Bet Raised

Bush pushed a big pile of chips into the Lebanese pot today:

President Bush (news - web sites) on Wednesday demanded in blunt terms that Syria get out of Lebanon, saying the free world is in agreement that Damascus' authority over the political affairs of its neighbor must end now.

He applauded the strong message sent to Syria when Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (news - web sites) and French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier held a joint news conference on London on Tuesday.

"Both of them stood up and said loud and clear to Syria, `You get your troops and your secret services out of Lebanon so that good democracy has a chance to flourish," Bush said during an appearance at a community college in Maryland to tout his job training programs.

The world, Bush said, "is speaking with one voice when it comes to making sure that democracy has a chance to flourish in Lebanon."

For all the left's caterwauling about Bush's recklessness in Iraq (largely either fictional or second-guessing what amounted to mistakes), Bush is a fairly cautious president when it comes to foreign policy. He doesn't play the cards he doesn't have to, and has never shown them too early (vide the liberation of Iraq, which only happened after 18 months of constant diplomatic maneuvering at a generally much more relaxed level than this past month's frenetic gyrations in Lebanon and Syria).

This big a demand, this early in the game? And in junction with the French?

There's something else going on.

Posted by Mitch at March 2, 2005 06:48 PM | TrackBack