Man of the Mountain

A Reason interview with Lebanon's Walid Jumblatt.

Michael Young | January 12, 2006

(Page 2 of 2)

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Though Jumblatt helped torpedo the Saudi-Egyptian initiative, he seemed little reassured that the Arab states would not again seek to save Assad's bacon. For him, however, one way to undermine such efforts is to create an international tribunal "that alone would have the power to call in suspects involved in Hariri's assassination, like Bashar Assad." Jumblatt makes no bones about the fact that the Syrians ordered the murder. "The only problem with such a tribunal," he conceded, "is that it takes time." Plenty of time for assassinations in Lebanon to continue.

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Did Jumblatt believe the Americans were sincere in pushing for a thorough investigation of the Hariri murder and an end to bombings in Lebanon? "They keep telling us there is no deal [with Syria]. But Syria is not being put under serious pressure," he answered, insisting that the latest U.N. resolution on the Hariri investigation was not as strong as it should have been.

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The U.N. investigation is mandated by the Security Council. I asked Jumblatt, knowing his close ties with the former Soviet Union, whether he didn't fear a breakdown of the consensus in the council because of Russia's refusal, along with China's, to sanction Syria."Yes, there are those in the Russian Foreign Ministry and the army who defend Syria, and the Russians have received gas exploration contracts from Syria." Jumblatt also expressed skepticism that the investigating commission would soon ask the Syrian authorities to arrest Syrian suspects, as the former head of the commission, Detlev Mehlis, told me it would over a month ago: "I've heard this again and again; I will believe it when I see it," said Jumblatt, with a trace of exasperation.

The Iranian relationship with Hezbollah is also of great concern to Jumblatt, because Hezbollah is closely allied with Syria, is heavily armed, and because the Druze leader doesn't believe the Lebanese government can persuade the party to disarm. According to Resolution 1559—the September 2004 Security Council decision demanding a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon—Hezbollah and other militias in the country must surrender their weapons. However, Hezbollah's arms are there partly to help Iran. The group reportedly has thousands of rockets in southern Lebanon targeted at Israel, to deter an Israeli attack against Iranian nuclear facilities. "According to what I have heard [from within the Shiite community], the Iranian side in Hezbollah has gained ascendancy over the Syrian side," Jumblatt said. An Iranian-Syrian defense treaty would only bolster the group, making it more intransigent.

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Jumblatt saw Iran as becoming much stronger in the Middle East, thanks in large part to the Bush administration's weakening of its historical geopolitical rival, Iraq. "Iran is going to have the bomb. And when they do, the Arab world is finished." The Iranians are unsettling, he warned, because "they're very patient. You know, those who weave carpets are very patient."

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Jumblatt was recently taken to task in Lebanon for telling David Ignatius of the Washington Post: "[The U.S.] came to Iraq in the name of majority rule. You can do the same thing in Syria." One prominent left-wing Lebanese journalist wrote that Jumblatt was endorsing an American invasion of Syria, where the majority is Sunni Muslim, unlike Iraq, with its Shiite majority. "Yes, I said it," Jumblatt admitted; "Why be hypocritical? The Shiites in Iraq expanded their power under the American occupation; but here in Lebanon Hezbollah continues to be opposed to the U.S."

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He went on to observe that in the back of the minds of some in Syria's ruling minority Alawite regime, the idea of an alliance between Alawites and Lebanese Shiites and Christians to confront the region's majority Sunnis was still alive. I asked, half seriously, why the Druze had been left out of the equation. "The poor Druze, the poor Druze," Jumblatt muttered.

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For Jumblatt, Hezbollah is, dangerously, a "state within a state." Where can its refusal to disarm lead? "Perhaps to the situation prevailing in the late 1960s when the Palestinians began creating an autonomous 'Fatah-land' in southern Lebanon, from where they attacked Israel." Left unmentioned was that this state of affairs was a catalyst for Lebanon's civil war in 1975; though apparently recalling that his father was a prime supporter of the Palestinians, Jumblatt added: "At the time, Lebanese society was divided."�

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Jumblatt's pervasive pessimism, or realism, is sometimes an act, since the nonstop burden of impending doom is too much even for a man who has transacted and interacted with death since his late 20s. As if to prove that buoyancy still had its place, hours after the interview ended I received an 11:00 pm call from Jumblatt. "Did you read what the Americans said?" he asked, in reference to Rice's statement on Syria; "Pretty strong." He seemed happy. From his redoubt, he could see that the planets had momentarily aligned themselves in his favor—until they shift again and anxiety returns.��

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