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Hizbullah Fighters Are Preparing for the Next War

[Guardian/Kuwait Times] Ghaith Abdul-Ahad - Hizbullah combines Shiite belief with bonds of family and tradition that are shrouded in secrecy and make it one of the most difficult organizations in the world to penetrate. "You don't join the party - you are born in the party," Mohammed, a Hizbullah student leader, tells me. From the time you are a small boy, he says, the party watches you; they monitor your behavior. "When they are sure you are committed...a party officer approaches you." A life of religious studies and indoctrination follows. "After preparing you for months, or even years, you enter the 'junoud,' or soldiers class. They don't teach you how to become a soldier, but you are taught everything about Shiite traditions and beliefs." Not until a novice member has finished all these preparatory courses is he sent to do military training. Jameel, a full-time fighter for the party, says, "I really love war....I hate this peacetime....We have to prepare for the arrival of the Mahdi - the Mahdi will not come into a Sunni country. We need to prepare, we have to liberate Jerusalem for the army of the 20 million and create the grand Shiite state."
2007-05-16 01:00:00
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