Graeme Bannerman: "The US has "an alternative agenda, which is to weaken Hezbollah & therefore Syria & Iran..."

"... IIeana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican who heads the House Foreign Affairs Committee, called for robust support of the tribunal and warned not to "repeat past mistakes where we failed to stand up to those who threaten Lebanon and all free nations.".... But Graeme Bannerman, a Lebanon expert at the Washington-based Middle East Institute, said US insistence on the tribunal had backfired as it was clear many Shiites -- one of the country's three main groups -- would not accept it. "Probably no one in the world wants the tribunal more than Hariri, but he has a whole series of other considerations. He can't govern without consensus" among the three groups, he said. In backing the tribunal, the United States also has "an alternative agenda, which is to weaken Hezbollah and therefore Syria and Iran. It doesn't take into consideration how the Lebanese political system works." "I think we are an essential part of Hariri's problem. I think we are making his life more difficult rather than easier," Bannerman said."