After Withdrawal, Letdown in Lebanon

BEIRUT — When anti-Syria fever swept Lebanon this year, 25-year-old law student Nabil abu Charaf didn't think twice. He told a sympathetic boss that he wouldn't be able to work quietly as a lawyer-in-training while the nation's youth clamored in the streets for change. He joined the mass of die-hard protesters living in a tent city on Martyr's Square, fueled by adrenaline and ideals.

A fervent member of the "people power" campaign repeatedly cheered by the Bush administration, Abu Charaf camped under the Mediterranean stars during 72 days of political turmoil. He didn't go home until popular protests and international pressure forced Syrian soldiers out of Lebanon.

"All of the guys who went down had to sacrifice their jobs and their studies for the cause," said Abu Charaf, a Maronite Christian who attends St. Joseph's University in Beirut. "All of us made sacrifices for the Syrian withdrawal."

But as voters head to the polls today for a parliamentary election billed as the nation's first free vote after 30 years of civil war and Syrian domination, Abu Charaf is one of the many Lebanese who speak of a sense of letdown. Instead of celebrating the creation of an independent government, Lebanon seems to have fallen into a funk.

"We are disappointed because, you know, politics have changed 180 degrees, but we still have the same people" in power, Abu Charaf said. "That's the problem. The new generation, the youth, can't accept it."

Less than four months have passed since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri sparked massive outrage against Damascus' military and political control over Lebanon. Back then, Beirut felt breathless.

Demonstrators thronged the streets, blaming Syria for Hariri's death. There was heady talk of unprecedented unity among previously hostile religious groups. Lebanese hoped that their tortured country might finally make peace among its sects and liberate itself from foreign meddling.

It was an idea encouraged by the U.S., armed with a U.N. Security Council resolution that placed immense pressure on Syria to withdraw. The U.S. described the Beirut demonstrations as the sort of democratic awakening that would be expected from the emerging, post-Saddam Hussein Middle East.

But the so-called Cedar Revolution has sputtered, leaving Lebanon to struggle with the woes that have stuck to the country for generations. Aging warlords are steering themselves back into power. Famous families are preening their sons for parliament.