The second Michel was following the news bulletin. He was caught by surprise by a painful sight. The third Michel was receiving Major General Ashraf Rifi and Colonel Wissam al-Hassan, to congratulate them for the achievement of the Information Branch – a subordinate of the Internal Security Forces (ISF). The second Michel rubbed his eyes in disbelief. How dare the third Michel take such a serious risk, and congratulate those who arrested the first Michel in the act of carrying explosives which he said Major General Ali Mamlouk had given him? Does the third Michel not know how important these two men are in Damascus? And is this the right time to deal a blow to the Syrian regime, which is coming under a global war? The second Michel sought to persuade himself that what he saw was not real, that the image was fabricated in the corridors of the Information Branch, and that a hacker had infiltrated the screen to carry the image. Anger crept into his eyes. For the third Michel had committed the mistake of his life. Over many decades, the Syrian security services were accused of orchestrating many things in Lebanon, but this was the first time that there was an official unveiling of explosives, fingerprints and audio and video confessions. The second Michel paced the room. This is very dangerous. The President of the Republic granted a certificate of good conduct to the Information Branch, a certificate of patriotism. He said that the branch had saved the country from the sedition that was being prepared for it. This whole affair is very harmful too. If the Information Branch did not fabricate the Michel Samaha debacle, then this means that it had not fabricated the confessions of Free Patriotic Movement leader Brigadier General Fayez Karam of collaborating with Israel either. And if it did not fabricate Karam's story, then this also means that it had not fabricated the telecommunication evidence in the Rafik Hariri assassination case. He flipped to a different station, only to be met with the same image. He hates these three men without reservations. He hates Rifi and Hassan, because they remind him of a man called Saad Hariri, and because he was unable to dismiss them, despite winning a handful of ministers in the current government, as Najib Mikati considered dismissing them more than he can bear. He hates them because this time, they designed the ambush well, in both audio and video. And he hates the third Michel because he hijacked from him his office at the Baabda Palace. Lebanese politics are unfair. The second Michel provided cover for the coup of May 7, which he considered to be a corrective movement. The Doha agreement rewarded him with government portfolios and motorcades, but punished him severely in return by giving the presidency to another man. This punishment was also overly cynical, as the presidency was given to a general, called Michel no less. Even more cruel than this, is the fact that when he received Rifi and Hassan, the third Michel acted in the manner of a real general, and a true president. It was as though he wanted to say, I am the statesman, and the keeper of civil peace and the independence of the judiciary. It was as though he wanted to say that he does not fear arresting the first Michel, or for his accomplice's name to be mentioned, and to say that Syria has changed and receded, and that he did want his name to be placed in the list of those who stand to lose. He knows how cruel the scene is. Tomorrow, his arch nemesis will appear from Maarab to gloat. He will say, “This is your partner in the resistance axis, your companion on the presidential plane, your tour guide in the shrine of Saint Maron, and your usher in the alliance of minorities. This is the person who reassured you that the Syrian fire will be extinguished sooner rather than later and your partner in deception and condescension to the families of the martyrs, and in considering their tears a kind of politicization and anticipation of investigations". Others will say, “The first Michel came to despise the third Michel because he refused to use him as a guide along the Beirut-Damascus road, and resisted early on the attempt to alter his features to resemble those of Emile Lahoud. This is while the second Michel expressed deep understanding, flexibility and appreciation of internal and external circumstances, and dealt realistically with the efforts of the first Michel to bring their features closer together". They were three men, each named Michel. The first Michel of the phalanges party defected to Damascus in the 1970s, moving between its offices and converting to its policies, while his star rose in Beirut and he spent his youth on the road between the two capitals. The second Michel, the general, fought against Syria and achieved his popularity by being hostile to it, before using this political currency to seek an alliance with Syria. The third Michel was appointed commander of the army, because he was classed as one of Syria's friends. Syria then took part in choosing him president, but its heart was with the second Michel. Syria tasked the first Michel to accommodate his temperament, and train his aides to travel on the road to Damascus. The explosives that the first Michel brought did not blow up their intended targets. Instead, they blew up the relations between Baabda Palace and the Syrian presidential palace. They also exploded along the thoroughfare of hatred between the two generals. The story of Michel Samaha, Michel Aoun and Michel Suleiman may symbolize escalating risk-taking, miscalculations, alliances and minorities. They may be an indication of the end of a difficult period, as a prelude to a more treacherous one.
