More blood stains the streets of Lebanon this month. This time it is the blood of 34 year old Pierre Gemayel. Mr. Gemayel was shot dead en route to give his condolences on the death of a woman in his area. It is said that he was so shot up, his face was gone and they had to have a closed casket.

It seemed for a moment to some of us with even a glimmer of hope left that the war this summer would have taught us that united we are strong and divided as we have been we are easy prey. Apparently someone forgot to teach that lesson to those who murdered Mr. Gemayel. It seems to me that we have two separate parties working right now in Lebanon. Those who long for the days of Syrian hegemony when their word was unchallenged and they got rich off of the backs of the Lebanese and those who long for the days of prosperity and peace for the country. Any astute Lebanese knows what politician belongs to which party.

The crocodile tears of the politicians who attended the funeral fooled no one. The only genuine tears shed were those of Mr. Gemayel’s followers and family.

Likewise, the empty words of support coming from Blair and Bush fooled no one. Not a single Lebanese citizen will forget them saying it is too soon for a ceasefire to be called this summer when Israel and Hizbullah were tearing each other apart on the eternal battlefield that is Lebanon. Bush, Blair and all those who feel like they can safely say they support Lebanon should remember that actions speak louder than words. If they truly supported Lebanon, we would not have been destroyed so that Iran and Syria could prove a point using Hizbullah and the U.S. could prove a point using Israel. In fact, they would all be doing us a great big favour if they would just stop talking.

In case any of my readers don’t recognize the main players in the game, let me refresh your memories. On one hand, we have Bashar Al Assad, Dictator du jour of Syria with delusions of intelligence and grandeur. On the other, we have the Speaker of the House, Nabih Berri and the de facto leader of Hizbullah, Hassan Nasrallah. Now if you are wondering why we have them all grouped together, it is because they are all in league together. Anyone who has been following the news knows that the Hizbullah/Amal MPs walked out of parliament and tendered their resignations just before the U.N. investigation on the February 14th massacre was set to be presented in order to finally name some names and bring them to trial. How very coincidental that it was these same MPs who walked out when the vote was taking place on even having a U.N. investigation. How very convenient that every one of these MPs and their masters all report to Syria in one capacity or another.

These are black times in Lebanon. The country that has yet to recover from its first civil war looks to be preparing to enter a second. Tensions are running extremely high with practically anyone who is not a supporter of Hizbullah accusing them of murder. Considering that close to 80% of the country used to consider Hizbullah heroes and martyrs, this is a very long fall down a very long tunnel. It doesn’t help that Hizbullah threatens to destabilize the entire country every single time they don’t get what they want or the interests of Iran and Syria appear to be threatened.

In a perfect world, there are the good guys and the bad guys; there are no shades of grey. Unfortunately, this world that we live in is not perfect and there are shades of grey everywhere we look. The warlords-turned-politicians of Lebanon are the best example of shades of grey. Very few of our current crop of major pols can deny their actions during the civil war. Not one of them can claim to have hands clean of the blood of innocents or of the devastation done to Lebanon during the civil war; yet these warlords have turned to politicians. The veneer of gentility they wear is very thin and one can see the savage lurking beneath. What is worse is that not one of these men would think twice about plunging the country into a major civil war again just to consolidate their own riches and power. All of the posturing we are seeing right now is not about what is good for Lebanon, it is most definitely about what is good for them.

What would be good for Lebanon would be for all of these men to sit down and rationally hash out their disagreements for the best of Lebanon and its long suffering citizens. Instead, they posture and pose, the rant and they rage, they each accuse the other side of working for foreign powers. All that is left is to call for war.

The Lebanese have already shed so many tears. It appears that all the tears we have shed for our country and our dead have not appeased these gods of war. It seems that they will not be appeased until Lebanon once again lies in ruins and our streets run with the blood of our citizens. Only we can prevent that. Only we can stand up and hold them accountable. The question is: will we do so before it is too late????