https://reform4syria.org/hezbollah-is-panicking-as-lebanon-slips-into-hong-kongian-protests/https://reform4syria.org/hezbollah-is-panicking-as-lebanon-slips-into-hong-kongian-protests/If the United States sanctioned two Lebanese junior ministers for aiding Hezbollah, should it not, by the same token, also sanction the top honcho in the banana republic he created? Should it not view Michel Aoun with the same prism it views others like him assisting Hezbollah? We say, it’s time to sanction President Michel Aoun.
It’s time to loosen the screws on the bearings of corruption represented by Michel Aoun.
If top of the pyramid cannot escape answerability, the whole pyramid collapses. This is how the United States and France can help Lebanon to rid the country of every corrupt warlord.
TIME TO SANCTION PRESIDENT MICHEL AOUN
As important as the signal the United States just sent all those aiding and abetting Hezbollah, sanctioning Michel Aoun, the biggest thief in Lebanon, would send immediately a different and more crucial signal. That US tolerance for corrupt banana republic presidents who assist terror organizations should not be exempt from accountability.
If top of the pyramid cannot escape answerability, the whole pyramid collapses. This is how the United States and France can help Lebanon to rid the country of every corrupt warlord. Starting with Walid Jumblatt who has blocked any other Druze leader from rising to challenge him.
In 1989, the U.S. invaded Panama to arrest Manuel Noriega. The dictator played fast and loose with the intelligence he provided the CIA, and on the side, he also helped the Columbia drug cartels deliver their drugs across U.S. borders.
If facilitating drug shipments was a good enough reason to catch and jail Manuel Noriega, should aiding and abetting a terror group not be good enough to sanction Michel Aoun?
Its [Hezbollah] mass appeal as a resistance movement continues to decline in the face of so much incompetence, and this door might close again if Hezbollah fabricates an incident or an event to regain its footing.
SANCTION, FREEZE, AND REPATRIATE THE MILLIONS HE STOLE
We would go even further. We believe the United States should not only sanction but also work with Europe to freeze the bank accounts of all the warlords. Some of which are in the name of family members. Then repatriate the seized funds to pay Lebanon’s debt down.
Two junior ministers does not fully impact Hezbollah’s influence, nor does it loosen its grip. Fear is more powerful than U.S. sanctions.
When banana republic politicians siphon government funds and foreign aid through elaborate schemes, there is a strong legal argument to recover the funds by any legal means available. In the case of Michel Aoun, the funds he stole are in the name of his daughter and her husband Gibran Bassil. Easy peasy.
The U.S. and France have a golden opportunity to weaken Hezbollah in Lebanon. Its mass appeal as a resistance movement continues to decline in the face of so much incompetence, and this door might close again if Hezbollah fabricates an incident or an event to regain its footing.
Even if Michel Aoun is spying on Hezbollah and delivering actionable intelligence to the West, one cannot trust someone who turned his back on the West before.
STRIKE WHILE THE IRON IS HOT
To sanction two junior ministers was a good start. However, a drip-drip approach is not in the best interests of the free world when confronting Hezbollah. The iron is hot and the West must strike fast and hard. It has been proven, again and again, that the devious cunning Ayatollahs in Tehran will use time to their advantage. By ignoring the top of the pyramid in Lebanon, we are giving the terrorists time to recover.
Even if Michel Aoun is spying on Hezbollah and delivering actionable intelligence to the West, one cannot trust someone who turned his back on the West before. He could very well be a double agent.
Only a domino effect is capable of dislodging all the corrupt warlords at once. Doing it by piecemeal is counterproductive and could backfire. Once all those Hezbollah allies are out of government, the Lebanese will elect a new parliament with fresh names beholden to no one by their own patriotism.
To drain the swamp, start by dislodging the plug holding it all together. Sanction Michel Aoun to send the signal that no corrupt politician is safe no matter their intelligence ties to the West or their allegiance to Hezbollah.
Fresh start for Lebanon that is free from Hezbollah’s choke hold and continuity capturing good intelligence from pro-western new faces.
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