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IN DEFENSE OF HEZBOLLAH, A "TERRORIST" ORGANIZATION
By Ahmad Barqawi
July 29, 2013 "Information Clearing House - Arab liberals and
GCC-sponsored 'intellectuals' and media pundits could not contain
their delight this past week as they all went into jubilant throes of
rapture over the EU's acquiescence to American pressure to black-list
the Lebanese Resistance Group Hezbollah (or its Armed Wing as it were)
as a terrorist organization.
Full-blown joy was in no short supply as Gulf funded newspapers
and media outlets went into celebratory overdrive, practically
sharing a "moment of great relief" with the one entity that, in a
word-association game, elicits "terrorism" for the majority of the
people in this region: Israel.
Of course the reactionary monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Counsel
have themselves designated the Lebanese Shiite party as a terrorist
organization last month, fashioning measures and sanctions to target
the party's (non-existent) interests in the Gulf, these measures will
most probably translate into wholesale arbitrary expulsions and random
terminations of residency permits of Lebanese expats earning their
livelihoods in these Sheikhdoms, especially those with the "wrong"
religious affiliation.
Saudi Arabia has been spearheading a vigorous anti-Hezbollah screed
ever since the assassination of their favorite Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafiq Al Hariri, with blatant secterian incitement and torrents of
weaponized religious Fatwas as staples in the Kingdom's armory, but
for a country whose main exports include religious fanatics of the
Al-Qaida variety along with crude oil; labeling the Lebanese party
as a terrorist organization takes their hypocrisy to a whole new
cosmic level.
Ultimately, the EU's decision to ban the "Military Wing" of the
Lebanese Resistance as a "terrorist organization" will most probably
have minimal effects on the Party's political (and yes military)
activities, but one has to wonder; what criteria were used to lump
the Lebanese party in the same crowd with Al-Qaeda and its ilk? What
constitutes as "terrorism" and what does not?
What if Hezbollah swapped its arsenal of "primitive" missiles and
Katyushas for a bunch of drones and F-16s? What if the young men of
the Lebanese resistance decided to pick up remote joystick terrorism
instead of putting their lives at stake by being on the front lines
defending their own towns and villages? Would they then still be
considered terrorists?
What if Hezbollah took a leaf out of the CIA's playbook on how to
"humanely" treat prisoners of war? What if they pulled a Guantanamo,
or a Bagram or an Abu Ghraib on Israeli captives, where water-boarding
and sexual humiliations are matters of course? Would it be considered
terrorism then or just standard operating procedures? Harsh
Interrogation Techniques perhaps?
What if Hezbollah conducted a massive illegal surveillance and
private online data collection crusade not only on its own fellow
Lebanese citizens but on the entire world population, wouldn't it be
considered a parasitic terrorist entity then? Nah. That would be just
too obvious for the EU.
Imagine the uproar if Hezbollah ran large scale bogus vaccination
programs in other sovereign states only to illegally and forcibly
obtain DNA samples from local residents (including children) on
their obsessive manhunt for a "wanted" fugitive, wouldn't hot-headed
Eurocentrics trip over themselves to deem that a form of terrorism?
How about spying on UN officials and diplomats -including the
Secretary General himself-, hacking their E-mail addresses, collecting
fingerprints and stealing their credit card numbers? Wouldn't that
instantly earn them a pariah status by the self righteous EU?
What if Hezbollah had an arsenal of more than 250 nuclear warheads?
What if Hezbollah carpet-bombed Tel Aviv with cluster munitions and
white phosphorous shells to kingdom come? Would that constitute as
terrorism or just a preemptive "self-defense" routine?
What if Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassarallah clumsily mounted an air
craft carrier with a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner attached to it
after his "Military Wing" had illegally invaded, pillaged, occupied and
decimated a sovereign country and looted its oil and natural resources
leaving nothing but biological plagues and radioactive dust in their
soil and water, under some trumped up weapons-of-mass-destruction
pretext no less? Would the corporate world consider him a hero and
hail him like he was the Second Coming?
What if Nassarallah followed the "fine example" of the double-tongued
Barack Obama and fashioned a secret "Kill List" of his own
-which included minors and civilians- for impulsive targeted drone
annihilation and extrajudical assassinations? Would he then receive a
Nobel Peace Prize for that? How about if he rendezvoused with Israeli
war criminals on the White House lawn to sign a humiliating peace
treaty with the Zionist entity? I'd wager he would be then declared
the Time's "Man of the Year".
Imagine if the Lebanese resistance movement employed gut wrenching
force-feeding and coercion against their hunger-striking political
detainees as a matter of course by shoving tubes up their hemorrhaging
noses and down into their bellies, would that make them less terrorists
and more civilized and liberal?
What if Hezbollah fighters took machetes to their victim's chests and
cannibalized their remains and internal organs while smiling through
their blood soaked teeth to the camera, would they then be considered
bona fide "Freedom Fighters" deserving of western support and millions
of dollars of military "non-lethal" aid? What if Hezbollah fighters
staged photo-ops and smooched with hardcore right-wing Zionists of
the John McCain and Joe Lieberman variety, would they be praised as
moderate peace-loving democrats and true models for upright humanity?
What if Hezbollah resorted to car bombings, booby-trapped micro vans
and suicide attacks in heavily populated civilian neighborhoods just
like those head chopping, throat slitting FSA darlings of the West?
Would it be elevated to the pantheons of "legitimate" Arab Spring,
GCC-sponsored rebel movements?
Why can't Hezbollah leaders take their cue from those feuding Gulf
States' Sheikhs and Emirs whom are gluttons for anything American and
Western? Why can't they just play good hosts to a gigantic American
military base in South Lebanon? This sure would get their name yanked
off of that list of terrorist organizations.
Can't they just forsake their Turbans and traditional Thobes for
million-dollar suits and silk neckties? What if Hezbollah leaders were
white men with green eyes, and spoke with perfect, unaccented English?
Would the EU still slap that "terrorism" label on a legitimate
resistance movement?
Shouldn't we all be grateful that we have the European Union to tell
us what constitutes as terrorism and what does not?
Ahmad Barqawi, a Jordanian freelance columnist & writer based in Amman,
he has done several studies, statistical analysis and researches on
economic and social development in Jordan
By Ahmad Barqawi
July 29, 2013 "Information Clearing House - Arab liberals and
GCC-sponsored 'intellectuals' and media pundits could not contain
their delight this past week as they all went into jubilant throes of
rapture over the EU's acquiescence to American pressure to black-list
the Lebanese Resistance Group Hezbollah (or its Armed Wing as it were)
as a terrorist organization.
Full-blown joy was in no short supply as Gulf funded newspapers
and media outlets went into celebratory overdrive, practically
sharing a "moment of great relief" with the one entity that, in a
word-association game, elicits "terrorism" for the majority of the
people in this region: Israel.
Of course the reactionary monarchies of the Gulf Cooperation Counsel
have themselves designated the Lebanese Shiite party as a terrorist
organization last month, fashioning measures and sanctions to target
the party's (non-existent) interests in the Gulf, these measures will
most probably translate into wholesale arbitrary expulsions and random
terminations of residency permits of Lebanese expats earning their
livelihoods in these Sheikhdoms, especially those with the "wrong"
religious affiliation.
Saudi Arabia has been spearheading a vigorous anti-Hezbollah screed
ever since the assassination of their favorite Lebanese Prime Minister
Rafiq Al Hariri, with blatant secterian incitement and torrents of
weaponized religious Fatwas as staples in the Kingdom's armory, but
for a country whose main exports include religious fanatics of the
Al-Qaida variety along with crude oil; labeling the Lebanese party
as a terrorist organization takes their hypocrisy to a whole new
cosmic level.
Ultimately, the EU's decision to ban the "Military Wing" of the
Lebanese Resistance as a "terrorist organization" will most probably
have minimal effects on the Party's political (and yes military)
activities, but one has to wonder; what criteria were used to lump
the Lebanese party in the same crowd with Al-Qaeda and its ilk? What
constitutes as "terrorism" and what does not?
What if Hezbollah swapped its arsenal of "primitive" missiles and
Katyushas for a bunch of drones and F-16s? What if the young men of
the Lebanese resistance decided to pick up remote joystick terrorism
instead of putting their lives at stake by being on the front lines
defending their own towns and villages? Would they then still be
considered terrorists?
What if Hezbollah took a leaf out of the CIA's playbook on how to
"humanely" treat prisoners of war? What if they pulled a Guantanamo,
or a Bagram or an Abu Ghraib on Israeli captives, where water-boarding
and sexual humiliations are matters of course? Would it be considered
terrorism then or just standard operating procedures? Harsh
Interrogation Techniques perhaps?
What if Hezbollah conducted a massive illegal surveillance and
private online data collection crusade not only on its own fellow
Lebanese citizens but on the entire world population, wouldn't it be
considered a parasitic terrorist entity then? Nah. That would be just
too obvious for the EU.
Imagine the uproar if Hezbollah ran large scale bogus vaccination
programs in other sovereign states only to illegally and forcibly
obtain DNA samples from local residents (including children) on
their obsessive manhunt for a "wanted" fugitive, wouldn't hot-headed
Eurocentrics trip over themselves to deem that a form of terrorism?
How about spying on UN officials and diplomats -including the
Secretary General himself-, hacking their E-mail addresses, collecting
fingerprints and stealing their credit card numbers? Wouldn't that
instantly earn them a pariah status by the self righteous EU?
What if Hezbollah had an arsenal of more than 250 nuclear warheads?
What if Hezbollah carpet-bombed Tel Aviv with cluster munitions and
white phosphorous shells to kingdom come? Would that constitute as
terrorism or just a preemptive "self-defense" routine?
What if Hezbollah leader Hassan Nassarallah clumsily mounted an air
craft carrier with a giant "Mission Accomplished" banner attached to it
after his "Military Wing" had illegally invaded, pillaged, occupied and
decimated a sovereign country and looted its oil and natural resources
leaving nothing but biological plagues and radioactive dust in their
soil and water, under some trumped up weapons-of-mass-destruction
pretext no less? Would the corporate world consider him a hero and
hail him like he was the Second Coming?
What if Nassarallah followed the "fine example" of the double-tongued
Barack Obama and fashioned a secret "Kill List" of his own
-which included minors and civilians- for impulsive targeted drone
annihilation and extrajudical assassinations? Would he then receive a
Nobel Peace Prize for that? How about if he rendezvoused with Israeli
war criminals on the White House lawn to sign a humiliating peace
treaty with the Zionist entity? I'd wager he would be then declared
the Time's "Man of the Year".
Imagine if the Lebanese resistance movement employed gut wrenching
force-feeding and coercion against their hunger-striking political
detainees as a matter of course by shoving tubes up their hemorrhaging
noses and down into their bellies, would that make them less terrorists
and more civilized and liberal?
What if Hezbollah fighters took machetes to their victim's chests and
cannibalized their remains and internal organs while smiling through
their blood soaked teeth to the camera, would they then be considered
bona fide "Freedom Fighters" deserving of western support and millions
of dollars of military "non-lethal" aid? What if Hezbollah fighters
staged photo-ops and smooched with hardcore right-wing Zionists of
the John McCain and Joe Lieberman variety, would they be praised as
moderate peace-loving democrats and true models for upright humanity?
What if Hezbollah resorted to car bombings, booby-trapped micro vans
and suicide attacks in heavily populated civilian neighborhoods just
like those head chopping, throat slitting FSA darlings of the West?
Would it be elevated to the pantheons of "legitimate" Arab Spring,
GCC-sponsored rebel movements?
Why can't Hezbollah leaders take their cue from those feuding Gulf
States' Sheikhs and Emirs whom are gluttons for anything American and
Western? Why can't they just play good hosts to a gigantic American
military base in South Lebanon? This sure would get their name yanked
off of that list of terrorist organizations.
Can't they just forsake their Turbans and traditional Thobes for
million-dollar suits and silk neckties? What if Hezbollah leaders were
white men with green eyes, and spoke with perfect, unaccented English?
Would the EU still slap that "terrorism" label on a legitimate
resistance movement?
Shouldn't we all be grateful that we have the European Union to tell
us what constitutes as terrorism and what does not?
Ahmad Barqawi, a Jordanian freelance columnist & writer based in Amman,
he has done several studies, statistical analysis and researches on
economic and social development in Jordan