I totally agree with you. Gilbert is just using a façade to make people listen to him. He wants to appear as the victim of the EAs trouble. He’s always giving speeches to make himself look like he wants peace, but that wouldn’t be entirely believable if there wasn’t someone you already trust out there too, right? *blinks* Okay, I’ll elaborate. In GS the former ZAFT leader was Athrun’s father, who was in short, a lunatic, so if after the war a new chairman came, I highly doubt people would accept him with open arms. He needed someone powerful and someone who can get to be on their side. Who else but Lacus can be the perfect candidate? But Lacus was with Kira, and is also against war, so a different tactic needed to be used, like making a replica of her, who would of course be at his every abide. I always wondered why Meer was such a airhead, but I guess I now know why, because Gilbert wanted someone who was stupid enough to fall for his ‘I-am-against-war’ and also someone who wouldn’t be suspicious of him. The people aren’t stupid either, so he though some areas needed some enhancement, thus why Meer looks like extraordinarily ‘mature’.
Now that Gilbert has his supporters, he now needs power. If Kira was still naïve, I bet you he would have taken him like a snap. He’s got the power to be invincible, as we already know, but he has Lacus with him, who of course, guided him. I think that’s why he’s so against them being together, since they are ‘unstoppable’. But Shinn is naïve right? He still uses fury as his power source, which isn’t always smart. I bet he just fell for Gilbert’s talk just like many others did, like Athrun too. I think that’s why he seemed to want Athrun and Lacus together, with Athrun’s trusting nature, and Lacus/Meer power of the people, they would be the best duo for Gilbert. But Athrun is friends with the people that are against Gilbert because they don’t believe his façade. Gilbert is just very manupilating, and makes sure his hidden agenda, well, stays hidden. Patrick Zala didn’t do such a good job of that if I remember correctly.
Gilbert wants power, he also wants to win the war. He’s using the LOGOs as a tool for him to get to the EA. If he causes an uproar, and makes them look bad, people will start to listen to him, and a war will start. He is very clever, that I will admit, it looks like he’s thought of everything, but I think he underestimates Shinn and Rey’s capabilities if he honestly believes no one will figure out his plans. After all, Lunamaria did, according to the spoilers.
Very long ‘post’ there ^^