Politic?

This is a blog dedicated to a personal interpretation of political news of the day. I attempt to be as knowledgeable as possible before commenting and committing my thoughts to a day's communication.

Thursday, January 08, 2015

The Party of God

"There is no party in the world as big and sophisticated as Hezbollah that was able to stand with the same steadfastness despite some major infiltrations."
"Hezbollah has worked intensely on battling espionage among its ranks and in its entourage. Some cases surfaced, and they are very limited ones."
Naim Qassam, deputy leader, Hezbollah

"Hezbollah has become more vulnerable to infiltration for a number of reasons: its growth, the many agendas that require the attention of the leadership, and especially the Syria war, which has caused them to divert their resources."
Randa Slim, Hezbollah expert, Middle East Institute, Washington
Hezbollah fighters hold their party flags and stand next to a portrait which shows their slain top commander Imad Mughniyeh, as they attend a rally to commemorate Mughniyeh and two other leaders, Abbas Musawi and Ragheb Harb, in the Shiite suburb of Beirut, Feb. 22, 2008.
Hezbollah fighters hold their party flags and stand next to a portrait which shows their slain top commander Imad Mughniyeh, as they attend a rally to commemorate Mughniyeh and two other leaders, Abbas Musawi and Ragheb Harb, in the Shiite suburb of Beirut, Feb. 22, 2008. Hussein Malla—AP

Actually, it looks as though God has decided to retire His support of Hezbollah, perhaps it has failed to rise to the occasion a bit too often for the Almighty's satisfaction. That is, if the all-powerful, merciful God worshipped by Islamists really does find satisfaction in overseeing the work of terrorists committing atrocities in His eternal name.

The statement by the group's deputy leader is more than a trifle disingenuous in its assertion that 'some' cases of espionage surfaced, 'and they are very limited cases'. One that most certainly did surface was of such moment to the success of the terrorist group's capabilities that the very fact that the elite member tasked with overseeing terrorist acts abroad was able to operate for as long as he did at the very highest level, with a huge degree of success speaks more to their lack of due diligence.

Time after time, one effort after another, each attempt to mount a successful revenge attack to extract vengeance on Israel for its purported assassination of Hezbollah's military commander Imad Mughniyeh limped along into failure. Depriving the Party of God of the satisfaction of retaliation for the martyring of its then-leader. One man given the vital task of organizing a successful attack, with success consistently elusive.

Arousal of suspicion would be normal, but perhaps none might have anticipated that Mohammed Shawraba, a trusted and respected party member in the Hezbollah hierarchy might have been suborned by Mossad. It is not necessarily that Mossad succeeded in persuading Mohammed Shawraba to cast his lot with Israel and spurn Hezbollah, but that someone of his calibre within the terrorist group would succumb to the allure of becoming a traitor.

What could conceivably lead a Muslim Shiite inducted into a terrorist group whose major identified enemy is the State of Israel to turn against the group he was an integral, elevated part of? The shared ideology of Islamist fundamentalism, propped up and tutored by the Islamic Republic of Iran, housed within shattered Lebanon, having achieved political status there, and famous among the poor for their social 'conscience' while dedicated to obliterating Jews must surely represent an ironclad cement of cohesion?

What, after all, could possibly supersede the solidarity of a common goal, religion-dominated, ideologically bound, culturally and ethnically and tribally sanctified in a purpose of action that supports all of that? Perhaps Mohammed Shawraba conceived a sympathy for a small struggling nation against all odds of neighbourly acceptance, of Jews whom the world has traditionally hounded and oppressed? Might he have somehow at some time in his life been exposed to the horrors of the Holocaust? Could he have seen intimate attraction toward a Jew?

Or might he be invested in that oh-so-common human failing; corruption-tainted greed? Betray his community, his status as a commander in Hezbollah, his religious sect, his tribal culture and values for a steady stream of income to fatten his bank account? Seems he wouldn't be the first, and won't be the last. Ample evidence does exist that greed and corruption distort human attachments to an extent perhaps not given sufficient attention in the ranks of God's party.

There have been other incidents, such as a Hezbollah-associate-businessman, Salah Ezzedine. Whom the Hezbollah hierarchy trusted enough to invest their money with, and who was clever enough to name a publishing house he founded after the party leader's son. A sum estimated at between $700 million and $1-billion was fizzled away under the trusted handling of Mr. Ezzedine. It is unlikely, however, that he would have been held in the contempt that one of their own surrendering to Israeli blandishments to betrayal would be.

 Three years later, a senior Hezbollah official had been discovered to have embezzled money from the group. When he realized his crime had been discovered, that he had taken funds simply to enrich himself personally, he fled to Israel for haven, taking his money and party documents with him. How more ignominious a situation than that could ever occur? Well, a candidate does exist, it seems, in the personage of Mohammed Shawraba.

Who never failed to warn his Mossad handlers when an attack was to take place. The false information he was deliberately fed with finally by suspicious Hezbollah leaders about the location of a stockpile of weapons in Damascus revealed his iniquity to the satisfaction of Hezbollah when the location was subsequently bombed by Israeli warplanes. He is now set to stand 'trial' as a traitor to Hezbollah.

All bets are off respecting punishment.

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