Why isn't Michel Aoun a household name yet?

Surprise, surprise: Beirut is a war zone again. And, even less surprisingly, the tangle of alliances resembles a veritable Gordian knot.

But it's worth looking into who's fighting whom here, because no one seems to be talking about the most important piece of it. The media has been telling the story of a conflict pitting Hizbullah and its allies, whoever they may be, against the Western-backed government, led by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora. When reported this way, the conflict looks like nothing more than the same old song and dance: an Islamist organization, seething with hatred for All That Is Good And Holy (read: the West, particularly America), grabs up weapons and starts trying to impose its vision of a new societal order, dissenting opinions be damned.

If you read between the lines, though, the story gets much more interesting. Because, you see, Hizbullah's allies aren't the radical Islamists that everyone seems to assume they are. In fact, their most powerful ally is none other than the Free Patriotic Movement, a political party led by a former army commander named Michel Aoun, who just happens to be a Christian. Yes, that's right: Hizbullah, the "terrorist organization" which the American government says is following in the ideological footsteps of Ayatollah Khomeini, is allied with a Christian. (Digression: this is further evidence that the American government actually has no idea of what's going on in the Middle East. No organization that supported Khomeini's belief in vilayet-i faqih would ever ally itself politically with a party headed by a non-Muslim. In order for vilayet-i faqih to work, the Jurist in charge has to actually be a Muslim.)

And there's more. Not only is Hizbullah allied with the FPM, but two years ago it signed a public memorandum with them outlining the goals of their partnership. There are a lot of interesting words in there, but Section X is far and away the most surprising. In that section, which talks about protecting Lebanon's sovereignty, the two groups address the issue of Hizbullah's (substantial) military capacity. While no solution is explicitly given, the document quite definitively states that any acceptable solution must "objectively define conditions that would eliminate the reasons and justifications for keeping these weapons." In other words, two years ago Hizbullah signed a document in which it promised to disarm itself, making no mention of the obliteration of Israel as a precondition.

Why isn't this being talked about? Am I the only one who sees it as a good thing that Hizbullah has allied itself with the Free Patriotic Movement, which calls for, among other things, women's rights, adherence to international laws, and democracy in its charter? Hizbullah probably doesn't like Israel any more now than it did before it entered into this alliance, but this type of gesture, crossing religious boundaries to further objectively positive ends (i.e. the disarmament of the Lebanese militias) should cause people to stop and take notice. Terrorist organizations don't do this sort of thing, Mr. President.

I've saved the best part of this story for last: according to Hizbullah's website, al-Qaeda has declared war on Hizbullah. The stated reason is that al-Qaeda wants to "defend the Sunni community of Lebanon." I'd be shocked if Hizbullah's alliance with the FPM weren't part of the calculus as well. Either way, Hizbullah is clearly starting to run afoul of at least one segment of the radical community. Those of us who have an interest in winning some support in the region might do well to ask why.