Lindsey Graham: An “Epsteinian” Figure in a Senator’s Suit… The Dignity of the Lebanese Army Is Neither for Bargaining nor Blackmail in Washington

Al-Boussola
Masdar Diplomacy
By Marlene Khalifeh

It came as no surprise that Senator Lindsey Graham sought to stage yet another cheap, “Hollywood-style” performance following his meeting in Washington with the Commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Rodolphe Haykal. A politician who has spent years perfecting political flip-flopping and opportunism, Graham deluded himself into thinking that a post on X could hand him a moral victory at the expense of a Lebanese national dignity embodied by the army commander.

Yet the truth that must be stated to Graham—loudly and without equivocation—is this: you are in no position to assess the affairs of sovereign states. You lack even the minimum knowledge required to grasp the complexities of the Middle East. What you represent, in essence, is a demagogic figuشre steeped in profound political ignorance.

Graham abruptly ended his meeting with General Haykal because the latter refused to conform to a prepackaged “terrorism” narrative. On his X account, Graham wrote the following:

“I just had a very brief meeting with the Lebanese Chief of Defense General Rodolphe Haykal. I asked him point blank if he believes Hezbollah is a terrorist organization. He said, ‘No, not in the context of Lebanon.’ With that, I ended the meeting.

They are clearly a terrorist organization. Hezbollah has American blood on its hands. Just ask the U.S. Marines.

They have been designated as a foreign terrorist organization by both Republican and Democrat administrations since 1997 – for good reason.

As long as this attitude exists from the Lebanese Armed Forces, I don’t think we have a reliable partner in them.

I am tired of the double speak in the Middle East. Too much is at stake.”

What this senator must be reminded of is the following: the Commander of the Lebanese Army—held in the highest esteem by Lebanese of all backgrounds—is not an “employee” of the U.S. administration. He is the custodian of the unity of an army, a people, and state institutions. Had General Haykal echoed Graham’s narrative, he would have forfeited national standards and betrayed the oath he swore to protect Lebanon and its unity.

The general understands—while Graham does not—that Hezbollah is a core political and social component of its constituency. No army commander—whether Maronite or from any other sect—can stab the heart of a national fabric that today faces relentless Israeli aggression that spares neither land nor people.

What “partner” are you talking about, Senator Graham? It was the Lebanese Army that fought the “Dawn of the Outskirts” battles, uprooted terrorism from camps and frontlines, and safeguarded not only Lebanon but the West as well. Here, candor is required about what you deliberately ignore: at the height of the Syrian war, indirect cooperation and intelligence sharing helped shield Western countries from suicide attacks, thanks to the Lebanese Army’s expertise and the resistance’s field experience in confronting ISIS and al-Qaeda affiliates. The West you claim to represent was the first beneficiary of the stability Lebanon maintained through this on-the-ground synergy.

As for your invocation of the “blood of the Marines” and French paratroopers in 1983, you would do well to read history before speaking. Those operations—carried out by a military commander assassinated by your country in Damascus in 2008, Imad Mughniyeh—occurred in a radically different context. Lebanon at the time was under brutal Israeli occupation, and there were active projects to turn the country into a launchpad for your Middle East schemes. From a principled standpoint, we reject the killing of civilians of any nationality—American or French—and condemn the taking of life unequivocally. But no sober political mind can transpose the realities of 1983 onto Hezbollah’s position today.

Today, Hezbollah is a political party represented in parliament and government. Its discourse operates under the authority of the state, and its primary demand is the implementation of the ceasefire agreement brokered by the United States itself in November 2024. It is ready for dialogue and negotiation. How, then, do you incite the commander of a national army to brand a Lebanese component—defending violated land and exposed lives—merely because you follow Trump’s line and seek to impose dictates?

Look at the statements of Lebanon’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, headed by a respected diplomat such as Youssef Rajji, who—despite adherence to international orientations—can no longer remain silent in the face of blind American bias. A formal complaint was submitted to the UN Security Council documenting 2,036 Israeli violations of Lebanese sovereignty in just three months. Where were you, Senator Graham, amid this lawlessness? Where are you on UNIFIL reports accusing Israel of spraying toxic and lethal chemical substances over Lebanese villages and farmlands?

The United States—now leading the monitoring mechanism under the command of an American officer—has demonstrated its glaring inability to restrain Israel, which has killed more than 400 people to date, the vast majority of them civilians. Meanwhile, the Lebanese Army and its commander have cooperated to the fullest extent in line with political decisions, but within the bounds of national unity—the red line we will not allow figures like you to cross.

What terrorism are you talking about? The real terrorism is practiced by your country: installing “heads of terror” as presidents, turning a blind eye to the killing of thousands of civilians and children in Gaza, and going even further in international thuggery by abducting a head of state and his wife, as recently occurred in Venezuela. This is the systematic terrorism your policies embody.

And what “partnership” do you invoke while denying the Lebanese Army any weapon that could alter the balance, out of fear for your protégé Israel? You want an army to serve as a night watchman for your interests and Israel’s security—yet it is the very army that fought the “Dawn of the Outskirts,” eradicated terrorism from camps, and protected Lebanon and the West alike. Let us remind you once more: at the height of the Syrian war, Lebanese Army intelligence—alongside indirect cooperation with the resistance—helped protect your capitals from suicide attacks.

In closing, Senator Graham, those who live in glass houses should not throw stones. The sexual and moral scandals reverberating through the corridors of Washington and the U.S. Department of Justice—tarnishing the elite to which you belong—compel us to say: have some shame. When you address a figure of the integrity and dignity of our army commander, lower your head. You are nothing more than an “Epsteinian” figure in a senator’s suit, and the Lebanese Army and its commander will remain far above your juvenile incitement and cheap demagoguery.

Print