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Monday, February 6, 2012

The ticket into Lebanon....

We continued our conversation concerning the trip and expectations. He outlined that the main goal was to establish work for the population that was largely adept at hand work, but overall lacking in formal training using modern machinery. We continued talking for an hour or so and I asked a simple question,
" Would I fly into the airport in Beirut or elsewhere ?" There was what seemed like a longer than normal pause and he slowly answered.

Prime Minister Hariri was really liked by all the religious factions, my soon to be more distant, friend said, and as a gesture of good faith he would give me a "Get Out of Jail Free Card" to keep in my billfold. I guess I had a look on my face of disbelief as it was immediately explained that IF there was an altercation and I got caught up in the action, all I had to do was to give the GOOF JFC to my captors and they would let me go. I asked rather discretely, how would I get into such a situation...??? I was THEN told how I would get into Lebanon.

It seemed the only way to do it was to travel to Israel, leave my passport there, and be taken into the country by the Prime Ministers friends. BUT !! No worry !!! You will have the GOOF JFC !!! How much safer could it BE !! You don't really need a passport..Show the card.....YOU'RE FREE !! Have you ever had you life pass before your eyes ?? What m I doing here, I thought. Images of shot up walls. burned out cars, empty streets, and the evening news filled my immediate open brain spaces....the conversation didn't end then, but very soon after.  My travel agent had given me the pictures of the city, some letters signed by Hariri, and a business card....I headed home. We didn't converse again. Several years later I came across the business card and called the number. It was answered by a man and I explained who I was and referenced our conversations concerning the trip. There was a long silence on the other end....who is this ??...came the voice.....I don't think I know you......click. It was the number on the card, and a new mystery. What if.....

An unexpected invitation...missed opportunity ??

I woke up this morning very early thinking about an offer extended to me shortly after I returned from Baghdad in 1990. I had been in the local news with interviews of the trip and had been talking about it to various groups....the noon time entertainment so to speak.  I was sitting in my studio in Carthage when the phone rang about 10:00 and a man introduced himself explaining that he had heard about my trip to Baghdad and wanted to meet with me in Tulsa to explain a potential business proposition. The deal clincher was that he'd buy lunch and really didn't explain much more than that. He did say that it had great financial potential and we could work together and do well. We set a time and location to meet, and in a couple of days, we got together.

I met him at the agreed location and I listened as he laid out the proposition. At that time Rafic Hariri
 was the Prime Minister of Lebanon and Hariri was a relative of this man's wife's family. Beirut, the capital, was known as the Paris of the Middle East due to its financial center status, and extensive fine architecture. Fashion was on a high note and life was very predictable.  I didn't know much about the politics of the region other than it was rocky and religiously oriented.

The gentleman explained that a coalition of the different religious sects the Sunni's, Shi'a, and Maronite Christians were held together by Hariri, and although there had been recent problems with them getting along, Hariri was still respected by all parties. The rival factions had pretty well torn up Beirut as evidenced from the photographs he had taken several weeks before when he was in the city.
Sides of buildings missing, bullet holes in everything, and streets that were impassible.....due to burned out cars.While there he had met with several commissioners within the government and they asked him to try to arrange a representative to travel to Beirut to meet with them and Hariri to set up manufacturing businesses within Lebanon to get the people working and economy stable. He wanted ME to go.

He thought that I would have contacts within the business and manufacturing community and some "pull" ( After all....I helped secure the release of hostages...) and get a company or two to set up a manufacturing base in Beirut and employ the people. In addition to having the ground floor opportunity to start the new industrial revolution within the country, I would be well greeted by the government representatives and Hariri, and would be given the standard gifts of swords, rugs, and assorted other items well worth over one hundred thousand dollars whether my efforts succeeded or not. I was still listening.  ( To be continued )