Hezbollah: An Outsider’s Inside View

[Ariadna: “Hezbollah: An Outsider’s Inside View” is the title of a recently published book authored by Brenda Heard, based on her many interviews with  members of the legendary Lebanese resistance organization. Richard Edmondson reviews the book with insight and the benefit of his own “outsider inside view” and recommends it to us.]

Hezbollah — An Outsider’s Inside View, Reviewed by Richard Edmondson

Hezbollah is routinely branded a “terrorist” organization by Western media, but if asked, most Americans would probably be hard-pressed to name a single terrorist act the group has committed (armed resistance against a military occupation of one’s country does not constitute terrorism).
Yet the media resolutely go on labeling the group with words like “extremist,” “militant,” “fanatic,” etc. in a deliberate effort to manipulate public opinion. Why?

In her book, Hezbollah: An Outsider’s Inside View,” Brenda Heard gives us an answer to that question. It is an answer that can be found in the words of dozens in the Resistance movement she has interviewed going back to the year 2006—when she first arrived in Lebanon in the immediate aftermath of the July War.

In this book we find the stories of Hezbollah fighters, its health care workers and other support personnel, as well as average, ordinary people in southern Lebanon, some of whom have lived through repeated Israeli onslaughts upon their country. All have a story to share, and make no mistake about it, some of these stories are deeply moving. They entail courage, endurance, sacrifices, and yes, the willingness to make the ultimate sacrifice.

Taken altogether, Heard paints a picture of a movement whose rank and file members are loyal to an ideal and also guided by a deep faith in God, along with a leadership that has, at least thus far, refused to be corrupted. From the perspective of Israel and the US, that’s a dangerous threat.

In other words, what Heard gives us is the story of Hezbollah the mainstream media doesn’t want us to hear.

Read more here.