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Following are excerpts from an interview with Ahmad Al-Assad, Lebanese Shiite politician running for parliament, which aired on Future News TV on April 21, 2009:
Ahmad Al-Assad: We, the Shiites, go back hundreds of years. We are civilized, enlightened, secular people, who interact with other civilizations in a very positive way. Unfortunately, since the Iranian regime of Khomeini came to power, the greatest transformation has occurred with regard to Shiite history and tradition, of which I am proud to be a part. Therefore, people like me are trying to return Shiitization to its natural course.
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Today, it is not [just] me who is in danger. Even the brothers from Hizbullah admit that they believe in integral relations with the Iranian regime, and therefore, they are ready to carry out any order coming from the Iranian regime. The Iranian regime wants to establish an empire in the region, and to expand its influence. I don't have a problem with anyone with ambitions. You have ambitions too, and it is only natural. Every person should have ambitions. What's important is that a person fulfills his ambitions with his own capabilities. In today's modern world – in spite of America and the whole world – it is China that is competing with America. Why? Because for the past 50 years they have been working to build their economy, their science, their technology, and their media. This has gradually enabled them to compete with today's superpower, the U.S.
This is the way Iran should consolidate its status – not by associating itself with parties in Lebanon, in Palestine, and elsewhere, using them to create obstacles and exert pressure on the international community. This path is unacceptable. The Iranian regime has no interest in Lebanon becoming a state in the full sense of the word, because in such a case, Iran would not be able to use Lebanon to exert pressure on the international community. This is my problem with the brothers in Hizbullah – the agenda they are following is not in the interest of building the Lebanese state. The interest of the Shiites in Lebanon is the same as that of all Lebanese – to build the Lebanese state. No matter how much money comes from Iran, it serves a very small group of the Shiites in Lebanon, while the majority do not benefit from it. On the contrary, they keep regressing.
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After 2000, we should have worked hard to build the Lebanese state. The real struggle in today's world is not conducted with weapons, but with economics, science, technology, universities, and the media. This is the struggle in which we, both Lebanese and Arabs, need to excel, and to defeat the Israelis, so that we can really say that we have overcome them. With Katyushas and the like, we will achieve nothing.
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