Hezbollah Doesn't Have Wings

A silly heading in the April 1, 2009 edition of the WSJ On-line's Best of the Web caught my attention. How else can you respond to In That Case, We'll Have the Mozzarella Sticks but by clicking on the link. When you do that, you wind up at Commentary Magazine's Contention where Michael J. Totten discusses a recent British government decision to talk to the "political wing" of Hezbollah, an organization officially designated a terrorist group by the civilized world.

According to Totten,

"A few weeks ago Britain decided to unfreeze “diplomatic relations” with Hezbollah, and the nonsensical phrases “political wing” and “military wing” have been used to describe the Iranian-backed militia ever since. Britain now says it’s okay to meet with members of Hezbollah’s “political wing” while maintaining the blacklisting of its “military wing,” but these “wings” don’t exist in any meaningful sense."

The concept of "wings" in terror and other violent organizations is not new. For instance, the IRA had a military and a political wing. Hamas has both, too.

However,

"If Hezbollah were actually two distinct entities with separate policies it might make sense for British diplomats to do business with one and not the other, but that’s not how Hezbollah is structured. Of course Hezbollah’s fighters and members of parliament aren’t the same individuals, but Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah is the leader of the entire organization."

Go figure what goes through the minds of politicians around the world, I cannot.
Read the full article.