I suspect the New York Times of trying to create a show of support for Hizballah, as Steven Weisman turns in a piece quoting unnamed “officials:” US Called Ready to See Hezbollah in Lebanon Role. (Hat tip: sandspur.)

WASHINGTON, March 9 - After years of campaigning against Hezbollah, the radical Shiite Muslim party in Lebanon, as a terrorist pariah, the Bush administration is grudgingly going along with efforts by France and the United Nations to steer the party into the Lebanese political mainstream, administration officials say.

The administration’s shift was described by American, European and United Nations officials as a reluctant recognition that Hezbollah, besides having a militia and sponsoring attacks on Israelis, is an enormous political force in Lebanon that could block Western efforts to get Syria to withdraw its troops. …

“The main players are making Hezbollah a lower priority,” said a diplomat who is closely tracking the negotiations. “There is a realization by France and the United States that if you tackle Hezbollah now, you array the Shiites against you. With elections coming in Lebanon, you don’t want the entire Shiite community against you.”

The new posture of the administration was described by its officials, who asked not to be identified because of longstanding American antipathy toward Hezbollah.

“Hezbollah has American blood on its hands,” an administration official said, referring to such events as the truck bombing that killed more than 200 American marines in Beirut in 1983. “They are in the same category as Al Qaeda. The administration has an absolute aversion to admitting that Hezbollah has a role to play in Lebanon, but that is the path we’re going down.”

Only a few weeks ago, the United States was tangling with France over Hezbollah’s status, as France blocked an effort by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to have Europe formally label Hezbollah a terrorist group, restricting its fund-raising.

Now the United States has basically accepted the French view, echoed by others in Europe, that with Hezbollah emerging as such a force in very fractured Lebanon, it is dangerous to antagonize it right now and wiser to encourage the party to run candidates in Lebanese elections.

If there’s any truth to this story, the Bush administration is making a gigantic mistake. But it seems so completely opposed to Bush’s public statements on Hizballah that I’m highly suspicious of its veracity—and of the Times’ motives.