At the UNESCO, who was the killer & who was the victim?
By: Elias Bejjani
LCCC Media Chairman
7/8/2002

On August 1  & 2 , Al-Qanat internet website published two reports in which it stated: " In a telephone call  we were made aware of  the most dangerous scheme ever to hit Lebanon and its unity. The first threads of this scheme started on Wednesday through the attack that targeted the Private Schools teachers' mutual fund staff. Eight citizens were murdered in the incident and three others wounded, all of them Christians. The killer Ali Mansour, who picked his victims carefully, spared the Muslims. The same source stated though that the killer had said to a Muslim lady who was carrying her child after begging him not to kill her: " Don't be afraid, everything is planned and counted for". "There is an organized campaign aiming to portray the teachers' massacre as a clear message of terror to scare Lebanon's Christian population that oppose Syrian presence in their county and as a warning to the Los Angeles Maronite Conference, in addition to other false information."

We hope that the ongoing questionable police investigations will prove that there were no religious motives behind the horrible crime that targeted the Social Security Fund of Lebanon's Private School Teachers. The massacre took the lives of eight innocent citizens,  perhaps their only sin was their religious affiliation. It was more than a crime, more then a human tragedy, it was a barbaric behavior that shocked all Lebanon and all the Lebanese. Its main target was in fact not the victims, but national stability, security, coexistence, tolerance and Lebanon's foundations in general.

Why did the crime occur? What are its actual predisposing and precipitating factors? And how can such savage incidents be prevented in the future? Besides the unanimous immediate public reaction of anger, disgust, sadness, fear, disbelief and condemnation, one should look thoroughly into the numerous growing factors that are pushing  Lebanese society into an apparent phenomenon of emerging violence. It is the jungle mentality that prevails and governs Lebanon since 1990. Like the killer, many Lebanese have lost confidence in themselves, the State, the judicial system and politicians, and have severed their ties with humanity, ethics, dignity and respect for others and the law. For years, they have been fed hatred, grudges and intolerance, and have been turned into human time bombs.

The crime has wounded every Lebanese. It typifies and magnifies the miserable and traumatic status quo imposed by Stalinist Syria on Lebanon since 1990, which has dragged the country into abject conditions in all domains: poverty, economic hardship, social and political chaos,  lack of security, fanaticism, deadly demographic and cultural challenges, crippling immigration, oppression, injustice, kidnappings and assassinations, and the emergence of an immoral puppet regime.

Hanging the killer will not, by itself, solve the underlying causes of the problems that still exist because of the occupation. Genuine solutions for Lebanon's difficulties cannot be implemented before the restoration of independence, freedoms and sovereignty through a legitimate government elected by the people, and not installed by Syria. A government that represents the peoples' wishes, hopes and aspirations

Openness and frankness in addressing the reality of Lebanon's hardships is indeed a national obligation, regardless of the sadness, repercussions and fear that they might lead to. Denial of the ailment hinders preventative and therapeutic solutions and kills all hopes of full recovery. At the same time, silence and cover-up are the ugliest kinds of collusion. Such crimes cannot be countered by simply putting the killer on trial, or even hanging him. Therapeutic solutions should include other measures in a bid to identify and correct all social, political, religious, and cultural problems that nurtured the killer's concepts of what is right and what is wrong. A society that feeds its members with hatred, fanaticism, superiority, and intolerance will always produce criminals who believe in the  law of the jungle.

The eight victims who were slain while on duty inside their offices are Lebanon's martyrs. Their innocent blood cleanses the sins of corrupt officials and politicians, their treason and wrongdoings. Officials and politicians, as well as clergymen, should learn from this horrible crime and realize their great responsibility in paving the way for such an assailant to commit his crime .They ought to either resign or start governing with a different mentality that favors national thinking, instead of nurturing the instincts of sectarianism, ignorance, corruption, and fanaticism. Their main focus should be on uniting the people and helping them live a healthy, safe, peaceful, productive, tolerant, homogeneous, and civilized life in a society free from foreign hegemony and Stalinism.

The recurrence of such traumatic incidents highlights the fact that our country needs freedom, sovereignty, and independence as it needs food and water. Lebanon and freedom are inseparable. It is time for the authorities to collect all weapons from all individuals, militias and politicians. It is time to make Lebanon a weapon-free society, and special laws in this regard ought to be passed immediately.

The slackness of the regime in matters of security, the existence of several cantons where the State has no control, the powers granted to armed militias, the unguarded borders with Israel, the officials' treason and double standards, nepotism and corruption,  the widespread use of weapons, the corrupt judiciary,  the teaching of hatred and fanaticism by clergymen, and the official protection of fanatics wielding swords, axes and knives, all of these have helped the killer to take up his military weapons, freely enter his workplace, and slay his colleagues with cold blood without any deterrent or remorse.

What most encouraged the killer is the role model personified for the public by mercenary officials, heretic clergymen and politicians. The "Taef Accord" made the Lebanese regime a state of militias by pardoning the militia warlords, Mafiosi, drug traffickers, kidnappers, thugs, thieves, and outlaws. The "Taef Accord" made all of them MP's, Presidents, Ministers, officials and political leaders. Lebanon's officials from the top down encourage corruption and chaos because they are themselves openly involved in embezzlement, treason, trojanism, stealing and crime. The Syrian-installed politicians, clergymen and officials should be held accountable for the massacre of the  teachers, and for every crime that was and will be committed in Lebanon. The fact remains that he who practices no dignity, honor, integrity, and patriotism can't preach them.

What happened at the UNESCO area is frightful and dreadful. The unresolved questions remain:
 
a- How could the killer be in debt as alleged, and the weapons that he possessed worth more than five thousands dollars?
b- How was the criminal able to hide and transfer his weapons from the far south of the country all the way to Beirut without him being intercepted by the security apparatus?
c- If the criminal was mentally sick, who then covered his sickness and kept him in his job?
d- What is the stance and explanation offered by Amal, given the fact that the killer is an active member in this organization headed by Mr. Nabih Berri, the Speaker of Parliament. Why is Amal still armed and considered by the regime a resistance organization?
e- What legal measures have been taken in regards to the threatening statements made by one of the killer's relatives, who is at the same time a high rank official in "Amal"?
f- Why did the killer target his Christian colleagues only?
g- How can a lay citizen like the killer possess the kind of weapons that he used: grenades, rifles, machine guns, explosives etc.
h- Did the killer act on his own? Or was he a means used by others to instigate a sectarian incident in a bid to intimidate the sovereignists who oppose Syria's occupation?

These question marks address the authorities' negligence in selecting its personnel, employees, police and army officers. The responsibility falls squarely on the authorities, both Syrian and Lebanese who led Lebanon to the current status quo.

Who is the real killer? Is he Ali Mansour? Or the regime and the occupier who encouraged him to commit his crime?

Ali Mansour is a killer and a victim at the same time. A killer for committing his terrible crime, and a victim of his social and political milieu that nurtured in him disrespect for humanity, the law, and other peoples' rights and beliefs, and that fostered in his conduct and thinking the law of the jungle.   Ali's Mansour terrifying phenomenon will not be contained and rectified unless Lebanon reclaims its confiscated independence, sovereignty and freedom.

Lon Live Free Lebanon

N.B: Please forward your comments on this article to Elias Bejjani (lccc@10452lccc.com)