Friday, August 25, 2006

World proclaims Hizbollah victor, Lebanon does not

I was going to start this column with an apology, because I have refused to read anti-semitic material. I receive the The Daily Star on a daily basis, but I have been deleting it. Then I retrieved the last one sent, and here are some of the headlines:
Syrian ports gain from Lebanon blockade
US claims 'great progress' in Iraq as violence kills 14 The terrorists blow people up, we get blamed?
Aoun says Hizbullah should try to 'reassure' rest of country Isn't he supposed to disarm Hizbullah?
Wake up, America! Israel is no friend of yours They never attacked us on purpose or murdered any of our servicemen that were there to protect and help you.
Be grateful that exasperation has not stifled moderates It is not what you think.
That is just an example from yesterday, Aug. 25, 2006 (their time). All the while, they are marching in the shoes of our western media. They may not like this, but they have been westernized!

I have read this wonderful article in the Opinion Journal online. Now I am pretty much confused. Are the reporters still being threatened? Is the IRGI (Islamic Republic Guard of Iran) still there? Do we need to confront this group? (I say, "Yes." We should have done so 3 years ago, but that's a different issue.)

Mr. Amir Taheri has written this article today. He sites many people of fine distinction. Michel Aoun (a maverick Christian leader and tactical ally of Hezbollah, has called for the Shiite militia to disband), Walid Abi-Mershed (a leading Lebanese columnist), Sayyed Ali al-Amin (the grand old man of Lebanese Shiism, has broken years of silence to criticize Hezbollah for provoking the war, and called for its disarmament), Mona Fayed (a prominent Shiite academic in Beirut) and many more.

Here is what he concludes:
Hezbollah's position is no more secure in the broader Arab world, where it is seen as an Iranian tool rather than as the vanguard of a new Nahdha (Awakening), as the Western media claim. To be sure, it is still powerful because it has guns, money and support from Iran, Syria and Hate America International Inc. But the list of prominent Arab writers, both Shiite and Sunni, who have exposed Hezbollah for what it is--a Khomeinist Trojan horse--would be too long for a single article. They are beginning to lift the veil and reveal what really happened in Lebanon.

Having lost more than 500 of its fighters, and with almost all of its medium-range missiles destroyed, Hezbollah may find it hard to sustain its claim of victory. "Hezbollah won the propaganda war because many in the West wanted it to win as a means of settling score with the United States," says Egyptian columnist Ali al-Ibrahim. "But the Arabs have become wise enough to know TV victory from real victory."
I do believe there is a movement in Beruit that will be unstopable, just as the March 14 Cedar Revolution. It is up to the people of Lebanon to demand justice from their government. A state within a state which does not abide by any of the same rules as the Superior State is unjust. As we know, that tension, that struggle, cannot stand. One state will survive, but only one.

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Category: Lebanon, terrorism, Syria and Iran.