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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Team Hizbollah's line up for today's Syriafest |
| 2005-03-08 |
| Participants in Hizbullah protest Tuesday, March 08, 2005 Calls to participate in the demonstration on Tuesday in Riad Solh Square intensified on Monday. Demonstrators will include: MP Adnan Araqji; Lebanese forces and parties, Islamic committees, Palestinian factions in northern Lebanon; the Najjada Party; the Independent Nasserite Movement (Murabitoun); Amal's politburo; the Syrian Social Nationalist Party; the Nasserite Gathering [hard to believe but there was actually a split amongst the 12 pro-Nasser people in Lebanon back in 2002]; Jamaa al-Islamiya; the Islamic Charity Projects Association; the Popular Nasserite Organization; [a third Nasser group - fossil wannabees] the national forces and parties in Sidon; Hizbullah's central education enrollment department; Amal's youths and sports bureau; the Baath Party; the Youths Association for Projects; the Federation Youths Organization; the Phalange Party students department [the Phalange is the group that killed a lot of Palestinians during Israel's Lebanon invasion]; the Zawarian Youth Organization- Tashnak; the Islamic Unionist Movement; the Workers League [still some Marxists in town]; the National Youths Federation- the Lebanese Popular Conference; the Lebanese Democratic Party; the Waad Organization; the Gathering for the Right to Return and Opposition to Settlement; the National Gathering of Lebanese University Teachers; the Self-Employed Professionals; the Islamic Gathering for Teachers; the Jabal Amel Ulemas Committee; the League for the Children of Earth [thank you green party], Human Rights and the Lebanese Association for Lebanese-Syrian Fraternity [retired Syrians living off extortion of Lebanese businesses]; former minister Joseph Hashem; the Nabatieh Merchants Association; the Tyre Merchants Association; and the South's fishermen's unions and the Baalbek-Hermel Gathering for Physicians and Pharmacists. |
| Posted by:mhw |
| #15 Sorry Tibor. Should have read the comments more closely before commenting. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-03-08 12:19:15 PM |
| #14 Have heard estimates varying from Hezbollah's 1.6 million to Debka's 200,000. From the pictures, it looks closer to the Debka number 200,000 - 300,000. As the IDF would say, a target rich environment |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-03-08 12:16:23 PM |
| #13 Personally I can’t see how there could be 500k supporters of Islamofacists. They would have had to bus them in from Syria to get that many. And yes it is interesting that they sound EXACTLY like the fever swamp that is the Democratic Party of the USA. Birds of a feather? |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2005-03-08 11:57:14 AM |
| #12 another piece of the metaphor as reported by http://blissstreetjournal.blogspot.com/ the Hizbollah speakers are spouting the boring moderate, "help us help you" type stuff we saw at the Democratic convention. The Democratic delegates were expecting this; however the Hizbollah activists attending Syriafest were looking for more 'kill the infidel' type stuff and are getting bored. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-03-08 11:30:40 AM |
| #11 True, RC. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-03-08 11:28:48 AM |
| #10 Respectfully, I doubt most mainstream US Dems would delight in the outcome of suicide attacks They wouldn't get off their asses to condemn those who DO express that delight, though. AND they tend to get upset and whine when people DO criticize the pro-terrorists. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-03-08 11:20:45 AM |
| #9 AP is saying nearly 500,000: <A CLASS=ED HREF="HTTP://apnews.myway.com/article/20050308/D88MSK300.html">. That's what I call a target rich environment! I think it's very interesting that men and women were directed to different parts of the square. Unlike the pro-democracy protestors, who like to mix with the hotties, the Hezbollocks don't care much for womenfolk. ;-) |
| Posted by: Tibor 2005-03-08 11:13:57 AM |
| #8 Respectfully, I doubt most mainstream US Dems would delight in the outcome of suicide attacks (although there are nutcases like Ward among their ranks). Most are simply people that haven't thought through their political philosophy very well. Still, I take your point that many demonstrators may have been bussed in/coerced. Until the sentiments of the ME populace are turned away from suicide bombings as legitimate political expression, there is scant hope for the ME-no matter who is our president and no matter what are our peace initiatives. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-03-08 10:41:42 AM |
| #7 yeah, but can they sustain these protests? Or will they be like the ones we saw here in our own country - one big show of strength and then dwindling down to moonbat parades? |
| Posted by: 2b 2005-03-08 10:36:29 AM |
| #6 Jules, Not quite so bad as that. Among the Syriafest demonstrators are a number of people who have been coerced into attending. Also, people from Syria were bussed in for the event. Also, amongst the Hizbollah supporters are a lot of Shiite folk who just are into identity politics. Having said that, however, you are correct that a lot of the attendees at Syriafest are pro-terrorist types. Hizbollah is trying to portray themselves as moderate nationalists but their core supporters are pro terrorists (similar to the problem of the Democratic Party in the US) who will break into the 'death to America', 'death to...' on a moments notice. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-03-08 10:35:32 AM |
| #5 And just think, all those demonstrators (I heard a number this morning of 250,000+) are there under the banner of Hezbollah, the terrorist organization responsible for many innocents'deaths. How does that say aything other than: The greater populace of Lebanon (and the ME?) supports terrorism. Chirac will end up backpedaling so that he is not seen as against Lebanese public opinion. |
| Posted by: Jules 187 2005-03-08 10:25:36 AM |
| #4 the Syriafest looks to be an impressive one: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/03/08/lebanon.syria/index.html the Hizbollah groups are displaying the Lebanon flag but I think the Sunnis, Druze, Maronite, Orthodox coalition realizes thats just a scam. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-03-08 9:55:44 AM |
| #3 Any mention of lucky |
| Posted by: .com 2005-03-08 9:12:27 AM |
| #2 Mitch H. Amal has been playing it both ways; almost all their PR has a combination of critizing America, days, demanding Lebanon for the Lebanese and praising their own work most days. Its almost as if the've been studying John F Kerry. At least they don't say they've been in Cambodia. |
| Posted by: mhw 2005-03-08 9:09:53 AM |
| #1 Any guess on a head-count? I was kind of hoping that Amal might find its political-ecological niche as the opposition coalition's Shia anchor, but it looks like they're swinging behind Hezbollah? Or is the "Amal's youths and sports bureau" some sort of People's Liberation Front of Judea/Judean People's Liberation Front deal? |
| Posted by: Mitch H. 2005-03-08 9:03:43 AM |