Lebanon in Search of a Government

Look Who's Meddling Now

By RANNIE AMIRI
CounterPunch

""Bush, your orders will not be implemented and your tutelage is rejected."

- Hezbollah Deputy General Sheik Naim Kassem, in response to President Bush's call for Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to ignore the constitution and push through his candidate for president......

Dig a bit deeper though and you will find what lies at the heart of Lebanon's political impasse, succinctly expressed by MP Hussein al-Haj Hassan:

"The problem is not with General Suleiman as a consensus candidate, but with a group (the ruling coalition) that changes its political stands according to American dictates."

Since the March 2005 Beirut protests that ultimately led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, the pendulum has decidedly swung in the opposite direction. Prime Minister Siniora along with the leaders of the March 14 Coalition (Saad Hariri, Walid Jumblatt and Samir Geagea) wasted no time in ingratiating themselves to the Bush administration and steering the country on a decidedly pro-American course.

This new posture was disturbingly on display even as Israel systematically ravaged Lebanon in the summer of 2006 (on the pretext of returning two Israeli soldiers caught trespassing on Lebanese soil). During the war, which killed 1,000 Lebanese civilians, displaced nearly one million people-a quarter of the entire population-and deliberately devastated the civilian infrastructure, Siniora not only shamelessly received Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in Beirut, but did so with a smile and kiss. Even after she made it clear the U.S. position would be neither to call for a cease-fire nor to restrain Israel, and despite the ongoing carnage, Rice was warmly welcomed........

The sad legacy the U.S. and Israel have left for Lebanon is the continued maiming of its civilians, mass displacement of its population, and decimation of entire towns and villages along with their roads and bridges. The opposition to the Siniora administration is therefore one that seeks to ensure a voice remains to speak out against U.S. and Israeli interference and aggression, not one that capitulates to it. To guarantee Lebanon will not become a client state like Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have, a demand is being made for a comprehensive political package that incorporates proper checks and balances on the prime minister.

Lebanese MP Hassan Fadlallah observed, "Bush didn't enter a country where he didn't cause wars and strife. He is trying to spread his experiment to Lebanon." In order for the present standoff to end, Siniora must first end Bush's experiment. That may very well need to start with Siniora's own resignation."