In fairness to the State Department and the Bush Administration, this is a total surprise, right?

Hezbollah is exploiting the tense political deadlock in Beirut to recruit thousands of new fighters, The Sunday Telegraph can reveal. The Iranian-backed Shia militant group has begun drawing fighters from across the sectarian divide, including Sunnis, Christians and Druze, in an effort to create a united opposition to the government... Last night, Lebanese Brigadier Gen Amin Hotait warned that Hezbollah had expanded its recruiting to bring Sunni, Christian and Druze fighters together under the banner of an opposition. He said that the arming and recruiting campaign began after Hezbollah declared "divine victory" over Israel after the month-long war last year. It has been continued in defiance of calls by the United Nations Security Council and the Western-backed government in Beirut for Hezbollah to disarm.

Now we could go for the cheap and easy "Lebanon is the West Bank" punchline: there's something familiar about the State Department's Lebanon II strategy, where they prevented the IDF from dismantling an Iranian proxy in a futile attempt to bolster a fundamentally weak and electorally doomed slightly-more-moderate Arab regime. But we did that one last week. Instead we're going to go with the other cheap and easy "Lebanon is the West Bank" punchline: isn't it great how the US is giving cutting edge military tech to the Lebanese government, as if the local Iranian proxy could never, ever take it over electorally or militarily?

Incidentally, how can it possibly be the case that Hezbollah began rearming immediately after Lebanon II? The commander of UNIFIL seemed so sure when he condescendingly mocking Israelis for insisting that Hezbollah was rearming. It's almost like the State Department and the UN make things up to coerce Israel into making concessions, and then scapegoat Israel when their demonstrably false assumptions lead to policy disasters. Almost, right?

Oh, one more thing - the State Department outreach blog is asking "What Tangible Results are Necessary for the Annapolis Conference to be Deemed a Success?" We're not going to ask you to be constructive because, well, we don't care. All we ask is that you be funny (h/t: Jerold L)

References:
* Lebanon On Brink Of Civil War (Plus: State Department Prepares To Import Same Strategy To West Bank) [MR]
* Pentagon Gets Brilliant Idea: Let's Give Lebanon Cutting-Edge Military Tech, Training [MR]
* Smug Condescending Sophisticates Admit They've Been Lying Through Their Teeth About Israeli Security I - UN Admits Hezbollah Is Rearming [MR]
* State Department, UN Make Things Up To Coerce Israeli Concessions, Scapegoat Israel When Plans Fail (Plus: Hezbollah Now Openly Bragging About Using Civilian Human Shields) [MR]

Previously:
* Hezbollah: Yeah, We're Definitely Going To Start Another War
* The UN Makes It Official: There Is Absolutely No Agreement That Won't Be Changed If Israel's Genocidal Enemies Refuse To Accept For Long Enough
* Hezbollah Runs Massive Military Exercises, Lebanon Says It Was A "Simulation" And Complains When Israel Responds With Overflights