How to figure?

On Tuesday, Hezbollah – the only indigenous group in Lebanon with its own army and control of a large swath of territory from which the Lebanese national army is excluded – trucked thousands of Syrians and Lebanese to a rally denouncing Lebanon’s nascent democracy movement as a tool of America and the Zionists. Signs in the crowd rejected UN Resolution 1559, which demands that “all foreign forces” leave Lebanon.

On Tuesday, Hezbollah – the only indigenous group in Lebanon with its own army and control of a large swath of territory from which the Lebanese national army is excluded – trucked thousands of Syrians and Lebanese to a rally denouncing Lebanon’s nascent democracy movement as a tool of America and the Zionists. Signs in the crowd rejected UN Resolution 1559, which demands that “all foreign forces” leave Lebanon. The strict organization of the rally (as differentiated from the spontaneous demonstrations of the anti-Syrian factions) and its blatant support of Syria’s continuing occupation is a reminder that Hezbollah’s real agenda is unrelated to Lebanese democracy and unrelated to the economic and social welfare of the Lebanese people.

On Wednesday, The New York Times claimed the Bush administration was, perhaps as a result of the rally, willing to grant Hezbollah a place in the Lebanese political spectrum. In an article with no named sources, the NYT wrote:

The new posture of the Administration was described by its officials, who asked not to be identified because of longstanding American antipathy toward Hezbollah. “Hezbollah has American blood on its hands,” an Administration official said, referring to such events as the truck bombing that killed more than 200 American marines… “They are in the same category as Al Qaeda. The Administration has an absolute aversion to admitting that Hezbollah has a role to play in Lebanon, but that is the path we’re going down.”

People in the administration with names called the story untrue.

The same day, the European Union voted 473-8 with 33 abstentions to adopt a non-binding resolution noting that “Parliament considers that clear evidence exists of terrorist activities by Hezbollah. The [EU] Council should take all necessary steps to curtail them.” The resolution also renewed a call for Syria to withdraw its troops and intelligence services from Lebanon. The EU vote did not appear in the Thursday or Friday NYT, leading one to wonder whether the NYT had hoped to influence the vote and was now disappointed.

Did the NYT make it up? Was there actually no “Administration official”? Probably no and probably there was.

This appears to be a case in which parts of the State Department still agree with parts of Europe that “stability” is more to be desired than freedom and liberation. Freedom can be frightening, so in this view – anonymously delivered – it is comforting to think of a power that will run an orderly society for the Lebanese. If not the Syrians, then perhaps Hezbollah can be convinced to use its organizational skills for that purpose.

Forget it. Hezbollah uses its Iranian- and Syrian-sponsored organizational skills to kill. Anyone in this administration who thinks that Hezbollah can be “managed” or should be acceptable to the U.S. as a partner in a future Lebanese democracy should be “managed” out the door. American support for consensual government is beginning to show results across the Middle East and should not be undermined by recalcitrants at Foggy Bottom or the NYT.