THE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE, USA
An Online Journal of Political Commentary & Analysis
Volume VIII, Issue # 153, August 13, 2006
Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
Government Committed to & Acting in Accord with Conservative Principles
Ensures a Nation's Strength, Progress, & Prosperity
LEBANON: THE IMAGINARY NATION
By Alan Caruba
LEBANON, ISRAEL, ISLAMIST TERRORISM, & WAR IN THE MIDDLE EAST: THE ISRAELI-ARAB CONFLICT & MIDDLE
EASTERN TERRORISM IN THE BROADER CONTEXT OF THE WORLDWIDE ISLAMIST JIHAD BEING WAGED AGAINST ISRAEL,
AMERICA, & THE WEST -- THE ROLE OF IRAN'S ISLAMIST REGIME IN THE GLOBAL CONFLICT -- THE NEED FOR THE U.S.A. &
ITS ALLIES, THROUGH COVERT COUNTERTERRORIST POLITICAL ACTION AS WELL AS OVERT MILITARY ACTION, TO
BRING ABOUT THE DEFEAT & TOTAL DESTRUCTION OF THEIR DEADLY ENEMIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST
FULL STORY:
“Before the Israeli attack, Lebanon no longer existed; it was no more than a hologram.” This is what the Lebanese journalist,
Michael Behe, wrote on July 30, 2006. His commentary was posted on the website of the Metula News Agency in
Beirut.
To understand the Lebanese situation, it helps to know that, despite a history that dates back to biblical times, modern
Lebanon was literally the invention of two Western powers, Britain and France, after World War I in 1920. It became
independent of France in the early 1940s.
Then, in the 1970s, the Palestinians, driven out of Jordan and elsewhere, moved in. Doing what they do best, they started a
civil war and, in 1978, after a Palestine Liberation Organization attack killed 37 Israeli civilians, Israel launched an offensive
to drive them away from its northern border.
In 1982, Israel again invaded in response to attacks. Christian Lebanese troops entered Palestinian refugee camps and
massacred hundreds. The era of the Palestinians was over, but, by the next decade, its successor, Hezbollah, was routinely
shelling Israel, provoking Israeli military responses. After a long occupation of southern Lebanon, Israel, in 2000, decided
to withdraw its troops.
On February 14, 2005, Rafiq al-Hariri, a former prime minister of Lebanon, was assassinated in Beirut. His death points back
to Damascus. He had become an outspoken opponent to the Syrian occupation of Lebanon that had begun in 1976, a year
after the outbreak of the civil war. In the years that followed, thousands of Lebanese were brutally imprisoned or killed by
Syrian occupiers.
By 1991, the domination of Lebanon by Syria had been formalized with a defense and security agreement. This was followed
two years later by an economic agreement in which Lebanon’s true status as a colony of Syria was made official.
Hariri’s assassination generated a rally in which the streets of Beirut filled with anti-Syrian Lebanese. It was dubbed the
“Cedar Revolution” and lasted about five minutes. Days later, on March 8, 2005, Hezbollah was able to put over a million
other Lebanese into the streets. This was followed by an election that was so gerrymandered that only pro-Syrian candidates
had any chance of being elected. Hezbollah had reinvented itself as a political party.
After the Hariri assassination, Syria, under intense international pressure, prudently removed its troops from Lebanon. An
earlier 2004 United Nations Security Council resolution demanding this action -- Resolution 1559 -- had been ignored. The
various elected governments of Lebanon had turned a blind eye to the growth of Hezbollah. Funded and trained by Iran and
supplied through Syria, Hezbollah was in charge.
As Behe noted, there were parts of Beirut where its own citizens, including its police and army, were forbidden access. “A
square measuring a kilometer wide, a capital within the capital, permanently guarded by the (Hezbollah) army, possessing its
own institution, its schools, its tribunals, its radio, its television, and, above all, its government.” It was precisely this part
of Beirut the Israeli air force destroyed. The rest of the city, as of July 30, 2006, was left intact.
The problem for Lebanon is the problem for the world.
Muslims resist or are restrained from living in a modern sovereign, secular nation-state. Iraq was secular because a dictator
made it that way. Turkey was secular because its modern founder, Ataturk, turned it toward Europe in 1925 and away from
Muslim traditions and governance.
Modern Lebanon's problem is demography. In 1943, when its constitution was established, a “national pact” insured
representation by both Christians and Muslims, with top offices being allocated to each group. Today, Muslims are the
largest part of Lebanon’s population, easily 75% or more. The Lebanese government failed its citizens, and the Lebanese who
voted Hezbollah politicians into power betrayed their nation.
Lebanon today is an imaginary nation.
Destroyed by the Palestinians led by Yasir Arafat, occupied by Syria, Lebanon is now nothing more than the tool of Iranians
who are busy preparing their own people for a war with the Israelis, the British, and the Americans.
And how long are we going to wait around until they achieve that?
How long was Israel supposed to wait while Lebanon/Hezbollah/Iran continued to kidnap its soldiers and shoot rockets into
the Israeli homeland? The Palestinians of Hamas were enough of nuisance in their own right, but Hezbollah was a real army
and one that has been trained and armed by the Iranians.
In the World War II, America, Britain, and other allied nations expended years and thousands of lives to win against the
dictatorships of Germany, Italy, and Japan. In the end, we demanded and got "unconditional surrender." That is what we are
going to need to do in the Middle East to free ourselves from the threat of the Islamic Jihad.
LINKS TO RELATED TOPICS:
Israel --The Israeli-Arab Conflict
Middle East -- Arabs, Arab States,
& Their Middle Eastern Neighbors
The Middle East -- Lebanon as a Geopolitical Problem
The Middle East & the Problem of Syria
The Middle East & the Problem of Iran
Islamism & Jihadism -- Radical Islam & Islamic Terrorism
Page Three
Page Two
Page One
War & Peace in the Real World
Page Two
Page One
Islamist Terrorist Attacks on the U.S.A.
Osama bin Laden & the Islamist Declaration of War
Against the U.S.A. & Western Civilization
Islamist International Terrorism &
U.S. Intelligence Agencies
U.S. National Security Strategy
Alan Caruba is a veteran business and science writer, a Public Relations Counselor, and Founder of the National Anxiety Center, a
clearinghouse for information about media-driven scare campaigns. Caruba writes a weekly commentary, "Warning Signs," posted
on the Internet website of the National Anxiety Center, which is located at
www.anxietycenter.com.
© Alan Caruba 2006
Published with Permission of Alan Caruba
ACaruba@AOL.Com
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Dr. Almon Leroy Way, Jr., Editor
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