US embassy cable - 05BEIRUT2707

C O N F I D E N T I A L  BEIRUT 002707 
 
 
NSC FOR ABRAMS/DANIN/POUNDS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 08/22/2015 
TAGS: EAIR, ENRG, KISL, LE, SENV 
SUBJECT: MGLE01: NOTABLE LEBANESE SHIA INTELLECTUALS 
 
REF: BEIRUT 2487 
 
Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Christopher W. Murray.  Reason:  Section 1.4 (d). 
 
1.  (C)  Summary:  During a luncheon on August 21, Shia 
clerics gave the Charge and emboffs their views on the 
situation of the Shia community in the south.  They addressed 
practical views on the problems facing the Shia community in 
southern Lebanon, namely the lack of access to water and 
reliable electricity.  One sheikh said that electricity 
service has improved recently in the south, and that 
Hizballah member and new Minister of Energy and Water 
Mohammed Fneish was reaping the credit for this.  He viewed 
Sunni extremism as a grave threat to Shia across the Middle 
East.  He did not believe that Shia hold any ingrained 
hostility to the U.S., arguing that Shia militancy was for 
self-defense.  Another sheikh, speaking so as not to be 
understood by others present, confided to poloff that most 
Shia politicians did not truly represent the Shia community 
in Lebanon.  End summary. 
 
Water and power are our issues 
-------------------------------- 
 
2.  (C)  On August 21, the Charge d'Affaires, polchief, and 
emboffs met with Shia clerics who had traveled to Michigan to 
establish a moderate Islamic center.  The lunch was sponsored 
by Ali Hamdan, the Foreign Affairs advisor to Speaker of 
Parliament Nabih Berri, and attended by Sayyed Mahdi al-Amin, 
Sheikh Mohammed Kanaan, and Lebanese-American businessmen who 
had facilitated the delegation's visit to Michigan.  Al-Amin, 
who is from Bint Jbeil in south Lebanon, said that the main 
problems facing southern Lebanon are lack of water and lack 
of reliable electricity.  Currently, the only viable crop in 
his area of the south is tobacco, because tobacco does not 
require large amounts of water.  If water can be conveyed 
uphill from the Litani River to the Bint Jbeil area, then 
southern farmers could diversify their crops and raise their 
standards of living.  The planned, and oft-delayed, Litani 
River Authority project would meet this need, he said. 
 
3.  (C)  Over lunch, al-Amin said that the lack of reliable 
electricity was stunting economic development and increasing 
the misery of the people.  Frequently, power outages last for 
as long as ten hours a day.  According to al-Amin, 
electricity service has improved since the formation of Prime 
Minister Fouad Siniora's government.  Southerners are 
attributing the sudden rise in quality of service to the 
eforts of new Energy and Water Minister Mohammed Fneish, the 
first Hizballah party member to join a Lebanese cabinet. 
Al-Amin speculated that Fneish was able to use Hizballah's 
connections and influence to improve service in the south. 
(Note:  In a separate meeting with econoff on August 10, 
President of the Nabatiye Merchant's Association Abdallah 
Bitar also noted an improvement in electricity service in the 
south.  He attributed Fneish's perceived success to the fact 
that extensive maintenance work on the power grid happened to 
be completed just as Fneish was assuming his cabinet seat. 
End note.) 
 
Even Sunni fear Sunni extremism 
------------------------------- 
 
4.  (C)  When asked for his opinion on Iraq, Al-Amin said 
that most Lebanese Shia recognized that Saddam Hussein was a 
tyrant and an enemy of the Shia and thus appreciated US 
efforts in Iraq.  He then launched into a review of how the 
Sunni in the Middle East threatened the Shia, and not vice 
versa.  Saddam's invasion of Iran, Al-Qaeda, and the Sunni 
insurgency in Iraq were examples given by Al-Amin.  He did 
not believe that Iranian and Arab Shia had any real hostility 
to the U.S.  The Shia militarize only in a defensive manner 
and only if threatened, he argued.  Hizballah's militia was 
formed as a Shia self-defense force, according to Al-Amin. 
The Shia in Lebanon do not see Hizballah as an aggressor, 
Al-Amin said, but rather as a defender of a long-deprived 
community.  He said that the Shia community has taken a faxed 
Jund al-Sham threat against its leaders (reftel) seriously. 
Shia are taking responsibility for their own safety, 
according to Al-Amin, and fears of a Sunni-Shia conflict have 
intensified. 
 
5.  (C)  Sheikh Mohammed Kanaan also described the threat of 
Sunni extremism as serious.  He said that extremist, 
anti-western, Salafi and Wahabi sermons are preached daily in 
Sunni mosques.  Kanaan said a Sunni mufti had approached him, 
voicing his own fear that extremists were among this mufti's 
own confessional brothers.  According to Kanaan, Sunni 
extremism will present an increasing threat to the U.S. in 
the future.  He suggested that the USG should begin direct 
dialogue with the Shia community now.  He called for more USG 
involvement with the Shia community and more mutual 
understanding.  It is in the U.S. interest to "ally" with the 
Shia throughout the Middle East, he argued. 
 
The guy sitting next to me does not represent us 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
6.  (C)  Kanaan gave poloff an unfiltered, candid view of the 
main Shia parties Amal and Hizballah.  Sitting next to 
Berri's foreign affairs adviser Ali Hamdan, Kanaan, born and 
raised in the Lebanese Shia community in Venezuela, recounted 
in Spanish his opinion of Berri's Amal Movement and 
Hizballah.  Kanaan said, "The Shia political parties in 
Lebanon don't represent us.  They have the backing of maybe 
ten percent of the Shia population here.  Only ten percent 
actually support them, but the politicians go out to the 
communities and say nice words and tell people what they want 
to hear.  But we know they don't represent our real 
interests.  We don't want arms and weapons; we don't care 
about politics. We want to live in peace and have the right 
to practice our religion."  Hamdan, evidently a non-Spanish 
speaker, nervously craned his neck over the conversation but 
was unable to understand. 
 
7.  (C)  Kanaan continued that Lebanon has parallels with 
Iraq, where the dominant Shia political parties don't have 
the support of most Iraqi Shia.  Kanaan continued to draw 
parallels between Iraq and Lebanon while making a veiled jab 
at Hizballah.  Kanaan explained that Iraqi Shia groups are 
Iranian backed political organizations with a relatively 
small following in Iraq.  Iran gives them money and guns, so 
they're organized and have clout.  They don't represent the 
people. 
 
8.  (C)  Comment:  This was our first encounter with Sheikhs 
Al-Amin and Kanaan, who may or may not have been coached on 
how to present themselves to us.  We will continue to follow 
up issues that they raised, including Hizballah Minister of 
Energy and Water Mohammad Fneish's improvement of electricity 
service in Shia areas.  We have heard from other sources that 
Hizballah sought this portfolio to demonstrate its 
capabilities as a contrast to the poor performance of prior 
Amal ministers who held the energy account.  End Comment. 
 
MURRAY