Jan 03 2007
The Muslim Civil War Rages
We are actually seeing what could be the final battle for Al Qaeda and their ilk. The Muslim street is rising up – against the extremists. The battle is raging from Palestine to Beirut, Iraq and Afgahnistan.
Three Palestinians were killed in Gaza on Wednesday in a series of daylight gun battles between Hamas and Fatah gunmen.
The violence in the northern Gaza Strip began when a 25-year-old militant from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party was shot and killed in the town of Beit Lahiya, setting off a new round of gun battles that sent rival gunmen pouring into the streets in force.
Al Qaeda’s number two, Zawahiri, came out and called Muslims who do not follow the extremist’s line the enemy, setting the stage for what everyone knew would have to happen to change the ME – the battle for the Muslim soul. Will Muslims join the 21st century in peace and tolerance or will they attempt to revert back to the male dominated, bloody, brutal days of the 1300’s? Will Muslims be calm and confident or insecure and violent? We are about to find out ,and I would suggest indications are very few want to follow Bin Laden, Zawahiri, the Mad Mullahs and madman Ahmedinejad (or more accurately ‘lead’) to the gates of martyrdom.
When Bush set out to establish Iraq as a beacon of the possible in the heart of Islam most people understood the region would go through a major upheaval. That is because a major upheaval was what was required to change the equation and move the masses from terror to peace. It is the fear of upheaval that has the liberals shaking and frightened – that is the essence of modern liberalism, no change. But for those watching carefully, the dynamic is still indicating the right change may be taking place. From Afghanistan and Iraq came the right for women to vote in Kuwait, the Cedar revolution in Lebanon, the end of WMDs in Libya,the routing of the Islamic Courts in Somalia and the defeat of Ahmedinejad’s party in recent Iranian elections. The extremists are able to recruit and kill, but they are losing ground and sanctuary on multiple fronts. Now if we can only steady the dems long enough so they don’t try and surrender before Al Qaeda is devastated beyond repair.
I believe it is underappreciated exactly how much damage was done to Hezbollah in Lebanon in the war with Israel. While it certainly wasn’t much of a tactical victory for the IDF, it has caused Hezbollah and their Syrian and Iranian puppetmasters a major strategic setback.
1. It has caused devastating economic damage to the Shiite region of Lebanon while causing minimal damage the the overall economy. While Lebanon’s economy had been booming prior to Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel, it is expected to show 5% shrinkage for 2006. That should provide an indication of how little the Shiites were contributing to the economy to begin with but also shows that overall, Lebanon can recover practically immediately following the stoppage of hostillities. Most of that recovery will benefit the Sunni, Christian, and Druze elements setting the Shiites even further behind in economic power. Basically, the war made Lebanon’s Shiites even poorer than they were. They now have a lot of speeches in their account, but little capital.
2. A larger UN force and for the first time in decades the Lebanese Army is in place in the border region. This has stripped Hezbollah of their total control of the area. This is a major setback for Hezbollah in the military configuration vis a vis Israel in the border region.
3. The war more completely exposed direct links between Hezbollah and foreign powers. They are now seen by more people as proxies for Syrian and Iranian meddling. As the demand by the rest of the Lebanese population grows for independence from Syrian and Iranian influence, this linkage will further erode Hezbollah’s political influence outside the Shiite community.
So while some might claim that the war was not an outright military victory for Israel, don’t discount the longer term damage that Hezbollah and the Shiite community in Lebanon has suffered as a result of Hezbollah’s reckless actions. While the Sunni, Druze, and Christian sectors of the economy will continue their growth, it is going to take the Shiite sector a couple of years just to get its infrastructure back to where it was at the start of the war. It may never fully recover as markets and business is lost to competition from other firms in the other communities. I doubt, for example, that there are many operating Shiite trucking firms these days compared to the pre-war number.
In 5 years history will judge the attack by Hezbollah on Israel as a strategic disaster for the Lebanese Shiites.
I still wish Israel had not listened to the media and really finished the job in Lebanon. The media will never be on the Israelis’ side period.
I am at a loss as to why the liberals and the media are so opposed to Israel. Do they not realize that Israel has been our ally for decades? Why would we abandon this country at this time in history? We would be fools.
Barbara, liberals and the media are anti-democracy and pro-socialism and will do anything to promote their agenda. I know it’s hard to internalize, but they don’t want us or Israel to win, they want us to lose. They don’t want peace and prosperity, they want turmoil and poverty.
Lots of reasons for this, but the easiest to keep in mind is that without frightened helpless people, the left can’t win elections or get and keep power.
Strong, self-reliant people don’t want or need nanny staters to tell them how do live their lives. This simple fact can explain the inexplicable.