21.5.07

Unpopular and failed governments in Israel and Lebanon and the sacrifice of Palestinian civilians

The last Israeli agression on Lebanon that was supposed to crush Hezbollah was a disaster to both countries, a disaster to peace in the region, and a bigger disaster for Palestinians. Palestinians are so let down by the Arab and international community that killing them isn't a big deal anymore. And that is exactly what is happening in Lebanon under the cover of fighting Muslim extremists.

The defeat of Israel in its last agression on Lebanon has produced, on top of the civilian casualties, and the cluster bombs that continue to kill in Lebanon, and the 800000 refugees, and the destruction of the country and the land and the harvest for a long time to come, two unpopular and rotten governments hanging on power against the odds and against democratic common sense. Olmert for example enjoys a popularity rate under the margin of error. As for Lebanon's PM Sanyura (Siniora in the western press), there was no investigation committee on his role during the war and no opinion polls to test his popularity. But you know that things have gone wrong when this PM, who is hanging on an amputated government contested since November by more than half the population, orders his army, who never lifted a finger against any agression on Lebanon, not even during the Israeli agression, to attack Palestinian refugee camps inside Lebanon.

The Muslim extremists whom Sanyura is fighting were able to infiltrate the camps thanks to Sanyura's all time ally Hariri and his Saudi mentors. One can recognize here the neocon doctrine at work; maintaining muslim extremists at hand in order to justify wars and civilian casualties. These confrontations, which Sanyura and his allies seem to attribute to Syrian interference in Palestinian refugee camps in northern Lebanon, are tailored to pressure an increasingly hesitant national security council towards establishing a special tribunal for Lebanon, officializing the vassalization of Lebanon to US and French interests and consequently tipping the balance of power toward an increasingly unpopular US sponsored Sanyura government and its March 14th ally, against the will of more than half the population, the Shias led by Amal and Hezbollah, and half the Christians led by general Michel Aoun, in addition to support form a sizeable part of other communities (sunnis and druzes).

But thanks to investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, the Lebanese government move should not be considered otherwise than a survival manoeuvre. Like Olmert, whose army is continuing to kill palestinians in order to distract his political detractors inside Israel, the political survival manoeuvres launched by the Sanyura government in northern Lebanon are made on the dead bodies of civilians to distract from his government unpopularity and lack of support. More than cluster bombs and more than nuclear weapons, failed politicians in the ME are the most dangerous weapons againt civilian populations and against regional and international peace. Failed Politicians in the ME are Weapons of Mass Destruction. Yet, the US foreign policy has been doing just that, implementing Weapons of Mass destruction in the ME by supporting failed politicians (and sometimes removing them when they become disobediant and replacing them by other failed ones more obediant), feeding wars and conflicts, in total disregard for human life.

Here are some excerpts from Hersh's article 'The redirection' shwowing clearly the link between the US supported Sanyura and Hariri government and the sunni extremists they are pretending to fight now in norhtern Lebanon. I let you draw the conclusions...

''In 2005, according to a report by the U.S.-based International Crisis Group, Saad Hariri, the Sunni majority leader of the Lebanese parliament and the son of the slain former Prime Minister—Saad inherited more than four billion dollars after his father’s assassination—paid forty-eight thousand dollars in bail for four members of an Islamic militant group from Dinniyeh. The men had been arrested while trying to establish an Islamic mini-state in northern Lebanon. The Crisis Group noted that many of the militants “had trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan''.''
''In an interview in Beirut, a senior official in the Siniora government acknowledged that there were Sunni jihadists operating inside Lebanon. “We have a liberal attitude that allows Al Qaeda types to have a presence here,” he said. He related this to concerns that Iran or Syria might decide to turn Lebanon into a “theatre of conflict.”''
''Martin Indyk, of the Saban Center, said, however, that the United States “does not have enough pull to stop the moderates* in Lebanon from dealing with the extremists.” He added, “The President sees the region as divided between moderates and extremists, but our regional friends see it as divided between Sunnis and Shia. The Sunnis that we view as extremists are regarded by our Sunni allies simply as Sunnis.”''
''Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, “The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.” Crooke said that one Sunni extremist group, Fatah al-Islam, had splintered from its pro-Syrian parent group, Fatah al-Intifada, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon. Its membership at the time was less than two hundred. “I was told that within twenty-four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government’s interests—presumably to take on Hezbollah,” Crooke said.''

*Please note that what the US (and neocon Indyk) call 'moderates' in Lebanon refers only to US allies without regard to their local political or religious allegiances.

10 comments:

Naj said...

My first impression when I heard about Lebanese bombing the Lebanese was:

"Transmutation of the Iraq Policy"

And you predicted this a long time ago, Sophia. Have the population kill each other in little explosions triggered by fundamentalists implanted in the hearts of any form of resistant movement.

Disturbing indeed.

Sophia said...

My dear Naj,

My heart is aching at these news. These refugee camps were routinely bombed by Israelis when I was a child and we used to hear the sounds of the bombings and the planes from my village which is half an hour by car from Tripoli.

It is because the Lebanonisation of Iraq went beyond control that Lebanon is being pushed to new limits set by the dynamic of the US occupation in Iraq. We can fairly say that this is the Iraqisation of Lebanon. The region is one huge firework lit by USrael and there is no relief in sight.
The people of the ME have been fed only despair....

Naj said...

I have been thinking about you the whole day.

I have been in my sandbox lately; as you know the reasons for. But this is really disturbing.

It's also disturbing how silent the world is. And now, one cannot even count on France!

Sophia said...

Naj,
Zionists are cheering of course. Since yesterday I have had a couple of comments from them that will be carefully archived in my mailbox.

Wolfie said...

I've been expecting things to "kick-off again" in The Lebanon since the French election of a Conservative Jew, I must admit I didn't expect it so soon. Somehow I think we'll be seeing France averting its traditional eye from its former colonies and protectorates in acquiescence to American interests for the foreseeable future.

Sophia said...

Wolfie,
I agree 100% with you. I think France's closeness to Lebanon under Chirac, despite being problematic and unproductive, was, after all, a containing element. Promises were made and not kept but there were promises after all. Now we are left in the care of the great Inquisitor alone who plays the entire middle east like a bad chess game.
If, despite assurances to the contrary, Sanyura has been let down by the US, which explains why Sanyura sends his army to battle bank robbers and bomb Palestinian civilians as a move intended to show muscle in the only place where he could do so, this move could be intended to reinforce Hezbollah, provoking a new civll war in Lebanon which will justify a regional war against Iran. I am just anticipating wildly but any scenario might be possible and with the neocons one can be sure that it will be always the most extreme and worse scenario. Here the Lebanese (and specially the present government) will be either playing the game willfully or as a bunch of naive fools, betting on an eventual political fallout...The history of Lebanon tells us that both kinds coexist in the Lebanese political landscape where the vassal mentality is deeply rooted in the political elite.

Naj said...

I just heard Americans are sending "war" supplies to Lebanon to "protect" its (lebanon's) security (against whom???)!

I cannot TOLERATE the news!

Sophia said...

Naj,
The news are definitely bad for us. As for the US sending weapons to lebanon, that has been going on for a while now. Sanyura has an army of his own, his security forces of 20000 men were entirely armed by the US. But they are like the Lebanese army, these people are not fighting for principles, they are just mercenaries, they cannot win wars buut they can do a lot of damage...

Ann said...

Sophia,
I have linked to this post and like you my heart is heavy with recent developments. Hersh has repeated his blowback analysis with respect to US-Saudi-Lebanese government involvement and he is remiss only in not mentioning Israel, methinks.

- Ann

Sophia said...

Ann,
Thanks for the link. You are right about Hersh.

 
Since March 29th 2006