Naharnet: Gemayel Criticizes Charbel for Preferring that Security Forces Remain ‘Blind and Mute’

by Naharnet Newsdesk 04 February 2012, 08:01

Phalange party leader Amin Gemayel slammed Interior Minister Marwan Charbel on Saturday for denying that an assassination attempt against his son MP Sami Gemayel had been thwarted.
In remarks to Voice of Lebanon radio station (100.5), Gemayel said: “I was shocked when I heard the remarks of the interior minister.”
“He almost made the official information available by the security forces in his ministry look absurd,” the Phalange chief mocked. “The information is linked to an immediate threat of murder and is linked to the life of a citizen no matter who he is.”
His remarks came a day after Charbel played down the alleged assassination attempt, telling reporters that Sami Gemayel was only warned that “something could happen.”
“It is our duty to warn political personalities and leaderships to take precautions,” he said.
The news about the alleged murder attempt came after Amin and Sami Gemayel announced that Internal Security Forces Intelligence Branch chief Col. Wissam al-Hassan warned the lawmaker not to go to a dinner that he had been planning to attend.
In his remarks to VDL, the Phalange leader slammed Charbel but thanked the security agencies for their “official and humanitarian duties” and for seeking to “limit a bloodshed and saving the country from a disaster whose consequences are unknown.”
“It seems that the interior minister forgot that I lost my eldest son Pierre in similar circumstances,” he said. “Would he have preferred for security agencies to remain blind and mute?” Gemayel wondered.
Pierre Gemayel, who was then industry minister, was killed on Nov. 21, 2006 by gunmen who approached his car and shot him in broad daylight in New Jdeideh.