VZCZCXRO7012
PP RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHKUK RUEHMOS
DE RUEHLB #0279/01 0310810
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 310810Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1755
INFO RUEHEE/ARAB LEAGUE COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
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C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000279 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/30/2016 
TAGS: KISL LE PGOV PTER SY
SUBJECT: MGLE01: MUFTI OF THE REPUBLIC CALLS FOR REPLACING 
LAHOUD, BUT NOT WITH AOUN 
 
Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman.  Reason: Section 1.4 (d). 
 
SUMMARY 
-------- 
 
¶1.  (C)  On January 30, the Ambassador met with Mufti of the 
Republic Mohammad Rashid Qabbani.  The Ambassador noted that 
the Embassy us urging a reduction in personal attacks and a 
calming of rhetoric.  The Ambassador also dispelled rumors 
that the USG was going to make a deal with Syria, and that 
the USG was trying to control Lebanon.  Qabbani called for 
the replacement of President Emile Lahoud.  He said that 
Muslims should allow Christians to name the presidential 
candidates.  Qabbani expressed his hope that Christians do 
not nominate MP Michel Aoun because he "is not a ruler, is 
not wise," and is inflexible.  However, if momentum builds to 
remove Lahoud, Hizballah would protect Lahoud if necessary, 
opined Qabbani.  While acknowledging that Usama Bin Laden 
probably destroyed the U.S. embassies in Africa, Qabbani then 
launched into a convoluted defense of his conspiracy theory 
that the FBI and CIA helped Al Qaida commit the 9/11 attacks. 
 The Ambassador reminded Qabbani of the abundant (and 
publicly available) evidence that Al Qaida perpetrated the 
9/11 attacks.  End summary. 
 
AMBASSADOR URGES CALM 
--------------------- 
 
¶2.  (C)  On January 30, the Ambassador, econoff, and 
political specialist met with Mufti of the Republic Mohammad 
Rashid Qabbani, the highest ranking Sunni cleric in Lebanon. 
Noting the need to refute many intentionally misleading 
stories in the press about U.S. policy, the Ambassador opened 
the meeting by expressing his support for the unity of 
Lebanon.  Furthermore, the Ambassador wanted to dispel two 
popular (and mutually exclusive) rumors: that the USG will 
make a deal with Syria over Lebanon, and that the USG is 
trying to control Lebanon.  The USG will support Lebanon on a 
day-to-day basis, but ultimately the cabinet must be 
re-united, the Ambassador explained.  It is up to the cabinet 
of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to find a solution.  The 
Ambassador continued that he is urging Lebanese privately to 
curtail their use of personal attacks.  The level of rhetoric 
and personal attacks is helping fuel confessional tensions. 
 
QABBANI: REPLACE LAHOUD, 
BUT NOT WITH AOUN 
----------------------- 
 
¶3.  (C)  Qabbani welcomed the Ambassador's visit and said 
that he supported MP Saad Hariri's statement in Washington 
calling for an internal dialogue over Hizballah's arms. 
Qabbani said he wanted a solution for "the resistance," but 
not against "the resistance."  He was less generous regarding 
the status of President Emile Lahoud.  Qabbani called for 
Lahoud's removal from office, saying that two more years with 
Lahoud was too much time.  Lahoud was impeding progress. 
Qabbani did not have a specific plan of how to remove Lahoud 
from the presidency, but suggested that parliament could do 
it.  Christians must decide on whom to replace Lahoud with 
and present candidates to the Muslim (Sunni, Shia, and Druze) 
communities.  Qabbani said that Muslims could then decide on 
whether to support the Christian nominee, but should not be 
involved in naming the candidates.  Qabbani commented that 
his Maronite counterpart, Patriarch Bishop Mar Nasrallah 
Sfeir, should be active in bringing the Christian community 
together, but should not be involved in selecting the 
candidates. 
 
¶4.  (C)  At the same, Qabbani expressed hope that the 
Christians would not nominate MP Michel Aoun.  Qabbani did 
not hold back on his distrust of Aoun, saying that Aoun was 
not a ruler and not wise.  He continued that Aoun is 
inflexible because he thinks like a military man.  In a 
criticism of both Lahoud and Aoun, Qabbani questioned how any 
military man could serve as the president in a democratic 
way.  He gave the historical example of Fouad Chehab, a 
former general who became president in the 1950s.  "He ruled 
by way of the Second Directorate (Army Intelligence)," 
explained Qabbani.  Mocking Aoun's claims of negotiations 
with Hizballah, Qabbani cited how pro-Aoun Shia MP Abbas 
Hashem bragged that Aoun, and only Aoun, supported the 
resistance.  Aoun's strategy is to say that he supports 
Hizballah, snorted Qabbani. 
 
¶5.  (C)  The Ambassador asked Qabbani whether he believes 
Hizballah would militarily or physically defend Lahoud if 
 
BEIRUT 00000279  002 OF 002 
 
 
there was a push for a presidential transition.  Qabbani 
replied that he thinks Hizballah would defend Lahoud, but 
would not need to "take to the streets."  A strong statement 
by Hizballah would probably be enough to protect Lahoud and 
to intimidate other factions. 
 
AND NOW FOR A CONSPIRACY 
THEORY OR TWO... 
---------------------- 
 
¶6.  (C)  The Ambassador next asked Qabbani to comment on 
Sunni-Shia tensions and the status of Sunni extremism in 
northern Lebanon.  Qabbani, as if inexorably drawn, took a 
turn into familiar territory: impossible conspiracy theories. 
 He claimed that the 13 men arrested last month were not 
associated to Al Qaida.  They were only guilty of possessing 
weapons in their households, he said.  Turning to the larger 
issue of Al Qaida, Qabbani said that he did not believe that 
Al Qaida could have executed the 9/11 attacks on it own. 
Given the power of U.S. security agencies, Al Qaida must have 
had help from the FBI or CIA to enter the airports and to fly 
the planes into their intended targets.  (Comment:  Embassy 
political specialist later commented that he thought Qabbani 
was trying to imply a Jewish conspiracy without making a 
direct reference.  End comment.)  The Ambassador replied 
there is abundant evidence that Usama Bin Laden and Al Qaida 
were behind the 9/11 attacks, as well as the two embassy 
bombings in Africa in 1998.  In fact, a committee held public 
hearings and published a public report on the evidence, as 
well as recommendations for improvement in USG security 
measures.  Qabbani acknowledged that Bin Laden might indeed 
have been responsible for other attacks, including the 
Embassy bombings, and he emphasized that he did not support 
Bin Laden or see him as representative of Islam.  He also 
raised the issue of a cartoon in Denmark which many Muslims 
feel is disrespectful to the Prophet Mohammad.  "Freedom must 
have its boundaries." said Qabbani. 
 
COMMENT 
------- 
 
¶7.  (C)  Until he led this discussion into the lunancy zone 
of offensive conspiracy theories, Qabbani spoke with more 
clarity than he had in any previous discussion with the 
Ambassador.  Never before, with us, had he explicitly called 
for the removal of Lahoud.  As a subsidized asset of the 
Hariris, Qabbani is generally supportive of the views of the 
March 14 coalition.  But usually he postures as more of a 
cautious fence-sitter, so his attacks on Lahoud and Aoun were 
unexpected. 
FELTMAN