Hillary Clinton's Campaign Stop in Lebanon

Trust us: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, on an unannounced tour of Baghdad and Beirut, tells Iraqis and Lebanese that the United States won't abandon them. Her audiences were skeptical. (Hadi Mizban-Pool/Getty Images)

Lebanon faces a crucial parliamentary election on June 7, though it'll take a special effort not to be confused: the election opposes the March 14 Alliance to the March 8 Alliance--both of them so-called because of the dates when each, in 2005, called for massive demonstrations in support of their agendas.

Put simply: the March 14 coalition is the pro-Western, mostly Sunny and Christian alliance that gelled into a movement after the February 2005 assassination of Sunni Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The murder, most6 likely committed by Syria (Hariri had become an open critic of Syrian occupation) provoked an outpouring of Lebanese emotions never seen in the country's recent history, especially as it cut across sectarian lines. It worked. Within the year, Syria's occupation was over.

But the movement provoked its reactionary antithesis, that one led by Hezbollah--the now-called March 8 Alliance.

The March 14 alliance never lived up to its promise. It's been a coalition of bickerers, backstabbers and posturing, giving Hezbollah an opening it does not quite deserve--the look of a more disciplined party that only wants what's best for Lebanon (don't laugh: it's what Hezbollah claims, even as its weapons are channeled from Iran and its dollars are laundered in Syria). So the June 7 election may well end the March 14 Alliance's rule and signal yet one more Hezbollah rise up Lebanon's power pyramid. Not a happy prospect, as Hezbollah is the Shiite version of Hamas, albeit a more measured one: for all their evolving power, Shiites in Lebanon are still only a third of the population.

So it was into that mess of ides that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton parachuted over the weekend for a quick visit with Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, who is officially not involved in the elections (he's a Maronite Christian).

The more I see Clinton acting like a vice president in foreign capitals (playing the figurehead, speaking cliches and proposing not a single original idea) the more I agree with my colleague Linda Lowen--she should quit pretending doing something she clearly doesn't like and "jump ship from State" to Secretary of Health and Human Services, where she could lead a fight she knows something about (health care reform).

Besides having a falafel sandwich, Clinton's signature moment in lebanon was a promise that "There is nothing that we would do in any way that would undermine Lebanon's sovereignty. I want to assure any Lebanese citizen that the United States will never make any deal with Syria that sells out Lebanon and the Lebanese people."

The Lebanese have reason to be skeptical. Let's review. In June 1976, it was the Ford administration, with Secretary of State Henry Kissinger applauding, giving Syria the go-ahead to invade Lebanon during that country's civil war. Admittedly, the PLO and its Muslim allies had Lebanon's Christian forces surrounded, Syria was seen as the uncharacteristic savior, but Ford also assumed the Syrians would leave once the job was done. When they didn't, neither he nor Jimmy Carter raised the issue with Syria. The occupation stretched on.

In 1990, it was Secretary of State James Baker's turn to sell-out Lebanon. He did so when he sought Syrian support in the coalition against Saddam Hussein during Operation Desert Shield. In exchange, Baker gave Syria free rein in Lebanon, which opened the way for Syria to occupy virtually the entire country ) minus the South, by then occupied by Israel).

Now comes Clinton, the latest in a long list of secretaries of state who promise Lebanon the moon and give it asteroids. For the Lebanese, it's one empty promise on top of many others--those others mostly from their own leaders, who have a tendency to promise the solar system and deliver dark matter.

As Lebanese blogger Purple Monkey writing at Debunking Lebanon, "What is left of our Cedar Revolution is nothing but the sincere noble dreams of thousands of Lebanese who have once again been deceived."

See Also:

• What Is the March 14 Alliance?
• What Is the March 8 Alliance?
• Lebanon: Country Profile
• Hezbollah Rising Over Lebanon
• Lebanon's Homophobic Censors Need "Help"
• Lebanon Assassinations: A Tally