Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice decided to pay a surprise visit to Beirut, Lebanon this fine Friday. The purpose of the visit is to give support to the new government after the withdrawal of Syria. Here are the details:

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice arrived in Beirut on Friday for a surprise visit, the first by Washington’s top envoy to Lebanon since Syria’s April troops withdrawal from this country under U.S.-led international pressure.
Rice arrived on a private plane that landed at 1 p.m. (1000 GMT) and she is expected to meet President Lahoud, according to presidential spokesman Rafik Shalala.

Rice was also expected to meet with Saad Hariri, the son of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, whose Feb. 14 assassination sparked anti-Damascus protests that led to Syria’s pullout, and visit Hariri’s grave.

“This will be an opportunity first of all to congratulate the Lebanon people on their incredible desire for democracy,” Rice said en route to Beirut.

The visit by Rice, who was in Jerusalem on Friday, comes a few days after Lebanon formed a 24-member Cabinet which included for the first time a member of Hizbullah, which Washington brands a terrorist organization.

“They keep pressing forward and they have now formed a government,” Rice said. “I look forward to meeting and see how the international community and the United States in particular can be supportive.”

U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli said Tuesday that the United States will have no dealings with any Lebanese Cabinet Minister who is a member of Hizbullah. But he said there would be no impediment to dealing with the entire Lebanese government.

Rice’s visit is considered to be a strong boost to the Lebanese government, which was formed few weeks after parliamentary elections praised by Washington as the start of a new era free from Syrian domination.

Washington, however, wants the Lebanese government to disarm Hizbullah and extend its authority throughout the country according to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559.

The Party of God refuses to lay down its weapons and continues fighting Israel over the Shebaa Farms in southern Lebanon.

The State Department says Hizbullah is armed and financed by Iran, with Syria the conduit for Hizbullah’s weapons.(AP-Naharnet)

Note the part I highlighted in bold. This article was posted on Naharnet, the English-language version of the Beirut daily newspaper An Nahar. The owner of An Nahar is Gebran Tueni, who was just voted into parliament as a member of Saad Hariri’s Future bloc. Maybe I’m reading into this too much, but it should be pretty significant that the ruling alliance in parliament are happy that Secretary Rice is visiting.

Here’s why I don’t think that I’m looking too much into it. In any normal case, one would assume that the highest ranking diplomat of the United States would meet with the country’s president, however, President Lahoud is a staunch ally of Syria. Instead, Rice met with Saad Hariri. He is not the president, nor is he the prime minister, but the man who became the leader of the popular uprising against Syrian control. Rice will be meeting with him later, but the fact remains that he got shafted to second place.

The United States supported the people in their uprising against Syria. The Lebanese now have their sovereignty, their freedom, and a representative government. Can it really be a surprise, then, that there is now a pro-American government in Lebanon?