Who needs the International Red Cross, we have Hezbollah

I just love these stories. Here is Fouad Yassin, most likely a Shiite, living in southern Lebanon with his family. The story says he has been under attack from Israeli artillery for four days. He has had enough and takes his family north, only to find help at a school 'temporarily' taken over by Hezbollah. The nice man from Hezbollah gives him some bread, cheese, three cans of tuna and sends him on his way. You can just hear the stirring music in the background as this story of mercy and compassion unfolds in the piece by Mohamad Bazzi.

Mr Yassin, 35, a book dealer, fled the Bir El-Abed district of Beirut on Monday. Along with his father, mother, four siblings and their families - 24 people in all - they crammed into two minivans and drove through back roads for nearly three hours looking for somewhere to take refuge.

They arrived at the Ibn Rushd School, where they were given foam mattresses to sleep on. Three cans of tuna, two packages of processed cheese and a bundle of bread was the food ration for the day.

At no point in their flight did the Yassins receive help from the Lebanese Government. Instead they ended up at a school that has been temporarily taken over by Hezbollah.

"Hezbollah makes sure that the refugees have everything they need," said Ali Shwaikani, 29, who described himself as a Hezbollah "volunteer" helping organise the displaced.

To fill the government vacuum, the group has dispatched hundreds of young men like Mr Shwaikani to schools and community centres throughout Beirut. Armed with mobile phones and walkie-talkies, they distribute mattresses, food, water and medicine to the refugees.

I have a few observations.

I would bet you lunch at the Burger Barn in Esparto that Mr. Yassin or his family voted for Hezbollah in the last election. You wanted these guys, you got em, now deal with the consequences of electing terrorists as your government representatives.

Nowhere in the story is Hezbollah called a terrorist organization. "The group" Hezbollah, is made to sound like the Shiite version of the United Way. What a load of manure! I wonder if Osama Bin Laden handed out food and built a school or two he could get better press. Oh, wait, a Democrat Senator from Washington did that already.


I am betting another lunch at the Burger Barn that the school Hezbollah 'temporarily' took over, is a storage or launching site for katyusha rockets. That is level of care and respect Hezbollah has for innocent civilians, launching rockets from apartments, schools, and hospitals. They hide behind women and children to launch attacks. Very honorable, very merciful.

There is a good guy and a bad guy in this fight. The good guy is not perfect, but wants to live in peace. The bad guy wants to kill every good guy, down to the last infant. This is not an endless vicious cycle of violence, it a battle between good and evil. No matter how many cans of tuna they hand out, Hezbollah is a terrorist gang, and you can give them land, money, tuna it doesn't matter, the don't want peace they want the death of every Israeli.

But other than that, Hezbollah is just swell.