[lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah (cont'd)
- From: Omar Kusturica <omarkusto@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 31 Jul 2006 08:02:01 -0700 (PDT)
--- Stan Spiegel <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
> Andreas, it's not my opinion that counts here.
> Citing a statistic like yours
> makes me wonder, if true, whether the Lebanese who
> are cited are aware of
> Hezbollah as an arm of Syria and Iran. Are they
> aware that Hezbollah, in
> other words, represents a foreign agenda, not a
> Lebanese one?
*This would need some firm evidence rather than just
your assertions. The great majority of Hezbollah's
members and supporters today are native Lebanese.
Granted that the Hezbollah has connections with Syria
and Iran, most informed observers don't think that it
is simply a foreign "arm." Btw is Israel acting as an
"arm" of the United States ?
I remember
> hearing Walid Jumblatt and other Parliamentarians
> ask what gave a party
> (Hezbollah) the right to commit the country to war,
> with all its attendant
> costs.
*A cross-border incursion (again, if that is really
what happened, about which there are some doubts)
would not necessarily incite a response of this
magnitude and ferocity. Even Israel does not always
respond to provocations in such a wildly
disproportionate manner.
> Hezbollah, until now, has branded itself a protector
> of the Lebanese people,
> not the agent of a foreign agenda. That self-image
> is no longer tenable.
> Many Arab (and non-Arab) observers see an Iranian
> hand guiding Hezbollah.
*Most recent reports indicate that Hezbollah's
popularity is on the rise in Arab countries. The
Saudis have already replaced their earlier
anti-Hezbollah statements with fresh anti-Israeli
statements.
> Isn't it interesting, they ask, that Hezbollah's
> attacks coincided exactly
> with the deadline the European Union set for
> Iranian's to respond to its
> proposed nuclear deal? What better way to show that
> Iran can make life
> difficult for those who pressure it than to create a
> broad crisis in the
> region?
*That may be an interesting observation, but doesn't
it look look the US is using Israel as a proxy to
frighten Iran and Syria when it itself is too bogged
down in Iraq and in a too weak political position to
strike them directly ?
> Are the Lebanese who support Hezbollah aware that
> Hezbollah doesn't support
> the Lebanese in this war?
> Even the UN's humanitarian chief, Jan Egeland, said:
> "Hezbollah must stop
> this cowardly blending... among women and children.
> I heard they were proud
> because they lost very few fighters and that it was
> the civilians bearing
> the brunt of this."
*Egeland also made some other comments. See:
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1153292006828&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
O.K.
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