A civil war veteran and former Member of Parliament explained: “most Lebanese participated in the war. Participation… was never an issue.” During its What is to Be Done? Lebanon’s War-Loaded Memory initiative, UMAM D&R saw that the issue of former combatants needed attention despite persistent sensitivities and challenges, and commissioned Statistics Lebanon Ltd. to query veterans from each “camp.” Reviewed initially during a 2008 focus group, the final product explains something about who fought, why, and how they view their actions.
Notable veteran Assaad Chaftari saw the predictive value of the effort, especially since many veterans were integrated into the army and other governmental bodies after the war. But while we believe the results give Lebanon’s history more comprehensiveness and transparency, we also believe they should be judged only on how well they achieve that purpose.[Read more...]