Hamra Street
I’m not going to add anything to the narrative describing how Christopher Hitchens and two other journalists were assaulted on Hamra Street, West Beirut. The persons who were there on the occasion can describe it themselves. But since words often fail to give a sense of what the scene looked like, and since it involved a short foot pursuit, I’ve posted a trio of pictures after the Read More to give readers a flavor of the street and its environs. The first image is a panorama of Hamra Street with the site of the infamous “Syrian Nazi” poster highlighted in full color while the rest of has been blued. The sign that Hitchens wrote on — what he wrote I will leave to him to say — is not really a poster, but a commemorative sign marking the spot where members of that organization — the SSNP — once killed two IDF soldiers at a place called the Wimpy Cafe. As the NationMaster site says:
One of the best-known early actions of the resistance was the killing of two Israeli soldiers in the Wimpy Cafe on west Beirut’s central Rue Hamra by party member Khalid Alwan. The party continues to commemorate this date. A party member, Habib Shartouni, was also responsible for the assassination of Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel in a bomb attack on 14 September 1982.
Whatever the SSNP may lack these days, ferocity is probably not one of them. The Wimpy Cafe is gone, but the site of the killings is commemorated by signs. In addition to the panorama of the street are two zooms showing the poster itself. You can the see the stylized swastika on the sign which had been cleaned up in the interval. Please click on the pictures to enlarge them to full size.
Tip Jar
A panorama of Hamra Street. It looks like a nice, normal shopping area. But as Hitchens found out, sometimes things are not what they seem. The IDF men who died there must have thought it was a normal street too. Here’s a medium zoom on the relevant section of below. Notice the sign posted on the street corner which corresponds to the area highlighted in the panorama. The face depicted on the poster may be Khalid Alwan, but that is just my conjecture.
In this zoom you can see details of the sign itself, including the stylized swastika. I hope this sets the geography of the incident on a sound footing. All images belong to Richard Fernandez.
This really helps me visualize the context. Thanks.
The highlighting in the first photo is especially helpful. I don’t think I would have been able to find Waldo without it.
L3
The Syrian Nazi Party sure comes off as a political ‘cut-out’ for the Ba’athist State.
That the party has but 300 … where did I hear that number before … but can mobilize six as if ‘firemen’ … at the drop of a hat … give me a break.
These dopes need to be roped.
There mere existence is oppressive, and is their nature.
That such open goon tactics are not countered or scorned is the mark of political deprivation.
One would think it would be a short matter to bait these bastards and give them their own rendition.
Many a story they’d be able to tell.
Ya’ think?
Some people might think Hitchens has deserved a good thumping for a long time, whatever the source.
Some people might think Hitchens has deserved a good thumping for a long time, whatever the source.
Those ‘some people’ are very likely our domestic lefty counterparts of the Syrian Nazi Party. Was that ACORN talking?
It carries the weight of desecrating one of those “Washington slept here” signs. Or indications of the where the Lewis and Clark trail ran through. How in Beirut’s historical context does the killing of two IDF men count as a history to boast about. West Beirut, you say? Isn’t that now Hezbollah’s playground?
Well other than answering my own question that does indicate the level of anti Israeli sentiment still in Beirut, and I gather the rest of Lebanon. The thugs are nothing more than a sign that kidnapping Inc. is still in business, ready to open its doors at an opportune time. Hitchens is was lucky he wasn’t in Damascus, or even in closer proximity to the airport.
OTOH, that is a pretty efficent employment program the Hez have going. Lets hope the current administration doesn’t try to model it.
West Beirut, you say? Isn’t that now Hezbollah’s playground?
Hezbollah’s supporters would be in the southern suburbs, which are a poorer section of the city. Head south and once you get past Amal territory you get to a stretch with a lot of Nashrallah and Mugniyeh posters in evidence. That’s Hezbollah territory. But that’s just going by memory. I learned just enough about the country to realize how ignorant I am.
“I learned just enough about the country to realize how ignorant I am.” Are not we all? How did you find the falafel there?
Thanks for the pictures Wretchard.
Insufficiently Sensitive, I am not by any stretch of the imagination a lefty but I am convinced Hitchens could use a good solid slap every second or third article.
Tony Badran at Beirut Bay to Bay is a good guide to the thicket of Lebanese politics, at least in so far as anyone can penetrate those politics. Badran’s consistent thesis is that Syria foments crises and then presents itself as the responsible international partner who can help solve/mitigate thoses problems. Syria has many kinds of thugs on its payroll, including SSNP. The policy of Syria is grotesquely obvious. But it works, as John Kerry illustrated for us so nicely, so why change it? T
The reality check for Syria is not the US or Europe, who show again and again their fecklessness, but Israel, which let Assad and Nasrallah know, via the elimination of Mugniyeh, that it knows their addresses and can deliver greetings at any time.
I remember an interview with a US army officer some time in the 1980s. He was talking about how he landed in Beirut and was picked at the airport by someone in the Lebanese’s army. This US officer was asking his host a bunch of questions about the situation on the ground and his host simply said something to the effect, “You just landed in Beirut, you now know as much as anyone else as to what is going on here.”
3 bob, 8 quig, or whoever you call yourself -
Insufficiently Sensitive, I am not by any stretch of the imagination a lefty but I am convinced Hitchens could use a good solid slap every second or third article.
Thanks for confirming your intellectual credentials. Could you imagine someone proposing the same action in return for your expressed opinions?
Well well. Looks like the Assad sponsored thugs of the SSNP realize that they attacked the wrong man, and don’t like the “international” disinfecting light of truth shined on their murderous activities. Now they are denying (via the malicious fascist loving jerk “angry arab”) that Hitchens was ever attacked. Cowards. Says it all.
Sorry fascists. There were too many witnesses.
Oh and Bob–You’re no better than the idiots at HuffPo.
Why not have Rick Warren travel there and remind them what nice guys they are?
(so as not to put the lie to his description of same)
Hitch And The Syrian Nazis
–>
A man could get a reputation. He defaced a poster for the Syrian Nazis and all hell broke loose:
Later that night, three of our “scoop” brigade–Jonathan Foreman, Michael Totten and Christopher Hitchens–got involved in a street brawl with some thugs of a Syria-loving skinhead party called the SSNP after Hitchens rather gallantly insulted their swastika flag. On our way to a meeting with Minister of State Nassib Lahoud, Hitchens showed me the gashed knuckles and bruises suffered during the punch up. The attackers had apparently come out of nowhere on posh Hamra Street, where they had gone to buy shoes.
“I was on the ground,” Hitchens said, “and getting it in the head.”
So they went shoe-shopping late at night?
Attaboy.
“…I am convinced Hitchens could use a good solid slap every second or third article.”
Not me. I think freedom of speech should be a Universal Right. Now graphitti, that is quite another thing… but most of all, you gotta love Hitchens for the fact that he has all the balls in the world and carries the convictions of his own beliefs. Yo can disagree with the man but you’d be hard press to say his views are spurious and not well thought out.
Highly out of place in our PC Universe, I might add.
More Newspeak, we need more Newspeak.
Someone once told me, meaning the story is to good to check out, that back in 1958 when the US landed troops in Lebanon NBC news ran a video of the Palisades across the Hudson river from New York and claimed it was a shot of the Americans invading.
I do wish that we had landed 200,000 in Lebanon in 2002 and marched East. France still needs to paid for her treacherous collaboration with Saddam that kept the 4th ID from coming in from the North. If that had happened then we would be less likely to be losing Turkey and it would have been easier to pressure, or ideally ensure regime change, in Damascus.
Oh no! I don’t dislike Hitchens at all! But sometimes he makes me mad and yes, I’d like to give him a kick in the butt or a slap around the ears. But that is a tribute to his ability to communicate.
“Could you imagine someone proposing the same action in return for your expressed opinions?”
Good Lord yes! In fect I’ve been shot at for this very thing!
fect=fact (with an accent)
Totten was there, too. Shouldn’t he get some credit?
It is a fundamental mistake of the Gentry to think that because a shopping mall or McDonalds exists, that country is like America.
Big Mistake (as Arnold once said).
What this whole incident illustrates is the futility of trying for “peace” with Muslims. Polygamy, religious hatred, coming out of the toxic stew of the fundamental nature of the society, filled with strife not cooperation, makes violence a way of life. Daily.
What I suspect is that we will see more Bombay style “love letters” from Muslims, ala Westhawk’s links on his site from Strategy Page.
Eventually even with the Gentry, we will become like Israel. A population of suburbanites, deeply middle class, who has become fairly right-oriented out of frustration, favoring a policy of confrontation rather than appeasement.
Considering the deeply suburbanite, middle class, status oriented make-up of Israeli society, and the profound influence of women in it, that is a remarkable achievement.
The reaction to Syrian or Lebanese Nazis is … Bibi. And everyone in the West will get there sooner or later.
I find it harder than ever to characterize “Muslims” without qualification. Religion’s one factor, sure. But some “Christian” militias are among Syria’s — and Hezbollah’s — chief supporters in Lebanon. But not all Christians to be sure are in league with the Hez. There are those who aren’t. And Sunnis aren’t exactly on the same page as the Hezbollah either. And you can find dissident Shi’as. Arguably these are the bravest of the whole lot. So while religion and ethnicity is a factor, the cause counts; the politics counts; above all the man counts. And unless you’re carrying your own protection bubble with you, like an armed force, as an individual your survival in foreign countries depends on who know and who you trust. And there are people you can trust. You might find more pro-Americans abroad, for example, than in Berkeley or some arbitrary sample in certain parts of NYC or Madison, for example.
Yes, one can get angry at Hitchens, but you have to respect his consistency.
In the case of “God is not Great,” his thinking and knowledge are, in my opinion, not very good. But he has guts in sticking to his principles, in that case contempt for religious fraud of whatever denomination. Of course, the fraud in religion that most deserves exposure is in Islam, which, to my delight, he skewers mercilessly. Hitchens will always be dear to me for emerging from his alcohol-induced haze (at least I think he had emerged) to take the Hitchens–Georgeous George Galloway debate show on tour. What a glorious flaying of the hypocrite Saddamite, and I think the video is still available via C-SPAN.
There are other examples of liberal writers who are willing to stick with their principles even when these violate the shibboleths of the liberal herd. I am thinking especially of Alan Dershowitz and Camille Paglia. George Will provides irritation for conservatives, but he’s somewhat consistent, which is a virtue (when it’s not a hobgoblin).
How did you find the falafel there?
I had an atypical tourist experience. Lots of Lebanese food was served, all of it good, some of it probably the best you can get, given who the hosts sometimes were. But when I was on my own, it was back to my old bad habits and I’d eat shwarma from some hole in the wall while wandering around some mazy street. Each had it’s own charm, truly. The short answer: the falafel was good.
How did you find the falafel there?
In new socialist people’s paradise, the falafel finds you.
I wonder what calculus gave Reagan’s not to marshal the American spirit of vengeance after the Beirut bombings? I would say it was a mistake, but I can not second guess such a genius with any confidence, yet why such low retreat, from which the dust unsettled gave birth to many djins.
Notice the silk scarf, the Burberry plaid wool scarf and the Nike swoosh on the knit hat. This is not the Beirut slums.
A friend of mine was aboard a USAF C-130 for a leaflet dropping mission over Beirut in 1958, I presume in support of our troops there. They were getting into position to drop and got told there was a Mig closing on them. Deciding to get the hell out of there, they threw the entire pallet of leaflets out the back, rather than distributing them over the whole place.
Afterwards, one of the Americans on the ground told them the drop was perfect. The pallet exploded into pieces when it hit the slipstream and scattered the leaflets in the desired area quite nicely.
I just wonder why if there were Migs around that we sent a 130 in without a fighter escort.
As to the Beirut Marine bombing, Pres Reagan had his eye fully on the ball, which was the defeat of the USSR. Being non-enemies with the Arabs was a part of that. What we were doing in Beirut back then was probably considered a distraction. And as for the longer term payback – we ain’t played cowboys and Iranians yet.
I remember being stupefied that we did not do more than drop a handful of 16 inchers into the Bekaa Valley. Though cooler heads may have prevailed there can be little doubt that this was the first un-answered volley in a war we didn’t know we were in with Iran. This led to the Cole and the WTC more directly than not and the subsequent shadow war with Iran has turned the whole region into a sh^thole. There can be no question if we found out who the culprits were and prosecuted them with the vigor that Bush II did after the WTCII than this sad history would not have been.
Cult Leaders Make Lousy Presidents
We know someone here who survived the Barracks Bombing.
Became a NY City Cop when he retired from the Marines.
…was on duty on 9-11, when his brother, a fireman, was killed in the towers.
Decided it was time to hang it up in NYC.
That the site where two Israeli soldiers were murdered is memorialized is in the nature of failed societies. Gavrilo Princip murdered the Archduke Francis Ferdinand, setting off a world war that killed upwards of 20 million people, destroyed four empires, the German, Russian, Turkish and Austro-Hungarian, brought forth the Soviet Union where Stalin murdered some 60 million of his own people, led inevitably to Hitler and WWII in which another 50 million or so people were killed, and in Sarajevo the Serbs named a bridge after him. It is all of a piece. I don’t recall anyone naming a bridge after John Wilkes Booth.
As bright and entertaining as Hitchens is, let’s not overlook the obvious. He is a rebellious adolescent who, in this case, almost got himself and others killed.
And it’s not particularly believable that alcohol wasn’t a significant factor.
Real Estate Downfall
Hitler Discovers His Mortgage is Upside Down
Hitchens may be an SOB, but he is our SOB (regardless of his British ancestry), so fie on all those people that want to slap the reprobate.
But seriously, the Lebanese situation was a morass for years, and though it looked for a while that the country might emerge from the darkness, Syria and Iran want to pull it back into the chaos of war, to be used as a pawn against the Little Satan. And our new masters in Washington appear to be willing to fall all over themselves to make nice to Syria and Iran, in hopes of “negotiations” to repair the damage done by the evil “Boosh”. It looks like the years ahead will not be kind to those in Lebanon that yearn for a peaceful and democratic country. They will likely not have a friend in DC.
Egads, the People’s Republic of Madistan being brought up in this thread. You might find more pro-Americans abroad, for example, than in Berkeley or some arbitrary sample in certain parts of NYC or Madison, for example. A buddy of mine was in Dubai around 9/11 and he said he got tons more sympathy from his Arab students than from the Euros & Soviet Canuckistanis that were his colleagues. Of course, as they say, many like America beaten down looking for sympathy, my “buddy” is a big fan of George Galloway.
That is the biggest thing I miss from the UAE the Lebanese food the schwarmas, the fallafels and those items I liked but can’t remembers, spell or pronounce the name of.
oh, THOSE –
maineman said:
“As bright and entertaining as Hitchens is, let’s not overlook the obvious. He is a rebellious adolescent who, in this case, almost got himself and others killed.”
I like Hitchens. When he still worked for “Nation” magazine, he was a garden variety moonbat and tool of the MSM. Then 9/11 happened, the scales fell off his eyes and he became moral. Now having said that, it was pretty stupid of Hitchens to be writing graffiti on a Syrian Nazi poster while in Beirut.
Survival tip #101: When in a Third World hell hole and surrounded by dangerous people, be very careful about politics and religion.
I dunno – doubtless it’s an indication of stupidity and world naivety on my part, but I’m sort of proud when Americans stomp into a dangerous situation, look around and say “that’s bullshit” and proceed to make a statement showing exactly what they think of the bullshit. If it then leads to running away from enraged thugs, at least the enraged thugs know that some Americans are crazy enough to stand up to their delusions of grandeur — morally if not on foot.
I can see Geert Wilder or Ayaan Hirsi Ali doing the same sort of thing. I cannot see either Barack Obama or John Kerry doing anything of the sort, except offering bribes to the thugs and pleading “please don’t hurt me”.
NahnCee said:
“… I’m sort of proud when Americans stomp into a dangerous situation, look around and say “that’s bullshit” and proceed to make a statement showing exactly what they think of the bullshit.”
I agree with the sentiment. However Hitchens didn’t really change anything except in getting the snot beat out of himself and providing much mirth and merriment for the moonbats who hate him. Hitchens should choose his battles with greater care.
@Eggplant,
Let’s give Hitchens credit for this one. What 3rd World Hell holes need is viral freedom. On the stuffy Republican level that is what Bush intended by invading Iraq. He defaced the Cosmic Ego of Ba’ath arab national socialism’s maximum leader. Hitchens showed disrespect to the the Syrian Nazi street gang. We should flood these countries with disrespectful progressive deconstructionists. Tell the self pitying egomaniac cursing the Americans, the Israelis, the English, the French, the Turks, and the Byzantines for “humiliating” him that life is tough and that God is telling him he is wrong. Encourage drag queens to parade down their streets and dance in their faces and tell their daughters that they can go anywhere and dress as they please. Also have lots of real men with guns around to blow away these insecure bullies if they try to stop the ongoing circus like expression of freedom. Basically Ann Coulter was right. What the fascists in the world need to experience is defeat. They have earned disrespect. The Arizona Sheriff Maricopa County Joe Arpaio, who puts prisoners in stripes, understands this.
Granted though that when traveling with others it s a good idea not to surprise them by inciting an assault.
Lifeofthemind said:
“Also have lots of real men with guns around to blow away these insecure bullies if they try to stop the ongoing circus like expression of freedom. Basically Ann Coulter was right. What the fascists in the world need to experience is defeat.”
There’s the key point. If Hitchens had been the victor rather than the victim then I would have applauded his action. As it stands, the moonbats and the Islamic fascists are laughing at him.
There are Nazi’s in the “Paris of the Middle East?” I’ll believe it when Christiana Amanpour says it. ‘Till then…
Just joking!
But this stunt, defacing a Nazi poster – I like the message that the brazen act and the Nazi’s reaction to it convey.
1. Nazi’s can deface street fronts in Lebanese cities with offensive posters.
2. “Youths” running in gangs run vigilante policing campaigns in select neighborhoods. For example, the Nazi’s enforce ad hoc anti-graffiti laws in Lebanese cities.
3. The region’s Nazi’s and so-called “Islamic-Jihadists” operate in conjoining urban territories.
By eliciting the Nazis’ response and publishing it, our wily “gang-of-four” has made it harder to distinguish between the two subsidiaries. Thanks Chaps!
And Bravo Hitch!
Okay, maybe you’re right. I think more aggression is required, too. Here, with the ACORN thugs, as well as there.
What I would have preferred, though, would have been less impulse, more planning, less self-destructiveness.
Say, Clint Eastwood as opposed to James Dean.
To clarify, Mianeman and Eggplant,
I think Bush succeeded in pulling off the masks of the global front arrayed against American interests during his term. Direct confrontation works.
From Paris to Washington to Karachi to Beirut, the shell-game isn’t working so well anymore. I’m applauding Hitch’s stunt for continuing Bush’s work.
Talking about tugging at “masks,” (and to provide a perfect domestic parallel to Lebanon’s urban insurgency), here at home it looks like ACORN’s criminality may be getting unmasked this week.
You can’t just break into a home you don’t own and “take” it, can you?
Nahncee@39:
When my wife’s parents were with the State Department in Korea in the 60s, my mother-in-law and some other diplomatic wives went into the countryside for a picnic. They were accosted by some Korean thugs, intending to rob them. The wives, not wanting an international incident, did not resist.
Until one of the thugs started beating my mother-in-law’s driver, a little Korean guy she was very fond of. A 110-pound Southern belle, she attacked the thug, slapping his face. The other wives joined in, and the thugs were run off.
“Our girls can kick your a$$, too!”
steveaz said:
“Talking about tugging at “masks,” (and to provide a perfect domestic parallel to Lebanon’s urban insurgency), here at home it looks like ACORN’s criminality may be getting unmasked this week.”
In Hitchens’ case it was sort of like tugging on the Lone Ranger’s Mask or Superman’s cape, i.e. something you do if you want the crap beaten out of you.
I also applaud George W. Bush’s work against the Islamic Fascists and his success in Iraq. As the general once said, “there’s no substitute for victory”.
@maineman,
Concur
I would love it if the 82nd Airborne dragged Syria’s chinless Ophthalmologist out of his palace and pelted him with old shoes on camera.
The audience tells us what theater reaches them so we should use it. I would have leveled Fallujah and then publicly and on camera hitched up a pair of mules and sown the ground with salt. The British would be fools to give up the wigs in their court rooms. There is low culture and high culture, low ceremony and high ceremony. All convey important lessons about power and respect and tolerance and freedom.
My best day teaching was when I conjugated Respect in front of my class in The Bronx. You want to be Respected? First you must act Respectful. When you are are full of respect then you will be seen as a fit vessel able to hold respect. That will make you Respectable. Only then will you be Respected.
“However Hitchens didn’t really change anything …”
The story reached across the ocean to America and is being discussed at Belmont Club. Syrians and Lebaneeses are increasingly being painted as crooks, losers and Nazi’s — which may or may not be good, but it’s publicity. And there is no bad publicity as long as they spell your name correctly. I think even Pappa Hemingway got his ass beat a few times in his journeys — it’s what journalists and writers *do* — rip the mask off and then run like hell. I applaud Hitchens (and Totten) for their enthusiastic tilting at Arab windmills.
I hesitate to raise the point but was it a good idea to travel to a place like Beirut with Hitchens? He’s bright enough but I wonder about his judgment. Totten’s fine and he seems to have plenty of sense. Hitch, not so much.
I think he may need a minder.
When did Pappy Hemorrhoid get his ass beat off?
Dangerous Friends Peter Viertel Books
Forgotten the details but do recall some good fights herein.
Obama eyes intel pick tied to bin Laden
An investigative article by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in 2005 exposed how Freeman’s Middle East Policy Council was peddling to American schools a wildly inaccurate, anti-Israel, Saudi-funded textbook.
His council joined with California-based Arab World and Islamic Resources in selling to U.S. schools the “Arab World Studies Notebook.” The JTA found the book described Jerusalem as unequivocally “Arab,” characterized Jewish residence in the holy city as “settlement”; labeled the “question of Jewish lobbying” against “the whole question of defining American interests and concerns”; and suggested the Quran “synthesizes and perfects earlier revelations.”
“Freeman is a strident critic of Israel and a textbook case of the old-line Arabism that afflicted American diplomacy at the time the state of Israel was born,” Steve Rosen, a former top official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, wrote on his “Obama Mideast Monitor” blog hosted by the Middle East Forum.
Rindsberg notes Freeman also heavily criticized Bush’s policy after 9/11. In 2006, in a speech to the U.S. Information Agency Alumni Association, Freeman compared Bush to Caligula and slammed America as a country that “stifles debate at home, that picks and chooses which laws it will ignore or respect, and whose opposition party whines but does not oppose.”
—
– al-Bob
The obstreperous Christopher Hitch
When in Lebanon caused a slight glitch
With graffiti obscene
He vented his spleen
‘Til a Nazi slapped him like a bitch
——
L3
L3, afraid i’m gonna have to send you to rewrite on that one –dangling participle –bitch could be either slapper or slappee. Harumph.
Now, I enjoy Hitchens (who seems a decent enough sort despite being a Trotskyite and nun hater). And, yes, Syrian Nazis are an appropriate subject of ridicule. (The loss of the ability to mock our enemies due to PC concerns is one of the major obstacles western society has in facing down our Islamic enemy). Frankly, this sounds like drunken hi-jinks gone awry in a society not really down with the idea of speaking truth to power, and lacking any sense of ironic detachment. You never know, though – perhaps Hitch was channeling his inner Mal Reynolds and was aiming to misbehave.