Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06BEIRUT1508
2006-05-15 05:51:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Beirut
Cable title:  

MGLE01: DEFENSE AND ACTING INTERIOR MINISTERS

Tags:  PREL OVIP ASEC MASS PTER KCRM LE 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ0014
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHLB #1508 1350551
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 150551Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY BEIRUT
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 3510
INFO RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 4166
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 3523
RUCNFB/FBI WASHINGTON DC
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RHMFISS/CDR USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 001508 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH
OSD FOR MARA E. KARLIN
AMMAN FOR LEGATT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2016
TAGS: PREL OVIP ASEC MASS PTER KCRM LE
SUBJECT: MGLE01: DEFENSE AND ACTING INTERIOR MINISTERS
AGREE TO JOINT VISIT

REF: BEIRUT 1507

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).

C O N F I D E N T I A L BEIRUT 001508

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/WERNER/SINGH
OSD FOR MARA E. KARLIN
AMMAN FOR LEGATT

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/11/2016
TAGS: PREL OVIP ASEC MASS PTER KCRM LE
SUBJECT: MGLE01: DEFENSE AND ACTING INTERIOR MINISTERS
AGREE TO JOINT VISIT

REF: BEIRUT 1507

Classified By: Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d
).


1. (C) In a May 11 meeting with acting Interior Minister
Ahmad Fatfat (other issues discussed are reported in reftel),
the Ambassador raised the subject of the Secretary of
Defense's coming invitation to Fatfat and Deputy Prime
Minister and Defense Minister Elias al-Murr to visit
Washington. Fatfat said he had already been in touch with
Murr, who -- given his continuing need to schedule medical
treatment outside the country as a result of injuries
sustained in a July 2005 assassination attempt -- thought it
would be too difficult to coordinate his trip to Washington
with anyone else.


2. (C) There was another reason why it would be difficult to
make a joint visit, according to Fatfat: given the current
security situation in Lebanon, it might be risky for both the
ministers of defense and the interior to be out of the
country at the same time. Coordination between him and Murr
was better than before. This had helped ensure that the
large, Hizballah-organized anti-government demonstration of
May 10 took place without any incidents of violence, he
suggested.


3. (C) The Ambassador emphasized to Fatfat that he and Murr
could expect a greater number and quality of high-level
meetings in Washington if they held them jointly rather than
on their own. There are also substantive reasons of
coordiation for the joint trip, especially since the LAF
shares some police functions. He suggested that Fatfat and
Murr try to schedule separate trips that would overlap for
several days in Washington, at the end of one's trip, and at
the beginning of the other's. Their joint meetings could
take place during this short overlap. Meetings they did not
need to hold jointly could take place either before or after.
This would have the advantage of minimizing the number of
days during which both were outside Lebanon.


4. (C) Fatfat agreed to this in principle, and -- after a
brief telephone call placed by Fatfat -- so did Murr. Fatfat
said that he would be available to travel to Washington
anytime during the month of June. However, he preferred to
visit Washington after June 6, because Washington-based
Hariri family advisor Amal Mudallali would be back in
Washington as of June 6. Fatfat said he needed Mudallali's
help in organizing the Washington end of his trip.


5. (C) Comment: While Murr's requirements for medical
treatment in Switzerland are real, we suspect that they were
simply a convenient excuse in this case. Murr probably
preferred to fly solo on an official visit to Washington, and
Fatfat may not have been averse to the same idea. While the
massive bomb intended to take Murr's life last July literally
blasted him out of the pro-Syrian "loyalist" camp, relations
between him and the anti-Syrian "March 14" ministers in
Siniora's cabinet, such as Fatfat, have been characterized to
date by mutual reserve and caution. Murr is, after all,
still the son of the longtime pro-Syrian, now pro-Aoun
political boss of the Metn region of Mount Lebanon, Michel
al-Murr. Until his recent, quiet divorce, Murr was also
President Lahoud's son-in-law. Signs of increased
coordination between him and Fatfat are encouraging, and
there is a valid argument, on national security grounds, that
they should not both be outside Lebanon for a long period of
time. But we understand the pressing need for even further
improvements in Interior-Defense coordination, and this joint
trip can help (as well as prevent one Minister from distoring
what was said in Washington to his advantage).
FELTMAN