Wednesday, March 16, 2005
Bush extends an olive branch to Hez, and tries to flank Iran
President Bush yesterday urged Hezbollah to disarm and to stay out of Israeli-Palestinian disputes, suggesting that the militant group could shed its terrorist label and win U.S. backing for a role in Lebanon's political mainstream.
Bush's remarks appeared to offer Hezbollah a path to legitimacy in the eyes of Washington, which has long regarded it as a terrorist organization.
Link.
The legitimatization of Hezbollah as a political party -- even an anti-Israeli, anti-American political party -- rather than as a terrorist organization would be tremendously positive both for Lebanon's prospects and our chess game with Iran. Hezbollah is, after all, one of the ways in which Iran can project military power against U.S. targets, possibly into the United States itself. The problem with using such organizations as levers in foreign policy is that they are not so certainly controlled as the United States Marines. If we can bring Hezbollah in from the cold, or even just shrink its ranks by catalyzing a schism between moderate members and militants, Lebanese democracy would have a better shot and Iran would lose a weapon.
0 Comments:
