The delicate matter of preserving pre-war Beirut

See http://business.blogs.cnn.com/2011/08/08/battling-to-save-beiruts-heritage-after-the-war/ for a brief, broad-brush account of the post-civil-war reconstruction of the Lebanese capital city. Rebuilding from violent conflict-in a small area of a small city or in the major world city of Beirut-is tricky business, requiring strong alliances among government, civil society, and business. I remember growing up near Asbury Park, New Jersey, and the killing and destruction during the civil rights protests of the early 1970s. There are still lived tensions there, as there most certainly are in Beirut. In both places, plenty of people have been trying to reconstruct, modernize, while preserving important memories. In both places, the process continues to take a long time.