Cluster Bombs

Nahr El-Bared

Fighting in Nahr El-Bared Refugee Camp in North Lebanon: Lebanese Army and Fateh El-Islam, June 2007

Fomenting Civil War in Lebanon

The War on Lebanon: Israeli military casualties inside Lebanon, 2006

How the United States and Israel are stirring sectarian tensions.

The Israeli defeat in its last war against Hezbollah and the civilians of Lebanon has put a dent in their public image and has caused indignation on the part of many inside the Zionist state and their supporters in the United States. Israel’s defeat is never acceptable to the biblical war mongers of Zion. Another assault on Lebanon, in one form or another, is in the works, according to many experts and civilians who are sharing their pessimism on the blogsphere.

The recent flurry of activity and the sectarian violence in Lebanon have laid a blanket of pessimism over the population. War criminals along the lines of Ja’ja’ (one of the leaders of the Sabra and Chatila massacres) are the darlings of Washington and Tel Aviv. There is evidence of smuggling of crates of unknown contents (AKA weapons) into the headquarters and homes of government supporters, courtesy of the U.S. government. Those crates were supposedly allotted to the Lebanese Army.

The hope in Tel Aviv and Washington is to provoke a confrontation between Hezbollah, their supporters in the Opposition and a few in the Christian and Sunni militias who support the current government (which is seen by most Lebanese as the facilitator of colonial U.S. and Israeli policies in the Middle East). Hezbollah has never, in its history of resistance, engaged in an act of confrontation with other Lebanese groups. It has tried and continues to try to avoid such confrontation.

Israel failed to militarily crush the Lebanese Resistance during its last brutal war on the people of Lebanon. Their aim now is to create Iraq-like civil war conditions to maintain control over yet another area in the region (another U.S. and Israel-friendly regime).

Not much talk is coming out of Washington about democracy in Lebanon any more. The American experiment in Lebanon has failed, the same way it has failed in Afghanistan and Iraq and all over the world since the end of WWII (with its support of tyrannical regimes).

The people of Lebanon are pessimistic because maybe they know that they are caught in the middle of the powers of the feudal and racist system that makes up the remnants of the old colonially produced Lebanon and the barbaric and vicious intent of the U.S. and Israel to destroy the opposition at any cost.

Meanwhile, despite talk of pull-back from Iraq inside the American political system, the different wars will continue for at least one decade in the form of black ops, outright war, or internal civil strife and assassinations.

Some are asking: if there is another war in Lebanon, will Hezbollah hand Israel its 6th defeat?

Israel's Last Chance

The violent and confrontational approach of the Israeli state, the increasing internal corruption, economic and political challenges, as well as the nature of the population within the Zionist state have highlighted the festering wounds of an ailing nation. Presidential sex scandals, bribery charges against the Prime Minister, and organized crime are but a glimpse of what is ailing the small country. The July 2006 war on the people of Lebanon has highlighted the weakening of the political and moral nature of Israel.

The character of the Zionist state is eroding and, if it is to survive as a political entity, more conciliatory approaches towards Arab neighbors and foes will become prudent. Israel can inflict mass destruction on the people of the Middle East. What it cannot do is implement planned political change in the region. Israel's last chance as a viable nation in the region hinges upon its ability to reach out with diplomacy as opposed to subterfuge and war.

Fueling the Fires of Sectarian Conflict: Divide and Conquer

Don't you love Sy Hersh? I do. This man can take on the brainless yet ruthless U.S. administration, the ambitious, nutty Olmert, and Bandar Bush and his clan of "Defenders of the Faith" (the oil faith that is) and still crack a smile every now and then.

Then there are the newly emergent phrases such as “Sunnis against Shi’as” and “The tide of Shi’ism in the Middle East," phrases repeated by people who know nothing about either.

The Neo-Conservative ruling cabal has a knack for logic too: "you're either with us, or you are Muslim." According to the Neo-Cons, all Muslims are the enemy and the only good Muslim is a Muslim engaged in permanent conflict with another Muslim. And then it gets more twisted.

We have supported Sunnis to fight the Soviets and Iran. After the Iraq invasion of 2003, we installed a Shi’ite government in Baghdad to rid the country of the Ba’th regime and to minimize Al-Qa’ida’s influence. Now we are illegally arming Sunni extremists (Salafis) in Lebanon in the hope that they would engage in a war of attrition with Hizbollah. The constant shifting of alliances to correct errors and unplanned consequences of shallow and racist policies are compromising all the nations in the Middle East and, ultimately, the world.

Who in reality is creating the sectarian tensions in the Middle East? It seems that the “Divide and Conquer” rule still holds as true as ever. But those who do not learn from history will repeat it. I wonder which group will emerge in the future to fight off another imperial invasion of its country. The lessons of the Taliban, Hizbollah, Al-Qa’ida, Al-Mujahideen, and Khomeini, have been lost on this Zionist and bankrupt administration, which has initiated a fragmentation in the Middle East whose dire global repercussions are yet to be measured. But Sy Hersh may have a glimpse into it.