July 20, 2005
FINISHING THE CRESCENT:
Lebanon's real work begins: Lebanon formed a new independent government Tuesday, the first to include members of militant Hizbullah. (Nicholas Blanford, 7/21/05, The Christian Science Monitor)
For many Lebanese, the new government is supposed to embody the demands for change aired earlier in the year during the "Independence Intifada," the series of mass demonstrations following the assassination in February of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri that led to Syria's disengagement from Lebanon in April."There's an unspoken expectation among a lot of Lebanese that what they did over the last six months ... was a significant qualitative shift in both people's participation in the political process and in their expectations of their government," says Rami Khouri, editor-at-large for Lebanon's English-language Daily Star newspaper.
The new 24-seat government is headed by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, who served as finance minister in Mr. Hariri's governments. It took a month to assemble a cabinet lineup that was acceptable to the main power blocs in parliament. Two thirds of the cabinet are drawn from the former opposition coalition headed by Saad Hariri, son and political heir of Rafik Hariri, and Walid Jumblatt, leader of Lebanon's Druze community. The remaining third comprises allies of the pro- Syrian president, Emile Lahoud, as well as members of the Shiite bloc that includes Hizbullah and the Amal Movement.
An imminent addition to Lebanon's newly independent political scene is Samir Geagea, head of the Lebanese Forces militia during the 1975-1990 war, who is set to be released this weekend after 11 years in prison.
Mr. Geagea, who opposed Syria's hegemony over Lebanon, was the only ex- warlord to be jailed for his alleged wartime crimes. He was granted amnesty on Monday in a parliamentary vote and plans to reenter politics following a period of convalescence in Europe.
The new government is the first in which a member of Hizbullah has participated, a move that reflects the group's broad support among Lebanese Shiites.
As in Iraq, they should be incorporated into a national army. Posted by Orrin Judd at July 20, 2005 8:42 PM
Why? So that they can butcher Israelis while in Lebanese military uniform, precipitating an Israeli military response?
Posted by: bart at July 20, 2005 8:47 PMSure, that's a better alternative than having then freelance. It's certainly worked in Palestine.
Posted by: oj at July 20, 2005 9:10 PMWhere's Palestine? What's a Palestine?
Posted by: bart at July 21, 2005 5:48 AMYou're just making stuff up again, Orrin. It has not worked among the Palestinians.
There is no Lebanese nation -- a point you conceded when you said the Maronites should leave -- so there cannot be a national army.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 21, 2005 3:56 PMOJ,
That's like saying 'Detroit needs cops' and then deputizing the Bloods and the Crips, and then letting them loose in police equipment but without supervision. If you don't see the inherent problem, I can't help you.
Posted by: bart at July 21, 2005 6:09 PMbart:
Yes, police forces hiring blacks quieted down our inner cities tremendously.
Posted by: oj at July 21, 2005 7:02 PMyou will notice that they didn't hire ex-panthers to be policemen in the inner cities.
Posted by: cjm at July 21, 2005 7:20 PMI don't recall objecting to the notion of the Lebanese Army using Shia Muslims.
So, OJ, in your mind every Black person in America is a drug-dealing, sociopathic thug, and the honest church-going guy who wants to help his community, get rid of bad guys and have a better life for his family is no different from a Blood or a Crip?
I'll keep that in mind the next time that you complain about my 'xenophobia' because I think we need to regulate our Southern border better.
Posted by: bart at July 22, 2005 10:21 AMWhatever the merits or demerits of US policing, our black citizens were not (with trivial exceptions) pursuing an ideology of eliminationist anti-caucasianism.
So American examples are irrelevant to Lebanon, where the Muslims are committed to an eliminationist ideology against non-muslims.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 22, 2005 2:42 PMIt's relevant to policing Muslims.
Posted by: oj at July 22, 2005 2:55 PMIf Muslims could police themselves, and if they were really a religion of peace, the Islamicists would all have been turned in by now.
Unless, of course, there is no difference between Islamists and Islamicists.
You cannot have it both ways.
Posted by: Harry Eagar at July 23, 2005 3:29 PMWhy weren't all the communists or klansmen turned in?
Posted by: oj at July 23, 2005 3:33 PM