Lebanon's hopes for democracy

Writing From Beirut -- Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says: "We need to focus on the three Ds-defense, diplomacy and development." No mention of another "D" word: democracy.

This new approach has garnered widespread applause across the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Not in Lebanon. At least not among members of the March 14 coalition, as the pro-democracy forces are known. The name is a reference to the date in 2005 when more than 1 million people gathered in downtown Beirut to protest the murder of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in a massive car-bomb blast widely believed to have been arranged by Syrian agents. Those protests, which came to be called the Cedar Revolution, garnered strong support from France and the United States and forced Syria to end its long occupation of Lebanon.