Rice in Beirut

US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice made a surprise visit to Beirut yesterday and met with several Lebanese political figures. The exact purpose of her visit is not clear, but she did make some remarks worth mentioning. First, Rice demanded at one point that Syria and Lebanon establish full diplomatic relations. This is another example of the extreme arrogance of the United States, in that it views itself as authorized to determine the nature of the relationship between two other countries. Diplomatic relations, or lack thereof, are a matter to be determined between two given political entities, based on their interests, as well as their positions toward each other. It is fundamentally a matter to be determined strictly by the two states involved. The fact that the US arrogantly views itself as the policeman of the world is of no consequence.

Second, Rice declared that the US has not changed its view of Hizballah, as it still deems it a terrorist organization. Here, I must fault Lebanon's political figures for allowing a foreign diplomat to criminalize their national Resistance, which was responsible for liberating Lebanese land from the criminal, murderous Jewish state to the south, which was aided by Ms. Rice's country in killing innocent Lebanese, and which provided the Jewish entity with the cluster bombs it dropped on Lebanon, which continue to this day to kill and maim innocent Lebanese. Ms. Rice should have been politely told that such statements are not welcome in Lebanon, especially given that her own country provides the illegal entity in the south with the weaponry to terrorize and murder Lebanese and Palestinian civilians. Ms. Rice comes from the single largest state sponsor of terrorism to our country to preach to us about the vices of "terrorism." As Said Takieddine once said: "How eloquent is the harlot when she lectures on chastity."