If this dispatch accurately reflects Lebanese dissatisfaction with Hezbollah, we have to wonder why only reporters from McClatchy Papers (formerly Knight-Ridder) take any significant note of the grumbling:
In Lebanon’s latest war-ravaged landscape, age-old tensions that were never properly addressed are more raw and public than ever. Many Christians grumble aloud that Israel should have “finished the job.” Sunni Muslims are caught between satisfaction at seeing Israel taken down a notch and the terror of being sidelined by Hezbollah, an Iranian-bankrolled Shiite Muslim force. Shiites, who form the backbone of Hezbollah’s support base, were the conflict’s biggest victims, losing relatives, homes and jobs.
Many Lebanese from all backgrounds fear that Hezbollah, now the most powerful political and military force in the country, will inch back to its early goal of establishing Islamic rule over Lebanon.
Misbah Ahdab, a Sunni legislator from the ruling parliamentary bloc, said Hezbollah was creating “a parallel system” instead of making overtures to back the central government. Fear of angering Hezbollah is keeping many politicians silent, he said, even though they fret privately over the future of a country led by a militant Islamist group.
It’s totally ridiculous to begin rebuilding again when it’s going to be destroyed in two years,” he said.
See also this in-depth McClatchy report detailing how Hezbollah built itself up in lots of small incremental steps.
