Western fronts. Before all this, they are threatened by the Zionist peril crouching on a patch of ground that is of their very
substance; and they are, likewise, in the utmost need of a comprehensive military renaissance to strengthen their position and support their independence.
When Lebanon followed the example of its sisters Syria, Egypt, and Iraq, and its government adopted the principle of compulsory conscription, that act was a blessed step on which the government is to be congratulated. Its execution will bring the greatest of benefits to the Lebanese. Compulsory conscription is the best of schools for the young, for it melts them all in the crucible of patriotism, removes the various obstacles that used to divide their sons, and strengthens in them the spirit of manliness, dignity, and order.
Independence carries many responsibilities, the foremost of which is the responsibility of defending it. Hence it is the duty of every independent state to strengthen its armed forces, and this can only be done by way of compulsory military service and the levying of the blood tax.
Compulsory conscription is the best school for the sons of the nation, and the sooner the government puts it into effect, the better it will have done.
I took leave of Mrs. Nuha, praising her patriotism, and I still remember her last words to me:
"Would that I had more than one soldier to offer to the army."
... After this I wished to meet a second group of our mothers — those who have young sons of military age or near it, for on these lie the greater responsibilities...
Mrs. Wafaq, wife of Dr. Mustafa Khalidi
... Mrs. Wafaq received me with a calm smile and a welcome, as is
always her habit, and scarcely had I put my question to her when a gleam of enthusiasm showed in her eyes and she said:
— Have we any choice in this? Or has the matter become inevitable? For my part, I see no hope except through this one window! What force will drive our enemies from us other than the force of our own soldiers, of our own flesh and blood? If we aspire to become a respected nation, one whose flank is feared, then we must have compulsory conscription: it alone is the way of deliverance from the Zionist peril crouching on the borders of our country and filling our hearts with terror...
And I asked her, inquiring:
— And should the bill be carried out, will you encourage your children to enroll in the soldier's ranks?
— Yes! I would be the first to send her children to soldiering... and I would have the honor of doing so! No pleasure of mine can equal that pleasure — to see them strong, hardened young men, their muscles like twisted
rope. And this makes me great among people: to have borne for this dear homeland four soldiers to defend its precincts.
... And as I stood at the door I met the four Khalidi boys coming home from school — the eldest of them, Ramzi, is almost a young man! Eighteen years old? Then he is of military age!
Mrs. Adal Rihani Sader
Mrs. Adal received me in the Oriental salon, its heavy curtains hanging low so that the old Oriental seats showed in their dusky, aristocratic colors...
... My interlocutor was surprised at my question, for she sees no pressing necessity calling for compulsory conscription; and she is anxious not to be misunderstood, and her words taken as an opin
ion stripped of true patriotism! She said:
— My sons are above military age, so there is no room for the interpretation that I express this opinion to escape responsibility and duty. What we need is to spread the principles of peace among mankind, not to prepare the means of mutual slaughter and strife by conscription and armament.
And as a mother, I hold that it is incumbent on mothers to sow in the breasts of their sons the love of peace and resistance to the causes of war, so that they may grow up on humane principles. The preaching of these principles is more profitable to us and to humanity than compulsory conscription — especially as we are too weak to keep pace with others along that road...