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Syria-Lebanon-Iran | ||||
Hezbollah attempts to gain international and domestic legitimacy | ||||
2005-04-11 | ||||
BEIRUT, Lebanon - As its Syrian backers leave Lebanon, Hezbollah is seeking to transform its image domestically and in the West - from guerrilla group condemned as terrorist by the United States to political party respected for playing a serious, productive role in Lebanese politics.
Among those who attended were about eight Americans, including Graham Fuller, former deputy head of the CIA's National Intelligence Council, and Robert Muller, head of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation, as well as about six Europeans, who also included former officials, said Alastair Crooke, director of the Britain-based Conflicts Forum. The gathering was "not intended to produce recommendations and conclusions," said Crooke, whose group organized the meeting. "It was about listening."
Whether Hezbollah's attempt is genuine or just political opportunism remains to be seen. But even President Bush suggested Hezbollah could change its image when he called on it last month to lay down its arms and prove it was not a terrorist group. The US government blames Hezbollah for numerous attacks since the 1980s, including the bombings of a US Marine barracks and US Embassy in Beirut. The group has also been accused of striking the Israeli Embassy and a Jewish cultural center in separate bombings in Argentina in the early 1990s that killed scores. Hezbollah denies the claims. In public addresses, Hezbollah's belligerent anti-Israel and anti-US rhetoric has not abated. But away from a domestic audience, the group's shrewd, savvy One solution could be incorporating members of Hezbollah into the army and deploying them in the south - which could satisfy the U.N. call for disarmament while also retaining Hezbollah's firepower. Even Israel has noted a change in Hezbollah's tactics, with one Israeli security official saying recently that the militant group is scaling back its support of attacks against Israelis by radical Palestinian groups. The official said the rollback in Hezbollah activity is linked to Israel's planned withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank in the summer. He said the Palestinian factions realize that resumption of attacks against Israelis could delay or scuttle it. Some analysts say the group wants to ensure a significant presence in any new Cabinet formed after Lebanese parliamentary elections expected before the end of May. The Syrian pullout has left Hezbollah with its greatest political challenge since it was formed as a resistance group with Iranian backing in 1982. With Syria gone, Hezbollah will field the only armed group in Lebanon outside the military, but that power can also play against it. In Lebanon and the Arab world, Hezbollah has gained hero status for driving Israel out after an 18-year occupation. But Hezbollah has been on the State Department's list of terror groups since the list's inception in 1997. Washington has been pushing Syria to disarm the group, and a price for a rapprochement between the two countries - and indeed for an improvement of relations between Iran and the United States - could be the disarming of Hezbollah. Both Syria and Iran back Hezbollah, with Tehran reportedly providing the group with an estimated $10 million (Ã7.8 million) to $20 million (Ã15.6 million) monthly. The political turmoil that followed Hariri's death - including anti-Syrian protests, and the resignation of the government - has presented Hezbollah with an opportunity to project itself as a capable conciliator and an indispensable player.
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Posted by:Steve White |
#6 Borrow a page from the Nazi playbook and hang Nasrallah with piano wire. |
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama 2005-04-11 11:03:52 AM |
#5 If they start by hanging Nasrallah from a meathook, I might consider that a show of good faith. |
Posted by: Glosing Slang5997 2005-04-11 10:05:10 AM |
#4 âNobody knows where it will lead,â said Khashoggi. I hope it leads to their extinction. |
Posted by: Spot 2005-04-11 8:45:55 AM |
#3 Hezbollah still has to answer for the 241 dead Marines. Hezbollah want legitimacy because they know that Lebanon politics will run them out of the country, and then the Mullahs will have no standing in Lebanon, i.e. no geographic place to attack Israel from. |
Posted by: badanov 2005-04-11 7:09:21 AM |
#2 Its a Shiia speciality to combine armed cadres, social welfare and a political party into the same organization. Hamas is the same. I am reminded of the IRA slogan of a few years ago - 'A ballot paper in one hand and an Armalite in the other.' As a political party with elected representatives you have to deal with them as you would any other political party, but at the same time you have to resist their armed activities (whether terrorism or not). Unfortunately, past actions by the USA and Israel amoungst others have led to a situation where Hizbollah can justifiably claim the model works. The solution is the one that appears to have worked with Tater in Iraq - keeping whacking the armed element until it no longer seems like a good idea. It remains to be seen who will do the whacking of Hizbollah. |
Posted by: phil_b 2005-04-11 6:15:59 AM |
#1 Article: As part of this attempted makeover, Hezbollah sent a senior representative to a meeting in Beirut last month with American and British intellectuals, including former government and intelligence officials, to talk about the group, which Washington accuses of killing hundreds of Americans in terror attacks in the 1980s. Hezbollah claimed credit for killing hundreds of Americans. It's got nothing to do with the US accusing them of it. You gotta love AP - all anti-American propaganda, all the time. |
Posted by: Zhang Fei 2005-04-11 12:25:00 AM |