Bob Smith
It is true that there are thousands of violent Jihadis in this world and on the surface it sounds like it is too much. But, consider this. Almost all 1.5 Billion Moslems are indoctrinated from the time they are born with hatred for all things non-Islamic. They are taught that the rest of us are sons of Apes and Pigs and it is God’s will to kill us and subjugate us. This is what all the Saudi funded “Madrasas” and Iranian backed “Mahdi” schools teach. And a large portion of Moslems live their whole lives without ever meeting an non-Moslem.
Consider that 1/1,000 would amount to 1.5 million Jihadis. We do not even have a small fraction of that. That means, an overwhelming majority of Moslems are not out killing and bombing. But, rather, they are as eager as we are to see peace. They may have a different outlook on life, but do not want to die or kill because of it.
More specific to Lebanese Shiite is the fact that they do not live in a purely Islamic society isolated from the rest. The Shiites live in a mixed society where every one of them has Christian classmates, neighbors, co-workers, friends, etc. Some are even intermarried into other religions.
During the war in 2006, the Shiites who escaped the bombing in the South were housed in Churches, Monasteries and schools (Some Catholic) they were in areas with Christian majority who fed them clothed them and took care of them. Within the South, many took refuge in Christian villages that were safe because there were no Hizbullah fighters to draw Israeli fire. The locals shared whatever little they had and all went a little hungry and little thirsty together while they waited for the conflict to end.
Indoctrinating these people to hate those who share their lives with them is an impossible task. Hizbullah’s support in Lebanon stems from two sources. The first is the fact that they provided people with basic social services when the Government was non-existent. The second is that they defended them from the Palestinians and Israel.
Anyone listening to Hizbullah’s speech in Lebanon today would see that they fully recognize this. They have openly declared that the Mahdi dogma – Iran style – cannot apply in Lebanon. They have very clearly stated that they want to coexist peacefully. They are even advocating now the rebuilding of a strong army so they can lay down their weapons.
Sure there is a lot of tactical maneuvering involved. And many in the leadership are hoping to buy time until things change and they can impose their will on people.
However, the fact that they need to say this indicates the attitude of the people towards their doctrine. They know it does not sell on its own. They need the threat of war to justify their armed presence that allows them to impose some of their will on people.
Then again, there are those within the organization who only wanted to defend themselves from the beginning and the rest was something they had to put up with.
That is why I always believed that the absence of war will substantially reduce the size and any influence Hizbullah has.
Unfortunately, those the world has given them precisely what they needed. A low intensity war that allowed them to grow and prosper without any real threat of destruction.
Cadmus
