The Next Prime Minister?

The Next Prime Minister?Saad Hariri: we will disarm Hizbollah
May 29, 2005
The Washington¨Post
Last February, when former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri was assassinated, his son Saad, 35, was living in Saudi Arabia and working for his father's huge business empire. Now, the younger Hariri has chosen a different path, just as his country is emerging from years of Syrian domination. Today, Lebanon goes to the polls for the first round of this landmark election. Hariri is heading a slate of parliamentary candidates that is expected to win the most votes. The question on everyone's lips here: If his slate wins, will this political novice end up as prime minister or will he choose someone else to run the country while he learns the ropes? Last week, Newsweek-Washington Post's Lally Weymouth interviewed Hariri in his Beirut office.
Excerpts:
Are you going to become prime minister?
I am going to wait for the elections.
After the elections, are you ready?
I think with the [right] environment [and] the right alliances, I can try to be a prime minister, but we still have some symbols of the past who brought the country so much harm. If we are able to get rid of them after the elections, I would be interested in taking the post.
I assume you are talking about the current president, Emile Lahoud, who is reportedly very close to Syria's President [Bashar] Assad. Are you saying he must go?
I am saying that anybody who protected the security and intelligence forces in the past should not continue in their job, and he is one of them.
Lahoud seems determined to continue.
Everybody is determined to continue. Is he determined to continue in the same way -- where he let the intelligence [apparatus] interfere in every single department or ministry? If this is his determination, nobody wants it.
I asked Lahoud [recently] if the Syrians killed your father. . . .
And what did he answer? I would not want to point a finger until the --
He claimed they were very good friends.
That is something that not only the president but the people with him are trying to put out, the ministers who always objected to my father's plans. What they say is, 'On a personal basis we had nothing against him, but it was politics.' [But] they had a personal and political problem with my father. My father did not want corruption. He wanted a sovereign Lebanon, and they didn't want a sovereign Lebanon. They wanted corruption and they wanted to keep the intelligence and security forces making decisions instead of [allowing] politicians to do their jobs.
There have been many allegations that your father was corrupt.
If there would be an international committee to investigate corruption, we are more than happy to open all our books and see who is corrupt in this country. If there was corruption, it was the part of Lebanese intelligence that sold themselves [to Syria].
[Druze leader] Walid Jumblatt, too, seems to want to get rid of President Lahoud.
We all want to get rid of him. Nobody wants him there.
So, then you are willing to try to become prime minister?
I am willing to try, yes. The only reason I am hesitating is because I don't want to jump into bigger shoes than I can wear.
Don't you think you can grow [into the job]?
I would have to grow pretty fast. A month ago, I was a businessman. Now I am a politician who's running for elections.
What is your vision for Lebanon should you become prime minister?
I don't have a magic wand, but I think . . . we have a clear vision and a clear plan to end the corruption. This is going to take four years of hard work because whoever is corrupt -- it is going to take a lot to move him from where he or she is. The second thing is the economy. We have some good [indications] from the Europeans, the Americans and the Gulf States that they are willing to help Lebanon after the elections, and this is encouraging. . . .
There are going to be some very tough and probably unpopular reforms you are going to have to implement if you become prime minister.
Yes. I think one of the major priorities is the legal system. We need to make it up-to-date. Social Security is a big problem. Those are big challenges -- things that cannot be done overnight. We have to understand that we come out of 30 years of not making decisions by ourselves, of having [another] country telling us what to do. Now we have to make decisions by ourselves.
Are you afraid of suffering the fate of your father?
Whoever killed Rafiq Hariri can kill Saad Hariri. Nothing would stop them.
That does not deter you?
It doesn't.
Are the Syrians really out of this country -- not just the army but also the intelligence services?
I believe that with time, this is going to get better. After the elections, we [must] start getting rid of people who used to work in intelligence and in politics at the same time.
As you negotiate alliances, some would-be partners have tried to separate you from Walid Jumblatt, who has been a key opposition leader.
I am not going to leave Jumblatt in the middle of the road. Our main ally in the opposition is Walid Jumblatt.
What can you do about disarming Hezbollah?
I think all Lebanese agree that Hezbollah should stay a Lebanese problem. After the elections we can sit with Hezbollah and negotiate a peaceful way like we did in the past. The only difference between Hezbollah and other militias is that Hezbollah is a resistance against Israeli occupation. Part of Lebanon is still occupied.
You mean Shebaa Farms [a disputed 100-square-mile parcel bordering Lebanon, Israel and Syria]? Isn't that pretty minor?
It is pretty minor, but let's say we take out the weapons of Hezbollah and Shebaa is still occupied by Israel. It means that the Lebanese army needs to resist this occupation. If the Lebanese army starts resisting this occupation, it means that there is war between Lebanon and Israel.
Are you saying that Israel will have to give up Shebaa Farms?
Yes, it has to. It is Lebanese territory.
Are there Hezbollah people on your ticket?
There is one guy on the ticket. You have to understand that Hezbollah has about 450,000 followers. . . .
But don't you have to get rid of their heavy weapons if you become prime minister?
I really believe that before the assassination of my father, there was a different situation in the country. Now, Hezbollah needs to think Lebanese. If it wants to get involved in the political life, it has to give up some things.
How do you see the future relationship between your country and Syria?
Like any two countries neighboring each other . . . We will respect their sovereignty, and we hope that they will respect ours.
Do you see it as a close or a distant relationship?
Close. Historically, the Lebanese and the Syrian people have been close to each other. I don't see why we should change that.
What about the future relationship with the United States?
We have always had very good relations with the United States and we should make them even better.
The U.S. labels Hezbollah a terrorist organization. And a key U.S. demand is that Hezbollah be disarmed.
We will disarm them. We will sit and talk to them and we will come to a solution.
Do you see any future relationship between your country and Israel?
I think the peace process -- the Arab initiative that [Saudi] Crown Prince Abdullah launched in 2002 -- was something very serious. We would like to have peace with Israel. We don't want wars. We hope that the peace process moves ahead with us, with the Syrians, with all Arab countries.
But you are not talking about a separate peace?
No.
Look at Jordan. It worked really well in Jordan.
We have nothing against peace, but when we go into peace, we want to go to a negotiation table together. Because Lebanon and Syria are so connected, we have the Golan Heights, everything is connected.
There are separate peaces with both Egypt and Jordan.
Yes, but the political environment was different and Lebanon is a small country. We have Palestinians here and Israel does not want them to go back.
Did you spend most of your life in Saudi Arabia?
I studied in the U.S., in Georgetown -- business administration. I loved it. I was supposed to come [to Saudi Arabia] to work for a year and then after three months, my father became prime minister. So, I couldn't leave.
You were planning to remain a businessman?
Yes. I handled construction and telecommunications.
After your father died, were you chosen by your family to go into politics?
My older brother wanted to continue in business.
And you wanted to go into politics?
At the beginning, no. Then we decided that what my father wanted to achieve had not been achieved. I will do politics for a few years and then retire.
But you said you are willing to be prime minister.
With conditions -- and it is hard to get these conditions . . . How can I be prime minister if I don't have a really big bloc in parliament -- people who will be my allies?
How many members do you want?
At least 90, 95 or 100. . . . [There are 128 seats in parliament.] We will have big [electoral] fights in the north and the Bekaa Valley [where Syrian influence is strong]. We should not think that because the Syrians are out, [that] they don't have constituents here.