Unless the vision is diabolically twisted not to register any change in the expanse of panorama in the front or it is jangled by some devilish thoughts convincing someone that his/her actions are of some real worth to humanity, there cannot be any other reason why George W Bush and his acolytes in the West should be so downrightly engaged in the Middle East on behalf of Israel.

Not only that the US and its Western friends are doing nothing to reduce the sufferings of quite a large number of humanity in the region, they are rather adding fuel to fire and aggravating the situation in the region by supporting Israel absolutely, nonsensically. Things cannot be as black and white as are seen by the West; there are grey areas that too need close attention.

Blinded by his mantra of ‘war on terror’ Bush failed to register the collateral damage Israel’s aggression on Lebanon and occupied territories had done. If this was in response to the abduction of three Israeli soldiers then Israel has lost the legitimacy of its claim for a member-ship in the club of nations.

Bush failed to notice in what conditions and circumstan-ces the soldiers were abducted: whether they were treated humanely or not; whether a swap for prisoners was asked for or not; whether it could be classified as an act of terrorism or not; whether an occupied people have the right to resist occupation or not; whether the occupy-ing nation has any responsibility to the protection of life, property and respect to dignity, honour and humanity of the people who are demanding deliverance from the yoke of subjugation or not; whether the charter of human rights applies to Israel or not: foggy misperceptions fly away in face of reality. Bogged down by the weight of his own ideology, if we can call it an ideology, of ‘war on terror’, Bush failed to get rid of his blinders and compromised with even American ideals of human rights, dignity, freedom and liberty.

In Lebanon two diametrically opposing camps are vying for a new Lebanon. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s Government stands for Western values, American hegemony, and is pro-Israel and anti-Syria-Iran, whereas, the Opposition who has staged an open ended sit in to bring down the Government of Siniora, stands for Eastern values, endeavours for an independent Lebanon free from any foreign Western influence, good friendly relations with all neighbours to form an Islamic Eastern block, and wants to deliver  Lebanon from the suzerainty of the US and Israel.

The are five aspects of the new political hassle rocking Lebanon that qualify for a perceptive understanding on part of unbiased observers.

Firstly, the Opposition has the legal right to display its displeasure over the failure of Fouad Siniora’s Government to safeguard the interests of Lebanon during Hezbollah’s 34-days long war with Israel and demand its removal. Siniora’s Government did not act in the interest of Lebanon.

Not only had it acted in cahoots with Israel to crush Hezbollah and did not order the deployment of Lebanese forces to defend their territory, even on diplomatic front it failed miserably to capitalise on Hezbollah’s gains on the battle grounds. All its diplomatic moves were farcical and bizarre that brought dishonour and humiliation to Lebanon.

Secondly, Siniora’s government in recent past has shown more than once that it is acting under the influence of foreign powers. The US and Israel have gained greater influence since the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Lebanon. This nullifies the very spirit that had prompted the nation to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon.

This betrayal on part of Siniora’s Government is unpar-donable and justifies its removal. If Syrian influence was to be substituted by America then there was no need for the celebration of Lebanese sovereignty after the withdrawal of Syrian troops that had come to the country to rescue it from the hegemonic designs of Israel and the US itself.

Siniora cannot be allowed to turn history full cycle back despite the sacrifices of Hezbollah as well as other nationalist elements of Lebanon all these intervening years.

Thirdly, the opposition rally hints at the influence of Hizbollah as well as other Opposition parties over their supporters. Hundreds of thousands of people have remained peaceful on the call of their leaders and behaved democratically and responsibly chanting only national songs of Lebanon and their demands for the removal of Fouad Siniora’s Government. Milling crowd of Hezbollah’s supporters nullified the US charge of terrorism againstHezbollah and the peaceful nature of all these demonstrations have sent a message across the globe to all nations how politically mature, organisation-ally strong, ideologically informed the nation of Lebanon have become. Lebanese can take care of themselves and they don’t need masters in the US and Israel to 
grow as a nation.

Fourthly, the demand of the Opposition is quite legally justified and is within the parameters of political process as well as culture of the country. In the wake of total failure of Fouad Sinora’s Government to exert Lebanon’s sovereignty and consequently resigna-tions of so many ministers, it is essential that  a  government of National Unity should be formed as has beendemanded by the Opposition. Were it not for the US and Israeli backing for Siniora’s Government the Opposition demand would have been met long time ago and the political rot would not have gone to this extent. Even the Lebanese army chief has asked for political resolution of the problem as early as possible.

Fifthly, the Opposition rally in Lebanon is wrongly branded as Shia Hezbollah’s attempt to topple the government; rather the whole nation is out in the open demanding resignation of Fouad Siniora and the formation of a national unity government. All segments of Lebanon society such as Shia, Sunnis, Shia of Amal, Christians as well as Druze in more or less proportions comprise  opposition. By sticking to power Fouad Siniora is doing a great disservice to his nation. Backed by the US and its acolytes in the West along with their toadies in the Middle East, he is resisting the demand of the
opposition.

Information

Blinded by his mantra of ‘war on terror’ Bush failed to register the collateral damage Israel’s aggression on Lebanon and occupied  territories had done.

First appeared in Pakistan Observer on 10-12-2006