http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspxBy Paul Nassar, NBC News Producer It is a journey that I have made countless times. Arriving in the city I was born in and left -- sometimes even fled -- more times than I care to remember in the past 35 years, has become something of a routine foren-USCommunityServer 2.0 (Build: 60608.1)http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44130Mon, 29 Jan 2007 16:52:55 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44130Eric OregonNo doubt the war in Iraq has spilled into Lebanon with deeply divided sectarian groups. Iran's Islamic agendas rule the Middle East political agendas with even Hamas stirring the Islamic movement inside Palistine into a brink of civil war. What next? Iran is keeping the focus everywhere else and buying enough time to accomplish their nuclear objectives. What political side should we be in?http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44158Mon, 29 Jan 2007 17:48:45 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44158Steven RennieThere is no solution coming from the cities the author mentioned. There never has nor will there ever be. The roots of the problems in the Middle East run deep in the sands and bedrock of nearly 4,000 years of deception and violence. No one nation, group, or tribe is blameless. All share in this spiral of death but all do not share equally. Hatred of the ancient Hebrews, leading to numerous invasions, captivities, and attempted annihilations through several millennia serves as the backdrop for the current state of affairs. Yet, the Israelite descendants of Abraham refuse the world's attempts to subjugate and destroy them. Too many, even in the Western world, believe if the Jews would just go away or agree to be confined to their own little ghetto, the Middle East would see peace. It would not. An attempt to address the reasons here would result in charges that I am a right-wing fundamentalist nut job. To those who deny the spiritual, what explanation do you have for these conflicts and what solutions exist out side of committment to a belief that the Israelite nation was divinely established and God's purposes will be worked out according to His timeline and in His sovereignty? Israel and its leaders can never be excused for operating outside the parameters of God's stated purposes for dealing justly not only with her own but also with the stranger and the alien in her midst. Many of the wounds Israel has suffered have been self-inflicted because they ignored those purposes but that does not change the fact that most of the world would rather that the "Jewish problem" just go away. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44179Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:21:17 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44179Roy Ehlen, Sioux Falls, S. DakotaThe tragedy is that the past is remembered and the future is nothing more than an event yet to happen. I hope the author of the article I read lives to be 110 at the very least. He will then, and then perhaps not be able to rewrite an article that is so full optimism. Maybe humor is the solution Perhaps the various division leaders all should take a look at the pathetic little state of S. Dakota. We are called tried and true hillbilly red necks and rubes most of the time. Maybe that is why Jim Abnor, Jim Aborezk and a few other Lebanese were elected to office in this state. Not because they were Druze, Christian, Muslim or whatever. No it was because they had honor above all else. I do not know why Ben Rifle was elected either. Pobably had the Sioux Indian vote. Bull not a chance. They do not vote. He was an honest man and stood his ground in the arena of life. All of the old line Lebanese familys have done very well in this state and when they are gone it will not inhance the issue. His country has to many friends and none of them very good at being good neighbors. I thought the article was excellent and more should be published of this sort. This way perhaps some people would get tired of intervention and leave peace a chance. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44181Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:22:19 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44181Ray SarrafI was born and raised in Lebanon and it is a shame that the Lebanese politician would want to continue to fight other people's wars. All militias should be disarmed and the loyalty of all the citizens should be to the democratically elected government. Factions that don't necessarily agree with the elected government should campaign harder in the next election. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44187Mon, 29 Jan 2007 18:28:02 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44187Ed LamicaAs the winds of civil war stirring in Lebanon I would hope young Lebanese look at their country 's past to deal with future. Civil war was not the answer then or now. To truly remove outside influence from Lebanon you need a strong national identity to be free of outside interfere. This can be done by making the pen mightier than the sword. When Lebanese of all background understand to be a nation of people for the people then all sectors in Lebanon(Relgious, Political) must first stop the hate, the doudt and remove the fear. Start talking til you form a strong National Identity which includes all Lebanese can Lebanon be the great Nation it once was and can be if you as a people let it. Lebanon was once the gateway to the Middle East. And someday Lebanon will again be the bridge between East and West Ed Lamica Beirut Peacekeeper 1983http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44245Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:58:39 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44245randal, yuma,az The Lebanese people have seen the enemy and it is themselves, not in Washington, Riyadh, Tehran, Damascus or anywhere else. They understand nothing, and attack and kill, is their only response to any differing viewpoint. This is a form of religious insanity covering the earth. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44282Mon, 29 Jan 2007 20:35:28 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44282Tom Reese, Lagos, NigeriaI spent the last 2 years teaching history in Beirut and loved my Lebanese students like my own children. But I was immensely relieved to leave that unlikely polity even before the American ordnance fired by American-supplied planes started pulverizing the place my father characterized as "heaven" back in the '60's. Lebanon is a feudal state to the extent that it is a state at all. The structure of its very constitution proves that. One man one vote would mean a Shiite majority in Parliament. To the extent that Western imperialists have drawn the political blueprint in the Middle East they have only themselves to blame for the chaos that has ensued. They are reaping what they have sown.http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44312Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:04:30 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44312Samer HarbMr. Nassar seems to have been born in Lebanon, visited, but hasn’t lived there. That’s evident due to the many inaccuracies he presented throughout his article, be it intentional or for the lack of information. The Author writes “A seemingly unbridgeable schism developed between the moderate Sunni Muslim, Christian and Druze factions on one side and the mostly Shiite groups on the other”. Out of many, three slip-ups that I like to point out and correct. 1- The division is not as he pointed out along sectarian lines. The division is rather political. And the proof is that each group contains most religious backgrounds of the Lebanese fabric. 2- He claims that Sunni, Druze, and Christians are on one side and Shiite groups on the other. The Author can’t be farther away from the truth. The second group includes, yes, the Shiites power houses, but also contains the largest Christian party, the Lebanese Patriotic Movement, 45% of Muslim Sunni, and 20% of Druze per last poll in Assafir Newspaper. The demonstration that was held on January 10 estimated by million demonstrators as the most modest figure is the solid proof that demonstration was more than just Shiite. Otherwise, we must have had all Shiite of Lebanon, who form 35% of the total population, newborns to elderly to be present in both squares. 3- The above parties of Druze and Lebanese forces can never be categorized as moderate. Those who commit mass murder and religious cleansing can never be called “moderate”. Being aligned with the USA is not enough to be called such, especially if you are aligned with current Neo-con administration. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44352Mon, 29 Jan 2007 21:28:06 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44352G.B. , USIt is a shame that the Lebanese youth did not learn from the 1975-1990 civil war; WARs don’t resolve problems, WARs create new ones. It seems like every Lebanese generation gets “exited” about the idea of “real fighting”. Based on history, it takes around 15 years for the “fear of war” to be erased from Lebanese minds; every 15 years in average, a new chaos is created in this country: Lebanese independence, 1943 Lebanese political/religious crisis, 1958 Lebanese civil war, 1975-1990 Lebanese crisis that may lead to a new civil war: 2006-2007http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44513Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:59:40 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44513JRG, Mudville, NCIn 2000 someone asked me my opinion of the most critical world region, to which I replied "The Middle East". Obviously correct, and sadly, nothing has changed. It is not a matter of one nation's transgresion upon another but rather revived Islamic religious factions feeling it is "their way or the highway" even amoung those who should be brothers ... not that they are the first religion to suffer such self inflicted travesties but they appear to be the last remaining. If such concepts of God, Yaweh, Allah, Odin, et al were concretely configured omnipotently, providing all "answers", the true "Charles in charge", none of the world's past or current or future conflicts would have/or would will occur. The omnipotence of those supposedly in power, not wishing to be outdone, would therefore strike down any raising of weapons to enforce the combatant's vision of the yellow brick world. Obviously that is not occuring ... so the thought occurs that humans fight because they are bloodthirsty sum beeches with little more to do than seize power and make all lesser dogs cringe under their power of the ultimate religious Alpha dog. Rodney King's statement "Can't we all just get along ?" deservedly has no point here. Surely, they in the Middle East can not - nor have they for more than 10K years. So what is the solution to brothers hating brothers ? Probably none. What is the solution to brother hating brother and affecting world "non brothers" ? :) ... poof ... seas of glass; not that diplomatic yadda yaddas types yadda yadda until they are bluer than blue in face would consider such ... "More men have died in the name of Christ, I can no longer heed the call ...: Crosby, Stills, Nash Cathedral, 1970-ish It's time for Islam to ignore the call. http://worldblog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2007/01/29/44045.aspx#44633Tue, 30 Jan 2007 12:13:31 GMT8a5d2dbc-a0e4-4c7a-979f-3188051f228e:44633Naomi Abouzeid, LebanonI commend Samer Harb's response to the article by Paul Nasser. It is exactly the response I would have written as well. It is about time Lebanese journalists that live in the west really start to get non-biased information as it is and not information/opinion that they receive from family and friends around them. The pen is by far mightier than the sword especially when you have the power to influence western opinion through articles like the above. Lebanon is a magical country, that has appeal to all people that visit, with it's unique blend of east meets west and mix of religions and great weather, it's a country not to be passed by as a war zone but as a great holiday destination. Every other nation seems to want a piece of this pie and now it is time for us to unite as a country and take charge of our destiny ourselves and build a future for our children. We need to look inwards and resolve our problems without further influence from outside nations that have their own hidden agenda's and interest's in Lebanon. Equal representation in government is a democratic right is it not? Then why should the west or politic parties in Lebanon deny this, what are they afraid of? Power has many mask's, greed, corruption, money, control...the list can go on, this is what the Lebanese want to rid the nation of and have a clean government that has interests in the country and it's people not to only line their pockets with the wealth of the nation.