America should help Hezbollah be part of Lebanese government

"Last month the White House issued an official statement citing 'attempts by Syria, Iran, and their allies within Lebanon to foment instability and violence' and insisting the United States would 'continue its efforts with allied nations and democratic forces in Lebanon to resist these efforts.' In other words, we’re still trying to rile Lebanese sentiment as a wedge against our enemies in the region.
A far more genuine American commitment to Lebanon would focus on helping the parties to come up with a reasonable formula to redress the under-representation of Shiites in the power structure while getting greater government control over Hezbollah’s war-making capacity.
Make no mistake: Hezbollah is no friend to America. As a former United States intelligence officer, I know there are a few accounts yet to be settled with that organization. But Washington will never achieve its objectives in the Middle East — including its obligation to ensure Israel’s long-term security — unless it puts emotions aside and deals realistically with facts on the ground. Like it or not, Hezbollah is one of those facts. A less-than-pliable but strong government in Lebanon would be far preferable to no real government at all, which is what we have now."

Op-ed by Robert Grenier, former director of the CIA's counterintelligence center.

source
The New York Times. If You Love Lebanon, Set It Free. December 17, 2006.

song: There's no ceasefire in Lebanon, baby

posted: tuesday, december 19, 2006, 11:08 AM ET

lebanon manipulation America cia song

Lebanon protest rally continues; Shiites have not been treated well

"The center of Beirut was packed Sunday with hundreds of thousands of pro-Hezbollah and allied demonstrators who, in a jubilant mass of protest and carnival, pressed their call for the government to resign.
. . . Over and over, the crowd, the speakers and the posters offered clear explanations. They did not want a government controlled by the so-called March 14 coalition, an amalgam of Sunni, Christian and Druse parties. They did not want a government aligned with Washington. In short, a very large number of Lebanese citizens said they did not want the present leadership.
. . . Hezbollah and its allies have managed for 10 days to control the center of Beirut with a loud, peaceful, organized protest. In many ways, Hezbollah has adopted a strategy that has been cheered by the White House in the past, in places like Ukraine, and even Lebanon, leaning on large, peaceful crowds to force unpopular governments to resign and pave the way for elections.
But this time Washington and its allies have said the protest amounts to a coup d’état, fueling charges that the United States supports democratic practices only when its allies are winning." [1]

"In some ways, Hossam Yassine represents the changing fortunes of Lebanon's Shiites. Yassine is college-educated, back from a job in the Persian Gulf. And every day this week, he has gone to the festival-like protests, in part for the party, in part because Hezbollah wants him to and in part because he believes.
"Hezbollah came and made something for the Shia, that we are here," the 22-year-old said.
. . . In a way, the protests . . . are the equivalent of a new kind of politics in Lebanon, drawing on the street, roiled by populist demands: a protest over government corruption, a denunciation of the United States and Israel, a celebration of the war this summer, tinted with a sense of betrayal at the hands of other Lebanese, and a call for change, however ill-defined it might be.
. . . "From the beginning we weren't treated well. Not just now. From the previous government and the government before that," Yassine said. "The people aren't going here because what Sayyid Hasan said. Sure, they'll do what he says. They love him. But they're going here because they're unhappy. I'll go not one night, two nights or three nights. I'll go for a year or two years."
. . . "They can't let any fight get big," Yassine said. "If a small fight gets big, Lebanon is gone." [2]

sources
[1] The New York Times. As Crowd Demands Change, Lebanese Premier Is Puzzled. December 11, 2006.
[2] The Washington Post. Lebanon's Shiites Grapple With New Feeling of Power. December 10, 2006.

posted: thursday, december 14, 2006, 5:49 PM ET
update: thursday, december 14, 2006, 5:52 PM ET

Hezbollah protest rally

"Hezbollah and its allies escalated Lebanon's month-long political crisis into a popular confrontation Friday, sending hundreds of thousands of supporters into the streets, parking lots and sidewalks of downtown Beirut, vowing to topple the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and reorient the country.
. . . If the protests fail to force the government's resignation, flatly ruled out by Siniora in a speech Thursday, Hezbollah's supporters have talked about resignations from parliament, work stoppages or civil disobedience to shut down ministries.
The group's opponents, sensing that Friday's mass demonstration was the biggest card it had to play, promised to wait.
. . . The slogans played on themes that Hezbollah and its allies have pushed relentlessly since the crisis began. Corruption was a key complaint.
Often the language was directed against the United States' sway in Lebanon. Nasrallah has called the government more loyal to U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey D. Feltman than Siniora himself." [1]

"People started to jam into the city well before the demonstration’s scheduled 3 p.m. start. The army closed off Martyrs Square, a symbolic site, blocking it with swirls of razor wire and guarding it with armored personnel carriers and heavily armed troops." [2]

"Hezbollah moved quickly after the war with Israel to capitalize on its enhanced political standing at home and abroad, out of a conviction that the governing coalition had effectively colluded with Israel in the hope its bombing campaign would destroy Hezbollah’s militia. Political leaders initially held talks aimed at resolving the standoff. But the talks collapsed when Hezbollah refused to give up its demand that its alliance be given more seats in the cabinet — one-third-plus-one members, ensuring it veto power — a demand the governing coalition also refused.
'Lebanon,' Sheik Nasrallah said, 'with its structure, diversity, nature and confidentiality, cannot be ruled by one single party and cannot be ruled by a specific coalition to solve its problems, especially in light of the internal difficult conditions, which are regionally more difficult and internationally very dangerous.' " [3]

sources
[1] The Washington Post. Crisis Intensifies in Lebanon As Hezbollah Takes to Streets. December 2, 2006.
[2] The New York Times. In Beirut, High Spirits and Demand for Change. December 2, 2006.
[3] The New York Times. Hezbollah Calls for Rally to Grip Beirut. December 1, 2006.

posted: monday, december 4, 2006, 8:15 AM ET

Hezbollah training Iraqi militia, says American official

"A senior American intelligence official said Monday that the Iranian-backed group Hezbollah had been training members of the Mahdi Army, the Iraqi Shiite militia led by Moktada al-Sadr.
The official said that 1,000 to 2,000 fighters from the Mahdi Army and other Shiite militias had been trained by Hezbollah in Lebanon.
. . . The intelligence official spoke on condition of anonymity under rules set by his agency.
. . . While Iran wants a stable Iraq, the official said, it sees an advantage in 'managed instability in the near term' to bog down the American military and defeat the Bush administration’s objectives in the region. "

source
The New York Times. Hezbollah Said to Help Shiite Army in Iraq. November 28, 2006.

posted: saturday, december 2, 2006, 1:34 AM ET
update: saturday, december 2, 2006, 4:31 AM ET

Gemayel conspiracy theories

Gemayel's allies

"In the Shiite southern suburbs, Hezbollah's stronghold, shops stayed open Thursday despite a three-day period of mourning announced after Gemayel's death. As the funeral began, many watched scenes a few miles away unfold on television. Suspicion ran deep that Gemayel's allies, not Syria, were behind the killing, given the way his death has bolstered Hezbollah's opponents and put the organization on the defensive, forcing it to delay its own protests many had expected to begin this week." [1]

"The simmering struggle flared this month when Hezbollah and its Christian ally, Michel Aoun, demanded greater representation in the cabinet. Four rounds of talks failed, and two Hezbollah ministers, three other Shiites and an allied politician resigned on Nov. 11, depriving the cabinet of its Shiite representation and the symbolic sectarian consensus on which Lebanese politics depends.
Two days later, the depleted cabinet endorsed a U.N. proposal for an international tribunal to try suspects in Hariri's death, a step Syria has adamantly resisted. This weekend, in another escalation, Hezbollah leader Hasan Nasrallah insisted that the government resign or hold early parliamentary elections. Otherwise, he said, his followers would conduct days, even weeks of protests to bring the government down." [2]

syria

"U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan has diligently and courageously pursued another course in dealing with Syria's systematic use of violence to regain control over Lebanon and the fortunes in smuggling drugs and arms that Syrian politicians and generals generate from their neighbor.
Citing the conditions created by the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister, in February 2005 as a threat to international peace, Annan creatively pushed for an international criminal investigation and an international tribunal to try the case. Syrian officials are prime suspects in that crime and are widely believed to be behind the assassinations of at least four other advocates of Lebanese independence that followed Hariri's murder.
The killing of Gemayel, a member of the anti-Syrian coalition headed by Prime Minister Fuad Siniora, bears the hallmarks of a Syrian "initiative" to block the U.N. effort. And the murder came as Syria was reestablishing diplomatic relations with Iraq after 24 years of estrangement. This translation of Syrian actions quickly made its way through the Middle East: "You want help in Iraq? It will cost you Lebanon. For starters." That is realpolitik and real communication, Assad-style." [3]

sources
[1] The Washington Post. At Lebanese Funeral, a Show of Force Against Syria: Gemayel's Assassination Highlights Escalating Conflict Over Country's Direction. November 24, 2006.
[2] The Washington Post. Fears of Civil Strife Rise in Lebanon: Christian Cabinet Member Pierre Gemayel, Killed by Gunmen, Was Critic of Syria. November 22, 2006.
[3] The Washington Post. Realism, and Values, in Lebanon. November 26, 2006.

posted: friday, november 24, 2006, 9:53 PM ET
update: wednesday, november 29, 2006, 3:49 PM ET