October 5, 2007
THAT'S NOT HOW IT WORKS, FELLAS:
Christian Split in Lebanon Raises Specter of Civil War (THANASSIS CAMBANIS, 10/05/07, NY Times)
With the Islamist group Hezbollah having brought Lebanese politics to a standstill, the country’s once-dominant Christian community feels under siege and has begun re-establishing militias, training in the hills and stockpiling weapons.Many Lebanese say another civil war — like the 15-year one that started in 1975 — is imminent and that the most dangerous flash points are within the divided Christian community.
Christian youth are signing up for militant factions in the greatest numbers since the end of the civil war, spray painting nationalist symbols on walls and tattooing them on their skin, and proclaiming their willingness to fight in a new civil war — in particular, against fellow Christians.
“When the war begins, I’ll be the first one in it,” said Fadil Abbas, 30, flexing his biceps in Shadow Tattoo as an artist etched a cross onto his shoulder. “I want everyone to know I am a Christian and I am ready to fight.”
The struggle is over who gets to be the next president, a post reserved for a Christian under Lebanon’s Constitution, and which must be filled by the end of November. But the larger question — one that is prompting rival Christian factions to threaten war — is whether Lebanese Christians must accept their minority status and get along with the Muslim majority (the choice of the popular Gen. Michel Aoun) or whether Christians should insist on special privileges no matter what their share of the population (the position of veteran civil war factions like the Phalange and the Lebanese Forces).
Kind of like Saddam thought the Sunni should run Iraq. Posted by Orrin Judd at October 5, 2007 11:26 PM
whether Lebanese Christians must accept their minority status and get along with the Muslim majority (the choice of the popular Gen. Michel Aoun) or whether Christians should insist on special privileges no matter what their share of the population (the position of veteran civil war factions like the Phalange and the Lebanese Forces)
Wow. What an incredibly dishonest summary of the issue. Gen. Aoun wants to be Lebanese President, and has made a deal with Syria and Hezbollah to do so. Aoun is definitely insisting on the traditional "special privilege" of the President being Christian (just as the Speaker of Parliament is Shi'ite and the Prime Minister Sunni); it's his entire goal. OTOH, he's not just "allied with the Muslim majority," considering that nearly all the Sunnis (and other groups, like the Druze) oppose him.
Other groups are very anti-Hezbollah and especially anti-Syria, and don't want to make Aoun president. They're allied with the Sunni and the Druze.
Posted by: John Thacker at October 6, 2007 8:09 AMwhether Lebanese Christians must accept their minority status and get along with the Muslim majority (the choice of the popular Gen. Michel Aoun) or whether Christians should insist on special privileges no matter what their share of the population (the position of veteran civil war factions like the Phalange and the Lebanese Forces)
Wow. What an incredibly dishonest summary of the issue. Gen. Aoun wants to be Lebanese President, and has made a deal with Syria and Hezbollah to do so. Aoun is definitely insisting on the traditional "special privilege" of the President being Christian (just as the Speaker of Parliament is Shi'ite and the Prime Minister Sunni); it's his entire goal. OTOH, he's not just "allied with the Muslim majority," considering that nearly all the Sunnis (and other groups, like the Druze) oppose him.
Other groups are very anti-Hezbollah and especially anti-Syria, and don't want to make Aoun president. They're allied with the Sunni and the Druze. They also dislike the fact that Syria keeps assassinating their members (and the Sunni members) of parliament. Surely that could be mentioned too.
Posted by: John Thacker at October 6, 2007 8:10 AMIt's just an argument over how soon the South becomes its own state or whether it gets to run the whole place, with Christian connivance.
Posted by: oj at October 6, 2007 11:08 AMBut the main claim in the piece is completely wrong, or at the very least completely misleading. There has been no evidence or claims anywhere in Lebanon that the Christian groups that oppose Hezbollah have been arming or training.
Aoun's group, currently allied with Hezbollah, has been the subject of such claims, as has the Syrian-allied SSNP. And Hezbollah itself is the one group that never disarmed after the civil war.
Such a blatantly dishonest piece.
Posted by: John Thacker at October 7, 2007 2:02 PMThat's the Mossad line.
Posted by: oj at October 7, 2007 5:41 PM