[News] Wikileaked Cables Finger Collaborators in Beirut

[Anti-Imperialist News]

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney01072011.html

January 7 - 9, 2011


Wikileaked Cables Finger Collaborators in Beirut


Betrayal in Beirut

By MIKE WHITNEY

"Wikileaks confirmed yet another suspected, but 
never confirmed, relationship between Lebanon and 
Israel. American diplomatic reports from 2008 
detail discussions between the Lebanese defense 
minister and American officials. The Lebanese 
minister discussed how Israel could hit key 
Hezbollah targets, and cripple the Iranian-backed 
Shia force. The minister also believed that 
Israel could take out Hezbollah without enraging 
the rest of Lebanon if the fighting was confined 
to Hezbollah held areas. It was also important 
that targets in Christian Lebanese areas not be bombed."

--"Lebanon Faces The Hidden Enemy", <http://strategypage.com/>strategypage.com

"The aim of America and Israel is to spread chaos 
in Lebanon and to find excuses for foreign intervention."

-- Hezbollah's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah

When Israeli troops and armored units swept into 
Lebanon on July 12, 2006, not one soldier from 
the Lebanese Army was deployed to the South to 
defend the country. The army stayed safely tucked 
away in the North while Hezbollah militiamen 
engaged the IDF in ferocious combat for more than 
a month.  1,200 civilians were killed in the 
fighting and vast parts of the country's vital 
infrastructure were destroyed before Hezbollah 
prevailed and sent the IDF fleeing back into 
Israel.  Lebanon managed to avoid Israeli 
occupation because of the heroic efforts of Hezbollah.

During the latter part of the conflict, 
Hezbollah's Secretary General, Hassan Nasrallah, 
issued a statement which said:

“Over the past few days, the Israelis did the 
maximum they can do, from the air and sea. There 
is no target­old, new, assumed, expected, based 
on information and analysis­they did not hit
 
(But) Hezbullah is still managing the battle 
slowly, quietly, and without any emotional 
reaction. You can see this. There are no 
unnecessary threats and no random rhetoric...We 
are not a classic army extending from the sea to 
Mt. Hermon. We are a popular and serious 
resistance movement that is present in many areas 
and axes....Our equation and principles are the 
following: When the Israelis enter, they must pay 
dearly in terms of their tanks, officers, and 
soldiers. This is what we pledge to do and we 
will honor our pledge, God willing.”

Nassrallah kept his word, his men fought bravely and Israel was routed.

Israel was deeply traumatized by the defeat.  118 
IDF soldiers were killed and Israel's celebrated 
power of deterrence was obliterated. Israeli 
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hastily called off the 
invasion after 34 days when he could no longer 
bear the rising death toll. He left office two 
years later in disgrace.  In contrast, 
Nasrallah's popularity has grown to mythic 
proportions. He is now more highly revered than 
any leader in the Arab world. He's the man who defeated Israel twice.

Here's how Kenneth Besig summarized the mood of 
Israeli public at the time. This is from the Jerusalem Post:

"Fewer than 5,000 poorly-armed Hezbollah 
terrorists stood off the mighty IDF for over a 
month. An Islamic terrorist gang with no tanks, 
no artillery, no fighter jets, no attack 
helicopters, and just a few RPG's and rifles held 
to a standstill nearly 30,000 crack IDF troops 
with the finest tanks, the best artillery, the 
fastest and most advanced fighter-jets and attack 
helicopters in the world. And they can still 
empty our northern communities with their rockets 
whenever they want. If that is not a victory, then the word has no meaning."

Thanks to Wikileaks, we now know why Lebanese 
troops were not deployed to the south to defend 
their country. This is from the World Socialist Web Site:

"A classified cable from the US embassy in Beirut 
has revealed how Lebanon’s ruling March 14 
alliance discussed with the US its preparations 
for a military attack by Israel against its rival 
Hezbollah. This and other secret cables released 
by WikiLeaks are destabilizing already tense political relations in Lebanon.

“According to the dispatch in March 2008, Elias 
Murr, Lebanon’s defense minister....told US 
diplomats how in the event of a military attack 
by Israel on Lebanon, Israel should avoid 
damaging Lebanese infrastructure in order to stop 
public opinion turning against the March 14 
Alliance, as had happened when Israel invaded Lebanon in the 2006 war...

“If Israel were to bomb areas under Hezbollah 
control, Murr made clear that the Lebanese armed 
forces would not intervene. He said in the course 
of a two and a half hour meeting over lunch, ‘If 
Israel has to bomb all of these places in the 
Shiite areas as a matter of operational concern, that is Hezbollah’s problem.’

Murr is reported to have said that the Lebanese 
army would not get involved in the next war and 
that the army’s objective was to survive a three 
week war ‘completely intact’ so as to be able to 
‘take over once Hezbollah’s militia has been 
destroyed’. He said, “I do not want thousands of 
our soldiers to die for no reason.”

The US embassy concluded that Murr “seems intent 
on ensuring the army stays out of the way so what 
Hezbollah bears the full weight of an Israeli 
offensive.”  ("Lebanon government gave covert 
support for Israeli attack on Hezbollah", Jean Shaoul, WSWS)

So, the Lebanese government collaborated with US 
officials in a way that ensured that Lebanese 
civilians would be killed. This means they are 
either guilty of murder or treason. Imagine if 
Barack Obama  gave Canadian Prime Minister Steven 
Harper the green-light to bomb the Irish Catholic 
sections of Chicago. It's exactly the same thing. 
The Lebanese ruling coalition intentionally 
slaughtered their own people. Perhaps, this is 
why Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri (Rafik 
Hariri's son) has suddenly decided to call off 
the investigation of his father's murder. According to the Jerusalem Post:

"Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri will ask the 
UN tribunal probing the assassination of his 
father Rafik Hariri to stop its investigation and 
leave the country, Lebanese newspaper Al-Diyar 
reported on Wednesday.  Hariri added that he 
would resist any indictments handed down by the 
tribunal, saying "I have sacrificed a lot and 
cannot sacrifice more." (Lebanese PM will tell UN 
to stop Hariri tribunal', Jerusalem Post)

The so-called Special Tribunal for Lebanon 
(S.T.L.),  is a UN-backed invention (supported by 
the US and Israel) that's designed to politically 
discredit Hezbollah. If members of Hezbollah are 
indicted by the STL--as many expect--then the 
resistance organization's reputation will be 
tarnished and they'll be branded as "political 
assassins". This could lead to a break up of the 
fragile unity government and eventually to civil 
war. Israel could then use the indictments to 
legitimize future attacks on Hezbollah 
strongholds in the south or in Beirut. So, there's a great deal at stake.

Nasrallah has pushed for an alternative to the 
STL by suggesting that the case be sent to 
Lebanon's Higher Judicial Council which handles 
state security crimes. That way, the matter could 
be dealt with internally and Hezbollah would have 
more reason to trust the outcome. But Hariri, who 
is very much under the influence of Washington 
and Tel Aviv, has rejected the idea outright.

According to the Associated Press, "Hezbollah and 
its allies refuse to attend any Cabinet meeting 
that does not vote on the issue, while Hariri has 
reportedly vowed to walk out of any meeting that 
decides to hold a vote. As a result, the Cabinet 
has met only once since Nov. 10, and that single 
meeting lasted only a few minutes. State institutions have been deadlocked."

The STL is a way the for US and Israel to meddle 
in Lebanon's internal affairs so they can reshape 
the Middle East to suit their strategic 
objectives. It's a continuation of the Bush 
policy of incitement and war-making that 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice 
called  “birth pangs”. The question now is 
whether the indictments will be used as the 
pretext for another war.  No one knows for sure, 
but there are signs that trouble is brewing. This 
is from Lebanon's The Daily Star on Wednesday:

"Israel renewed its military exercises Tuesday by 
firing ammunition into Lebanon in a continuation 
of several weeks of muscle-flexing 
maneuvers.  The National News Agency (N.N.A.) 
reported that Israeli patrols had fired on 
Lebanese territory for several hours until eventually ceasing Tuesday morning.

“’[The] Israeli Army fired Monday night and 
Tuesday dawn random shots from its location on 
occupied Shebaa Farms for more than half an 
hour,’ the N.N.A. said.  It added that Israeli 
reconnaissance jets had violated Lebanese 
airspace at 8:30 a.m Tuesday, following a similar set of maneuvers Monday.

“At 7:20 a.m. Monday, an Israeli reconnaissance 
war plane violated Lebanese airspace over Aalma 
al-Chaib and executed circular maneuvers over the 
southern  regions, then left the air space at 
10:00 p.m. over Rmeish Village toward the 
Occupied Territories,” said a communiqué from Lebanese Army Command.

“The latest Israeli operation close to the Blue 
Line follows intense military maneuvers at the 
end of 2010 that were designed to mimic a ‘worst 
case scenario’ in any future clash with 
Hizbullah, Israeli media reported." ("Israel 
continues military drills, fires into south Lebanon" The Daily Star)

So, Israel has resumed its saber rattling on the 
border just as the temperature in Beirut is 
rising.  This is more than a mere coincidence. 
Here's more from  Wikileaks via the World Socialist Web Site:

"US diplomatic cables quoted by the Norwegian 
daily newspaper Aftenposten expose discussions 
between US legislators and Israeli officials on 
preparations for the next Middle East war. These 
documents make clear both Israel’s preparations 
for another major war in the region and the full 
support of visiting members of the US 
Congress.......The cables, the Norwegian paper 
reported, send a ‘clear message’ that ‘The 
Israeli military preparations for a new war in 
the Middle East are in full swing.’

“General Ashkenazi is quoted in the November 2009 
cable as saying that the Israeli military is 
preparing to wage the next war ‘in the same areas 
where the previous wars took place, namely in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip.’...

“The Israeli chief of staff confided to the US 
delegation that the Israeli military is 
continuously flying unmanned drone aircraft over 
Lebanon, in open contempt for the country’s 
sovereignty, to identify targets for attack. He 
also expressed his gratitude to the US National 
Security Agency (NSA) for its aid in spying on Israel’s enemies."

("Cables expose US-Israeli war talks", Bill van 
Auken, World Socialist Web Site)

It's only a matter of time before Israel resumes 
hostilities. Congress and the White House have 
already been briefed and US clients in Beirut 
have beefed up their security forces to fend off 
possible retaliation from Hezbollah. All that's 
needed now is a provocation; a kidnapping, a 
random shooting, a rogue rocket fired into Israel 
or, maybe, the STL indictments. Anything will do. 
After all,  Israel wants to repair its battered 
image, restore its power of deterrence, and get 
revenge for the beating it took in 2006. Hezbollah had better be prepared.

Mike Whitney lives in Washington state and  can 
be reached at <mailto:fergiewhitney at msn.com>fergiewhitney at msn.com




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