I’m not even kidding. Pictures are courtesy of the Daily Star.
Now this is not something you see everyday. “Would you like a riffle with your burger?”
As if the Lebanese Army doesn’t have enough on its plate. We now have to worry about a bunch of morons in religious heat acting out on franchises managed by local companies and hiring Lebanese workers.
Ah well…
Because the only thing our singers and artists do when it comes to them being “active” is to, well, sing about it, we have a brand new song for the Lebanese Army.
Written by Nizar Francis and composed by Samir Sfeir, who also sings on it, the song is what you’d expect a song like it to be: dabke-ready with overly patriotic lyrics along with copious use of tebyid tnajer.
“Kan sa3b l 3eish wel nas khifanin. Sar 3enna jeish wel jeish lebnani.”
Life was hard and people were scared. And then we had an army, the Lebanese Army.
I’m not sure if it’s the collective of these five artists having millions of dollars among them but life is still hard for almost everyone else and people are still scared. But yes, let’s sing about it. Because that is the best way to support the army.
“Majd Lebnan houwi jeish Lebnan.”
The glory of Lebanon is the Lebanese Army.
I won’t even comment on that sentence.
You can listen to that song, which I think is absolutely useless, here:
If these artists wanted to support the army, how about they stop singing about it to make money and open up their credit cards and start donating?
I’m sure our army would appreciate their cash more than their song.
Oh wait. That’s what the Lebanese are good at. We’re all talk (or singing) and no show. Yalla 3al dabké fida l jeish!
Concern for the Lebanese Army… How lovely.
Let’s go show support for our armed forces then. How to do that? How else? Let’s block the road for hours upon hours and leave everyone stranded until our “support” is shown.
The army shows up soon after tires start burning to ask those supporting it to stop whatever they’re doing. The supporters get into fights with the army. This happens only in Lebanon.
If anything, the protest that spanned the highway from Jounieh to Batroun yesterday showed that those claiming they were burning tires in support for the army aren’t doing that one bit. They are advancing their own political orangy agenda.
Our Rabieh dude tells us to take it to the streets? We take it to the streets. What are we protesting again?
I have to ask those who are über-concerned about the Lebanese army today: where was this concern when Samer Hanna was shot dead on his land, in the South, by other Lebanese?
Don’t worry, it’s not a rhetorical question. I will answer it for you. Your orangy leader was busy protecting Samer Hanna’s killers and he still is so he didn’t ask you to “support” the Lebanese Army. But you’ve probably forgotten about Samer Hanna by now.
Good job. Those scary Islamists are sure more appealing to protest against.
Where was your concern when Francois el Hajj and Wissam Eid were blown up until there was nothing left of them for their families? Shouldn’t their deaths have been enough for you to also “support” the Lebanese Army?
Again, not a rhetorical question. Of course not. You were not instructed to have an adrenaline rush with their deaths. None of them so-called army supporters remember Wissam Eid and
Francois el Hajj today.
When it comes to supporting the Lebanese Army, the matter is not an auction. It’s not “Min bi zid.” It is not blocking the highway illegally and not abiding by army instructions to break up the protest. It is not stopping everyone from going home after a long work day so you can shove your inexistant army love down their throats.
You want to support the army? How about you get your sons to join it for a year of voluntary service? I’m pretty sure those people were the same people who worried nights on end about their sons going to obligatory military service back when it was instilled. How about you donate money that you made at work as a normal citizen?
Alas, I forgot this is Lebanon. Go hard or go home. Burn tires or don’t protest. Block roads or don’t do anything at all – regardless of what the cause is. Army supporter? Army hater? They are all the same mold: people who wait for a word from their corresponding leader to take it to the streets all while thinking they are doing this out of free will.
The Lebanese people are airheads. The country is brain dead. The only people who haven’t protested yet are Greenpeace. They are still waiting on green-friendly tires.
Fellow Lebanese, if you don’t have super protective privacy settings on your Facebook profiles, it’s high time to do so. In a country where many people can rationalize the army killing people at checkpoints (I had a “conversation” with one an hour ago), where people burn tires for leisure, where guns are taken to pubs, the next big national threat is none of those. It’s your Facebook profile.
86 people from the Jezzine area were summoned by the intelligence of the Lebanese Army to the Zougheib Barracks in Saida for investigation, Annahar reports. Those people don’t have warrants against them. They haven’t done anything wrong – unless having a Facebook account is a crime.
The summoned individuals have to be present at the barracks around 8 am. The investigation with them lasts till 2 pm. Most of them are people who hold jobs and have classes. One of them was even a university professor.
Instead of investigating things that are worth investigating, such as the murder of Charbel Rahme who had no warrants against him and actually wanted to join the ISF, the army intelligence is busy stalking Facebook profiles and asking people to come in for a full-day affair to ask you about your statuses, friends, profile pictures and whatnot.
The age of no retribution for any organization within the Lebanese state needs to come to an end. Accountability is key – especially when it comes to an organization which is supposedly concerned with protecting Lebanese citizens. If we put everything that’s done by the army on a pedestal away from questioning, we will quickly turn into a military state. If that’s acceptable for you, it sure isn’t for me.
Why would they summon 86 people – with the list still having more names to go – based on their Facebook profiles? We will never know. And you will still find people who rationalize this when there’s no room for reason. Is it the time to start deactivating Facebook accounts? It sure beats going to jail for posting a not very army-pleasing Facebook status
A couple of years ago, a friend of mine was heading back to his hometown in the Chouf. Knowing the road like the back of his hand, he didn’t think there would be a military checkpoint which was set up there in the few hours he wasn’t home. So while driving back, he didn’t stop at the checkpoint.
As a result, the army spiked his car’s tires, deflating them all and stopping him in his tracks. He ended up paying over $500 for new tires. In retrospect, my friend was very lucky.
If this had happened with him today, my friend would have been dead.
Charbel Rahme is the latest casualty to the Lebanese army. What was Charbel Rahme’s fault? He didn’t stop at the Madfoun checkpoint. Should he have stopped? Definitely. Everyone should stop at a Lebanese army checkpoint. But is not stopping enough reason for the army to kill someone?
I refrained from commenting on the army killing Sheikh Abdul Wahed last week. Let’s wait for the investigation, I figured. Perhaps Sheikh Abdul Wahed had a ton of arms with him in the car. Perhaps his convoy shot at the army first. Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. Too many suppositions.
But in Charbel Rahme’s case, he didn’t shoot at the army. He didn’t threaten their lives. And still he died. His car was shot 6 times. There’s no room for randomness with 6 bullets. He was shot in the head. He died instantly. He was 38.
Charbel Rahme’s brother is a major in the army as well.
Two theories come to mind. Either this is the act of reckless individuals within the army, in which case they should be trialed as soon as possible. Or there’s a command from high-above to shoot to kill. When it comes to the former, the fact that this incident has happened twice in one week means there are way too many reckless individuals within the army and if the “myth” of the army being protective to all Lebanese is to stand then massive pruning is needed.
As for the latter theory, how can I expect protection from an army who would kill me if I run a checkpoint? The argument that I’m a civilian who “doesn’t understand” doesn’t stand. I’m the civilian whose life is threatened here. I’m the civilian getting killed in a meaningless situation no one should die in. I’m the civilian whose trust in the army is waning dangerously thin. I’m the civilian whose support the army desperately needs. I’m the civilian who can’t understand why I have to die if I don’t stop at a checkpoint.
We are not hypocrites. We supported the Lebanese army when the hypocrites proclaiming Lebanese army love today laughed at some of the army’s martyrs. But when it comes to our lives, some things need to be said. The Madfoun checkpoint has a puzzle of barricades to prevent people like Charbel Rahme from speeding away from the checkpoint. The army would have had way too much time to spread out the spikes needed in order to stop the car.
The spikes wouldn’t have allowed Charbel Rahme’s car to go more than 20 meters with deflated tires. Even if Charbel Rahme had continued trying to move away, his body has way too many points the army can hit without killing. And yet, Charbel Rahme’s body is lying cold in the morgue of the Batroun Hospital with a bullet hole in his head.
There’s no other way to spin it. The Lebanese army is getting reckless with the lives of the people it should be protecting. The Lebanese army is becoming way too reckless with the weapons it has especially with people against whom these weapons should never be used.
Alla ye7me l jeish? I beg to differ. Alla ye7mina ne7na iza heik.
Is Lebanon fast turning into a military state where your life ends depending on how you behave at checkpoints? Is not stopping at a military checkpoint now a threat to the national security of the country?
The people of Bsharre are now ringing the bells of their churches, lighting candles and praying for the soul of Charbel Rahme. May he rest in peace. His death was unnecessary, uncalled for and much more dangerous than the death of Sheikh Ahmad Abdul Wahad. Why? Because Charbel Rahme was a regular citizen, like you and me.
This is Charbel Rahme
A Separate State of Mind | A Blog by Elie Fares 