Was It "Housekeeping" or Personal?
By FRANKLIN LAMB
CounterPunch
"Truth be told, this observer, along with one suspects plenty of others, was miffed at Hezbollah this past Wednesday morning....
My disgruntlement got seriously worse as I answered my phone and was advised that Hezbollah had turned down a meeting with former President Jimmy Carter which this observer, and others, had been trying to arrange......
And the answer is….
Hezbollah, my inquiries suggest, decided at the last minute not to meet with Jimmy Carter this trip at the request of Iran and out of respect for their Persian ally and the memory of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, still deeply revered in much of Lebanon among Hezbollah's rank and file as well as the wider Shia community.
It was a one-time message-sending rejection to clear the air, tidy up and perhaps settle some old scores and does not necessarily preclude a future meeting in Dahiyeh or Tehran.
Some in Lebanon are speculating that Tehran put the kibosh on Hezbollah meeting with Carter, remembering Carter's support for the Shah and the US embassy hostage crisis when, despite pleas from Carter operatives, Ayatollah Khomeini held the hostages until just after the 1980 US election, thus depriving Carter of reelection and throwing the contest to Ronald Reagan........"
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