Lebanese PM: Hezbollah must be disarmed

[ProSense]

Lebanese PM: Hezbollah must be disarmed

21 minutes ago

ROME - Hezbollah has created a "state within a state" in Lebanon and must be disarmed, Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora said in an interview published Thursday in an Italian daily.

Saniora told Milan-based newspaper Corriere della Sera that the Shiite militia has been doing the bidding of Syria and Iran, and that it can only be disarmed with the help of the international community and once a cease-fire has been achieved in the current Middle East fighting.

"Hezbollah has become a state within a state. We know it well," said Saniora, leveling for the first time such an accusation against the Syria- and Iran-backed guerillas that effectively control southern Lebanon.

"It's not a mystery that Hezbollah answers to the political agendas of Tehran and Damascus," Saniora was quoted as saying by Corriere. "The entire world must help us disarm Hezbollah. But first we need to reach a cease-fire."

more...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060720/ap_on_re_mi_ea/mideast_fighting_hezbollah_2

Negotiate peace!

[ShortnFiery]

1. I wonder ...

If he was promised <wink wink> and end to the bombing IF he said this meme?

Hum?

[adriennui]

3. would you like a drug cartel moving into your neighborhood

committing violent acts and destabilizing the area? that's hezbollah. did you ever think the lebanese official wants lebanon for the lebanese and not some puppets from the iranian gov't?

[ShortnFiery]

5. Oh gosh! They're not only terrorist thugs but drug dealers ...

Could your characterization of a LARGE Organization be any more broad brushed? No! Don't bother to answer that, why they ARE, save for that evil ELECTED Hamas, the scourge of the earth, in league with Bin Ladin, HELL! All who we deem are OUR (USA and Israel) enemies ARE THE DEVIL INCARNATE. :puke:

The Root of this is AGGRESSIVE WARFARE on both sides. The Government of Israel is no LESS a state sponsor of terrorism as Hezbollah.

[adriennui]

14. don't change the subject

i was posting about hezbollah and used the analogy of a bunch of violent punks moving into a neighborhood and taking over and lobbing bombs into other neighborhoods. the police can't do anything about them. it's like anarchy, no? they're intoxicated by violence.

lebanon doesn't want the shitty hezbollah, there are many maronites who are being harrassed by their presence.

[ShortnFiery]

17. Punks now! Have you monitored the video interview on the street?

Hezbollah are NOW more popular than ever. Every father and brother who lost a loved one to Israel's bombing campaign will be SURE TO JOIN!

Mission Accomplished!

[adriennui]

20. they're still punks.

and are no better than a lawless violent militia in this country taking the law into their own hands.
would you approve of that?

[ShortnFiery]

21. No more than a ruthless Nation committing war crimes ...

And we in the USA KNOW what that's about, don't we.

WE MUST vote out these warmongers who bless OUR STATE SPONSORED terrorism.

In Iraq, the USA Occupation makes us the biggest *punks* around.

It all is "perspective." I don't share yours by a long shot.

[LostinVA]

18. That's exactly what it is -- excellent analogy

[cali]

4. What evidence do you

have that he simply wasn't saying something he believes. H'bollah is not exactly popular with most of the gov't.

[ShortnFiery]

7. You must stop following me around and sniping at my posts ...

Isn't that inappropriate?

Let's call a cease fire on sniping?

I qualified it as an impression - "I wonder."

Opinions and impressions are allowed on this message board last I checked?

[cali]

9. I'm hardly following you around

I post to lots of people on these threads, you're merely one of them. It's not sniping, it's discussion. That's what DU is; a discussion board. You've written things that I take issue with, paricularly factually. i have every right to respond. Sorry you see it as sniping.

[ShortnFiery]

10. Most people would see it as sniping ... I try and avoid you

because we don't have productive exchanges.

You really must cease with the snipes, it's getting old - for everyone. :(

[cgrindley]

2. He said it because it's true

Hezbollah is a terrorist militia that has, through a combination of inertia, incompetence, Western disinterest and Syrian influence, been allowed to gain significant political and military power in Lebanon. Israel should attempt to destroy as much of Hezbollah's asset base as possible, and then the UN should be brought in and establish a peace keeping force--one that will probably need to stay the course for as long as it was needed, say, in Cyprus. Let's not forget who Hezbollah are. They are murderous assholes.

[jonnyblitz]

6. sounds good to me. if they are lobbing bombs into Israel

disarm their sorry asses. It's kind of stupid not to condemn THEM if we are going to be so critical of Israel.

[malaise]

8. Funny that he didn't say that on Lebanese TV

What he did say there was that Israel must pay for all the damage they have inflicted to his country.

That reads like the Niger 'yellow cake' document.

[Mass]

11. Because you watch lebanese TV?\nt

[malaise]

12. Yep LBN America n/t

[MrPrax]

13. Sounds like a good plan...

However is the Prime Minister of Lebanon defending his country? Nope...

Can the Prime Minister of Lebanon use all that good will earned from the Cedar Revolution to influence the US? Nope...

Is the IDF scared of the Lebanese government like it is of Hezbullah? Nope...

Can the Lebanese government provide protection to it's citizens like it didn't during Sabra and Shatila? Nope...

Has the Prime Minister of Lebanon done a single fucking thing to protect it's people? A single shot of resistance? A single bullet let loose by it's army? Nope...Nope...and Nope...

So basically the Prime Minister of Lebanon can be treated the same way he has been treating his country...you ignore it.

It's not a government, but a faction that was used by the US and Israel to secure domestic arrangements namely being the removal of the Syrian army -- which was the only thing defending Lebanon.

Now the US and Israel is pressuring the Prime Minister of Lebanon to remove another group it doesn't like...and the Prime Minister of Lebanon who has a utterly destroyed country to show for his efforts, is demanding that the ONLY people defending Lebanon, be disarmed.

Sorry it doesn't work that way, puppet.

[ProSense]

15. Lebanese PM says paper misquoted him

July 20, 2006, 8:13AM

Lebanese PM says paper misquoted him

Later Thursday, Saniora's office said the prime minister had been misquoted, adding that his words had been translated from English into Italian and that Corriere's journalist had chosen sentences that were not connected and did not report the literal meaning of what he had said.

Snip...

"What the prime minister said was that the international community has not given the Lebanese government the chance to deal with the problem of Hezbollah weapons, since the continued presence of Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands in the Chebaa Farms region is what contributes to the presence of Hezbollah weapons," the statement said. "The international community must help us in (getting) an Israeli withdrawal from Chebaa Farms so we can solve the problem of Hezbollah's arms."

Snip...

The prime minister has said in the past that disarmament is impossible while some Lebanese territory is still under Israeli occupation, but he has never accused Hezbollah of following Iran's and Syria's agenda or of acting like a state within a state.

In the interview, Saniora reportedly reiterated his harsh criticism of Israel's air and sea attacks against Lebanon, saying that "Israel's criminal bombardments must be stopped immediately," and adding that these were counterproductive for all sides.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/4059936.html

The Milan-based Corriere della Sera quoted him as saying in an interview that Hizbullah has created a "state within a state," adding: "The entire world must help us disarm Hizbullah. But first we need to reach a cease-fire."

Saniora later issued a statement denying the remarks. He said he told the paper that the international community must help press Israel from Sheba'a Farms, a small border area that Lebanon claims and Hizbullah points to as proof of the continued need for armed resistance.

Saniora told the paper that "the continued presence of Israeli occupation of Lebanese lands in the Sheba'a Farms region is what contributes to the presence of Hizbullah weapons. The international community must help us in (getting) an Israeli withdrawal from Sheba'a Farms so we can solve the problem of Hizbullah's arms," the statement said. There was no immediate comment from the Italian paper.

http://www.aljazeerah.info/20%20n/70%20Lebanese%20Killed%20on%20Wednesday,%20US%20in%20Full%20Support%20for%20Israeli%20Aggression,%20Which%20is%20Changing%20to%20Full-Scale%20Invasion.htm

Current position: critical of Israel, wants to disarm Hezbollah. Still good news!

[malaise]

16. As I said

He did not say that on Lebanese TV. That is right wing spin.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

19. Maybe I'm A Naif But This Seems Like A Positive Development

All he is asking for is the implentation of a U N Resolution:


"“3. Calls for the disbanding and disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias;



“4. Supports the extension of the control of the Government of Lebanon over all Lebanese territory;"



http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sc8181.doc.htm