President Bush Shouldn’t Come To Lebanon
Why it’s a bad Idea for the American President to come to Lebanon during his Middle East trip.
According to the Wall Street Journal, President Bush might add Lebanon as a “surprise” stop in his trip
“My guess is the headlines from this trip are going to come from the unannounced visits,” said Jonathan Alterman, head of the Mideast program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, in a briefing with reporters. “There are lots of places he could go that you wouldn’t want…announced in advance for security reasons that would be a big deal. And I think that is part of the bittersweet irony of this trip: that the two places that the administration has closest to its heart, Iraq and Lebanon, are places the president can’t announce he’s visiting.”
We’re flattered that Lebanon is close to Mr. Bush’s heart, but unfortunately, the feeling is not mutual. Even the supporters of P.M. Seniora -arguably Mr. Bush’s favorite Lebanese- don’t like Mr. Bush one bit.
The average Lebanese won’t forget Mr. Bush’s stance during the War on Lebanon in 2006, where not only did he support the Israeli onslaught, but he actively sent ammunitions to the Israeli army.
Mr. Bush is tempted to come because Lebanon can still be portrayed as a Middle Eastern “bright spot”. But by showing up, Mr. Bush risks undermining his allies by unwittingly propping up Syria and Iran’s allies. The opposition is secretly wishing him to come because of its internal political predicament. Since it can’t find any cause to rally around without damaging its internal position, a Bush visit will give it a perfect excuse to take to the streets and paralyze the country.
Lebanon is a small country and even a surprise visit by Mr. Bush could ignite spontaneous demonstrations by tens of thousands of Lebanese and their mothers. A very strong street showing against Mr. Bush could play in the hands of the opposition and needlessly embarrass his Lebanese allies.
For everyone’s benefit, Mr. Bush should skip the Tabbouleh.
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Hello, my name is Mustapha and I blog in The Beirut Spring about Lebanese society and politics. I started in February 2005 after the killing of P.M. Rafik Hariri.
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I agrre. Bush should not visit Lebanon at this time! The same for the Iranian mullahs and the Syrian Mukhabarat!
it is rare that i agree with you 100%, but in this case i do. what puzzles me, however, is the fact that you undermine your own position (and that of all M14). this man is your leader and saviour. you put all your eggs in his basket. the whole agenda and stance of M14 is one of standing directly behind Bush and Co.
Latest rumor is that he will come this Thursday and that Hezbollah is already preparing to block the airport road…which is purely a symbolic move, obviously, because even if Bush would come, he would take the helicopter to the Serail.
Mr. Siniora should pull a Ms. Rice job on Mr. Bush.
This is what’s wrong with you pussies…Why are you afraid? Did you complain when Muttaki and his Mullahs come to Lebanon??
Have some cohones guys. Stop being intimidated by HA. STOP IT. Even in your dimented analysis why are you guys so scared??? Let Jorgo come. Let them demonstrate!!! Groovy. Show some backbone!!
Do you seriously think that Bush’s arrival would add more venom in March 8, aka HA attack…??? get with it. Why are you scared from people like Ali, who have nothing better to do but call any disgreeing group “traitors”…
Bush you are more than welcomed!!
But our American taxpayer dollars always welcome, eh?
Why should we keep apologizing for our relationship with the US or the West for that matter??
Why is it ok for Bush to visit SA, Jordan, Dubai, Quatar, Egypt and the other Arab countries and be received normally there, and not Lebanon?
Is it because we have a democracy that we should be afraid? If Iranian leaders can come to Lebanon, Bush, Sarkozy, the Pope, or any Western leader should be welcome.
We should look forward to the future, and not be afraid of the present or the past. Hezbollah is the biggest trouble-maker in Lebanon and they are clinging us to the past with their weird agenda.
Yes, let him come and show support for Lebanon’s democratic government and let us show Syria that we’ve got some balls.
JAS,
Right on. Ask Berri, Aoun and Hassoun…
After 2006 war they handed off wads of USA $$$$. Those satan americans…
Ali, I am not the type to blast someone on a blog but frankly I think you are a moron. We’re tired of this M8 attitude and the labeling of M14 stand as Americans. Get your head out of your leaders asses so you can see straight you nincompoop. It’s a pity with all the time you waste reading this blog you haven’t allowed yourself to consider other prespectives.
If Mr. Bush comes to Lebanon; nothing would strenghen the Oppositions stand more than that.
The United States, has the same government who refused to stop the war in 2006 with Israel on the rape of Lebanon, he can’t be that dumb to reinforce the Governments stand more than proving that the opposition is right in stating that our government is funded and used by the United States.
Many Lebanese stood for a moment in disbeleif on that war of 2006, and had a change of heart; even for the most adamant western thinker among the Lebanese – Who are/were pro-peace with Israel.
Syria will have a festival if Bush just talk to Asad!!!
Again, I’m dumbfounded that we, as Lebanese haven’t learnt a thing and are still defining ourselves by foreign politics and antics.
Too bad the “foreign agenda” supercedes the “national agenda”.
M8/Hezb want any excuse to make trouble.
What if Bush met with Berri too; would that be bad?
To ali,
“is the fact that you undermine your own position (and that of all M14). this man is your leader and saviour. you put all your eggs in his basket.”
I am sorry to say but you are a bit brain washed. This current post proves once again that M14 supporters have an independent stand and thoughts who can agree and disagree on actions made by anyone.
I know …. take your time to digest this, such terms do not exist in a M8 supporter’s brain.
Ahlan wa sahlan. Lets show that famous Arab hospitality.
“Why is it ok for Bush to visit SA, Jordan, Dubai, Quatar, Egypt and the other Arab countries and be received normally there, and not Lebanon?”
Exactly. Lebanon, who sacrificed so much to prove its “Arabness”, apparently has to work double time to maintain its “street cred”.
But there is a difference. In the other countries, there is no doubt who’s in charge (at least of the government). So those governments can feel freer in meeting with any and all dignitaries, since that is their function, regardless of the visitors’ position. Not so in fragile, fragile Lebanon, where the constant political maneuvering has hypersensitized everyone.
dear Joe, I take no offense to you calling me a moron. your comments do enough to discredit you and reveal your mental midgetry. and for the perpetrating ali, and the rest as well, why do you automatically assume a person is ‘M8′ or ‘pro-opposition’ if one is critical of M14 stance? where in my comments do you read support for HA or the oppostion? calm down brothers and sisters.
ali (16)
you proved you are a moron. You are worst than a retarded parrot…
you said:” this man is your leader and saviour”…Dah…YOU ARE A lost cause!! Go home and stop annoying people. Your intellect is oops nonexistent.
Pull your nose off your leader’s ass…
Ali, don’t think I am surprised for you didn’t get offended by my comment, for you have to have a functioning brain to comprehend what’s written on this board. Something that your type obviously lacks – the result of inhaling too much nasralha crap.
Guys,
Please, more persuasion, less insults..
Well, I hope Bush does not come to Lebanon. Why would he? According to the ‘oppostition’, Bush is an enemy of Lebanon, and I actually think it’s time to make this official.
Hezbollah should declare official War on the USA, and they should also make it clear that this is their demand for Lebanon. They should just add it to the “Basket”, I’m not sure they have done any additions this week and War against the USA would be a dandy addition.
Lebanon can make history here – they can be the smallest and weakest country to ever declare WAR on the USA. With any luck at all ….. the USA will pull completely out of Lebanon. All business interest, all funding, all aid, all NGO’s, all Visas, all immigration, all Embassy personel, all diplomatic ties …… all everything.
Who can complain about that?
It is the smartest thing from all perpectives.
I believe Hezbollah saw this cartoon as well and decided to change its picture by sending another two kathushas towards israel.
Now.. Lebanon… what are you going to do about this terror group? :)
I agree Bush shouldn’t visit Lebanon, but not for the reasons you state. I’m not sure why he’d want to, either. I don’t think Lebanon can be portrayed as a “bright spot” in the middle-east, any longer, for one thing. And for another, the US Administration stopped trying to portray any of it’s efforts in the ME as success stories quite some time ago, as far as I can tell. They’ve been in “damage-control” mode for over a year. Even with the recent VERY GOOD news in Iraq, I don’t hear the Bush Admin trying to take credit for it. The credit has all gone to the Iraqis themselves in all the reporting I’ve seen.
I believe the US currently wants to salvage what can be salvaged in Lebanon. I think if there was something for the US to gain by Bush visiting Lebanon, he should (and probably would) do it. But, as far as a PR move, it makes no sense at all. Not only would it not generate the good PR for the US that is desired, as you say, but I don’t think the US is currently even trying to improve it’s public image in the Arab world. Which I think is a good idea. The US has never been well liked in the ME, despite what some pundits like to say about how much better things USED TO BE – it isn’t so, and I know that from first hand experience. It’s time to try for a more mature relationship between the US and the Arab middle-east. One that doesn’t rely so much on public relations. Mutually beneficial relationships are more reliable than emotional ones.
I would suggest the same for US relations with Israel. For several decades now, the US has had a relationship with Israel that was based far too much on emotional attachments, instead of practicalities. The unwavering support for Israel by American Christians in particular bothers me a lot, and I say that as a Christian. It’d be OK if Israel was at peace with it’s neighbors, but that’s not the case, and it may never be. And any religion (even my own) makes me more than a bit nervous, when there’s bloodshed involved.
Really Steph? was this a serious post, or you’re playing devil’s advocate?
I’m confused!
“The average Lebanese won’t forget Mr. Bush’s stance during the War on Lebanon in 2006″?? “The War on Lebanon” Steph?
What is that?
Is that what we’re calling it now?
Tell me something Steve, have the Lebanese forgotten already how the venerable Sayyid GOT them into “The War on Lebanon?” He’s okay then? He’s 3daam el-ra2bé as we say? That stinking Iranian dirt-bag?
So, it’s okay to keep on lying supine for his whoriness (sorry, Chinese accent) and his hordes; keep letting him let his foreign mediaeval puppeteers turn the country, its laws and institutions into their pigstye, but it’s NOT okay to let Bush lend support to Lebanese sovereignty and independence?
Till when are we supposed to keep paying lip service to the mediaeval louts (ahem, the Arabs) of our neighborhood? The same ones who have long since relinquished silly Arabness and all its accoutrements.
Gvive me a freagin’ break Mustapha, will ya?
LNH,
I know that you did read my blog during the war, and I think my position back then was pretty obvious.
I thought Hezbollah was to blame for starting the war, but I also felt hate and inhumanity in the sheer randomness of the Israeli attacks on all parts of Lebanon, including those with no Hezbollah presence whatsoever.
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your position was as clear then as it is now, Mustapha! my comment wasn’t in anyway meant to impugn your integrity and/or your engagements; i was simply musing on a word choice that i found remiss (especially when framed in the context of the post as a whole, id est the whole idea of whether or not we should yet again abdicate and cave in to the bullying and thuggery and blackmail and the silly “tekhween” rhetoric of the crackpot Nasrallah and his puppet masters in Damascus and Teheran…)
Resolve is ALL that’s needed in this case… and resolve is the ONLY thing we’ve been missing since April 2007, 2005…
M14 had momentum, intenational (AND REGIONAL, not to mention NATIONAL) consensus, and vision… Yet they still found a way to squander it all and falter. And now they’ve been reduced to the Lebanon of yore: “whose ass must I kiss first before I am permitted to exercise my LEGITIMATE NATIONAL PREROGATIVES???”
That’s bull, Mustapha! Those who keep walking on eggshells will ALWAYS end up with eggs on their face.
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wallah ya Joe it ain’t the nasrallah crap that makes me forgetful or dumbs me down. it’s that detroit chronic. gotta give my mind a break. sharing a world with such small-minded individuals is mentally taxing. we all need a break. maybe if we passed you the dutchy you’d mellow out a bit? take off a bit of that edge? just say the word.
ps, ladies and gents, we may disagree on many things, but i always separate business and personal. if any of you are involved in the wireless phone industry, let me know. i am a wholesaler/retailer in the US, but lately have been getting many orders for wireless phones and PDAs for the middle east. our prices are phenominal.