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C O N F I D E N T I A L  BEIRUT 003155 
 
 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/POUNDS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/30/2015 
TAGS: KDEM KPAL LE PGOV PREL PTER SY
SUBJECT: MGLE1 MURR POINTS FINGER AT SYRIA AND REVEALS 
EXTENT OF SYRIAN THREATS IN LEBANON 
 
Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador.  Reasons Section 1.4 (a) 
and (d) 
 
 ¶1.  (C)  Summary:  At least until the 7/12 assassination 
attempt against him, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of 
Defense Elias Murr was always seen locally as an insider's 
insider during the Syrian occupation.  His credentials seemed 
perfect: son-in-law of President Lahoud, son of a prominent 
pro-Syrian "political boss" Michel Murr, and supposed contact 
of Syria's pro-Consul in Lebanon, Rustom Ghazaleh.  But in an 
unexpected 9/28 public revelation, Murr outed himself as a 
victim of Syrian gangsterism.  During a television interview 
with Telecom Minister Marwan Hamadeh, Murr called into the 
station from Zurich and openly said that Ghazaleh threatened 
him for Murr's role in bringing accused terrorists to 
justice.  This revelation became the talk of Lebanon.  One of 
the presumed insiders admitted what Lebanese have always 
said, that Syria used the threats readily as a tool to ensure 
their orders were obeyed.  President Lahoud followed his 
son-in-law Murr's statement with a statement of his own 
praising past and present ties with Syria.  Now Murr's 
experience may open up new areas of inquiry for the UNIIIC 
investigation under Detlev Mehlis.  Meanwhile, Beirut 
socialites gossip that Murr's marriage to Lahoud's daughter 
is collapsing.  End summary. 
 
MURR GOES PUBLIC 
---------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)  During a LBC interview with Marwan Hamadeh -- 
himself victim of a terrorist bomb widely believed to have 
been planned by Syria -- Elias Murr called in to the program 
from Zurich to second Hamadeh's televised comment that Murr 
knew the author of the 7/12 attack against him.  Murr 
explained that a problem had developed between Murr and 
Syrian Military Intelligence representative in Lebanon Rustom 
Ghazaleh in the wake of September 2004 arrests of suspects in 
the attempt to place a bomb at the Italian Embassy in Beirut. 
 (Note:  While Murr never actually said Ghazaleh's name on 
TV, it was crystal clear from the context that Ghazaleh was 
the subject of Murr's accusations.) 
 
¶3.  (C)  According to Murr, Ghazaleh called Said Eid, 
commander of the police and ordered him to call Murr and give 
him a "tongue lashing."  Murr reacted to the call by calling 
Ghazaleh directly and protesting his use of Eid to criticize 
him.   Murr reports that Eid, who overheard the conversation 
with Ghazaleh, told Murr, it is time for you to pack your 
bags and go home.  Subsequent to this conversation, Murr 
said, he learned of threats to is life and left Lebanon for 
security reasons.  For Murr, the attempted murder of May 
Chidiac was the final straw leading him to make his public 
revelation.  Murr ended his intervention on the program by 
saying, "now we are all alike."  When the Ambassador spoke 
with Murr by phone the following day, Murr said that he felt 
greatly relieved that a great burden had been lifted from his 
chest.  But he joked that, between angering the Syrians and 
his own father-in-law, he might become a permanent resident 
of Zurich. 
 
MURR PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED PRO-SYRIAN 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶4.  (C)  On July 12, 2005 Elias Murr narrowly escaped an 
attempt on his life when a bomb blast destroyed his car and 
killed one his bodyguards.  The explosion caused more 
surprise than usual because no one had expected Murr to be a 
target.  Unlike the previous victims of attacks -- Hamadeh, 
Rafiq Hariri, Samir Kassir, George Hawi -- Murr had always 
appeared to be a staunch supporter of Syria, always backing 
father-in-law Emile Lahoud in his pro-Syrian stance.  Local 
pundits searched for a way to explain the attempt on Murr's 
life.  Some pointed at Israel for Murr's defense of the 
resistance.  Others, less given to ideological views thought 
Murr might be the victim of a Palestinian/Sunni extremist 
strike for is handling of extremists in the wake of the 
attempted bombing of the Italian embassy.  Few could believe 
that Syria would strike against an old ally like Murr. 
 
MURR VS. LAHOUD 
--------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) The Murr bombshell was followed yesterday by a 
statement from his father-in-law, President Lahoud.  Lahoud 
used his first public speech since the attempt on May 
Chidiac's life to praise the Syrian-Lebanese relationship. 
Lahoud held out the past cooperation with Syria as a model to 
be emulated by others.  Lahoud's statement, given to local 
journalists, is seen as a direct attack on Murr.  Syrian 
sources quickly claimed Murr's description of events was a 
complete fabrication.  Meanwhile, Beirut socialites spread 
gossip that Elias Murr's marriage with Lahoud's daughter has 
irrevocably broken down, although people dispute whether the 
marital problems provoked or stemmed from Murr's surprise 
revelations. 
 
COMMENT -- WHY NOW? 
------------------- 
 
¶5.  (C) Murr's revelation about Syria is not unexpected. 
Privately, Murr has always maintained that Syria threatened 
and pressured him.  His public statements on LBC mirror what 
he has told us earlier.  However, Murr chose his moment well. 
 Speaking on a popular program on the network identified with 
May Chidiac, during a broadcast interview with Marwan Hamadeh 
gave extra weight to his words.  That Rafiq Hariri was 
threatened by the Syrians before his death is taken as an 
article of faith here.  That belief is supported by Murr's 
story of a Syrian supporter who ran afoul of Damascus.  The 
old-style Lahoud statement that followed illustrated 
dramatically how isolated the President has become from his 
people and from reality.  Even with all the dissenting voices 
around him, Emil Lahoud still manages to be his own worst 
enemy. 
 
¶6.  (C)  But there is probably also a self-serving aspect to 
Murr's timing.  During UNIIIC Commissioner Detlev Mehlis' 
probe, Murr's name surfaced briefly as a potential target of 
the lifting of bank secrecy laws.  While Murr seems to have 
no connection with Hariri's murder -- which took place when 
Murr was living in Zurich in the aftermath of the September 
2004 threats to his life -- he is rumored to have been linked 
by financial corruption to the four Lebanese generals now in 
custody.  If the GOL decides to probe into the corruption 
related to the notorious Bank al-Medina collapse, Murr will 
most likely be implicated over some shady real estate deals. 
He may be calculating that the sympathy he wins for being a 
victim of Syrian aggression will help salvage his reputation 
if the Bank al-Medina secrets are revealed.  End comment. 
 
 
FELTMAN