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Smoke of Iraq War 'Drifting Over Lebanon'
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But these men's reading of the war has grown more complicated, as even the most radical voices try to make sense of the spectacular carnage there, the killing of civilians and the prospect of civil strife. Some supporters of the insurgency say they fear the conflict will unleash a civil war, the country's partition and the spillover of tension between Sunni and Shiite Muslims to the rest of the Arab world. That fear is particularly pronounced in Lebanon, where Shiites make up the single largest community.
"The smoke from the fire in Iraq is drifting over Lebanon," Shaaban said darkly.
Some see an American hand in Iraq's entropy; in their analysis, the United States and Israel are fanning the flames of sectarianism as a way to further divide the Arab world and create a region even more balkanized than today's. Others see a more deep-seated hostility in U.S. actions, a scorched-earth campaign to hasten an apocalyptic battle or, in Salih's words, the "politics of chaos."
"America is with the Shiites in Iraq and against the Shiites in Lebanon, with the Sunnis in Lebanon and against the Sunnis in Iraq and Palestine. It is against the Shiites in Iran. Where is America?" Shaaban asked. "It needs Einstein to resolve it."
In a battle they cast as existential, Yakan said a call to arms is a given.
"If the people of Tripoli had a way to go to Iraq, they wouldn't delay," he said.
His assistant, Mohammed Ali Deeb, spoke up. Two of his 10 sons, Sami and Osama, had gone to Iraq in 2004. Soon after they arrived in Fallujah, Deeb said, Iraqi insurgents told them it was best to return home; their role, they said, was in Lebanon.
"I wish to God the Americans would come here so we could fight them," Deeb said. "We're waiting for them anywhere."
Smiling, Deeb turned to the austere Yakan. "Tell him, sheik," he urged.
"It depends on America," Yakan answered, "whether or not it learned its lesson in Iraq."
'No One Will Have Any Rest'
Like the two sons of Yakan's assistant, Samir Deeb went to Iraq.
"I wish I could be back," the wiry 38-year-old said.
