The Guardians of the Cedars Party issued the following weekly communiqué:

The Lebanese people are looking for a President to save the Republic from collapse, while the political establishment is looking for a President to prevent a vacuum if the upcoming presidential elections fail.

The Lebanese people are looking for a President to build a secure and capable State that is respected by its friends and enemies alike. The politicians are searching for a compromise President who satisfies the parties to the conflict and fulfills their personal interests without any concern for the highest interests of the country.

The Lebanese people want a President who will stand up to the phenomenon of the independent mini-states, such as the Hezbollah organization and the Palestinian military camps, and who will proceed to disarm them as a prelude to eliminating them and subjecting them to the authority of the Army in application of relevant international resolutions.  The politicians are looking for a President who will appease these mini-states and preserve their weapons and their gains by circumventing the international resolutions.

The Lebanese people want a President who is capable of standing up to the Syrian regime and defeating its expansionist ambitions, who will expose that regime’s continued terrorist actions against Lebanon and its people, and who is ready to request the assistance of international forces to bolster the capabilities of the Lebanese Army in controlling the borders with Syria and stopping the influx of weapons and gunmen into Lebanon. The politicians want a weak President who will favor the Syrian regime and who will not dare to condemn it, except with veiled allusions as is the case with the timid condemnations that some officials issue from time to time following every bomb and every assassination.

The Lebanese people want a President who is committed to the process of reforms and cleansing the country of corruption from the top down and not vice-versa. The politicians want a nominal President who angers no one and bother no one, being merely content with managing the administration and regurgitating bland traditional stances and positions.

In sum, the political establishment is looking for a paper façade President while the people are looking for a steel confrontation President.

Lebanon, at your service
Abu Arz
October 5, 2007