Washington Opening Up To Suleiman?

The US is cautiously reciprocating Suleiman’s expression of goodwill.

Suleiman The Hedger

A few days ago, the head of the Armed forces publicly thanked the Americans for their help with ammunitions at the start of the Albared assault and declared that he is fighting “Alqaeda”. 
Today it seems, the US is returning the gesture.

Gina Abercrombie-Winstanley, the director of the US state department’s office of Levant affairs told Alhayat that the US “doesn’t mind” changing the Lebanese constitution and that what matters are “the qualities” of the candidate. She even said that the candidate shouldn’t have “a strong link” with Hezbollah, a step down from “no links at all” which meets Suleiman halfway. Here are her statements in Arabic:

????? ????? ???? ???? ?????? ?? ???????? ????????? ???? ????????? ????????? ?? ?????? ?? «??????» ??? ?? ??????? ????????? «?? ????? ????? ???????» ?????? ???? ??? ???????? ?????? «?? ???????? ?? ?? ??????? ??????» ? «???? ???? ??????? ?????????? ?? ?????? ???????? ??????? ???? ???????? ???????? ????????????».

????? ????????? ?? «?????? ?????? ?? ?? ???? ???? ??? ?? ???????? ?? ?????? ???????» ? «?? ???? ????? ????? ??????? ????????»? ????? ??? ?? ?? ????? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ???????? ?? ????? ???????? ?? «????? ?????? ???? ??? ??????????».

??? ????? ??? ?????????? ???? ???????? ????????? ?? ?????? «????? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ???? ????? ???????? ???? ????? ????? ????? ?? ????? ????????»? ?????? ???? ??????? ?? «????? ??? ????? ??????? ?????».

And before one thinks Ms. Abercrombie is a wide-eyed state department outsider, it would be good to review what she told Aljazeera back in July, when she essentially confirmed her credentials as a pro-Seniora hardliner.

Michel Aoun spoke of a policy reassessment in Washington, but what he probably missed is that the change could be more “Sfeir-esque”, not one that inches towards his side.

Update: The state department has countered Abercrombie’s statements and said the US is against changing the constitution.