WikiLeaks: Bassil Says March 14 Main Suspects over Pierre Gemayel Assassination

An official at the U.S. embassy in Lebanon has reportedly told caretaker Energy and Water Minister Jebran Bassil that even if Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun was able to reach Baabda he would be incapable of carrying out any task because “Hizbullah will be governing the country.”

In a WikiLeaks cable dated September 25, 2006 and another one dated September 12, 2006 published in al-Joumhouria daily on Wednesday, a U.S. official said that Bassil “seemed angry and remained this way till the end of the meeting.”

The U.S. official had said that “the Shiites are supporting Aoun because of common goals, while he has the support of some Christians and Sunnis.” He added that if Aoun became the president and started putting pressure on Hizbullah to hand over his arms, the Shiite party “might abandon the FPM.”

Bassil said: “Let them do so, we don’t need them.”

When asked about the assassination of then Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel in November 21, 2006, Bassil said that the March 14 leaders are the biggest beneficiaries of Gemayel’s assassination “therefore they should be on the top of the suspect list.”

It was not clear why there was a discrepancy in the dates of the cables and the date of Gemayel’s killing. According to al-Joumhouria, the cables were sent before the murder but Bassil made a comment on the assassination in one of the cables.

Bassil, according to the daily, stressed that FPM offices were attacked after the assassination, saying that previous coordination was done to burn and break banners backing Aoun for the presidency in downtown Beirut.

The WikiLeaks cable reported that Bassil was not being objective.