Debbie Schlussel: Lebanon's Christians: Hezbollah & U.S. Aid to Hezbollah Driving Them Out
Most of Lebanon's Christians are Maronite Catholics. Once the majority in the country, they were close to recognizing and having a lasting piece with Israel.
But first P.L.O. and now Hezbollah terrorists made a mess of their country. And their numbers in Lebanon are dwindling. They are now just 40% of the Lebanese population, according to CIA estimates (it's probably far less than that). Many of them left to America (a large Maronite community is present in the Detroit area) and other environs to live in peace, away from Islamists. The rest are struggling to survive.
But Hezbollah--and U.S. Aid that is already ending up in Hezbollah hands and strengthening the terrorist group--is driving down the Christian presence in Lebanon.
A USA Today article about Maronite Archbishop Chucrallah Nabil Hage has a headline that says it all:
"Archbishop Tells Church to Stay in Lebanon: 'You'll Make it'"
The article notes that many Maronite villages are sandwiched between Hezbollah-controlled land. But more important, Hezbollah's social welfare network--funded by U.S. taxpayers in 2000 and, again, now--is doing Christianity in Lebanon in:
Just down the road from St. George's in El Qlaiaa, there are billboards of a smiling Hassan Nasrallah, Hezbollah's leader. Other Hezbollah billboards feature bearded Iranian ayatollahs or the faces of slain Shiite militia fighters.Christians in southern Lebanon confront a job shortage. The Maronite Church can't compete with the vast social welfare net that Hezbollah has built for Shiites--clinics, schools and other facilities--said Daniel Nicholas, 26, an unemployed El Qlaiaa native.
Nicholas, who holds a master's degree in physics, said his fiancee's family won't let him marry her unless he has a job. "There's no future here."
American taxpayers must ask our President and elected officials, like Darrell Issa and Joe Knollenberg, why they gave away the store to a terrorist group and helped defeat the only obstacle to complete jihadist domination in Lebanon--its shrinking Maronite community.
Posted by Debbie on August 21, 2006 02:53 PM to Debbie Schlussel