Lebanon's 'Armageddon Museum'

U.S.-Funded Bunker-Cum-Landmark A Casualty Of Israel-Hezbollah Fighting

(CBS)  This pile of rubble used to be a World War II underground bunker known as "The English Hospital."

An American charity spent $1.3 million of United States Agency for International Development money turning it into a museum — part of a program to encourage tourism in southern Lebanon, CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reports.

"It looks like Armageddon museum now. Ten years of hard work erased in ten days," said Cassandra Nelson, Chief Spokesperson of Mercy Corps, an international humanitarian aid charity.

The museum was one of six projects called "Marks of Time," which the brochure for the region described as "a truly fascinating glimpse into modern history."

Hezbollah may or may not have been using this bunker, but for the Israelis, whose border lies only a few miles up this valley, the mere suspicion that they could have been was enough to make it a target. And the museum is just rubble now after the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting.

Local people, who mainly back Hezbollah, know who they blame.

This street art with President Bush as its center piece dubs him "top criminal and terrorist." But the Americans who have been working here for years are considered friends.

"The deputy mayor of this town told me, 'it's not important that you're here with your money, the fact is that you're here, that you're Americans, that you're with us,'" Nelson told Pizzey.

Nearly two weeks into the ceasefire the town still has no electricity and no running water, forcing Mercy Corps to shift its focus from development to relief. The boxes contain food and hygiene items for a family of ten, and a warning about the biggest problem of all, unexploded ordnance and cluster bombs.

The whole of the south is littered with them. A bomb that came through a roof ended up in a garden. Stones are used to mark potential killers lying in alleyways and yards.

The use of cluster bombs in civilian areas is illegal. The UN says Israel dropped cluster bombs at 249 sites across Lebanon and an inquiry is underway to determine if they were American-supplied.

Or perhaps just American-funded, like the bombs that wrecked the USAID project, and all the other bombs that set Lebanon back 20 years.

[magnetsa]

Does this guy Prizzy really work for CBS? It must be a joke.

Perhaps he should put on a Hezbollah uniform after he gets CBS to fund such a thing.

Any one that writes something like "Or perhaps just American-funded, like the bombs that wrecked the USAID project, and all the other bombs that set Lebanon back 20 years. " should be fired immediately without recourse.

[ronniehm]

Hypocrite. How dare any supporter of Hezbollah charge anyone with disregarding civilian lives. If you care so much about civilians, get your side some uniforms.

[njaff]

A great insight and a factual glimps of Israeli crimes against the lebanese civilians. They have violated all international and US laws by the use of cluster bombs against civilians. We need more stories like this to expose the Israeli attrocities against lebanon and its people. We must tell the truth and fight against those who are against freedom of speach for the sake of protecting the Israeli crimes!

[ronniehm]

Of course it's commentary, ojama. I am stunned it's not in the opinion section. As for his terrorist sympathizing ways, enjoy this quote from Allen Pizzey:

"To Western ears, calls for blood-soaked martyrdom are an alien concept, but consider the way things are for millions of Muslims of all ages: If you were born into grinding poverty where upward mobility isn%u2019t even a dream, and have little to sustain you in life beyond religion, you too might find yourself screaming for the new Messiah with a $5 million price on his head...." (5 weeks after 9/11)

Apparently he's only part-time at CBS, considering all the PR work he has to do for Osama bin Laden ... sorry, the new Messiah.

[one_american]

Thank you for your ridiculous spin job, Allen Pizzey you terrorist sympathizer. Deny the truth and promote the propaganda.

What incredible idiots CBS employs.

[ronniehm]

What blur? Either you're carrying a missile launcher or you're not. If you're setting up a missile launcher in a residence or private business, expect to be responsible for any deaths that result. If the museum was being used as a base of operation, it's Hezbollah that made it a target. Wouldn't anyone agree that a U.S. military base in the back room of a coffee shop in Iraq would be putting the coffee shop at risk? I would. Is it blurry if there are American civilians having coffee? I don't see how.

[aelkhour]

I disagree. Hizbollah are inextricably linked to the citizen population. The line between civilan and fighter is blurred. If you use this meaningless distinction then you condemn all of southern Lebanon and we see the sort of indiscriminate carpet bombing (with US weapons) that shamefully resulted.

[ronniehm]

"Hezbollah may or may not have been using this bunker"

Then you may or may not want to blame Hezbollah. Their presence would certainly disqualify a location from being considered civilian.