Rice welcomes power-share with Hezbollah

AP ^ | Jun 17 2008 | Anne Gearan

[forkinsocket]

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice says she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon, even though it increases the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of US-backed moderates.

"Obviously, in any compromise there are compromises," Rice said during a surprise visit to meet Lebanon's new consensus choice for president.

The election of former army chief, Michel Suleiman, last month is the clearest sign that Lebanon has stepped back from the brink and that the deal with Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking hold.

But Hezbollah's ascendancy is a bitter pill for the US, which is worried that Iran's influence is spreading in the Middle East and had spent millions backing the Lebanese government for three years.

Rice's blessing is a sign that the Bush administration has accepted that Western-backed democratic leaders who helped Lebanon throw off three decades of Syrian domination could not govern the country alone. Lebanese politics operate on ambiguity and consensus, and in this case that meant giving veto power to Hezbollah, a militia and political force that the United States lists as a terrorist group.

"This was an agreement that I think served the interests of the Lebanese people," Rice said. "And since it served the interests of the Lebanese people, it served the interests of the United States. We support the democratically elected government of Lebanon."

Rice pleased her hosts by announcing US backing for a new diplomatic push to resolve Lebanon's land dispute with Israel.

"The time has come to deal with the Chebaa Farms issue," Rice said, referring to the patch of land where the borders of Lebanon, Syria and Israel meet.

The US envoy said the dispute should be settled with United Nations help. Rice did not respond when a reporter asked what pressure the United States would apply to Israel to relinquish the land it captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

Lebanon claims the area and an Israeli withdrawal would give the Lebanese government a strong pretext to ask Hezbollah to lay down its arms. However, senior Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said that an Israeli withdrawal is not enough to justify disarming.

Hezbollah's deputy leader, Sheik Naim Kassim, told the private ANB television on Sunday that only after Israel withdraws from Chebaa Farms, halts its military flights over Lebanon and releases Lebanese prisoners would Hezbollah be ready to discuss a military strategy to defend Lebanon against any possible Israeli attack.

Political bickering prevented parliament from electing a president 19 times, leaving the country without a president since pro-Syrian holdover Emile Lahoud left office in November. The Hezbollah-led opposition hamstrung the US-backed government and, for a time, kept Prime Minister Fuad Saniora under siege in his office.

The power-sharing pact will probably allow Saniora to keep his job.

Rice saw Saniora, along with most of the other major players in Lebanon's complex religious- and sectarian-aligned political system, during a few hours of meetings held under heavy security. She was the first high-level US official to visit since the 18-month political crisis eased.

The standoff erupted into deadly street violence last month when Saniora's coalition tried to take political steps against Hezbollah and its Syrian and Iranian patrons. The government backed down after the Shi'ite militant group demonstrated its military power.

Gunmen overran large parts of Muslim west Beirut in a show of force that left 67 people dead. It was the worst violence since Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war, and raised fears that a new war was imminent.

Although the violence gave Hezbollah new political leverage, the United States claims it has provoked a backlash against Hezbollah among many Lebanese who cannot stomach the group's use of force against fellow Lebanese.

"I know it has been a struggle for Lebanon to get to the election of its president," Rice said after her session with Suleiman.

"I come away knowing that Lebanon has elected a very fine man," Rice told reporters. "We look forward to working with him."

The political breakthrough that allowed Lebanon's parliament to elect Suleiman was reached in Qatar's capital, Doha, with the help of Arab mediators. The United States made its views known but did not participate in the Arab-brokered pact or try to block the deal.

Rice urged quick resolution of the remaining political agenda items - approval of Saniora as prime minister and the naming of a unity cabinet.

A Hezbollah lawmaker said Rice's visit might disrupt the formation of the unity government.

"Ms Rice's visits have always been a disaster and a catastrophe for Lebanon because the US government never works for the sake of the Lebanese people, but for the sake of their interests in the region as well as Israel's" interests, Hezbollah legislator Nawar al-Saheli told The Associated Press.

[forkinsocket]

.

[toddlintown]

Secretary Rice; you’re retirement house is ready.

[A_perfect_lady]

Oh, Geez,...

[DLfromthedesert]

“In any compromise, there are compromises”. You can’t dispute the brilliance of this woman.

[TexGuy]

Genius my fanny ...

[hinckley buzzard]

an Israeli withdrawal would give the Lebanese government a strong pretext to ask Hezbollah to lay down its arms. However, senior Hezbollah officials have repeatedly said that an Israeli withdrawal is not enough to justify disarming.

What is it about 'NO' that US diplomats don't understand.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Would you like some asPEASe with your Rice, Condi?

For a lady who achieved so much before your SOS appointment... you’ve broken even, if even that.

[Czar]

So we now learn we have one more dumb-ass at Foggy Bottom.

Real shock...

[facedown]

And to think there are those who wish she had run for POTUS.

[biff]

This babe needs to go home and stay there behind closed doors. When comes to anything in the middle east she is a creeping cancer upon Israel.

[Cindy]

A Quick and Tiny Sampler ON THE INTERNET:

###

http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hezbollah
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hizballah
http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/hizbullah

###

Well, are they visiting Venezuela?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2024913/posts?page=425#425

###

###

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/site/html/search.asp?isSearch=yes&isT8=yes&searchText=T104&pid=167&sid=13&preview=

#

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/hezbollah_0608e.htm

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)
June 5, 2008

“Hezbollah conducted a military exercise in which its operatives stormed a hill representing an IDF outpost. It is the first military exercise made public since the second Lebanon war, designed to deter Israel and Hezbollah’s opponents in Lebanon and to establish the concept of “resistance” among the Lebanese public.”

#

Note: Graphics and photos included.

http://www.terrorism-info.org.il/malam_multimedia/English/eng_n/html/mt_180508e.htm

Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center
at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC)
May 26, 2008

“Funding terrorism: Hezbollah uses its websites to collect donations for itself and for its affiliated institutions in Lebanon and elsewhere in the world. The donations are deposited in bank accounts in Lebanon and Europe.”

###

ON THE INTERNET...

http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel07/de112907.htm
http://detroit.fbi.gov/dojpressrel/pressrel06/de032906a.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/publications/leb/2005/may2005/may05leb.htm
http://www.fbi.gov/page2/june04/laundering062904.htm

###

ON THE INTERNET:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2017374/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2010525/posts
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1925244/posts

[DustyMoment]

Uhh . . . . . Condi, honey, maybe you should sit this one out. You aren’t helping matters any and are likely to make the situation worse.

[Iron Munro]

And to think there are those who wish she had run for POTUS.

EXACTLY!

Many posters here are always pushing the idea of Condi as a Presidential or Vice Presidential candidate which amazes me as much as all the lemmings following the Obamasiah over the cliff.

Condi-The-Clueless is just another incompetent afirmative action appointee whose promotion to Secretary Of State shows us that the Peter Principle is still operative.

If her inept performance as SecState wasn't so dangerous it would be laughable.

[Cindy]

http://www.truthusa.com/IRAN.html

#

ARTICLE SNIPPET (from post no. 1:

“The election of former army chief, Michel Suleiman, last month is the clearest sign that Lebanon has stepped back from the brink and that the deal with Iranian-backed Hezbollah is taking hold.”

[sionnsar]

If her inept performance as SecState wasn't so dangerous it would be laughable.

I had great hopes initially. I wuz duped.

[Conservative Vermont Vet]

Secretary Rice; "CONDI-CLUELESS," you’re retirement house is ready.

How may here are still suggesting she should be considered as a possible VP choice?

Her and Colin Powell: Birds of Foggy-Bottomed-Feathers, get co-opted, and fly off the deep liberal end, together.

[Cindy]

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1212659749230&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
(AP)

#

Jun 17, 2008 1:44
“Rice calls power-share pact with Hizbullah a necessary compromise”
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
BEIRUT, Lebanon

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday she welcomes a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon even though it increased the power of Hizbullah at the expense of US-backed moderates.”

ARTICLE SNIPPET: “Rice pleased her hosts by announcing US backing for a new diplomatic push to resolve Lebanon’s land dispute with Israel.”

[cw35]

Her whole life has been spent as an affirmative action appointee.

[SJackson]

If you'd like to be on this middle east/political ping list, please FR mail me.

High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]

----------------------------

[SJackson]

Amongst Hizbollah’s exploits, don’t forget our Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut. Till 9/11 they held the terror prize for killing Americans.

[SJackson]

A reminder. Even Wikipedia gets the culprit more or less right.

--------------------

1983 Beirut barracks bombing

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to: navigation, search

1983 Beirut barracks bombing
A smoke cloud rises from the rubble of the bombed barracks at Beirut International Airport.
Location	33°49′45″N 35°29′41″E / 33.82917, 35.49472 (USMC Barracks at Beirut Airport)Coordinates: 33°49′45″N 35°29′41″E / 33.82917, 35.49472 (USMC Barracks at Beirut Airport) USMC barracks, Beirut Airport                       33°52′10″N 35°29′17″E / 33.86944, 35.48806 (Drakkar Barracks) 'Drakkar' barracks of French 1er Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes, Ramlet al Baida, Beirut
Date	23 October 1983 6:20 am
Attack type	Suicide truck bombs
Deaths	241 American servicemen, 58 French servicemen, 6 civilians, 2 suicide bombers
Injured	75
Perpetrator(s)	Unknown

The 1983 Beirut barracks bombing was a major incident on October 23, 1983, during the Lebanese Civil War. Two truck bombs struck separate buildings in Beirut housing U.S. and French members of the Multinational Force in Lebanon, killing hundreds of servicemen, the majority being U.S. Marines. The blasts led to the withdrawal of the international peacekeeping force from Lebanon, where they had been stationed since the Israeli 1982 invasion of Lebanon. "Islamic Jihad" took responsibility for the bombing, but that organization is thought to have been a nom de guerre for Hezbollah receiving help from the Islamic Republic of Iran.^[1]

           

[edit] The bombings

At around 6:20 am, a yellow Mercedes-Benz truck drove to Beirut International Airport, where the 1st Battalion 8th Marines, under the U.S. 2nd Marine Division of the United States Marine Corps, had set up its local headquarters. The truck had been substituted for a hijacked water delivery truck. The truck turned onto an access road leading to the Marines' compound and circled a parking lot. The driver then accelerated and crashed through a barbed wire fence around the parking lot, passed between two sentry posts, crashed through a gate and drove into the lobby of the Marine headquarters. The Marine sentries at the gate were operating under rules of engagement which made it very difficult to respond quickly to the truck. By the time the two sentries had locked, loaded, and shouldered their weapons, the truck was already inside the building's entry way.

The suicide bomber detonated his explosives, which were equivalent to 5,400 kg (12,000 pounds) of TNT. The force of the explosion collapsed the four-story cinder-block building into rubble, crushing many inside. The blast was described by a U.S. federal district court judge as having been the largest deliberate non-nuclear blast ever, although there are many other contenders for this title. In 1945, for example, 100 tons of T.N.T. was intentionally detonated near Alamogordo, New Mexico as a scaled-down test run to the detonation of the 1st nuclear weapon.^[2] According to Eric Hammel in his history of the Marine landing force, "The force of the explosion initially lifted the entire four-story structure, shearing the bases of the concrete support columns, each measuring fifteen feet in circumference and reinforced by numerous one and three quarter inch steel rods. The airborne building then fell in upon itself. A massive shock wave and ball of flaming gas was hurled in all directions." The explosive mechanism was a gas-enhanced device, probably consisting of bottled propane, butane, or acetylene, placed in proximity to a conventional explosive such as primacord, all of which are readily available on the retail market. Despite the lack of sophistication and ubiquity of its component parts, a gas-enhanced device can be a very lethal weapon. These devices are similar to fuel-air or thermobaric weapons, explaining the large blast and damage. Following the Beirut barracks tragedy, the realization that terrorist organizations have weapons of potentially enormous yield (the Beirut device is estimated to have had the power of over twelve thousand pounds of TNT), deliverable by an ordinary truck or van, led to the emplacement of protective barriers around critical government facilities throughout the United States.^[3]

About two minutes later, a similar attack occurred against the barracks of the French La 3ème Compagnie, 1er Régiment de Chasseurs Parachutistes (3rd Company of the 1st Parachute Infantry Regiment), 6 km away in the Ramlet al Baida area of West Beirut. Another suicide bomber drove his truck down a ramp into the 'Drakkar' building's underground parking garage and detonated his bomb, leveling the eight-story building and killing 58 French soldiers. Many of the soldiers had gathered on their balconies moments earlier to see what was happening at the airport^[4]

 

Rescue and clean-up crews search for casualties following the barracks bombing in Beirut on October 23, 1983. Photo by SSgt Randy Gaddo, USMC

 

President Ronald Reagan (far left) and First Lady Nancy Reagan pay their respects to the caskets of the victims of the attacks

 

[edit] Death toll

Rescue efforts continued for days. While the rescuers were at times hindered by sniper fire, some survivors were pulled from the rubble and airlifted to the RAF hospital in Cyprus or to U.S. and German hospitals in West Germany.^[5]

In the attack on the American barracks, the death toll was 241 American servicemen: 220 Marines, 18 Navy personnel and 3 Army soldiers. Sixty Americans were injured. In the attack on the French barracks, 58 paratroopers were killed and 15 injured, in the single worst military loss for France since the end of the Algerian war.^[6] In addition, the elderly Lebanese custodian of the Marines' building was killed in the first blast.^[5] The wife and four children of a Lebanese janitor at the French building were also killed.^[7]

This was the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States Marine Corps since the Battle of Iwo Jima (2,500 in one day) of World War II and the deadliest single-day death toll for the United States military since the 243 killed on 31st January 1968 — the first day of the Tet offensive in the Vietnam war. The attack remains the deadliest single attack on Americans overseas since World War II.^[8]

 

[edit] Response

U.S. President Ronald Reagan called the attack a "despicable act" and pledged to keep a military force in Lebanon. Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who had privately advised the administration against ever having stationed U.S. Marines in Lebanon,^[9] said there would be no change in the U.S.'s Lebanon policy. On October 24 French President François Mitterrand visited the French bomb site. It was not an official visit, and he only stayed for a few hours, but he did declare: "We will stay." U.S. Vice President George Bush toured the Marine bombing site on October 26 and said the U.S. "would not be cowed by terrorists."

In retaliation for the attacks, France launched an air strike in the Beqaa Valley against alleged Islamic Revolutionary Guards positions. President Reagan assembled his national security team and planned to target the Sheik Abdullah barracks in Baalbek, Lebanon, which housed Iranian Revolutionary Guards believed to be training Hezbollah fighters.^[10] Defense Secretary Weinberger lobbied successfully against the mission, because he was not certain that Iran was to blame for the attacks.^[9]

Besides a few shellings, there was no serious retaliation for the Beirut bombing from the Americans. In December 1983, U.S. aircraft attacked Syrian targets in Lebanon, but this was in response to Syrian missile attacks on planes, not the barracks bombing.

In the meantime, the attack gave a boost to the growth of the Shi'ite organization Hezbollah. Hezbollah denied involvement in the attacks but was seen by Lebanese as involved nonetheless as it praised the "two martyr mujahidin" who "set out to inflict upon the U.S. Administration an utter defeat not experienced since Vietnam ..."^[11] Hezbollah was now seen by many as "the spearhead of the sacred Muslim struggle against foreign occupation".

Amal militia leader Nabih Berri, who had previously supported U.S. mediation efforts, asked the U.S. and France to leave Lebanon and accused the U.S. and France of seeking to commit 'massacres' against the Lebanese and creating a "climate of racism" against the Shia.^[12] Islamic Jihad phoned in new threats against the MNF "pledging that 'the earth would tremble' unless the MNF withdrew by New Year's Day 1984.^[13]

The Marines were moved offshore where they could not be targeted. On February 7, 1984, President Reagan ordered the Marines to begin withdrawal from Lebanon. This was completed on February 26, four months after the barracks bombing; the rest of the Multinational Force was withdrawn by April.

 

[edit] Aftermath

At the time of the bombing, several radical racist Shiite militant groups claimed responsibility for the attacks, and one, the Free Islamic Revolutionary Movement, identified the two suicide bombers as Abu Mazen and Abu Sijaan.^[14]

After some years of investigation the bombing was thought to have been committed by the Lebanese Shia militant militia and political party Hezbollah while it was still "underground," though opinion is not unanimous. Hezbollah did not formally announce its existence until 1985 when it published a manifesto condemning the West and proclaiming "Allah is behind us supporting and protecting us while instilling fear in the hearts of our enemies."^[15] The U.S. government believes that elements that would eventually become Hezbollah, backed by Iran and Syria, were responsible for this bombing,^[16] as well as the bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut earlier in April. Hezbollah, Iran and Syria have denied any involvement.

Lebanese author Hala Jaber claims that Iran and Syria helped organize the bombing which was run by two Lebanese Shia, Imad Mughniyeh and Mustapha Badredeen:

Imad Mughniyeh and Mustapha Badredeen took charge of the Syrian-Iranian backed operation. Mughniyeh had been a highly trained security man with the PLO's Force 17 . . . Their mission was to gather information and details about the American embassy and draw up a plan that would guarantee the maximum impact and leave no trace of the perpetrator. Meetings were held at the Iranian embassy in Damascus. They were usually chaired by the ambassador, Hojatoleslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi, who played an instrumental role in founding Hezbollah. In consultation with several senior Syrian intelligence officers, the final plan was set in motion. The vehicle and explosives were prepared in the Bekaa Valley which was under Syrian control.^[17]

Along with the U.S. Embassy bombing, the barracks bombing prompted the Inman Report, a review of the security of U.S. facilities overseas for the U.S. Department of State.

In May 2003, in a case brought by the families of the 241 servicemen who were killed, U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth declared that the Islamic Republic of Iran was responsible for the 1983 attack. Lamberth concluded that Hezbollah was formed under the auspices of the Iranian government, was completely reliant on Iran in 1983, and assisted Iranian Ministry of Information and Security agents in carrying out the operation.^[18]

The attorney for the families of the victims uncovered some new information, including a National Security Agency (NSA) intercept of a message sent from Iranian intelligence headquarters in Tehran to Hojjat ol-eslam Ali-Akbar Mohtashemi, the Iranian ambassador in Damascus. As it was paraphrased by presiding U.S. District Court Judge Royce C. Lamberth, "The message directed the Iranian ambassador to contact Hussein Musawi, the leader of the terrorist group Islamic Amal, and to instruct him ... 'to take a spectacular action against the United States Marines.'"^[19] Musawi's Islamic Amal was a breakaway faction of the Amal Movement and an autonomous part of embryonic Hezbollah.^[20] On September 7, 2007, Judge Lamberth ordered that Iran pay USD $2.65 billion to the families of the 241 U.S. servicemen killed in the bombing.^[21]

Some in the U.S. government continue to hold that culpability in the Marine barracks attack is undetermined. In 2001, former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger stated: "But we still do not have the actual knowledge of who did the bombing of the Marine barracks at the Beirut Airport, and we certainly didn't then."^[9]

 

[Cindy]

I’d will never forget.

Thank you for adding that here, SJackson.

http://www.beirut-memorial.org/history/index.html

[cookcounty]

"The US envoy said the dispute should be settled with United Nations help."

It already was settled with UN help. But Hezbollah and Syria apparently have a veto at the UN.

[OldArmy52]

Don’t dispute her brillance. Just don’t like her being on Obama, er, ah, the Islamists’ side.

[A_perfect_lady]

How may here are still suggesting she should be considered as a possible VP choice?

Not me. I confess, I was so excited about her four years ago. Now? Depressed.

[Cindy]

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=A352B631-D354-4B90-ACAB-4427AB1E1C72

“Condi’s Middle East Swansong”
By P. David Hornik
FrontPageMagazine.com | Tuesday, June 17, 2008

[Enchante]

This is where Rice/Bush worship of democracy without regard to barring terrorism has resulted in Wilsonian idiocy.

It should have been stated and enforced from the start that “democracy” includes a requirement that parties and interest groups themselves much respect the democratic process, renounce terrorism and armed politics, etc. When you have “power comes out of the barrel of a gun” ala Hamas and Hezbollah then you do not have democracy — no matter what the pretended results may be.

If Hamas and Hezbollah had never been allowed to stand in electoral processes without complete renunciation of their terrorism and armed “resistance” then they would either have gone into more open opposition to the democratic process (most likely) or else they would have had to become real political parties (hard to imagine).

Instead, Rice/Bush have enabled terrorists to largely take over both Hamastan and Lebanon. Big MISTAKE.

[08bil98z24]

The State Department building must have something in the water, after working there you make incredibly stupid policy decisions. The lack of judgment or knowledge from a state department official is sad.

I read recently (I think on World Tribune) that the US military was preparing for an eventual show down with Hezbollah. Yet the State Department thinks it is acceptable for them to have more power now than before. Sigh.

[Guenevere]

Just a continuation of the unveiling/revealing faces of Bush and his administration...

We were deceived.

Seven years ago we thought we had a respite, a small respite of our downward slide...

..only to find out later it was a step into the abyss.

[DLfromthedesert]

Sorry; forgot the sarcasm tag. That was a totally inane statement from a woman who is purported to be “brilliant”

[Paul Ross]

...even though it increases the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of US-backed moderates."

Sigh. Further evidence of her worthlessness.

One might say "let's let Al-Queda have its way with Foggy Bottom."...and see how she feels then.

Let's start over.