Hassan Nasrallah
Phinky reminds us of the very old wisdom nosce hostem: know your enemy.
The Wikipedia entry on Hassan Nasrallah is brief and probably balanced, but it leaves out controversy.
It is wise to see what his enemies say, and the Middle East Intelligence Bulletin can reasonably be considered an enemy. A review of the masthead –
Editor: Gary C. Gambill
Publishers: Ziad K. Abdelnour & Daniel Pipes
Editorial Board: Thomas Patrick Carroll, Michael Rubin & Youssef Haddad
leaves little doubt as to the circumambient atmosphere of the journal.
The article, Dossier: Hassan Nasrallah, in the February-March 2004 issue by editor Gary C. Gambill goes into a lot of detail and the bias isn’t overwhelming, which makes the overall effect disturbing.
Nasrallah is a fundamentalist Shi’ia but he adapts to the situation. He has advanced the cause of Hezbollah by creating a social network that provides schools, clinics, and low cost housing for the poor, mostly Shi’ia, of southern Lebanon. He protests against government corruption. He has created an army that promotes based on merit that is trained and equipped to modern infantry standards.
This is a very intelligent and talented individual. I hope like hell he never decides that Lebanon needs an air force, because he could really create and lead an army carrying black banners. The Christian evangelicals are not the only people who believe in an apocalypse.
The Israelis seem to be bent on promoting Nasrallah to the top position in the Muslim world. Currently it would be personal suicide, in many cases quite literally, for Islamic leaders to speak against him.
The latest effort to promote the cause of Hezbollah is bombing all of the bridges across the Litani River which is preventing NGOs from aiding Tyre. Hezbollah has stepped in and is providing food and medicine from its stores.
At this point the best thing Israel could do is to stop attacking Lebanon, totally withdraw, including from the Shebaa Farms, and hope that settles the problem. The current actions are creating a nightmare for every government in the area, including Syria.
2 comments
Hezbollah and Israel have a symbiotic relationship. Both need the other to justify their existence. Hezbollah was declining in influence in Lebanon after the Cedar Revolution. Hezbollah was the only group demonstrating in favor of Syria staying in Lebanon after the asasination(sp?) of Rafik Hariri. To the Lebanese, Syria is public enemy number two, Israel is number one.
So what’s a political party/militia/social services agency going to do to get its mojo back? Provoke public enemy number one. Nasrallah knew that Israel would use overwhelming force in response to the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers. So Israel has bombed Lebanon back to the stone age for the second time in 30 years. Civilians are killed, humanitarian aid is blocked. Not only are Shia civilians targeted, but Sunnis, Druze, and Maronite Christians are caught in the crossfire. Not only that Israel looks like the bad guy in the Arab world and Hezbollah gets more support because they stood up to big, bad Israel.
I’d say Nasrallah’s a master manipulator. He’s also a Machiavellian genius.
He is the scariest guy in the Middle East and he reads, a lot. He has read the memoirs of all of the Israeli politicians and obviously understands Israeli politics. That’s why Hezbollah is so dangerous unless you remove its reason for a militia – Israeli occupation.
I don’t see how Syria or Iran can control him, now that he has the “street” in his corner. He could decide to become the Mahdi at any time, and that would make the old UAR alliance between Syria and Egypt look like a social club.
Israel kept assassinating people until we ended up with the “Survivor” – a preacher, politician, and general with a lot of oil money behind him and he’s facing Bush and Olmert, who are not exactly Borgia-class thinkers.