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Source: http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,251-1518467,00.html
Hizballah Protests Taint Rosy View from the White House
(Times-UK) Bronwen Maddox - The aerial pictures showing the size of the demonstrations in Beirut have dealt a nasty jolt to all those hoping that Lebanon might smoothly slide out of a quarter-century of Syria's over-warm embrace. Like Sinn Fein, Hizballah has one foot in parliament and one in terror, and it now faces a similar existential dilemma. It cannot move farther into the mainstream without surrendering some of its founding inspiration: allegiance to Syria and Iran, and hostility to the U.S. and Israel. But if it continues to fight for its Syrian backers, it will set itself against many Lebanese - and the UN as well. It could lose the foothold in mainstream politics that it has worked so hard to build. On Tuesday Hizballah came out for a cause that much of the country has shunned. It may have seriously damaged its future in doing so.