The Next Prime Minister?

He claimed they were very good friends.

That is something that not only the president but the people with him are trying to put out, the ministers who always objected to my father's plans. What they say is, 'On a personal basis we had nothing against him, but it was politics.' [But] they had a personal and political problem with my father. My father did not want corruption. He wanted a sovereign Lebanon, and they didn't want a sovereign Lebanon. They wanted corruption and they wanted to keep the intelligence and security forces making decisions instead of [allowing] politicians to do their jobs.

There have been many allegations that your father was corrupt.

If there would be an international committee to investigate corruption, we are more than happy to open all our books and see who is corrupt in this country. If there was corruption, it was the part of Lebanese intelligence that sold themselves [to Syria].

[Druze leader] Walid Jumblatt, too, seems to want to get rid of President Lahoud.

We all want to get rid of him. Nobody wants him there.

So, then you are willing to try to become prime minister?

I am willing to try, yes. The only reason I am hesitating is because I don't want to jump into bigger shoes than I can wear.

Don't you think you can grow [into the job]?

I would have to grow pretty fast. A month ago, I was a businessman. Now I am a politician who's running for elections.

What is your vision for Lebanon should you become prime minister?

I don't have a magic wand, but I think . . . we have a clear vision and a clear plan to end the corruption. This is going to take four years of hard work because whoever is corrupt -- it is going to take a lot to move him from where he or she is. The second thing is the economy. We have some good [indications] from the Europeans, the Americans and the Gulf States that they are willing to help Lebanon after the elections, and this is encouraging. . . .