Lebanon’s Anti-Heroes (by Dahr Jamail for Truthdig)

[marmar]

Lebanon’s Anti-Heroes

Posted on May 21, 2007


By Dahr Jamail

"The history of liberty is a history of resistance.”
—Woodrow T. Wilson

“We rely on Hezbollah and these other countries which are helping us now because it’s all we have,” Abu Khalil, an unemployed construction worker injured by bomb shrapnel during last summer’s war in Lebanon told me. As we stood talking in the warm spring sun outside his largely destroyed village of Aita Ech Chaab, a few hundred yards from Lebanon’s southern border, he added, “And we rely on Hezbollah to protect us again from the next Israeli aggression, because our own government cannot and will not do that job.”

In its savage 34-day assault on Lebanon, the Israeli government had hoped to knock down precisely that sentiment. One of the stated aims of the war, in which more than a thousand Lebanese and more than 40 Israelis were killed, was to turn the Lebanese against Hezbollah for having triggered the conflict. An ironic assumption considering that the creation of Hezbollah was a direct response to an earlier Israeli attack.

Formed in 1982 to resist the Israeli occupation of southern Lebanon, Hezbollah became a political entity in 1985. As a sworn enemy of staunch U.S. ally Israel, it has been labeled a “terrorist organization” by Washington. The sustained propaganda and bellicose posturing of the U.S. government regarding the outfit have kept most Americans ignorant of its true nature and of the fact that a large number of Lebanese are currently aligning with Hezbollah in a bid to thwart the policy of global hegemony being pushed by the Bush administration in Lebanon.

Another irony is that nearly half the members of the massive opposition alliance joining Hezbollah against the U.S.-backed Lebanese government are Christians.

...(snip)...

The Bush administration policy on Lebanon and its unbridled support for Israel have galvanized a powerful opposition to the Lebanese government.

However, George W. Bush made a brazen assault on reality at a news conference the day the U.N.-brokered cease-fire took place between Hezbollah and Israel on Aug. 14, 2006. “Hezbollah suffered a defeat in this crisis,” he declared. “How can you claim victory when you were a state within a state in southern Lebanon, and now you’re going to be replaced by an international force?”

“There’s going to be a new power in the south of Lebanon,” he added, referring to the UNIFIL force that was to assist the Lebanese army in controlling the area.

Having just returned from southern Lebanon, I can tell you that UNIFIL has not replaced Hezbollah in any capacity. Loyalty to Hezbollah and to countries like Iran that are involved in postwar reconstruction projects is at an all-time high. Languid UNIFIL soldiers stand speckled across the border, smoking cigarettes and watching cars pass. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/20070521_hezbollah_lebanons_anti_heroes/