WikiLeaks: Jumblat Said Suleiman is ‘Weak,” while Berri is a ‘Liar’

Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has reportedly described President Michel Suleiman as a “weak personality surrounded by supporters of the Syrian regime.”

In a WikiLeaks cable dated September 17, 2008 and published by al-Joumhouria newspaper, the Druze leader also described Speaker Nabih Berri as a “big liar.”

In another cable dated August 19, 2006, Jumblat allegedly said: “We don’t need democracy right now. We need money.”

He unveiled that Caretaker Premier Saad Hariri had given him 1 million dollars which he described as “nothing,” saying “I can spend the money within two months or three.”

The U.S. embassy noted in the cable that Jumblat was most probably frustrated because he had previously said that former Premier Rafik Hariri used to give him 3 million dollars per year to protect the Druze sect.

About Shiites, the PSP chief expressed concern that the Shiite sect was losing its Lebanese and Arab identity and becoming more Persian.