“Yes we are arming because guns make us safer”



News Analysis

As the Americans arm their allies in the Middle East, embrace yourself for a new version of the American debate on guns: In the Middle East, do more arms reduce the likelihood of civil war or increase it?


Marching on..

In Lebanon, Mr. Suleiman Frajieh, a Christian opposition leader, was blunt. He told Assafir that his Marada party was arming to prevent another Ehden & Safra massacre. (The one the took the life of his family back in the civil war)

The opposition, especially the hitherto unarmed Christian wing, believes that the Americans are arming the Sunnis to face up to (Shiaa) Hezbollah. This explains why Aoun keeps referring to the ISF -a security body with a strong Sunni presence- as a “militia”. To the opposition’s Christians, especially those in the North where there’s a Sunni majority, arming themselves would be the logical response.

A similar dynamic is taking place in Iraq. The Americans are arming Sunni tribes to defend themselves against both Alquaeda and Shiaa Militias. The strategy seems to be working so far as September was one of the least bloody months for Iraqi civilians. But PM Maliki has raised a legitimate concern: Aren’t those armed becoming just another militia that could fight the Americans later? Many influential pundits agree.

At the heart of the issue is the American attitude to guns. To many in the USA, guns indeed make you safer. Their (explosively controversial) argument is the following: If I carry a gun, criminals will think ten times before attacking me.
In other words, the Americans could be sincerely good-willed in arming the various Middle Eastern factions.

The debate will rage on, but now the Americans have left an intellectual fingerprint on it. Even anti Americans like Mr. Franjieh would make the NRA proud. 

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Discussion

No comments for ““Yes we are arming because guns make us safer””

  1. Obviously, the Lebanese people have not learned the lessons of the 15 years war.
    150,000 dead and 32 years of chaos, that wasn’t enough…I am glad I left that f…up country. I would like to tell Sleiman Jr that he is a perfect illustration of what is wrong in Lebanon…

    Posted by kheireddine | October 12, 2007, 4:00 pm
  2. The logic that if I carry a gun, criminals will think ten times before attacking me is the general propaganda spread by the gun lobby. They then go on to use Switzerland etc as prime examples of responisble gun control, and how safe the place is yada yada yada. HELLO!! This is the middle east bud…we is craaaazy sons of bitch peepole. In this part of the world (just like everywhere else for that matter)The criminals are just going to buy a gun and so when they attack you in all lieklihood someone is going to end up dead.

    By the way, who said being a politician in lebanon meant that you were a logical creature? They are all simpletons who deserve to be removed from leadership hence you get characters like nasrallah, Claoun, marada man, saniora, hariri. jumblatt…did i leave any sect out:-)

    Eid Mubarak Mustapha!

    Ayesh Lubnan

    Posted by Shunkleash | October 12, 2007, 4:57 pm
  3. By the greatest percent the victims of gunshot wounds or a related fatality in the United States is not due to a robbery or any attack by a stranger but instead the victim is usually attacked by a family member, a friend or an acquaintance. Criminal street gangs mostly attack one another. In other words, gun owners tend to maim or murder someone they know. An example: Vice President Dick Cheney managed to fire his weapon at a fellow hunter—missed the “noisy” bird, maimed the other hunter who was hidden from his view.

    BTW: Bullets fired UP will fall DOWN and some of those bullets at least occasionally will claim a victim. The celebratory firing of weapons upward in crowded cities is lunacy.

    Posted by JAS | October 12, 2007, 6:52 pm
  4. Ok guys everone is arming. Yup I am sure the core 4,000-5,000 ISF personnel who are being trained by the French/american/German etc. “police” are being set up to counter the Hizbo “irregulars”. I do not see anything wrong in strengthening the security that is clean of Syrian Mukhabarati influence. Bravo to March 14th. Trust me the Hizbo’s are scared of this…trust me they realize that the “others” will not kneel over and beg mercy or lick their persian boots (…you guessed it alla Hassaoun). Lebanon will not have ANY future unless the “dirtbag” next door is exterminated along with his relatives!

    Posted by Danny | October 12, 2007, 7:58 pm
  5. Q: When this worthless shit Frangieh says publicly that his gang is re-arming, why isn’t the army-ISF-judiciary investigating and arresting his ass?

    Posted by JoseyWales | October 12, 2007, 10:03 pm
  6. Josey, Sleiman Bey is like Wi’am Wahhab, the Hezb, Joumblatt etc…above the Law. A couple of weeks after the incident at the border when Wahhab was returning from Syria threatened the customer agents, he was received by the President of the Republic…

    Posted by kheireddine | October 13, 2007, 5:03 am
  7. the Americans could be sincerely good-willed in arming the various Middle Eastern factions.
    you are being sarcastic, right?

    Posted by Moussa | October 14, 2007, 5:05 pm
  8. The American position on guns for self-defense has always been at odds with their non-proliferation attitude towards nuclear weapons. After all, if handguns make the world a safer place, then nukes would surely do the trick as well.

    Posted by Riemer Brouwer | October 15, 2007, 6:04 am
  9. “A similar dynamic is taking place in Iraq. The Americans are arming Sunni tribes to defend themselves against both Alquaeda and Shiaa Militias.”

    The Americans are NOT arming the tribes, either Sunni or Shia. They are organising what they call “Concerned Citizens” but they are not handing out any arms at all.

    These citizens are all armed already.

    It is about organising an alliance with former enemies who have realised (a bit late) that Al Qaeda and the Shia militias are much worse than the Americans. This is a similar situation to that in the Vietnam War, when the southern Vietnamese assumed as too obvious to be worth thinking about that the Americans were evil colonialists, only to realise (too late) that their real enemies were the Maoists.

    Posted by Don Cox | October 15, 2007, 3:06 pm
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    cqkgjytmwgcqkgjytmwgcqkgjytmwg cqkgjytmwg

    Posted by cqkgjytmwg | November 26, 2007, 12:28 pm
  11. hi ayri bil maradah
    ana ma3 tiyar mous2tabal

    Posted by mouhamad ayoubi | April 2, 2008, 9:34 am

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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.

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