NYT: Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah

[DeepModem Mom]

Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
Published: July 28, 2006

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 27 — At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for 15 days, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.

The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.

An outpouring of newspaper columns, cartoons, blogs and public poetry readings have showered praise on Hezbollah while attacking the United States and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for trumpeting American plans for a “new Middle East” that they say has led only to violence and repression.

Even Al Qaeda, run by violent Sunni Muslim extremists normally hostile to all Shiites, has gotten into the act, with its deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, releasing a taped message saying that through its fighting in Iraq, his organization was also trying to liberate Palestine....

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28arabs.html?hp&ex=1154059200&en=d6633724ec1cf9d0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

[LynnTheDem]

1. Gee, now who coulda guessed that would happen.

Kill other people's kids, and the survivors turn against those who killed them, those who refuse a ceasefire against the overwhelmingly vast majority of the entire world. Wow what a concept.

bush sure is doing a superb job of making OBL a very happy man...but so is the Israeli government.

[IndianaGreen]

4. Even OBL is unhappy that Hezbollah is in the limelight

Al-Qaeda has killed a lot of Shias in Iraq.

[LynnTheDem]

5. Al Qaeda recently issued a statement sorta in support of Hizbollah

OBL predicted exactly this shit; US invasions of the ME, Israeli invasions of the ME; and now he has even more street cred than ever. And before bush, OBL was just a nobody.

Now with bush & bLiar & Israel proving OBL correct...well, I'd predict the blowback to us all is gonna be owwie.

[IndianaGreen]

6. The blowback will be incredible!

The immoral position taken by Bush and Blair in opposing a ceasefire, will certainly come back to haunt us.

Egypt’s opposition press has had a field day comparing Sheik Nasrallah to Nasser, while demonstrators waved pictures of both.

<snip>

In Lebanon, Rasha Salti, a freelance writer, summarized the sense that Sheik Nasrallah differed from other Arab leaders.

“Since the war broke out, Hassan Nasrallah has displayed a persona, and public behavior also, to the exact opposite of Arab heads of states,” she wrote in an e-mail message posted on many blogs.

In comparison, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s brief visit to the region sparked widespread criticism of her cold demeanor and her choice of words, particularly a statement that the bloodshed represented the birth pangs of a “new Middle East.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28arabs.html?hp&ex=1154059200&en=d6633724ec1cf9d0&ei=5094&partner=homepage

When we get hit, as it will inevitably happen, it won't be Bush or Blair that will pay with their lives for their folly, but innocent Americans and Brits. And no one will feel sorry for us!

[LynnTheDem]

7. You forgot a word...

"...it won't be Bush or Blair that will pay with their lives for their folly, but more innocent Americans and Brits."

bush & bLiar are already responsible for more US & UK deaths than those 19 9/11 lunatics were. And then add in all the innocents who weren't US or UK...

[Tellurian]

18. Exactly right..

This new development is not getting the press it deserves.

This information changes the entire complexion initially designated
as black and white by Israel and the US.

Also, it seems the Bush/Rice team and their deliberate lack of diplomacy,
gross negligence, off-putting the welfare and well being
of the citizens of our country, have intentionally put us in harms way.

[IndianaGreen]

20. Remember that the bombing was intended to get the Lebanese to hate Hez...

Hezbollah. This policy goal has clearly failed and has actually turned Hezbollah from a Lebanese group into an international hit that has overshadowed Al-Qaeda.

Thank you for the publicity, Olmert and Bush!

[Tellurian]

22. Right again..

When the article said King Abdullah is distancing himself from the US was the tip off
he smells something rotten in Denmark.. In the past, he has always been the
barometer from which I've judged the ME goings on. If he's shaky about the
US backing the over the top violence from Israel; then so am I.

Then you have this:

http://pagead2.googlesyndication.com/pagead/imgad?id=CN-p1ZWP4oyJMRDYBRhPMgjr96GzUTdZVA&ai=BEz396_vJRJeqGZ2UVLbOoNwE6ffTGvG7mfMBwI23AcCaDBABGAEg4bP0AUicOVDZzZSQ-v____8BmAGZjZUPqgEKNDQwMjM2Njk5NbIBHXd3dy5kZW1vY3JhdGljdW5kZXJncm91bmQuY29tugEJNzI4eDkwX2FzyAEC2gFYaHR0cDovL3d3dy5kZW1vY3JhdGljdW5kZXJncm91bmQuY29tL2Rpc2N1c3MvZHVib2FyZC5waHA_YXo9dmlld19hbGwmYWRkcmVzcz0xMDJ4MjQxOTA3M-ABApUCUA4VCqkCKqn08-BQjj4

[saigon68]

25. Who loves Ya Baby?

[w4rma]

2. Absolutely predictable. (nt)

[Straight Shooter]

3. In other astonishing news today, the sun rose in the east. n/t

[Gloria]

8. When Jordan turns tail, you know things are really bad! Let's

see if Bushco punishes Jordan...we give them an awful lot of aid...they have that huge, young, Palestinian population sitting in Jordan...high unemployment, too.

[ladjf]

9. Yes. Bush is a uniter. nt

[unkachuck]

10. it seems the Sunni -street....

....and the Shite-street are beginning to consider themselves, first and foremost, the Islamic-street....Israel/bush have proven their amazing 'unifying' skills....not too many nations are going to want a piece of this....it could get lonely....

[IndianaGreen]

17. Perhaps this will end the civil war in Iraq

and Sunni and Shia can concentrate on their real enemies: Israel and America.

You know, there is time to rethink our theology about Iraq: we could free Saddam and put him back in power. Saddam was always the only deterrent to Islamic radicalism.

[ozone_man]

32. This is the truth.

Saddam had a secular government. Maybe the only good way out of Iraq is to put him back in power. It will be difficult to prevent a theocracy now.

[Skink]

11. Well Israel did start it.

oh but we aren't supposed to know that.

[Robbien]

12. NYT: Tide of Arab Opinion Turns to Support for Hezbollah

DAMASCUS, Syria, July 27 — At the onset of the Lebanese crisis, Arab governments, starting with Saudi Arabia, slammed Hezbollah for recklessly provoking a war, providing what the United States and Israel took as a wink and a nod to continue the fight.

Now, with hundreds of Lebanese dead and Hezbollah holding out against the vaunted Israeli military for more than two weeks, the tide of public opinion across the Arab world is surging behind the organization, transforming the Shiite group’s leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, into a folk hero and forcing a change in official statements.

The Saudi royal family and King Abdullah II of Jordan, who were initially more worried about the rising power of Shiite Iran, Hezbollah’s main sponsor, are scrambling to distance themselves from Washington.

. . .

The Saudi royal court has issued a dire warning that its 2002 peace plan — offering Israel full recognition by all Arab states in exchange for returning to the borders that predated the 1967 Arab-Israeli war — could well perish. “If the peace option is rejected due to the Israeli arrogance,” it said, “then only the war option remains, and no one knows the repercussions befalling the region, including wars and conflict that will spare no one, including those whose military power is now tempting them to play with fire.”



http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/28/world/middleeast/28arabs.html?ei=5090&en=817986f592a33de4&ex=1311739200&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all

[sueragingroz]

13. If the Sunnies and Shiites discover

their common enemy in the US and Isreal....

Things will get mighty ugly in Iraq for US soldiers.

Uglier than they have ever been...

[Igel]

16. Sure.

You may hate the distant portions of your tribe, but as soon as they're affected by somebody that's completely outside your tribe, you react.

Only naifs would think otherwise, and then only if they have so little respect for people in the region that they simply don't believe their words mean what they obviously must mean.

[magellan]

14. Heckuva job again, Bush**

Not to tempt fate, but could this administration possibly screw up the ME any worse? The target on the back of every American grows exponentially with each day these prats are in charge.

[Igel]

15. In their own words ...

We have a guy who's probably Ikhwan harking back to the Crusaders and loss of Muslim lands. NYT can't say that; it would smack of Islamophobia. "... Ibrahim Issa, who faces a lengthy jail sentence for his previous criticism of President Mubarak, compared current Arab leaders to the medieval princes who let the Crusaders chip away at Muslim lands until they controlled them all." Note that the medieval princes finally controlled them all in what, 1918?

Otherwise we have the same sort of "how dare the arrogant Israelis humiliate _me_!" comments. "...he has awakened the dead man inside me! May God make him triumphant!" "Since the war broke out, Hassan Nasrallah has displayed a persona, and public behavior also, to the exact opposite of Arab heads of states."

More important that being right is being proud, even arrogant (although that word's reserved for out-group reference), defending the ummah or ethnicity. The principle is personal. And must be taken into account whenever proposing peace or a treaty. Nasrallah knows the culture, and knows that at this point humiliation is defeat; hand him humiliation, and weaken Hezbollah while humiliating the entire tribe, or hand him a victory, causing pride and support for Hezbollah and making the entire tribe more willing to take back what it's owed for being superior.

Siniora shows the way to do it: helplessness is bad, but empowerment is worse.

[stepnw1f]

19. Good Going US/Israel

we all knew this was going to happen.

[Supersedeas]

21. Don't worry Dr Condi and Karen Huge have a plan to win hearts & minds

[IndianaGreen]

23. I forgot about Karen Hughes!

Wasn't she put in the State Department to improve our image abroad. The only way she could improve our image is by going to visit a tribe of cannibals. They'll love her fat ass!

[saigon68]

26. here is their plan

[WilmywoodNCparalegal]

24. Ok, so here is a simple question...

why can't Hizbollah release the Israeli soldiers? Let's not forget how this whole mess started. Where are these young men?

[Canadian_moderate]

27. You're pissing in the wind here

It's all Israel's fault. Hezbollah (like Hamas) are a force for freedom and democracy while Israel is fascist and oppressive.

Fuinny how many "liberals" here side with Islamic extremists, while at the same time condemning America's Christian extremists. I tend to hate all extremists equally, regardless of whether they're Christian or Muslim.

[Gully Foyle]

30. Uh

Isn't the government in control the only one that can be fascist and dictatorial?
If so called freedom fighters are trying to win by any means necessary then in theory they will use literally any means necessary to grind down the opposition.
What other choice is there?
You either fight to win at all costs or lose and get punished horribly.
There is no happy warfare just vicious vile kill or be killed mentality.

[Gully Foyle]

29. Yes

Soldiers captured on LEBANESE soil!
Smells like an illegal invasion from Israel.

[The Stranger]

28. According to the polls conducted here on DU, it is not just the "A-Rabs,"

but the entire world and the DU community.

[Canadian_moderate]

31. Speak for yourself

I will never support Hezbollah. Innocent Arab civilians, yes, but Hezbollah are not innocent civilians. They are murderous terrorists who target civilians. Hezbollah started this, not Israel. If Hezbollah had not attacked Israeli civilians then innocent Lebanese civilians would not be dying as result of being intertwined in Hazbollah's infrastructure.

I would like to see a solution that would make Jerusalem a city state, that is neither part of Israel or Palestine. People here are jumping all over Israel, but Israel is more liberal and democratic than any of its neighbours.

Yes, go ahead and support the Islamic extremists that control Hamas and Hezbollah. I'm sure they're looking to create a liberal-democracy in the Middle East

[Mudoria]

33. You make some great points!

:thumbsup:

[lumberjack_jeff]

34. Compassionate conservatism: fostering sympathy for terrorists worldwide

Fighting bad guys by being a worse guy.