July 18, 2006: Bud Talkinghorn: Lebanon

Lebanon: A pretend democracy ruled by religious thugs

The impotence of the Lebanese government is astounding. The terrorist Hezbollah has shown how that government walked on stilts. Those stilts were recently kicked out from under them them. The de facto power is Hezbollah. Even they are dancing to Syria's and Iran's tune for political and financial support. Syria didn't really mind leaving Lebanon because they had left the well-armed Shi'ite Hezbollah in control. Now Hezbollah can play out its nihilism, big time. How can you have a vibrant, multi-religious (decadent, of course) Lebanon and live the pure life of your 7th century ancestors? So its destuction is probably Allah's plan. It is rather like Pol Pot's idea to drag Cambodia back to "Year Zero". So what if a third of the countriy's population dies? Pol Pot wanted to get back to Year Zero, Hezbollah seven years up from there.

That mindset also fits the Iranian president, who sees "mystical auras" at the UN and has visitations from the Islamic saints. A man crazier than Khomenei, for sure. He has openly stated that Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth. His Iranian long range rockets in Hezbollah's hands are the opening salvos.

These are our enemies, not just Israel's. How the divided West will deal with this crisis will decide much for the stability of The Middle East. I leave you with a prophetic comment made in 1973 by a Lebanese taxi driver on passing the Palestinian refugee camp of Shatila in Beirut. He pointed out the window to the camp below and said, "See those bastards. They will drag Lebanon into a war soon." "Soon" was the civil war that destroyed much of the country for 15 years. Now, finally regaining its old "Pearl of the Middle East" reputation, the fundamentalists and their backers want to turn it into Afganistan. The West must support Israel and the moderate Lebanese in rooting out this scourge.

Bud Talkinghorn--Have we forgotten that Hezbollah held a 600,000 strong demonstation--in favour of having Syrian troops remain? They care nothing for democracy, except as it furthers their goal of a future theocratic state.