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Walid Jumblatt (Arabic: وليد جنبلاط) (born August 7, 1949) is the current leader of the Progressive Socialist Party "PSP" of Lebanon, and the most prominent leader of the Druze community. He is currently one of the most outspoken anti-Syrian politicians in Lebanon and is allied with the March 14 Alliance, which includes the Future Movement, the Lebanese Forces and the Qornet Chehwan Gathering.
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The origin of the Jumblatt family is the Kurdish Janpoulad family coming from Shamel Janpoulade and dating back to Janboulad Ibn Kassem al Kirdi al Kaisari, known as Ibn Arabou (1530-1580), and governor of Aleppo. Walid Jumblatt is the son of Kamal Jumblatt, the assassinated founder of the PSP, the party which Walid Jumblatt currently leads. He is the maternal grandson of Prince Shakib Arslan[1]. His first wife was Gervette "Gigi," a Jordanian woman of Circassian origin who is the mother of his child Timour. His second wife is Nora.[2]
The BBC describes Jumblatt as "being seen by many as the country's political weathervane."[3] He has a successful record of changing allegiances to ensure that the sectarian interests of the Druze emerge on the winning side of the political issues and conflicts shaping Lebanon, from the turmoil of the 1975-1990 civil war to Lebanon's reconstruction. Like several other sectarian leaders, he was a supporter of the Syrian military presence (described as an occupation by anti-Syrian elements) in Lebanon after the civil war, but since the death of former Syrian President Hafez al-Assad in 2000, he has campaigned for the end of Syrian domination of Lebanon. This has pitted him against President Émile Lahoud, whom he considers a Syrian puppet, and the Lebanese Shiite party Hezbollah of which he said: "Their fighters have done a good job defying and defeating the Israeli army, OK, but the question we ask is where their allegiance goes: to a Lebanese strong central authority or somewhere else?"[4]
After the assassination of Rafik Hariri in 2005, Jumblatt said that a shaken Hariri had told him months before that Hariri had been personally threatened by Syrian President Bashar al-Assad during a 15-minute meeting in the Syrian capital Damascus in August 2004: [5]"(President) Lahoud is me ... If you and Chirac want me out of Lebanon, I will break Lebanon."]. Jumblatt said, "When I heard him telling us those words, I knew that it was his condemnation of death." His comments have been included in the FitzGerald Report, the United Nations's report on the investigation of the Hariri assassination. The report criticizes Syria for the political tensions which preceded the assassination. The United States, the European Union and the United Nations have demanded a Syrian pullout from Lebanon and an international investigation into Hariri's murder.
Jumblatt has publicly spoken of his fear of being assassinated, like Hariri, because of his current stance towards Damascus. The unsuccessful attempt on the life of his closest political ally and friend, MP Marwan Hamadeh, in October 2004 was interpreted by many as an ominous message addressed to Jumblatt.citation needed In an interview with The Chicago Tribune, when asked about his concerns for his safety, he answered, "That's trivial; I don't think about it. When they will come, they will come."
Jumblatt has the reputation for quickly switching sides for political gain, and a predilection for saying things that prove embarrassing once he does switch sides. Jumblatt said on the failed assassination attempt [6] on Paul Wolfowitz in Baghdad in 2003 that "We hope that next time the rockets will be more accurate and effective in getting rid of this virus, and his like, who wreak corruption in the Arab lands."[7] Additionally, he has called Bashar Assad "a half ape," George W. Bush a "mad emperor," Condoleezza Rice "oil-colored," and Tony Blair a "peacock with a sexual complex." He also said "My joy was great at the Columbia Disaster because of the death of an Israeli Astronaut."[8] In an interview with Al-Sharq Al-Awsat [9] on February 12, 2004, Jumblatt said: "We are all happy when U.S. soldiers are killed (in Iraq) week in and week out. The killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq is legitimate and obligatory" [10] At the opening plenary of the "Weinberg Founders Conference 2007" of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy in Virginia he proposed the US "send car bombs" to Damascus as a way to prevent further Syrian interference with Lebanese politics. In a 2007 New Year's Eve interview, Jumblatt admitted that he lied to the Syrians for 25 years. [11]
