On 7/26/06, Daniel Davies <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
I think we can be pretty clear on the subject of whether Hezbollah are ever going to be our mates or not; I think the answer is that they aren't and if one of them ever subscribes to PEN-L I will make a point of asking him some hard questions about sharia law and about his relationship with Iran.
<blockquote>Another change that is impossible to ignore is the growing prominence of female activists in the party [Hezbollah], a development that makes the party progressive by Islamist standards. "One would have to be blind not to notice the changes Hezbollah has undergone," says Joseph Samaha, a secular Christian writer for the daily as-Safir. "Has Hezbollah tried to ban books or impose sharia? Not once. Their electoral program is [an] almost social democratic [one]. So we're confronting a very different kind of Fundamentalist party." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . While Iran continues to supply Hezbollah with money and arms, including Katyushas that arrive through Syrian ports, it has shown increasing restraint since the mid-1990s, when it used Hezbollah agents to strike at American and Jewish targets outside Israel. Iran's foreign minister, Kamal Kharazi, has urged Nasrallah to avoid giving Israel a pretext for attacking Lebanon. Although American officials have called attention to the presence of about a hundred Hezbollah members in Iraq, few believe that they are organizing violent resistance.[10] Every Hezbollah official I spoke to vehemently denied such reports, some indicating that they would welcome diplomatic relations with the United States. (Adam Shatz, "In Search of Hezbollah" [a review of International Crisis Group, Hizbollah: Rebel Without a Cause?" Trans. Helena Ragg-Kirkby, 30 July 2003; Christoph Reuter, My Life Is a Weapon: A Modern History of Suicide Bombing, Princeton University Press, 2004; Amal Saad-Ghorayeb, Hizbu'llah: Politics and Ideology, Pluto, 2002; Daniel Byman, Should Hezbollah Be Next? Foreign Affairs, November/December 2003; Augustus Richard Norton, Hizballah of Lebanon: Extremist Ideals vs. Mundane Politics, Council on Foreign Relations, 1999; Judith Palmer Harik, The Changing Face of Terrorism, I.B. Tauris, 2004; Sami G. Hajjar, Hizballah: Terrorism, National Liberation, or Menace?, Strategic Studies Institute, US Army War College, August 2002], New York Review of Books, 51.7, 29 April 2004, <http://www.mafhoum.com/press7/190P8.htm>)</blockquote>
On the other hand Carrol does have a point that if Hezbollah get wiped out, the result will be a massive opportunity for Al-Qaeda; the British AQ wannabe internet boards are already alive with gloating at the IDF wiping out the Shia infidels and leaving god knows how many pissed off Northern Lebanese Sunnis to recruit.
That is extraordinarily good news. That's as good as this: <blockquote>Politically they are currently allied to General Michel Aoun, the non-sectarian yet Christian heavyweight of Lebanese politics who has stood by his Shi'ite allies during their latest confrontation with Israel. Aoun's alliance has prevented the Christian street from turning against Hezbollah. The Israelis wanted everybody in Lebanon, the Christians included, to suffer great loss in human life and property so that they would come out and blame Nasrallah for their misery. Because of Aoun that has not happened. Rather, the Christians are offering shelter to the Shi'ites whose homes have been destroyed, and Christian charity organizations, as well as churches and monasteries, are doing their share of humanitarian work to decrease the suffering of the Shi'ites. (Sami Moubayed, "Hezbollah Banks on Home-ground Advantage," 26 July 2006, <http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HG26Ak01.html>) -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
