For conspiracy theorists: (and please--at least when it comes to Lebanon--count me as one). A week ago, the top Middle East official at the US government (Assistant Secretary of State for the Near East, David Welsh) was visiting Lebanon. The Lebanese media commented at the time that it was unprecedented how he held a long (closed door) meeting with Michel Sulayman, commander-in-chief of the Lebanese Army. Visiting American officials from the State Department rarely if ever meet with the commander of the Lebanese Army. Now of course, that the meeting took place days before the Lebanese Army assault on the Nahr Al-Barid refugee camp is a mere coincidence.