Can We Win the War on Terror?

Who is Hezbollah?

“Hezbollah (meaning Party of God) is a political and military party in Lebanon founded in 1982 to fight the Israel occupation in southern Lebanon. It is regarded by many in the Arab and Muslim world as a legitimate militant Shia political party in Lebanon. In addition to its military wing, Hezbollah maintains a civilian arm, which runs hospitals, various news services, and educational facilities.” Aljazeera 01/01/2003, reprinted 09/15/2006 http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10029.

Before we answer that question, we must first understand how a clearly terrorist organization (to most of the western world) can win such an accepted strong hold in Lebanon and much of the Middle East in the first place. On Monday June 06, 2005 the world woke up to learn that Hezbollah and its pro-Syrian allies won control over Southern Lebanon Parliament. The entire free world was in shock. But should we have been?

Tuesday March 01, 2005 U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls for fair and free elections in Southern Lebanon. (Source: Anne Gearan, AP Diplomatic Writer. 03/01/2005). The hopes were that free elections would usher in a new government and weaken the strong hold of terrorist organizations such as Hezbollah. These were good intentions, but with one fatal flaw. We assumed that the people of Lebanon viewed Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Remember Hezbollah denounced the terrorist bombing of the United States on September 11, 2001.