That confirms my sources--Hezbollah miscalulated--but then so did Israel. And the latter was much more serious.


However, very intriguing column in the Wall St Journal yesterday. Though as a column it certainly has no pretense to objectivity, still I don't think all the quotes were made up. Therefore it seems clear that even within the Shiite community in Lebanon there's a split on the recent war--it's by no means endorsed by all Shiites in Lebanon.

Sayyed Ali-al-Amin called "the grand old man of Lebanese Shiism" in the article, states "The Shiite community never gave anyone the right to wage war in its name".

Mona Fayed, "a prominent Shiite academic in Beirut", in an article published last week, sarcastically defines a Shiite in Lebanon as "he who takes his instructions from Iran, terrorizes fellow believers into silence and leads the nation into catastrophe without
consulting anyone".

Even within Hezbollah there has been criticism. "Some in the political wing expressed dissatisfaction with his (Nasrallah's) overreliance on the movement's military and security apparatus. Speaking on condition of anonymity, they described Mr Nasrallah's style as "Stalinist"."

Nasrallah acted at the start of the war "without informing even the two Hezbollah ministers in the Siniora cabinet or the 12 Hezbollah members of the Lebanese cabinet".

And this is particularly fascinating: "Mr Nasrallah was also criticized for his acknowledgment of Ali Khamenei" (in Iran) " as Marjaa al Taglid (Source of Emulation", the highest theological authority in Shiism". "Many Lebanese resent this because Mr Khameni, a powerful politician but a lightweight in theological terms, is not recognized as Marjaa al-Taglid in Iran itself. The overwhelming majority of Lebanese Shiites regard Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, in Iraq, or Ayatollah Muhammed Hussein Fadhlallah, in Beirut, as their "Source of Emulation".

Of course all the quotes by specific people are from members of the intelligentsia. The question is how many Shiites would fit this description, and how many are just poor people. This is particularly significant since, according to the column, anybody who can prove his home was damaged in the war receives $12,000 "a tidy sum in wartorn Lebanon".

I suspect Hezbollah's diligence in taking care of such people--and its largess-- is helping counter a lot of possible resentment----especially since Israel played into Hezbollah's hands by bombing all over Lebanon.

Nonetheless it's interesting to hear of dissenting voices--even in the Lebanese Shiite community.