It matters not whether in office or in the opposition, he continuously endeavors to portray himself as an educated, moderate and technocrat politician. In fact, however, he lives in fear of death at the hands of his Syrian masters, and so utters what he does not mean, or believe when addressing national matters. Hoss anticipates such a fate since there have been many precedents: The late Kamal Jumblatt who met this fate after erroneously believing that the Syrian Baathists could be trusted; Lebanon's Grand Sunni Mufti, Sheik Hassan Khalid, who had the courage to witness for the truth; or the late President-Elect Rene Muawad who was murdered the same day he attempted to say no to the Syrians; or more recently former Minister Marwan Hamadi who miraculously escaped an assassination attempt that, according to him, was engineered by Syrian and Lebanese Mukabarat Services.