[joseph_lubnan]

The issue of Hezbollah arms is a matter of principle

Some believe that the arms are no longer necessary from a pure Lebanese perspective. They believe that in fact today in 2008 the arms are a negative influence on the stability of the borders and Lebanon's ability to create and benefit from a neutral environment to protect itself as the middle east crisis continues to evolve. Some believe that the Shebaa farms are simply an excuse, that the prisoners issue could be resolved over time with other means and with calmer rhetoric much like everyone is dealing with the Syrian prisoners issue. Some have suspicions that Hezbollah's insistence on maintaining its arms doesn't only emanate from its desire to protect itself, in fact it is primarily driven by its desire to use these weapons for a broader regional goal that keeps the prospects of an open front in the south of Lebanon a reality for the benefit of regional players such as Iran, Syria and Hamas (this suspicion was proven a fact by many direct recent statements from the Iranian leadership on this issue). Some believe that Hezbollah's weapons, may very well be used at some point in time for internal reasons, and they believe that political parties should not control militias and have arms that it can leverage politically, and internally, even if it doesn't ever use them (again a point proven without doubt by Hezbollah's recent action in Beirut and the Mountain, and by its constant threats and weapons-bolstered political intimidation). Some believe that Hezbollah is very interested in an Islamic Shiite state that transcends the borders of Lebanon and fear that one day It may use its arms to forward that goal (again this point was made abundantly clear in the 80's by Hezbollah's first and only manifesto, and in the present by its reluctance to change this manifesto). Some believe that peace and war in their country is an important matter that they should have a say in and are never willing to farm it out to one group, one sect, or one militia. These same people believe that appeasing HA is not the answer. They also believe that going to war with Hezbollah is not the answer either. They believe that isolating HA politically, and dealing with the matter of arms on the basis of strong principles and not on the basis of weak capitulation is the right way forward.

Back in the day, General Michel Aoun used to be one of these people... Today he is not, and his and FPM's recent stances and statements paint him clearly as a Hezbollah apologist... Most people aren't suggesting disarming Hezbollah by force, they simply do not agree with FPM's self-serving defacto capitulation in the form of a marketing tool - the MOU.