Hizbollah's reconstruction of Lebanon is winning loyalty of disaffected...

[Purveyor]

Robert Fisk: Hizbollah's reconstruction of Lebanon is winning the loyalty of disaffected Shia
Published: 24 August 2006

Hizbollah has trumped both the UN army and the Lebanese government by pouring hundreds of millions of dollars - most of it almost certainly from Iran - into the wreckage of southern Lebanon and Beirut's destroyed southern suburbs. Its massive new reconstruction effort - free of charge to all those Lebanese whose homes were destroyed or damaged in Israel's ferocious five-week assault on the country - has won the loyalty of even the most disaffected members of the Shia community in Lebanon.

Hizbollah has made it clear that it has no intention of disarming under the UN Security Council's 1701 ceasefire resolution and yesterday afternoon, Major-General Alain Pellegrini, the commander of the UN Interim Force in southern Lebanon - which the Americans and British are relying upon to seize the guerrilla army's weapons - personally confirmed to me at his headquarters in Naqoura that "the Israelis can't ask us to disarm Hizbollah". Describing the ceasefire as "very fragile" and "very dangerous", he stated that disarming Hizbollah "is not written in the mandate".

But for now - and in the total absence of the 8,000-strong foreign military force that is intended to join Unifil with a supposedly "robust" mandate - Hizbollah has already won the war for "hearts and minds". Most householders in the south have received - or are receiving - a minimum initial compensation payment of $12,000 (£6,300), either for new furniture or to cover their family's rent while Hizbollah construction gangs rebuild their homes. The money is being paid in cash - almost all in crisp new $100 bills - to up to 15,000 families across Lebanon whose property was blitzed by the Israelis, a bill of $180m which is going to rise far higher when reconstruction and other compensation is paid.

In the 20sqkm of Beirut's southern suburbs which have been destroyed or badly damaged in 35 days of Israeli bombing, 500,000 residents - most of them Shia - lost their homes. But money is being poured in. For example, one Shia owning four floors of an apartment block, Hussein Selim, has already received $42,000 in cash for his possessions and lost furniture. And Hizbollah has pledged to rebuild the entire municipal area from its own - or perhaps Iran's - funds.

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http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article1221306.ece

[IndianaGreen]

1. Israel and the US use bombing and destruction to lose hearts and minds

while political parties like Hezbollah do what we failed to do in Iraq.

[Lindacooks]

2. And New Orleans.

Hezbollah is showing exactly what governments are supposed to do: help a nation when it's hurting.

[IndianaGreen]

3. Bush rejected offers of assistance from Cuba

Cuba offered to send physicians and nurses with experience in treatment of the sort of diseases that result from hurricane flooding, yet Bush refused their offer of help.

[ShortnFiery]

7. Hey Dear Leader and his hand picked Generals say that this

war can be won through the might of our USA Military.

They don't need no stinking public works or community action plans.

Shut-up Citizens and Go Shopping!

We'll kill them all if we have to but we WILL not show any humanitarian feelings nor compassion. Why? That would make us look "girlie."

REAL AMERICANS (neo-con ghouls) would rather be caught DEAD than showing an ounce of "The Feminine." (Empathy and true diplomacy are not anywhere to be found within Dear Leader's Administration ... that's by DESIGN).

All I can gather is that these bastards hate any behavior that can be classified as "warmth or empathy" ... they must have been beaten up by a gang of vicious GIRLS when they were in elementary school BUT now they're getting even, i.e., No Mercy. :puke:

[FlavaKreemSnak]

4. Who will take the money away from the people?

Will it be Israel or the French troops? I am going to guess the French troops because Israel was losing too many soldiers on the ground but somebody will have to take it away from them because they did not do all that bombing so the people could get money. I mean if any of them build a new house they can do a defensive military operation to re-bomb it but I think they will also want to get the money before any of the Lebanese people who are against the occupation can use some of it to buy guns that they could shoot at either Israeli soldiers or the French troops who are helping enforce the occupation.

[msmcghee]

5. Yeah, just imagine where Lebanon . .

. . would be if Hizbullah had put that same amount of money directly into improving Lebanon's schools and infrastructure instead of building bunkers in S. Lebanon and attacking Israel - and now being faced with massive destruction. To say nothing of the thousand or so Lebanese who would still be alive today to enjoy the benefits of that investment.

It boggles the mind what peaceful relations with neighbors can accomplish.

It least Hizbullah can claim to have semi-successfully attacked Israel (if Lebanon not being totally wiped out is a success) after causing minimum damage to Israel - and I'm sure that's priceless.

[IndianaGreen]

6. but thanks to Israel's genocide in Lebanon, which dates back decades

and the complicity of silence of Israel's supporters, the Lebanese are left to fend for themselves.

It will take years to clear the fields and villages of unexploded Israeli cluster bombs. The use of cluster bombs is a war crime when used on populated areas. Shall we mention the use of depleted uranium?