Rice lauds Beirut compromise

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she welcomed a new power-sharing arrangement in Lebanon even though it increased the power of Hezbollah militants at the expense of U.S.-backed moderates.

“Obviously in any compromise there are compromises,” Rice said during a surprise visit to Beirut to meet Lebanon’s new president, former army chief Michel Suleiman.

Lebanese politics operates on ambiguity and consensus, and to get Suleiman elected, that meant giving veto power to Hezbollah, a militia and political force that the United States lists as a terrorist group.