The United States has no plans to join the U.N. stabilization force destined for southern Lebanon, but the Bush administration is pressing the international community to speed up troop deployment if the fragile cessation of hostilities has any chance of becoming durable. Technically, it is the U.N.'s responsibility to recruit and shape the 15,000-strong force, but World Politics Review has learned that on Wednesday foreign ambassadors in Washington were called to the State Department where a senior U.S. official called for more haste in pledging and sending contingents. Diplomats who attended the meeting, which was not publicly reported, said the official told them the force -- mandated by the Security Council resolution of August 11 -- should have the broadest possible representation, and urged even small countries to contribute. American participation on the ground was ruled out because of the Bush administration's open support for Israel during the conflict.
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