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<p class=MsoNormal><img width=199 height=47
src="cid:image001.gif@01C52574.EC41DAA0" align=left alt="The New York Times"
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<h5><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>March
10, 2005</span></font></b></h5>
<NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">
<h2><b><font size=5 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:18.0pt'>U.S.</span></font></b>
Ready to Accept Hizbollah, New York Times Says</h2>
</NYT_HEADLINE><NYT_BYLINE type=" " version="1.0">
<p class=MsoNormal><strong><b><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>By REUTERS </span></font></b></strong><br>
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<p><b><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt;
font-weight:bold'><NYT_TEXT>Filed at 10:46 a.m. ET</span></font></b></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>WASHINGTON
(Reuters) - In a major foreign policy shift, the Bush administration is ready
to accept long-time pariah and militant group Hizbollah as a player in
mainstream politics in Lebanon, The New York Times reported on Thursday.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
story was swiftly disputed by the Bush administration, which said its policy
was unchanged.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Seen
for decades by the United States as a terrorist group, Hizbollah this week
sponsored one of the biggest pro-Syrian demonstrations ever seen in Lebanon.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>U.S.</span></font>,
European and United Nations officials told The New York Times the United
States reluctantly recognized that besides having a militia and sponsoring
attacks on Israelis, Hizbollah was a huge political force in Lebanon that could block Western efforts to get Syria to withdraw its troops.</p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>``There
is a realization by France and the United States that if you tackle Hizbollah
now, you array the Shiites against you. With elections coming in Lebanon, you don't want the entire Shiite community against you,'' one diplomat told the
paper.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>A
senior Bush administration official disputed the story, saying: ``Our view on
Hizbollah has not changed. It's a terrorist group.''</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>``Obviously
we'd like to see them disarmed as U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559
requires. Once disarmed they could undertake any political role in Lebanon that they can win democratically at the polls. This doesn't constitute any change
in the U.S. position,'' the official said.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>During
last month's meeting with European Union leaders in Brussels, President Bush
said it is not in the interest of the United States or Europe for Iran to fund
``terrorist organizations like Hizbollah, which has the desire to stop the
Middle East peace process from going forward.''</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>The
Times said Hizbollah had also become a lower priority in U.N. negotiations to
demand the disarmament of Hizbollah, adding that the United States agreed
with France that the militant group was too important a force to antagonize.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>One
official told the Times the Bush administration had reluctantly decided to
take this new approach. ``Hizbollah has American blood on its hands,'' said
the official, referring to events such as the truck bombing that killed more
than 200 Marines in Beirut in 1983.</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>``The
administration has an absolute aversion to admitting that Hizbollah has a
role to play in Lebanon, but that is the path we're going down.''</span></font></p>
<p><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:12.0pt'>Like
the Irish Republican Army, Hizbollah has military and political wings and France has argued the group ought to be encouraged to focus more on politics. </span></font></p>
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