MICHAEL HUDSON
Michael Hudson is Saif Ghobash Professor of Arab Studies
at the Center for
Contemporary Arab Studies at Georgetown University. He
is author of The
Precarious Republic (1968) and numerous subsequent
articles on Lebanese
politics. He said today: "The horrific car bombing in Beirut
is an extremely
serious and negative development for Lebanon. It is a blow
to national unity
that stirs up bad memories from the civil war of 1975-1990,
including
memories of external meddling in Lebanese affairs. The
assassination is a
grim reminder that the wounds of that war have yet to heal."
AS'AD ABUKHALIL
As'ad AbuKhalil teaches political science at California
State
University-Stanislaus and is author of the Historical
Dictionary of Lebanon
(Rowman-Littlefield, 1998), among numerous other books
and articles. He said
today: "Hariri's assassination may mark the end of the
end of the Lebanese
civil war. Before entering politics with the backing of
Syria and Saudi
Arabia, he used his billions to fund militias of the right,
left and center.
As prime minister, his policies produced a $40 billion
national debt. His
tensions with Syria only appeared in the last few months,
when he disagreed
with Syrian support for an extension of the term of Lebanese
President Emile
Lahoud. But Lebanon's crisis was also aggravated by the
sudden interest of
the US and France in Lebanese 'sovereignty.' Whoever was
behind the bombing
knew that it would further destabilize post-war Lebanon.
As with most
assassinations in Lebanon, nobody will ever know the identity
of the
culprits for sure."
