Bush sending Rice back to the Mideast

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said yesterday that he is sending Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice back to the Middle East today to negotiate an end to the bloodshed in Lebanon and Israel, amid widespread criticism that the United States has waited too long to push for an end to the conflict.

With the support of Prime Minister Tony Blair of Britain at a joint news conference, Bush defended his refusal to call for an immediate Israeli cease-fire, saying that it is important to defeat ``terrorists [who] are trying to stop the advance of freedom."

But with the war in Lebanon in its third week, some administration critics say that by failing to intervene more forcefully, the Bush administration has prolonged a conflict that threatens to unravel any gains the United States has made in its effort to improve relations and foster democracy in the region.

US allies in Europe and the Middle East have expressed growing anger that the United States has not done more to stop Israel's offensive, which has left hundreds of Lebanese civilians dead.

As recently as last year, Lebanon was the proud centerpiece of the administration's successes in the region. US officials pressed Syria -- a key Hezbollah backer -- to withdraw from Lebanon in April 2005 and the United States strengthened ties with the elected Lebanese government.

Now senior US officials say privately that they hope Israel's military will deal a mortal blow to Hezbollah's military power in southern Lebanon, which has grown since Israel ended its occupation in 2000. But the policy carries significant risk for the United States: The prolonged fighting is boosting Hezbollah's popularity in Lebanon and across the Muslim world.

A Lebanese government official said yesterday that Hezbollah now backs Beirut's peace proposal, which calls for an immediate cease-fire, a quick prisoner exchange, and use of an international force to assist United Nations peacekeepers on the southern border.

In the first few days of the latest conflict, many Arabs -- including some of Hezbollah's own Shi'ite supporters -- were angry at the Shi'ite militia for provoking Israel with its July 12 cross-border raid and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers. The governments of Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia issued rare rebukes, and Lebanon's government complained bitterly that it had not been consulted.

But after 17 days of Israeli bombing, with widespread destruction of buildings and infrastructure, Arabs have begun to rally around Hezbollah, which is increasingly being seen as the leader of the Arab resistance to Israel.

In the first days of the conflict, the Saudi Arabian royal family criticized Hezbollah for ``uncalculated adventures." But this week it turned its anger on Israel, warning that ``if the option of peace fails as a result of Israeli arrogance, then the only option remaining will be war."

Some analysts say the longer the war continues, the more difficult it will become to force the group to give up its weapons -- the stated long-term aim of the United States and Israel.

``Even if they lose on the battlefield -- which they are not doing -- they gain politically in the broader Arab world and in Lebanese politics," said Tamara Wittes , a scholar at the Brookings Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy .

Public support in Lebanon for Hezbollah's right to remain an armed militia jumped from 58 percent five months ago to 87 percent now, according a recent poll by the Beirut Center for Research and Information published by Lebanon's Daily Star newspaper. Mistrust of Americans is high, the poll found, with 89.5 percent of the 800 Lebanese who were questioned saying they do not consider the United States to be an honest mediator.

``I can't recall the region being more anti-American and more supportive of Hezbollah," said Edward Abington , an adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a former US diplomat who worked in the Middle East for 30 years. Abington dismissed the Bush administration's hope that the Lebanese Army would confront and disarm Hezbollah as naive, even if it were given international help.

``Forty or 50 percent of the soldiers in the Lebanese Army, particularly the enlisted men, are Shi'ite," Abington said. ``Are they going to take on Hezbollah? I don't think so."

Yesterday, Bush told reporters at the White House that he was sending Rice back to the Middle East to negotiate with Lebanese and Israeli officials on language for a UN Security Council resolution that will deploy an international force to southern Lebanon. Rice left the region Tuesday. Bush said he hoped the UN resolution would be a Chapter 7 resolution, meaning that it would be legally binding and enforceable by military action.

Bush and Blair appeared to disagree on the importance of getting Hezbollah's support for an international force.

Bush suggested that Hezbollah's agreement was not necessary.

``The key is to have Lebanon agree with it, and the key is to have Israel agree with it," Bush said. ``Those are the two parties. Hezbollah's not a state."

But Blair said an international force will ``only work if Hezbollah are prepared to allow it to work." Blair said that if Hezbollah failed to allow the force to be deployed in southern Lebanon, ``they will be doing a huge disservice to the people of Lebanon."

Blair also defended the decision not to call for an immediate cease-fire, underscoring Britain's support for the controversial US policy. And both leaders couched the current crisis in Lebanon in terms of an epic, global struggle between terrorism and freedom.

Bush blamed the bloodshed on Hezbollah, Hamas, and terrorists in Iraq who are ``trying to stop the advance of democracy."

``The notion of democracy beginning to emerge scares the ideologues, the totalitarians, those who want to impose their vision," he said. ``I'm as determined as ever to continue fostering a foreign policy based upon liberty. And I think it's going to work, unless we lose our nerve and quit."

But critics of the administration noted that both Hezbollah and Hamas have gained ground through the democratic process. Hamas won a landslide parliamentary victory in January in a free and fair election, and Hezbollah has won seats in Lebanon's government.

``When I listen to Blair and Bush, their approach seems to be this is an issue that is caused fundamentally by terrorism, and the way to get at it is to spread freedom," Abington said. ``I think this is the most cock-eyed view of the world. The people in the region see the Bush administration as ignoring what many think is the fundamental problem in the region: Israeli occupation."

Correction: In a story on yesterday's Nation pages about President Bush signing legislation to renew provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the Associated Press erroneously reported that Representative John Lewis, a Georgia Democrat, was present at the White House signing ceremony. Although Bush mentioned him in his speech, Lewis was not in attendance.