MGLE01: SINIORA-MURR SPAT NEARLY SPLITS CABINET,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 001548

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/SINGH/WERNER

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2026
TAGS: PREL PGOV KDEM LE
SUBJECT: MGLE01: SINIORA-MURR SPAT NEARLY SPLITS CABINET,
BUT -- MIRACULOUSLY -- ESCAPES MEDIA ATTENTION


Classified By: Jeffrey Feltman, Ambassador, per 1.4 (b) and (d).

SUMMARY
--------------


1. (C) Almost a week ago, away from the public eye, claims
amounting to only 60,000 USD nearly wrecked the Siniora
cabinet. Minister of Defense/Deputy PM Elias Murr backed a
proposed compensation package for two retired generals exiled
with Michel Aoun in Paris. PM Siniora, citing similar cases
not on the agenda, rejected Murr's position. Knowing that
the Christian ministers (fearful of Aoun's reaction if the
measure were rejected) sided with Murr, Siniora also refused
to bring the matter to a vote. Murr snapped. He accused
Siniora of intentionally humiliating him. Crying that he
lost his family and nearly his life for Lebanon, Murr said
that he nevertheless remains suspect in Siniora's eyes,
orphaned in the cabinet. Vowing to quit the cabinet and
"tell all" to the press, Murr stormed out. Shuttle diplomacy
by Marwan Hamadeh and Nayla Mouawad eventually brokered a
reconciliation, and -- smiling for the cameras -- Murr and
Siniora embarked on a high-profile stroll and cafe stop in
downtown Beirut to dispel rumors of strife. Unexpectedly,
President Emile Lahoud -- Murr's ex-father-in-law -- helped
cool tempers, an uncharacteristic move which Murr chalked up
not to charity but to Lahoud's fear of what Murr would say to
the press. Ministerial contacts found Siniora unnecessarily
stubborn and aggressive, yet they expressed bewilderment over
Murr's emotional outburst ("as if he were stripping himself
naked in front of us," as Mouawad said). The truly
remarkable part of this tale is that it has remained largely
out of the press, despite the voracious Lebanese appetite for
political spats (especially one involving deeply personal
issues). END SUMMARY.

CABINET "SPIN": LAST WEEK'S
SESSION WAS NORMAL, AMICABLE
--------------


2. (C) As reported in the Lebanese press, the 5/11 regular
cabinet session turned into a marathon, lasting nearly seven
hours and addressing some 40 agenda items. Although presided
over by President Emile Lahoud, the press quoted (with almost
palpable disappointment) ministers who said that the session,
despite its length, was "normal" and that Lahoud and Siniora
had (to the consternation of political gossips) treated each
other with respect and in accordance with Lebanon's detailed
constitution. But these professions of normalcy seem to be
classic political spin. Six participants -- including Prime
Minister Siniora and Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of
Defense Murr -- described a stormy and emotional session that
had the potential to wreck the cabinet.

ALL ABOUT A $60,000 CLAIM
--------------


3. (C) About two-thirds through the agenda, Siniora raised
the proposal, forwarded to him by Murr, to settle retirement
claims disputes with two retired generals, Edgard Maalouf
(now an MP with Aoun's bloc) and Issam Abu Jamra, both of
whom had joined Aoun in his Parisian exile. (Note: it is an
illustration of Lebanon's absurd decision making apparatus
that a retirement compensation dispute should reach the
cabinet. End note.) An expert's committee within the
Ministry of Defense recommended a $60,000 setttlement for
both combined. Murr proposed that the cabinet accept the
committee's recommendation. Siniora refused, arguing that
Maalouf and Abu Jamra were not alone. Citing the names of
retired Sunni officers with the same demands, Siniora said
that he would not approve payments to Abu Jamra and Maalouf
until the other cases could be closed as well.


4. (C) Promising that he would accelerate work on the other
cases, Murr said that there was no reason to delay payments
on those that were ready. Siniora refused to budge. The
Christian ministers pulled Siniora aside to note that
rejecting the compensation demand would hand Aoun an enormous
tool by which to attack the cabinet. Siniora objected and
rejected calls to bring the matter to a vote. At this point,
Lahoud intervened, saying that, since there was no consensus,
the matter should be put aside for now -- a position that
made the Christians that much more eager to approve the
compensation, since they suspected Lahoud was eager to set a
trap: Lahoud, they feared, would use the deferral in order
to attack them somehow, by provoking the Aoun camp.

MURR ATTACKS SINIORA'S

BEIRUT 00001548 002 OF 003


LACK OF TRUST IN HIM
--------------


5. (C) According to the accounts we've heard (including
from the protagonists),Murr at some point in the debate lost
his temper. Jumping from his chair, he shouted at the PM
that, if he had questions about this proposal, he should have
called Murr in advance to discuss it. But by placing the
matter on the cabinet agenda, Siniora had signaled to Murr
that he agreed with the proposal. Now, Siniora was
intentionally humiliating him, discrediting his proposals.
Alternating between shouts and cries, Murr then recounted the
previous year of his life: he nearly lost his life in a
terrorist attack, he broke with his father politically, he
divorced his wife, he became on bad terms with his
father-in-law (Lahoud),and so on. All of this happened,
Murr said, because he was working his best for Lebanon. Yet
Siniora still refuses to accept or trust him. Murr said that
he has exiled himself from the March 8 movement (which
includes all of his pro-Syrian previous allies),yet Siniora
keeps him at arm's length from the March 14 movement. Murr
said that Siniora's arrogance turned him into a political
orphan. When Murr was undergoing his 14 surgeries after the
bombings, others in Lebanon called to wish him the best;
Siniora never even asked how he was doing.

CABINET COLLEAGUES PERSUADE
MURR NOT TO QUIT OR TALK TO PRESS
--------------


6. (C) Murr then vowed to quit the cabinet, saying that he
would tell everything to the press waiting downstairs for a
cabinet read-out about the incompetence and stupidity of
Siniora. As he turned to storm out, he told Lahoud that he
would say everything he knows about Lahoud, politically and
personally. Marwan Hamadeh claims to have "jumped on Elias,"
preventing him from getting into an elevator. Hamadeh and
Mouward prodded Murr into a side office, where they were
joined by Lahoud. The three of them worked together to
console a sobbing Murr, with even Lahoud telling his former
son-in-law that he should not destroy the cabinet.


7. (C) Eventually, with Hamadeh and Mouawad shuttling
between Murr and Siniora, and Lahoud rubbing Murr's back
with seeming benevolence, a deal was struck: Siniora and
Murr apologized to each other and (really) kissed and made up
in front of the other ministers; the cabinet passed the
compensation package for Aoun's two generals; the cabinet
asked Murr to accelerate the work on the compensation
disputes for other retired generals; and the ministers and
Lahoud -- in a rare instance of political and confessional
unity -- agreed not to talk publicly of what happened.

ORCHESTRATING THE APPEARANCE
OF HAPPY CABINET COLLEAGUES
--------------


8. (C) Although the press was not present for the Murr
outburst and breakdown, the ministers fretted that the
security guards posted outside the rooms, who could have
heard the argument, would talk. Thus, Mouawad and Hamadeh
convinced Siniora and Murr to join them to stroll arm-in-arm
in Beirut's downtown area, stopping at a sidewalk cafe for a
light meal and drink. With Lebanon's ubiquitous
photographers in the area, the Lebanese papers the next day
featured a beaming ministerial quartet, with Siniora and Murr
appearing comfortable and happy in each other's company.


9. (C) Murr told the Ambassador that, from his perspective,
the issue was "behind us," although he said that he still
resented that Siniora has taken so long to trust him.
Hamadeh -- like Murr, the survivor of an assassination
attempt -- was scathing about Siniora, accusing the PM of
being insensitive to the fact that Murr has suffered multiple
traumas, physical and emotional, and "deserves our support."
Claiming that she had trouble sleeping thinking of the pain
he must be in, Mouawad said that she pitied Murr, who acted
"as if he was stripping himself naked in front of us."
Minister of Justice Charles Rizk, more coldly, accused Murr
of being "spoiled, immature." Minister of Economy and Trade
Sami Haddad called the whole episode "embarrassing." None of
the ministers could explain to us why the normally cautious
Siniora, who often demonstrates more elasticity in his
positions than many would like, would pick such a trivial
issue on which to take a stand. Siniora told us it was all
about "equity" with the other claimants.


BEIRUT 00001548 003 OF 003


ANALYZING LAHOUD'S ROLE
--------------


10. (C) The Ambassador asked Murr about Lahoud's role in
comforting him and convincing him to stay inside the cabinet.
Why, the Ambassador asked, wouldn't Lahoud have just
watched, knowing that a cabinet collapse works in his favor,
since the President must sign any new ministerial
appointments? Moreover, it is clear that the Syrians hate
Siniora. Why wouldn't Lahoud have relished the embarrassment
Murr would have caused for Siniora? Murr dismissed the
suggestion that Lahoud played a constructive role for
benevolent reasons. Lahoud, Murr said, was simply frightened
that, with Murr in the emotional state he was in, he might
tell deeply damaging stories about Lahoud to the press. No
one in Lebanon, Murr claimed, has more authority in trashing
Lahoud than he does.

COMMENT
--------------


11. (C) Obviously, there was more at play here than simply
monetarily insignificant retirement claims (although we agree
that Aoun would have gleefully seized upon rejection of the
packages in order to attack the cabinet). This fight was in
part about the relationship between Siniora and Murr. We
know that bad blood exists between Siniora and Murr: it has
taken a long time to warm Siniora up to the idea of Murr
visiting Washington, and Murr perceives and resents the lack
of trust Siniora has in him. We don't know the background of
Siniora's skepticism about Murr, but we suspect it dates back
to Siniora's tenure as Finance Minister under Rafiq Hariri.
Murr and his mercurial father Michel -- both allied with the
Syrians at the time (as the father still is) -- have a
billion-dollar business and property empire in Lebanon. As
would have been standard practice at the time, they probably
demanded special treatment on taxes and the like from a
resentful Siniora, who probably knows quite a bit about shady
Murr business practices.


12. (C) Of course, this fight was also about the mental
state of Elias Murr, after his traumatic injuries, political
break with his father, divorce with his wife, and separation
from all of the pro-Syrian business and political allies he
had accumulated in the past. In essence, he has abandoned
one political family without being truly accepted into
another. It was particularly poignant, as the Ambassador
left Murr's house on 5/16, when Murr's bodyguard (who also
was badly injured in the assassination attempt) whispered,
with an air of desperation, "please come see the Deputy Prime
Minister again soon."


13. (C) The remarkable part of this story is that it has,
with the exception of a few brief references, stayed out of
the Lebanese media. This shows incredible discipline and
unusual solidarity on behalf of the ministers, as a juicy
political-personal scandal like this would normally be tossed
around in the press for days. Nayla Mouawad said that the
ministers agreed to protect "Elias' dignity" by not going
public with what really happened inside the cabinet chamber.
If that explains the press silence, we find this a most
astonishing -- and uncharacteristic -- example of collective
Lebanese kindness, from politicians who are usually more
eager to belittle each other (or worse!).
FELTMAN