Sunday, May 28, 2006
Elder of ZiyonThe speakers stressed the importance of remembering the community’s victories, and the need to stay brave in the face of intimidation against expressing support for movements of justice and liberation. Osama Siblani, AAPAC president and publisher of The Arab American News; Abed Hammoud, President of CAAO; and Consul General of Lebanon, Dr. Ali Ajami, were adamant about the need to make it clear to American policy makers that the Lebanese are very loyal to America and its people despite having strong objections to the hypocrisy in the U.S.’ policy towards Lebanon and its one-sided support for Israel.The speakers insisted that the Lebanese American community’s support for the resistance in Southern Lebanon and their opposition to the crimes of the state of Israel do not, in any way, detract from their loyalty to America.
Osama Siblani said “I have never been to the South of Lebanon until my recent trip earlier this month. I went from Beirut all the way to the border in the South. I want all of the American officials to know that I did not see a single person with a firearm from Beirut all the way to the border, except at one Lebanese Army checkpoint. What I have seen calls for us to be proud: people living their lives, smoking the water pipe, playing cards, watching their kids play on both sides of the border without threat! So why are you calling Hizbullah a terrorist organization, and why do you want to take their arms? I didn’t see any arms.”
The Lebanese Consul General in Detroit, Dr. Ali Ajami, gave brief remarks in English and Arabic. Responding to the Lebanese government’s deletion of Liberation Day as a national holiday he said “If they don’t want to celebrate liberation there, I will celebrate it here!” He also said that the resistance in Lebanon was to be celebrated and that it was a natural reaction of any people to occupation, threat and aggression. Ajami said “We did what any simple man would do. If your house is invaded you have to know what should be done, drive them out of your house. We are no terrorists, we are simple people trying to live in peace … yes I would agree both of us, Lebanese and Israelis, want peace, we want peace, p-e-a-c-e, and they want piece, p-i-e-c-e, a piece of our land!”
They glossed over the fact that their heroes killed 241 American servicemen in October 1983 and 17 in April, 1983. In fact:
Using names like the Organization of the Oppressed on Earth and the Revolutionary Justice Organization, Hezbollah is also believed by the United States to have kidnapped and tortured to death[11] U.S. Marine Colonel William R. Higgins and the CIA Station Chief in Beirut, William Buckley, and to have kidnapped around 30 other Westerners between 1982 and 1992, including the American journalist Terry Anderson, British journalist John McCarthy, the Archbishop of Canterbury's special envoy Terry Waite and Irish citizen Brian Keenan. Hezbollah was accused by the US government of being responsible for the April 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut that killed 63; of being behind the suicide truck bombings that killed 241 U.S. Marines in their barracks in Beirut in October 1983; of bombing the replacement U.S. Embassy in East Beirut on September 20, 1984, killing 20 Lebanese and two American soldiers; and of carrying out the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 en route from Athens to Rome. Hezbollah denies involvement in these attacks and no evidence has come forth since.No dual-loyalty there....just "loyal" Americans who support terrorists and would-be genocidal murderers who scream "Death to America!" at every opportunity.
