Poor Strida. She apparently got lost in all the details and may have memorized her lines wrong, for the first edition of Al-Akhbar did not appear until several months after both men were killed! (Photo: Bilal Jawich)
Despite being thoroughly prepped for her first television appearance on MTV, Lebanese Forces MP Strida Geagea – wife of civil war militia leader Samir Geagea – nevertheless missed her cues and forgot her lines.
The Lebanese Forces decided to bring out the heavy guns. Feeling compelled to respond to many unanswered questions and a recent report in Al-Akhbar about marital problems with her controversial husband, Strida Geagea took to the airwaves to set the record straight.
The interview was little more than a co-production between the Lebanese Forces and MTV, planned carefully to avoid any embarrassing gaffes on the part of the Lebanese Forces’ first lady.
The station’s owner was asked to make preparations for the media event, such as digging up old clips that would help polish her image. MTV put aside all the standards of media professionalism and operated on the basis that it was selling airtime to a political ally, that also happens to be a co-owner of the station (see box below).
MTV aired the interview as if it were live – indicating as much on the screen – when in fact it was pre-recorded, and over many hours, during which questions and answers were re-recorded in order to present the best that Strida could offer.
Yet despite all this, the performance flopped – an indication perhaps as to why the right-wing MP has kept her distance from the media all this time. Maybe she wasn’t well-prepared for some questions, and in places, she completely lost track of important dates and the chronology of events.
She, for example, insisted that her husband did not leave her any money during the time he spent in military prison (1994-2005) and that she got by on an inheritance from her father without dipping into Lebanese Forces funds at all.
This is despite court testimony by party officials that her husband ordered $1 million be transferred to her father to save him from bankruptcy. She also forgot about $5 million that the Lebanese Forces received for its weapons from the Lebanese government at the end of the civil war.
Strida may have done her best not to mention Al-Akhbar in her interview in order to avoid any promotion for the paper, but she nevertheless denied reports that she and her husband were separating, saying coyly “if we wanted a divorce, it would have happened long ago,” without denying the information or accusing the paper of fabricating it.
She did, however, go on to reveal that when the Al-Akhbar report was published, she dismissed it, only to be convinced by her husband and the party that it may have security repercussions, accusing the paper of writing similar negative articles against March 14 leaders Gebran Tueni and Samir Kassir before they were assassinated.
Poor Strida. She apparently got lost in all the details and may have memorized her lines wrong, for the first edition of Al-Akhbar did not appear until several months after both men were killed!
Strida and MTV in American Eyes
Former US ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman had buried himself so deep in Lebanese politics – developing a network of friends in the ranks of March 14 – that it is difficult to distinguish between his political and personal opinions.
This is what he had to say about Strida Geagea in a May 2006 cable (BEIRUT1521) released by WikiLeaks:
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.
The Lebanese Forces decided to bring out the heavy guns. Feeling compelled to respond to many unanswered questions and a recent report in Al-Akhbar about marital problems with her controversial husband, Strida Geagea took to the airwaves to set the record straight.
The interview was little more than a co-production between the Lebanese Forces and MTV, planned carefully to avoid any embarrassing gaffes on the part of the Lebanese Forces’ first lady.
The station’s owner was asked to make preparations for the media event, such as digging up old clips that would help polish her image. MTV put aside all the standards of media professionalism and operated on the basis that it was selling airtime to a political ally, that also happens to be a co-owner of the station (see box below).
MTV aired the interview as if it were live – indicating as much on the screen – when in fact it was pre-recorded, and over many hours, during which questions and answers were re-recorded in order to present the best that Strida could offer.
Yet despite all this, the performance flopped – an indication perhaps as to why the right-wing MP has kept her distance from the media all this time. Maybe she wasn’t well-prepared for some questions, and in places, she completely lost track of important dates and the chronology of events.
She, for example, insisted that her husband did not leave her any money during the time he spent in military prison (1994-2005) and that she got by on an inheritance from her father without dipping into Lebanese Forces funds at all.
This is despite court testimony by party officials that her husband ordered $1 million be transferred to her father to save him from bankruptcy. She also forgot about $5 million that the Lebanese Forces received for its weapons from the Lebanese government at the end of the civil war.
Strida may have done her best not to mention Al-Akhbar in her interview in order to avoid any promotion for the paper, but she nevertheless denied reports that she and her husband were separating, saying coyly “if we wanted a divorce, it would have happened long ago,” without denying the information or accusing the paper of fabricating it.
She did, however, go on to reveal that when the Al-Akhbar report was published, she dismissed it, only to be convinced by her husband and the party that it may have security repercussions, accusing the paper of writing similar negative articles against March 14 leaders Gebran Tueni and Samir Kassir before they were assassinated.
Poor Strida. She apparently got lost in all the details and may have memorized her lines wrong, for the first edition of Al-Akhbar did not appear until several months after both men were killed!
Strida and MTV in American Eyes
Former US ambassador to Lebanon Jeffrey Feltman had buried himself so deep in Lebanese politics – developing a network of friends in the ranks of March 14 – that it is difficult to distinguish between his political and personal opinions.
This is what he had to say about Strida Geagea in a May 2006 cable (BEIRUT1521) released by WikiLeaks:
“At least one member of the Geagea household still thinks like a militia leader. Strida Geagea was remarkable in the meeting for her instance on striking a strong posture on all issues. At another point in the conversation, she seemed to cross the line into the anti-Muslim racism of the Lebanese Forces of yore: Strida made mention of what she referred to as the pro-Muslim attitude of a previous US Ambassador to Lebanon.Another cable in February 2009 (BEIRUT147), this time by Feltman’s successor Michele Sison, takes up the issue of MTV’s intention to begin broadcasting again after being closed down for a few years:
“I wanted to ask him how he felt about them after 9/11,” she said. Her “he’ll get used to it” comment was particularly sinister as it was aimed at LBC’s Daher, who still claims to be a loyal friend of Samir Geagea. Strida is not shy about making anti-Muslim statements. One can easily imagine Strida, holding the couple’s Persian cat in the half-darkness of their mountain retreat, and whispering invective aimed at Muslims and other enemies into her husband’s ear.
A MTV senior source told Embassy Public Diplomacy [PD] staff there are two main reasons for re-launching the station. The first reason is that, during this election period, many politicians are willing to pay money and, therefore, this is the best time to raise funds. The other reason is that Arab advertising tycoon Antoine Choueiri pulled out from LBCI (the major TV station in Lebanon) and is willing to cover MTV. They can now guarantee at least ten million dollars in advertising revenues but they are still negotiating the deal.Ibrahim al-Amin is editor-in-chief of Al-Akhbar.
MTV was involved in intensive negotiations with Choueiri and the Lebanese Forces Party to finance the station, but the negotiations collapsed because the Lebanese Forces wanted to control “editorial and news decisions.”
The source told PD that there are several March 14 politicians who promised to help the station. Some figures are MP Michel Pharaon, MP Farid Makari, former parliamentary candidate and billionaire Sarkis Sarkis, and anti-Hezbollah politician Ahmad al-Asaad, who also reportedly is receiving funding from the Saudis. The source also confirmed that the Lebanese Forces, similar to the other March 14 members, promised to provide them with certain funds. He estimated the figure between five to six million dollars.
This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.