Originally Posted by Amirkani  Bassam, on a serious note now:
FPM is a political party and we (you and I, as well as others) cannot and should not hold it responsible for every crime or misdeed of a personal nature an individual commits, even if he is an FPMer.
Hold FPM responsible when it orders, asks or incites that individual to commit that crime or misdeed. Also, hold FPM responsible when it condones the crime after it's committed.
The problem in FPM today is that it's a big party and many individuals, from both the leadership and rank-and-file, do unfortunately mix between their personal interests and those of the party. In many cases, they use the party to further their personal interests.
I will give you a couple examples from my own experience.
In the 15 years of our exile, we held hundreds of functions, gatherings, fundraisers, meetings, GMA's visits to the USA, etc. to keep the flame going and resist the occupation. I personally was very sensitive about the "Aounists' image" in the USA and I used to refuse that we even charge a nominal ticket price to cover some of the expenses incurred. Millions were spent by very few individuals to maintain that "squeaky clean Aounist image". Still, it didn't stop a couple crooked individuals from trying to affect our image.
Our gatherings were open to the public (just as FPM is open to the public) and we didn't give "honesty tests" to people at the door (just as FPM doesn't give honesty tests to people who to join it or volunteer to work for it).
One guy decided to have his own concert for Wael Kfouri and sold hundreds of tickets to people. The day of the event Wael refused to sing because the guy didn't pay him. We, as Aounists had nothing to do with the guy or his concert. We didn't even know about it. Nevertheless, people started calling us right and left and blaming us... why? just because they saw that guy attending one of our gatherings... for free mind you :) And when I would ask "why are you calling me", they would say because you're in charge of the Aounists!!! My answer was simple: I am neither in charge nor responsible for the Aounists' actions. I am a Aounist activist working to save Lebanon. Please take your case to the authorities and prosecute the guy, regardless if he is a Aounist or not. And, please, leave Aoun and the "political" Aounist movement out of this.
Another guy went to jail when his relative visiting him from Lebanon and staying in his house was caught selling drugs. He also was seen at one or two of the hundreds of functions/meetings we held. The whole Lebanese community and the Church rushed to help him by holding meetings to raise funds for his legal defense. Many people called me to participate as "representing the Aounists" because he was seen at one of our functions... malla 2ekhra... I refused of course telling them that the Aounist movement does not get involved in the defense of drug dealers. To the contrary, we ask that they get thrown in jail and prevent them from selling drugs to our children. They didn't stop calling. The priest finally called me to say that he knows I can get him out of jail. I told him Abouna, this is not Lebanon... the only way to get him out of jail is if he's innocent. The priest swore on the Bible that he's sure he's innocent and that he had nothing to do with the drug deal his relative from Lebanon was trying to pull out of his house. OK, I admit, I felt bad... and told the priest that I will hire an attorney to defend him at my own expense... on one condition though: that the attorney checks out his case and tells me that he indeed thinks he's innocent. The next day, the attorney went to the prosecutor's office and came back to me with his findings.... guilty as hell! Our "innocent" guy was caught red-handed delivering the drugs to another Lebanese drug-dealer... who was turned "informant" by the authorities in exchange for a reduced sentence... w ya 3eyn 3a our priests!
Anyway, I called the priest back to tell him that "I know for sure" that his innocent guy is not so innocent and asked him to keep me, and both Aoun and the Church, out of his pleas to help a criminal.
The priest stopped calling me but a friend of the guy in jail didn't... ironically, he's the same guy who sold the tickets to the Kfouri concert that never happened LOL... and he even gave my office number to the guy in prison from where he called me several times and swore to me that he's innocent... and that because he's a Aounist, I am obligated to help him... until I finally got fed up and named for him the person to whom he was caught delivering the drugs and the restaurant parking lot where he was caught delivering it. Even after that, in his mind, he was still innocent because he says "I just introduced my relative to a buyer I knew and was only getting a couple thousand dollars for it"... oh yeah... well, he still thought he was innocent but at least he stopped calling me, especially after I told him to stop telling everyone that he is a Aounist because I also know for sure that he's an ex-Hobeika militiaman who escaped from the Geageaists :)
And since we didn't "help" his ticket-seller friend, I see him these days running the show at many of the LF's functions :) He probably thinks there is more to benefit from LF today than from FPM.
Well, as you can see Bassam, I am bored today... so I felt like telling long stories :)
The moral of my stories is that there are crooked and bad people everywhere, even inside FPM... and many have joined because they see that they can benefit from FPM instead of benefiting FPM and Lebanon... and we can't, and won't be, responsible for their actions... unless, as I said before, FPM orders, asks or incites those people to commit these crimes or misdeeds or if FPM condones these crimes after they're committed.
FPM is a much larger and different than the reflection of the individual actions of some.
As for your infamous secretive M.M., if it is true that he is using FPM's name to "order" or "threaten" your friend, there is an easy solution: ask your friend to tell him, in the name of FPM, to "ysidd bouzo" and keep FPM out of his personal garbage. Otherwise, min siddelo yeh ne7na.
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11th October 2009
