Franjieh criticizes "independents" who were betting on the Lebanese having short memories

Source: nowlebanon.com, 10-12-2008
In a prepared statement read by a surrogate, Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh said that election campaigns had began among "independents," who were betting on the Lebanese having short memories.
"Is the independent the one who risks people's money, bankrupts the state and makes people poor? Or is the independent the one who admits that he has lied throughout 20 years, during which the Mountain paid in blood, emigration and displacement? Or is the independent the one who has a bloody history full of massacres and coordination with the Lebanese-Syrian services to enter Baabda [presidential] palace?" he asked.
Marada official Albert Jokhdar, speaking on behalf of Franjieh during the opening of a Marada office in Mount Lebanon, said that the Lebanese had to choose between Lebanon the "company" of the ruling family or Lebanon "the nation of partnership." He added that the Lebanese also had to choose between a state, strong in its army and resistance, and a weak state, continuously targeted by "Israel" in any regional conflict. "The people's choice is stronger than the plot that wanted to partition Lebanon and divide its Christians," he said. Opinionated and misleading media, he said, could not monopolize people's awareness or divide the population of one nation.
"Are the independent one who makes political and financial deals at the expense of the citizens or apologizes and then asks the victim to thank him for the apology or begs for a parliamentary seat at the doors of the Intelligence services? How are we supposed to address our martyrs? Can we tell them that they died as a result of a lie?" he asked.
He concluded that some parties used to be subordinate to foreign countries, and for that reason they do not believe that others could reject such inferiority.