U.S. Democracy and Its Punishment

The last time an American vice president made his way to Lebanon was 26 years ago. George Bush senior, acting as VP under Ronald Reagan, arrived in Beirut in 1983 after a car bomb exploded in Lebanon, killing 241 American Marines. But while Bush Senior visited Lebanon in order to investigate the disaster, Joe Biden arrived there last weekend with the intent of preventing one.

Biden, with his reputation as a foreign affairs expert, was dispatched to Beirut for a swift visit. “I do not come here to back any particular party or any particular person,” he proclaimed. “I come to demonstrate a strong United States backing for certain fundamental principles.” Democracy, most certainly, is not one of them.

It is hard to misinterpret the urgent message the United States is conveying: the Americans were the ones pushing Lebanon for the past few years, like Iraq and the Palestinians, to go down the road of democracy. However now, while witnessing the strengthening of Hezbollah, they are also the ones looking desperately for a way to turn Lebanon back around.

Senior Hezbollah members quickly accused Biden yesterday of trying to influence the upcoming elections by supporting the moderates. It will be difficult to find someone to disagree with that even in Washington. Vice President Joe Biden did not come to encourage the Lebanese democracy.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Biden actually came with the intent to undermine democracy. During his speech yesterday, he threatened that American aid will depend on the outcome of the elections, and did not leave too much doubt vis-à-vis who the White House wants to see in command. By no coincidence, he also met behind closed doors with members of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora’s pro-Western faction. The United States, it turns out, does not trust the Lebanese voters’ judgement, and Joe Biden’s visit was perhaps the only thing they can do about it.

Uncle Sam likes to believe in the domino theory. It was rational thinking that dictated the United States’ foreign policy during the Cold War, and it is what continues to dictate the current policy in the Middle East. Lebanon was supposed to be the first domino cube to fall in the regional democratization circle. In two weeks time, the domino cube might indeed fall, but in the wrong direction. Instead of establishing the Western liberal values in the Middle East, it might in fact lay the foundation for religious Shiite zeal.

Historian Walter McDougall successfully defined the tragedy of U.S. foreign policy using the terms of “the good, the bad and the ugly.” The United States’ intentions are good, yet the outcome is bad, and the lasting impression is ugly. This analogy is still relevant today: the U.S. wanted to bring democracy to Lebanon. It succeeded, and now it might have to pay the price.