Monday, July 17  Tell me how this ends.  Does anyone remember
the "Cedar Revolution" in Lebanon? Does anyone remember how, in
the wake of the assassination of Rafiq al-Hariri, thousands of
Lebanese people took to the streets in protest and -- almost
completely on their own -- worked their way out from under the
oppressive thumb of Syria? Does anyone remember how happy
everybody was about that, these average Lebanese Joes and
Josephines rising up to prove that democracy could exist in the
Middle East? That all happened in February and March of last
year. Based on the events of the past few days, though, I'd have
thought it was a lot longer.  I don't want to be seen as a knee-
jerk pessimistic Eeyore, immediately jumping to the worst-case
scenario no matter what, but it looks like all that progress is
currently in the process of being blown into oblivion. If
there's even a Lebanon left after the Israel-Hezbollah war is
over with, who knows what it's going to look like? Maybe some
Lebanese George Washington will