PHARES: Military Aid to Lebanese Army Means Guns and Ammo for Hezbollah
Posted by editor-at-large on 7 October 2008 at 12:50 am UTC
The AP is reporting: “The United States and Lebanon on Monday set up a joint military commission to bolster military cooperation — a move that follows the first visit by the newly elected Lebanese president to Washington. …
“At the time [of Lebanese Pres. Michel Sleiman’s September visit to Washington], U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was quoted as saying the Lebanese army was given nearly $400 million in military assistance. A further $60 million worth of aid, including helicopters, ammunition and Humvees, is awaiting Congress’ approval.”
Both nations have reportedly “signed three new military contracts worth $63 million” in U.S. grants to the Lebanese Army for “secure communications, ammunition and infantry weapons:” Military aid which will ultimately end up in the hands of Hezbollah, according to Middle East terrorism expert Dr. Walid Phares.
“It is ironic to say it, but Hezbollah ‘authorized’ the creation of a U.S. Lebanese military commission so that eventually the organization would seize the U.S. made ‘secure communications, ammunition and infantry weapons,’” says Phares in a conversation this evening.
Phares adds:
“The unreal equation here is that the U.S. grants $460 million to a Hezbollah-dominated government, thinking this half-billion dollars is going to be part of an effort against terrorism. But Hezbollah which has the upper hand over the political control of the Lebanese Army and has its hands and eyes inside the Lebanese government will be — at the end of the day — the final recipient of American military aid, as strange as it may appear.
“I am surprised that decision makers in the West, including in the U.S. really believe that helicopters, ammunition and Humvees will be used in any fashion against the will and the control of Hezbollah.
“Will the Lebanese Army use these weapons against Sunni Salafi militias in the north? Sure, as scripted by Hezbollah. The shrewd Iranian-controlled organization uses the Lebanese state to get U.S. weapons to be used against some local Sunni bands, while securing the strategic control over the entire country. As the 9/11 Commission puts it, ‘U.S. officials continue to have a failure in imagination.’”
— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.
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