Posted on 02/23/2006 1:07:36 AM PST by HAL9000
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beirut Thursday on a surprise visit aimed to support efforts by anti-Syrian groups to oust President Emile Lahoud.Rice, who is on a regional tour, has met with Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh at Rafik Hariri International Airport. She will also hold talks with Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and other Lebanese officials during the visit that will last for only several hours.
"The sole purpose of this trip is to express support for the Lebanese people and for the Lebanese government as they try to recover fully their sovereignty," Rice said upon her arrival.
She also said she would not be meeting or calling Lahoud, who is under international and local pressure to step down.
The top U.S. diplomat's trip to Lebanon came after speculations it would be cancelled for security considerations.
An Nahar's Washington correspondent Hisham Melhem reported that Rice's visit could be put off because of security concerns after the news was leaked to the media.
Lebanese officials initially had no comment on the visit, but troops were spotted on major highways and police were removing parked vehicles overnight from designated streets on her route.
Rice arrived at midmorning on the second day of her Middle East tour. She spent Wednesday in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, two key players in Arab attempts to mediate between Lebanon and Syria whose relations deteriorated severely after the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri last year.
Her stop in Beirut would be to show support for a government dominated by anti-Syrian groups amid a campaign by the parliamentary majority to unseat Lahoud, Syria's closest ally.
The March 14 groups were hoping to mobilize their supporters to hold a demonstration demanding the head of state to step down during a cabinet session at the government offices near the national museum in Beirut Thursday evening.
But U.S. embassy officials asked the March 14 leaders to call off the protest to avoid tensions with anti-U.S. groups during Rice's visit, according to As Safir newspaper.
U.S. officials in Lebanon were alarmed after hearing news that anti-American groups were planning to protest against Rice's visit to underscore their rejection of a perceived American intervention.
As Safir reported that legislator Saad Hariri made phone calls with the leaders of Hizbullah and Speaker Nabih Berri's Amal Movement to cancel the demonstration against Rice.
Hariri's close aide Mustafa Nasser agreed with Hizbullah leader's political adviser Hussein Khalil to put it off in return for canceling the protest against Lahoud during the cabinet session.
Last month, some 250 demonstrators protested against a visit to Beirut by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch. Riot police used tear gas and water cannon to keep protesters away from the Grand Serail where the U.S. official was holding talks with Saniora.
Rice last visited Beirut on July 22. Hours later a bomb exploded on a street popular for its nightlife, wounding 11 people. Lebanon has been plagued by a series of bombings targeting anti-Syrian politicians and journalists in the last year.
The United States has led the campaign against Syria, demanding it stop interfering in Lebanon after forcing Damascus to withdraw its army in April in the wake of Hariri's assassination.
The top U.S. diplomat said on LBCI last week that Lebanon would be better off with a new president who "looks to the future of Lebanon, not its past." Her comments were taken by anti-Syrian groups as a nod for change.
I like Rice, but what has she accomplished as SoS?
Granted Iran did help some...
L
Being a conservative at State is like being a Young Republican on a liberal college campus - terrible in the past, bad in the present, but getting better day-by-day.
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