Posted by
Dawnsblood on Tuesday, January 16, 2007 6:08:06 PM
Michael Totten
interviews Sayyed Husseini. He is a moderate cleric that Hezbollah like to try to keep hidden from view because he has a different outlook on Islam and free government.
“Hopefully you can help,” he said. “We need support. What did
Hezbollah do to become popular up until now? They had four hospitals in
the dahiyeh. They had 30 madrassas, or schools. They had 30
foundations for supporting work for the people. Also they bring
engineers, doctors, and they have plenty of money. They have a TV
channel, radio, newspapers, soldiers. They are a country inside a
country, a government inside a government. They have all the money.
They have the force to do this. They pushed so hard to help the people
that all the poor Shia and some of the rich support them. Also, in the
South the same situation. They built hospitals there, and also in
Baalbeck. All the Shia places where there are many people they spend
money, money, money, money, money. Hezbollah pays for the people to
build and repair their houses. So the two reasons are money and
services. They use those to gather the people around them.”
How can the likes of Sayyed Husseini possibly compete with
Hezbollah’s power and wealth? Most Lebanese Shia are unaware that
Husseini’s path is even an option. Hezbollah’s very real smashing of
dissent ensures that it stays that way.
“What is the solution to this problem?” I said.
“The problem here in Lebanon,” Husseini said, “is that if we want to
change we need an alternative. If you want to remove me from my
position, you need to have a replacement, another person. The people
who lived in Iraq with Saddam Hussein, they lived on Saddam’s money and
Saddam’s services. When the United State army came to Iraq, they didn’t
give them the money. Here in Lebanon the Iranian money, for example, is
paying for portable water tanks with Iranian flags on them. It is from
Iran. If you want to take Iran out of Lebanon you must bring another
one with a Lebanese flag on it.”