Indiana Shath and the Missing Treasure: the very dumb Lebanese government

This should be a regular feature: about the very dumb Lebanese government. Kudos to Al-Akhbar for making a big deal of this story. This should be a big scandal. I am not making this up. A Jordanian man-kook comes to Lebanon with an old map claiming that an Ottoman treasure was hidden under the tomb of some saint in a village in Rashayya. Instead of sending the man away, the Hariri Minister of Finance (a former World Bank economist and former Lebanese Hariri ambassador in Washington, DC, Muhammad Shatah) and Phalanges Minister of Tourism, Elie Maruni, escorted the man to the village and began digging with a Lebanese Army and Internal Security escort. The villagers were alarmed and urged the Biqa` Muftitit to intervene to stop the digging. It was stopped. Oh, and no treasure was found. Al-Akhbar headlined on its front page: Indiana Shath and the Missing Treasure.