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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/10/opinion/10friedman.html?hp
The Beirut Tea Party
(New York Times) Thomas L. Friedman - The massive pro-Syrian demonstration that Hizballah mounted in Beirut on Tuesday underscored how much all the old slogans and sentiments - anti-Israeli, anti-American, pro-Islamist, sectarian - can be exploited by Syria, Iran, and their local proxies to mobilize popular forces against change. Hizballah clearly felt it must prove it is as popular a force as the democratic opposition. But something tells me that those Hizballah demonstrators who were waving the picture of Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, were uncomfortable. While Lebanese democratic forces have to constantly be inviting Hizballah to join them, since it represents an important and powerful trend among Lebanon's Shiites, they also need to loudly ask Hizballah - "Why are you waving the picture of the Syrian president? Whose side are you on?"