Moon of Alabama Brecht quote
August 4, 2006
WB: A Mukhabarat Moment

Billmon:

[M]aybe things would have to get infinitely worse before Arab soldiers would turn their guns on their officers, or Mukhabarat attack dogs would sink their teeth in the throats of their masters. Maybe the pain and humiliation of watching Lebanon destroyed by American bombs dropped from Israeli planes isn’t enough. But the puppets themselves are showing signs of a growing unease. They know how much depends on the loyalty of the hired help — or at least its continued willingness to obey orders.

A Mukhabarat Moment

Comments

Good thing you didn’t say the Baathist coup in 1968, Billmon. Qadafi overthrew King Idris in 1969.

Posted by: Meteor Blades | Aug 4 2006 6:46 utc | 1

I’m confused about what the Pentagon thinks it can accomplish by arming the Lebanese army. Unless they somehow manage to deprive Hizballah of its support in the Shia community (which has only grown recently), they would be giving weapons and training to a force that is majority Shia and presumably quite unwilling to confront Hizballah.

Posted by: Tierce | Aug 4 2006 14:23 utc | 2

“Qadafi overthrew King Idris in 1969.”
Yep, you’re right. For some reason I had it in my head that it was 1967.

Posted by: billmon | Aug 4 2006 14:47 utc | 3

The current emir of Qatar overthrew his father way back in 1995. Before that, the coup in Oman was further back in time than I thought, all the way back to 1970. Which is still after Qadafi’s thing.

Posted by: Tom Scudder | Aug 4 2006 23:46 utc | 4

“The current emir of Qatar overthrew his father way back in 1995.”
Feudal aristocrats overthrowinng their own fathers isn’t exactly what I had in mind.

Posted by: billmon | Aug 5 2006 0:50 utc | 5

Trierce, why are you confused? Adding weapons to increase peace seems a perfectly reasonable strategy, from the people who brought you bombing people in order to make them turn against themselves.

Posted by: Rowan | Aug 5 2006 1:32 utc | 6