CALL THE BLUFF:

Hizballah to Bush: "Come on Over!" (ANDREW LEE BUTTERS, 1/09/08, TIME)

Lebanon isn't a scheduled stop on the President's weeklong trip, but when rumors began circulating that Bush might make a surprise visit as a sign of support for the besieged American-backed government here, Hizbllah planners went into overdrive. "Hizballah leaves nothing to chance," one of the group's commanders told TIME. "Bush is a coward he will never dare to visit Lebanon, but if he did it, we are ready to put him under tight siege." And they mean this in a nice way.

Hizballah and other opposition groups have already reserved buses to move hundreds of thousands of demonstrators on short notice to follow the President wherever he goes, the commander said, if Bush should choose to appear. They have organized security teams to prevent the crowds from getting out of hand, or from being infiltrated by any Al Qaeda-type groups that might try to assassinate the President.

Go, insist on speaking to Nasrallah, and recognize the sovereign state of Hezbollahstan--then let's see him try to refuse it. Baby Assad might drop dead right then and save us some effort.

Posted by Orrin Judd at January 9, 2008 6:05 PM