re: #116 retired cynic

I got an email from Sen. Chris Murphy, CN, about the aid to Lebanon. The first half is about a congressional trip to a conference in Bahrain, where he pushed for a halt to the war in Yemen. After talking to a former ambassador to Lebanon about the mysterious hold on military aid, he jumped to Lebanon, and since I can’t find his text on his website, I’m going to copy the whole thing.
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This stuff of Sen. Murphy’s (Connecticut is “CT”, btw, not “CN”) ought to be publicized a lot more than it has been - the Lebanese aid hold has been scarcely mentioned in the media, and then mainly in passing.

If Murphy’s analysis is correct - and, if a bit simplified, it probably fundamentally is - this is just another piece of inexplicable foreign-policy malpractice on the part of the (Mal)Administration. Unfortunately, Hezbollah and its people aren’t going anywhere, and are going to be -armed- players in Lebanese politics like it or not. But if aiding the “legitimate” government and supporting non-Hezbollah popular protests can reduce Hezb’s (and Iran’s) influence - on the (relative) cheap, and without (American) bloodshed, holding up military makes little sense.

Maybe there’s a Trump golf course near Beirut that’s having permit problems??

ADD: Ooops, didn’t see Murphy’s addendum about the aid being (quietly) released. Good: but still a questionable policy on the hold in the first place.