Sayyed Fadlullah: We should not wait for any minor changes the American Administration might adopt. We should work on two fronts: establish reform to confront the internal oppression and injustice, and protect our major causes to face the American and Zionist arrogance on the external front.

Asked in his weekly seminar the following question: Following the election of President Bush, how do you view the future of the region in the light of the great influence the new-cons have on the American Administration?

The Religious Authority, Sayyed Muhammad Hussein Fadlullah, said:

Some researchers believe that the roots of the neoconservatives go back to the Second World War, when a German thinker immigrated the US and introduced a set of principles focusing on the use of religion to control masses, and resorting to lies and deceit to ensure the stability of the government, as well as establishing a strong state to repress the hostility spirit of mankind. Although the proponents of such ideas played an active role in the Reagan Administration, they could not win over the Congress during the Clinton Administration to their project in which they focused on American's challenge to anti- democratic regimes and using force against dictatorships, especially the Iraqi regime.

Yet, we believe that 9/11 gave them a big boost, and led many Americans to believe in preemptive wars and controlling rogue states. In practice, this meant an anti-Arab and anti-Muslim policy, especially towards the Palestinians, as well as using all possible political and informational means to invade the Arab and Muslim region starting by Iraq.

We are not saying, as some have suggested, that it all started in the aftermath of 9/11 because we know quite well that the Americans have drawn their plans to deploy their forces in the oil region in the eighties. The invasion of Kuwait by Saddam was suggested by the US to pave the way to implement such plans. But 9/11 gave America a chance to act as a "wounded lion" with a vengeance, and one that was not met by any international axis that would have warned him against resorting to the military means which are actually terrorist in nature, and which aim to fulfill the imperial dreams of the Neocons.

Thus, we believe that there are two fundamentalisms that nourish one another whether directly or indirectly. Furthermore, the political atmosphere created by 9/11 was a precious gift that presented the ideas of the Neocons with a safety net that of fighting terrorism which many tried to identify with Islam.

In the pursuit of their goals, the Neocons marginalized the UN especially after ignoring the international legitimacy in their invasion of Iraq. Moreover, the preventive war strategy has become the weapon raised against all those who oppose the American policies, and even to bring down the UN itself.

For they do not want the United Nations to be the leading institution in the world but rather to give America a free hand in determining the fate of the nations in the way that promotes the American interests.

Despite all that, we believe that the American Administration led by the Neocons had had several major setbacks and failures not least of which is the exposure of its WMD lies and the subsequent sinking in the Iraqi mud. Thus, it will have to be less aggressive in the future or even change its tactics in the region whether in Iraq or in Palestine. But this does not mean abandoning its strategy of control over the oil resources in the region and the supremacy of Israel's security. It only means that it might have to cooperate more with the EU and the group of eight.

Therefore, and as the hope that American will stop supporting Israel or give up its strategy to subdue the entire region is merely a mirage, we should not wait for any minor changes the American Administration might adopt. We should work on two fronts: establish reform to confront the internal oppression and injustice, and protect our major causes to face the American and Zionist arrogance on the external front.