Rafiq Hariri: harmful to Lebanon, in life and in death. I am told that an unofficial poll conducted by Hariri, Inc political campaign appratus revealed that a mere 6 out of 1000 Sunnis in Beirut indicated that they would vote for Saulange Gemayyel in the Beirut elections, and she is being imposed by the corrupt Hariri, Inc. I have not seen an election with less competitors than this one. This election is less democratic than the elections held under Syrian control. Worse, the ratio of candidates to contested seats was higher in the last bogus Syrian parliamentary election than in this one. Yet, this will be the election that Bush will praise the most. It shows you his standards; the Hariri standards; the House of Saud standards of "democracy" are at play. The standards of House of Saud and big political money. The standards of imposing cruel globalization--long championed by Rafiq Hariri, whose gravesite in downtown Beirut stands as a testimony to his war on the poor people of Lebanon, and the corruption of the political system, and the narrowing of the parameters of political debate. Before the elections take place, 3 candidates are now winners as they face no competitors whatever, and the time of official registration (for Beirut district) has now passed(Ghazi Yusuf, Ghazi Al-`Aridi, and Saulange Gemayyel). Hariri, Inc (along with sectarianism, Israeli occuapation and bombings, political feudalism, Syrian domination) is the worst factor in Lebanese politics since 1990. It is not that I do not like the principles of Hariri, Inc. These are people with no principles. Rafiq Hariri was Bill Clinton with no political skills, and with unlimited supply of money, and no laws to regulate or restrict political money. Hariri was a man who proved with his funding and shifts that he held no fixed principles, except the blind loyalty to House of Saud. He was the billionaire who after all entered Lebanese politics by funding the warring factions in the civil war, including Elie Hubayqah Israel's mastermind of the Sabra and Shatila massacres. His inheritors today preach freedoms and yet Hariri muzzled the press especially when it came to his own interests and the interests of the House of Saud. He closed newspapers, radio stations, and TV stations, and sent reporters to court for darling to question his wisdom. He impoverished the state-owned media to eliminate any possible media rivals, and held full or partial stakes in all Lebanese media. I watched Hariri's successor, his son Sa`d Ad-Din, who has the charisma of pinto beans, read his statement about his new Beirut electoral list: we knew that he cant speak, and now we know that he cant read Arabic. Or maybe he learned how to read from Crown Prince `Abdullah. And the US now makes a hue and cry over the assassination of Rafiq Hariri (exploiting the episode for every drop of political benefit) while the assassin of former Lebanese prime minister Rashid Karami (Ghassan Tuma of the Lebanese Forces) lives comfortably here in the US under US protection. The people of Beirut (my mother used to tell me) used to mock the political culture of South Lebanon. They used to say that a Shi`ite Za`im, Ahmad Al-As`ad, used to guarantee the victory of his list even if he nominated a stick. Well, the As`ad family is now part of the history of South Lebanon, and the Hariri family has the worst features of the ugly past of Lebanese politics. The Hariri, Inc can guarantee the victory of their lists, even if they nominate potatoes and tomatoes. How fickle are the people of Beirut, and how easily they shift their allegiances. The Hariri family nominated Saulange, the racist anti-Palestinian, anti-Syrian widow of Bashir Gemayyel, who was installed as president by Israeli tanks, and who cooperated with the Israeli army in the destruction and devastation of Beirut in the wake of the Israeli invasion of 1982. She now will represent Beirut. Her inclusion, apparently, was due to pressures from the right-wing blatantly sectarian Christian agitator Maronite Patriarch, and the French and US ambassadors in Lebanon--the new masters of a country that never was--and never will be--independent or free. Hariri, Inc also nominated Jubran Tuwayni, a fanatical right-wing loud-mouth whose anti-Shi`ite (not to mention his anti-Syrian, anti-Palestinian) prejudice is known to all. And yet, the list includes, in addition to Tuwayni and Gemayyel, Hizbullah's member Amin Shirri, although the latter refused to show up in the same picture with Gemayyel yesterday. But the very acceptance by Hizbullah to the list shows you that all those political forces have a very tenuous relationship with principles or with the truth, or even with their own declared agendas. Yes, bribes of soap and olive oil have in the past succeeded in winning the approval of Beirut voters, and I have no doubt that they will work this time. I have talked to many Beirut voters who told me they voted for Hariri in return for $100.00. I pleaded with them to take the money and not vote for him. But they get monitored I am told. The Lebanon that Hariri wanted (a brothel/casino/nightclub) for the oil princes--Hariri's sons used to "escort" King Fahd's spoiled brat, the corrupt `Abdul-`Aziz--or `Azzuz--whenever he came on secret "vacation" visits to Lebanon. This election will help reproduce the sectarian political dynasties of Lebanon, and they will generate a political elite that will ensure that Hariri's nightmare will prevail, even after his death.