Hezbollah's Political Ideology
In a comment to a post on the new "Baghdad Rules" ANSR had the following to say:

This being said, military actions against groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah are as fruitless and irrelevant to our nation's security as actions against the IRA and Tamil Tigers. These groups fight for political ideology, not the personal vendettas of a Bin Laden.

This breezy elevation of Hamas and Hezbollah's status to political (freedom?) fighters was off-putting to me, and it didn't jive with what I knew of H & H. I asked if ANSR was familiar with Hezbollah's political ideology, and got no response.

Here are some excerpts from a very recent speech by Hezbollah secreteray general Hassan Nasrallah, translated by the folks at MEMRI for our edification (full speech linked in the title). Here's a highly biased dossier on the man from a pro-American perspective. Here's one from Al Jazeera.

Hassan Nasrallah:"Israel is our enemy. This is an aggressive, illegal, and illegitimate entity, which has no future in our land. Its destiny is manifested in our motto: 'Death to Israel.'"

Crowd:" Death to Israel"
"Death to Israel"
"Death to Israel"
"Death to Israel"
"Death to Israel"

Hassan Nasrallah: "The American administration is behind Israel. I must clarify that when I say 'America' I do not mean the American people, most of whom are distant and ignorant of what is going on in the world, and of what its government and army are doing in the world. Nevertheless, we consider the current administration an enemy of our [Islamic] nation and of the peoples of our nation, because it has always taken a position of aggression, of occupation, and of supporting Israel with weapons, airplanes, tanks, money, as well as political support, and unlimited protection.

"We consider it to be an enemy because it wants to humiliate our governments, our regimes, and our peoples. Because it is the greatest plunderer our treasures, our oil, and our resources, while millions in our nation suffer unemployment, poverty, hunger, unmarriagability, ignorance, darkness, and so on. America… This American administration is an enemy. Our motto, which we are not afraid to repeat year after year, is: 'Death to America.'"

Crowd: "Death to America"
"Death to America"
"Death to America"
"Death to America"
"Death to America"
"Death to America"

[from another speech]
Hassan Nasrallah:"How can death become joyous? How can death become happiness? When Al-Hussein asked his nephew Al-Qassem, when he had not yet reached puberty: 'How do you like the taste of death, son?' He answered that it was sweeter than honey. How can the foul taste of death become sweeter than honey? Only through conviction, ideology, and faith, through belief, and devotion.

"We do not want to live merely in order to eat, drink, and enjoy life's pleasures, and leave our homeland to Israel so it will slaughter it upon the altar of its aspirations, desires, hate, and historic vendettas. Therefore, we are not interested in our own personal security. On the contrary, each of us lives his days and nights hoping more than anything to be killed for the sake of Allah.

"The most honorable death is to be killed, as the Leader Imam Al-Khamenei said when 'Abbas [Musawi] was martyred. He said: 'Congratulations to 'Abbas, congratulations to 'Abbas.' The most honorable death is death by killing, and the most honorable killing and the most glorious martyrdom is when a man is killed for the sake of Allah, by the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets [i.e. the Jews]."

Yeah, I guess that's a political ideology. And I suppose one could find comfort in the fact that he distinguishes between ignorant American people and the administration, though I don't. Maybe if we'd elected a different president Nasrallah would like us more, but I doubt it.
- posted by Anonymous @ Wednesday, February 23, 2005