Blowback in Lebanon: Another Imperial Backfire
by Chris Floyd
 For anyone confused by the fragmentary and hot-buttoned reports ("Al Qaeda!" "Terrorists!" "Don't think, just look at these scary words!") coming out of Lebanon on the military assault on Palestinian refugee camps, Charles Harb of the American University of Beirut has a succinct primer in the Guardian. As Sy Hersh has already noted, what we are seeing in the violent carnage at Nahr al-Bared is yet another example of blowback, where militant sectarians are armed and funded by America and its regional allies in the vain hope that the groups can be controlled and exploited by local power-players and the Big Kahuna back in Washington.
In this case, a small band of violent extremists, Fatah al-Islam – who have ensconced themselves in the blighted Palestinian camps in Lebanon (even though most of the groups members are neither Palestinian nor Lebanese) – suddenly found themselves flush with money and guns in recent months.
This windfall came after the Bush Adminsration (another band of
violent extremists) launched a "redirection" of its Middle East
strategy, linking up with the dictatorships in Saudi Arabia and Egypt
in supporting Sunni extremist groups throughout the region to combat
the growing Shiite influence and fight proxy wars with Iran and its
proxies, real and perceived. (Except of course for Iran's biggest
proxies: the violent Iraqi sectarian militias that Bush himself has put
in power.) Fatah al-Islam was favored by the dominant Hariri faction in
Lebanon as a Sunni counterweight to Hizbollah. But once again – or
rather, as always – the machinations of the power-players have gone
awry. Fatah al-Islam went off the reservation, allegedly robbed some
banks – in addition to preying upon the defenseless Palestinian
refugees who involuntarily "hosted" them – and sparked firefights with
Lebanese military forces.
Now the latter -- humiliated by
their inability (or unwillingness) to resist the brutal Israeli attacks
last summer , when the defense of the nation was left up to Hizbollah –
have moved with a heavy hand against the militants, and against the
thousands of innocent Palestinians housed with them in Fatahal-Islam.
These refugees have been made refugees again, forced to flee their
homes from the – need it be said? – American-backed assault.
Ironically
enough, in this clampdown – with the usual heavy "collateral damage" –
Bush finds himself shoulder to shoulder with Hizbollah, who have
applauded the military action.
Once again, we see that all these
ideological and religious labels don't matter at all to the leaders of
the Terror War; the only thing that matters are the temporary
expedients of power.
For a closer look at the human suffering
spawned by the new conflict, and some of the local politics behind it,
see the continuing posts from the indispensible As'ad AbuKhalil at the
Angry Arab (such as here and here). Meanwhile, Harb gives a good
overview, and should be read in full. His conclusion:
The
plight of thousands of Palestinian refugees trapped in the Nahr
al-Bared camp echoes the Israeli bombing of Palestinian camps in
occupied Palestine. Radical Islamist activists are moved by the
atrocities in the north and attacks on their fellow militants.
Palestinian factions are fractious, weakened, and infiltrated by
foreign agents, further destabilising security within the refugee
camps.
The relations between Palestinian groups and Lebanese
authorities are strained, and tensions can easily spill outside the
refugee camps. The dangers of a conflagration that could spread across
the country are serious. The US once nurtured the mujahideen in
Afghanistan, only to pay the price much later. In the dangerous game of
sectarian conflict, everyone stands to lose.
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