon's politics and influencing its Governments.
25 July 2014, 20:19
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He has some points, whether you like the guy or not.
But one thing I'd like to point out is that he talks of previous governments who were most of the time led by his fellow allies!
History is pointless with politicians in Lebanon. Human rights is also pointless. They don't even bother with logic... logic?! what's logic! If my people swallow the stupidities why bother with trying to be smart?
25 July 2014, 20:24
34
how strange! someone is talking about Lebanon and building a state called Lebanon. This is a foreign phenomenon to a lot of Lebanese.
25 July 2014, 22:50
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And in an apparent jab at Nasrallah, the LF leader said “his policies are not Lebanese, his aspirations are not Lebanese and his plans have nothing to do with Lebanon.
http://youtu.be/fWjgln7EBU0
Ayub drones will be flying over marab soon
26 July 2014, 01:22
33
Wolf your hatred for Geagea is your right and you are entitled to this. But don't let your hatred cloud your judgement in taking sides on the political fence because you know better than most we need new blood. Having said that, there is a saying in football about playing the ball not the man. And on this point I challenge you to accept that what Geagea has said and done in the last nine years for the most part is worthy of acknowledgement versus actions and words of others that reek of undermining the state for self interest. We Lebanese would gladly cut off our nose to spite our face and this I see every day in real life.
26 July 2014, 07:25
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Just the opposite, Lebanese are in a prison with thick walls created by the constitution; some 70 years ago a constitution has been architected to ensure division(based on religion)and discrimination between its people. This to ensure continuity of wealth and power of few feudals families. Ironically these families are puppets to foreign powers who regularly interfere in and determine the politics and the life and death of the Lebanese. May be one day in the coming 200 years the Lebanese will find out that it is not my Muslem,Christian, Druz modest neighbor who is creating my misery , but my traditional religious/political leader.
26 July 2014, 08:42
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I am now in the Bekaa, and can tell you from first hand, that the people here are now under the direct protection of Hezbollah. They have cut a new road that runs all up and down the Lebanese - Syrian border and they patrol it. Where is the government and the army? This is their job, but Hezbollah has undertaken these tasks in the absence and vacuum of the legitimate government.
26 July 2014, 12:24
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Wolf, you don't have to like Geagea. He did bad things during the civil war, and accepted Taef i.e. submitted to Syria after years of fighting them. Sure he was behind multiple assassinations, but no one was a saint during the war. Since he's come out of prison, he's been naive. He joined Hariri and hardly got any seats, and most of the time has been saying the right things. I don't support this guy, but at least he's trying to make up for his mistakes and trying to rebuild Lebanon. That's the least we can ask of him given his past.
26 July 2014, 12:29
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Aoun, on the other hand, stood up to Syria during the war before fleeing. He waited for Syria to leave before coming to Lebanon, then allied with Hezbollah. He's a sell-out more than Geagea. If he was afraid of saying no to both Hezbollah and Hariri, then he should have stayed in France. Rather than showing honour, staying independent, and continuing his anti-Syria stance he sold himself out. Aoun turned on everything he stood for, in which young kids died defending his stance
26 July 2014, 12:47
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Aoun was ethical in the beginning, he was a general of the Lebanese Army, who legally assumed the premiership and legally acted as president. The Muslims, controlled by Syria, illegally made another government. Of course all the Muslims would agree to Taef, but when Geagea agreed to it, he left Aoun isolated. Taef was a raw deal, and Geagea no longer recognised Aoun as acting president. This is why I didn't like Geagea. But that's over with, Geagea wants Lebanon to become a country once again, whereas Aoun has put this country in a standstill trying to become president.
26 July 2014, 16:33
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Geagea killed more christians than anybody else. For those who don't know that because they were too young when it happened, check his history and you will know. He is the biggest criminal in Lebanon. Stop following him blindly because he says what you would like to hear, but he never did anything for the Christians. So please, wake up.
