Fneish: The party is not against the United States. To be clear: The American administration has sided with Israel and makes false accusations against Hizbollah. We don't have any problem with the United States other than its position on Israel. We have not attacked the United States. We grew up with the Israeli occupation in Lebanon, so we formed a resistance movement. The U.S. considered that movement an opponent of the United States. Just to be clear, I'm speaking of the American administration, not the American people. Our problem is with the American political decision to side with Israel and oppose our people and our concerns. The future of our relationship with the United States depends on a change in American policies; if there's ever a change, we have no problem with the United States.
reason: Do you seek to improve relations with the U.S.?
Fneish: In the near future, I don't think it's possible for relations to improve. There is a very unnatural conflict. We're resisting an occupation, and the U.S. wants to stop the resistance rather than the occupation. We're trying to liberate our land and the U.S. supports Israel in taking our land. So how is an improvement in relations possible?
reason: Do you consider the United States hostile toward you?
Fneish: Of course. The United States is totally against us, but it's the United States that decided to take that position. That position isn't only against Hizbollah. Look around the entire Arab and Islamic world. What's the proportion of people who believe the U.S. is hostile toward them and undermines their concerns? But Hizbollah is an active force, and that's why there's a particularly heavy American hand against us. Because what is Hizbollah's crime? That we stood up to Israel and didn't let Israel achieve its goals in Lebanon? That we caused Israel its first defeat? Is that all of our crime?
reason: Right now the United States is fighting against terrorist groups of global reach and anybody affiliated with them.
Fneish: The claim that Hizbollah has relations with any other group is a lie—among many other lies, all aiming to taint the image of the resistance and to distort the facts. There is a problem here, and that is called occupation. Where is the evidence of Hizbollah's having a role with anybody in any activities outside our conflict with Israel?
It's easy to make accusations. If we want to total up all the lies the United States has told about Iraq alone, it's a huge sum. So any language that doesn't depend on proof is just an accusation. These accusations are part of a hostile agenda involving media and politics.
reason: Do you try to do anything to change that opinion?
Fneish: Of course, we try as much as we can.
reason: Current U.S. policy would seem to be good for Shi'a Muslims. The overthrow of Saddam has freed the Shi'ites in Iraq, and the U.S. is also opposing Osama bin Laden, whose group considers Shi'ites heretics. Even if you disagree with or suspect the motives of the United States, wouldn't you have to agree that these policies have been helping your fellow Shi'ites?
Fneish: The United States is trying to take advantage of all the mistakes in the Muslim world to benefit itself. The U.S. gives itself the right to attack other countries and bypass all international laws. We can recognize that there is a certain political regime that is dangerous. But nobody has the right to appoint himself the world's police force. If the U.S. really wants to face terrorism, then it has to define terrorism. Because there's a difference between terrorism and resistance, but the U.S. never wants to see a distinction.
The other thing is that initially, when Osama bin Laden was serving its agenda against the Soviet Union, the U.S. was in accord with him. Back then the U.S. had no problem with how bin Laden thought about the Shi'a, or about Muslims, or about people in general.
So we need to clarify what you said in your question: We cannot separate the motives from the actions. As a man of principle, I see the American administration doing the same thing bin Laden was doing. Bin Laden wants to bring back the law of the jungle, and the United States is trying to bring it back with him. This does not help humanity.
Are the Americans a human rights organization trying to serve the rights of the people in the region? Of course not; even they're not claiming that. They're establishing a new empire in the world. Why haven't the prisoners in Guantanamo received trials? There are laws of civilization, and the United States is breaking all of them.
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