Free Michel Kilo Now - Enough Already

My heart is aching from seeing what is happening in Lebanon…very disgusting…every summer something happens and it is very saddening.

Why are we still stuck in the 70s and 80s violent days??? it really says a lot that Lebanon the country with the best potential to be so advanced and civilized…with its brightest people everywhere are ruled by few lunatics that take orders from outside. 

What can I say Assad got the blessing from Iran and Israel to burn Lebanon one more time…Thank you Nasralla for showing us the thug that you are, may you go to hell. You really showed us what the Arab resistance is all about, use weapons and bombs to burn innocent cities…

Isreal must be very happy to expose you to the Arab world, basically another terrorist…also perfect timing with the Israeli celebrations in place, how much did you get paid for this???

No wonder Assad keeps Michel Kilo and the rest in jail because he knows that they won’t accept how Lebanon is being toyed with one more time. Many Syrians don’t know any better so they believe the Syrian propaganda but I truly believe that the Syrian regime is another player (kept in place by outside) in the region that make sure the Arab world never goes anywhere but back to the savage ages.

I am really Sorry Michel Kilo on the eve of 2 years anniversary of your arrest that you are still a victim of oppression with no hope in site. 

How many people need to be killed in Lebanon? Gaza? Iraq so you can prove that you are a regional player??? or do you get personal satisfaction by killing and improsining people or force an entire country to worship you…As long as Michel Kilo and his friends remain in Syrian prisons you are suspect number one in all the crimes and chaos happening in Lebanon.

 I can’t get how dumb you are by not even trying to cover your crimes…you even choose to send all these messages of intimidation so bluntly…but it is not your fault it is the fault of the Syrian people and other foreign powers (hint hint Israel and the US) that allow you to remain where you are; so you can cause as much harm as possible. I am still very confused about why targeted assassinations happen everywhere around Syria but not within Syria??? oh sorry it is usually called suicide or a one way ticket to prison, or dissapearance forever, bombs usually explode in empty areas.

Also, how clever of you to have people’s hearts and minds directed toward libaring a land that you are so happy that it is occupied. Tell those people that the Golan is just an excuse for you to have total rule and control…tell them that you need to control Lebanon because it was a cash cow that needs to remain in safe hands to not give freedom loving Syrians any wrong ideas…tell them that you offer nothing to Syria and people are so dumb for marketing you otherwise. 

You are a big engine of instability in the region and the engine of Syrian backwardness. You are needed to ensure that the region remain in the dark ages…don’t forget to thank your masters for all the wealth that you and your family worked so hard to accumulate: it is ultimately sucked from the sweat of the hard working people, the blood of the innocents, the freedom suffocation, the brainwashing of the young minds and souls.

Syria I cry for your misery…Lebanon hopefully you will be soon freed of the criminal spirits. 

I found this great article by Rami Khouri in the Daily Star, I dedicate it to all the people who refuse to acknowledge realities and stand behind tyrants while attacking a small part of their poilicies…dedicate it to people who cry foul for something and put their head in the sand when it matters. Syria’s regime prentend to stand up and be a role model for all the leftists and people mad about foreign interference and imperialism yet the Syrian regime is a big part of Syrian misery as well as the misery of the region. They are proud to be a big force in the region so they should take their share of the blame as well for all the ills of the region.

They are to blame mainly for Syrians been parrots to what Syria claims and Syrian people believing that Syrian Rulers are unfairly targeted when the Syrian Regime are the agressors. I remember that, as a Christian kid growing up,  I kept hearing Assad is our best option because if he goes then the Muslim brothers will take over and we will become like Iran or Saudi Arabia: Hello we are already like Iran in terms of freedoms if not worse. Now the people (all Syrians) are worried that If Assad goes then Syria will be another Iraq or Lebanon: you bet we will because the Syrian mukhabarat will change their skins and go underground and make sure they bomb the shit out of us, create a civil war, put various camps agaisnt each other, or make the whole country live under constant terrorism.

I don’t know what the solution is, I don’t care for the Syrian regime being in power. However I am sick of brainwashing the young generations with their hypocrisy and manipulating the people to be robots in praising the Assad God. I am sick of lining up to defend all their destructive regional policies even though it is very damaging to Syria’s interests (notice how they become peaceful and friendly when they are given by the US a piece of the cake like in the 90s they had Lebanon to devoure) and the well being of its people. Keep riding the Syrian carpet of hell and enjoy your summer dose of Lebanon firecrackers and make sure you always oppose the Lebanese government because that is what Assad enjoys the most. Long live the coolest Arab Tyrant.

 Now the Article:

Regional conflicts join together to destabilize Lebanon
By Rami G. Khouri
Daily Star staff
Wednesday, May 23, 2007

In recent years I and others have been warning that the growing number of conflicts in the Middle East is pushing the region toward new forms of radicalism and trouble. The clashes between the Lebanese Army and the Fatah al-Islam extremist militants that have rocked parts of North Lebanon since Sunday are the latest face of that phenomenon.

The fighting in and near Tripoli represents the local convergence of four separate conflicts that attest to the complex matrix of violence that plagues the Middle East today. The four are the uneasy legacy of tensions between various Lebanese forces and armed Palestinian refugee groups in the country, going back to the 1960s; the continued tensions between Syria and Lebanon since a popular uprising forced the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon two years ago; the regional spin-offs from the US-led war in Iraq; and, the expanding clashes as US President George W. Bush’s “global war on terror” both battles and breeds assorted Islamist terror groups that pursue Al-Qaeda-like goals and tactics.

The convergence of these four factors in the clashes in Tripoli this week is no surprise. Fatah al-Islam has been slowly building up its band of several hundred heavily armed fighters in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp for nearly a year, while other militant Islamists have been expanding their small constituencies in North and South Lebanon. Lebanese, Palestinian and foreign officials alike have all expressed concerns about the potential for such extremists to gain a foothold in Lebanon.

The fighting in Tripoli erupted after Lebanese security forces pursued a band of Fatah al-Islam fighters who had robbed a bank, but the confrontation was inevitable in view of the steadily rising threat that such militants represented. Many Lebanese blame Syria for instigating the Fatah al-Islam threat as one of the ways that Damascus allegedly seeks to keep Lebanon in a state of turmoil. Syria denies the charge. Lebanese accusers insist that Syria is trying to undermine the international tribunal being established to try the killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and others in the past two years. Two bombs that exploded in Beirut Sunday and Monday night are also widely blamed on Syria as part of this alleged campaign of destabilization. An ongoing UN investigation of the Hariri and other murders has pointed the finger in the direction of Syria, but its final conclusions - and the all-important evidence it is expected to reveal - will not be made public until at least later this year.

It is difficult to say precisely what Fatah al-Islam represents. It is a small breakaway faction of the Syria-based and Syria-backed Fatah al-Intifada group that was created to oppose Yasser Arafat’s main Fatah guerrilla organization. Yet Fatah al-Islam is less of a traditional Palestinian group and is very much in line with the bevy of small militant Islamist organizations that have sprung up around the Middle East since the advent of Osama Bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda.

Though it is led by former Palestinian guerrillas, Fatah al-Islam’s fighters come from half a dozen Arab countries, with a sprinkling of Asians as well. Mainstream Palestinian groups in Lebanon such as Fatah, Hamas and the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization all openly oppose it and see it as a threat to themselves and to Lebanon’s stability. The group’s several hundred fighters are concentrated in the Nahr al-Bared camp but have also established small toeholds in adjacent Tripoli and also in a few other places in Lebanon, including refugee camps in the South.

This latest eruption of urban violence should remind us of several basic facts that seem to get lost amidst the dramatic television pictures of yet another Arab country rocked by explosions and enveloped in smoke. The first is that any legitimate political grievance that is left to simmer for decades on end - like the Palestine refugee issue - will eventually boil over and cause new problems.

The second is that using brute force to achieve unilateral political goals - as the United States has tried to do in Iraq - will inevitably spark a backlash. Some Fatah al-Islam fighters boast of fighting the US in Iraq, suggesting that Iraq is breeding new and more virulent terrorists.

A third reminder is that a Middle East bedeviled by multiple conflicts will inevitably see them link up with one another, as seems to be the case with the Palestinian, Iraqi and Syrian-Lebanese conflicts converging into a single battle, at least this week.

Where this convergent militarism rears its head next month is not clear - but you can bet your bottom dollar or dinar that it will, as long as tyrants run Arab countries, foreign armies invade other Arab countries, and Israel continues to refuse reasonable Arab offers to resolve the Palestine problem, in particular the refugee issue, peacefully.

No need to explain what is happening in Lebanon, except to say that somehow Lebanese and Palestinian blood is a cheap commodity for the Syrian Mukhabarat thugs and their lovely mafioso leader who gets elected by bidding and sacrificing the blood of others!

Why do wars happen always around summer time??? why the last 2 years Lebanon and Gaza sync up in misery?

I think Lebanon should close down all the palestinian refugee camps which would be remove an important source of instability and helps Lebanon long term. I am not an expert on the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon but I had some friends in Canada from there in the 90s. Haitham was from the Bared Camp near Tripoli, he was trying to make it in Canada with no education and no money, his 6 brothers were dispersed between Yemen, Sweeden and Lebanon. He remembers working for Bassel Assad Network working in all kind of smugling activities from cigarettes to other merchandize (he never mentioned drugs or weapons but it is a strong possibility). I remember passing by the Bared camp everytime going to Tripoli from Syria…nothing appealing, it is mostly full of miserable poor people trying to survive.

These refugee camps are the arab stamp of Palestinian tragedy, they got screwed by Israel first then the Arab decided to screw them further and use them tragically as pawns in their international “struggle” agaisnt Israel. They became armed and started causing all kind of troubles wherever they were: Jordan or Lebanon and a very minimal extent Syria (although they are in Syria very useful to the regime) . Any smart person who was able to leave left and only misery or thugs remain.  The poor people who have been promised to “return” to their lands for 60 years…it is not looking that it is happening anytime soon. Why would they go to overcrowded Gaza where people are already fighting between themselves or to the West Bank where the camps there are sharing the same life style as well. Israel is never going to allow them back so why keep them in these inhumane tragic conditions when they become “favellas” and a burden to their hosts. Not to mention that terrorism and extremism has a perfect ground to flourish where no hope shines.

They already caused a civil war in Lebanon (they were the catalyst to start it) and they fought the other militias and Amal and they split amongtheves around different factions and fought, more palestinias killed by their own than by their enemy. Outside powers use them whenever they need a hot card to use. Palestinians are great people, they don’t deserve this, they deserve to live with dignity and given hope for a better future. Lebanon already decided that they are not able to host them forever since the country can’t absorb them. Syria and Jordan already have their own refugee problems. The only solution is for other countries to offer them a new life with Isreal eventually giving them proper compensation.

I don’t have logistical plans but immigration countries Canada, Australia, US and Volunteer contries in Europe and the world should step in to take them for a new much improved life. Other arab countries like Tunisia or Yemen would cover the rest who want to remain in Arab countries with individual compensation to start a decent living. Saudi Arabia and the gulf countries could help financing as well. They should be given legal status and naturalized within 5 years so they can be free to travel afterward, given proper education and the ability to start businesses.

I know that the issue is simple to solve when it comes to money and logistics, but the main obstacle is the political will. The hardliners would say “Look at Lebanon they are liquidating the Palestinian cause” but the reality is that arabs know that the refugee problem have to be solved, they just want everything to happen in a global deal with Israel. I think things should happen in steps for any chance of success. Solving the problem in Lebanon first, would be a good test to solve the problem in Syria. Taking these 2 hot and contentions issues off the agenda of negotiations with israel will make things much better. The only thing for Israel would be to pay financial compensation to the Palestinans when peace deal is reached.

I know some Syrian bathists will jump all over me and accuse me of treason but I decided to break some taboos and find practical solutions for Palestinians to live in dignity once again, instead of enjoying people dying in Lebanon and people chearing on the prospects of “Syria” more like “Syrian Regime’s” enemies being in another quagmire and Syria through its proxies dragging Lebanon once again to hell. 

I and a lot of wise Syrians salute Ibrahim Sleiman trip to Israel, more trips like that need to happen. Communication is very necessary before any Peace initiative is signed and implemented. The Syrian authorities should even send diplomatic personnel over there to meet, and be ready to receive Israeli diplomats publically in Damascus instead of meeting them in secret. Ibrahim, just reading about him and his visit, proved to be a good ambassador and played his role perfectly, it helps when your brother is a big Syrian General (Bahjat Sleiman) and that you lived abroad for a long time where you see tolerance should be the norm and fighting for the hell of it does not make sense.

The Syrians have waited so many years ever since I was a child hoping for the conflict with Israel to end, so the situation can improve and they can reap economical and political benefits and rewards. Israel and the status of war with Israel was always the obstacle to big dreams or to achieve anything internally in Syria.  It was indirectly Israel and not the people that gave the Baath party, the army and the rulers all their power.  This was even more of a problem whenever Syrian rulers decided to raise the tone every time they faced a crisis. Syrians pinned a lot of hope on the Assad-Clinton meeting in Geneva in 2000 but allas nothing happened and everything went downward from there. 

I hope that this initiative and visit to Israel go somewhere for the Sake of Syrians and not of its regime. But I am skeptical and that is why I am not convinced that something positive will emerge, I hope I am wrong. The Syrian regime thinks that Israel and the world are blind to what Syria does internally and regionally. They think that big powers react to the noise and rhetorics that they generate, so they become big trouble makers in desperation.

Before starting Peace negotiations with the enemy, why not make Peace with your citizens and the people that get arrested arbitrarily (people that you accuse of treason and collaborating with the enemy when in fact you break all the taboos in secret or public). Why not free Michel Kilo, Anwar Bunni, and all their comrades who just asked for better ties with Lebanon which had never fought an open war with Syria (except for Michel Aoun who is now a Syrian Darling). Why not Free Kamal Labwani who met with some people abroad just like Pelosi met with Assad or Sleiman met some Israeli politicians. Why not free Dr Aref Dalila a respected economics professor who was charged 10 years in prison on bogus charges?

Also How can you talk peace when you fully support and arm Hizballa? and Hamas? and you keep increasing their resistance and rethorics? and they become so belligerent that they are ready to fight their own people, in fact you push them to do it calling it a winning card. How can you prepare your people for peace when you keep increasing the verbal attacks internally on Israel and you language has not changed on them since the 70s. 

I think it is so easy for Syria to send messages of Peace and show that they are serious. First tone it down in action and not only words, become a positive player in Lebanon, change your alliances and your friends. Internally try to reform, increase freedoms, release political prisoners, reduce corruption, give your citizens their rights and then Peace will happen eventually.  Of course Israel and the USA have their own will and sacrifices to make in order to achieve Peace. But I think just being hostage to changes in their policies make us irrelevant, also fighting useless battles make us irrelevant. Continuing the methods and tactics of the past won’t pay, a new approach is needed for any hope to emerge. Let’s learn from Europe where former enemies have build a new power.

Syria has not fought over the Golan since 1973 and no one has questioned that, the rulers have a carte blanche in what they do so opening up is their choice. The world will not miss any change in Syrian behavior, and it is better for Syria and the region.