[lit-ideas] Re: Hezbollah (cont'd)
- From: "Andreas Ramos" <andreas@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 30 Jul 2006 12:00:04 -0700
From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
Listening to you, Omar, writing about Hezbollah winning back South Lebanon is nonsense.
Hezbollah won back Southern Lebanon the same way that Hamas won back Gaza. Fact is Sharon
simply left.
That's not correct. With ceaseless attacks, Hezbollah drove both the USA, France, and Israel
out of Lebanon.
The truck-bombing of the US Marines barrack, in which over 240 US Marines were killed,
forced Reagan to abandon Lebanon. To distract the US public from the political disaster and
the US military defeat, Reagan invaded Grenada the next day. It was a fake invasion,
intended to deflect attention. 19 US soldiers died for this propaganda event.
Stan probably has also forgotten that Hezbollah, on the same day as the Marines bombing,
also used a truck-bomb to destroy the French military headquarters. Nearly 60 French
soliders died.
Hezbollah kept up a remorseless attack on Israel. Israel's extreme violence, including mass
murders at refugee camps, was unable to force the Lebanese into submission. Over 100,000
died and nearly a million became refugees, yet they kept fighting against Israel. The
Israeli Army was designed to fight large-scale mechanized land war against national armies,
not a guerilla war. Hezbollah finally forced Israel to retreat from Lebanon
Stan may not remember Hezbollah's operations in the Bekaa Valley in the 80s. They kidnapped
and held US hostages, often for years. Terry Waite was the best-known hostage; he was an
envoy from the Archbishop of Canterbury. They also kidnapped and tortured William Buckley,
the CIA Station Cheif for Lebanon. I remember all of this quite well, since I was living in
Europe at the time and Hezbollah was considered very dangerous.
As to whether Hezbollah is a terrorist group or legitimate resistance, the USA and Israel
call them terrorists. Why? Because Hezbollah is a quasi-state-without-territory. Their
military activities are a small part of their overall work: they run hospitals, schools,
even agricultural services. If the USA calls them soldiers, then this implies recognition of
their state status. This morning, an Israeli general used the word "soldiers", and quickly
corrected himself. Thus, if they can't be soldiers, the only word is terrorist, just as it's
an "insurgency" in Iraq, instead of occupation resistance.
BTW, most countries do not consider Hezbollah to be terrorists.
However, nearly 90% of Lebanese consider them a legitimate resistance organization. This
even includes Christian Lebanese. Lebanese, of all political and religious colors, want
Israel to get out and stay out.
So Stan is right: Hezbollah are terrorists, but that's only by default; the US won't call
them soldiers. The Lebanese however are also right; Hezbollah is not a terrorist
organization.
yrs,
andreas
www.andreas.com
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