It just got personal!
Saturday February 10, 2007 in the lobby of Faray Mazar Intercontinental Hotel, a group of eight couples are sitting around a table chatting about everything and nothing, and of course about the political situation.
Meanwhile, MP Ibrahim Kanan, a follower of General Aoun, the ally of Hezbollah, with three of his bodyguards, passes by. Unfortunately, one of the men sitting in the table utters the three deadly words “We want to live!” made famous by the “I love Life” campaign of March 14.
MP Kanan stops and glares at that unfortunate person and then moves on…Ten minutes later the MP comes back and stand in front of the table, shouting “what do you mean by you want to live.” The unfortunate man stands up and politely introduces himself saying, “I want live, means I want to come to Faray and have fun, means that I want to send my children to school!”
-“The people you have been following for the past year and a half will lead you to your own destruction” vehemently answers the Aounist MP.”
“I am not here to get into a political discussion, I just want to go out and have some fun with my friends. Thank it was nice meeting you!”, answered back the unfortunate person.
-“I am the MP of this Qadaa, and this is my region, you will hear what I have to say!!!”
“No thank you, I told you I am not here to discuss politics!”
The unfortunate man turns and start heading back towards his table to sit down. One of the bodyguards unholsters his weapon, smacks him on the head with its butt from the back and fires two shots in the air!
The unfortunate man is my brother in law, and this happened yesterday in front of my sister and their friends.
Thank you Aoun for your democracy, peacefulness and empty promises, now I can better understand what happened last Tuesday and Thursday. Now I can understand who fired the first shots in those days!
Thank you Ibrahim Knaan and thank you Aoun, we will not fire or even hit you or any of your supporters back, we will just see you in court!
Finally, let me reiterate my brother in law, his wife and my own insistence that “WE WANT TO LIVE!”
posted by BOB @ 4:52 PM
34 Comments:
if i hear 'i love life' or 'we want to live' one more time im gonna vomit.
what did your brother in law expect after his intimidation? that our civilized politicians and their bodyguards will act like real gentlemen and move on? that they'll take it as a fine joke, since the atmosphere is not already charged enough. it's disgusting how both parties acted in this stupid incident. but i'm sure it wont stop 'life lovers' from 'enjoying life' and 'living' it in farayya and gemmayze.
seriously.
Hisham where do you come off judging people as biased and illogical?? it did happen, and I can't believe you have the guts to defend kanaan!! you're free to follow any leader you want, but don't disregard facts! no matter how tense the situation is, and no matter what the unfortunate guy said, there is no excuse for such an assault. It's weird how people become aggressive when they feel they're completely trapped in their ongoing mistakes.
hmmm, don't you remember that Hariri's bodygards used to rough up people to for no good reason? Mainly for traffic purposes.
what happened to your brother in law is unfortunate, but you just cannot pin that sort of bodyguard behavior to one political camp only.
it's so funny that an incident like this happens, and you find people justifying the behavior of that so-called excuse for a politician. too bad that in a country like lebanon, kanaan-like company can get away with it, and beat people for as long as they shall live.
callipye
usual aounist tactic "you did it before so it is ok that we do"
NO IT IS NOT OK and i don't care about what Hariri did, THIS HAPPENED TO MY FAMILY, it is wrong and should be condemned not matter what happened before!!
Leila
vomit or no, i have the right of speech last time i checked. If you don t care about it then don't I do and i ll defend it.
finally some commenter’s with no decency or even a shred of respect to other are best ignored, their own words as the acts of their "divine" leaders speak for themselves!!
Wouldn't expect less than that from Aoun and his gang..franjieh...kawmi...ba3thi... amal....
God help us if he ever makes presidency ...What a wako!!!
Is that what they call constructive dialogue?
And for all Aounis...this is inexcusable!!!
The idiot is an MP which means server of the people and not gangster or abuser of power...and yeah yeah...we've heard it all before about the other politicians..geagea...jumblat...hariri....
But it just shows that Aounis aren't better...
Dream on.
Goodluck with the law suit...let us now how it turns out!
hahahah
you think I'm aounist? you couldn't be more wrong. It actually saddens me a bit to realize you obviously have not read other things I have posted in the comments of this blog.
Like I said, things like this should not happen, but they do happen because it is Lebanon we are dealing with. Not because it is Aounists or Harirists or God knows what. Law enforcement should be used on all Lebanese politicians and their peeps, no matter what.
The reason I brought this up is because NOBODY gave a damn when someone I know got hit by a Hariri bodygard because they didn't want to move their car out of his precious way.
I think the facts are really interesting.
first he says the vomiting magic formula.
then he adds : no politics, please!
in his behaviour he also says :
I just wanted to say that, and I don't wanna hear any answer.
so the political guy justifies himself by the ground representation, that's the funiest part of his argumentation on his right to answer...
the rest is folklore and illness.
and the bodyguard seems 100% guilty.
so the questions here are :
-is it an insult or not to say something to somebody and refuse an answer?
-how can we consider the formula I love life as being not political?
what hold-up is going on there?
a big hold up it seems if it's able to bring out what you vomit.
Tilda:
I judge the writer based on this and previous posts to be illogical.
And! This story was written by the brother in law of the person in question, thus the bias; additionally, he has posted comments against the FPM in nearly all of his past comments (hmmm bias??)
Furthermore, do you actually know what the word 'facts' mean? Really?? The story being told on the tayyar website is totally different than this story because it involves the guy being drunk and trying to throw a bottle on Kanaan (note the use of the word story not fact in both cases). What really happened might not be either! Analyze that!?!
Note: whether the guy is well-off and whether the Hariri people used to do it before should not matter in this case.
What about this?
حقيقة ما حدث مع النائب كنعان في فاريا
11 شباط 2007
تعليقًا على ما تبثه وسائل إعلام تابعة للسلطة عن تعرض مرافقي عضو تكتل التغيير والإصلاح النائب ابراهيم كنعان، لأحد الساهرين في فندق المزار – فاريا ليل أمس، يهم المكتب الإعلامي لنائب المتن الشمالي أن يوضح ما يأتي:
نحو العاشرة والنصف ليل أمس، وبينما كان النائب ابراهيم كنعان برفقة زوجته وابنتاهما يتناولون طعام العشاء في أحد مطاعم فندق المزار، بدأ يسمع من طاولة مجاورة شخصًا يتكلم بصوت عال، موجهًا كلامًا نابيًا وبذيئًا إلى النائب كنعان، ومما قاله: ماذا يفعل هذا الرجل هنا؟ لماذا يسهر هنا؟ فليسهر في الخيام، (في وسط بيروت). هؤلاء خربوا البلد...
وإذ تجاهل النائب كنعان هذا الإستفزاز الكلامي، تمادى الرجل في مهاجمته، معرفًا عن نفسه. فما كان من نائب المتن إلا أن طلب من مرافقيه أخذ عائلته إلى الغرفة في الفندق، ومن ثم همَّ هو بالانسحاب، تلافيًا لأي إشكال.
وما إن وقف النائب كنعان، حتى توجه الشخص المذكور إليه قائلاً: ما بك انزعجت؟ هل انكسر خاطرك؟. عندذاك، رد عليه النائب كنعان محاولاً تهدئة روعه: أكمل سهرتك، لم يتعرض لك أحد أو يسئ إليك. وإذا كنت من رأي سياسي مخالف لرأيي، فهذا من حقك، فالوطن يتسع لكل الآراء.
وهنا اقترب أحد الساهرين على طاولة الشخص المذكور من النائب كنعان، واعتذر منه، قائلاً: سعادة النائب لا تؤاخذه، إنه سكران ويتصرف تحت تأثير الخمرة.
وحين طلب النائب كنعان تهدئة الرجل ليكمل طريقه إلى غرفته، خصوصًا بعدما تيقن له أنه ثمل، استمر الرجل في استفزازه الكلامي، صائحًا في وجه النائب كنعان: أنتم لا تفهمون، لا أحد يريد أن يسمعكم.
وحيال هذا التمادي، رد النائب كنعان بالقول: عيب عليك. لكن الشخص المذكور تناول بيده زجاجة عن الطاولة لرميه بها، إلا أن فريق الحماية التابع لنائب المتن حال دون ذلك، باتخاذه التدابير اللازمة لإخراجه من المطعم سالمًا، خصوصًا أنه بات مطوَّقًا بعدد من الأشخاص المرافقين للشخص المذكور، والذي تبين أنه من بيروت، واسمه صبحي حمود، وهو من موظفي بنك بحر الأبيض المتوسط.
إن المكتب الإعلامي للنائب كنعان يؤكد أنه هو الذي تعرض للإعتداء، وقد حاول تلافي مضاعفاته بصبره وبسعة صدره وأخلاقيته المعهودة، ويطلب ممن يتناول هذا الحادث التزام الحقيقة في روايته، ووقف الشحن والإستغلال وعدم إعطاء الحادث أبعادًا سياسية وطائفية، تاركاً لاجهزة التحقيق والقضاء اللبناني تحديد المسؤوليات ومعاقبة المتجاوزين الى أي جهة إنتموا، مع تأكيد الحرص على وجوب ضمانة حق كل لبناني في الوجود في أي مكان يريد شرط عدم المسّ بحرية وحقوق الآخر بصرف النظر عن إنتمائه السياسي. خصوصًا أن النائب كنعان شخصيًّا والتزامًا منه مبادئ التيار الوطني الحر وسياسة تكتل التغيير والإصلاح، يؤمن بأن لبنان لجميع أبنائه، ويؤمن بثقافة الانفتاح والسلام.
Some of you know me personally other from my posts, the thing is whom do you believe more a news agency known for fabrication (the fake photo, the Canada incident -check past posts on LBF- or the story as my sister told me. me a person that gains nothing of fabricating such lies!
even more i have a few facts to show.
First, i ll email picture of the wounds my brother in law received in the BACK SIDE OF HIS HEAD! Pretty hard to attack someone with a bottle with your back turned. –you can find my email on my blog: http://ibosblog.blogspot.com )
Moreover, the FPM story says it happened at 10:30 however, it happened at 12:00 i will post the army and police investigator report when i receive it.
the body guards fired two shots in the lobby, anyone who visits the hotel can check them out just in front of the bar in the lobby.
furthur lies, the so called FPM version states that Kanann was sitting in a table next to my brother in law, the incident happened by the bar (the holes in the roof proves that)
my brother in law and his friends just finished their meal and their tale was empty of all but a bottle of water (i ll post the testimony of the witnesses when i get them AND I WILL GET ALL THE EVIDENCE AND POST THEM!)
What else the report just forgot to mention the bodyguard hitting my brother in law and FIRING TWO SHOTS IN A LOBBY FULL OF FAMILIES nothing and i mean nothing can explain or allow for this sort of militia behavior!
and finally some speak of insults (and there was none) but still if insult somone can he hit me!! can he fire in the air!! if you agree with that next time they will kill us!! insulting such "divine" leaders seems to be a mortal sin!
finding excuse for such behavior will only lead to more of the such! Next time i see Knaan i am sure as hell i will tell him "i want to live" and let him shoot me if he dares!
Cally
I did not say you are aounist i said usual aounist tactic. big difference. but as i said no excuse could or should be made to such behavior!
this is the most hilarious comment section ever.
i don't care if BOB's brother in law flicked ibrahim kanaan off, or swore at his face, his bodyguard had no right ... NO RIGHT ... to use violence.
Aoun and his friends and allies claim to be different from the current political rabble. We now have plenty of proof that they are not. Aoun is simply an opportunist without a shread of principles. He wants power, its that simple. I just wish his supporters would wake up to that fact.
He actually has the nerve to accuse March 14 of being former collaborators with Syria while he sits with Assads biggest agents: Murr and Frajieh. Give me a break!
Hey Bob..
I don't know you, and never met you, but i sympathize with your brother in law and believe your story... Ibrahim Kanaan goes wild in TV interviews and starts barking out and never lets anyone answer back, and that's on public TV; so I wouldn't be too surprised if he goes even more bezerk in public.. Hope your brother in law gets better, but I'm still awaiting the pic of his injury on your blog, to add more credibility to your side of the story versus their propoganda...
what manar said. hilarious how people are finding kanaan and his bodyguards excuses!
Bob,
It is good to know that that you are actually gonna sue the guy! Nothing suits him more than public humiliation. But why are you shocked by Kanaan's behavior. Just watch his boss's attitude and you would know. Anyway I don't want to be in Aoun's and Kanaan's place :D you can see their frustration! you can even tell it from the frustration of their followers!
Yalla "we want to live" and we shall!
The 2 versions are at odds.
There's no excuse for firing in the hotel from the facts as presented (by both sides).
As to the Kanaan communique (L"orient), gotta to love when they say Hammoud works for BankMed (i.e. he is a Haririst), and is a native of Beirut (i.e. what is he doing in Faraya? arguing with a local to top things?).
What petty, narrow, parochial anti-national minds.
another mistake my brother in law is from Saida.
this shows you how much they"try to be accurate and stick to the truth!!
but all in all i agree with josy, there is excuse none what so ever for firing int he hotel or hitting somone.
Ana raéyi tedghat 3ala hokomtak el fachli, barki bte3melna entikhabat ta nekhlass men Aoun el kezzab, el kawmiiyi el souriyyin el kataleh, w el ouwwat el mejermin, el kataeb el met3asbin, el ahrar el hebel, el ichtirakiyyi wel hakim bi amr alla, hezballa el salam la esmou, berri charif makki, wel saniora w sa3do w sou3diytou. Yhellou 3an rabna kelloun baka ta n3ich bhal balad
I like walla walla.
Bob I suggest you publish the picture of your wounded brother in law on the blog.
its a better impact.
quick comment, i ll respond to the comment later.
the pictures will be published tonight on my blog, in addition to other pictures that shows the aftermath of the scene and exact location, close to the bar and not in a restaurent settings like Kannan claimed.
http://ibosblog.blogspot.com
I have posted one picture just below my latest post on my blog, as it is somehow strong (it shows the wound and blood up close)
so if you don't like the sight of blood, you warned!
Ya 3ami , thank God you're still alive. As Far as I know, His bodyguards ( Clint and Rambo) shoot directly between the eyes. Those bodyguards are the MOI security provided by 3amou El Sabe3 ( it seems zou3ran metlou ). Watch out next time, stay next to Saint Geagea and Saint Joumblat. Those people are peacefull and never hurt or ever hurt anybody, they do care about all the lebanese citizens whatever their religion is. 7amdellah fi awedem ba3ad be hal balad el wessekh where there are ppl like Saad, Eidou( Yay, still selling blood) and his excellency Sanioura.
The picture, Damn it , after seeing it , it really proves that the bodyguards did it but they forgot to sign on the bottom.
Tilda,yay, shou sauvage hal jame3a el FPM. Man you should see the LF ( when they were controlling the east part under the command of St Geagea), they were angels taking care of the christians and defending with their blood to Keep them safe. Allah yer7am hal eyem.
Bob,
I sympathize with your brother-in-law and hope he'll recover from his wounds. I had the unfortunate luck to witness how our MP's and their bodyguards behave and think they are above the law.
Though I find it difficult to believe that your brother-in-law only said “We want to live!” given the strong reaction of the MP, it's unjustified under any circumstances for bodyguards to fire and attack a civilian the way they did. I fully support you and ur brother-in-law take this to courts to emphasize that there should be no one above the law.
An advice here, Bob, and it's up to you to accept or not.
If I were you, I wouldn't have lumped this incident with what is happening in Lebanon and the tension between the split groups in Lebanon. In your post here and in your personal blog, you repeatedly attcked Aoun, although he has nothing to do with the story. The guy involved is Ibrahim Kana'an, and he's the one you should point at and condemn, no matter what is he's political background.
Also saying that this incident made you understand what happened in the clashes last Tuesday and thursday is a generalization that would only discredit your claims. You didn't need to do that. You guys were in a family dinner, and that MP also, so the setting was not a political one. I'm sure the clash was based on political backgrounds and opinions, but the stupid bodyguards fired in a civil place and outside the politically heated street. Keeping it in this perspective helps your case more.
Again I wish your brother-in-law a speedy recovery.
Look who's back!
Hachem WB ;)
First let me thank you Hachem for your kind words, it is a pleasure to hear you again!
Some of your points are valid but I feel that there is tow ways to look at this, taking it only on Kanaan as an individual or as a part of a larger group that he represent and should according act on their believes and views.
In short Knann represent the FPM and Aoun is his immediate boss so the action of those bodyguards (who are part of FPM security not only Kanaan's) are in the end the responsibility of Aoun
TO all the people who have been using the typical Aounist tactic, that focus on ignoring the problem and shifting the scene to the opposing camp directly, i would only say this: at least start by condemning an personal, unacceptable inexcusable behavior by one of your MPs and then at least you can start by launching your accusations.
Now for myself I condemn any similar -past or future- behavior in the strongest terms done by any 14 March Mp/leader/whoever. Whether it is Geagea, Joumblatt or Hariri.
It is really a shame that you people need to compare yourself to any one in order to defend your positions. and if i follow some your logic (like balad's) becasue supposdly Geagea behaved in similar terms int he past now it is ok for AOun, or Kanann to act in a similar way, and shoot in the lobby of an hotel?? what kind of logic is that??
There are something that should not be done no matter what your adversary is doing, or else YOU ARE NO BETTER THAN THEM!!
Now it is your turn, do you have the moral courage of at least once condemning your leaders or you will once again hide behind your accusations?
And finally I offer my wholehearted condolence to the victims of the today’s two explosions.
Did kanaan seriously say this: -“I am the MP of this Qadaa, and this is my region, you will hear what I have to say!!!”
7elo!
bob,
In my comment, I didn't mention Geagea or Jumblatt or any other person on any political side. I only referred to my personal, and alot of people's experience as well, with dealing with bodyguards of most lebanese politicians in all sides, and all political backgrounds.....something to be condemned no matter to whom they belonged.
When I said Kanaan is to be blamed, I meant by law, he's the one you can blame. Accusing his allies right and left, and lumping this incident with everything going on in Lebanon these days will take you nowhere....believe me ya Bob, focusing on the party responsible will help your case.
Now, I and many lebanese woke up this morning on the awful news of the 2 explosions in Maten, with some people killed, and alot injured, and the old memories of terrible incidents looming around a nation split by political differences...I join you in offering our condolences to the families of those affected. More and more, hidden hands are playing by our country and planting death and fear everywhere. Some lebanese will accuse others, and those will counter-accuse, and the country and the people will be thrown into this endless cycle.
I'm so sick of the sitiuation, but not of the country....a country I'm attached to more and more, and will never give up on it.
I pray for it.
Hashem my friend that part was not addressed to you!
As you can notice only the first part was addressed to you, untill i said "TO all the people..."
And to what you said, i told you i agree with some parts but i feel that Kanaan belongs to a politcal party and he represent them, if they denounce him then i have no problem with them. but they are defending his position!!
liliane
according to my brother in law, my sister and many other wintesses from the hotel, that was what Kanaan said just before his bodyguard assaulted my brother in law.
Bob,
I wasn't using the logic you have mentioned ( as long as they did it before, FPM is allowed to do it). I am saying that showing your brother in law such an angel and MP Kenaan insisted to argue him and attack him through his bodyguards, I think it is a little bit difficult to beleive it and exagerated.Sorry for saying that but this is what I feel and after reading it in a couple of newspapers.
Balad
now that you engaged me in a sensible manner i can tell you that in lebanon at the moment any news item happens to have two totoaly opposed side, my brother in law accident is no exception.
But this time it is personnal, i have my sisters tail, so at least for me what ever have been said in any newspaper is worthless.
For you and for the readers it is different and i understand, but at least for once don't believe a media outlet with dubious motives, believe a fellow human being, a fellow blogger's word who has nothing to gain from lying or fabricating this story.
It symbolizes the present atmosphere at the Lebanese street- Seems like violence is everywhere! Reading your story makes me ask - are words such as freedom of speech belong to the past?
I use to describe those feelings in my drawings in my blog.
shirin-from-lebanon.blogspot.com
=
Seems to me more people are moving against both camps as time passes by.
Next I bump into Kena'an by mistake, I will invite him to my house for dinner (but will give him Seniora's address :P) Should become interesting ^^
Akh ya rabbi!!
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