Lebanon's US allies were fuming at recent peace talks in Doha. Enraged by their domestic opponents, with whom they have been forced to share power to avert civil war, they were not particularly happy with their American friends either.

One political leader who had been feted in Washington more than once told me the Bush administration was not only finished - it had also killed all prospect of Arab-Israeli peace. Its unwillingness to promote a real peace process, which would have strengthened the moderate allies of the US in Palestine and elsewhere, had essentially handed over the Middle East to radicals, he lamented.