Executive Summary
Public criticism of the Arab militaries is as old as their military debacles. However, in recent years Arabs in the Middle East have begun to use the “New Arab Media” (satellite TV channels, the blogosphere, and Internet forums and chats) to speak their minds on sensitive issues, including the performance and roles of their militaries. Focusing on the debates waged in the New Arab Media during the Israel-Hizbullah War (July-August 2006), this Policy Brief shows how the conflict and its manifestations — most notably Hizbullah’s ability to withstand Israel’s massive military campaign for 34 days and launch unremitting salvos of rockets at Israel’s territory — opened the door for the harshest wave of public criticism of the Arab militaries in decades. As we demonstrate, Hizbullah’s ability to “resist” Israel, the regional power, not only enabled Arab observers to criticize the “passivity” and “helplessness” of the Arab militaries whether explicitly or implicitly but also prompted them to demand more transparency and accountability from their militaries — and, ultimately, from their regimes — and to call for a significant reduction in Arab military expenditures and for clear limitations on the militaries’ domestic roles. Our discussion also suggests that contrary to the widely held view among Middle East specialists, research on the Arab militaries, which play a critical role in the preservation of the partially democratic or non-democratic Arab regimes, is both feasible and worthwhile.
