The Dawn of August 30th

August 30th will always remain a date in my mind as a critical turn of events in Lebanese politics.. I am not sure if the mainstream media picked up on the significance? Instead it has been focuses on Bush's folly in the Big Easy.... My prayers are with the families and the people in Louisiana who are suffering from the lack of US response to the natural disaster.. Coming from South Carolina, I have had my own great experiences with Hurricanes and their fury...

Taking a step back, August 29th around 11:40, I was on my way to an internet cafe to go check email. As I was walking down Bliss Street, there was a parade of Lebanese Army trucks (which is not that unusual). However, this time each truck had a machine gun pointed out... it is normal to see one truck in the group have a machine gun mounted on the front, but this time each truck had some serious weapon... I knew that it wasn't going to be a normal night... Lord knows what could go down in Beirut....

After heading back to my dorm and having relaxing conversation with the RA in the AUB dorm.. I went to sleep. The night had just begun for the Lebanese military and Lebanese ex-officials.. I had just gone to sleep when the power went out... (You know when the power goes out because the AC stops, and u don't want that in Beirut.. trust me) Dripping with sweat, I get up and turn the AC back on when the power returned. My AC had to be turned on manually. After finally going back to sleep, the power went out for the second time. Later the power went out for a third time. As I sit in bed, I am thinking in my head that something must be going down, something concerning the government. My mind was running wild with the possible scenarios. Maybe the Lahoud regime had fallen and there would be an announcement the following morning about the new government.

The next morning I went to work and asked around if they had made the same observations. Most said they didn't think anything happened... I didn't find out until later that morning when I read the newspapers with Headlines saying something that i would have never believed.

The Lebanese military arrested 5 suspects accused of plotting the Hariri Assassination. These 5 individuals were the highest ranking officials in the Lebanese Internal Security apparatus. While newspapers who did pick up on the story mentioned that there will be some violent repurcussions for the arrests, don't know how the Lebanese feel about these guys. They definitely will not be missed. I will post some stories with further information on these guys and their fate.... Just thought that it would be interesting to let all of you know that I sensed a "coup" of some sort.... this is a crucial event in lebanese history.... let's hope the changes continue to come...