LAT: Lebanon crisis reflects fading U.S. clout

[DeepModem Mom]

Lebanon crisis reflects fading U.S. clout
The White House saw the nation as a model in its bid to spread democracy in the Middle East.
By Paul Richter, Times Staff Writer
November 22, 2006

WASHINGTON -- When elections lifted reformers to power in Lebanon early last year, Bush administration officials hailed it as a showcase example of the "Arab spring" they saw sweeping through the region.

Now, with the Lebanese government teetering on collapse, U.S. officials are braced for another — and some say final — blow to the administration's campaign for its vision of reform in the Middle East.

The assassination Tuesday of Pierre Gemayel, a Cabinet minister and scion of one of the countries' leading Maronite Christian families, has renewed fears of civil war and raised suspicion that Syria is again asserting itself in the affairs of its restive neighbor.

"You're now seeing the last strand" of failed U.S. policy endeavors, said Nathan Brown, a specialist in Arab politics at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and a former United Nations consultant.

Lebanon's "Cedar Revolution," which gave power to anti-Syria forces, was heralded along with the 2005 elections in Iraq, Egypt and the Palestinian territories as part of a new movement that was going to be "as important as the fall of the Berlin Wall," Brown said.

But the changes that followed have dashed American hopes in country after country, he said....

http://www.latimes.com/la-fg-usleb23nov23,0,6839388.story?track=mostviewed-homepage

[Erika]

1. W, a failed man with a failed vision

Even his father warned him. Now look at the mess he's created, all except for his global backers.

[w4rma]

2. WTF did they expect would happen after prodding along Israel's invasion? (nt)

[LynnTheDem]

3. bush's legacy; "the last strand" of failed U.S. policy"

Well done, bush.

You have proved beyond doubt, for all time, as the greatest total fuck-up this country has ever produced.

[NorthernSpy]

4. the predictable result of a permissive policy toward Israel

What's happening in Lebanon was just so damn predictable. That's what's so frustrating.

Israel keeps burning us, and we keep taking it -- no matter what the consequences to ourselves or others. We must be out of our minds completely.