Like The Berlin Wall
A Lebanese insurgent leader compares the new-found democracy in Iraq to the falling of the Berlin wall in this Washington Post op/ed from David Ignatius.
The leader of this Lebanese intifada is Walid Jumblatt, the patriarch of the Druze Muslim community and, until recently, a man who accommodated Syria’s occupation. But something snapped for Jumblatt last year, when the Syrians overruled the Lebanese constitution and forced the reelection of their front man in Lebanon, President Emile Lahoud. The old slogans about Arab nationalism turned to ashes in Jumblatt’s mouth, and he and Hariri openly began to defy Damascus.
I dined Monday night with Jumblatt in his mountain fortress in Moukhtara, southeast of Beirut. He moved there for safety last weekend because of worries that he would be the next target of whoever killed Hariri. We sat under a portrait of Jumblatt’s father, Kamal, who was assassinated in 1976 after he opposed the initial entry of Syrian troops into Lebanon. With me was Jamil Mroue, a Lebanese Shiite journalist whose own father was assassinated by Arab radicals in the 1960s. It was an evening when the ghosts of the past mingled with hopes for the future.
Jumblatt dresses like an ex-hippie, in jeans and loafers, but he maintains the exquisite manners of a Lebanese aristocrat. Over the years, I’ve often heard him denouncing the United States and Israel, but these days, in the aftermath of Hariri’s death, he’s sounding almost like a neoconservative. He says he’s determined to defy the Syrians until their troops leave Lebanon and the Lahoud government is replaced.
“It’s strange for me to say it, but this process of change has started because of the American invasion of Iraq,” explains Jumblatt. “I was cynical about Iraq. But when I saw the Iraqi people voting three weeks ago, 8 million of them, it was the start of a new Arab world.” Jumblatt says this spark of democratic revolt is spreading. “The Syrian people, the Egyptian people, all say that something is changing. The Berlin Wall has fallen. We can see it.”
Read the whole thing.
I am convinced that decades from now, despite the nay-sayers, the liberation of Iraq will be seen as a key moment, the point at which the tide turned and Islamo-facism fell back to make way for a move toward freedom and democracy.
INDC Journal has more.
(via Protein Wisdom)
BTW, Jamblatt has it backasswards. The tearing down of the Berlin Wall was the culmination of a decade of events starting with the rise of Solidarity in Poland. He seems to be referring to the start of something, not the end of it.
Rob approvingly quotes Walid Jumblatt.
Hmmmm.
Just two months ago, Jumblatt furnished this quote to a Saudi newspaper:
Peter,
Sorry, your argument boils down to a claim of self-evidence. I don’t give that much weight.
Re: Syria,
What is going on there is a culmination of issues and events stretching back to the start of normalization. Why people are so arrogant to presume that the rest of the world takes it cue from the U.S. I don’t know.
I think pro and anti-war people see what they want to see in Iraq. To be frank, we’re at such a remove from what is going on over there that I believe it is nearly impossible to make a properly informed decision re: progress or lack thereof there. So I’ll suspend judgment for ten years I think.
Anyway, since the die has already been cast, its not likely I do much about it anyway. Plus, I am far more concerned about the Republican and Democratic assaults on freedom in my own country to have time to be worried about the Iraqis.
I suppose the other point re: Berlin Wall is that Poland largely collapsed COMECON and the Warsaw Pact by itself.
BTW, this goes along with my general rule that understand a place you have to go there or at least study intensely. There are some places – like France – that I know very well and love. Others not so much.
What still doesn’t cease to amaze me is the wild-eyed TBism that both anti and pro-war people still have.
…one guy saying…
It’s more than just one guys saying this stuff. Right or wrong there is major change going on over there. You can’t really deny that Bush is getting his domino effect.
http://www.economicswithaface.com/weblog/archives/2005/02/dominos_part_2.html
slarrow, everything is pear and egg shaped. There is no perfection. The whole “perfection” argument is so much chaff, thrown out to confuse and bog down any real progress that might be made on any issue. It is very effective. It is one of the better tools used in the political arena. No actual argument is needed, all you need do is point out that something is not perfect, and then make suggestions as to how to achive “perfection”. Pointless debate soon ensues! And don’t think I am pointing a finger in any one direction. I stand, dead center, and merrily sling this mud at all parties concerned. This is a ploy used by everyone. This does not make it any less effective. You should check with JuniorGrade, it loves to use this device in all its varied forms.
Let’s see; the Iraqis held an election that AWOL George didn’t want. Despite over 200 attacks on election day, 58% of eligible Iraqis voters turned out to vote for candidates they did not know in an election process they did not understand.
In spite of the US’s best efforts, the candidate favored by AWOL George came in third (dspite having incumbency). Iraqi Shiites closely aligned with Iran’s secular Shiites came in first. In fact, the next leader of Iraq is very likely a man who heads a party dedicated to the creation of an Islamic Republic and spent his time in exile from Saddam as a guest of the Iranian Mullahs.
Meanwhile, the effort to train Iraqi security forces suffered yet another setback when it was discovered many police units are compromised by insurgents.
And the violence continues to grow in Iraq.
Yup. Perfection.
Jadegold is essentially right; your sample size is too small to make any conclusion either way.
The question is what will you say–a decade or two down the road–if the situation in the ME worsens?
What will you say if Iraq becomes another Iran?
Several possibilities:
1. Find a way to blame it on Clinton. Better yet, blame it on both Clinton and Carter.
2. Blame the ‘liberal media.’
3. Proclaim a Shiite theocracy uniting Iran and Iraq is “freedom and democracy.” Then find an obscure college professor from some no-name university and beat on him mercilessly for being 1/16 th Native American instaed of 1/8 th.
These are indeed heady and significant times, Rob. Oh, it could all go pear-shaped so quickly; the capacity of people to screw up good things is as high as it’s ever been. But this feels much like 1989 in which both Tiananmen Square and the Berlin Wall were noteworthy. Maybe it could go either way, but I’m voting for the Berlin Wall route (in part because we have a continuity of leadership today we did not have in 1989.)
Boy, it really gets under your skin when something positive happens in the middle east doesn’t it?
The problem is nothing positive has happened, Rob. You cite an op/ed (and Ignatius is a good pundit) that cites an anecdote from one person and you’re ready to declare success.
Well, I can cite anecdotes that aren’t so heartening. And I can cite US officials who are very concerned the elections in Iraq are resulting in an outcome not all as we would like.
And FYI, Churchill is getting all this attention because he is a horrible man who lies and says atrocious things about his country and his fellow citizens. And he advocates for terrorism.
No, he doesn’t advocate terrorism.
Moreover, this is just the conservatives looking for an excuse to say all colleges are hotbeds of treason and liberal extremism.
Rob, I’m a pretty dyed-in-the-wool liberal and I never heard of Ward Churchill. And I’ll bet that outside of a few of his students and collegues–nobody else had either.
That’s what this issue is all about–point scoring. Well, you folks bagged a really small fish.
It’s interesting the rightwing doesn’t go after these folks listed by my buddy, Dave Neiwert:
http://dneiwert.blogspot.com/2005/02/noxious-academics.html
Gary,
I was addressing your comment that “your sample size is too small to make any conclusion either way.”
No, the world doesn’t take all it’s cues from the U.S. and I agree there are a lot of factors involved. But there is a reason that guy is saying “Tell America we are waiting for them to invade, all of us.” Taking note of this stuff doesn’t make somebody “ignorant”.
Also Solidarity is mentioned in my post w/ regards to the Pope and Reagan. They both had a big part in keeping the movement alive and there is no doubt that Bush and some in his cabinet were influenced by that fact.
See Gary? I told you I wasn’t blocking you.
Hey, even a stopped clock is right twice a day.
And of course, he said those things two months ago. Before the Iraqi elections. Sure sounds like he’s had a change of heart.
Meanwhile, while all that is going on, Saddam Hussein has remained in jail awaiting trial while the people he used to oppress have elected a government to their liking.
Point out the negative all you’d like, the truth is that progress has been made. History will vindicate Bush and this war.
Boy, it really gets under your skin when something positive happens in the middle east doesn’t it?
And FYI, Churchill is getting all this attention because he is a horrible man who lies and says atrocious things about his country and his fellow citizens. And he advocates for terrorism.