Seeing Orange

Lately there has been much talk about Michel Aoun and his orange colored nikesque logo sporting, Tayyar Party. Michel Aoun is quite a popular figure with many Christians. Originally during the war years Aoun was commander of the Lebanese Army. After Amin GemayelAoun to be the Prime Minister of Lebanon, unfortunately for Aoun the position of Prime Minister has always been alotted to a Sunni Muslim due to Lebanon's National Pact. This in turn caused the Lebanese government to fracture, on one side a pro-Syrian Muslim government headed by Salim El-Hoss, in the Christian enclave Aoun, with Iraqi support ruled supreme. In 1989-1990 Aoun launched a "War of Liberation" against Syrian occupation. In addition he also attacked fellow Christians (namely Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces) inside the Christian enclave to take control of the Beirut Port and the tax revenue it pulled in.

Many accused Aoun of launching the war against fellow Christians as part of an effort to gain more support from Muslims. In turn, the effort was an attempt make himself out to be a respected leader willing to go after anyone, Christian or Muslim who defied him. Aoun wanted the same clout Bachir Gemayel had in 1982. Bachir was quite Machiavellian, crushing Christian and Muslim opponents equally, winning the respect of many Muslims and Christians. Aoun's war against his fellow Christians and Syria was costly, and when Syria sided with the US against Iraq (Aoun's main Arab support) Aoun was forced into exile by Syrian forces.

Aoun's effort to become Prime Minister of Lebanon, regardless to the fact that traditionally and according to the National Pact that the postition should be in the hands of a Sunni Muslim cemented his belief in secularism. During his exile Aoun was adamantly anti-Syrian and wanted the terrorist group, Hizbollah, to be disarmed. To quote Aoun from his appearance on Pat Robertson's 700 Club,

ROBERTSON: General Aoun, delighted to have you with us on The 700 Club, welcome . Tell me about Hezbollah. We hear about the terrorist group Hezbollah. What relation do they have to Syria?

GENERAL AOUN: Hezbollah is not a separate entity from Syria. It is under the Syrian operational control.

ROBERTSON: The so-called terrorist group is under the operational control of Syria?

AOUN: Yes, 100 percent, no question about that.

ROBERTSON: I understand that Damascus is the headquarters of a number of other terrorist organizations that have received aid and assistance from the Syrians. Can you tell us what they are, those other terrorist organizations?

AOUN: There are about 11 organizations of terrorism in Damascus. Among them, Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the Democratic Front and the General Command Front of the Palestinians [Liberation Army], all of them are listed in the United States as classified as terrorist organizations.

Now on his return from exile in France, Aoun is back in the Lebanese political game with his eye on the presidency. Interestingly enough once Aoun got back to Beirut, following a short honeymoon period with anti-Syrian groups like the Future Movement and the Lebanese Forces, Aoun joined forces with Hizbollah, Amal, and the SSNP (Syrian Social Nationalist Party); a flip-flop if I've ever seen one.

Of course a turn around like this was completely unexpected by many Christians who were drawn in by Aoun's secularism and anti-Syrian rhetoric. Now Aoun wants to keep pro-Syrian president, Lahoud in office. I asked a Christian friend why she supports Tayyar and Aoun and the answers were startling. "Hariri kills Christians, he steals money, his new Solidere project doesn't employ any Christians," answered my friend. Briefly I argued that the Shi'ite Islamist Hizbollah was nothing more than an Iranian and Syrian proxy, and had a stated goal to turn Lebanon into an Khomenist state. To her, Hizbollah was peaceful to Christians where she was from in the south, and even helped them in some cases. The Shi'ite/Iranian threat was not as present as one she saw from the Sunnis. Also, in regards to Aoun's relationship with Hizbollah I asked my friend how as a Christian she could support a group that had been responsible for terrorist acts. Her answer, like that of Hizbollah supporters I've heard before was, "Hizbollah never killed Lebanese civilians," yet again, the Hizbollah spin doctors and propagandists had worked, another Lebanese couldn't even acknowledge that Hizbollah was involved in some henoius acts. Her answer to my critism was, "we have respect for Hizbollah they fight hard and are not corrupt."

I continued to press her on why she despised Rafik Hariri so much, she then told me about her brother. Her brother was the number 2 math student in Lebanon. He was one of the few who received a Hariri scholarship to study abroad in the United States. My friend continued on and told me that following his graduation from the university Hariri's people contacted the brother, and offered him a job working for a Hariri firm, only he would have 10% of his salary taken out, to pay Hariri back for the "scholarship." To her this happened to her brother, "only because he is Christian."

One of the security guards here at LAU is also a Tayyar supporter. Interestingly enough he is married to a supporter of Samir Geagea's Lebanese Forces, Aoun's main rival. His answer wasn't as complicated as my other friend's when I asked him why he supported Aoun, "I like him because he is crazy, he does not care what people think."

Now living in his plush Rabieh villa, Aoun is definitely a force to be reckoned with. For those who support Aoun, they see his complete flip-flop to the pro-Syria camp as something that any other Lebanese politician would do. For those in the pro-Western sphere of Lebanese politics, Aoun is a traitor to values he had been sticking with for about a decade. Not only is Aoun a flip-flopping traitor, but he has split Lebanon's Christians down the middle. Aoun definitely has his eyes on the Lebanese presidency, and as in 1990 he will do his best to destroy whoever gets in his way. Aoun is like many other Lebanese politicians, he is willing to "eat his own young" just so he can advance and get more power.