Today’s coverage of the violence in Lebanon reveals a remarkable degree of bias and stupidity. CNN and Fox News are the most egregious. All are busy pandering to neocons and suporters of Israel who tend to favor a Likudnic view of the world. Consider the following reported on CNN:
Smoke billowed Monday from a Palestinian refugee camp as Lebanese forces battled Islamic militants linked to al Qaeda for a second day near the northern city of Tripoli. The clashes have left dozens dead and wounded. The
fighting was sparked Sunday when Lebanese Internal Security Forces
raided a building in a neighborhood north of Tripoli, army sources
said. Militants from Fatah al-Islam began shooting at the forces, who
returned fire, triggering clashes in the vicinity of the Nahr al-Bared
Palestinian refugee camp. . . . Nayla Mouawad, Lebanese social affairs minister, said the militants have “Syrian allegiance and only take orders from Syria.“
If you are like George Bush you may not appreciate the fact that there are Sunni muslims and Shia muslims. Radical Sunnis and radical Shias dislike each other intensely. Each considers the other a heretic. So what the hell is the media up to? Let’s ask Pat Lang, who posted some keen insights at Sic Semper Tyrannis:
The 24/7 news networks were hard at work today trying to make Syria
responsible for the Sunni zealots in the camps. The statement was
being made today that these groups were connected to AQ. No evidence
was offered, but the assertion was repeatedly made based on the
“possibility” that had supposedly been voiced by some nameless person
in the Lebanese government. Various Lebanese were asked that question
– “Is this Al-Qa’ida?” Nobody could be found who was willing to say
that there was an organizational link to Al-Qa’ida, but the question
was asked over and over again. This question was paired with another –
“Is Syria controlling and “behind” this group?” Nobody could be found
who would say that either, but the question was asked over and over
again.
Now, think about it, folks Al-Qa’ida is a virulently anti-Shia
Sunni group. Everyone “knows” how much Syria supports Hizbullah, a
virulently anti-Sunni Shia group. So, which is it? Which side does the Syrian government support? Does the Syrian government support both at
the same time? If you believe that, then you really are a sucker for
propaganda.
Pat provides some important additional background and context:
That’s an M-48 tank out on a firing range. The Lebanese Army has
these. This is an old tank from before the Vietnam period, but, how
new do tanks have to be when used for shelling refugee camps full of
civilians? The fighting around the “Nahr al-bared” camp at Tripoli,
Lebanon continues.
Lebanon’s political situation remains deadlocked between the US and
French supported coalition headed by Siniora and the Iranian supported
“opposition” coalition led by Hassan Nasrallah and Hizbullah.
This latter grouping is made up of Hizbullah and Amal Shia, more
Sunnis and yet more Christians. The Syrian government tolerates this
latter grouping’s logistical efforts in and through Damascus from Iran
on behalf of Hizbullah.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Siniora’s grouping is made up of
the allies of Saad Hariri (mostly Sunni Muslims), various hard-line
Christian parties (Geagea, etc.) a lot of the Druze and some odds and
ends.
The essence of the Lebanese political stalemate has to do with the
allocation of political power in Lebanon. Of those elements in the
population who have the vote (not Palestinians) the Shia are the most
numerous and, in the aftermath of their victory over Israel last
Summer, they are demanding a larger, perhaps decisive share in
political power in the country. There is also the issue of a UN run
tribunal to rule as to who killed Rafik Hariri, but, anyone who thinks
about it knows that this is really a “side” issue. If the tribunal
decided that Bashar Assad killed Hariri, what would they do, drive to
Damascus and arrest him?
The United States and France do not want a larger role for
Hizbullah. The United States accepts Israel’s definition of Hizbullah
as a terrorist group in spite of their toe-to-toe fight against Israel
last year and their legitimate status as a political party in Beirut’s
parliament. France? Evidently, they are looking for love from the
United States. It has been lonely for the French lately.
Standing on the sidelines, there are the 200,000 odd permanent
Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. They are not Lebanese citizens. They
have no political vote, are overwhelmingly Sunni, are excluded from
good jobs, and therefore good housing. They are excluded from many
Lebanese schools. They and those who came before them have been living
in those camps on a kind of “dole” from the UN for a long time, many of
them for 50 years. They have no prospects, zero. People who have no
prospects are dangerous.
So, they are susceptible to the takfiri jihadi message and
influence drifting on the winds of the internets and in the minds of
returned fighters from Iraq. Not surprisingly some of them have
accepted the call, the call to drive foreign, kaffir influence out of the Lebanon, the call to vent their rage against a political system that offers them nothing.
The “players” in the Siniora/Hariri coalition do not have clean
hands in the matter of the creation and encouragement of Sunni zealotry
in Lebanon. Lebanese political leaders have “played” to the Sunni
Lebanese of the north for many years, seeking their support in the maze
of Lebanese politics. Did they think that the Sunni Palestinians in
the camps would not hear the same message?
So, now we have fighting between the Lebanese Army and Palestinian
zealots. What a surprise! If it spreads to camps in the south of
Lebanon, the Lebanese Army will be hard pressed. Their commander said
so yesterday, urging restraint.
It would be interesting to know who sets the agenda for the content of 24/7 news. Very interesting.
The media has an obligation and a responsibility to report news and to report it accurately. Syria is not and has not been an ally or supporter of Al Qaeda. The former head of Al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Musab al Zarqawi, was not buddies with Syrian President Assad. Yet CNN, Fox and MSNBC are helping spread the propaganda that Syria is in league with al Qaeda, who in turn is stirring th pot in Lebanon. Meanwhile, Palestinian refugees are caught in a meat grinder. And you wonder how we were “mislead” into a war in Iraq?
