Good News Out Of Lebanon

Amir Taheri has an excellent analysis of the current situation in Lebanon. Apparently that victory by Hiz'bullah that was so widely reported in the western media was an illusion.

WELL, what do you know: What was presented as a "Great Strategic Divine Victory" only a week ago is now beginning to look more like a costly blunder. And the man who is making the revisionist move is the same who made the original victory claim: Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, secretary-general of the Lebanese branch of Hezbollah.

In a TV interview in Beirut Sunday, Nasrallah admitted second thoughts about the wisdom of capturing the two Israeli soldiers, an incident that triggered the war: "The party leadership never expected a response on such an unprecedented scale and volume [by Israel]," he said. "Had we known that what we did would lead to this, we would certainly not have embarked upon it."

For a roundabout way of eating humble pie, this was not bad for a man whom Western media have portrayed as the latest Arab folk hero or even (as one U.S. weekly put it) a new Saladin.

Why did Nasrallah decide to change his unqualified claim of victory into an indirect admission of defeat? Two reasons.

The first consists of facts on the ground: Hezbollah lost some 500 of its fighters, almost a quarter of its elite fighting force. Their families are now hounding Nasrallah to provide an explanation for "miscalculations" that led to their death.

....

The second reason why Nasrallah has had to backtrack on his victory claims is the failure of his propaganda machine to hoodwink the Lebanese. He is coming under growing criticism from every part of the political spectrum, including the Hezbollah itself.

Taheri sees some hope in the situation.

As the scale of the destruction in the Shiite south becomes more clear, the pro-Hezbollah euphoria (much of it created by Western media and beamed back to Lebanon through satellite TV) is evaporating. Reality is beginning to reassert its rights.

And that could be good news for Lebanon as a nation. It is unlikely that Hezbollah will ever regain the position it has lost. The Lebanese from all sides of the political spectrum are united in their determination not to allow any armed group to continue acting as a state within the state.

Read it here.

So, once again leading elements of the Western media have systematically mis-reported a major story, creating an entirely false perception of what has happened. Ironic that this should come on the anniversary of the Katrina disaster which must stand as the most egregious example of systematic misrepresentation by the major media in history. Time and again major media outlets have proved willing to sacrifice their credibility in order to achieve political goals. In the sophisticated American media markets the impact of their stories is lessened over time as people turn to alternative sources of information. But in the Middle East, as Taheri points out, biased stories from the major media have an enormous effect, and that, dear reader, is something to worry about.

I am, however, encouraged a bit by Taheri's concluding observations. Nasrallah's blunders might well provide an opportunity for Lebanon's government to assert its authority to a greater extent and to bring the promise of the Cedar Revolution closer to fulfillment.