A Government is What a Government Does: Hezbollah Chapter


Agonist member Stunster provided a partial transcript of a speech by Nasrallah. I want to highlight part of it:

He is saying that all the houses that are destroyed in the south, I would like to all the families not to worry, today, I will tell you my promise, that you have nothing to worry about, and go anywhere, you will be assisted by our brothers starting tomorrow.

We will not wait for the government to assist you, we will give all the families money to rent a house for at least a year including furniture. Tomorrow, we will start this service to all the families.
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We will provide housing for over 15,000 households.

Second, we will rebuild very soon with our assistance.

I ask all the engineers, we are here, we ask everyone not to price gouge and respect our families. I ask all Citizens to assist one another with love and respect.

I ask all students, engineers, teachers to go to the streets and rebuild, even if it is just a few hours a day, we can achieve it.

The first thing that struck me was the comparison to Katrina. Which response strikes you as the one you would expect from your government when so many people lose their homes - the US one, or the Hezbollah one?

There are those who say that Hezbollah isn't ready to govern, that they aren't willing to do the "hard work of governing".

This is the hard work of governing. And, once again, Hezbollah will steal a march on the Lebanese government. They will get money and aid to the population before the government does.

Now one might argue that this is only reasonable - that they were at least partially responsible for the war (though it has become clear that Israel was just waiting for any reason to attack), but that's not the point. The point is whether you're there for your people when they need you. The US government, at the Federal, State and City levels all fell down on preparing New Orleans from a hurricane, then fell down on the job during the hurricane and the immediate aftermath, then fell down on helping the people rebuild.

Nasrallah knows he has to deliver on this. The current adulation for Hezbollah could turn to resentment very easily when people have time to really take stock of what they've lost, and the government and other donors know that this is their chance to try and reduce the southern Shia's attachment to Hezbollah.

Because this is a must do situation, and becuase Hezbollah are, in fact, very good at this sort of work, I'm betting that while there will be some grumbling, Hezbollah will not loose significant support in its base. (We'll see how they do with other groups. If they have the resources Hezbollah would be very wise to help the Christian, Druze and Sunni communities rebuild.)

Meanwhile the real question will be whether Israel is willing to accept the result on the ground, or if they come back for another shot at it.

Finally - notice that Nasrallah is lunging for legitimacy in a huge way. As I have noted in the past Hezbollah wants legitimacy badly, and frankly, trading it to them for a secure and peaceful border is probably the way to go.


Ian Welsh August 14, 2006 - 1:56pm

This is a very slightly edited re-post from a now-closed thread, but why not have a 'Hizballah Chapter' of another portion of government, namely the army? Hizballah has demonstrated competence in that area too...

Hizballah's arms: a possible solution

1701 does not forbid arms in Lebanon. Lebanon can have arms all over the country. It just says that whatever arms there are should be with the consent of the government and be under the control of the official Lebanese armed forces. Same goes for the supply of arms and training from abroad, it must be done only with the consent of the government.

1701 in effect calls for the Lebanese government to exercise its sovereignty over the whole territory of Lebanon.

OK, fine. Just declare Hizballah a division of the official armed forces of Lebanon! Call it the 'Hizballah Division' of the Lebanese Army. Order it deployed in the south. Request arms supplies from the sovereign government of, say, Iran. Re-equip it.

Exercize sovereignty over all Lebanon by kicking out the Zionist invader and rebuilding a fortified defensive line across the whole southern border, manned by the 'Hizballah Division' of the Lebanese Army, and when asked, just say you're implementing 1701.

Then watch the Zionist and neocon heads exploding.

stunster August 14, 2006 - 2:33pm

The question is how scared the other factions are of Hezbollah, or how resentful. Hezbollah has just shown that they are extraordinarily powerful militarily, they need to sooth the other communities and assure them that they will not ever try to force their values or governance on them. The sort of theocratic rule that Iran has is not acceptable to a large number of Lebanese and the fact that, in fact, Hezbollah is more powerful than the official government would make me queasy if I were a government minister.

Ian Welsh August 14, 2006 - 3:00pm

Hezbollah has just shown that they are extraordinarily powerful militarily, they need to sooth the other communities and assure them that they will not ever try to force their values or governance on them.

If they pull that one off, they'll have demonstrated a lot more political savvy than the Bush Administration.

Escher Sketch August 14, 2006 - 3:03pm

has more savvy than the Bush Administration.

"Lord! What fools these Mortals be!"

Doug Richardson August 14, 2006 - 7:06pm

to win legitimacy in the Middle East? That would necessitate a major adjustment on Iran's part because Shiite theocracy would have to be diminished? Nasrallazh is able to be both a Shiite and a Lebanese popular leader and retain appeal with all the religions in Lebanon.

canuck August 14, 2006 - 3:34pm

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