Aug 28 2006
Hezbollah Damaged Its Support In Lebanon
There is a reason Nasrallah is back pedaling on his instigation of the war with Israel, and that is probably because he sees what’s coming. A poll shows Druze, Christians and even Sunni’s want Hezbollah disarmed – probably so they can’t start another incident. Hezbollah cannot stand with so many Lebanese standing against it. An armed Hezbollah is a disaster, as events have shown. The people of Lebanon understand this. They want only the outreach and community support part of Hezbollah.
This a big relief. Lebanon has been one of the few points of hope in the Middle East. There is a strong Christian base there. (And we abandoned her entirely.) One might argue marionites are not true Christians by anyone’s standards, but there are regardless, a lot of solid Orthodox there.
Sadly, though, we did abandon Lebanon. The administration’s words – words, not deeds – last year was very little, too little, and much too late. We should be smartly engaging in such hot zones. We should have them waving American flags. We pay officials, but we do not pay the people behind them who are far more important.
(You could not support Lebanese Christians without getting the Islamists mad unless you supported the people, not with guns, but with support and aid. Humanitarian causes. )
Same situation with Venezula. We are woefully ignorant of the effect of goodwill… even though our aid to Indonesia post-tsunami showed literally miraculous effect. These guys were as hardline anti-America as anyone can be.