Lebanon still infested with Syrian spooks

Here's an unfortunate wet blanket to throw on all the orgasmic adulation of the European press wonks about Syria's military exiting Lebanon.

These two blogs, by the way, are a great way to take the temperature of Syria and Lebanon. It's safe to say that things are not as simple as simply conferring in Switzerland under the sponsorship of a UN alphabet soup operation.

Let's also not forget about Hizballah. The last militia to remain under arms.

So while people are trying to use these events to undercut Bush, saying that he should not take credit for it, which he didn't, others still are missing the ball: Hizallah and Iranian National Guards in Lebanon may have been reinforced by the Syrians on their exit, and the Syrian Intelligence Agencies still monitor everything from minute civil affairs to people's telephone records.

Opinion Journal's Best of the Web made this observation:

Yesterday we noted that critics of the Bush administration were sure to refuse to give the president any credit for the end of Syrian military occupation of Lebanon, and we quipped that we might as well just give up and congratulate Mikhail Gorbachev. Well, there's an alternative. Consider this speech:

The Bush Administration appears willing to sacrifice the prospects for an independent Lebanon in order to curry favor with Syria's dictator. . . . To acquiesce now to Syria's control over Lebanon would show disdain for our long-standing commitment to Lebanon's territorial integrity and independence. . . .

If a more representative government is formed, it should be possible for the United States to support that government and enhance is [sic] independence. . . . I look forward to working with Lebanese Americans to help make Lebanon's dream of a new era of peace, prosperity, and democracy a reality.

That was Bill Clinton--Gov. Bill Clinton, in a September 1992 campaign speech before a gathering of Lebanese-Americans. (We think that the meaning of "is" above is "its.") Thirteen years later, the Clinton policy has borne fruit!

Then, as now, leftist remain les faux culs about international affairs, thinking it has more to do with the "It's a small world after all" display at Disneyworld, rather than to try to put themselves in the position and perspective of the people that they're talking about. At least the Right knows well enough not to use it as a domestic factionalizing tool and a state-side political bludgeon.