Why Fisk is wrong about Lebanon
Sunday, 28 January 2007
By Mike Whitney
This is how the conflict began in Lebanon. Outbreaks
of sectarian hatred, appeals for restraint, promises
of aid from Western and Arab nations and a total
refusal to understand that this is how civil wars
begin. Robert Fisk, World ignores Signs of Civil War
in Lebanon UK Independent 1-27-07
01/28/07 ICHBlog -- -- Robert Fisk is all wrong
about Lebanon. The country is not on the brink of
another civil war, but has been subsumed in an
imperial war engineered in Tel Aviv and Washington.
Hes also mistaken in thinking that the Paris 3
Conference is designed to save Lebanon from the
mountain of debt which piled up after Israels
destructive 34 day war. The real purpose of the $7.6
billion in loans is to shackle Lebanon to the
international lending institutions that are demanding
additional taxes on the poor, more privatization of
state-run industries, and restructuring the economy to
meet the requirements of the global banking elite.
According to a recent article by Chris Marsden in
countercurrents:
Only a fraction of the loans will be spent on
reconstruction projects. Most will go towards
servicing Lebanons short-term debt and therefore back
into the coffers of the imperialist governments and
financial institutions, while leaving Lebanons
long-term debts to climb even higher. The rest will go
into paying the Lebanese army (and security services)
in order to suppress the opposition in the Shia areas
in the south of the country. And, once again, any
money given will be made conditional on the government
implementing the reforms demanded by the IMF and World
Bank.
This is the real war--the class war-- that continues
to be directed at the people in developing world.
How many times have we seen the World Bank and IMF
swoop down on their prey after a nation has been
savaged by war only to apply the vice-grips of massive
debt and set up another corporate colony? The rise of
sectarianism and the clash of civilizations bunkum
is just the mask that conceals the real struggle; the
ongoing war and exploitation of the people who have no
voice in government.
Heres a question for Fisk: Is there any doubt now
that the US and Israel used the UN to push Syrian
troops out of Lebanon just so they could execute their
bloody plan to invade the country and set up a puppet
regime in Beirut? Or was that merely a coincidence?
And, is there any doubt that World Bank president,
Paul Wolfowitz, knew that he would be used in Phase 2
of the assault on Lebanese sovereignty by providing
more economy-busting loans?
The US military is just the left hand of the banking
establishment. One hand washes the other.
Its the perfect system; the US-Israeli war machine
flattens an entire country and then their buddies in
the in the corporate-banking business rake in the
profits from loans and reconstruction contracts. At
the same time, they insist that the New Lebanon be
rebuilt according to the neoliberal model; the same
economic model that has kept Latin America and Africa
in abject poverty for 2 decades.
Fisk is wrong; its not sectarian hatred that is
driving the war, but outside powers that are using
their proxies within Lebanon to achieve their
geopolitical objectives. In other words, this not the
beginning of civil war, but a continuation of the 34
Day war; the deliberate pulverizing of Lebanon to
create an US-Israeli protectorate in a critical area
of the Middle East. Future pipeline corridors and
regional hegemony require a compliant pro-western
government in Beirut. Thats why the Bush
administration has armed and trained the massive
security apparatus of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, so
he could succeed where Israel failed, by crushing
Hezbollah and the pro-democracy movement.
On the other hand, Hezbollah is demanding that the
Siniora respect the constitution and step down to
allow for the formation of a unity government. That is
what is REQUIRED under the law (after six members of
the Parliament walked out, it effectively disbanded
the government) and that is why Hezbollah has been
camped out in the center of the city since December 1.
If the Bush administration was serious about
democracy, theyd throw their support behind the
opposition. (Hezbollah and Michel Aouns Free
Patriotic Movement) But then we know what happens when
the will of the people clashes with the aims of the
administration. (check the war against the
democratically-elected government of Hamas)
Sinioras political base is limited to Sunnis, some
parts of the Christian community, and the Lebanese
business elite (Hariri). Some of them like, Samir
Geagea, the ex-civil war militia killer are
connected to right-wing extremist organizations. These
are the groups who stand to benefit the most from an
open confrontation with Hezbollah. Washington needs
them to conceal its dirty war; a war that Bush stepped
up last week when he authorized the CIA to take
covert action
