From the commemoration of September 11th to the commemoration of August 4th
We will remember that September 11 marked the awakening to a global threat. Since those designated as guilty were not the main culprits who financed Islamism. Willful blindness or convenience to continue benefiting from cheap oil and lucrative contracts?
The West cannot think of using jihadism against the USSR and then believe that the unwanted children of the Cold War will naturally evaporate.
Since September 11, the world has witnessed several "September 11s." It is important that the memory does not turn into a state of amnesia or denial. Each of us must remember this for the future.
The Ghouta massacre in Syria on August 21, 2013. The Paris attacks on November 13, 2015. The explosion at the port of Beirut on August 4, 2020. The invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The barbarity is the same. No one can claim they did not know. September 11 has become an international affair, more than just an American one.
In 2001, the West deciphered the threat but did not want to assume responsibility. On September 11, the West faced a dilemma: the status quo or democracy? Accepting theocratic dictatorships or human rights?
In 2005, to preserve stability in the region, the West prohibited us from overthrowing President Emile Lahoud, fearing it would trigger a domino effect in the region.
Knowing that Syria and Hezbollah were behind the assassination of Rafic Hariri, Bashar Al Assad was the guest of honor at Nicolas Sarkozy's July 14, 2010 parade. This gave him the confidence to wage war on his people a few months later and commit the Ghouta massacre in August 2013 using chemical weapons.
Barack Obama drew red lines, but the lack of American and British intervention left a void in Syria, allowing Islamists to thrive.Bin Laden from al-Qaida gave birth to ISIS. Faced with the abandonment of the West, radicalization intensified. In Mosul, Iraq, extremists were welcomed by a Sunni population eager to end the threats and mistreatment by Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Soon, the Islamic State abolished borders with Syria to become an international organization, attracting Western hotheads thirsty for blood. Social media facilitated propaganda, and terrorist cells developed in European cities. The Charlie Hebdo shooting was the first in a series of attacks that hit Germany, Great Britain, Belgium, and France, including the November 13, 2015 attacks in Paris and the Nice truck attack on July 14, 2016.
In February 2014, after seeing that the United States did not intervene in Syria, Putin tested the West by annexing Crimea to Russia. Not only did the world let it happen, but continued to buy Russian gas. In 2018, construction began on a second gas pipeline connecting Russia to Germany.
While Iran had intervened extensively to keep Bashar Al Assad in power and helped him wage war on the Syrian population, causing nearly 500,000 casualties and millions of displaced, President Barack Obama signed the Vienna Agreement on Iranian nuclear deal on July 14, 2015, giving the mullah regime the means to expand its influence in four Arab countries: Yemen, Syria, Iraq, and of course, Lebanon.
After being certain that the West would not act, Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Except this time, the West finally woke up. Joe Biden's America was the first to react, along with some Eastern European countries that knew Russia was more capable than Western European countries.
Emmanuel Macron, who did not want Russia to be humiliated, was slower to fully join the countries supporting Ukraine.
Today, the world will commemorate the victims of September 11, not forgetting the victims of other "September 11s." Those in Syria who are rising against Bashar Al Assad again, those in Ukraine defending democracy against Putin, and Iranian women victimized by the mullahs. Not to mention the Lebanese victims of Iranian occupation.
22 years later, Western indecision has turned into a decision to rid the world of evil. Fighting the forces of evil should not only happen in Ukraine but also in Lebanon, which defends the values of freedom and democracy against Iran, which supplies Russia with drones and wages a proxy war against Europe.
This Monday, Jean-Yves Le Drian arrives in Beirut to find a solution to the election of a president. I hope that France has learned from the failure of its policy in Africa and will no longer negotiate with Hezbollah, which claims to respect democracy and the Republic only before the election of a president who will submit to it .
"Translated from french"
