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Tuesday, June 10, 2008

Former Lebanese PM: Why I abandoned the West for Syria, Hezbullah and Iran

Following is an excerpt from an address delivered by former Lebanese PM General Michel Aoun, head of the Free Patriotic Movement, which aired on OTV on May 30, 2008.

Let's go to the videotape. A transcript follows and I'll have some comments after that.



We chose this long-term political option, because we knew that the interests of the West do not lie with us. Its interests lie with Israel, on the one hand, and with the oil, on the other hand. We are not included among its interests at present. The only thing it cares about is resolving the problem of Israel at our expense, through the naturalization of the Palestinians in Lebanon, and pleasing the oil-producing countries, because its material interests lie there. Therefore, we had to choose a policy of coordination with all elements of Lebanese society, and with our neighboring countries, in order to build strong, solid, and mutual relations. Lebanese society in general, and the Christians in particular, are not used to this, and therefore, it has aroused fear and concern. However, our confidence in ourselves, in the choice we made, and in our views have made it possible for us to stand before you, and to ask you to give the efforts we are undertaking a chance. A short while ago, in Doha, we saw the results.

All the Christians in the Middle East... All the Christians in the Middle East are fleeing, while the Christians of Lebanon are returning. The forecasts of the entire world... For 25-35 years, we have been reading that the Christians in the Middle East are becoming extinct. Western policies have led the Christians in the Middle East towards extinction. Western policies have not left a single Christian in Palestine and the holy places. Western policies have not left a single Christian in Iraq. They intended to get rid of us by marginalizing us, and by treating us as a superfluous element in society.
I question whether he's correct that Christians in Lebanon are returning, but there is no question that Christians in the Middle East are fleeing... except from Israel. Given how Israel protects its Christian population and how Hamas - Hezbullah's and Iran's ideological cousins - persecutes them, is he really making the right choice for Lebanon's Christians? I think not.

I wonder how many of the 'Palestinian refugees' in Lebanon are Christian and why Aoun is ignoring them.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:02 PM

1 Comments:

At 4:20 PM, Blogger Unknown said...

Though I am of a different type of Christianity, I do get missions reports from the Middle East, and minus the exaggeration about "not left a single Christian" (since they are there, but underground), there is a sense in which it is true what he said that:

"Western policies have not left a single Christian in Palestine and the holy places. Western policies have not left a single Christian in Iraq. They intended to get rid of us by marginalizing us, and by treating us as a superfluous element in society.

and that is that since the U.S. is allying with "the Arab coalition", which happens to be strongly Sunni and persecutes Christians while the U.S. does nothing about it, the U.S. policies, like the guy said, do in fact end up aiding Christian persecution in the Middle East. We keep getting such reports out of Iraq as well. Christians in Iraq who before didn't have to wear hijab, now are too afraid to leave without it, and so on as we have legitimized and helped draft the Constitution for another Islamic state. I can totally see his logic, they are in a hard place.

 

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