[Fisk's report during Bush's visit to the Middle East is still timely. As usual, he includes details we are unlikely to have heard about from our homegrown sources. -jlt]
...Sleiman gets on well with Damascus. He is not going to lead his soldiers into a pro-American war against Hizbollah. And the Lebanese are not going to join Bush's insane "jihad" against the "world terror".
I am not sure what was the worse part of this week. Living in Lebanon? Or reading the outrageous words of George Bush? Several times, I have asked myself this question: have words lost their meaning?
So let's start with lunch at the Cocteau restaurant in Beirut. Yes, it's named after Jean Cocteau, and it is one of the chicest places in town. Magnificent flowers on the table, impeccable service, wonderful food. Yes, there was shooting at Sodeco – 20 yards away – the day before; yes, we were already worried about the virtual collapse of the Lebanese government, the humiliation of Sunni Muslims (and the Saudis) in the face of what we must acknowledge as a Hizbollah victory (don't expect George Bush to understand this) and the danger of more street shooting. But I brought up the tiny matter of the little massacre in northern Lebanon in which 10 or 12 militiamen were captured and then murdered before being handed over to the Lebanese army. Their bodies were – I fear this is correct – mutilated after death.
Read the rest in The Independent =>
Robert Fisk's new book, The Age of the Warrior: Selected Writings, a selection of his Saturday columns in The Independent, is published by Fourth Estate.Recommend this Post
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