Claudia Rosett's Misgivings about Lebanon

Not all was sweetness and light in Lebanon yesterday. Claudia Rosett attended a Hizbollah rally and came away with some ominous thoughts and observations:

Hezbollah's tactics bear a closer resemblance to the manner in which communist front groups once infiltrated democratic organizations than they do to any sudden conversion to democratic ways. At yesterday's Hezbollah rally in the terrorist group's southern stronghold of Nabatiyeh, talk of freedom and independence for Lebanon was framed in such terms as hatred for America; threatening posters aimed at opposition member Gebran Tueni, editor of Lebanon's leading democratic newspaper, and effusive thanks to the Syrian regime for all it has done for the Lebanese people - by which Hezbollah basically means Syria's interest in supporting Hezbollah's attacks on Israel.

In the thick of the Hezbollah crowd, beneath the sea of suddenly adopted Lebanese flags, a young English teacher, Hawraa Ghandour, chats with this reporter about the need for peaceful dialogue and a free Lebanon, then interrupts herself to raise a fist and chant along with the crowd, "Death to America, Death to Israel." It would be easier to dismiss such chants were it not for Hezbollah's grim record of murder and murderous doctrine over many years, stretching back to the bombing of the American Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut, 1983, and continuing forward to the current broadcasts of Islamist hatred from its own TV station in Beirut.

On the edge of the same Hezbollah rally, 33-year-old Sheik Yusuf Hareb, schooled in Iran, which founded and helps fund Hezbollah, says his prime concern is "to make sure that we support 100% the weapons of Hezbollah." He adds that he is "very worried" about the possibility of another civil war in Lebanon - an intriguing concern, given that Hezbollah - which styles itself as a "resistance" force - is the only militia to have refused to disarm.

Earlier tonight Claudia was interviewed on the John Batchelor show out of New York. She described the emotions coursing through Beirut as being much like what Tianamen Square (which she also covered) felt like..., before the tanks began to roll. She said that Beirut was a "tinder box" that could explode at any time. Her conversations with Hezbollah militants scared her. She seems to see a bad moon rising.

I certainly hope things go better than Claudia fears they will, but she's an old hand at these things and she isn't imagining the perils ahead. They're real.

Read her article here.