From the just published book Inheriting Syria: Bashar's Trial by Fire: (the author, Flynt Leverett, was a Middle East staffer at the National Security Council during Bush's first administration)
"Hariri carefully prepared the ground for a political comeback. In this he was helped by the decline of the Lebanese economy under Lahud and Hariri's replacement, Salim Al-Huss; Hariri may even have used his personal fortune to precipitate an exchange rate crisis in early 2000 that boosted his political standing." (p. 106) (Leverett should have added that Hariri also engaged in the most dirty and acute sectarian agitation and mobilization)
"Hard-line elements in the administration, including Secretary Rumsfeld and younger neoconservative advocates in the Office of the Secretary of Defense and the Office of the Vice President, were intrigued by the idea of using Lebanon as a pressure point against Damascus from the beginning of Bush's tenure....Chirac had become sufficiently angered at Bashar's handling of Lebanese prime minister Hariri that France shifted its position [on UNSC 1559)..." (p. 145)
(thanks Fadi for promptly alerting me to the release of the book)