The concluding paragraph of Fisk’s end-of-year summary:
If Lebanon survives into next year, it will be the only “democracy” in the Arab world to have done so. Afghanistan is crumbling, Iraq is already a mass grave. The Palestinians face their own inter-factional catastrophe. But desperate for the help of Syria and Iran to ease his trapped legions from Iraq, Bush is now urged to deal with Israel’s Arab opponents. By year’s end, the UN’s tribunal investigator was no longer blaming Syria for Hariri’s murder and the Lebanese awaited their second betrayal by the US: to be fed back to Damascus in return for salvation in Iraq. The world should watch what happens to little countries that believe in the promises of a superpower – and pray for their salvation.
From http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2110655.ece