LEBANON: PARLIAMENT SPEAKER BERRI CLAIMS, "IT'S

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 BEIRUT 003894

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

NSC FOR ABRAMS/DORAN/MARCHESE/HARDING, STATE FOR NEA/ELA,
NEA/FO: ATACHCO

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/03/2016
TAGS: PREL PGOV PTER LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON: PARLIAMENT SPEAKER BERRI CLAIMS, "IT'S
NOT MY FAULT."

Classified By: DCM Christopher W. Murray. Reason: Sections 1.4 (b) an
d (d).

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


1. (C) Visiting Senators Christopher Dodd and John Kerry
reassured Speaker of the Lebanese Chamber of Deputies Nabih
Berri that some elements of USG policy may change as a result
of the recently-published findings of the Iraq Study Group,
but USG support for Lebanon's independence will remain
strong. The Speaker told the Senators that the Special
Tribunal for the Hariri assassination could not be introduced
in Parliament without the approval of President Lahoud. He
questioned the government's haste in pushing the Tribunal
forward, without allowing time for debate and a review of its
compatibility with the Lebanese constitution. Berri asserted
his support for UNSCR 1701 and his determination to ensure
the safety of UNIFIL.


2. (C) The Speaker claimed that his efforts to promote
dialogue among Lebanon's feuding parties had come close to
success; only the Israeli-Hizballah War and the betrayal of
the dialogue talks by Prime Minister Siniora and MP Saad
Hariri had frustrated his reconciliation attempts. Berri
complained of Israel's continuing overflights of Lebanon and
occupation of the Shebaa Farms. He cited the ongoing
Saudi-Syrian feud as the root of Lebanon's internal disputes.
The Senators pledged their continuing support for Lebanon,
and declared that the Special Tribunal enjoys solid
international support. End Summary.

IRAQ
--------------


3. (C) Senator Dodd noted that the CODEL had recently
visited Iraq. The Senator emphasized the importance
successful stabilization. Berri asked about USG policy after
the issuance of the Iraq Study Group (ISG) report. Senator
Dodd noted that the implications of the report go beyond
Iraq. Senator Kerry added that some elements of USG policy
will have to change. Berri commented that not only elements
of USG policy toward Iraq will have to change, but also
elements of policy toward Lebanon. Berri observed that the
ISG report warned against the spread of Iraq-style violence
in the region. He said Sunni-Shia tension has risen in
Lebanon, but Lebanon could not withstand the kind of violence
that now exists in Iraq.

LEBANON'S POLITICAL IMPASSE
--------------


4. (C) Senator Dodd asked about Lebanon's current political
situation. How would the ongoing downtown demonstrations
turn out, what is the future of Lebanese-Syrian relations,
will UN Security Council Resolution 1701 be fully
implemented, and what can the U.S. do to help?


5. (C) Senator Kerry reported that he had met Arab League
Secretary-General Amr Moussa in Egypt several days earlier.

SIPDIS
Moussa had said that he was making progress in finding a
resolution of Lebanon's political crisis. Berri objected to
this upbeat assessment, saying that the problem with
Moussa,s proposals is that the devil is in the details.


6. (C) The problem in Lebanon is "20-40 percent Arab, and
the rest American," Berri said, noting that he was conveying
a tough message. While the U.S. indeed stands for democracy
and representative government, resolving the Lebanese
political crisis depends on U.S. efforts to promote
reconciliation between Saudi Arabia and Syria. Berri said
that he himself had engaged in shuttle diplomacy toward this
end in early 2006.


7. (C) Berri said he had tried to reconcile Lebanon's
feuding political factions in the National Dialogue that he
sponsored this past spring. He brought together Lebanese
leaders who "didn't even know each other, except from
television," and sat them down around a conference table.
They took up a ten-item agenda, including the presidency and
Hizballah's arms. The Dialogue was a great success, Berri
claimed.


8. (C) Berri claimed that the summer conflict broke the
momentum of the dialogue. The war was not against Hizballah,

BEIRUT 00003894 002 OF 004


as Israel had asserted. Especially in the first five days,
Israel waged war against Lebanon's infrastructure, its
industry, and its children. Israeli tanks faced off against
Lebanese children, Berri exclaimed indignantly. "Are
Americans really with Lebanon?" he asked. Berri said he had
proposed to Secretary Rice that if the war was really about
Israeli prisoners, he could manage an exchange of all three
prisoners (meaning, evidently, the two soldiers kidnapped
into Lebanon and the soldier kidnapped earlier in Gaza)
within one week. But the USG refused, Berri claimed,
believing that Israel would win its war against Hizballah.
The situation turned out similar to that in Iraq, Berri
commented, where in three weeks the United States defeated
Iraq's armed forces, but for over three years now what the
USG calls "guerrillas" have beaten U.S. forces. In the
Lebanese case, for 33 days the Israelis spread destruction in
Lebanon and created hundreds of thousands of displaced
persons but only killed 200-300 Hizballah fighters.


9. (C) Berri continued his connection between the war and
Lebanon,s internal political problems with some comments on
UNSCR 1701. He asked rhetorically why 1701 was necessary in
the context of the Israeli-Hizballah War. Had not Berri made
a political initiative incorporating all the major points of
the resolution before the first shots were fired? UNSCR 1701
was easy to accept, he said, because all of its points had
been previously agreed to. The UN Interim Force in Lebanon
(UNIFIL) had been present in south Lebanon since 1978,
coexisting peacefully with the local population. Berri
protected and supported UNIFIL, even going almost "to war"
against extremists who kidnapped and assassinated an American
observer from the UN Treaty Supervision Organization (UNTSO)
in the late 1980's.


10. (C) No one is against Resolution 1701, Berri continued.
UNIFIL's expanded force has been on the ground for more than
three months and UNIFIL has not had a single negative
experience involving the Lebanese side. By contrast, Israeli
forces have provoked a number of incidents with UNIFIL,
including disputes on the ground and in the air with French
and German forces. "I will not accept any problems against
UNIFIL," Berri concluded.


11. (C) Berri returned to the domestic impasse by saying
that after the war, he traveled to Saudi Arabia to promote
Saudi-Syrian reconciliation. He then called for internal
"consultations," that would essentially resurrect the
National Dialogue, but he wanted to avoid re-using the title
"Dialogue." The first, second and third sessions the
consultations went well, with Mustaqbal Party leader MP Saad
Hariri and Berri,s colleagues in the opposition agreeing on
the Hariri tribunal and on the formation of a national unity
government. Berri had asked Hariri why Hariri insisted on
the formation of the tribunal first, when all other parties
to the consultations wanted to start with the national unity
government. Berri said he was "puzzled8 when at the last
moment Hariri went back, by insisting on the initial approval
of the Tribunal, from what Berri said was a compromise that
would have brought first the formation of the national unity
government. When Hariri insisted on initial approval of the
Tribunal, the opposition was ready to begin its
anti-government street demonstrations. Berri intervened, he
said, to stave off the demonstrations, while also seeking
resumption of the consultations. All this changed on
November 21 when Minister of Industry Pierre Gemayel was
assassinated.


12. (C) Berri said he had asked Saudi King Abdullah to talk
to Damascus, with a view to building bridges with President
Assad, for the sake of both Saudi Arabia and Lebanon. Berri
claimed, "I can solve the problem here in one hour if I have
a Saudi-Syrian bridge. The U.S. government can make this
bridge." Senator Kerry asked about the nature of the
proposed bridge and how the Tribunal fit in with it. Berri
answered that the USG enjoys enormous influence with the
Saudis and could therefore persuade them to reconcile with
Syria. The Tribunal is one detail in a possible deal but not
the major factor.

THE SPECIAL TRIBUNAL
--------------


13. (C) Senator Dodd noted that the CODEL would travel to
Syria and Jordan, and that he and Senator Kerry would be
interested in hearing Berri's perspective on the Special

BEIRUT 00003894 003 OF 004


Tribunal to try suspects responsible for the assassination of
former Prime Minister Hariri, and other possibly related
crimes. Berri, in his capacity as Speaker of the Parliament,
replied that the tribunal is "not yet at my door." He
reported that under the Lebanese constitution, the law
creating the tribunal, which has been passed by the Cabinet,
still had to be signed by the President of the Republic
(President Emile Lahoud) before it could be sent for final
adoption by the Parliament. "We cannot go ahead with this
project."


14. (C) On the Tribunal, Berri commented that the March 14
majority leaders made many mistakes. He asked rhetorically
(noting that he is a lawyer) why the Tribunal should be
created before the conclusion of the investigation into
former PM Rafiq Hariri's assassination. Of equal concern,
the March 14 leaders wanted to approve the Tribunal without
first discussing it and examining whether it is consistent
with the Lebanese constitution. Berri noted that at the
start of the National Dialogue on March 2, the first item on
the agenda had been the international investigation into the
Hariri murder. The second had been the international
tribunal. All parties came to an agreement on these two
agenda items within one hour, Berri claimed, and agreed that
when they had a draft of the Tribunal statute they would
examine the details.


15. (C) Berri said that he had been the first to demand an
international tribunal for the Hariri assassination. He
added that he sought a tribunal with a seat in Beirut, along
the lines of the International Criminal Tribunal for Sierra
Leone. There were still unresolved issues with the current
text, he noted, including the fact that Lebanon still
practices capital punishment, unlike many countries that
support the Tribunal. Another problem is the principle that
the superiors of figures implicated in the assassination
could be held responsible for their subordinates, criminal
acts, regardless of whether the superiors knew of those acts
or not. "If the bodyguard outside my house does something
after hours," Berri asked by way of example, "can I know of
his act or be held responsible? And can it be held against
me?"


16. (C) Berri asked, in reference to the majority-led
Cabinet,s quick approval of the Special Tribunal documents,
&Why could we not discuss the Tribunal for a few days at
least? Why the urgency to approve the Tribunal over the
objections of the other side, and before the conclusion of
the Brammertz investigation?8 Senator Kerry responded that,
"in our country and globally, the assassination of Rafiq
Hariri hit a nerve." He added that Syria's influence is
perceived to be strong in Lebanon, strong enough to have an
impact on the effort to achieve accountability for the
assassination. The international community needs clarity on
this and needs to know that the Brammertz investigation will
be followed up with a Tribunal. In the region and
internationally, Rafiq Hariri had strong relations. The
Tribunal is part of the "bridge" to build trust that Berri
had mentioned before, Senator Kerry concluded.


17. (C) Berri argued that PM Siniora had made gaffes that
Rafiq Hariri (whom Berri described as "my friend") would
never have committed. Berri told Siniora not to make the
mistake of taking unilateral action on Special Tribunal
legislation: "Set up a Parliament session to discuss the
Tribunal and let me know when you want it," he said he had
urged the PM. Instead, Siniora set an immediate cabinet
session and approved the Tribunal over the objections of
opposition ministers, who would not have opposed the Tribunal
if given a chance to consult on it.


18. (C) Berri claimed that even Syrian President Bashar
al-Asad has said that he does not fear the Tribunal. If
anyone in Syria were involved in the assassination, then that
person would be tried as a traitor in Syria. The Syrian
Vice-Foreign Minister had said the Tribunal is not a matter
of concern to Syria. "I want Americans to understand, and I
have repeated it a hundred times," Berri said, "and I quote
Rafiq Hariri: It is not acceptable for Lebanon to be
dominated by Syria but it is also unacceptable for Lebanon to
be dominated against Syria."


19. (C) Senator Dodd called the quote a "good point" and
noted that interests and relations between the two countries
are deep and will transcend the time of those now in elected

BEIRUT 00003894 004 OF 004


office. It is our responsibility to try to understand, he
said, and to have conversations with all sides." But the
conversations must have a point. Syria must make decisions.
There are choices to be made which could make things easier
or harder for our relations in the future." He noted that
the CODEL would proceed to Damascus to see President Asad.
"There are others -- you know whom -- who do not have
Lebanon's best interests in mind, and it is important for us
to find common ground."


20. (C) Senator Dodd then asked Berri for his opinion on the
elimination of Hizballah's arms. Berri did not respond
directly but said, "Israel created Hizballah. Hizballah
wasn't here before the Israeli occupation. We are a small
country and have no interest in attacking others." He then
described how the arrival of Palestinian refugees in the
early 1970's, and a series of broken promises by the
international community to help, had destabilized Lebanon and
led to war. Finally, Berri criticized Israel's continued
occupation of the Lebanese-claimed Shebaa Farms, and Israeli
overflights of Lebanese territory. Even during the opening
session of his National Dialogue last March, Berri noted,
eight Israeli planes buzzed over the Parliament building.
"They have other ways to gather intelligence!" Berri asserted.

LEBANESE IN THE U.S.
--------------


21. (C) Berri, who was once a legal permanent resident,
noted that Dearborn, Michigan, where many of his family
members reside, has the highest concentration of
Lebanese-Americans in the U.S. He asked about the Lebanese
communities in the Senators' home states. Senator Dodd noted
a strong Lebanese-American presence in Danbury, Connecticut.
He commended the successful evacuation of 15,000 Americans
during the summer conflict, many of whom had fled from
southern Lebanon. Berri said that in many locations more
than half the population in the southern Lebanon area
monitored by UNIFIL is Lebanese-American. For example, as
many as 80 percent of the population in the border-area
village of Bint Jbeil holds U.S. nationality.


22. (SBU) Senator Dodd praised the contributions and success
of Lebanese-Americans. Berri agreed with this success, but
added "maybe that's our problem." Lebanese excel outside
Lebanon, but Lebanon remains a country in dire straits. He
noted that people of Lebanese origin are members of
parliaments in 19 different countries, including the Speaker
of the Brazilian parliament.


23. (U) This cable has not been cleared by CODEL Dodd.
FELTMAN