Bush Cries Alone

Opinion Watch

The New York Times editorial board writes: "President Bush claims Lebanon's 2005 'Cedar Revolution' -- which ended 30 years of Syrian military occupation -- as a triumph of his policy of democracy promotion. Given Lebanon's history, that was always naïve. Lebanon is now in deep trouble, and Mr. Bush, who will be meeting Prime Minister Fouad Siniora in Egypt on Sunday, has no real plan to help overcome the crisis. . . .

"If Mr. Bush really wants to help Mr. Siniora he will need to talk with Hezbollah's masters in Syria and Iran: about the risks they court by promoting instability in Lebanon and the rewards they might reap in return for a more constructive approach. Mr. Bush's stubborn refusal to negotiate with either Syria or Iran has weakened American influence throughout the region. Lebanon's situation is dire. Mr. Bush will need to do a lot more if he wants to help salvage the Cedar Revolution."

About That Iranian Intel

Greg Miller writes in the Los Angeles Times about the political pressures facing Thomas Fingar, the head of analysis for all U.S. spy agencies, and the man behind the National Intelligence Estimate on Iran released in December.

The report, reflecting a new intelligence finding that Tehran's nuclear weapons work had stopped, "kicked the legs out from under the administration's hard-line Iran policy and stunned the diplomatic world, touching off a political maelstrom that has barely abated after five months. . . .

"Democratic lawmakers and liberal columnists cast the document as evidence that fed-up spies were finally striking back against their political masters, while Iran hawks accused Fingar of subverting the president's policy. . . .

"'They wanted to forestall any possible military action by the Bush administration against Iran's nuclear program,' said John R. Bolton, the former United Nations ambassador.

"Bolton and others said that Fingar had surrounded himself with State Department colleagues who were hostile to the Bush administration and its approach to Iran. There is some evidence to support that view. [Richard Immerman, who Fingar hired to enforce quality control] published a paper before joining the government in which he called the Bush foreign policy team 'cognitively impaired.'

"Fingar said the Iran intelligence report emphasized the halt in warhead work because that was the newest finding. He attributes the attacks to anger among hard-liners that the report didn't conform to their preconceived views.

"'The unhappiness with the finding -- namely that the evil Iranians might be susceptible to diplomacy -- adroitly turned into an ad hominem assault,' Fingar said. 'Why do we have an intelligence community if all you want are cheerleaders?' . . .

"Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney continue to argue that Iran is unbowed in its pursuit of the bomb. And military officials are stepping up charges that Iran is helping destabilize Iraq, accusations denied by Tehran."

Bush at Masada

Tabassum Zakaria writes for Reuters: "President George W. Bush on Thursday toured the Roman-era desert fortress of Masada, a national symbol in Israel of Jewish fighting spirit and self-sacrifice against powerful enemies and overwhelming odds. . . .

"A cable car carried Bush to the top of the towering plateau where 960 Jewish men, women and children committed suicide rather than surrender to Roman forces crushing a rebellion in ancient Judea, in an act chronicled by a 1st-century historian."