Hariri's role in the formation of the Ottoman Empire. It was not given much publicity but the last meeting of the Lebanese cabinet decided to officially designate Rafiq Hariri as "one of the men of Lebanese independence". Those men are officially celebrated by the Lebanese state by virtue of their role in the mostly imaginary Lebanese "struggle for independence" in 1943, when Hariri was not even born. This is like the US suddenly deciding to designate Dan Quayle as one of "founding fathers".