Mr. Mus,

I’ve been a long time reader of your blog. One of the few times I disagreed with you was with your backing of Hezbollah during the war. You yourself placed the blame squarely on Hezbollah for initiating the war. You cannot therefore fault Israel for their reaction. If you mess with the biggest kid in the block, don’ come home crying because he beat the crap out of you.

I know you had good intentions. You saw this as Lebanese uniting against the foreigner. But you should never side with a Lebanese criminal against the foreigner. A criminal is a criminal and a terrorist is a terrorist no matter what nationality they are. Hezbollah is not a merely a political party with deep religious beliefs. Hezbollah is an ideology whose ultimate goal is to establish an Iranian style government.

The Sunni and the Druze have finally woke up to this fact. Sadly the Christians (except the LF) are lagging behind. They are blinded by their infatuation with Aoun.

The only way out of this is for the government to take a hard line. Start disarming Hezbollah and show the Lebanese people who is in charge. Start confiscating weapons left and right and deploy the Lebanese army in large numbers in Hezbollah strong holds. Show hezbollah supporters that the army is their security, not Hezbollah.

Mustapha, And now, after a year. How do you look back at it?

Imad, perhaps you’re right. But it somehow felt right, with the sights and sounds of airplanes bombings.

Hezbollah at that time was an ideological foe who was somewhere in the south, but Israel was a real aggressor that I felt with my every sense.

Suzanne,
I guess you can figure that what by analyzing this post ;) (what I chose to write, what I ignored..etc)

Imad, the Lebanese army cannot fight Hezbollah, it would split immediately. Hezbollah has a strong popular support among Shiites. The only way to weaken Hezbollah is that Aoun becomes president. I know, he is a lunatic. However, he would have realized his dream and I don’t think that he would sell out Lebanon to Syria & Iran. Maybe then Hezbollah would stop seeking outside and integrate into traditional Lebanese politics.

I don’t think that making Aoun a president will solve the issue of Hezbollah in Leb. This is thinking in a 1-dimensional kind of way, where you are only focusing on one problem and ignoring the repercussions, consequences and issues that will emerge once this “solution” is implemented. This is one argument of many that can be used to reply to this idea.

One also cannot neglect the fact of the deep integration of Hezbollah in the Lebanese diversified community, where the decision of “getting rid” of it will lead to major divisions in Lebanon, something that will make the current situation feels like a honeymoon.

I am totally against having Hezbollah in Lebanon, their role is over a long time ago, but what I am saying is that we are in a deep vicious circle that cannot be solved with simple ideas.

Repeatedly the U.S. government supported dictators in various southern American countries because those dictators were anti-communists, never mind atrocities committed by those men in their sovereign countries. Whether FDR speaking of Nicaragua’s dictator, Somoza, or a U.S. Secretary of State referring to the Dominican dictator, Trujillo, those quotes read: “He may be a son-of-a-bitch, but he is our son-of-a-bitch.”

But Hezbollah is part of Lebanon’s backyard—an armed independent militia and a friend of Syria who occupied Lebanon for decades. Ever try throwing a steak to a dog and then trying to take the steak from that dog? Lebanese should have known better, but they didn’t. You too, Mustapha? And now Hezbollah sits in your damaged front yard and you want your economy back. Turns out that Nasrallah is your son-of-a bitch, all too willing to bite you in the ass for a dominant stake in your government, never mind ruining the economy or the many other injuries.

I rememeber that it was the first time I heard of your blog mustapha

I knew Israel had hit lebanon too hard - but I also knew that hezballah had to be wiped out - they would drive my race to extinction if they could

Im glad that you all see the great evil that sits among you in hezballah - im just sorry we had to hit you so hard to get you to realise it

the foto - it´s not hamburg, it´s berlin.

@Mustapha, just like “zionist” i happen to have land on your blog. I remember that though I was many times not agreeing with what you were writing, that I felt a way of understand what you were going through.

Yet with this post, though, you confused me. Do I really read there that you come back to what you said? I mean, as a human being it is not easy not to be dragged into the war (one side or the other). Back then many thought the bombings as justified or unjustified and now people start reasoning again they might even change their opinion.

Now I would like to know if you believe you were wrong accusing Israel of reacting to Hezbollah, or that you were wrong supporting Hezbollah in their fight against Israel.

(or perhaps I did not get the message at all. In that case, please enlighten me!)

I think many start to agree that Israel had to react. though the way Israel reacted people probably disagreed on.

Then the question still remains: how should Israel have reacted towards Hezbollah?

Personally I am more interested in the lack of action by the Lebanese government. I think that Israel also was hoping that the Lebanese army would start to cooperate with them by helping to get rid of Hezbollah. That did not happen. Though the Lebanese army recently came into action after all. Not only when katyushas were fired at Israel, but also considering terrorist cells within Palestinian towns/places/villages/camps (however you want to call it).

Btw, another link:

“Syrian Troops Penetrate 3 Kilometers into Lebanese Territories”
http://www.naharnet.com/domino/tn/NewsDesk.nsf/getstory?openform&549222D25BBD134FC225730F001D7083

and Michael Totten on this:
“So I asked Michael Young, opinion page editor at Beirut’s Daily Star, if the story was bogus.

“It is true,” he said, “but the problem is that the 3 kilometers are in isolated areas, so that it isn’t making headlines. However, the UN will be discussing border issues this week, I think, and that will be brought up. The Syrians are ratcheting up the pressure, but with the attack against UN troops in the south, they are, as one UN official put it, playing with fire.”

If Israel sent the IDF three kilometers into Lebanon and started digging trenches and building bunkers it would make news all over the world. But Syria does it and everyone shrugs. Hardly anyone even knows it happened at all.

Syria can, apparently, get away with just about anything. I could hardly blame Assad at this point if he believes, after such an astonishing non-response, that he can reconquer Beirut. So far he can kill and terrorize and invade and destroy with impunity, at least up to a point. What is that point? Has anyone in the U.S., Israel, the Arab League, the European Union, or the United Nations even considered the question?”

Imad @ 1

“The Sunni and the Druze have finally woke up to this fact. Sadly the Christians (except the LF) are lagging behind. They are blinded by their infatuation with Aoun.”

Please, do not laugh at stupid foreigner’s analysis but what if the answer is this:

Sunni, Druze, Shiite. To Christian there is no difference what Muslim branch is eventually in charge and Civil War memories are still fresh. Why not side with the strongest just in case?

Correction first sentence:
just like “zionist” i happen to have land on your blog.

should be:

just like “zionist” i happen to have land on your blog during the Second Lebanon war.

It will be the end of Aoun if he becomes president and turns his back on the alliances he made and that got him to the presidency, don’t you think Kheir? just like many before him, history repeats itself! I hope the Aoun-Hez partnership agrees on and CLEARLY draws out the fate of the “resistance” before the presidency issue.

Kara, I don’t think that if Aoun becomes persident, he would accept that the Hezb remains a state within the state; however, the syrian might try to eliminate him like they did with Bashir Gemayel and René Mouawad to keep the instability.

Kheireddine @ 4

Aoun has already sold out Lebanon. He single handedly brought back the pro-Syrian camp out of oblivion and he is giving them the credibility they never dreamed they would have after ‘05.

His most important, and most recent, sell-out move has to be his siding with Hizballah on the Hariri tribunal issue.

[...] Beirut Spring recalls how the war began as his family was preparing for his engagement party. He mentions how the party went on as planned on July 13, the second day of the war. In his post, which contains many links to posts during the war, he states his position at the time of the war: We will support Hezbollah for now. We will unite behind them as long as we’re under attack. We will not criticize them publicly. They are welcome in our houses and in our cities. This is a time for unity, not squabbling. [but after it’s all over] We will make it clear to the world that Hezbollah is not speaking for all the Lebanese. We will make it well known that we will no longer accept unilateral decisions pertaining to war and peace [...]

[...] Beirut Spring recalls how the war began as his family was preparing for his engagement party. He mentions how the party went on as planned on July 13, the second day of the war. In his post, which contains many links to posts during the war, he states his position at the time of the war: We will support Hezbollah for now. We will unite behind them as long as we’re under attack. We will not criticize them publicly. They are welcome in our houses and in our cities. This is a time for unity, not squabbling. [but after it’s all over] We will make it clear to the world that Hezbollah is not speaking for all the Lebanese. We will make it well known that we will no longer accept unilateral decisions pertaining to war and peace [...]