Jumblat Slams Baabda Attack: Is it a Crime for the President to Defend the Army?

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat condemned on Friday the Baabda rocket attack, wondering if it was a crime for President Michel Suleiman to defend the constitution and Lebanon's “democracy and diversity despite their flaws.”

He asked in a statement: “Is it a crime for the president to pinpoint the difficulties facing the army, most notably the contradiction of the presence of legitimate and illegitimate weapons in Lebanon?”

“Is it a crime for the president to demand the strengthening of the army in a manner that transforms it into the sole guarantor of peace against local and external threats?” he asked.

“Is it a crime for the president to renew his demand for an effective discussion of a defense strategy, especially at a time when Lebanese powers are embroiled in foreign conflicts?” continued the PSP leader.

“Didn't the president previously present his vision of a defense strategy and the ways in which to employ the resistance's weapons” and limit arms possession to the army and official institutions? he wondered.

“Is it a crime for the president to defend the state's authority, whose absence during the civil war paved the way for chaos that encompassed all political powers without exception?” he continued.

“Is it a crime for the president to remind the public that there can be no nation without security and no sovereignty and dignity without the army?” asked Jumblat.

“Is it a crime for the president to warn that the army is being made to defend itself instead of defending the country?” said the MP.

“It appears that the owners of the illegitimate arms cannot tolerate remarks that do not agree with their views, which may pave the way to a new phase in Lebanon,” he noted.

“It appears that we may have to prepare ourselves for more rockets and booby-trapped gifts after the fall of Homs in Syria,” remarked Jumblat.

“Is it a coincidence that Lebanon has a brave president who defends the country's independence, while Syria has a president who boasts of illusory heroics?” he asked.

“Is it heroic to boast over the rubble of Syrian cities and towns?” he wondered.

“We will continue to stand by the president and his brave national stances because in the end, national will and Lebanon's interest alone will be victorious,” he stressed.

On Thursday, two rockets were fired in the Baabda area with one landing in the garden of the Freiha villa that is located near the Officers' Club.

The second rocket landed near the Khashoqji castle in al-Yarzeh.

No one was injured in the incident.

The attack came on the same day that Suleiman gave a speech on the occasion of Army Day in which he criticized Hizbullah's involvement in the Syrian war in support of President Bashar Assad's forces.