LEBANON TRIBUNAL: CHATAH AND HAMADEH REVIEW DAYS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 BEIRUT 000638

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NSC FOR ABRAMS/SINGH/MARCHESE/HARDING

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/07/2027
TAGS: PREL PTER UNSC SY LE
SUBJECT: LEBANON TRIBUNAL: CHATAH AND HAMADEH REVIEW DAYS
AHEAD

REF: USUN 349

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

SUMMARY
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1. (C) Mohamad Chatah, Senior Advisor to PM Siniora, told
the Ambassador in a 5/5 meeting that, based on his
consultations in New York (reftel),he was awaiting receipt
of a draft UNSCR regarding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.
Siniora's letter to the UN will be finalized according to the
form the proposed resolution will take. While Chatah said
that Siniora will be unlikely to mention Chapter VII
explicitly, Chatah understood from his New York meetings how
important it was to show wary UNSC members that the tribunal
is a Lebanese request, not a Franco-American plot. Chatah
did not believe that, if tabled today, a tribunal resolution
would receive 9 votes. In a 5/6 meeting, Minister Marwan
Hamadeh reported on his discussions in Cairo with Arab League
Secretary General Amr Moussa. Hamadeh expressed relief that

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Moussa will travel to New York, not Beirut, since a new round
of Arab League consultations in Lebanon would undoubtedly
delay UN action on the tribunal. Instead of sending a second
parliamentary letter to the UN, Hamadeh favored sending a
small delegation of MPs to New York as early as mid-week to
meet with UNSC PermReps and underscore that the tribunal is a
Lebanese demand. Hamadeh noted that, with PM Siniora
traveling to the UK and Portugal this week, the cabinet will
probably meet on Friday, at which point he expected the
cabinet to review and approve Siniora's letter to the UN.
End summary.

SINIORA'S LETTER TO BE FINALIZED
ONCE DRAFT UNSCR IS SHARED
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2. (C) The Ambassador met with Mohamad Chatah on Saturday,
5/5, Chatah's first day back at the Grand Serail after his
Washington and New York consultations. Chatah's version of
the chronology of next steps regarding the establishment of
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon tracked with what is
included in reftel. Chatah noted that he has started
drafting the letter PM Siniora will send to the UN, but he
awaits a copy of the draft UNSCR that the P-3 plan to table.
Per the discussions in New York, Siniora's letter of request
must correspond with what the draft UNSCR proposes be done.
If the resolution declares the existing agreement to be
brought into force, then Siniora will ask the UN to bring the
agreement into force. Until Chatah knows exactly which
approach the P-3 will take, he claimed to be unable to finish
the letter. He understood from his New York meetings that he
would receive a draft from the French by mid-week. (The
Ambassador is seeing French Ambassador Emie today and will
inquire about this.) The Ambassador urged Chatah not to
surprise us but to share quietly the text with us in advance,
which Chatah promised to do.


3. (C) Chatah thought it unlikely that Siniora would agree
to request Chapter VII explicitly. But the New York meetings
had persuaded Chatah that the letter had to be extremely
strong, since so many of the UNSC PermReps either believed or
purported to believe that the tribunal was a Franco-American
plot against Lebanon. Siniora's letter has to be part of a
strategy to persuade UNSC members that the tribunal is first
and foremost a Lebanese initiative, a Lebanese priority. "We
don't yet have nine votes," Chatah calculated, and Lebanese
lobbying will help make the difference, and a Lebanese
demand. Chatah said that he had been in touch with Saad
Hariri, who Chatah believed would be an important ally in
ensuring that Siniora's letter contained sufficiently strong
language. Chatah then launched into a long, academic
digression about a contradiction between "an agreement" and
"a request for something of an explicitly binding nature."

SYRIAN INTELLIGENCE AGENT
SHADOWING CHATAH IN NEW YORK?
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4. (C) As a side note, Chatah laughed that he had been
trailed in New York by someone he could only assume was a
Syrian intelligence officer. Chatah said that, soon after
his arrival in New York, he noted a "classic Middle Eastern
secret police guy" following him everywhere. "Just like in

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the movies," Chatah would sometimes turn around to look at
the person, who would then "look up in the sky or at

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something else." But he was always there.

HAMADEH REPORTS AMR MOUSSA
TO TRAVEL TO NEW YORK, NOT BEIRUT
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5. (C) On 5/6, the Ambassador met Minister of
Communications Marwan Hamadeh, who had met with Arab League
Secretary General the previous day in Cairo. Hamadeh said

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that the meeting was "mostly good news." Hamadeh told Moussa
that he had heard that the Arab League was not supportive of
Chapter VII establishment of the tribunal. Moussa responded
that he had never told anyone he was opposed to Chapter VII,
although he mused (in a throwback to the discussions about
UNSCR 1701) that "chapter six and a half" may be easier to
attain. Hamadeh urged Moussa not to mention that
possibility, and Moussa agreed to drop the idea. Moussa told
Hamadeh that The Syrians are "really afraid" of the tribunal.
According to Hamadeh, Moussa is convinced that the Syrians,
one way or another, are involved in the Hariri assassination.



6. (C) Hamadeh said that he wanted reassurances that Moussa
was not coming back to Beirut anytime soon, as some UNSC
members would certainly use a new round of Arab League
diplomacy to delay action on the tribunal. Moussa said that
he had no intentions of traveling to Lebanon. Instead, he
would travel to New York this week for consultations with
UNSYG Ban and then to go Brussels for meetings on the Arab
peace initiative, followed by a stop at the Vatican (where,
inter alia, Moussa will discuss Lebanon). He will travel to
Beirut only after the tribunal is established under Chapter
VII. At that point, he will urge the Lebanese to work toward
a solution regarding the presidency. Going to Beirut now
would be a waste of time, Moussa agreed, since it is clear
that the Lebanese domestic process is completely blocked.
Hamadeh said he and Moussa also discussed Lebanon's
presidency at length but inconclusively.

HAMADEH SAYS SAAD HARIRI
WANTS CHAPTER VII REFERENCE
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7. (C) The Ambassador reviewed with Hamadeh next steps
regarding potential UNSC action on the tribunal. On
Siniora's letter, Hamadeh said that Walid Jumblatt and Saad
Hariri would ensure that the language was strong. Hamadeh
thought there was still a possibility that Chapter VII would
be mentioned in the text, since "Saad wants it." (The
Ambassador sees Saad on Tuesday.) In terms of timing,
Hamadeh noted that Siniora is traveling to the UK to attend
his daughter's graduation and then to Portugal on an official
trip this week. But Siniora has made informal inquiries
about whether cabinet ministers are available for a cabinet
meeting on Friday. Hamadeh believed that a Friday cabinet
meeting would be the occasion for the ministers to review and
approve Siniora's letter to the UN on the tribunal. As he
had with Chatah, the Ambassador urged Hamadeh to help make
sure that there were no surprises, that France and the U.S.
could quietly review the draft in advance.

INSTEAD OF SECOND PARLIAMENTARY LETTER,
HAMADEH PROPOSES MP DELEGATION TO UN
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8. (C) The Ambassador asked Hamadeh about a second letter
from MPs, something that Hamadeh himself had proposed
earlier. Noting that some MPs are still balking at a second
letter because they see it as simply a repeat of their
earlier communication, Hamadeh said that he favored sending a
parliamentary delegation to New York instead. A group of 5-6
MPs, perhaps under the leadership of Deputy Parliament
Speaker Farid Makkari, could meet with all UNSC PermReps as a
follow-up to their earlier letter. Hamadeh calculated that
it would be harder for PermReps to say no to the MPs to their
faces than to dismiss second letter. The Ambassador
emphasized that time was of the essence. Hamadeh agreed,
saying that the delegation could be announced on Tuesday
(when March 14 MPs gather weekly at the Parliament Building
to demand that the chamber be opened) and deployed that
evening. If this was the approach chosen rather than a
letter, the Ambassador urged Hamadeh to assemble a delegation
consisting of MPs who already had U.S. visas.
FELTMAN