The Middle East: A Larger War Looms

DURING this woeful month it was strange to watch the war in Lebanon overshadow the one in Iraq, even though the daily toll of that war was often equal if not greater than the one which became a global focus.

The US invaded Iraq to save it from tyranny, yet it seems that Iraqi blood has become of a lesser value than that of others in the region. The usually boring website of Iran’s government-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), now fairly glows with jubilation in the aftermath of the ceasefire in Lebanon, which it proclaims as a decisive victory against Israel.”After 34 days of Islamic forces’ manly resistance under the leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah,” it says, “the people of Tehran along with those of other cities intoned Allahu Akbar [God is Great] while the cities were showered in festive lights.”The website quotes the Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who describes the outcome as a “strategic, historic victory,” and goes on to cite the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad’s assertion that “the Lebanese resistance is the banner of Islam’s glory and pride.”Saudi Arabia’s English language Arab News runs the headline, ‘Heroic Resistance Energises Arab Street’.It quotes a commentary from an Egyptian newspaper as saying, “An army that was freely supplied by the United States with Apache gunship helicopters, armoured personnel carriers and laser-guided missiles still couldn’t vanquish Hezbollah.”It should be noted that these are commentaries from the mainstream media in two countries which the US currently counts on as reliable friends in the Middle East.Kuwait Times, published in a country that was the centre of the first Gulf war, employs a more factual and cautious tone, encapsulating a number of wire service stories, “The ceasefire deal was seen by many as at best a draw with Hezbollah, and some felt Israel – unable to subdue a guerrilla force – had lost…The deal could buy a period of calm, though critics fear it sets the region up for the next war with Tehran’s proxy army.”An editorial in The Daily Star, published in Beirut, sees the war as a test that the Lebanese people have passed with flying colours, “Even as the Lebanese have rallied together, they have maintained their diversity.Throughout the war, a wide range of political opinions – including those faulting Hezbollah – were aired.”The editorial, however, goes on to caution, “But the Lebanese are not out of the woods just yet.There is still a question of whether Syria will change its pattern of destabilising Lebanon …There is also a possibility that the United States will obstruct the process of implementing 1701 [the UN resolution which effected the ceasefire] before Lebanon and Israel can reach closure.”While the media in the Muslim world have reflected a range of responses from jubilation to caution, there is little doubt that the longest war that Israel has waged since its inception has re-written the region’s history in a single month and in no uncertain terms.The fortress nation, defending Western interests at the empire’s ragged edges, has shown itself to be no longer invincible.When – not if – it is attacked again, the US may have little choice but to step in to defend it with American forces, and this in turn may invite other world powers such as Russia and China to provide a dangerous counterbalance to American presence and influence in the region.There is every indication that some atavistic strain, both within and without the region, is inviting an ultimate showdown in that part of the world with fossil fuel, access to the Persian Gulf, the Islamic resurgence and the endless war against terror providing a jumbled, heady impetus.Should the showdown come – instead of finding a sane way to offer Middle Eastern Muslim nations the parity, autonomy and respect they crave on the global stage – ours would be a bloodier, poorer world for it.New America Media * Behrouz Saba, a Los Angeles-based writer and a native of Iran, earned a Ph.D. in film history and criticism from USC.The usually boring website of Iran’s government-owned Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), now fairly glows with jubilation in the aftermath of the ceasefire in Lebanon, which it proclaims as a decisive victory against Israel.”After 34 days of Islamic forces’ manly resistance under the leadership of the Lebanese Hezbollah,” it says, “the people of Tehran along with those of other cities intoned Allahu Akbar [God is Great] while the cities were showered in festive lights.”The website quotes the Lebanese Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who describes the outcome as a “strategic, historic victory,” and goes on to cite the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahamdinejad’s assertion that “the Lebanese resistance is the banner of Islam’s glory and pride.”Saudi Arabia’s English language Arab News runs the headline, ‘Heroic Resistance Energises Arab Street’.It quotes a commentary from an Egyptian newspaper as saying, “An army that was freely supplied by the United States with Apache gunship helicopters, armoured personnel carriers and laser-guided missiles still couldn’t vanquish Hezbollah.”It should be noted that these are commentaries from the mainstream media in two countries which the US currently counts on as reliable friends in the Middle East.Kuwait Times, published in a country that was the centre of the first Gulf war, employs a more factual and cautious tone, encapsulating a number of wire service stories, “The ceasefire deal was seen by many as at best a draw with Hezbollah, and some felt Israel – unable to subdue a guerrilla force – had lost…The deal could buy a period of calm, though critics fear it sets the region up for the next war with Tehran’s proxy army.”An editorial in The Daily Star, published in Beirut, sees the war as a test that the Lebanese people have passed with flying colours, “Even as the Lebanese have rallied together, they have maintained their diversity.Throughout the war, a wide range of political opinions – including those faulting Hezbollah – were aired.”The editorial, however, goes on to caution, “But the Lebanese are not out of the woods just yet.There is still a question of whether Syria will change its pattern of destabilising Lebanon …There is also a possibility that the United States will obstruct the process of implementing 1701 [the UN resolution which effected the ceasefire] before Lebanon and Israel can reach closure.”While the media in the Muslim world have reflected a range of responses from jubilation to caution, there is little doubt that the longest war that Israel has waged since its inception has re-written the region’s history in a single month and in no uncertain terms.The fortress nation, defending Western interests at the empire’s ragged edges, has shown itself to be no longer invincible.When – not if – it is attacked again, the US may have little choice but to step in to defend it with American forces, and this in turn may invite other world powers such as Russia and China to provide a dangerous counterbalance to American presence and influence in the region.There is every indication that some atavistic strain, both within and without the region, is inviting an ultimate showdown in that part of the world with fossil fuel, access to the Persian Gulf, the Islamic resurgence and the endless war against terror providing a jumbled, heady impetus.Should the showdown come – instead of finding a sane way to offer Middle Eastern Muslim nations the parity, autonomy and respect they crave on the global stage – ours would be a bloodier, poorer world for it.New America Media * Behrouz Saba, a Los Angeles-based writer and a native of Iran, earned a Ph.D. in film history and criticism from USC.