Nasrallah Is Staying the Course

Lebanon's Hizballah-led opposition has spent the last several days trying to rally its faltering protest movement. Luckily for them, the Israelis helped out. When Israel's military chief, General Dan Halutz, resigned on Wednesday for botching the summer war with Hizballah, the skies over Beirut exploded with a fireworks barrage big enough that I worried just for a second that fighting had broken out downtown.

Halutz's resignation reinforces Hizballah's claim that their "Divine Victory" this summer was decisive. A few newspapers suggested gently that Hizballah not gloat overmuch. After all, a lot of people suffered in a war triggered by a certain kidnapping carried out by you know who. But last night, in a televised speech from an undisclosed location that is almost certainly not the same as Dick Cheney's, Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah gleefully rubbed it in Israel's face. Defense Minister Amir Peretz will be next to resign, Nasrallah predicted. Then President Ehud Olmert himself will get the axe. "This is not a failure for Olmert's cabinet only, but the failure of a major political party in Israel, the Kadima party," Nasrallah said. What is he, a Likudnik or something?

Now if I were an Israeli politician, I might use the fact that Hassan Nasrallah disapproves of me as a badge of honor. But clearly, Nasrallah has other things on his mind than internal Israeli politics: internal Lebanese politics.

Nasrallah's speech didn't open room for compromise with the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. Instead of recognizing that they have shouted each other to a stalemate, he called for more of the same: resignations, demonstrations, strikes, etc. With all that time in a bunker, one wonders if he's getting as out of touch as the Bush White House. The opposition will be "staying the course" with a "surge" on Tuesday -- another of its massive demonstrations. If this is all starting to seem more than a little repetitive, don't worry: I'll be there so you don't have to be.

By Andrew Lee Butters/Beirut