What the Fuck Are We Doing?, or
Weep for Lebanon

July 20, 2006

If democracy and a liberal society are part of our Middle East plan, then why are we silent as Lebanon is destroyed? There are not too many places in the Middle East where these values have taken root, but the country whose infrastructure is being degraded, and which has about half a million internal refugees, is one place where they have flourished. Don't take my word for it, read what our president George W. Bush had to say about Lebanon just a few months ago:

'PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, we just had a really interesting discussion. I told the Prime Minister that the United States strongly supports a free and independent and sovereign Lebanon. We took great joy in seeing the Cedar Revolution. We understand that the hundreds of thousands of people who took to the street to express their desire to be free required courage, and we support the desire of the people to have a government responsive to their needs and a government that is free, truly free . . .

We talked about the great tradition of Lebanon to serve as a model of entrepreneurship and prosperity. Beirut is one of the great international cities, and I'm convinced that if Lebanon is truly free and independent and democratic, that Beirut will once again regain her place as a center of financial and culture and the arts.

There's no question in my mind that Lebanon can serve as a great example for what is possible in the broader Middle East; that out of the tough times the country has been through will rise a state that shows that it's possible for people of religious difference to live side-by-side in peace; to show that it's possible for people to put aside past histories to live together in a way that the people want, which is, therefore, to be peace and hope and opportunity.

And so, Mr. Prime Minister, we're really glad you're here. I want to thank you for the wonderful visit we've had, and welcome you here to the White House.

[quotation from Juan Cole, his emphases]

That is a pretty rosy view of a country which is having full scale war waged against it.

Maybe it is hard for Americans to have a clear idea about the differences that exist between countries here in the Middle East.. it all starts looking like some sand-swept Iraqi landscape in the mind's eye. But that is not so.. and those who have visited the beautiful sea-board country of Lebanon will be the most deeply saddened by the turn of events over the past ten or so days.

I dug up a letter I wrote about my own experience in Lebanon almost exactly four years ago. The following is a slightly edited extract:

Happy as my experience was at the ruins, my best story came from the bus ride down to Tyre. I sat talking with this soldier named Danny for most of the hour and a half trip. He was in the middle of his year of service, and was on his way for a stint in the south. He was very young and spoke little English.. something not too common. But he loved rap music, and was part of what he called an Arabic rap group. The more bewildering sections of our talk came when he tried to describe songs by Tupac or Eminem. Then I got a further surprise as I had to talk about favorite alcoholic drinks with this young Muslim. Do I like vodka? Do I like Mexican beer? He knew a little more than me on this score. And he is an example of how much more liberal the Lebanese are than others in the Middle East.

About half way down the road to Tyre.. a road which followed the Mediterranean coastline closely.. a beautiful girl and her mother got on the bus and sat in the row ahead of us. This guy asked me, in a voice that was a little loud, how I liked the girls in Lebanon.. nodding ahead of us at this new arrival. I coughed that they were indeed nice looking. A little time passes and this girl, to give her mother a little more space, comes to the back row and sits at the window, next to me. Soon Danny has to get out to catch his connection to some base or other, and I am left next to this girl, alone. I stayed quiet for a while.. I was a little unnerved by the presence of the mother directly in front of me.. but when we got close to Tyre, I started asking the girl some questions. She was a Muslim from Sidon, going to Tyre to buy clothes with her mom. Before I knew it she was smiling and we were talking! She spoke no English, but loved America... This may seem like no big deal, but after Cairo it was like a breath of fresh air to be simply talking to a girl with no worries. To take the cake, when her mother decided to move to the back row she pointedly sat on the other side of me so that I and her daughter could continue to talk. When we got to Tyre we looked a little bewildered so they walked us to the start of the monuments, and the girl turned and said goodbye, leaving with a kind smile. I wanted to invite them to lunch or something, but I let them walk away. I thought maybe we would pass in Tyre, or maybe we would take the same bus home.. but neither happened.

Given their residence in the south of Lebanon, it is almost certain that this girl and her mother are today refugees. Yet look at her excitement to be talking with an American! What are we doing standing by and giving approval to the actions of Israel, when those actions are making us the enemy for millions of people.

But terrorism trumps everything? And the wise John Bolton, our ambassador to the United Nations, refers to Hezbollah in this way: "We unequivocally condemn the kidnapping by Hizballah, a terrorist organization, of two Israeli soldiers and call for their immediate and unconditional release" [quote source here]. I have no trouble unequivocally condemning the actions of Hezbollah, but it strikes me that the phrase "terrorist organization" is a little blunt. It calls to mind Bin Laden and the chaos sown by Zarqawi in Iraq. But no American in Lebanon as of two weeks ago had anything to fear from Hezbollah. I myself have walked through its strongholds, in the south and in the Bekaa Valley.. their yellow flags flying from the power poles.. but encountered nothing overtly hostile. That is not a defense of Hezbollah, which is a vicious enemy of Israel, but it is a warning that the American public is repeatedly presented with these words that muddy and blur the situation.. Lebanon is not Iraq, and Hezbollah is not al-Qaeda.

What is the goal here? Maybe there is a big picture that leaders have planned out.. but then I thought the same thing during the buildup and aftermath of the Iraq War, and I am now tempted to believe that there is no bigger picture, and that we (and Israel) are simply sowing lasting hatred toward ourselves.

Much ballyhooed has been the lack of outright condemnation from the main Sunni states (Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia).. but whatever the official response of these states, the battle for the hearts and minds of individuals is being won by the other side. The following is a cartoon that ran today in the Al-Ahram Weekly:

It is the face of Hassan Nasrallah, the head of Hezbollah. The caption under this cartoon read:

I illustrated Hassan Nasrallah as an outstanding hero, one who dared strike terror in the heart of Israel. He bombed Haifa. His Hizbullah have emerged as a widely-respected and hugely popular resistance movement throughout the Arab and Islamic worlds. His eyes are those of an eagle [nasr, with the letter "sin" means eagle], ready to prance on its prey. His mouth is round and frank—always ready to speak the truth.

Now there is much to roll one's eyes at in responses such as this.. and one dearly wishes that people in the Middle East could simply build up their world instead of lionizing (or eaglizing) those that wreck things.. but that is not my point: my point is what is our goal? And how is this wholesale destruction of a beautiful country, with beautiful citizens, benefiting our cause?