Echos of the Sunni Street

[Kibitzer]

Originally Posted by LebaneseARAB

The problem with your post is that you are so sure Syria was behind the killings when many Sunnis themselves believe it was not Syria but done to instigate an internal strife.

I have been hearing from a lot of sunnis that the tribunal is not worth this stalemate and more assasinations whoever is behind them, even though if Syria isn't behind the killings than even if the tribunal were to be let go assasinations may continue.

I'm not at all sure Syria is behind all the assassinations. In fact I doubt that any one group is behind "all" of them.

I'm just saying that those who want to keep the Tribunal from happening probably are afraid of what the investigations will reveal. Syria is not the only one who has been working to stop the investigations and trials.

Most Sunni and Lebanese understand that as long as those who did these murders are never exposed and perhaps even punished ...... it proves that political assassinations are the best policy to control a political process. It can't stop until it's exposed.

Coralie ...... I responded to LebaneseArab's post about Syria. I didn't bring up the tribunal ... I responded to a post that said that "reconciliation" could be done if Syria was found "innocent" of R. Hariri's murder. I thought that was a very telling statement - especially in view of all the actions to stop the Tribunal.

[Mr Aoun]

Originally Posted by Kibitzer

Most Sunni and Lebanese understand that as long as those who did these murders are never exposed and perhaps even punished ...... it proves that political assassinations are the best policy to control a political process. It can't stop until it's exposed.

The sunnis are being taken for a ride. The smart ones among them see right through Siniora and his 14th mafia. These folks know that the Hariri attack wasn't by the opposition. They know that the US plays the UN like its own horse and can make the tribunal a farce and mold its decision anyway it wanted to, don't just take it from my mouth, take it from the former US ambassador to the UN YouTube - John Bolton on United Nations

If many in the Sunni community in Lebanon can't see the truth, then that's their flipping problem.

[Youchka]

Some said here that the Sunni who felt a big blow by the murder of Hariri, hated everything that is related to Syria (since they are convinced that Syria is the killer regardless of international tribunal or not). This is not true because these same Sunni actually allied with HA during the helf roube3e which happened AFTER Hariri was killed.

Now I would like to state my opinion if I may about the topic.
I am known to be a staunch FPMer, and thus, everywhere I go, I am faced by people who try to incite me to talk politics, either to actually tease me or to try to get information from me. I am saying this to tell you that throughout the past 2 years, EVERYTIME I have a political discussion with a 14 feber, no matter his religion, the ONLY argument thye used to face me with was, WILAYET EL FAKIH. That was it. We debate, we share arguments, but at the end, the discussion will always always end at the wilayet el fakih argument.

I am a Christian by birth, couldn't care less about any religion now. However, I can tell you that I always had friends from all sects, and my Sunni friends when asked whether they would marry their kids to a Chiite or a Christian had all the same answer, a Chiite is still a Muslim. I know hundreds of families in which Chiite and Sunni are married to each other. Before these 2 years, the majority of Muslims did not care about this detail.

I hereby blame the 14 feb propaganda for GIVING BIRTH TO THIS HATRED AND THIS SECTARIAN FEELINGS between Sunni and Chiite.

Before these 2 years, Sunni never felt they needed to get help to be protected from their Muslim compatriots. Before these 2 years, Sunni never considered HA as a wileyit el Fakih, but rather the resistance that protects them and Lebanon.

I admit, Manar is a propaganda tool par excellence, but I also have to admit that Manar never incited sectarian feelings (at least what I know and what I watch of it).

What this 14 feb propaganda has achieved, is actually make people believe in the Wileyit el Fakih thing, make it look like the ultimate danger, not the quaeda, not a civil war, not economic depression, just the wilayet el fakih issue and through a lot of hammering, actually put that in the minds of their supporters.

Regarding the Sunni's feelings today, they are blinded by hatred, hatred for the "Wilayet el Fakih" representatives. The most hilarious comments I got from my Sunni friends were blaming GMA for ALL what is happening, because GMA did not stand by the government, denying that as we respected their Sunni chosen representative as a PM, they did not respect ours, denying the fact that Siniora government actually through its structure today alienates a huge part of the population, and the only argument that they put forward is the "wilayet el fakih".

Yesterday on Euronews, they chose a very significant scene to show under their "no comment" section. They showed a covered man of the ones who attacked some FM office, probably a Chiite, there were 2 photos on the wall, one of Saad Hariri, and another of Rafik Hariri, the man did a huge X on Saad's photo, and on the one of Rafik Hairri, the man wrote "anta el Kaed, alla yerhamak".
No need to say more, this says it all.

Regarding calling on Qaueda for help, the Sunni would be making a HUGE mistake, because Quaeda does not differentiate between a Sunni and a Chiite or a Sunni and a Sunni, and only time will prove this.

[Hizb_al_LIBNANI]

I believe the Sunni's have a right to feel threatened. They're main "representative" was delt a huge blow.

While we can all agree FM is not good... the same can be said of wahibis and salafists...Al Qaeda...etc.


I don't think Hizbullah can be taken to task on this because they hold all of the cards... they are at the wheel right now and the country is at their mercy... the "majority" parliment that is biased against them is now their excuse for using force.

If Democrat party supporters in America harbored their own militia and stormed Republican held areas because of the Bush policy, there would be chaos...but thank GOD there is no major sectarian hatred in that country.

It just seems to me that while I don't think HA meant it as a blow to Shiites, they wouldn't mind if it is....

[Mr Aoun]

Originally Posted by Hizb_al_LIBNANI

If Democrat party supporters in America harbored their own militia and stormed Republican held areas because of the Bush policy, there would be chaos...but thank GOD there is no major sectarian hatred in that country.

When a government that the people didn't want hijacked North America, they had a revolution. And to this day, it's praised and celebrated.

[Hizb_al_LIBNANI]

Originally Posted by Mr Aoun

When a government that the people didn't want hijacked North America, they had a revolution. And to this day, it's praised and celebrated.

And Blood was spilled...


Would you like to have a bloody revolution??

[Sami.NJ]

Here we go again, another sect starts crying. First christians, druze, shia and i now its the Sunnis turn. Stop this ****. in the big picture, the sunnis got alot more than any sect dating back to 1943 when they got close to 50% of the country meanwhile non of the sunnis regimes will ever come close to giving the chritians or any other sect 1% of that power. Even that wasn't enough and the civil broke until 1990 when they got close to 80% and that still was not enough which led us to 2005 trying to get the whole thing. No need to cry for any sect in this country. Nothing but a bunch of Mafia that only cares about power& money.

Its the stupid system that we have.

[kappa273]

Originally Posted by Dry Ice

• (1) What is the current state of mind of the Sunnis in Beirut and Lebanon?
  
  (2) Are they feeling somewhat of a "defeat"?
  
  (3) Are they perceiving Hezbollah/Amal's military display as a victory for Shiites?
  
  (4) What kind of reaction can one expect from them next?
  
  (5) What will be their perception of Hezbollah/Amal in the future and how hard will it be to fix what has happened over the past few days?

Additional questions and related feedback much appreciated..

Regards

let me be frank, i am not in contact with many lebanese sunnis so i am going to state my non-objective opinion...

first of all, i think we should divide sunnis into 2... pro-hariri and non-pro-hariri (anti or neutral)...

if a pro-hariri looks at the overall situation, i hope he realizes that Hariri was worst than a dictator... he had less than majority popular representation.. he refused to share power with the others.. he had media services whose function was to spread hatred, racism and sectarianism... he was more occupied with the interests of KSA rather than Lebanon...

he used a lot of deception and lies in his activities and he was allied with the 2 worst murderers of the lebanese war...

despite all this, the latest events have seen the influence of Hariri regress, but Hariri has not been eliminated.. hopefully he would feel compelled to coordinate with other parties in the nation..
so i think pro-hariri supremacists would feel bad but others should rejoice..

(2) once again, pro-hariri supremacists are frustrated... moderate Hariri supporters should make a balance check and check out seriously the fair demands of hte opposition...
those whose plan was complete control of the state, nepotism and living at the depends of the others are watching their plans evaporate... the others holders of a more honorable plan should work harder to implement their wishes...

(3) unfortunately, the media and the clergy have drawn the picture of sunni perceiving the latest events as a win for the shiites over the sunnis...
hopefully, the opposition is working hard to correct this picture.. no major financial institutions were involved (even Hariri's), religious figures were left unharmed, no mass reprisals happened, armed people were quickly withdrawn from teh streets, even arrested fighters were immediately delivered to the army... and the demands of the opposition are very fair.. they are not asking for unconditional surrender like what happens after battles and wars.. the opposition is still working for a fair deal...

(4) nothing...

kappa

[Mr Aoun]

Originally Posted by Hizb_al_LIBNANI

And Blood was spilled...

Would you like to have a bloody revolution??

We were heading down a much bloodier path had they achieved their goal of trapping the army to face off against HA and splitting it in half.

What you witnessed last week were inescapable preventative measures, but there was no other choice.

[Nick-Ay]

(1) What is the current state of mind of the Sunnis in Beirut and Lebanon?
Absolute rage and seeking/hoping for a revenge.
+1 for HA! Good job dealing with a problem by causing a split that will take years to get fixed.
(2) Are they feeling somewhat of a "defeat"?
"Defeat"requires 2 equal parts involved in a fair clash.
comparing HA force to al-mostaqbal is unfair for both sides.So there's no "defeat" feeling whatsoever at all,its rather a huge dissapointment that HA would act that cruel against lebanese people when they had more morals while fighting israel and avoiding civilians.
(3) Are they perceiving Hezbollah/Amal's military display as a victory for Shiites?
I don't think either sides represent the shiites.
(4) What kind of reaction can one expect from them next?
If gaining back a bit of dignity means fighting them back or translating the revenge into action and doing what they did in our areas then we're better off without it.
(5) What will be their perception of Hezbollah/Amal in the future and how hard will it be to fix what has happened over the past few days?
What HA did in few days destroyed every bit of trust sunna (the civilians) had in them.
I would like that sayid hassan would do the same statistic he was showing off with not too long ago and i wanna see how many sunni still support him.
he won't even score a 1%.