We don’t need your yankee dollars
There is something different about the Lebanese which makes them unique in the Middle East. For example, when the Minister of Defense for Lebanon learned the US congress had put a hold on military aid to the Lebanese Army he didn’t cry blame the Joos like everyone else in the neighborhood would do. Instead, he did the Lebanese equivalent of ‘take this job and shove it. Al-Jazeera
The Lebanese defence minister has said that the country will refuse military assistance from the US should any aid come with conditions that weapons not be used against Israel. The comments from Elias Murr were made on Wednesday, after it was revealed that $100 million in US military assistance to Lebanon had been suspended last week.
Aid was halted due to fears that Hezbollah, the Shia group backed by Iran, would manage to get hold of any arsenal provided. Concern was raised that Hezbollah holds influence over the Lebanese military and that the weapons could be used against Israel. “If someone would like to help the army without restrictions or conditions, he is welcome,” Murr said. “But those who want to help the army on condition that it doesn’t protect its territory, people and border from Israel, should keep their money - or give it to Israel instead,” Murr said. “We will confront [Israel] with the capabilities that we have.”
And then the Defense Minister opened up a bank account for private donations for the army. Zawya
BEIRUT, Aug 14, 2010 (AFP) – Lebanon has opened a bank account for donations to help modernise its poorly-equipped army, the defence minister said Saturday, two weeks after a deadly border clash between Lebanese and Israeli soldiers.
“I announce the launching of a fund to support and equip the army,” the official news agency NNA quoted Elias Murr as saying. It said the minister and his father, former defence minister Michel Murr, had deposited one billion Lebanese pounds (670,000 dollars) into an account at the central bank. Murr added that there would be a plan to communicate with the Lebanese diaspora about supporting the fund.
I wish Murr all the luck, although he might think about taking possession of Hezbollah’s arsenal before the fund rising drives starts. But there are a few things which Murr is reported to have said via Al-Jazeera which makes me go uhmmm. Now the prevailing ethos in Lebanon maintains that the Americans were re-examining military aid to Lebanon in light of the border skirmish and the rather disproportionate Lebanese response to tree trimming on the Israeli side of the border. This would be all very well and good except the Americans actually suspended aid August 2nd – two days before the border skirmish. Al Jazeera
Howard Berman, the chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said on Monday that he had suspended assistance to Lebanon on August 2 amid growing concern in Congress. A day after the decision, fighting on the Lebanese-Israel border led to the death of two Lebanese soldiers, a Lebanese journalist and an Israeli officer. Berman, a strong supporter of Israel, said that the incident reaffirmed the concerns of Congress. Berman had used his legislative prerogative to place a suspension on the money. It remains to be seen how long the suspension will last.
and apparently Murr had this to say:
Murr said on Wednesday that the Lebanese soldier who fired at Israeli forces during the border unrest was acting on orders.
What makes this interesting is that it certainly puts a different light on the whole Lebanese commander running amuck theory we have heard so much about. If US military aid was suspended on the 2nd, and we are presuming the Lebanese government knew about it shortly thereafter, and then Lebanese initiate and stage a border skirmish on the 3rd…it does lend itself to the appearance that the matter might just have been staged to ’shakedown’ the Americans.
