Lebanon Surrenders

Lebanon has now officially become a colony of Syria and Iran,and the March 14th 'Cedar Revolution' is officially over.

What marked Lebanon's final surrender was the visit by Lebanese PM Saad Hariri to pay tribute to Syrian President Bashar Assad, the man who likely gave the order to assassinate Hariri's father Rafik, who preceded him as Lebanon's prime minister.

While Syria's army no longer officially occupies Lebanon, that's because it's unnecessary. Iranian and Syrian proxy Hezbollah is now a major part of Lebanon's unity government holding key ministries with a veto power over anything the Lebanese government does, Hezbollah ally Michel Suleiman holds the presidency and Hezbollah has maintained its military power. In fact, as the Lebanese government recently declared, Hezbollah is now an official part of Lebanon's armed forces and will be allowed to keep its weaponry in defiance of UN Resolution 1701, which was always a joke anyway.

Among other things, this is a defeat for America and a major victory for the Syria/Iran axis.

Just like their counter parts in Iran, the pro-democracy freedom loving elements were left to twist in the wind.

It started when George W. Bush allowed Condaleeza Rice to take control of his foreign policy during Bush's second term. It was Condi Rice who constantly favored 'engagement' with Syria while Basher Assad made Syria a transit point for arms and fighters headed into Iraq to kill Americans. It was Condi Rice who virtually jammed UNSCR 1701, UNFIL and the travesty of a ceasefire down Israel's throat at a point when the war could actually have resulted in the defeat of Hezbollah..although to be fair, she had the help of Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, the weakest leaders in Israel's history. It was Condi Rice who insisted on inviting Syria to the the gang rape of Israel in Annapolis, which signaled clearly to the March 14th movement that they had better come to terms with Assad while they could, and who saw to it that millions in US aid were pumped into Lebanon even after Lebanon's President Suleiman signed a defense pact with Iran.

The Obama Administration accelerated this trend mightily, starting with the president's speeches in Turkey and Cairo and his distancing his administration from Israel. Obama's almost obsessive desire to present an 'unclenched fist' to Iran and Syria and for diplomacy for the sake of diplomacy was taken as a sign of weakness throughout the Middle East and it to Hariri and his allies that any semblance of democracy in Lebanon was dead they had better deal while it was still possible.

So instead of the UN tribunal trying Syria's Bashar Assad and his thugs for the murder of his father and countless other Lebanese politicians and journalists, we had the spectacle of Saad Harriri running to Damascus and kissing the ring of his father’s murderer.

The strategy is pretty tranparent. The mullahs now control a bloc consisting of Lebanon, Iran,Syria, Gaza and the Sudan, and they will undoubtedly try to 'Lebanonize' Iraq after the next elections by getting someone from the Iran backed Shi'ite elected now thatthe Alliance has pushed aside Maliki .