Perspective

It's quite amusing really, watching the news and seeing the CNN and the BBC presenters "intelligently" discussing the "real" dilemmas and issues that are facing Lebanon. Issues such as the deployment of a UN force and the redeployment of the Lebanese army to the South of Lebanon. I don't know where these people get there information, but Hezbullah cannot be disarmed by anybody. Not only has the United States, through Israel, failed to do so, but Hezbullah are now the leading champion of the Arab world (and rightly so due to their incredible courage demonstrated in the last month). Not only that, but their political transparency and grass roots level initiatives put all the existing Arab governments to shame, while demonstrating that there is a "homegrown" form of government which doesn't necessarily have to kow-tow to the West and lap up all it has to offer ideologically, culturally and politically.

What these news presenters either deliberately or inadvertently missed out is that Lebanon is not in a vacuum in the Middle East surrounded by Syria, Iran and Israel. There is an entire Arab world (and I don't mean those puppet belly dancing governments), that has been solidly supportive of not just Lebanon but also of the right to resist and roll back Israeli occupation. I've noticed particular instances in Western media where the quotes from the average Lebanese range from a slight annoyance of Hezbullah, fearfully expressed out of sight of others, to outright disgust that their country has been used as an arena for a proxy war. Missing are the statements of the thousands of Lebanese from the South who have lost everything, yet are still defiant of occupation, invasion and Israeli and American military might. This conflict, as George Galloway mentioned in an interview, did not begin 4 weeks ago, but has roots that go back decades. This is also not about two captured Israeli soldiers, but about a project for a New Middle East. A project that aimed to be built on the blood and bones of civilians for the benefit of continuing the "American way of life", which, according to one US spokesman, was non-negotiable. Not even over the dead bodies of Lebanese, Palestinian or Iraqi babies.