LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 23/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12,39-48. Be sure of this: if the master of the house had known the hour when the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be prepared, for at an hour you do not expect, the Son of Man will come." Then Peter said, "Lord, is this parable meant for us or for everyone?" And the Lord replied, "Who, then, is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute (the) food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so. Truly, I say to you, he will put him in charge of all his property. But if that servant says to himself, 'My master is delayed in coming,' and begins to beat the menservants and the maidservants, to eat and drink and get drunk, then that servant's master will come on an unexpected day and at an unknown hour and will punish him severely and assign him a place with the unfaithful. That servant who knew his master's will but did not make preparations nor act in accord with his will shall be beaten severely; and the servant who was ignorant of his master's will but acted in a way deserving of a severe beating shall be beaten only lightly. Much will be required of the person entrusted with much, and still more will be demanded of the person entrusted with more.

Saint Fulgentius (467-532), Bishop
Sermon 1, 2-3; CCL 91A, 889/«Servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God» (1Cor 4,1)
In order to clarify the role of the servants he set at the head of his people, the Lord spoke this word related by the Gospel: «Who, then is the faithful and prudent steward whom the master will put in charge of his servants to distribute the food allowance at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom his master on arrival finds doing so»... If we should be wondering in what that food allowance consists, Saint Paul gives us the answer; it is «the measure of faith that God has apportioned» (Rom 12,3). What Christ called an allowance of food, Paul termed a measure of faith to teach us that there is no other spiritual food than the mystery of Christian faith. We give you this allowance of food in the Lord's name every time we speak to you according to the rule of the true faith, illumined by the spiritual gift of grace. As for that allowance, you receive it at the hands of the Lord's stewards each time you hear the word of truth from the mouth of God's servants. May that food allowance God shares among us be our nourishment. Let us draw from it the solid food of our worthy behaviora so that we may come to the reward of eternal life. Let us believe in him who gives himself as food to us for fear we may collapse on the way (Mt 15,32) and who reserves himself to be our reward so that we may find joy when we reach our homeland. Let us believe and hope in him; let us love him above all and in all. For Christ is our food and will be our reward. Christ is the nourishment and comfort of travelers on their way; he is the contentment and rejoicing of the blessed in their repose.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Former CIA Ops Officer on Hizballah. By W. Thomas Smith Jr. 22/10/08
Colombian cocaine ring linked to Hezbollah-By Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella. Los Angeles Times 22/10/08
For many reasons, alternative energy is right for Lebanon- The Daily Star 22/10/08
The worst “solution”.NowLebanon.com 22/10/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 22/08
Lebanon's Kantar vows to work for end of Israel-AFP
Report: Aoun Suggests Iran Support Syrian Operation In Lebanon-MEMRI
Report: Hezbollah chief poisoned; Iranian doctors saved his life.By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent 22/10/08
Egypt: We Never Sent an Invitation to Nasrallah-Naharnet
Report: Senior Hezbollah officials invited to Cairo for talks-Ha'aretz
Lebanese Army Arrests Terrorist Cell Coordinator-Bernama-Naharnet
Army Reportedly Arrests Go-Between for Terrorist Cell
Jumblat: Ties with Syria Achieved by Arab Effort-Naharnet-Naharnet
Opposition Ministers Hint at Boycotting Cabinet, Abu Jamra Demands Prosecution of Saniora-Naharnet
Lebanese deputy premier withdrew from cabinet session-Xinhua-Naharnet
Fadlallah: No Authority Has the Legitimacy to Extend Occupation's Stay in Iraq-Naharnet
Shaker Abssi's Daughter Disappeared 3 Months Ago, Report-Naharnet
Marada's Franjieh: Reconciliation in Line with Our Conditions or Let them Wait for 30 Years More-Naharnet
Poll: Rest of World, Including Lebanon, Prefers Obama-Naharnet
Chamoun Would Not Reconcile Syrians Before Detainees are Freed-Naharnet
Abdo Accuses Lahoud of High Treason and Aoun of Following a Similar Path-Naharnet
Karami Rejects Geagea's Apology, Reconciliation Concept-Naharnet
Franjieh, Karami question value of Geagea's apology-Daily Star
Chamoun Would Not Reconcile Syrians Before Detainees are Freed-Naharnet
MPs pass new law restricting own role in staffing Constitutional Council-Daily Star
UNIFIL says attack plot may not have been aimed at peacekeepers-Daily Star
US says its wants to see fair and independent media in Lebanon-Daily Star
Resistance MP rules out negotiations with Israel - report-Daily Star
US academics design software to 'predict' Hizbullah behavior-Daily Star
Lebanese private sector balks at state-decreed salary hikes-Daily Star
Health minister denies claims Sidon hospital will close down-Daily Star
AUB students offer up new designs for Ras Beirut-Daily Star
Beirut gathering aims to reduce drug use in Arab world-Daily Star
Turkish female UNIFIL physician tends to health of Southerners-Daily Star
Olympic gold medalist works to help children in Lebanon-Daily Star
Chouf project cuts down trees to save forests-Daily Star
Canadian 'role in Syria torture'-BBC News
Probe says Canada at fault in Syria torture cases-The Associated Press

Colombian cocaine ring linked to Hezbollah
U.S. and Colombian officials say they have dismantled a South American-based drug ring that helped finance the Lebanon-based Shiite militant group.
By Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-cocainering22-2008oct22,0,384200.story
11:19 PM PDT, October 21, 2008
Reported from Bogota, Colombia and Madrid -- U.S. and Colombian investigators have dismantled an international cocaine smuggling and money laundering ring that allegedly used part of its profits to finance Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia, officials said Tuesday.
Culminating a two-year investigation, authorities arrested at least 36 suspects in recent days, including an accused Lebanese kingpin in Bogota, the Colombian capital. Chekry Harb, who used the alias "Taliban," acted as the hub of an unusual and alarming alliance between South American cocaine traffickers and Middle Eastern militants, Colombian investigators allege.
Hezbollah warlord was an enigma Drug traffickers use submersibles to...Hezbollah presence in Venezuela feared
Authorities accuse Harb of being a "world-class money launderer" whose ring washed hundreds of millions of dollars a year, from Panama to Hong Kong, while paying a percentage to Hezbollah, which is designated as a terrorist group by the United States and Israel. Harb was charged with drug-related crimes in a sealed indictment filed in Miami in July, but terrorism-related charges have not been filed.
The suspects allegedly worked with a Colombian cartel and a paramilitary group to smuggle cocaine to the United States, Europe and the Middle East. Harb traveled extensively to Lebanon, Syria and Egypt and was in phone contact with Hezbollah figures, according to Colombian officials.
"The profits from the sales of drugs went to finance Hezbollah," said Gladys Sanchez, lead investigator for the special prosecutor's office in Bogota, in an interview. "This is an example of how narco-trafficking is a theme of interest to all criminal organizations, the FARC, the paramilitaries and terrorists."
The FARC is the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group.
The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration led the far-flung investigation, playing a central role in nailing down the Hezbollah connection, Sanchez said. U.S. officials in Bogota and Washington declined to discuss details of their evidence.
Iran, Hezbollah's longtime sponsor, and donations from the Lebanese diaspora are two sources for a multimillion-dollar budget that pays for the militia's armed and political wings and for social projects such as hospitals in Beirut. But investigations around the world have shown that Hezbollah also funds itself through drug dealing, arms trafficking, contraband smuggling and other rackets in the Americas, Africa and elsewhere.
Western anti-terrorism agents have expressed concern about an increasing Hezbollah presence in South America. The militia is accused of two major anti-Jewish bombings in Argentina in the 1990s. In June, the U.S. Treasury Department designated two Venezuelans of Lebanese descent, one a diplomat, as Hezbollah financiers and supporters.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's alliance with Iran raises fears that his country could become a base for Hezbollah activity, said U.S. and Israeli anti-terrorist officials who spoke anonymously because of the issue's sensitivity. Venezuela has strongly denied any links to terrorist activity.
Venezuela also serves as the corridor for a third of Colombian cocaine bound for the U.S. and Europe, including some loads moved by Harb's group, Colombian investigators said.
The case unveiled Tuesday began as a money laundering probe, but as agents followed the money they discovered the links between Harb and Hezbollah operatives, investigators said. Harb's group paid Hezbollah 12% of its profits, much of it in cash, the investigators said, without giving a dollar figure.
The inquiry grew into Operation Titan, a two-year case worked by Colombian and U.S. agents that has led to more than 130 arrests and the seizure of $23 million, Sanchez said. Investigators deployed 370 wiretaps and monitored 700,000 conversations.
"This case was brought about by putting undercover agents into the money laundering cycle," said a U.S. government official who was not authorized to comment publicly. "This has given us a window into the worldwide financial enterprise that by dotted lines links traffickers from South America and the United States to West Africa, Europe and Hong Kong."
The drugs were allegedly sent via Panama, Venezuela and Guatemala to the U.S., the Middle East and Europe.
Chinese police this year captured Oscar Cano Alazate, a Colombian accused of setting up dozens of front companies in Hong Kong to launder money for the group. Hong Kong and the Panama free-trade zone served as centers for a scheme whereby drug cash from the U.S. was funneled to firms that use it to buy goods, which are shipped to Colombia and sold to be turned back into cash, investigators said.
The group also used human couriers, fake businesses, international transfers and real estate transactions to launder the money in other locations, including Africa and Canada, Colombian officials said.
On Oct. 13, Colombian police arrested Harb, who lived on a resident's visa in Bogota with his family, after learning that he had an Air France ticket to Syria for the next day and becoming concerned that he might flee. They also arrested the other accused boss, Ali Mohamad Rahim, and Harb's brother, Zacaria, both Lebanese immigrants who had been living in Bogota. Chekry Harb is in his late 50s and Rahim in his early 40s, officials said.
Colombian officials said the three are among 15 of the suspects who will be extradited to the United States.
Harb's key suppliers in Bogota included leaders of the so-called Office of Envigado, according to Colombian authorities. The paramilitary drug trafficking organization headed by Diego Fernando Murillo, known as Don Berna, and other former foot soldiers of the late Medellin cartel boss Pablo Escobar has an international reach.
Kraul and Rotella are Times staff writers.
chris.kraul@latimes.com
rotella@latimes.com

Report: Hezbollah chief poisoned; Iranian doctors saved his life
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent 22/10/08
The Iraqi Web site Almalaf on Wednesday quoted diplomatic sources in Beirut as saying Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was poisoned last week and that his life was saved by Iranian doctors who were rushed to Lebanon to treat him.
The sources reportedly told the paper that a particularly poisonous chemical substance was used against the Shi'ite militia's leader. His medical condition was apparently critical for a number of days, until the Iranian doctors arrived and managed to save his life.
The site claimed that the sources believed it was highly likely that the poisoning was an Israeli assassination attempt.
Hezbollah has denied the report. Parliament member Al-Hajj Hassan, a member of the group, said: "This is a lie and a fabrication. It' true that I haven't seen [Nasrallah] this past week, but he's okay."
The Iranian medical team arrived on Sunday at 11:00 P.M., apparently on a special military flight. Officials considered flying Nasrallah to Iran for further treatment, according to Almalaf. In September 1997, a Mossad team tried to assassinate Hamas' political chief, Khaled Meshal, by drizzling poison in his ear. The attempt failed, and two of the agents were captured while others found refuge in the Israeli embassy in Amman.
Nasrallah's second-in-command Imad Mughniyah was assassinated in February in a Damascus bomb blast. Hezbollah accused Israel of responsibility for the explosion, although Israel has denied any connection to the act.

The worst “solution”
Hezbollah is claiming the May events were a “solution” to the preceding crisis
NowLebanon Web Site
http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=63678&MID=10&PID=2
October 21, 2008
Labor Minister and Hezbollah member Mohammad Fneish, in an interview with London’s Financial Times, offered a disturbing explanation for the party’s armed take-over of half of Beirut and their assault on the Mountain.
Hezbollah politician and Labor Minister, Mohammad Fneish, in an interview with the Financial Times, published on Friday, endorsed his party’s deadly assault on West Beirut and other parts of the country in May of this year.
“Suppose May had not happened,” Fneish said to the paper. “Would we have a president by now? Would we have had a solution? This was the solution.” What Fneish failed to mention was that Hezbollah had engineered the 18-month political crisis that came to a head last spring, which his party allegedly “solved” by staging what amounted to an attempted coup.
Until that point Hezbollah consistently practiced a strategy of taking hard-line positions and then refusing to budge until its will was imposed. Instead of engaging in dialogue in the parliament in 2006, Hezbollah’s ministers stormed out of the cabinet, paralyzing the government because they wanted veto power. Instead of negotiations to bring the ministers back so all of the country’s confessions could be represented in the cabinet, Hezbollah occupied downtown Beirut, installing a sprawling tent city that crippled the local economy. When the government questioned Hezbollah’s illegal telecommunications network in early May of 2007, the party launched the offensive that killed 69 people in a week of blood and chaos.
Fneish asserted that the May events were a response to the government’s “threats” against the Resistance– not a political power grab – reinforcing the outrageousness of the party’s tactics and highlighting its refusal to acknowledge the destruction it caused. Hezbollah’s response to opposition is a policy of takeover and murder. Is this the party’s vision for Lebanon?
Lebanon has a long history, of which it should be proud, based on the principles of democracy, whereby differences of opinion should be discussed and debated within the framework of national institutions and ultimately decided by the people at the ballot box – not “resolved” by forcing opponents into submission at the barrel of a gun. Fneish, however, voiced his party’s rejection of civil discourse and democratic principles during the interview. “You can’t apply notions of Western political science in Lebanon,” he said discussing the concept of statehood.
Yet he also claimed that if “a society approves,” he has no problem with an armed militia standing side-by-side with a national army. But isn’t societal approval as a basis for legitimacy rather close to the “Western political science notion” of democracy? So what exactly is Fneish’s – and by extension, Hezbollah’s – position on this? Democratic principles when it suits them and the rejection of those principles when it doesn’t?
While it would be nice, we certainly don’t expect an answer. That’s not Hezbollah’s style. The party does not offer straightforward answers, civil solutions or constructive criticisms. It offers conflict.

Former CIA Ops Officer on Hizballah
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/5738
Wednesday, October 22, 2008 /Canada Free Press
Among my sources for a recent piece, “Are We Funding the Lebanese Army or Hizballah?” (Human Events, Oct. 20, 2008), was my friend and colleague, Clare M. Lopez, who – when I mentioned to her my concerns regarding Hizballah’s having wormed its way into the legitimate Lebanese Defense apparatus as an official component of the army – said to me, “It’s actually the other way around. The army now appears to be part of Hizballah.”
Lopez – a former operations officer with the Central Intelligence Agency who is today a widely sought expert in the interconnected realms of strategic policy, counterintelligence, and counterterrorism – clearly understands the dynamics of Lebanon, its strategic importance in the war on terror, and its increasingly dominant kingdom within the state, Hizballah.
While pulling together information for the piece from additional sources, I spoke with Lopez a couple of times by phone and email. And her analysis for me was so informationally rich that – though I was unable to include all of it in our Human Events piece – I am including it here now.
I’m doing so on the eve of the 25th anniversary of the terrorist bombing of the U.S. Marine Barracks in Beirut. The suicide attack – carried out by fledgling Hizballah on Oct. 23, 1983 – killed 241 American Marines, sailors, and soldiers.
Following is Lopez’s unedited, exclusive analysis regarding Hizballah:
“Tom, yes, since May 2008, when Hizballah swiftly and brutally demonstrated its ability to impose military control throughout Lebanon, literally at will, and then with the July formation of the government of national unity (wherein Hizballah wields cabinet veto power), it is clear that Hizballah – and by extension, Iran – owns Lebanon. This means that a radical, revolutionary, and expansionist Shi’a jihad force occupies a foothold on the southeastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
“The Lebanese Army stood aside when Hizballah made its move in May: no big surprise to anyone who understands what has been happening demographically in Lebanon these last years: as a Shi’a majority force, the Army’s sympathies are obviously with Hizballah. Other militias and political groups within Lebanon – from Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement, to Druze leader Walid Jumblatt’s Progressive Socialist Party, to Amal leader Nabi Berri, and now even a clutch of Sunni parties – are lining up to ally themselves with Hizballah.
“Some say that even Saad Hariri’s revered father, Rafiq, may have been killed with Saudi involvement because of his close relationship with [Hizballah Secretary General Hassan] Nasrallah – who can be seen on YouTube, by the way, waxing eloquent about Rafiq in front of millions of cheering Lebanese. The lead UN investigator has also spoken publicly about Saudi involvement in the assassination.
“U.S. Middle East policy is woefully misguided, in my opinion. How could it be otherwise? Thirty-five years of graduates from Saudi-Wahhabi-Salafi-funded Ivy League Middle East Studies programs now occupy top positions throughout our Dept. of State, Intelligence Community, think tanks, media, and academia itself.
“There seems to be little to no comprehension or willingness on the part of the Bush administration to recognize current hard realities in the Levant, primary of which is the massive and nefarious influence of Iran. I don’t know exactly why there is such fear and reluctance to confront Iran, but my own personal suspicions lie with the status of its nuclear warhead development program – and where those warheads may now already be deployed. Iran’s threats, and Hizballah’s ability, to field scores, if not hundreds of suicide bombers to Iraq, Israel, and our own cities in the West may also be a reason why our national leadership seems paralyzed with fear about Iran.
“Thing is, this is not going to improve with time if we don’t do something to confront it....we’ll simply be forced into a position of total submission – dhimmitude–vis-a-vis Iran and the forces of jihad. What this means in the first instance is abandonment of Israel, our foremost ally in the Middle East and the only reliable outpost of liberal democracy in the region. Obama already has promised his support to Muslims and Palestinians, and has indicated he will end the special relationship between the U.S. and Israel – in truth, not a big change from the policies of the Condi Rice State Dept., but now it will be official policy, if he wins the presidency.
“It is Iran that guided and funded and armed the formation of Hizballah in 1982 – and continues to do so. It is Iran that advises, arms, funds, and guides the Palestinian terror organizations sworn to the destruction of the State of Israel: Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Fatah militias (Tanzim, Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigade). It is Iran that reportedly has provided Hizballah with something on the order of $3 billion for reconstruction in Lebanon since the summer 2006 war. Not the Lebanese government, not the French or Americans or Europeans or the international community: Iran – which means Nasrallah gets to take credit among [many of] the Lebanese people, who obviously adore the guy. Nasrallah is known as the ‘man who never lies,’ because the promises he makes, he keeps.
“Most dangerous for Israel, it is Iran that has rearmed Hizballah in the aftermath of that war with Fajr 3 and Fajr 5 surface-to-surface missiles, Chinese-made shore-to-sea C-802 missiles, Zelzal-2 and Zelzal-3 missiles (which are capable of delivering CBW munitions a distance of 250 km.), wire-guided TOW missiles, and AT-3 Sagger antitank missiles, antiaircraft cannons, SA-7 anti-aircraft missiles, shoulder-fired Strela-7 and mobile Rapier 2 ground-to-air missiles, Katyusha artillery rockets, sophisticated explosive charges, and small arms.
“Hizballah’s command-and-control system is fully integrated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in Iran. Its military telecommunications system -- the one the Fuad Siniora government made a weak (and ultimately futile) move to bring under central Lebanese government control in May, is world-class and now demonstrably untouchable by the Lebanese government. Its broadcast network – TV, radio, Internet – is modern, sophisticated, and very large.
“Since taking control of Lebanon in May, Hizballah forces have occupied all the key high ground and established layered defenses north of the Litani River, in the southern and central Bekaa Valley, and reinforced their presence in southern Beirut.
“UNIFIL’s 15,000 ground forces in Lebanon have failed utterly to enforce UN Resolution 1701 and instead of preventing Hizballah’s massive rearmament following the summer 2006 war, they have engaged in liaison and pay-off operations with Hizballah for the purpose of force protection.
“So, the U.S. government 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. After the events of May and July, there can simply be no doubt in any sane person’s mind about who controls Lebanon: it is not the Fuad Siniora government! Hassan Nasrallah controls Lebanon.
“I am not one who believes Hassan Nasrallah dances on a puppeteer’s strings manipulated out of Tehran – I think he uses Iranian and Syrian assistance for his own ends in Lebanon (although he may be more willing to do their bidding abroad) – but their common purpose surely is the destruction of the State of Israel.
“All I can think is that our national security policy is in the hands of those who do not really believe in the defense of liberal democracy – and most especially if that liberal democracy is embodied in a Jewish State of Israel. There is a terrible strain of anti-Semitism that has taken root and grown in the ranks of our State Dept. and CIA in particular – again, perhaps the result of all those years of Saudi-Wahhabi indoctrination in our top universities. But the result is clear: Condi’s readiness to throw Israel under a bus at Annapolis last November [2007]; the Bush administration’s refusal to deal with Iran, despite a lot of soaring rhetoric, and now, a real and perceptible diminishment in the bilateral commitment.
“The naiveté of our government’s dealings with Syria, as well as this military deal with the Lebanese Army, seems incomprehensible to me. The ability to distinguish between friend and foe in the Middle East seems lost and will have disastrous consequences for our own national security objectives in the region and ultimately, at home.”
**W. Thomas Smith Jr. – a former U.S. Marine rifle-squad leader and counterterrorism instructor – is a journalist, author, and military analyst whose work has appeared in the New York Post, USA TODAY, U.S. News & World Report, BusinessWeek, CBS News, and many others. Smith writes about military/defense issues and has covered conflict in the Balkans, on the West Bank, in Iraq and Lebanon. Visit him online at uswriter.com.
**Thomas can be reached at: letters@canadafreepress.com
W. Thomas Smith Jr.
“a military expert”
— USA TODAY