Posted on 06/16/2008 4:38:38 PM PDT by forkinsocket
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon, even though it increases the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of US-backed moderates.
"Obviously, in any compromise there are compromises," Rice said during a surprise visit to meet Lebanon's new consensus choice for president.
The election of former army chief, Michel Suleiman, last month is the clearest sign that Lebanon has stepped back from the brink and that the deal with Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking hold.
But Hezbollah's ascendancy is a bitter pill for the US, which is worried that Iran's influence is spreading in the Middle East and had spent millions backing the Lebanese government for three years.
Rice's blessing is a sign that the Bush administration has accepted that Western-backed democratic leaders who helped Lebanon throw off three decades of Syrian domination could not govern the country alone. Lebanese politics operate on ambiguity and consensus, and in this case that meant giving veto power to Hezbollah, a militia and political force that the United States lists as a terrorist group.
"This was an agreement that I think served the interests of the Lebanese people," Rice said. "And since it served the interests of the Lebanese people, it served the interests of the United States. We support the democratically elected government of Lebanon."
Rice pleased her hosts by announcing US backing for a new diplomatic push to resolve Lebanon's land dispute with Israel.
"The time has come to deal with the Chebaa Farms issue," Rice said, referring to the patch of land where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.
The US envoy said the dispute should be settled with United Nations help. Rice did not respond when a reporter asked what pressure the United States would apply to Israel to relinquish the land it captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Lebanon claims the area and an Israeli withdrawal would give the Lebanese government a strong pretext to ask Hezbollah to lay down its arms. However, senior Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said that an Israeli withdrawal is not enough to justify disarming.
Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassim, told the private ANB television on Sunday that only after Israel withdraws from Chebaa Farms, halts its military flights over Lebanon and releases Lebanese prisoners would Hezbollah be ready to discuss a military strategy to defend Lebanon against any possible Israeli attack.
Political bickering prevented parliament from electing a president 19 times, leaving the country without a president since pro-Syrian holdover Emile Lahoud left office in November. The Hezbollah-led opposition hamstrung the US-backed government and, for a time, kept Prime Minister Fuad Saniora under siege in his office.
The power-sharing pact will probably allow Saniora to keep his job.
Rice saw Saniora, along with most of the other major players in Lebanon's complex religious- and sectarian-aligned political system, during a few hours of meetings held under heavy security. She was the first high-level US official to visit since the 18-month political crisis eased.
The standoff erupted into deadly street violence last month when Saniora's coalition tried to take political steps against Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian patrons. The government backed down after the Shi'ite militant group demonstrated its military power.
Gunmen overran large parts of Muslim west Beirut in a show of force that left 67 people dead. It was the worst violence since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, and raised fears that a new war was imminent.
Although the violence gave Hezbollah new political leverage, the United States claims it has provoked a backlash against Hezbollah among many Lebanese who cannot stomach the group's use of force against fellow Lebanese.
"I know it has been a struggle for Lebanon to get to the election of its president," Rice said after her session with Suleiman.
"I come away knowing that Lebanon has elected a very fine man," Rice told reporters. "We look forward to working with him."
The political breakthrough that allowed Lebanon's parliament to elect Suleiman was reached in Qatar's capital, Doha, with the help of Arab mediators. The United States made its views known but did not participate in the Arab-brokered pact or try to block the deal.
Rice urged quick resolution of the remaining political agenda items - approval of Saniora as prime minister and the naming of a unity cabinet.
A Hezbollah lawmaker said Rice's visit might disrupt the formation of the unity government.
"Ms Rice's visits have always been a disaster and a catastrophe for Lebanon because the US government never works for the sake of the Lebanese people, but for the sake of their interests in the region as well as Israel's" interests, Hezbollah legislator Nawar al-Saheli told The Associated Press.
Secretary Rice; you’re retirement house is ready.
Oh, Geez,...
“In any compromise, there are compromises”. You can’t dispute the brilliance of this woman.
Genius my fanny ...
What is it about 'NO' that US diplomats don't understand.
Would you like some asPEASe with your Rice, Condi?
For a lady who achieved so much before your SOS appointment... you’ve broken even, if even that.
Real shock...
And to think there are those who wish she had run for POTUS.
This babe needs to go home and stay there behind closed doors. When comes to anything in the middle east she is a creeping cancer upon Israel.
A Quick and Tiny Sampler ON THE INTERNET:
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http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hezbollah
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hizballah
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hizbullah
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Well, are they visiting Venezuela?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024913/posts?page=425#425
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http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hezbollah_0608e.htm
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)
June 5, 2008
“Hezbollah conducted a military exercise in which its operatives stormed a hill representing an IDF outpost. It is the first military exercise made public since the second Lebanon war, designed to deter Israel and Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon and to establish the concept of “resistance” among the Lebanese public.”
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Note: Graphics and photos included.
http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/mt_180508e.htm
Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)
May 26, 2008
“Funding terrorism: Hezbollah uses its websites to collect donations for itself and for its affiliated institutions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world. The donations are deposited in bank accounts in Lebanon and Europe.”
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ON THE INTERNET...
http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel07/de112907.htm
http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/de032906a.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2005/may2005/may05leb.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june04/laundering062904.htm
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ON THE INTERNET:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017374/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010525/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925244/posts
Uhh . . . . . Condi, honey, maybe you should sit this one out. You aren’t helping matters any and are likely to make the situation worse.
EXACTLY!
Many posters here are always pushing the idea of Condi as a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate which amazes me as much as all the lemmings following the Obamasiah over the cliff.
Condi-The-Clueless is just another incompetent afirmative action appointee whose promotion to Secretary Of State shows us that the Peter Principle is still operative.
If her inept performance as SecState wasn't so dangerous it would be laughable.
http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html
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ARTICLE SNIPPET (from post no. 1:
“The election of former army chief, Michel Suleiman, last month is the clearest sign that Lebanon has stepped back from the brink and that the deal with Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking hold.”
I had great hopes initially. I wuz duped.
How may here are still suggesting she should be considered as a possible VP choice?
Her and Colin Powell: Birds of Foggy-Bottomed-Feathers, get co-opted, and fly off the deep liberal end, together.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659749230&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(AP)
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Jun 17, 2008 1:44
“Rice calls power-share pact with Hizbullah a necessary compromise”
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon even though it increased the power of Hizbullah at the expense of US-backed moderates.”
ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Rice pleased her hosts by announcing US backing for a new diplomatic push to resolve Lebanon’s land dispute with Israel.”
Her whole life has been spent as an affirmative action appointee.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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Amongst Hizbollah’s exploits, don’t forget our Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. Till 9/11 they held the terror prize for killing Americans.
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