..not Denmark

Michael Totten, one of the few writers who has ever asked Hezbollah the hard questions, describes his "armchair" view of the situation in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s Premature Liberalism

Lebanese are temporarily more united than ever. No one is running off to join Hezbollah, but tensions are being smoothed over for now while everyone feels they are under attack by the same enemy. Most Lebanese who had warm feelings for Israel -- and there were more of these than you can possibly imagine -- no longer do.

This will not last.

My sources and friends in Beirut tell me most Lebanese are going easy on Hezbollah as much as they can while the bombs are still falling. But a terrible reckoning awaits them once this is over.

Some Lebanese can’t wait even that long.

beirut smashing hez

Here a Christian mob smashes a car in Beirut for displaying a Hezbollah logo. My friend Carine says the atomosphere reeks of impending sectarian conflict like never before. Another Lebanese blogger quotes a radical Christian war criminal from the bad old days who says the civil war will resume a month after Israel cools its guns: "Christians, Sunnis and Druze will fight the 'fucker Shia', with arms from the US and France."

Israeli partisans may think this is terrific. The Lebanese may take care of Hezbollah at last! But democratic Lebanon cannot win a war against Hezbollah, not even after Hezbollah is weakened by IAF raids. Hezbollah is the most effective Arab fighting force in the world, and the Lebanese army is the weakest and most divided.

Hezbollah is the best and the brightest military force that the Arab world has to offer.

Which makes one wonder about the Saudi doubletalk here..

In any case, read the whole thing. There's a ton of info here you'll never get from Hezbollah's media herd.

And this won't be an armchair view for long. He wants to go back to Lebanon as soon as the airport is back in service. Your donations can help.

Posted by Mary Madigan on Thursday July 27, 2006 at 11:44am

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