Beirut....Will we never learn?

It is so promising to see good ole' Condi Rice hanging out in the Middle East, refereeing what has become by now a tired conflict. What is unfortunate is that in the twenty plus years since our "Peacekeeping" force of Marines was killed in Beirut we have learned so little about Middle East politics. I will give credit to Bush for not immediately sending thousands of troops to pacify this region, but our policy in regards to the current conflict has been no less enlightened than are arming of the Taliban and Sadam Husein. The simple fact of the matter is that we do not understand Middle Eastern Politics. We do not understand them in theory or in practice. We tend to view the world through a western (if not American) set of binoculars. Unfortunately, we cannot possibly understand what is going on in the Middle East through this set of eyes.

First and foremost, if there is one thing to learn about the Middle East and in particular Lebanon, it is that nothing is as it seems. Yes it appears quite simple, Hezbollah, a terrorist organization is fighting against Israel. Nothing new here, a radical Islamic organization fighting against the world's only Jewish state. Unfortunately for all of us it just isn't that simple. See in the Middle East politics are not just discussed at a national level, but also at a secular (read religious) level, local level, tribal level, etc, etc. There is no easy comparison to garner in America outside of the Catholic Church taking up arms agains the Baptist Church, against the Seventh Day Adventist and so on and so on. Then within each of these groups you have a myriad of factions which each have their not only their own political agenda, but also their own militias, social services, and press offices with which to spread their opinion of the conflict. Such is the case with Hezbollah, an organization founded by the Shiite state of Iran in order to combat Israel. Hezbollah, not only is an organization whose fundamental principles often run perpendicular to the Lebanese government, but also an organization which still struggles to find an identity within the Muslim world. Caught between wanting to be a legitimate social and political organization and a true guerilla force, Hezbollah has worked at both aims and had measurable success in both arenas.

This is perhaps what makes this organization so dangerous. Not only is it an extention of the Tehran power apparatus (run by Ahjamenejad a ferverant anti-American, anti-western leader), but also a collection of loose Shiite tribal factions, all of which aspire to power and none of which care for the Jewish or American States. So what can be done in the midst of this crisis? Well that is a good question and one that American policy makers and diplomats have been trying to avoid. By allowing Israel to carry out continued operations against Hezbollah in Lebanon, the US has sent a clear signal that it believes Israel has the right to defend itself. The real question is how long a nation (no matter how great, technologically advanced, or militarily superior) can hold out when surrounded by neighbors who not only hate it, but are willing to die to see it's destruction. As Golda Meyer once said: "We will have peace when the Arabs love their children more than they hate us".

Just a Bit Tasteless....

So I know that I haven't posted in a long time and there has been a lot going on in the world, so I do hope to get caught up over the next few weeks. With all that is going on in the world it is strange that I have chosen this topic, but for some reason it is really annoying me so I decided to put the perverbial pen to paper.

Today I saw for the umpteenth time a preview for the new movie "World Trade Center". I don't know if I am alone on this, but it seems extremely tasteless to make a movie about an event where so many people lost their lives. Yes, I know there have been many movies made about the American Revolution, the Civil War, and of course Pearl Harbor. But none of these movies were produced less than five years after a life changing, world altering event. It is as if our capitalism knows no bounds. Let's generate a huge amount of profit by exploiting the deaths of thousands of innocent people. Wow! I am so excited to buy a ticket. I mean really, have we not seen enough documentaries on the History Channel and Discovery Channel, not to mention the repetitiveness of the network news channels. I have probably seen the second plane hit the tower no less than a thousand times. I am so glad that someone has put together a dramatic "human interest story" for us to all relate to.

Guess what? We lived through this disaster. And relived it day after day, week after week, and month after month for the five years that followed this tragic attack. This terrorist action has been used as an excuse to invade a soveign nation, to dramatically bloat the deficit, and to strip American's of fundamental rights guarenteed by our great Constitution. Not to mention degrading our reputation amongst the powers of the world and ensuring instability in the Middle East for the next century. So why not play out this drama on the big screen? It simply seems like too small a venue to portray the overwhelming emotion of the moment. The feeling of a country once thought invincible, attacked for the first time on it's own soil by a foreign enemy. Making a movie about this a mear few years later belittles the experience. It makes it seem as if this was not the massive and life chaning event that it was, and rather a mere blip in on our pop culture radar.

So often the right wing of our country tries to justify their defiling of the Constitution and the cancellation of our individual rights as a necessary step in a "Post 9-11 World". Perhaps it is time for this same political machine to speak out against a movie that trivilizes the experience as just another of our pop culture adventures. I certainly hope the American public sees this film as the propaganda that it is. Intended to solicit feelings fear and resentment that lead to irrational policy decisions. This is the only way in which the right will be able to continue to play the "9-11 Card."