[whataretheysaying] Mary Madigan: Good Morning Beirut 2

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Posted by Mary Madigan:
Good Morning Beirut 2
http://whataretheysaying.powerblogs.com/posts/1166739162.shtml


   A few weeks ago A few weeks ago, [1]Michael Totten sent out a call to
   some bloggers asking if they'd like to join him in Beirut. He said it
   wasn't so bad there, at least not as bad as it sounded in the news. A
   couple of bloggers took him up on the offer, myself included.

   My husband, who had [2]inadvertenly wandered into a time of political
   unrest during a business trip to Venuzuela told me the most important
   things to remember were:

   1. travel with someone who knows the area

   2. avoid streets blocked by police or burning tires.

   I went because always wanted to see Lebanon and this would be an
   interesting time to see it. Also, I've been writing about terrorism
   and terrorist groups for years, but I've never come into direct
   contact with them. Here was an opportunity to see one of the more
   powerful 'militant' groups face to face.

   Orbitz didn't offer flights to Beirut, so I used kayak.com to book a
   flight to Lebanon via Frankfurt airport. If you ever have an
   opportunity to do a long layover in Frankfurt, avoid it at all costs -
   the internet access is slow and expensive, the phones don't work and
   there are not enough places to sit down, even if you do choose to pay
   exhorbitant rates for cafe or restaurant spots.

   However, if you get stuck there for a long period of time, there is
   one spot of joy in that sea of overpriced wurtz and German 'service' -
   a place where you can take a long, hot shower for 6 euros. It's on the
   second floor, Terminal 1, Departures Hall B.

   [3]frankfurt airport 
   Waiting in Frankfurt

   I arrived in Lebanon at around 1 in the morning, Sunday the 10th, the
   day of the second mass rally in downtown Beirut. The taxi driver
   assumed I was a journalist, filled me in on the current political
   situation, and offered to take me on a tour of Hezbollah controlled
   Southern Beirut. I was a little wary of the offer since he had pointed
   out Nasrallah's photo with a comment like 'There's the man'. He also
   overcharged me for the ride. But I did take his card.

   On the morning of Over breafast in a french cafe that, patrons and
   all, could have easily been located on the boulevard St. St Germain in
   Paris, we watched flag carrying protesters walking past the tanks and
   soldiers lining the streets. Walking down the streets, watching
   orange-flag carrying Christian Aounists drive by, I nearly jumped when
   a robotic flower shop Santa behind me shouted "Merry Christmas!"

   [4]cafe march 
   watching the coup from the cafe

   The streets in East Beirut are decorated with tinsel and posters of
   journalist and politicians killed by [most likely Syrian] car bombs.
   The mall rivals anything Paramus can offer, but they check each bag
   before you can enter any store. The normally full cafes are empty on
   nights after the protests, not because people fear what others will do
   if things get stirred up - they fear what they themselves will do.
   Nearly everyone wants to avoid civil war, nearly everyone wants to do
   the things most urbanites do - make lots of money and complain about
   the traffic. It's a place that would probably look like Italy on a
   very sunny, crime-free day; if it weren't for the troublesome
   neighbors.

   I was expecting the massive rally to be a gathering of black-robed
   radicals screaming 'Death to America, Death to Israel", shaking their
   fists in rage. Instead, I found women, some vieled, some not,
   families, kids and balloons. If you ignored the inflammatory content,
   the threats and the incitement in the speechess, the whole group was
   similar to the Million Mom march.

   I walked among the crowd with my camera, my entire appearance just
   screaming 'foreign journalist', but no one seemed to mind my presence.
   In fact, the guys with earphones and walkie talkies made a special
   effort to be sure I got photographs of the sizable crowd. There were
   lots of these 'handlers' and they managed the crowd very efficiently.

   [5]boys at the march 

   [6]boy at the march 
   Kids asked me to take their pictures.

   [7]men at march 
   These men asked me, in French, to take their photo.

   [8]women march 

   [9]woman shouting 
   The sunny atmosphere of Sundayâs march was a great contrast to the
   ambiance of the semi-permanent tent city downtown, later on that week.
   When I visited the outer edges of the tent city, the atmosphere was
   less Million mom march, more like the South Bronx, 1985.

   These are the day-trippers. Many who arrived by bus were looking
   around as if it were their first day in the big city

   [10]aounists 
   The people with the orange flags are Aounists, Christians who have
   joined with Hezbollah for political gain. They donât share Hezbollahâs
   ideology at all, and they have a history of being vehemently
   anti-Syria.

   [11]santa hats 
   Their alliance with Hezbollah shows that people will join with
   terrorist groups purely for political gain. These Christians, with
   their orange santa hats, are obviously not motivated by promises of
   Sharia law, a worldwide Caliphate or 72 virgins.

   [12]man tueni 
   As I was walking home, a man tapped on my shoulder and asked me to
   take his picture. He held up a picture of Gebran Tueni, an anti-Syrian
   Lebanese journalist who was killed by a car bomb. The Syrians and
   their Lebanese allies were suspects in the bombing.

   The man, whose English wasnât very good, pointed to the Aounists in
   Orange and said âBadâ. He then pointed to Tueni and said âGoodâ
   Sometimes language limitations lead to an "occam's razor" simplicity -
   his analysis was the simplest and the best.

References

   1. http://www.michaeltotten.com/
   2. http://www.whataretheysaying.org/archives/000799.html
   3. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-frankfurtmed.jpg
   4. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-cafemarchmed2.jpg
   5. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-boysmed.jpg
   6. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-boymed.jpg
   7. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-menflagmed.jpg
   8. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-womenflagsmed.jpg
   9. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-womanyell.jpg
  10. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-carflagsmed.jpg
  11. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-marchershats.jpg
  12. file://localhost/files/whataretheysaying-DSC_3136.JPG