I had not revealed until now that I have a personal reason as well as a political/moral one for opposing the bombing of civilians in Lebanon, but my sister-in-law is currently in Beirut working w/ the refuge relief operation. My brother and his wife are relief workers based in India, actually my brother is the regional director of South Asia for CRS, the second biggest NGO relief org in the world after CARE. His wife works independently from him on separate projects, and they are frequently separated. They live an exciting life, but it is sometimes terrifying to watch from the outside as family members.
I just got off the phone w/ my brother in Dehli, he is in contact w/ her and getting up-to-the-minute reporting on life on the ground in Beirut. It has quieted down in the last couple days since the big apartment house bombing and attendant political fall-out, but the country has been hit hard as anyone who reads a paper knows. I made the remark that Beirut was a pretty nice place until 2 weeks ago, he kind of laughed and said that Dominique (his wife) says that "it's still pretty nice by our standards".
Gives you an idea of the places where they usually work, ie. the Asian tsunami, Angola, Congo, etc.. (They were working the Africa beat for ~12 years until 2004). She is staying in a really nice hotel surrounded by journalists, many of whom she knows and know each other from previous assignments. Pool, big suite, etc... Nice weather.
I got a good primer on the history of Hezbolla and the Israeli army in Lebanon from him, not really an overtly political one but just a good background. Aside from all else, my brother is a political scientist of the first order. He met his wife 17 years ago at Stanford when both were Phd candidates in their school of government/PS. That program admits ~12 students per year from around the globe, (Dominique is French/Swiss), and my brother got a full fellowship, which means a free ride. "Condi" Rice was provost of near eastern studies at the time and was a close friend of theirs, it is a very small and close-knit department. They fell in love, got married and decided to both jetison a comfortable and secure life teaching in an Ivy league university or becoming diplomats and instead dropped out of the program to take a position in Haiti doing relief work. They have never looked back, and are the most professionally fulfilled people I have ever met, including a lot of 8-figure salaried actors and directors.
The only info I just got was the story of the trip from Damascus to Beirut and basically the panic of the people still there who are afraid of the war spreading, but I will keep the inside view/story coming as i get it. Call it a "Pelican exclusive".
I have told my brother about this place and wish that he would check it out, but he is just too damn busy. He works with a fascinating collection of people, including one ex-Israeli army officer, and the info is really raw and unfiltered by media for the most part.
I asked him if he believes that Israel intentionally bombed the U.N. observers, he said,
"Yes, are you kidding? They've done it before, they hate the U.N. soldiers and vice-versa". Like it was no big deal, though. No mouth-foaming when he said it. I'm not religious, but if I was I'd be praying for my sister-in-law right now. If they kill her, I will not forgive. Never.
