LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 21/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12,13-21. Someone in the crowd said to him, "Teacher, tell my brother to share the inheritance with me."He replied to him, "Friend, who appointed me as your judge and arbitrator?" Then he said to the crowd, "Take care to guard against all greed, for though one may be rich, one's life does not consist of possessions." Then he told them a parable. "There was a rich man whose land produced a bountiful harvest. He asked himself, 'What shall I do, for I do not have space to store my harvest?' And he said, 'This is what I shall do: I shall tear down my barns and build larger ones. There I shall store all my grain and other goods and I shall say to myself, "Now as for you, you have so many good things stored up for many years, rest, eat, drink, be merry!" But God said to him, 'You fool, this night your life will be demanded of you; and the things you have prepared, to whom will they belong?' Thus will it be for the one who stores up treasure for himself but is not rich in what matters to God."

Saint Basil (c.330-379), monk and Bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, Doctor of the Church
Homily 31; PG 31, 261 (©Friends of Henry Ashworth)
Store up treasure for yourself or make yourself rich in the sight of God?
"What am I to do? I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones." Now why did that land bear so well when it belonged to a man who would make no good use of its fertility? It was to show more clearly the forbearance of God, whose kindness extends even to such people as this. He «sends rain on both the just and the unjust, and makes the sun rise on the wicked and the good alike» (Mt 5,45)... These were God's blessings towards this rich man: fruitful fields, a temperate climate, abundant sowing, oxen to do the work and everything needful to assure his prosperity. But what do we find in this man? A bitter disposition, hatred of other people, unwillingness to give. This is the return he made to his Benefactor.
He forgot that we all share the same nature; he felt no obligation to distribute his surplus to the needy; he paid no heed to those divine precepts: «Refuse no one the good on which he has a claim» (Prv 3,27), «Let not kindness and fidelity leave you» (3,3), «Share your bread with the hungry» (Is 58,7). Every prophet, every wise man cried out to him these precepts yet he turned a deaf ear. His barns were full to bursting point, but still his miserly heart was not satisfied... Greed would not permit him to part with anything he possessed, and yet because he had so much there was no place to store his latest harvest And so he was incapable of making a decision and could find no escape from his anxiety. «What am I to do?» he went on saying. Who would not pity a man so oppressed? His land yields him no profit but only sighs...; he laments in the same way as the poor do. What am I to do? How can I find food and clothing?...You who have wealth, recognize who has given you the gifts you have received. Consider yourself, who you are, what has been committed to your charge, from whom you have received it, why you have been preferred to most other people. You are the servant of the good God, a steward on behalf of your fellow servants... «What am I to do?» It would have been so easy to say: "I will feed the hungry, I will open my barns and call in all the poor... Let anyone who lacks bread come to me. You shall share, each according to need, in the good things God has given me, just as though you were drawing from a common well».

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Are We Funding the Lebanese Army or Hizballah? by W. Thomas Smith, Jr. 20/10/08
Iran, Hezbollah training Iraqi militias, interrogators find-Boston Globe 20/10/08
Time to prepare for an Israeli about-face on comprehensive peace The Daily Star  20/10/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 20/08
Testimonies by Iraqi Militiamen on Training At Hizbullah Bases-Iran-Naharnet
Request to Transport 4 Generals Accused in Hariri's Murder to the Netherlands Soon, Report-Naharnet
Abssi's Daughter Lives in Ain al-Hilweh, Not Arrested in Syria-Naharnet
Israel Discussing Initiative to Sign Non-aggression Treaty with Lebanon-Naharnet
Lebanese Forces: Regional Powers Target Iraq's Christians-Naharnet
North Lebanon braced for more strife-BBC News
4 People Wounded in Shooting, Dagger Fighting in Beirut-Naharnet
Iran, Hezbollah Order Agents Out Of Syria-Evening Bulletin-Naharnet
Lebanon's Sunni-Shiite overnight clashes in Beirut left 4 wounded-Xinhua-Naharnet
Syria Might Appoint Christian Ambassador to Lebanon, Report-Naharnet
Muallem: No Third Party Involved in Our Relations with Lebanon-Naharnet
Jumblat before Heading to Cairo Welcomes Iranian Support for Army-Naharnet
Welch Supports 'Lebanonization' of Government Institutions and Army-Naharnet
Sison: More than $1 Billion Assistance a Sign that U.S. Won't Abandon Lebanon-Naharnet
Moussa: Why Doesn't a Hizbullah Delegation Visit Egypt-Naharnet
Bassil: They Made Us Fear Iran … We Should Benefit from Any State that Wants to Help Us-Naharnet
Barak: Israel Considering Saudi Peace Plan-Naharnet
Siniora complains to UN chief over Israeli incursions-Daily Star
World leaders prepare for summits on finance reform-(AFP)
Iranian foreign minister warns West against talks with Taliban-(AFP)
Egyptian tycoon pleads 'not guilty' in slaying of Lebanese pop singer-(AFP)
Sleiman hails Sarkozy's 'brave move' to repair ties with Syria-Daily Star
Rival ceremonies mark killing of Chamoun family-Daily Star
UNIFIL boosts security amid attack threat-Daily Star
The impact of future Asian naval policy on the Gulf-Daily Star
Pro-Palestinian activists fear loss of momentum-Daily Star
Bank of Beirut records 74.58 percent rise in profits-Daily Star
Beirut ranks among world's 10 'liveliest' cities - guidebook-Daily Star
Calls for moderation mark opening of Al-Amin Mosque-Daily Star

Sison: More than $1 Billion Assistance a Sign that U.S. Won't Abandon Lebanon
Naharnet/Ambassador Michele Sison said the U.S. has provided more than $1 billion worth of assistance to Lebanon and reiterated her country's stance that any intervention by Syrian troops into Lebanon would be "unacceptable."Sison also said in an interview with Kuwait's al-Rai newspaper that Syria should demarcate the border with Lebanon and respect U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701.She said the establishment of diplomatic ties between Beirut and Damascus were a "positive step" but there were still pending issues. Sison told the newspaper that the U.S. would not drop its support to Lebanon even after the election of a new president because it has spent over $1 billion on the Mideast country in the past few years. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 09:29

Testimonies by Iraqi Militiamen on Training At Hizbullah Bases-Iran
Naharnet/The New York Times has published testimonies by detained Iraqi Shiite militiamen about training in Iran and Lebanon by Revolutionary Guards and Hizbullah operatives on the use of weapons and explosives. The training, according to the report by Mark Mazzetti, included the use of automatic rifles, anti-aircraft guns, machine guns, mortars and the handling of explosives, especially roadside bombs. The lengthy report described the day-to-day life of Iraqi Shiite trainees, how they were recruited and the routes used to take them to Iran and Lebanon, via Syria. Following is the New York Times' Special report:
"They wake before dawn, with time to exercise, eat and pray before the day's first class in firing Kalashnikov rifles. Over the next eight hours, they practice using bazookas or laying roadside bombs, with a break for lunch and mandatory religious instruction.
"There is free time in the evening to watch television or play Ping-Pong. Lights out at 11 p.m. Such is a typical day at a dusty military base outside Tehran, where for the past several years members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force and Lebanese Hizbullah operatives have trained Iraqi Shiites to launch attacks against American forces in Iraq, according to accounts given to American interrogators by captured Iraqi fighters.
"American officials have long cited Iranian training and weapons as reasons for the lethality of attacks by Shiite fighters in Iraq. Iranian officials deny that such training takes place. "Now, more than 80 pages of newly declassified intelligence documents for the first time describe in detail an elaborate network used by Iraqis to gain entry into Iran and train under Iranian supervision.
"The prisoners' accounts cannot be independently verified. Yet the detainees gave strikingly similar details about training compounds in Iran, a clandestine network of safe houses in Iran and Iraq they used to reach the camps and intra-Shiite tensions at the camps between the Arab Iraqis and their Persian Iranian trainers.
"Although attacks on Americans by Shiite militias have greatly decreased this year, military and intelligence officials said there was evidence that the militias, sometimes referred to as "special groups," were now returning to Iraq to disrupt coming elections and intimidate residents.
"Maj. Gen. Jeffery W. Hammond, the commander of American forces in Baghdad, said recently that he believed that some militia fighters had returned to the capital in recent weeks. "The documents, compiled by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, are a collection of interrogation reports based on accounts of more than two dozen Shiite fighters captured in Iraq in 2007 and 2008. "The center is a research organization that compiles and analyzes intelligence documents related to Al Qaeda, Iraq, Iran and other topics. The documents portray an Iranian strategy to use Iraqi Shiites as surrogates, in part to avoid the risk of Iranians being captured in Iraq. "In one of the intelligence reports, a prisoner tells his captors that /Iran does not want to fight a direct war/ with American forces in Iraq because Tehran worries that the United States would destroy Iran.
"American intelligence officials say they believe that since a handful of Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives were captured in Baghdad in 2006, Iran shifted its strategy to bringing small groups of Iraqis into Iran. The Iraqis are then sent back to their country to train larger cadres of Shiite militants.
"One senior American intelligence official said there were indications that the training programs in Iran might have significantly expanded this year to accommodate the scores of Iraqi militia fighters who fled Iraq during the Iraqi military's campaigns in Basra and Baghdad.
"Brian Fishman, director of research at the Combating Terrorism Center and a co-author of a new study about Iran's political and military influence in Iraq, said that even though Iran was not in direct command of militia groups in Iraq, the training was one of the means at Iran's disposal to increase or decrease its influence in Iraq at will. "Having the militia allies is a hedge," he said. "If things turn against Iran politically, it gives them a lever to pull."
"The new Iran study, written by Mr. Fishman and Col. Joseph H. Felter, concludes that Iran aims to attack American troops in Iraq in part to show off its own abilities and in part to "demonstrate a credible deterrent against a U.S. strike on Iran's nuclear facilities."
"The captives gave detailed descriptions of daily routines in the Iranian camps, from the intensity of weapons training to the more mundane complaints of military life.
"One of the captured Iraqis described a mini-revolt among the trainees because they had not been issued socks to wear with their military boots.
"The documents also reveal deep ethnic fissures between Iranian and Iraqi Shiites. The Iraqis complained that their Iranian trainers did not show them the proper respect and that they made disparaging remarks about Moktada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shiite cleric who has led an anti-American resistance movement in Iraq.
"Iraqi Shia are superior to Iranians because Iraqi Shia are moral, good, compassionate and emotionally sensitive," one detainee said. Iranians are not moral, are not sensitive and believe they are superior to everyone." "By contrast, the Iraqis said they tended to forge closer bonds to the Lebanese Hizbullah fighters, Arabs who share a common language with the Iraqis. "After they had been selected for training in Iran, some of the trainees told their families they were going to the Iraqi city of Najaf to help guard the holy Shiite shrines there.
"Actually, the trainees usually made their way to Amara, a town in eastern Iraq not far from the Iranian border. There, they met their contact person at a local garage, where they were given small sums of money and stowed in safe houses around the city.
"After a day or two, those with passports were driven by bus or taxi over the Iranian border to cities in western Iran like Ahvaz or Kermanshah. One detainee reported that the Iranian training was usually scheduled around major Shiite holidays, when large numbers of pilgrims cross the border and there is a better chance that the movement of the fighters will go unnoticed.
"Those without passports were usually driven at night to marshlands, where they boarded rowboats to be ferried over the border and picked up by a waiting vehicle. "After spending a night in Ahvaz or Kermanshah, the trainees were brought to a local airport and flown to Tehran, where they were picked up and driven to a military base hours outside the city. Several of the detainees identified the camp as the Sayid al-Shahada military base. "Once at the base, trainees were issued a "tracksuit, tennis shoes, towel, and military food," one of the prisoners reported. "The refrigerator was filled with a lot of food and fruit," he said. "They spent the next month training to fire small-caliber firearms, mortars and antiaircraft weapons, and learning how to carry out ambushes. They took classes in camouflage and daily religious instruction. "Some trainees participated in a special "engineer course" that trained militants how to lay roadside bombs. But only "smart" trainees were allowed to take part in the engineer training, according to one captive who said he was deemed not intelligent enough for this specialized training.
"If you are not smart, no one will waste the time and expenses to send you to Iran to train to be an engineer because you will fail," says one of the interrogation reports. "Detainee did not care about engineer training and did not want to come back to Iran because their training was a waste of time and detainee had to leave his family for nothing." "Other prisoners shared this dim view of the training, telling American interrogators that a separate training course run by Hizbullah operatives in Lebanon was far superior to the training in Iran. "To get to the training course in Lebanon, the detainees report, the Iraqis were taken by bus to an airport in Iran, where they then flew to Damascus, Syria, and were picked up and driven to the Lebanese border. Once in Lebanon, they said, they participated in several more weeks of training, led by Hizbullah operatives, in "weapons inventory control," "project planning" and communications. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 18:30

Israel Discussing Initiative to Sign Non-aggression Treaty with Lebanon
Naharnet/The Israeli foreign ministry is examining an initiative aimed at reaching a long-term non-belligerence pact with Lebanon to prevent renewed fighting along the border, Haaretz daily reported on Monday. The initiative was first revealed two weeks ago during a strategic discussion over the future of the Middle East peace process that was held as part of the ministry's evaluation of regional developments, the Israeli newspaper said.  The evaluation is the first of its kind, and was initiated by ministry director-general Aharon Abramovich, and later supported by Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, it added. Livni's close advisers and senior ministry officials reportedly participated in the discussion but given the officials' close relationship with Livni, the evaluation's recommendations are likely to turn into official policy should she succeed in forming a government, according to Haaretz.
Eran Etzion, the head of the foreign ministry's political planning section, told Haaretz that a full peace agreement with Lebanon can only come in the wake of a similar deal with Syria. Still, he said, Israel can try to advance on a separate political track with Lebanon, the end result of which could be a long-term non-belligerence pact. The agreement would be signed by both governments, and its focus would be a reciprocal agreement on the route of the border between the two countries. The deal would include a solution to the dispute over the Shebaa Farms border area and the divided village of Ghajar, as well as a number of small border adjustments demanded by Lebanon, the daily reported. The recommendation would provide for a coordination apparatus between the Israel Defense Forces and the Lebanese army, as well as the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) over border patrols and other monitoring activities, the leading Israeli newspaper said. Israel, according to the initiative revealed by Haaretz, is expected to ask Lebanon to significantly reduce Hizbullah's weapons stores, and to extend the Lebanese army's authority across the entire country, with a special emphasis on the area south of the Litani River, which is the closest area to Israel. In return, an agreement would have to be reached over Israeli overflights in Lebanese airspace. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 12:46

Request to Transport 4 Generals Accused in Hariri's Murder to the Netherlands Soon, Report
Naharnet/Chief U.N. investigator Daniel Bellemare has reportedly prepared an official request for the transfer to the Netherlands of the four Lebanese generals accused of involvement in the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. The daily ad-Diyar, which carried the report, said Bellemare's request calls for providing an international jet between Dec. 5-20 under the protection of both police and Lebanese army troops. According to ad-Diyar, Bellemare is to present his request to Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza. This request is to be later approved by the Minister of Justice Ibrahim Najjar and the Lebanese cabinet. The paper stated that the process is already underway.
A special Lebanese army unit assigned to protect the international investigation commission has received instructions to prepare securing the transfer of three containers of documents to a court in The Hague, Netherlands. Bellemare wants the timing of the transfer to be secure and confidential allowing Lebanese security forces to transfer the detainees from Roumieh prison to the aircraft, ad-Diyar stated. The four generals are Jamil Sayyed, Ali Hajj, Raymond Azar and Mustafa Hamdan who respectively headed the General Security Department, the Internal Security Forces, Military Intelligence and the Presidential Guards Brigade. Hajj's wife on Monday denied her knowledge of the details reported by ad-Diyar. "I hope that judge Mirza will inform the defense attorney of the four arrested generals of this step when it happens if the Diyar story is true," Samar Hajj told New TV. "And I don't think this will happen." The official spokesperson for the commission Radhya Ashouri had explained to Naharnet that "the tribunal will not disclose the name of anyone during the course of its work as stated by Bellemare in his first report to the U.N. Security Council last April." Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 13:31

Abssi's Daughter Lives in Ain al-Hilweh, Not Arrested in Syria
Naharnet/Abdul Razzaq Abssi on Monday denied remarks attributed to Syrian President Bashar Assad that his niece was arrested in Syria and has testified to alleged schemes by followers of her father, Fatah al-Islam leader Shaker Abssi, to carry out terrorist attacks."My niece Wafaa has been living in the camp of Ain el-Hilweh in south Lebanon since the events at the Nahr al-Bared camp were over last year and has not moved to Syria and has not been arrested in Syria," Abssi said. He told al-Jazeera television his niece "is not allowed into Syria. Her children were allowed into Syria because they hold Syrian identification documents like their father. But the mother (Wafaa) has been banned from entering Syria because she is a Jordanian citizen." "She preferred to remain united with her children in Ain el-Hilweh pending a decision by either the Syrian or Jordanian authorities to allow in the whole family," Abssi added. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 18:50

Lebanese Forces: Regional Powers Target Iraq's Christians
Naharnet/The Lebanese Forces Party on Monday pleaded with Iraqi officials to adopt speedy measures capable of halting crimes committed against Christians.
A statement also urged the Arab league, the United Nations, the European Union and the international community to exert efforts to "salvage thousands of Christian families in Iraq." The statement noted that a campaign targeting Christians in Iraq coincided with "annulling article 50 of the election law that allots seats to Christians in provincial councils." It recalled that Chaldean Archbishop Louis Sako had warned that the ongoing campaign is "in implementation of regional and domestic schemes." "Displacing Christians serves political factions linked to regional powers seeking to create factional cantons in Iraq." Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 20:29

Welch Supports 'Lebanonization' of Government Institutions and Army
Naharnet/U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch expressed his country's support of Lebanese state institutions.
His remarks were published on Monday by the daily An-Nahar. When asked by An-Nahar to respond to statements made last Friday by his deputy David Hale that the Lebanese army was previously subject to a process of "Syrianization," while others are talking about "Americanization" of the Lebanese Armed Forces, he said: "I don't believe in either process. The Lebanese army is not only owned by the Lebanese people, but also represents and protects them. What we are asking is the Lebanonization of government institutions including the army." Welch was speaking to An-Nahar on the sidelines of the 'Future Forum' in Abu Dhabi Sunday.
He expressed his country's desire for expanding the circle of peace in the region. "There is no reason preventing Lebanon and Israel from sitting together and maybe in an indirect manner to look at their problems," Welch said. The U.S. official described the establishment of Lebanese-Syrian diplomatic relations as "positive," hoping that both countries would witness "other understandings."Welch pointed that foreign U.S. policy will not change regardless of whether Democrats or Republicans win the White House race. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 10:29

4 People Wounded in Shooting, Dagger Fighting in Beirut
Naharnet/Four people were wounded in overnight shooting and dagger fighting in Beirut's Borj Abu Haidar neighborhood between partisans of MP Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal Movement and AMAL Movement supporters. Press reports on Monday said the fight, which broke out around 10 pm Sunday, soon developed into exchange of gunfire. Among the wounded were three Mustaqbal Movement members. The Voice of Lebanon radio station on Monday identified them as Tarek Shehab, who sustained a gunshot wound to his leg, Mohammed Munir Fatha, who was stabbed in the hands and Bilal Salim Khaled, stabbed in the stomach.
It said Mohammed Jamil was also stabbed in the chest several times. Lebanese army troops stepped in and contained the fight. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 07:32

Jumblat before Heading to Cairo Welcomes Iranian Support for Army
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said he was not against Iranian assistance to the Lebanese army, adding that his accusations against Syria's allies in Lebanon were "the result of political tension." Jumblat, in an interview with Iran's Press TV Sunday, also described the establishment of diplomatic relations between Beirut and Damascus as "a very positive step that the Lebanese have urged for a long time." Asked about his previous accusations that Syria's allies in Lebanon were involved in the series of assassinations rocking the country, Jumblat said: "During times of tension we could say anything. We said bad things about Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and Hizbullah. And they said bad things about me and (MP) Saad Hariri.""Every politician could cross the limit. This was the result of political tension," he said."Now we have to wait for the international tribunal to tell us who killed (ex-Premier) Rafik Hariri and we have to head towards achieving our objectives through elections," he said. Jumblat also said he backed any support to the Lebanese army, denying that he was against Iranian assistance to the armed forces. Meanwhile, the Druze leader traveled to Cairo Sunday night for a two-day visit. He is expected to meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit and other top officials on Monday. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 06:17

Iran, Hezbollah Order Agents Out Of Syria
By David Bedein, Middle East Correspondent
10/20/2008
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/index.cfm?newsid=20170448&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=576361&rfi=8
Jerusalem - The Middle East Newsline has confirmed that Iran and Hezbollah, amid a spate of assassinations, have ordered their agents to leave Syria.
Iran and Hezbollah have warned their representatives that they could become targets in Syria.
Over the last month, the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has sustained at least three major attacks in Damascus, including a car bombing outside the offices of Syrian intelligence as well as a shootout with Palestinian gunmen at a Palestinian refugee camp.
The Iranian intelligence community has recommended that senior officials stop visiting Syria. They said the warning was issued in August in wake of the assassination of Mr. Assad's military adviser, Maj. Gen. Muhammad Suleiman.
The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said Maj. Gen. Suleiman secretly visited Paris in August and disclosed Hezbollah plans to abduct Israeli executives in Thailand and a Gulf Cooperation Council state. Several weeks later, he was assassinated.
Hezbollah also banned its representatives from visiting Syria. It assessed that its members could meet a fate similar to that of its late operational chief Imad Mughniyeh, who was assassinated in a car bombing in Damascus in February.
Hamas has not yet ordered its members out of Syria. Hamas leaders have reinforced security for its headquarters and leadership in wake of the assassination of the aide to Hamas political bureau chief Khaled Mashaal in September.
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us. His Web site is www.IsraelBehindTheNews.com
©The Bulletin 2008

Abu Jamra Rejects Accusations that Saudi behind Terrorism in Lebanon
Naharnet/Deputy Prime Minister Issam Abu Jamra on Sunday rejected claims that Saudi Arabia was behind terrorism in Lebanon.
"Saudi Arabia was the first country to recognize Lebanon's independence," Abu Jamra said in an interview with OTV, adding that Riyadh continues to render held and assistance to Lebanon. "True. Saudi terrorists have been arrested inside and outside Lebanon, but that doesn't mean that Saudi Arabia is responsible for this act," he explained. On Lebanese-Syrian relations, Abu Jamra said there are issues that are still pending, pointing to the problems concerning missing Lebanese, border demarcation and bilateral economic and trade ties. Beirut, 19 Oct 08, 19:18

Syria Might Appoint Christian Ambassador to Lebanon, Report
Naharnet/Sources from the Lebanese opposition pointed out to the London-based daily al Hayat on Monday that Damascus is considering appointing a Christian as ambassador to Beirut. It said possible candidates include current Syrian ambassador to Spain and former minister of transportation (and maternal uncle of former Lebanese cabinet minister Karam Karam) Makram Obeid. Another candidate is current editor-in-chief of the Syrian daily and ruling party mouthpiece al-Baath Elias Mrad. Sources told al Hayat that the final decision will be taken soon. They said that a Syrian team is currently inspecting a number of existing buildings between Jnah and Bir Hassan districts in south Beirut and that the exchange of ambassadors is likely to take place prior to the Nov. 22 Lebanese Independence Day. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has confirmed that Damascus and Beirut would open embassies in each other's capitals by the end of the year, but denied Damascus was seeking to name a former Christian Syrian minister or Ambassador Faisal al-Miqdad as Damascus' head of mission in Lebanon.
"The ambassador's name cannot be known before consulting the two governments," Muallem told An Nahar daily in remarks published Monday.
Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 08:37

Muallem: No Third Party Involved in Our Relations with Lebanon
Naharnet/Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has confirmed that Damascus and Beirut would open embassies in each other's capitals by the end of the year and denied a third party was involved in issues related to Syrian-Lebanese relations. "The ambassador's name cannot be known before consulting the two governments," Muallem told An Nahar daily in remarks published Monday. He also denied Damascus was seeking to name a former Christian Syrian minister or Ambassador Faisal al-Miqdad as Damascus' head of mission in Lebanon. Muallem spoke to An Nahar in Abu Dhabi on Sunday on the sidelines of the fifth U.S.-backed Forum for the Future which aims at promoting democracy in the Middle East. Asked about local and international demands to demarcate the border and solve the issue of missing Lebanese in Syria, Muallem said: "We abide by what Lebanese President Michel Suleiman and his Syrian counterpart Bashar Assad agreed upon" during the Lebanese head of state's visit to Damascus in August. "We implement what serves the interest and political will of both countries and no third party has anything to do with the issue," Muallem stressed. About the deployment of Syrian troops on Lebanon's northern border, the foreign minister said: "A few hundred Syrian soldiers from the border guards were deployed in Syrian territories to prevent smuggling. Any talk from another side is interference in (Damascus') internal affairs."
"I didn't read President Assad's statement," Muallem said, when An Nahar's correspondent asked him about reports that the Syrian president had accused March 14 parties of backing terrorist groups in Syria. Muallem also confirmed there was no new development in his country's relations with Saudi Arabia.
Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 06:56

Moussa: Why Doesn't a Hizbullah Delegation Visit Egypt
Naharnet/Arab League chief Amr Moussa suggested that a delegation from Hizbullah visits Egypt and expressed optimism over the positive developments in Lebanon. Dialogue "is the most important thing at this moment. It is important that the Lebanese talk together and this is part of the Beirut agreement before the Doha (accord) and part of the Arab political initiative. Responsibility lies on the Lebanese leaders and we will see if there will be the need for intervention. I hope there won't be such a need," he told An Nahar daily on the sidelines of the Fifth Forum for the Future. The U.S.-backed forum aims at promoting democracy in the Middle East. It held its fifth edition in Abu Dhabi on Sunday. Moussa also told An Nahar in remarks published Monday that Lebanon's problems were gradually being solved. "A president was elected, a government was formed, an election law was adopted, diplomatic ties were established between Lebanon and Syria and internal reconciliation began," Moussa told the newspaper, adding "these are steps that could lead to a new position in Lebanon." Asked about recent visits to Cairo by Lebanese politicians and reports that a Hizbullah delegation could travel to Egypt, Moussa said: "I am the Secretary General of the Arab League and I don't speak on Egypt's behalf. But why doesn't a delegation from Hizbullah visit Egypt?" The same way Cairo is meeting Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea and Druze leader Walid Jumblat, it could "meet Hizbullah which is a major player in Lebanon," Moussa added.(AFP photo shows UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed al-Nahyan and Arab League chief Amr Moussa) Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 05:23

Bassil: They Made Us Fear Iran … We Should Benefit from Any State that Wants to Help Us
Naharnet/Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil said Lebanon should benefit from any state that wants to help the country, a reference to Iran.
"They made us fear Iran and Wilayat al-Faqih in Lebanon, while it (Iran) has churches and Christian MPs in its parliament," Bassil said in remarks published by several Beirut dailies on Monday.  He described the establishment of Beirut-Damascus ties as a "victory for no one." He was referring to leaders of the March 14 Forces who described the establishment of diplomatic relations between Syria and Lebanon as a victory for their cause. He said the ruling March 14 coalition did not "create" the issue of diplomatic relations. Bassil said it was the Free Patriotic Movement of Gen. Michel Aoun that "demanded" the establishment of Beirut-Damascus ties in its Memorandum of Understanding with Hizbullah. He attacked Druze leader Walid Jumblat for saying that he would not meddle in Syria's internal affairs. "Jumblat said he would not interfere in Syria's domestic affairs following establishment of diplomatic relations, which means that they were interfering before that," Bassil said. Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 08:36

Peres: Pope Should Visit Israel Despite Controversy Over Pius Caption
Naharnet/Israeli president Shimon Peres urged the Vatican on Sunday not to let a contentious reference to World War II and Pope Pius XII stand in the way of a visit to the Holy Land by the present pontiff. A caption accompanying a photograph on display at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial alleges the wartime pope did not act to save Jews from the Nazi genocide. The caption is an obstacle to a visit by Pope Benedict XVI, said a Catholic official promoting a cause which could lead to sainthood for Pius. But a spokesman for Benedict said Saturday that although no visit is currently planned, the spat with Yad Vashem will not be the deciding factor.
Israeli president Shimon Peres on Sunday stood by Israeli criticism of Pius but told reporters the issue should not be a barrier to a trip by Benedict.
"We have reason to believe that Pius XII didn't do enough to save Jewish life, I don't want to pass judgment. If there is evidence then it should be checked carefully," Peres said. "The visit to the holy country is nothing to do with anger or disputes. It's holy all the time, it is holy for all of us."
Benedict has a long-standing invitation from Israel for a visit. The Holy See and Israel established diplomatic relations in the early 1990s, but they must still resolve the status of expropriated church property, tax exemptions for the Church and permits for Arab Christian clergy traveling to and around the West Bank. The late John Paul II visited Israel in 2000.
Benedict recently reiterated the Vatican contention that Pius, who became pontiff in 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II, quietly worked behind the scenes to save as many Jews as possible. As an Italian prelate, Pius worked as a diplomat at the Vatican in the years leading up to the war.
The Vatican has asked authorities at the Holocaust memorial to make "a new, objective and in-depth review" of the caption, which says Pius did not use the weight of his office to try and halt the activities of the Nazi death camps. "While the (gas) ovens were fed by day and by night, the most Holy Father who dwells in Rome did not leave his palace," the caption states. About six million Jews were killed by the Nazis and their accomplices during the war. Yad Vashem said in a statement that a papal visit is strictly a political matter and the museum display has no bearing. "Pope Pius XII's activity during the Holocaust is an issue debated among historians throughout the world," the museum said. "The presentation of the subject in the Holocaust History Museum at Yad Vashem is based on the best research regarding this topic."(AP) Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 08:09

Barak: Israel Considering Saudi Peace Plan
Naharnet/Israeli leaders are giving serious consideration to a dormant Saudi plan offering a comprehensive peace between Israel and the Arab world, Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Sunday. Barak said that with individual negotiations with Syria and the Palestinians making little headway, it may be time to pursue an overall peace deal for the region. He said he has discussed the Saudi plan with Prime Minister-designate Tzipi Livni, who is in the process of forming a new Israeli government, and that Israel is considering a response. Saudi Arabia first proposed its peace initiative in 2002, offering pan-Arab recognition of Israel in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from Arab lands captured in 1967 -- the West Bank, Gaza Strip, east Jerusalem and the Golan Heights. The 22-member Arab League endorsed the plan last year. Israel has said the plan is a good basis for discussion, but expressed some reservations.
"Therefore, there is definitely room to introduce a comprehensive Israeli plan to counter the Saudi plan that would be the basis for a discussion on overall regional peace," Barak told Israel's Army Radio. He noted the "deep, joint interest" with moderate Arab leaders in containing Iran's nuclear ambitions and limiting the influence of Hizbullah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.
While Israel's outgoing prime minister, Ehud Olmert, has welcomed the Saudi plan, he and other leaders want to keep small parts of the territories captured in 1967. Israel also objects to language in the Saudi plan that appears to endorse a large-scale return of Palestinian refugees to lands inside Israel. Israel says a massive influx of Palestinians would destroy the country's Jewish character.
Israel's ceremonial president, Shimon Peres, proposed merging Israel's various peace talks into one track last month at the United Nations. In a speech to the General Assembly, he called on Saudi King Abdullah to "further his initiative." He has since been pushing the idea in meeting with Israeli, Arab and Western officials, his office said. While Peres has no formal role in Israeli foreign policy, he is a Nobel peace laureate and well respected in the international community.
In Sunday's interview, Barak said he was in full agreement with Peres, and had discussed the peace plan with Livni as well.
"I had the impression that there is indeed an openness to explore any path, including this one," he said of his talks with Livni.
Livni is currently working on forming a new coalition government, and Barak, who leads the Labor Party, is expected to play a senior role in the next administration.
Olmert is leaving office to battle corruption charges. Barak said Israel had to tread lightly, though, so as not to appear to be "coming from a position of patronage to the entire Arab world." "We are one of the players and it is proper that we introduce an initiative," he said.Livni's office refused to comment on her talks with Barak.(AP)Beirut, 20 Oct 08, 09:45

Rival ceremonies mark killing of Chamoun family
By Hussein Abdallah
Daily Star staff/Monday, October 20, 2008
BEIRUT: The weekend witnessed competing ceremonies to honor the death of former National Liberal Party (NLP) leader Dani Chamoun, his wife, and his two sons. The first ceremony was held by the NLP leader Dori Chamoun (Dani's brother) at a church near the party's headquarters in Sodeco, Achrafieh.
Meanwhile, other supporters of the late NLP chief gathered along with Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) supporters at a church in Rabieh, Mount Lebanon. The Rabieh ceremony was sponsored and attended by FPM leader MP Michel Aoun. Chamoun recalled the sacrifices of his late brother and called on March 14 supporters "to reinforce the image of a sovereign and independent Lebanon in next year's parliamentary elections." Aoun delivered a speech at the Rabieh ceremony, praising Dani Chamoun's past deeds and describing him as a "real leader and role model."Chamoun was murdered along with his wife Ingrid, and his sons Tarek and Julianne on October 22, 1990, only days after Syria's military invasion of the Baabda Palace, which led to the defeat of Aoun's (former army commander) forces, who were engaged in a "Liberation War" against Damascus. Tamara Chamoun, Dani's daughter, survived the mass murder of her family. Tracy Chamoun, another daughter of Dani, was in Australia when the crime took place.

Siniora complains to UN chief over Israeli incursions
By Andrew Wander
Daily Star staff
Monday, October 20, 2008
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has complained to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon that Israel is constantly violating the terms of the UN resolution that ended the 2006 war. Siniora's office announced on Saturday that the prime minister has sent two letters to Ban accusing Israel of flouting Resolution 1701 by sending its planes on missions into Lebanese airspace. Israeli over-flights were supposed to end with the withdrawal of the Israeli military after the devastating 34-day conflict. But for the past two years, Israeli jets have continued to violate Lebanese airspace, despite the UN repeatedly asking for them to stop.
"The first letter was in relation to Israeli threats and violations and the second was in relation to cluster bombs," an official statement from Siniora's office said.
The letters come after senior Israeli political and military figures have publicly warned that in any future offensive, the Israeli military would openly target all of Lebanon's civilian infrastructure in an expansion of the intense bombardment that focused on Beirut's southern suburbs and villages in the South of the country in the 2006 war. Siniora's office said that the letter had "affirmed that Lebanon is the victim of Israeli occupation" and emphasized that Israel is not exempt from "implementing its responsibilities according to Resolution 1701." The statement also said that there "is no excuse whatsoever for any aggressive action that Israel might undertake against Lebanon in the future."
The second letter called for increased pressure to be put on Israel to reveal the locations of the thousands of cluster bombs it dropped on South Lebanon during the war. Many of the dangerous bombs did not explode and continue to pose a risk to civilians and mine clearance teams in the area. At least 40 people have been killed by cluster bombs since the end of the war, but Israel has refused to hand over information that mine clearance teams have described as "crucial" to minimize civilian casualties. Both Israel and Hizbullah have engaged in increasingly hostile rhetoric in recent months, prompting concerns that another armed conflict might be brewing. Hizbullah claims that the 2006 war was a "divine victory," but speaking to the Financial Times newspaper last week, Siniora said that there had been no clear winner, and it had started with a "miscalculation" on Hizbullah's part.
"We managed to stop them [the Israelis] from defeating us, but in the final analysis they ended up occupying part of the country and we had to resort to political means to push them back out of the country," he said.
Siniora said that in future, Lebanon should be led by one clear authority and a continuation of parallel institutions making unilateral decisions would be dangerous. "Two captains in one ship will send the ship sinking," he warned, saying that the next election should establish the leadership of the country and be respected by all parties. "I strongly believe that the commitment of the majority of the people is in getting back to a situation where the state is in control. If it is a state run by Hizbullah, fine. But somebody is in charge. There is one captain," he said. Lebanese premier voices support for Iraqi Christians
BEIRUT: Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora called the Iraqi president Sunday to declare Lebanon's solidarity with the Iraqi people, particularly Iraqi Christians being targeted in a new wave of sectarian attacks.
"Christians in Iraq, as in any other Arab state, are an integral component of the national fabric," he reportedly told Jalal Talabani, adding that "we in Lebanon realize, perhaps more than others, the importance of the presence of Christian-Islamic diversity in Arab countries, as Lebanon constitutes a humane and civilized model of partnership."
Violence against Iraqi Christians, particularly those in Mosul, has escalated in recent weeks, with a series of deadly attacks including a church bombing and several drive-by shootings. Hundreds of families have fled Mosul and Iraqi Christian leaders have called the government's response inadequate.
"I am fully confident that the Iraqi cabinet will increase it efforts to stop these condemned actions that do not relate to ethics or the values of unity, freedom, brotherhood, and moderation, in which the Iraqis have always believed," Siniora said. - The Daily Star

Iran, Hezbollah training Iraqi militias, interrogators find
Declassified pages detail accounts made by prisoners
By Mark Mazzetti
New York Times News Service / October 19, 2008
Over the next eight hours, they practice using bazookas or laying roadside bombs, with a break for lunch and mandatory religious instruction.
There is free time in the evening to watch television or play ping-pong. Lights are out at 11 p.m.
Such is a typical day at a dusty military base outside Tehran, where for the past several years members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Quds Force and Lebanese Hezbollah operatives have trained Iraqi Shi'ites to launch attacks against American forces in Iraq, according to accounts given to American interrogators by captured Iraqi fighters.
American officials have long cited Iranian training and weapons as reasons for the lethality of attacks by Shi'ite fighters in Iraq. Iranian officials deny that such training takes place.
Now, more than 80 pages of newly declassified intelligence documents for the first time describe in detail an elaborate network used by Iraqis to gain entry into Iran and train under Iranian supervision.
They offer the most comprehensive account to date to support American assertions about Iranian efforts to build a proxy force in Iraq. Those assertions have become highly politicized, with Bush administration critics alleging that accounts of Iranian involvement have been exaggerated.
The prisoners' accounts cannot be independently verified. Yet the detainees gave strikingly similar details about training compounds in Iran, a clandestine network of safe houses in Iran and Iraq they used to reach the camps, and intra-Shi'ite tensions at the camps between the Arab Iraqis and their Persian Iranian trainers.
Although attacks on Americans by Shi'ite militias have greatly decreased this year, military and intelligence officials said there was evidence that the militias, sometimes referred to as "special groups," were returning to Iraq to disrupt coming elections and intimidate residents. Major General Jeffery W. Hammond, the commander of American forces in Baghdad, said recently that he believed some militia fighters had returned to the capital in recent weeks.
The documents, compiled by the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, are a collection of interrogation reports based on accounts of more than two dozen Shi'ite fighters captured in Iraq in 2007 and 2008. The center is a research organization that compiles and analyzes intelligence documents related to Al Qaeda, Iraq, Iran, and other topics.
The documents portray an Iranian strategy to use Iraqi Shi'ites as surrogates, in part to avoid the risk of Iranians being captured in Iraq. In one of the intelligence reports, a prisoner tells his captors that "Iran does not want to fight a direct war" with American forces in Iraq because Tehran worries that the United States would destroy Iran.
American intelligence officials say they believe that since a handful of Iranian Revolutionary Guard operatives were captured in Baghdad in 2006, Iran shifted its strategy to bringing small groups of Iraqis into Iran. The Iraqis are then sent back to their country to train larger cadres of Shi'ite militants.
One senior American intelligence official said there were indications that the training programs in Iran might have significantly expanded this year to accommodate the scores of Iraqi militia fighters who fled Iraq during the Iraqi military's campaigns in Basra and Baghdad.
Brian Fishman, director of research at the Combating Terrorism Center and a coauthor of a new study about Iran's political and military influence in Iraq, said that even though Iran was not in direct command of militia groups in Iraq, the training was one of the means at Iran's disposal to increase or decrease its influence in Iraq at will.
"Having the militia allies is a hedge," he said. "If things turn against Iran politically, it gives them a lever to pull."
American officials say it is still murky just how much of a direct role senior Iranian officials take in the training, although they say they believe that it takes place with at least the tacit approval of elements of Iran's government. The documents do not provide any direct evidence of senior Iranian government officials overseeing the training.
The new Iran study, written by Fishman and Colonel Joseph H. Felter, concludes that Iran aims to attack American troops in Iraq in part to show off its own abilities and to "demonstrate a credible deterrent against a US strike on Iran's nuclear facilities."
The captives gave detailed descriptions of daily routines in the Iranian camps, from the intensity of weapons training to the more mundane complaints of military life.
The documents also reveal deep ethnic fissures between Iranian and Iraqi Shi'ites. The Iraqis complained that their Iranian trainers made disparaging remarks about Moqtada al-Sadr, the Iraqi Shi'ite cleric.
© Copyright 2008 Globe Newspaper Company.

WORLD LEBANESE CULTURAL UNION
WLCU Secretary General in an interview with CR News
The Diaspora won't let Lebanon down
Oct 20th, 2008
Washington DC, CR News
In an interview granted to CR News today, the Secretary General of the World Lebanese Cultural Union (WLCU) Engineer Fady Barq said the Lebanese Diaspora won't let Lebanon down, even if all indicate that the mother country is facing a dangerous challenge regarding its sovereignty and future. Barq, a native of the Jbeil district in Lebanon resides in Boston, MA and has been appointed as Secretary General by the WLCU Conference held in Washington DC in May 2006. Barq has been visiting Lebanon and meeting with officials several times a year. He has also taken part in Lebanese emigres delegations to the US Administration and Congress as well as a frequent participant in Lebanese Lobby meetings with UN officials and missions at the Security Council since 2003. Barq has been previously a Secretary General for North America at the WLCU and a secretary for the World Congress in Sydney during the May 2005 sessions.
Taking advantage of his visit to Washington where he participated in a special BBC Arabic TV round table on Arab and Middle Eastern lobbies in America, CR News met with him and asked him the following questions:
CR News: Mr Barq, what was the purpose of your visit to DC today?
FB: I have been invited by the BBC TV Arabic to be part of a round table on the influence of Middle Eastern and Arab pressure groups -or lobbying entities- in the United States, particularly regarding the political causes of the mother countries. Since I have participated in many meetings and seminars with US officials over the past years dealing with Lebanon's cause, I will shed some light on the Lebanese efforts in the US to help the mother country.
CR News: We know you have been an active member of Lebanon's lobby for years now and you have witnessed the making of UNSCR 1559 both in Washington and in NY at the UN. Do you feel that this was the most important achievement by the Lebanese abroad?
I think the Lebanese émigrés have been helping their mother country for years. For example, among those who helped us push for what became UNSR 1559, we have advisers who have worked on previous efforts at the UN as early as the 1980s. But no doubt about it, Resolution 1559 was the single most important achievement by the Lebanese communities abroad. Many groups put joint efforts for its success, but I am proud to say that the conception of the idea and the first draft was done by a team from the WLCU and allies headed by one of our advisors. Without 1559, there wouldn't have been an international basis for Lebanese uprising from the inside nor a US and French backing from the outside. It put Lebanon back on the international arena after 15 years of direct Syrian occupation.
CR News: Do you feel that since last May Lebanon was brought back to the days before 1559 in the sense that we lost international support and now there seem to be a halt to the implementation of the resolution regarding the disarming of militias, particularly Hezbollah?
I don't think that there is a loss in international support to Lebanon but let me say that there is a loss of Lebanese political backing for an international backing to implement 1559. Unlike what we hear sometimes from Lebanon, UNSCR 1559 is not solely a UN responsibility in terms of implementation. The Security Council and world governments cannot implement it against the will of the Lebanese themselves. So if no Lebanese leader call for its implementation clearly, why would diplomats around the world do more? I remember when we sat down with US officials to discuss the potential resolution in 2004, one high ranking official asked us: "will the Lebanese call for the implementation of a resolution if we pass it? Our advisor answered: if you would pass it, the Lebanese people would meet you half way." Indeed, without the Lebanese taking to the streets there wouldn't have been an international support. Today unfortunately, things have changed in Lebanon, there are new realities. But the international backing is still there, if the Lebanese decide to call on it.
CR News: After the election of General Michel Sleiman as new President of the Republic, do you see a possibility for the Lebanese state to take issue in its own hands?
I believe there is a chance that under the Presidency of General Sleiman the Lebanese state could try to move things forward. I am realistic and we all know what are the real problems on the ground. But if the President of Lebanon wants to move things he has large potentials on his side. Mostly he has a Lebanese Diaspora which has proven it can be a counter weight to all the pressures he is under regionally. The Lebanese community in the United States is well positioned to secure an American support to any Lebanese decision that aim at implementing 1559. There is no doubt about that. The Lebanese in Europe and in other countries can bring about significant support to any new process. So yes the Lebanese President has at his disposal a strong lobby that can provide him with the international support. We've proved in the past and we are ready to deliver again.
CR News: But lately we read statements by one member of the Lebanese lobby and an analysis by an expert from Lebanese descent who are opposed to extend US military support to the Lebanese Army. How come you state that the Lebanese Lobby wants to support the President but is advising US authorities against military delivery?
What the Lebanese lobby wants to achieve is a strategic support to a Lebanese Army which has the freedom to disarm the militias and deploy on all the borders. What the officials in the Lobby said was that they do not think that by delivering this type of aid, a strategic goal would be achieved. What we as emigres want to see is a Lebanon which can act with strenghts and real capacity. We're not talking few dozens of millions of dollars. We're talking about a billion dollars in real support to an Army we wish to see as the most powerful military force on Lebanese territories. We don't want an Army which is at the mercy of militias agenda. We don't want a Lebanese Army to which militias dictate so-called strategies to follow. We want a state in control of its own Army and in control of all strategies to defend Lebanon. That's what the Lebanese lobby wants and is working on. To the opposite, we want to send the most powerful and advanced weapons to our brave soldiers and officers who deserve to be well equipped to fight terror. And we have told President Sleiman about how we see things and he knows what exactly the Lebanese lobby wants to achieve for Lebanon. President Sleiman has a powerful card in his hand which he can use for Lebanon if circumstances would allow. He has at least two years to move things in the good direction.
CR News: People in Lebanon always talk about the unity of the WLCU. Why are there many WLCU organizations claiming they represent the entire Diaspora and will you be working on unifying the WLCU?
Be sure that our President, Dr Anis Karam, who is supported by two former World Presidents of the WLCU Sheikh Sami Khoury in the US and Joe Baini in Australia, will attend any meeting to discuss the reunification of the organization. Unfortunately the WLCU state of affairs hasn't really changed in terms of divisions. All attempts to solve it in courts or in the cabinet have failed. This is an organization dealing with more than 15 million Lebanese in more than 32 countries with all the different legal systems. A bureaucrat inside the building of the Foreign Ministry cannot solve anything. And all the press releases issued here and there cannot solve the problem. In our views as a World Council issued from the Washington Conference in May 2006, we think that only a reconciliation congress sponsored by the President of the Republic can bring about the reunification. Dr Karam has informed President Sleiman that our Council is ready to respond to an initiative coming from Baabda to meet with other groups and factions. The President has this card in his hand. He can use it anytime and at will.
End....
 

Are We Funding the Lebanese Army or Hizballah?
by W. Thomas Smith, Jr.
10/20/2008
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=29095

It’s not clear if we can blame it on incompetence at the U.S. State Department, a swing and a miss, some bizarre appeasing of who knows what group by whom, or simply an international relations effort gone bad. But the recent U.S. granting of tens of millions of dollars -- on top of hundreds of millions -- of military aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) may be a combination of all.
Of course, the Lebanese government (including the LAF) is an ally of the United States, technically. At least it was (or should have been) until May 2008 -- that was when the LAF refused to defend the country against Hizballah after the Shia terrorist group and its allies launched a series of armed attacks against the Lebanese government and citizenry.
The May attacks were launched in retaliation for the government’s firing of the Beirut airport security chief (connected to Hizballah) and the government’s attempt to shut down Hizballah’s extensive private telecommunications network linking Hizballah command posts in Beirut and in south Lebanon with Teheran and Damascus.
In the end, the Lebanese government -- under the direction of the Arab League and, yes, with the blessing of the U.S. and Europe -- chose a pro-Hizballah president (Gen. Michel Sleiman, the former Army chief who refused to fight Hizballah in May) and rewarded Hizballah for its bloody terror campaign by rescinding the previous orders against Hizballah and granting Hizballah more cabinet seats and government veto power. As if that wasn’t enough, Hizballah -- which, according to UN Security Council mandate, should have been disarmed years ago -- has now been made a permanent wing of the legitimate Lebanese Army.
“It’s actually the other way around,” former CIA operations officer Clare M. Lopez tells HUMAN EVENTS. “The army now appears to be part of Hizballah. … It is clear that Hizballah -- and by extension -- Iran, owns Lebanon. This means that a radical, revolutionary, and expansionist Shia jihad force occupies a foothold on the southeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.”
Nevertheless, on Oct. 6, U.S. Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Mary Beth Long and Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr “initiated the inaugural U.S.-Lebanon Joint Military Commission (JMC) in Beirut,” according to a statement issued by the State Department. “Participants in this year’s JMC discussed current and future military assistance to Lebanon, including the need for a broad range of military capabilities for counterterrorism [keep in mind, Hizballah is a State Department-designated terrorist organization]. … Lebanon and the United States signed three military contracts totaling $63 million of U.S. grants to the LAF for secure communications, ammunition, and infantry weapons.”
Great. So despite the fact that Hizballah is a terrorist organization -- which Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff says “makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team” -- the American taxpayer is granting $63 million and much more to an army that refuses to fight Iranian-Syrian-supported Hizballah on its own turf, considers Hizballah to be a legitimate “resistance” force, and has allowed the terrorist group to worm its way into the official Lebanese Defense apparatus as a permanent fixture.
On Oct. 6, the same day State issued its release, the AP reported: “The United States is a backer of Lebanon's army and has pledged more help since President Michel Suleiman's [Sleiman’s] September meeting with President Bush. At the time, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates was quoted as saying the Lebanese army was given nearly $400 million in military assistance. A further $60 million worth of aid, including helicopters, ammunition and Humvees, is awaiting Congress' approval.”
That does not include the $63 million.
The following day, Dr. Walid Phares, director of the Future of Terrorism Project at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told me: “The unreal equation here is that the U.S. grants $460 million to a Hizballah-dominated government, thinking this half-billion dollars is going to be part of an effort against terrorism. But Hizballah which has the upper hand over the political control of the Lebanese Army and has its hands and eyes inside the Lebanese government will be -- at the end of the day -- the final recipient of American military aid, as strange as it may seem.”
John Hajjar, U.S. director for Lebanon’s pro-democracy World Council for the Cedars Revolution, says the Lebanese Diaspora and friends of Lebanon in the U.S. have been tirelessly appealing for “military, diplomatic, and political assistance” but only “while Hizballah was outside the government, while there was a parliamentary majority able to back the government, and while a huge popular majority in Lebanon was taking to the streets to tell the world that Lebanon wanted implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 [calling for the disbanding and disarming of all militias in Lebanon]. … It was then that military assistance was needed to equip an army tasked with the disarming of the militias, including Hizballah and fighting the Jihadi Salafists, some of whom were dispatched ironically from Syria.”
That window of opportunity for such assistance, according to Hajjar, has been closed with the granting of concessions to -- and newfound political-strategic power of -- Hizballah.
According to Lopez, “The U.S. government’s decision to grant the Lebanese Army millions of dollars worth of military assistance, in full knowledge that those weapons will never be used to confront Hizballah, and more than likely will only add to their arsenal, is foolish in the extreme, in my opinion.”
She adds that after the events of May and July -- when the so-called national unity government was formed granting Hizballah veto power -- “there can simply be no doubt in any sane person's mind about who controls Lebanon: it is not the [Prime Minister] Fuad Siniora government! [Hizballah Secretary General] Hassan Nasrallah controls Lebanon.”
**Mr. Smith is a contributor to Human Events. A former U.S. Marine rifle-squad leader and counterterrorism instructor, he writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, on the West Bank, in Iraq and Lebanon. He is the author of six books, and his articles appear in a variety of publications. E-mail him at wthomassmithjr@yahoo.com.

Talking To: Samir Franjieh
October 1, 2008
Now Lebanon
Zgharta MP Samir Franjieh sat down with NOW Arabic’s Ghada Halawi to discuss the electoral law, the coherence of the March 14 forces, the recent slew of reconciliations in Lebanon, including between the Christians, and the value of an apology. He said, “Apologies do not come from the weak, but rather from the strong, for the weak remain entrapped in the logic of justification and accusations,” adding that “the March 14 spirit is to communicate with the other.”

NOW Lebanon: Do you think that the Qoreitem reconciliation on September 24 marks the beginning of a new era in the relationship between the Future Movement and Hezbollah?

Samir Franjieh: The word “reconciliation” may be a bit of an exaggeration because reconciliation is synonymous with conducting a review, admitting one’s mistakes and reaching a common denominator between the parties to the reconciliation. However, at the same time, what happened in Qoreitem is very important for reducing the tension, restoring communication and perhaps even paving the way for a reconstruction of relations on normal bases. This meeting has important repercussions on the security situation, and this sort of reconciliation is currently needed. Having recourse to weapons only begets ruin, and the reconciliations that took place in Qoreitem, the Mountain and the North have had a positive impact on people’s lives. Indeed, this is the first time we witness reconciliation between Sunnis and Alawis in Tripoli since the civil war, and this is very important. What happened in Qoreitem is not conclusive, but it can represent a gateway to restoring normal relations among the Lebanese.
NOW: How do these reconciliations affect the March 14 coalition?
Franjieh: During the latest meeting of the March 14 coalition members, an agreement was reached on the need for such reconciliations during the current period. Hence, they have no internal repercussions whatsoever on the balances [of power] among the March 14 members. The opposite may actually be true, since we notice that some within the March 8 coalition are adopting the rhetoric of war rather than one of reconciliations.
NOW: Who are these parties?
Franjieh: Take, for instance, General Aoun, who likened the March 14 party to women being beaten by their husbands. First, this is a bigoted comparison that does not befit him. Second, a man beating his wife is no “glorious deed,” and third, this is somewhat backward.
While it is true that this method has practical effects, it belongs to the pre-civilized ages. In this respect, we hope that Hezbollah generalizes the spirit of reconciliations and ends this sort of speech. Here is Dr. Samir Geagea, for example, who apologized to the Lebanese people in his own name and in that of the Lebanese Forces. This apology had a major impact because it represented a precedent in the Lebanese political sphere and because political logic in Lebanon is ruled by a clannish mentality, whereby the leader does not make mistakes, and if he does, he never apologizes. Geagea’s words reflected humility in admitting one’s wrongs and apologizing. If this pattern had been reproduced in the country, it would have helped mark the end of a bygone era and led us to reconciliation in the noble sense of the word. Yet the response that emanated from the Christian parties in the opposition was a silly one; it is as though the apology was made to them, rather than to the Lebanese people, for any crime that was committed was not from one party against another. For example, when West Beirut was bombed at the start of the Liberation War in 1989, was that not a crime against the people?
What is actually needed is not to apologize on behalf of the warlords, but rather for all warlords to apologize to the Lebanese people. This would increase their worth rather than undermine it.
NOW: Why did the apology come at this particular time, in light of rumors regarding the Lebanese Forces’ being in a delicate electoral position?
Franjieh: Apologies do not come from the weak, but rather from the strong, for the weak remain entrapped in the logic of justification and accusations. Furthermore, the March 14 spirit is to communicate with the other. March 14, 2005 was, originally, a moment of spontaneous, popular reconciliation around PM Rafik Hariri’s tomb. There was a totally unexpected, miraculous side to it; people flooded the streets and drove the Syrian army out of Lebanon, thus representing the actual gateway to reconciliation. When we disagree in politics, we do not need reconciliation, but rather communication.
NOW: Has the Maronite Patriarch undertaken an initiative to unify the Christians?
Franjieh: An initiative was launched, albeit unsuccessfully, approximately two years ago around the pact of honor. Nowadays, in order for the Patriarch to play a similar role, the parties have to rely on the Patriarchate. However, during the past week, we heard violent attacks targeting the Patriarch. Even in the Bsarma incident, former MP Sleiman Franjieh attacked the Patriarch for the umpteenth time while General Aoun rejected the idea of the Patriarch’s leading any initiative, claiming that this was the president’s prerogative. This is empty talk, because Michel Aoun is personally called upon to walk in Samir Geagea’s footsteps and tell the Lebanese where he was right, where he was wrong and apologize for his deeds. Even on the religious level, reconciliation and apologizing are at the heart of our religious principles rather than a sham.
I have expressed the hope for Hezbollah to spread the spirit of reconciliations among its allies. Will it thus call on its allies, and primarily on the Free Patriotic Movement, to appease [the tension] and head toward reconciliation?
The meeting that took place in Qoreitem is ruled by security considerations that do not apply to what we are telling General Aoun. Nevertheless, Hezbollah’s reconciliation rhetoric should upgrade the level of the rhetoric used within the March 8 coalition, as we hear one party having recourse to insults whereas the other heads toward reconciliation. I hereby have some brotherly advice for Hezbollah: Deal in your way with General Aoun, tell him what is going on and ask him to alleviate this tension, which brings losses rather than gains.
NOW: Do you think that Hezbollah is not keeping him informed of the developments?
Franjieh: Hezbollah may be doing so, but Aoun does not understand. I know nothing about the nature of the relation between them, but the rhetoric we have heard over the past couple of days is a war-oriented one. While it is true that the party using it does not have any weapons, it nonetheless represents a call for repeating the past disasters of the war.
NOW: Is the March 14 coalition still genuinely coherent?
Franjieh: While it is true that the March 14 coalition is diversified, and divergences have been recorded among its members from time to time, these are merely circumstantial differences, and they do not involve the [current] reconciliations. With regard to the elections, everyone has a legitimate right to file for candidacy. Even if it is still too early for this kind of talk, I assert that the March 14 coalition is about to submit unified electoral tickets in the forthcoming parliamentary elections from Naqoura to Nahr al-Kabir. There shall be no retail candidates.
NOW: Can you assert beyond the shadow of a doubt that the current reconciliations will not reflect on electoral alliances?
Franjieh: As far as these reconciliations go, I can assert that this is impossible. These reconciliations will certainly enable us to organize the elections in a calm mood, but I don’t know if they will subsequently lead to an in-depth review of political options. If this happens, we would have transcended all the crises of the past. Still, as the reconciliations are currently going, I don’t think they will lead to any modification in the alliances landscape, and we are not heading to a four-party or five-party alliance.
NOW: What do you think of the new electoral law?
Franjieh: The law we are discussing is undoubtedly more backward than the draft submitted by the Boutros Committee, whereas the March 8 coalition views it as an achievement.
NOW: Is it maybe because it is largely in favor of MP Michel Aoun?
Franjieh: General Aoun is not even capable of obtaining any share whatsoever, because the Michel Aoun phenomenon is over. In 2005, people voted for Michel Aoun because he was the actual March 14, and because they deemed that the others had betrayed the March 14 spirit and made the four-party alliance. Whoever voted for him at the time thought that he had voted for the candidate with the most radical and drastic options compared with the March 14 coalition. However, the found out with time that Aoun became a key pillar of the March 8 alliance and is trying today to compensate for his certain loss in Mount Lebanon by winning over some regions in the South, Baalbek and Hermel. In this respect, the March 8 alliance has a problem, because it will lose the Mount Lebanon battle, and this may be driving it to strive for reconciliation. If not, a tough test awaits Hezbollah. Indeed, Aoun managed to win a major list in the previous elections, but no worldly power can grant him so much as a bloc in the 2009 elections. Let us not anticipate things from today; circumstances may change, and the elections will not have this sharp bipolar status.
NOW: Were you convinced of the reasons given to explain the Syrian military deployment along Lebanon’s northern border? Why did the North’s MPs feel compelled to give so many assurances that Syrian troops will not return to Lebanon?
Franjieh: The deployment scene raised the people’s concern, but I believe that under the current political circumstances, the return [of Syrian troops to Lebanon] is very difficult because Syria is now in the process of submitting its credentials to the West. Furthermore, the Syrian leadership has given its Lebanese counterpart an explanation, namely fighting smuggling operations, and this credo may be justified by internal reasons. In truth, rumor has it that this measure may be linked to domestic divergences in Syria, which have been dissociated from Lebanon.

New Opinion: More hot air
October 20, 2008
NowLebanon
Pro-Syrian Former Minister and Tawheed leader Wiam Wahhab during a press conference in Beirut in 2006.
So according to the Tawheed Movement head, former minister and Syrian voicebox Wiam Wahhab, the Lebanese army has no need to seek military assistance from the US, whose weapons he referred to as “silly.” Instead, he believes that the future of Lebanese security lies in enforcing the so-called security coordination with Syria to unite the two countries’ common interests against “dangers and threats.”
It is easy to see why Wahhab has to parrot this line; his raison d’être after all is to do Syria’s bidding. But assuming he is correct and Lebanon’s interests are best served by entering into a watertight and mutual agreement with Damascus over shared security interests (and there are plenty of arguments why it shouldn’t), Lebanon should, as an independent sovereign state, be free to enter into such a partnership equipped with the best weapons it can buy from those allies it believes are the best to buy from.
Wahhab’s argument is flawed because he, and by extension Syria, does not see Lebanon as an equal partner in any such arrangement. He forgets that Lebanon is also forging ahead in its ambition to be a fully-developed, independent democracy.
Meanwhile, Wahhab’s rejection of fears – he called them a “fabricated uproar” – over the real function of any Syrian embassy is also puzzling. Lebanon was occupied by Syrian military and, Syrian intelligence services for nearly 30 years. During this time, hundreds, if not thousands of Lebanese were detained, tortured or spirited away as Damascus ruled its Levantine outpost through the Lebanese army and security services from its notorious headquarters in Aanjar, a location that came to symbolize the calm tyranny of Syrian rule.
Wahhab was a beneficiary of this era. He was an alleged protégé of the former Syrian security chief in Lebanon Ruston Ghazali, to whom he owed his seat in Omar Karami’s doomed government, one that was formed in the wake of the shameful extension of President Emile Lahoud’s mandate and which was toppled by the Independence Intifada not four months later.
So it is entirely normal, given this legacy and given that Lebanon’s borders with Syria are still disputed and used for smuggling men and weapons, with Damascus still the prime suspect behind the killing of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and other violent outrages, and with the opposition solidly behind the regime of President Bashar al-Assad, that there should be a modicum of suspicion behind the establishment of any Syrian institution in Lebanon.
Then again, these are concerns that Wahhab no doubt chooses to ignore.