With the temperature rising by the hour in Lebanon's presidential crisis, NOW Lebanon sat down with Saad Hariri to discuss March 14's vision for Lebanon's future – and why he believes it represents the best hope for a strong, sovereign and prosperous country. In this exclusive interview, the Future Movement leader reflects on the thousand days since his father's assassination with remarkable candor, describing the mistakes made by the Cedar Revolution – and how to set them right again – and calling upon General Michel Aoun to return to his March 14 roots.

 For a normal Lebanese citizen, how would Lebanon governed by March 14 be different from Lebanon governed by Syria?

Saad Hariri:  It’s simple.  Take March 14 out.  Let Hezbollah run the country, and you’ll have an economy like Iran or Syria.  Get the 14th of March in power and you’ll have an economy like the Europeans, like Turkey, and that will affect every person in Lebanon.  What we seek is creating jobs, and creating economies of scale.  Building.  Investing in the country.  Opening up a free market.  Vis-à-vis the other position, death comes before anything.  War is before the well-being of the human.

In all religions, Islam or Christianity, God looks at the well-being of humans before anything.  Never before in the history of any religion did God ask anyone to throw themselves into the hands of death.  Even in the times of Jesus, or Mohammed or Moses, and all of the other prophets. In the end, it is a big political choice between freedom, independence and sovereignty, and dependence on others and finally of power being shared by very few.

Vis-à-vis myself, or the Future Movement, if we were a minority today, and it was about the quorum and they were the majority, I would go to the parliament.  I would not stop an election for president.  This is the democratic way of thinking.  If you excel when you’re in power, people will still want you to be in power.  But if you screw up, people will want you out.  And what’s happening today, if the opposition screws up or doesn’t screw up, it will be the same.  Because they have arms, and they want to stay.  Two and a half years ago, people voted for Saad Hariri, whose father was assassinated.  In a year and a half they will go to elections and say if Saad succeeded or not.  If Samir [Geagea] succeeded or not.  If Michel [Aoun] succeeded or not.

If we respected that, and only that, we would not be where we are today.

 How does your vision of Lebanon differ from that of the opposition?

Saad Hariri: All the problems that you see in Lebanon, Hezbollah is saying that it is about the [March 14] partnership – but their main problem is with us.  It’s not with Samir Geagea or Walid Jumblatt, it’s with Saad Hariri.  It’s with the tribunal, and it’s our vision of Lebanon.  They see [Lebanon as part of] the never-ending war against Israel.  For me, Israel is an enemy and will always stay that way, but my job as a politician is the well-being of the Lebanese people.  I am part of the Arab League, and if I am to confront Israel I want the Arab League to be on my side.  I am not the only small country that is fighting a big country like Israel who has nukes. 

So my vision is the well-being of the Lebanese people.  If I can have an armistice, implement the armistice agreement that we have, I would.  It’s our job.  If I want to go to war I want to make sure that the people of the South have bunkers.  If I want to go to war I want to make sure I can protect the million people who fled the South.  If I want to go to war, I want to be ready for war.

In 2006, did Hezbollah prepare the people for the consequences of war?

Saad Hariri: No.  Hezbollah prepared Hezbollah.  But the people of Lebanon, from the South to the North to the Bekaa to Beirut, were not prepared.  If we didn’t have the help of the international community to get food, and water and medicine – we were not prepared.  And in my opinion, Israel will remain an enemy until it believes in peace.  For me, with all that I think of the Syrian regime, if you asked me today: Would I go to peace with Israel?  I would not go to peace with Israel if Syria does not go to peace with Israel, and the Arab world does not go to peace with Israel.  I wouldn’t even think about it.  Because, at the end of the day, Israel’s interest is to divide the Arab world, with small peace deals here and there.  But if the Arab world has one will, then it will have better negotiations with Israel.

 In terms of March 14, what could have been done differently after the Cedar Revolution?
 
Saad Hariri: I think that March 14 was a day that the Lebanese people said what they wanted, and the Lebanese politicians didn’t understand.  It was a day where we should have all sacrificed a little bit for each other, and we should have done more.  Because we can’t say that we didn’t make any mistakes.  We did make mistakes after the 14th of March.  We didn’t believe that the 14th of March would be the 14th of March, and the Cedar Revolution would be this magnitude of people believing in Lebanon. March 14 was the day where the Lebanese took pride – not only in Lebanon, but everywhere in the world, every Lebanese was proud of being Lebanese. You know, we always have an identity crisis in Lebanon.  But the 14th of March, that day, we implanted that identity into Lebanese hearts and minds and people were proud of being Lebanese, and proud of holding the Lebanese flag. We can’t say that we didn’t make any mistakes.

I think we should have sacrificed much more.  We made fatal mistakes not protecting that day, and not understanding the magnitude of what that whole day was all about, and what people expected from that day.  You have General Aoun, now on the other side, who was part of the 14th of March.  You can’t deny this, and you shouldn’t deny this.  We should persevere in getting him back.  Because March 14 is like a painting that is missing one of its parts.  It was a perfect picture of Lebanon, and that picture – we didn’t know how to protect it.  We should have protected it by compromising, by understanding each other much more.  We should have put our political ambitions aside.

 If you could have a second shot at March 14, the day, what would you do differently, apart from trying to retain the FPM?

Saad Hariri: I think we weren’t prepared.  I think that the 14th of March, everybody was in awe.  It was such a victory.  We saw the people, and we saw the magnitude of this picture, but we didn’t understand what the people wanted.  And what the people wanted was no different between Muslims and Christians.  We will not allow anyone to interfere into our country.  We will look for Lebanon first.  When I look back at it, I would sacrifice anything to keep that day and the dream of the Lebanese people alive.

 It has now been just over 1,000 days since your father’s assassination. What is Rafik Hariri’s legacy for Lebanon?

Saad Hariri: I think he believed that the Lebanese have so much potential, if only they could concentrate on what they do best.   Lebanon could rebuild itself as the Arab country that unites. Lebanon is the country that can tolerate other opinions, other religions, different ideologies, different theologies.  I think this is what his legacy is all about.  His tolerance, justice, and his belief that the problem with the Arab world is that we're too wary of each other, but yet we have so much potential.   He wanted to succeed in Lebanon and show the Arab world that we could move on.

You look at Solidere.  You now have a thousand Solideres around the Arab countries.  You look at the banking system.  And now you have a banking system around the Arab countries that is very strong.  In the Gulf, in Egypt, and other countries.  But the only thing that is still not there is economic exchange between these Arab countries.  There are still not free markets.  We believe that the borders we create should be there, but they should not interfere in the economies.  Economies among nations should integrate one way or the other, and that will strengthen the Arab world, and it will have a stronger political stature within the international community.  And Lebanon could play that role, not as the main political center but as a model.

 The Siniora government has a blueprint for economic reform.  If it were allowed to implement it, what could we expect?

Saad Hariri:  I think – I’m expecting a huge boom in Lebanon. 

If we have stability, if we have a new president, if we have a new government, and we have reforms and a blueprint from the Siniora government, Paris III – which was a continuation of Paris II and Paris I – I think with oil at $96, people want to invest everywhere and especially in Lebanon.  You’d be amazed how many people we meet, who tell us: ‘Yalla, elect a president.  We want to come back to Lebanon.  We want to live in Lebanon.  We want to work in Lebanon.  We want to invest in Lebanon.’ There is so much potential that Lebanon has, especially with a booming economy around us because of the oil boom.  Lebanon can be a huge service provider for all these countries that are developing themselves.

 Is there a fear that some Arab nations are stealing Lebanon’s economic opportunities?

Saad Hariri: Give me stability and nobody will beat us.  Believe me.  Nobody can beat the Lebanese.  We are so quick, so fast, so intelligent.  It’s not that I’m saying others are not, but the potential that there is in the Lebanese is limitless.  Most of the companies that are everywhere in the Arab world are run by Lebanese.  And if you just give Lebanon stability, there is no service like Lebanon.  You can build the best hotels everywhere in the Arab world, but you will not have service like in Lebanon.

So what do you say to those members of the opposition who you feel are obstructing economic progress?

Saad Hariri: Get off my back.  Let me work!

I’m not saying that everything that they say is wrong.  The Arab-Israeli conflict is a conflict that is historical between us Arabs.  It’s a land, Palestine, that belonged to the Arabs and it belonged to the Palestinian people.  So it’s in our consciousness, in our core, it’s in the back of each Arab citizens’ mind.  But I think one has to be smart about managing this conflict.  Even in the legacy of Rafik Hariri, it is a different theory.  Today, the stronger your economies become and the stronger you empower your democracies, the more the West will be interested in you than Israel.
 
In the Arab world, you have 300 to 400 million people.  You have such resources, left, right and center.  If you concentrate on these natural resources that you have in your economies, you will become an economic power.  When you become an economic power, this will also strengthen your military and your potential to protect your economy.  If you want to go to peace you have to prepare for war.  And if you want to prepare for war, you can’t prepare for war if you don’t have an economy.  You can’t have only an army, you have to have an economy.  And in the end we don’t want to go to war, we want to go to peace.

What else do you think the international community could or should do for Lebanon?

Saad Hariri: I think the international community, unfortunately, has fatigue of Lebanon today.  But the international community sees Lebanon does not have oil, Lebanon does not have uranium, Lebanon does not have gold.  But Lebanon represents a small democracy that this part of the world needs so much, and this democracy is built on tolerance and understanding of each other’s opinions.  This is what is important about Lebanon. 

The international community has to come to terms with these rogue nations.  They must send a message that, if they do not listen to the international community, those rogue nations will pay a price.  I think, until now, the international community has not taken that decision.