May God Bless Michel Aoun so that no Christian is left in Lebanon

To begin with, You can read Dr.Geagea’s full speech here.

This year’s LF martyrs mass was a bigger success than last year in terms of organization and participation. The streets were jammed for hours, and LFers from all over Lebanon came to attend the mass and pray for the martyrs and of course to listen to Hakim’s speech.

I still believe a martyrs’ mass should not be turned into a political festival but it’s a lost cause in Lebanon, so i will ignore this point for the moment.

As for Hakim’s speech, i did not see any of the surprise the media had been talking about for days now.
On the contrary, the speech was relatively calm and full of direct & indirect political messages to the Opposition, mainly Hezbollah. (Proof is Hezbollah got upset by the speech and were the first to reply today and what a lame answer that was.)

I believe Geagea made statements that the Lebanese people, mainly M14ers needed to hear to remember how big of a threat Hezbollah is to Lebanon, and how much responsibility we have as Lebanese and most importantly as Christians in standing against such a threat. ( I wish he had pointed out as well the alarming growth of islamists & jihadists in the north)

In summary:- He reminded the Lebanese there is no such thing as “aktariyye cha3biyye” that Hezbollah is claiming to justify his loss in the elections, but only a parliamentary majority as set by the LEBANESE constitution.
- He also hit on a sensitive point when he challenged the Opposition, mainly HA & Amal, to clearly state whether they agree or not with the 50-50 status. (Taef)
- He defended the Patriarch and supported him and blasted those who were trying to undermine his role and the Church’s role.(Fadlallah & Hezbollah)
- He critisized the Opposition & Hezbollah and asked them to stop their tricks and games trying to force their will under the banner of national unity & national reconciliation ( he mentioned here the invasion of Beirut in 2007).
- He showed support to UN resolutions and asked for their implementation. ( specifically UN 1701)
- He addressed the president and pleaded him to form the government asap.

Those are most of the key points in the speech. It was a good & calm speech, with lots of direct & indirect messages. However, i have few remarks on it.

1- He should have reminded people of his apology and translated it by forming groups & opening offices to enhance the LF’s image.
2- He should have emphasized on finding common ground among Christians and trying to settle things with the LF’s opponents in ways that would serve the Christian community better.
3- He should have mentioned the alarming increase of Sunnite extremist groups, specially in the North where lots of LF hard-core villages could be threatened.
4- He should have talked about a general reconciliation among LFers before starting to build a new party.

This is all i can think of for now. It is a political speech for a political festival. I wasn’t expecting much but i believe people needed to hear that the LF is cleaning its image properly, not just by empty talks and public apologies, that LFers need to reconcile, that Christians need to find more common group to face the upcoming dangers.

Finally, may all our martyrs rest in peace. Yesterday was a celebration of their martyrdom first and foremost.

Let’s see how both parties are gonna justify this.

The dispute started between two rival political factions when a group of young men affiliated to the Free Patriotic Movement, headed by General Michel Aoun shot Hadchiti, a member of the Lebanese Forces, the Kataeb site reported.

[More]