Berri: Cabinet Formation ‘Shocked’ Washington, Premiership Not ‘Private Property’
Speaker Nabih Berri said on Thursday that the U.S. is targeting PM Najib Miqati because it was seeking to bring someone else to the Grand Serail, knowing that “when Miqati was nominated for the premiership in 2005 no one opposed.”
“The Americans wanted to impose a PM on Lebanon, throwing away the results of the democratic process that brought Miqati to the premiership,” Berri told As Safir newspaper.
The speaker said “the Americans thought that we (March 8 forces) would not succeed in forming the cabinet, so did some of their European allies.”
“The formation of the government surprised and shocked many, locally and abroad,” Berri told the daily.
He noted that the March 14-led opposition “doesn’t yet believe, and doesn’t want to believe that it was knocked out of the government, although this is normal in the context of rotation of power.”
Berri stressed that the premiership in Lebanon is not the property of one person. “This is ridiculous,” he said.
Asked about the situation in Syria, Berri ridiculed critics who believe that the regime would fall, telling As Safir that “those who bet on overthrowing President Bashar Assad, understand politics as much as I understand about the nuclear bomb.”
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