Violence erupts in Lebanon

Open warfare has broken out in Lebanon again. Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah recently said "Our response is that, whoever declares a war against us or starts a war against us, whether it’s a brother or father, it is our right to defend ourselves".

This quote is interesting for two reasons:

1) He is acting like the leader of a government. He can declare war and have war declared against him and his organization. This is a problem because a country should have only one government. This issue has caused many wars throughout history. This is one of the issues that the war in Iraq is about. The Arab world tends to have more loyalty to other organizations than to the governments that rules the country. We had seen this in our own country, during the U.S. Civil War. The Federal government runs the United States, not the state governments.

2) His organization is claiming the right to defend itself. Everyone has this right. His organization is being threatened. I am certain that he (and his followers) feel that their way of life is being threatened. After all, this organization represents their way of life. This is another issue that the war in Iraq is about, as well as a major cause of wars throughout human history.

All wars are unique. This one has its share of complexities. Many of the basic issues that are being fought over throughout the Muslim world are present in Lebanon. This is also a mixing point of Muslim culture and the outside world. Other parts of the world that have a mix like this are also constantly at the point of open warfare. These issues need to be resolved. History has shown time and again that these issues have no diplomatic or political solutions. Open warfare is how humans have resolved these issues in the past, present, and will do so in the future.

In the next post, I plan to discuss how warfare is a part of human nature.