Seven Days from Bush to Hezbollah

Lara Setrakian, part of our recent expansion of reporters stationed around the globe, blogs from Dubai: Last week was a reporter’s dream, in the sense that it was full of “firsts” that helped me understand the Arab/Muslim space I now call home. The first “first” was covering President Bush’s visit to the Arabian Gulf. Watching President Bush and the White House caravan roll through Abu Dhabi was a first — for me as a journalist and for the President himself, who was on his first major trip to this part of the Middle East. His timing couldn’t have been better — the past month has made it perfectly clear that what happens in the Gulf plays a huge role in whether America sees war, peace, or prosperity. $100 oil? It’s our allies in the Gulf — Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates — who’ll likely ensure our future supply at any price. A run-in between Iranian speedboats and the U.S. Navy? Just a reminder that the front lines of confrontation with the Islamic Republic are in these waters and narrow passageways like the Strait of Hormuz. A rise in Islamic extremism? Cities like Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Muscat, and Doha are the apparent bulwarks, home to an emerging professional class who stay true to their Muslim faith and traditions while evolving their societies into a modern future. The President’s speech was peppered with the word “democracy,” but the references seemed stale given the context. He rightly praised the UAE for being a success story in today’s Middle East: economically and technologically advanced, environmentally conscious, and highly tolerant by regional standards. But while insisting on “democracy” he didn’t seem to grasp that this country achieved success through a mix of monarchy, modernity and meritocracy — a formula that has worked wonders for Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Qatar, and other societies in the Gulf. Government here is not democracy as we know it. There may be steps toward democratization — Kuwait, for example, has a National Assembly (women won the vote in 2005). But you are misunderstanding this region if you don’t recognize that the monarchy/modernity/meritocracy form of government has enabled the rapid economic and social development of Gulf countries. Later that week I flew to Lebanon where they were marking the final day of Ashura – a Shiite Muslim holiday commemorating the martyrdom of Imam Hussein. In the Shiite suburbs tens of thousands of people spent the early morning hours praying, wailing and shaking with grief. They were mourning the grandson of the Prophet Mohamed killed in battle with Sunni Muslims in 840 AD. But it was also a day to mourn their dead brothers, husbands, and fathers from Hezbollah’s war with Israel. There was so much emotion that women were fainting – Hezbollah nurses were walking the crowd with smelling salts to revive the women who had passed out. The prayers quickly turned into a political rally. Shiite rallies make heavy use of slogans, which the crowds chant enthusiastically. This year’s Ashura slogan was “hayhat min azzila” — Arabic for “far from disgrace” or “far from humiliation.” It was a battle cry to empower a Lebanese Shiite population that has felt humiliated — by Sunnis in 840 AD, by Lebanese Christians and Sunnis who ignored their poverty and stake in power from the early years of the Republic, and by Israel in its long-presumed military superiority. Other slogans chanted by the crowd were “Al Mawt La Israel” (death to Israel) and “Labeik ya Nasrallah” (here we are, Nasrallah — a vow to fight under Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah). Nasrallah himself made rare public appearance, speaking at the event (his location is at most times a secret given the many people and governments who want him dead). There he made the grim announcement that Hezbollah had the remains of Israeli soldiers killed or wounded in the 2006 war. He also said he’d respond to what he calls Israeli aggression with “a war that would change the fate of the Middle East.” The Ashura holiday was clearly designed to mix religion and politics. It was a popular show of force that reaffirmed their strength in the eyes of all their rivals — secular Lebanese, the United States of America, and, above all, their Israeli neighbors to the South.