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In Mideast House of Cards, U.S. Views Lebanon as Shaky

(New York Times) Mark Landler - The Obama administration, already struggling to stave off a collapse of Middle East peace talks, is increasingly alarmed by unrest in Lebanon, whose own fragile peace is being threatened by militant opponents of a politically charged investigation into the killing in 2005 of a former Lebanese leader. The White House sent a senior diplomat to Beirut last week to reassure Lebanon's president, Michel Suleiman, of President Obama's support for the investigation and his country's stability. The visit by the diplomat, Jeffrey D. Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern Affairs, came on top of a telephone call to Suleiman by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. "The president felt very strongly that we need to reconfirm our commitment to Lebanon's independence, Lebanon's sovereignty and Lebanon's stability," Feltman said. "There are people inside Lebanon who are arguing that it faces a choice of justice versus stability. That's an artificial choice." "You don't want the perception of a vacuum," Feltman said. "You don't want the perception that Ahmadinejad is the only game in town." Analysts said that the U.S. was right to reassert its commitment to Lebanon, but that it may be acting too late. Rising prices for weapons suggest that militias other than Hizbullah are rearming, increasing the threat of a civil war.
2010-10-27 09:42:13
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