[LCM Articles] U.S. Ready to Accept Hizbollah, New York Times Says

[Loai Naamani]

The New York Times
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March 10, 2005


U.S. Ready to Accept Hizbollah, New York Times Says


By REUTERS 




 

Filed at 10:46 a.m. ET

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.

The story was swiftly disputed by the Bush administration, which said its policy was unchanged.

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.

U.S., 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.

``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.

A senior Bush administration official disputed the story, saying: ``Our view on Hizbollah has not changed. It's a terrorist group.''

``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.

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.''

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.

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.

``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.''

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. 

 

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