CONTENTS
1. "Second attack destroys statue of Hafez Assad in Tyre: Tribute to 'eternal leader' will not be rebuilt" (Beirut Daily Star, March 12, 2005)
2. "What's the difference between E.T. and a Syrian? Lebanon celebrates freedom with humor, communication" (By Claudia Rosett, New York Sun, March 17, 2005)
3. "Damascus rebellion update"
In an increasingly desperate effort to cover up for the decrepit state they have left their societies in, Arab and Iranian despots are (as usual) blaming everything on Israel (or "the Jews").
A statue of Hafez Assad has been damaged for the second time in the village of Qana in Lebanon. Syria's dead Baathist tyrant – whom only five years ago was being courted by the Clinton administration and was being treated with almost gushing respect by many journalists at so-called liberal media such as the BBC, the New York Times and CNN – has joined the ranks of Vladimir Lenin and Saddam Hussein in becoming the latest tyrant to have his statue toppled by those he dictated over.
Hussein Dakhlallah, The President of the Committee for Immortalizing Martyr Hafez Assad (yes that is his actual job title), has accused "dirty Israeli hands" of perpetrating the attack, while ignoring the anti-Syrian fervor rife throughout Lebanon. No doubt he also believes that Monday's protest of almost 1 million people in Beirut against Assad's equally dictatorial son was organized by those same "dirty Israeli hands".
Even though Syrian propagandists continue to find a sympathetic ear among a few western journalists (as noted by recent articles in The Guardian and elsewhere blaming Israel for present events in Lebanon), it seems that fewer and fewer ordinary Lebanese and Syrians are being taken in by the anti-Israeli and anti-American propaganda.
Lebanese democrats are not only holding up pro-Bush placards, but – following on from the deck of cards produced by pro-democracy forces in Iraq – they have produced their own deck of cards, featuring the most wanted (or rather the most unwanted) of Lebanon's Syrian-backed regime.
Below, I attach an article on the attack on Assad's statue from the Beirut Daily Star, followed by an article on events in Lebanon by Claudia Rosett, a long-time subscriber to this email list) reporting from Beirut.
There are summaries first for those who don't have time to read these pieces in full.
"DAMASCUS REBELLION UPDATE"
The Lebanese Foundation for Peace, a group of Christian and Moslem Lebanese exiles, some of whom subscribe to this email list, report on the beginnings of insurrection in Syria itself.
Their reports * cannot * be verified at the present time. Using their network of sources inside Syria, in the past they have occasionally had scoops before the mainstream media, but I have received no indication as yet that these present reports are accurate.
For those interested, see "Damascus rebellion update" and other items at www.free-lebanon.com, which state among other things:
"No newspapers are getting in or out of Syria, the media is controlled very tight, and the Syrian scene witnessed a dramatic, security deterioration the last 24 hours. Precise Intelligence reports coming from Syria indicated massive army troops deployment around the capital Damascus. Most of the military Barracks of the Syrian Army around Damascus gave allegiance to the dissidents: Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan and General Ali Madi. These people in the Syrian Army were against the withdrawal from Lebanon. It is known that President Bashar Assad is in the city of Alleppo, assessing the internal situation within Syria and trying to organize a "forced" return to Damascus."
Another of their items runs as follows: "Unhappy with Assad's surrender of Lebanon due to pressure from the United States, having lost enormous sums of money by leaving Lebanon, an internal conflict erupted within the upper echelon of the Syrian military and political hierarchy against Assad's behavior versus Washington.
"The killings haven't started yet, but the Syrian Army and its political structure are deeply divided against each other, politically and on the ground. Intense political disturbances in Damascus are inflaming many after the Kanaan movement consolidated Damascus under his control.
"Assad left Damascus in a hurry. The tension started one week ago. He left behind in Damascus his brother in law General Assef Shawkat of the military Intelligence to strike a compromise not kill each other with the "dissidents" of Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan and his group. Receiving Intelligence from Damascus, most of the military units and barracks rallied to Ghazi Kanaan there. The situation evolved dangerously when the Syrian Air Force bombarded 3 positions within Syria. Two positions were attacked around Damascus at 3 AM the night before and 1 position was bombarded west of Homs."
SUMMARIES
TRIBUTE TO "ETERNAL LEADER" WILL NOT BE REBUILT
"Second attack destroys statue of Hafez Assad in Tyre. Tribute to 'eternal leader' will not be rebuilt" (By Mohammed Zaatari, Beirut Daily Star, March 12, 2005)
The statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad in the southern village of Qana was attacked on Thursday for the second time in two weeks, as anti-Syrian sentiment gains force. The monument was first attacked on February 27, when the metallic statue of Assad's head and torso in the middle of a water fountain was felled from a stand hailed "the eternal leader" and was left lying damaged on the ground. This time, the statue was completely destroyed by unknown people on Thursday night.
... The president of the Committee for Immortalizing Martyr Hafez Assad, Hussein Dakhlallah, accused the Israelis of perpetrating the attack. "Dirty Israeli hands attacked the statue and those hands will be cut off for committing this stupid act," he said… Sources said that Tyre officials decided not to rebuild the statue again...
"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E.T. AND A SYRIAN?"
"Lebanon Celebrates Freedom With Humor, Communication" (By Claudia Rosett in Beirut, The New York Sun, March 17, 2005)
... Though Lebanon's people have spoken up vehemently in recent weeks about their desire for liberty and self-rule, the Cedar Revolution is not yet out of the woods. The folks here know that communication is one of their prime weapons. And it's a peaceful one. One of the chief tools of a repressive regime is to isolate and silence individuals, cutting off people who might try to share their discontent or try to bring about change. For years, stifling dissent in Lebanon was the job of the Syrian-infested secret police. The deeper message of today's traffic is that the Lebanese are less and less afraid to speak their minds.
On Lebanon's grapevine, feelings run high, and not all the gags make for family reading. Among the more polite is a text message now making the rounds, announcing that the Lebanese quisling regime is changing its emblem from a cedar tree to a condom, "because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance." How so? The answer (slightly redacted) is that "a condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation... and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed."
... Among similar signs in the crowd was one deriding claims that Hezbollah had turned out 1.6 million people at a recent protest: "1.6 million, yeah right, and I'm Elvis."
... There is an entire subset of Syria jokes. Asked for some examples, a group of opposition activists flip open their cell phones and began reading off some of the recent text messages: Question: "What's the difference between E.T. and a Syrian?" Answer: "E.T. *wanted* to go home."
... Another joke offers a play on the self-help chit chat that abounds as much in Lebanon as anyplace else in the modern world - but with a local touch: "If you feel that nobody loves you, nobody cares for you, and everyone is ignoring you ... maybe you should start asking yourself, am I a Syrian?"
... Around a family dinner table, one young woman cites a gag that highlights both the state of Lebanon's cramped economy under Syrian rule, and the repression inside Syria itself. The joke runs thus:
A pollster asks an American, a Lebanese, and a Syrian the following question: "What's your opinion on electricity cuts?"
The American asks, "What's an electricity cut?"
The Lebanese asks, "What's electricity?"
The Syrian asks, "What's an 'opinion?'" ...
TRIBUTE TO "ETERNAL LEADER" WILL NOT BE REBUILT
Second attack destroys statue of Hafez Assad in Tyre
Tribute to 'eternal leader' will not be rebuilt
By Mohammed Zaatari
Daily Star staff
March 12, 2005
dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=1&article_id=13350
The statue of late Syrian President Hafez Assad in the southern village of Qana was attacked on Thursday for the second time in two weeks, as anti-Syrian sentiment gains force.
The monument was first attacked on February 27, when the metallic statue of Assad's head and torso in the middle of a water fountain was felled from a stand hailed "the eternal leader" and was left lying damaged on the ground. This time, the statue was completely destroyed by unknown people on Thursday night.
After Hariri's assassination on February 14, which was blamed on the pro-Syrian regime and Damascus by the Lebanese opposition, many Syrian workers have fled Lebanon. Attacks targeting Syrians have also been reported across the country.
Internal Security Forces and State Security personnel came to the scene to investigate the incident and prohibited the citizens from approaching the statue, covering it with a piece of cloth.
The president of the Committee for Immortalizing Martyr Hafez Assad, Hussein Dakhlallah, accused the Israelis of perpetrating the attack.
"Dirty Israeli hands attacked the statue and those hands will be cut off for committing this stupid act," he said.
Pro-Syrian officials including Baath party members checked the statue and called for its rebuilding. However, sources said that Tyre officials decided not to rebuild the statue again.
Amal and Hizbullah have a strong presence in Qana where Israel bombed a UN peacekeeping compound in 1996, killing men, women and children who took refuge there from Israeli bombardments.
Hafez Assad's statue, which bears both the Lebanese and Syrian flags, was erected in June 2002, two years after the death of Assad, who ruled Syria for 30 years.
In the city of Tyre, there is also a street named after the late president as well as a cultural center named after his late son Basil Assad.
"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN E.T. AND A SYRIAN?"
Lebanon Celebrates Freedom With Humor, Communication
By Claudia Rosett
The New York Sun
March 17, 2005
Along with Monday's landmark demonstration for freedom, Lebanese democrats are sending around by e-mail their own deck of cards, featuring the most wanted - or rather the most unwanted - of Lebanon's Syrian-backed regime.
Like the deck dispensed by America almost two years ago in Iraq, each card has a picture, starting with President Lahoud as the ace of diamonds, over the caption "Puppet President," and including, as the insultingly inferior nine of clubs, Prime Minister Karami - who resigned last month under popular pressure, only to return to office less than two weeks later. Mr. Karami is labeled "Syrian Apologist."
Unlike the Iraq cards, the further Lebanese twist is that this deck is incomplete and these characters are still maneuvering to stay in power - which makes the popularity of the item all the more daring. The deck first turned up on the e-mail circuit roughly last year, and some here guess it was put together by someone in the large Lebanese population outside of the country. In the fearful political climate before the assassination last month of former Prime Minister Hariri set off the current democratic uprising, the deck circulated briefly, then faded away. It's even possible the missing cards include Hariri, who after years of getting along with Syria began only recently to defy Damascus - and was murdered.
Now, as many Lebanese start to speak up, the cards (or at least some of them) are back, big-time. They are part of a tumult of jokes, cartoons, emails, and text-messaging cell-phone traffic with which the Lebanese are amusing themselves, boosting morale, and spreading the word - especially among one another - that they want to be free of Syria and its quisling Beirut regime.
Such gimmicks are the lighter side of a Lebanon trying to cope with deadly serious politics. Following a volley of demonstrations over the past few weeks, in which democratic turnout wowed the world and trumped terrorist Hezbollah, many players - both in Lebanon and abroad - are maneuvering for position in the uncertain times ahead. Up in the air are such vital matters as whether Lebanon's parliamentary elections will take place by late May, as required under law; whether Hezbollah will disarm, as required by United Nations Resolution 1559 and urged by President Bush, and whether Syria will fully withdraw, and by when.
And though Lebanon's people have spoken up vehemently in recent weeks about their desire for liberty and self-rule, the Cedar Revolution is not yet out of the woods. The folks here know that communication is one of their prime weapons. And it's a peaceful one. One of the chief tools of a repressive regime is to isolate and silence individuals, cutting off people who might try to share their discontent or try to bring about change. For years, stifling dissent in Lebanon was the job of the Syrian-infested secret police. The deeper message of today's traffic is that the Lebanese are less and less afraid to speak their minds.
On Lebanon's grapevine, feelings run high, and not all the gags make for family reading. Among the more polite is a text message now making the rounds, announcing that the Lebanese quisling regime is changing its emblem from a cedar tree to a condom, "because it more accurately reflects the government's political stance." How so? The answer (slightly redacted) is that "a condom allows for inflation, halts production, destroys the next generation ... and gives you a sense of security while you're actually being screwed."
On a more come-hither front, one popular photo circulating at the moment shows a Lebanese flag painted on the cleavage of a buxom young woman in a low-cut tank top. So much for keeping patriotism under wraps.
Yet another favored cartoon, in which the Lebanese take a poke at their own social pretensions, shows a woman protestor in a plaid suit marching along with her maid beside her, both carrying Lebanese flags. The caption, speaking for the maid, reads: "Madam wants Syria out!"
In keeping with the cosmopolitan nature of Beirut, there is a fair amount of hip humor on display. Monday's democratic protest produced a poster that made the world news for its play on the Madonna lyrics "Papa don't preach, I'm in trouble deep," a reference here to Syria's despotic dynasty: current dictator Bashar Assad, and his late father, Hafez Assad. Among similar signs in the crowd was one deriding claims that Hezbollah had turned out 1.6 million people at a recent protest: "1.6 million, yeah right, and I'm Elvis."
Reflecting the interesting turn of an Arab people feeling free enough to blame their real oppressors, rather than defaulting to such time worn mottoes as "Death to America! Death to Israel," the opposition here has focused its ire on Syria. There is an entire subset of Syria jokes. Asked for some examples, a group of opposition activists flip open their cell phones and began reading off some of the recent text messages:
Question: "What's the difference between E.T. and a Syrian?"
Answer: "E.T. *wanted* to go home." (Or, in another version: "E.T. came with his own bicycle)."
Another joke offers a play on the self-help chit chat that abounds as much in Lebanon as anyplace else in the modern world - but with a local touch: "If you feel that nobody loves you, nobody cares for you, and everyone is ignoring you ... maybe you should start asking yourself, am I a Syrian?"
Around a family dinner table, one young woman cites a gag that highlights both the state of Lebanon's cramped economy under Syrian rule, and the repression inside Syria itself. The joke runs thus:
A pollster asks an American, a Lebanese, and a Syrian the following question: "What's your opinion on electricity cuts?"
The American asks, "What's an electricity cut?"
The Lebanese asks, "What's electricity?"
The Syrian asks, "What's an 'opinion?'"
And while many of the jokes are, to say the least, unkind toward Syria, there was one that came my way this week, poignant and perhaps even prophetic - reflecting awareness among some Lebanese that most of the Syrians themselves suffer miserably under the Syrian regime. The details are too intricate to bear repeating in full, drawing on local history and names, but the bottom line was a play on the words these past few weeks of so many Lebanese demanding Syria get out of Lebanon. In this case, the punch line came down to: Once the Syrians get out of Lebanon, it's time to get Syria out of Syria.