 Hezbollah on Friday denounced a senior Pentagon official's call for a U.S. "strategic partnership" with Lebanon's army, saying American attempts to boost military ties were a ploy for domination and could turn the country into another Iraq.
| That's a relief. I was afraid it'd turn into another Vietnam. |
Washington has dramatically increased military aid to Lebanon's pro-Western government over the past year. On Thursday, Eric Edelman, undersecretary of defense for policy, said the U.S. wants to make military ties even closer, with a "strategic partnership" to strengthen the country's forces. Edelman said in an interview with Lebanese Broadcasting Corp. television that the buildup of the military would mean the Shiite Muslim guerrilla group Hezbollah would have no excuse to bear arms.
| The very thought makes Nasrallah's turban tighten like a tourniquet. |
His comments came on the same day that a Lebanese newspaper reported that Washington is proposing a treaty with Lebanon that would make it a strategic partner and lead to the creation of American bases. The Lebanese government and the U.S. ambassador in Beirut denied the report in the opposition-leaning As-Safir newspaper, and Edelman made no mention of bases in his comments. |