Foreign Shadows in the Land of the Cedars
I was at my dentist
today when he asked me casually, while performing the ever-detested ritual of
root canal, if I think the Syrians should leave our country
On my way home, I
recalled the question again and found myself dumbstruck yet awed at the same
time at the magnitude of it. Should the Syrians leave
So here I am sitting in front of my PC, writing up this letter which at first I only had in mind posting on the forums of #Leb Dalnet, but as fond memories of a dear person who was a very patriotic soul, God bless her, came to mind, I decided I’ll post it on websites too and email it to friends as well. I’ll try my outmost best to be brief as my aim or purpose of this newsletter is not to disagree with the humble opinions of others or render anyone bad in any way whatsoever, but, rather, to give an intellectual answer to the question which someone like a dentist should ask, a question which I felt is both my obligation and honor, as a Lebanese, to answer as best as I can, for it might make a difference. In either case, it’s for the sole purpose of not keeping silent, which I assume is the case with some people who have been walking on the same path based on the same wrong philosophies as I had…just earlier. So please bear in mind it’s just about that. It’s about not keeping silent and speaking out what you think is right, even when you’re wrong.
Now to the question:
Should
If we, just for the
sake of argument, leave all that has happened these past few days (the
assassination of our Ex-PM, the speculations, the accusation, etc), including
but not limited to the usual Lebanese aggressiveness most people (I said most,
not 'all', so please don’t come hyping to me about how not all the
tomatoes in the crate are rotten blah-blah, etc) resort to when it comes to
expressing their opinions on 'delicate' matters, but, instead, look at and
analyze this from a rational point of view and discuss it like the
intellectuals we are, then, yes, I'll say Syria should leave Lebanon. MUST leave
Why? Because as all rational thoughts tend to lead us upon paths based on logic, it would be easy for me to assume their presence in this country, in our country, is utterly meaningless and helpless to the cause of democracy and unity hence the fact that every single decision taken in this country is influenced, one way or another, by Damascus! How could we ever claim to be a democratic nation when someone else decides what we do or shouldn't do, not to mention that it's really not much of a decision anyway than it is a 'puppet show', executed through the strings which are embedded deep into some of our 'noble' politicians?
First of all, let's
begin by asking ourselves the question what DO the Syrians do here?
Please note I am not asking why they are here (we all know why they came in the
first place), but asking what they are doing NOW! As
far as I'm concerned (and for those of you who would disagree, please pardon my
diminutive brain here. Just regard me as a moron who's ranting and knows
nothing and just skip this thread altogether), the Civil War has ended and
currently I do not see how they influence anything in that regard. I've heard
some people talk about partial security, that they are here to keep the country
stable...but, again pardon me for a minute... I do not see people engaged in
Mortal Combat fights on the streets of
If anything, they do
nothing for us other than exploit our economy by being involved in every
project or decision taken in Lebanon which sends unofficially huge sums of
money to Damascus, twist around the politics of OUR country to what THEY see
fit since they are the ‘power brokers’ thanks to the officials we
put in office, meddle in affairs they have no business whatsoever in, control
our elections and parliament and threaten our democracy by being a foreign
force whose presence causes internal disputes amongst ourselves as a result of
being suppressed to express yourself. The mere fact that you can't ask openly
what they are doing automatically renders their attendance in
Furthermore, how is the intellectual supposed to define the word ‘occupation’? They called Israel an occupying force when it was in our country....so doesn’t that make them, the Syrians, an occupying force, too, since they are in our country? I believe there’s some kind of radical contradiction here.
Which brings us to
the subject of For just how long more should
we go on afraid to express what we feel? We see them as an occupying force,
therefore they should leave. Whether or not they really are an occupation force
isn’t the point. The point is most, if not all of us, have
been seeing them that way for the past few years now. If you're in your
cousin's house, for whatever POSITIVE reason, yet your cousin accuses you of
being there for some NEGATIVE reason, doesn’t that upset your dignity,
your ego, and make you pack your bags and say 'well, farewell thee Cousin, to
hell with you'? So why AREN’T they leaving then? If we are wrong, and
somehow they are here not as an occupying force but God knows what for,
yet whatever the beneficial cause
they are serving is OBVIOUSLY going unnoticed ALL THE TIME, and we are not
appreciating it… how come they're finding it so hard to pack up and head
for Damascus? That's just proof enough even for the dumbest of us to realize
that all this hype about shakikatakoum blah-blah is
nothing but cowflop. No matter how much you love your
cousin, there'll come a time when you'll no longer stand accusations and stop
being the Good Samaritan if he never appreciates your efforts and keeps on
accusing you of negative things. So again: WHY ARE
THEY STILL HERE WHEN THEIR PRESENCE ISN’T APPRECIATED?
The answer, of
course, is simple: They have substantial economic and political interests in
Which brings us to the question of willingness and just how much one is supposed to go along with accepting things: Why do most of us stop living with our parents when we become adults or mature enough to be independents? Mostly it’s to start a new life, go after those dreams and hopes…pursue that future that looks promising, become a man, etc….but mainly why do we? Isn’t the main reason, the paramount reason of all reasons, because, psychologically-speaking, in us humans…there’s a certain gene called I Do Not Accept Patronization? It’s an aspect of human lives. Nobody likes being told what to do, so to speak. When we are young and still at our parents' we tend to accept it as normal, regardless of whether they are right or wrong, since we’re basically helpless to do anything about it! We need them. But when we become adults, doesn’t that change? You can no longer accept the idea of being told what to do, EVEN if they are right. You just WANT your actions to be based upon your own decisions and free will.
So based on that
philosophy…I’d like to ask what GIVES
THAT, my friends, my brothers and sisters is what the whole shebang is all about!! It’s about dignity and pride; it’s not about hating or loving the Syrians. Some people simply cannot allow themselves to be patronized and that has been an issue since time immemorial in human psychology.
To emphasize just
how much hypocrisy is flying around on their behalf, I’ll give you an
example. If you ask the Syrian government what they think about the
It all boils down to
one thing: Like I said earlier, they insist on sticking around because this is
where their interests lie, both in terms of politics and finance, not to
mention how much being a power broker fulfills their ego. I’d hate to
think
Finally, I’d like to conclude that in the awakening of what has happened, I just hope our current President would have enough dignity and pride to step down and resign. It’s not because of speculations that Syria might be behind the Ex-PM’s assassination, oh no, (that is still yet to be determined, and hopefully time will tell - even though we could go on debating that issue, but I’d rather leave that out as the purpose of this letter isn’t who killed the Ex-PM but rather if Syria should leave) but because right now the assassination has worked against the murderer’s interests by uniting Lebanon’s Christian, Druze, Shiite and Sunni parties, some of which battled one another during years of sectarian strife. His people are mourning a great man, whose death has revived diplomatic and International threats to Syria that had languished for months, and since the initial difference between the President and the opposing parties, including the Ex-PM, had been Syria’s involvement in the 3 years extension, the least Senor Lahoud could do at this time to honor his people and especially his Ex-PM, who has been brutally murdered, is resign, as otherwise he’ll not only be confirming to be a Pro-Syrian, as many people claim, but he’ll be in the spotlight looking like someone holding a cardboard above his head that reads: ‘I’m not a Pro-Syrian. I AM a Syrian’.
God bless
A.M. (Mr. Fixit)
February 20, 2005
Rainbowfire78@hotmail.com