Support for a free Lebanon

KRAKOW, Poland -- Once the greatest power in Eastern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, Poland ceased to exist as a sovereign nation less than two decades after the United States declared its own independence. In one of the most criminal land grabs in history, the Russian, Prussian and Austrian empires carved the nation up for themselves in three partitions during the late 18th century. The foreign powers exploited their neighbor's internal strife simply to increase their own powers.\nSyria did the same to Lebanon three decades ago. As its small neighbor fell into civil war, Syria sent nearly 27,000 troops across the border. Through the use of political puppets and hundreds of spies, Damascus has de facto ruled Lebanon ever since. In a 2002 by-election, for example, Syrian President Bashir Assad's puppets canceled a victory by the anti-Syrian opposition.\nThis blatant imperialism has faced its strongest challenge yet since a car bomb killed Lebanon's former prime minister, Rafiq Hariri, three weeks ago. The great majority of Lebanese and nearly every observer believe Syria played a primary role in the murder. To many Lebanese, Hariri represented the ideal of a peaceful, rebuilt Lebanon with a hope for the future. During the '90s, for example, he oversaw the reconstruction of Beirut's downtown, turning a wasteland into an attractive area filled with Western hotels and businesses. \nHis assassination provided the catalyst that lit afire dormant anger at the Syrian occupation. Thousands of Lebanese democrats have camped out in Beirut to demand the withdrawal of Syrian troops. While mass anti-Syria demonstrations have occurred before, most recently in 2000 and 2001, nothing in the past has achieved either the scale or effect of the most recent action. Just a week and a half ago, the popular outcry caused the pro-Syrian government to tender its resignation.\nHowever, one group in Lebanon aims to derail those working for self-determination. Among all of the groups within Lebanon, only Hezbollah has declared its support for Syria. According to a March 7 Guardian article, its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, called for rallies against "foreign intervention that is contrary to our independence, sovereignty and freedom." \nBy "foreign intervention," Nasrallah means the chorus of international voices led by the United States, France, Saudi Arabia, Egypt and many others demanding that Syria quit treating Lebanon as its personal political playground. Particularly, Hezbollah abhors last October's U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for the immediate removal of all Syrian troops from and the disarming of all militias within Lebanon.\nHezbollah wants Syrian troops to remain because it receives a great deal of funding and other support from Damascus. Both the Syrian dictatorship and the terrorist organization share the common enemy of self-determination because their radical ideologies would be doomed to marginalization in a free nation. \nTuesday, Hezbollah did manage to turn out thousands in a demonstration larger than the opposition demonstrations. While initially surprising, one opposition leader said, according to March 8 wire report from The Associated Press, that pro-Syrian forces intimidated individuals to turn out. Other reports mentioned in the report indicated demonstration organizers might have bussed in some of the protesters from abroad, a common tactic used by authoritarian leaders to falsely portray support for their policies.\nGroups closely tied culturally and economically to the Syrian regime -- namely, impoverished Shiites -- probably largely staffed Hezbollah's rally. But just as Iraqi Shiites and Kurds, non-Russian Ukrainians and moderate Palestinians led the recent reform movements in their own countries while facing opposition from regressive minorities, the moderate Muslim and Christian communities can do the same in Lebanon. Whether Lebanon remains a puppet state or becomes an independent, democratic nation depends on the strength and determination of those moderates to complete their mission.