Lebanese Speak Out against Ahmadinejad & Hizbullah

UPDATING 10-15 & 11-30-2010 at bottom

A group of prominent Lebanese have spoken out against Ahmadinejad, who is now visiting Lebanon as if to signal that he has completed the takeover of the country. Lebanese and people in various Arab states need to realize that Israelophobia was used as a means and/or pretext for building up Hizbullah's power in the state so that it overshadowed all other forces in the country, including the state itself. In many Arab countries Israelophobia and Judeophobia are political tools and pretexts for armed groups and tyrants to control the state and limit the freedom of the population. After Syria, with the help of US secretary of state James Baker, had suppressed the last holdout of Lebanese independence, General Aoun, in 1990, it was agreed at a "peace" conference under pan-Arab auspices [Taif] that all Lebanese militias would be disarmed, except for the Hizbullah. As the AFP article below says, Hizbullah & Syria claimed that the Hizb ought not divest itself of its weapons, "arguing they were needed to defend the country against Israeli aggression." And with those weapons supposedly for use against Israel --and with all other militias disarmed-- Hizbullah helped Syria control the country --occupied by Syria up to 2005.

It also seems that the Hizb helped Syria murder former Lebanese prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, in 2005. This is one lesson among many of how Israelophobia became a political weapon used by Arab tyrants and the power hungry against other Arabs. Unfortunately, former Lebanese PM Fuad Siniora did not comprehend this when in August 2006 he urged the great powers dominating the UN Security Council to pass a war-ending resolution that had little teeth to prevent Hizbullah from rearming and receiving weapons from Syria. The Hizb rearmed to the point where it predominates over the whole Lebanese political/military system, even without direct Syrian intervention except to supply weapons across the Lebanon-Syria border that barely exists now in reality. That disastrous UN SC resolution, 1701, has led to the current pathetic situation of joint Syrian-Iranian-Hizbullah domination of the country and Hizb threats of a renewed civil war if the UN Tribunal to investigate the Hariri murder identifies prime suspects in the murder, naming names. UN SC res. 1701 has also led to A-jad's triumphal visit to Lebanon, whereas he has called southern Lebanon, "Iran's border with Israel." To conclude, let's not forget the shameful role in promoting 1701 of Israel's moronic then foreign minister, Tsipi Livni, still today bleating stupid admonitions at PM Netanyahu, and Israel's crooked prime minister at that time, Ehud Olmert, now on trial and also admonishing Netanyahu, not overlooking Condoleezza Rice then secretary of state under George Bush II and the governments of Britain and France. And let's again cite Fuad Siniora for doing so much to bring Lebanon down to its present state.

Ahmadinejad accused of meddling in Lebanon's affairs

By blade 12/10/2010 - 23:17

AFP - Lebanese politicians and members of civil society issued an open letter to Iran's president on Tuesday, accusing him on the eve of his official visit to Lebanon of meddling in the country's affairs.

The letter was signed by some 250 people, among them former MPs close to the Western-backed parliamentary majority, doctors, teachers and journalists. It lashed out at Mahmoud Ahmadinejad over Iran's support of Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

"One group in Lebanon draws its power from you ... and has wielded it over another group and the state," said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by AFP.

"You are repeating what others have done before you by interfering in our internal affairs," the letter added, referring to Tehran's financial and military backing of Hezbollah, considered a proxy of Iran.

Hezbollah, far the most powerful military and political force in Lebanon, has been locked in a standoff with Western- and Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri over a probe into the 2005 murder of his father, ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.

Tensions have been mounting between the two sides over unconfirmed reports that a UN-backed tribunal is set to indict Hezbollah members over the murder, a scenario the militant group has openly rejected.

Hezbollah is the only party in Lebanon that refused to surrender its weapons after the end of the 1975-1990 civil war, arguing they were needed to defend the country against Israeli aggression.

The letter, signed by former MPs Fares Souaid, Samir Frangieh and Elias Atallah, criticized Ahmadinejad for declaring support for the Lebanese state while simultaneously providing Hezbollah with financial and military backing.

"Your support of the state is negated by your parallel financial and military support to one party in Lebanon," the letter said, referring to Hezbollah.

"Your talk of 'changing the face of the region starting with Lebanon' ... and 'wiping Israel off the map through the force of the Islamic resistance in Lebanon' ... gives the impression that your visit is that of a high commander to his front line," it added.

The letter also urged Ahmadinejad to convince Hezbollah during a two-day visit starting Wednesday to exist within the confines of the state.

Ahmadinejad is set to meet with his Lebanese counterpart Michel Sleiman as well as Hariri and other politicians during his trip, which will be his first to Lebanon since his election in 2005.

However, the highlight of the visit will be a tour of Lebanon's volatile border with his arch-enemy Israel.

[see AFP article here] [also see our previous blogs on Lebanon here & here]

UPDATING 10-15-2010 Jonathan Tobin on A-jad's tour of his domain[here]
11-30-2010 Carlo Panella describes the horrid situation in Lebanon with the opponents of Hizbullah and its Iranian & Syrian sponsors fearing for their lives and lying through their teeth to protect their skins, knowing that the pro-Syrian Obama cabal in Washington will do nothing to help them [qui]. Sa`ad Hariri, whose own father was murdered by a massive car bomb or truck bomb in 2005 planted by Hizbullah operating on Syria's behalf, now speaks sweet platitudes to Syrian & Iranian leaders. The UN-sponsored Special Tribunal on Lebanon is about to announce indictments of Hizbullah gangsters for the Hariri murder, although it may be dissuaded by the fears of Saad Hariri & other opponents of Syrian-Iranian hegemony in Lebanon who see no way out of their trap at present.