So as Lebanese citizens panic after dozens of people have been kidnapped by masked gunmen, the country’s political leaders called for a security meeting in the mountain palace of Beiteddine. It seemed like a lot of fun and a good laugh was had by all:
Whether they were March 14 (pro-Hariri):
Or March 8 (pro Hezbollah):
(Notice this joke is so funny the leading Hezbollah MP (above right) had to cover his mouth)
Even the Prime Minister couldn’t hold it in:
The past prime minister and president as well:
The Interior Minister was still smiling on his way out:
And lets not forget the Information Minister (left)…
who gave the media a scolding yesterday for carrying images like this:
The armed gunmen and their growing bounty of hostages:
The checkpoints they’ve been setting up around the country:
The minister blamed the press for becoming “a media of chaos.” Yet what has the government done to stem said chaos? Having the high level “security” meetings at the lush mountain palace above, is all we’ve seen of them. But while the president and prime minister have condemned ‘current events’ (they can barely utter them without prodding from the press), we’ve seen no concrete action from the army or the police.
In fact, the only army uniform we’ve seen over the last couple of days is the fake one worn by the captors, seen holding this captive, without evidence or trial:
If the government doesn’t want to see these images in the media–images of masked men kidnapping people– then the government needs to give the media new images, like images of the security forces going after the kidnappers.
Lebanese people are angry. They don’t understand who the kidnappers are and they don’t understand why their government, their army and their legions of police are seemingly standing idly by–even making jokes. So what’s so funny Lebanese leaders?
Maybe you should tell us what the joke is so we can all calm down (the press included) and have a laugh with you. After all, many of us are outraged about what’s going on, but you don’t seem all that angry.
