Saying "Hizbullah" obscures the discussion

Submitted by Maureen (United States), Jul 29, 2006 at 10:06

This so-called "Arab disavowal of Hizbullah" is more properly labeled a "Sunni" Arab disavowal of the growing power of the "Shia" Persian-backed Hizbullah.

A strong and ever stronger Iran (Shia believers) poses a threat to the other Arab (Sunni believers). This fear of the rising Shia is what is summoning the alleged support of the Sunni Arabs for Israel's warfighting efforts in Lebanon. The Sunni Arabs don't have any love of Israel, but they have less love for doing their own fighting against Shia strongholds like Iran.

The whole "Western" way of talking about the Mideast AS IF there were nation-states in the Mideast obscures what is really happening.

The Mideast is not composed of "countries" but of tribal religious affiliations -- all of which hate the other groups. Getting them to work together to form coalition governments is a pipe-dream that could only have been dreamed up in the US, which thinks its unique historical model fits all sizes.

There are no real "countries" in the Mideast, except for Persia, Egypt, and Israel. The rest of the so-called countries like Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, etc. are a shifting mosaic of tribes affiliated by religion: Shia, Sunni, Kurds, Circassians, Druse, Christians. They can't live together without a big fist over them.

It looks as though the centuries-old divide between the Shia and Sunni is getting bigger. Oil money is fueling the weapons for the expression of their primitive tribal religious hatreds. So be it. Let them have their Hundred Years War. It may make them kinder and gentler.

We wouldn't put our young soldiers' lives at risk in so-called "Iraq" -- despite all the rhetoric about democracy (aka the plan for keeping the Mideast calm enough for the West to continue to extract oil profits) -- if our economy didn't run on oil.

Meanwhile, the US Government lets the Chinese and Cubans steal out from under its nose oil that is located sixty miles off the Florida coast -- oil which could lessen our dependence on the oil in the Mideast.

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