AOUN DENIES HIZBALLAH FINANCIAL LINKS, PLEDGES

S E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 03 BEIRUT 003017

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/18/2016
TAGS: PTER PREL KDEM LE SY IS
SUBJECT: AOUN DENIES HIZBALLAH FINANCIAL LINKS, PLEDGES
OPPOSITION TO SINIORA GOVERNMENT

REF: A. ROBERTS-FELTMAN EMAIL SEPTEMBER 15

B. 2006.

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


1. (S) Summary: Ambassador Feltman and econoff met on 16
September with General Aoun and his son-in-law and chief
advisor Gebran Bassil to deliver reftel demarche points.
Aoun emphatically denied that the Free Patriotic Movement
(FPM) has taken money from Hizballah or "any other state."
Feltman also reminded Aoun that the US takes seriously its
legal obligation under 1701 to prevent the smuggling of
weapons into Lebanon, and inquired about Aoun's recent trip
to Belgium, the source of Aoun's enmity toward Prime
Minister Siniora, and Aoun's strategy ahead of the next
presidential election. (See septel for the Ambassador's
one-on-one conversation with Aoun at the end of this
meeting.) End Summary.

AOUN DENIES FINANCIAL LINKS
TO HIZBALLAH
--------------


2. (C) Ambassador Feltman and econoff met on 16 September
with General Aoun and his son-in-law and chief advisor
Gebran. The Ambassador opened his meeting by delivering
demarche points and citing (without providing names)
earlier examples of Lebanese politicians who had been seen
donating money to a terror-linked charity and who then had
to go through a waiver process for obtaining visas to the
United States even for official visits. In response to
reports that FPM took Hizballah funding and distributed it
among Christian areas damaged during the conflict with
Israel, Aoun emphatically denied that FPM took even "one
cent" from Hizballah, although he suggested that FPM
engineers had made an inventory of damages for Hizballah.
Bassil interjected that Hizballah distributed
reconstruction funds to a variety of southerners, not only
Shia.

AOUN DENIES FPM SMUGGLING WEAPONS
--------------


3. (S) The Ambassador reminded Aoun that the international
community takes seriously the legal obligation under 1701
to prevent the smuggling of weapons into Lebanon. We are
actively looking for signs that any group -- not just
Hizballah -- is bringing in weapons directly or via
intermediaries, for their own use or via intermediaries
such as Hizballah. Aoun responded that the FPM remains a
strictly political organization, and any weapons FPM has
are for personal protection of Aoun himself, not for
military or paramilitary use. Bassil said he was
encouraged by US efforts to monitor and weapons smuggling,
and asked that the US reveal any evidence. Both men
admitted they had heard rumors that other groups were
smuggling weapons, but had no credible evidence to back
those rumors.

OPPOSITION TO UNIFIL
--------------


4. (C) The Ambassador asked why Aoun had made such strong
public statements rejecting UNIFIL deployment along the
Syrian border. Surely as a former military commander, Auon
must recognize that the LAF is not in any condition to
patrol these border effectively on its own. Aoun explained
that his opposition to UNIFIL stems from his expectation
that Syria will seal its borders in response to a UNIFIL
border deployment, cutting off Lebanon's trade access.
Lebanon cannot afford that, he argued.

AOUN IN BELGIUM
--------------


5. (C) Recently returned from Belgium, Aoun explained that
in addition to checking on his personal investments, he had
met with Belgian and UN officials on Lebanon, and with
Javier Solana on Iran. (See septel for Aoun's comments on
his Belgian trip to the Ambassador when the two met
one-on-one at the conclusion of this meeting. Aoun
acknowledged that he had hoped to mediate an exchange of
the captive Israeli soldiers for Lebanese held in Israel.)

MORE STRIDENT HIZBALLAH RHETORIC
NOT AOUN'S INFLUENCE

BEIRUT 00003017 002 OF 003


--------------


6. (C) Responding to the Ambassador's question about why
Hizballah statements were sounding closer to Aoun's
statements, Aoun suggested that Nasrallah's shift from
conciliatory speeches directly following the conflict to
more strident, anti-government rhetoric in the last week
was not due to Aoun's influence. He distinguished his own
position from Nasrallah's, defending his calls for the
formation of a new, "national unity" government better able
assume responsibility and inspire confidence and stability.
He accused Hizballah of trying to split the government and
cause doubt, without really planning for greater
participation in a new government.

ANTI-SINIORA RHETORIC HEARTFELT,
NOT POSTURING
--------------


7. (S) The Ambassador asked Aoun whether his personal views
of PM Siniora mirrored the strident public criticism Aoun
gives about Siniora. Aoun clarified that his personal view
of Siniora is just as dim as his public statements. He
accused Siniora of inability to follow through on any of
his pledges before his promised deadlines. Aoun cited as
examples of Siniora's failures the reversal of
constitutional council, the failure of a special committee
to liberate detainees from Syria, lack of progress on an
electoral law and the economic plan, and failure to provide
funding for post-war reconstruction.

PLANS AHEAD: ANTI-SINIORA
RHETORIC, BUT NO STREET ACTION
--------------


8. (C) Aoun appeared skeptical of Ambassador Feltman's
point that Siniora's increased international credibility
following his role during the conflict between Hizballah
and Israel was important to rebuilding international and
investor confidence in Lebanon. Aoun did not see evidence
of the benefit to Lebanon from Siniora's stronger
relationship with international partners. He indicated
that his strong anti-Siniora rhetoric would continue. He
claimed that he is not planning any demonstrations,
although he indicated that other groups may be planning
street action. Aoun described his strategy ahead of the
presidential election due before November 2007 as
continuing rhetorical opposition to the government.

AOUN NOT OPPOSED
TO A POST-UNIIIC TRIBUNAL
--------------


9. (C) The Ambassador asked Aoun for his views about the
proposed special tribunal with international character that
would be created to try any suspects in the murder of Rafiq
Hariri. Aoun acknowledged that issue as being one of the
reasons cited by the March 14 movement in refusing to
create a national unity cabinet. But, he said, he does not
oppose the creation of a post-UNIIIC tribunal. Nor would
he halt the creation of a tribunal if he was brought into
the government, he insisted. In fact, he claimed to be
"the first person" who called for an international
tribunal.

NO SHIA SPLIT
--------------


10. (C) Aoun was skeptical that the fact that ministers
allied with Speaker Nabih Berri's voted with the Cabinet
recently against Hizballah's ministers were signs of a
split in the Shia community, commenting "the Shia split in
peace but not in war."

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


11. (S) No doubt tipped off by his U.S. supporters who
already had heard the U.S. concerns about FPM-Hizballah
financial cooperation, Aoun was prepared for our demarche.
He calmly but firmly denied that the FPM had distributed
Hizballah funds (extensive media quotes by FPM activists
notwithstanding). We believe that Aoun has learned the
seriousness of the U.S. concerns and will be more careful
in the future, although we need to continue to monitor
this. He still does not seem to grasp the broader issue,

BEIRUT 00003017 003 OF 003


though, that Hizballah's arms and aims are the antithesis
of the strong state that Aoun purports to want to build.
Whatever Siniora's faults and his political differences
with Aoun, Siniora does not threaten Lebanon's future in
the same way that Aoun's Hizballah allies do. But,
unfortunately, Aoun still sees Siniora as the bigger
problem, the solution of which justifies his Hizballah
links.

FELTMAN