Well, Slate magazine has a beautiful pictorial essay called Life Under Hezbollah on their site today. Kind of a love letter to a terrorist group, really. From the photos, life in Lebanon is grand, and it's all because of the really great, heart-warming things that Hezbollah is doing for the Lebanese.
Of course, the first picture is a little eerie -
According to Slate: this photo shows "young militants of Hezbollah"
Reminds me of the Hitler Youth, how 'bout you?
Political activities
Hezbollah is an active participant in the political life and processes of Lebanon. The organization has been involved in activities like building schools, clinics, and hospitals.[22]. However, the scope of its operation is mostly military in nature. In 1992, it participated in Lebanese elections for the first time, winning 12 out of 128 seats in parliament. It won 10 seats in 1996, and 8 in 2000. In the general election of 2005, it won 23 seats nationwide, and an Amal-Hezbollah alliance won all 23 seats in Southern Lebanon. Despite Israeli's complete withdrawl from Southern Lebanon on May 22, 2000, Hezbollah has continued its military operations against Israel, regularly firing Katyusha rockets at Israeli towns and villages. As a political entity, Hezbollah is dedicated to the destruction of Israel.[23]
Look at the last two sentences (in red, emphasis mine). Are these rational people? Look at the last sentence, anyone listening in recent days, weeks, months and years, knows that they have said exactly this. These are not the actions or statements of people who wish to participate in an agreed peace plan.
I personally believe that Israel is showing restraint now for not bombing every square inch of Lebanon. Citizens have been killed, true. It's terribly unfortunate. Perhaps Hezbollah (like Sadaam Hussein) should stop storing weapons and soldiers in the residential neighborhoods. Perhaps the citizens of Lebanon will reconsider voting into positions of power people with ties to a known and declared terrorist group. That'd be good.
