LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 14/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6,43-49. A good tree does not bear rotten fruit, nor does a rotten tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For people do not pick figs from thornbushes, nor do they gather grapes from brambles. A good person out of the store of goodness in his heart produces good, but an evil person out of a store of evil produces evil; for from the fullness of the heart the mouth speaks. Why do you call me, 'Lord, Lord,' but not do what I command? I will show you what someone is like who comes to me, listens to my words, and acts on them. That one is like a person building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when the flood came, the river burst against that house but could not shake it because it had been well built. But the one who listens and does not act is like a person who built a house on the ground without a foundation. When the river burst against it, it collapsed at once and was completely destroyed."

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons (c.130-208, Bishop, theologian and martyr
Against the heresies III, 24, 1-2/Laying the foundation on rock
From every point of view the preaching of the Gospel offers an unshakeable solidity: it remains consistent with itself and profits from the witness of the prophets, apostles and all their disciples – a witness that encompasses «the beginning, the middle and the end», the whole of God's plan which is infallibly ordained towards man's salvation and is at the basis of our faith. From their times till now we have carefully guarded this faith received from the Church - for indeed it was to the Church that the «gift of God» (Jn 4,10) was entrusted, just as breath was entrusted to Adam, the first of all the works God formed (Gn 2,7) – so that all the Church's members might have a share in it and so be brought to life. It was within her that our communion with Christ, that is to say the Holy Spirit, was inserted, the first fruits of the gift of incorruptibility, confirmation of our faith and ladder by which we ascend to God: «God has designated in the Church,» writes Saint Paul, «to be, first, apostles; second, prophets; third, teachers» and so on, through one and the same Spirit (1Cor 12,28.11). For where the Church is, there also is the Spirit of God; and where the Spirit of God is, there also is the Church and every grace. But the Spirit is Truth (1Jn 5,6). Hence those who turn away from it are not nourished at their Mother's breasts either, so that they might gain life, nor do they have any share in the clear spring flowing from Christ's body (Jn 7,37) but «have dug for themselves leaky cisterns» (Jer 2,13)... Strangers to the truth, inevitably they slide into error and are tossed about by it, nor do they ever possess a firmly established teaching since they prefer to become quibblers with words than disciples of truth. For their foundations are not on the one Rock but on sand.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Law enforcement: An encouraging sign for a notoriously weak Lebanese state-The Daily Star 13/09/08
Palin was an inspired choice, and a very risky one-By: David Ignatius 13/09/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 13/08

Syria Informs Lebanon It Has No Detainees or Missing-Naharnet
Rectangular, Not Round Table, for Dialogue Participants-Naharnet
Qassem Sets 3 Conditions for Dialogue Success-Naharnet
Saniora: 'Defense Strategy' Title of Dialogue-Naharnet
Efforts to Bring Hizbullah, Mustaqbal, PSP Together-Naharnet
Report: Hizbullah Involved in Kidnapping of Britons in Iraq?
-Naharnet
Bush to Host President Suleiman on September 25
-Naharnet
Qaida Representatives in Lebanon to Recruit Palestinians
-Naharnet
Ban to Consult with Lebanon on When to Officially Start Tribunal's Work
-Naharnet
Moussa in Beirut on Monday as Lebanon Awaits National Dialogue
-Naharnet
Jumblat, Arslan Stress on Unity at Aridi's Funeral-Naharnet
Bush to host Sleiman for talks on Middle East-(AFP)
Druze leaders blame foreign powers for Aridi killing-(AFP)
Fadlallah accuses US of terrorizing nations, thwarting peace process-Daily Star
UN chief to discuss timing of Hariri tribunal with Lebanese authorities-Daily Star
Armed clashes break out in Baalbek-Daily Star
UN official optimistic about reconciliation efforts-Daily Star
Kontar joins demonstration for five jailed Cubans in US-(AFP)
Al-Qaeda has infiltrated Ain al-Hilweh camp-Daily Star
Lebanon's budget deficit hits $1.45 billion-Daily Star
Lebanon ranks 99th globally on ease of business-Daily Star
Provisional seizure of New TV property ordered-Daily Star
Workshop builds disabled citizens' job skills-Daily Star
Italy offers 20 master's scholarships to Lebanese-Daily Star
UNIFIL soldier trades her blue beret for headscarf during Ramadan-(AFP)

The Guardians of the Cedars Party issued the following weekly communiqué:
The fact that we welcome the Dialogue Conference to be convened on the 16th of this month is because it is hosted by the President of the Republic who enjoys the trust of the Lebanese people and represents their last hope amid a political leadership that has excelled in destroying the people’s aspirations and sabotaging the country in all respects. It is a fact that some of those leaders thrive on crises and wager on them to aggrandize themselves, while others exploit them to achieve their own objectives.
But if we want to believe what we hear these days from the dialogue participants, namely that they are determined this time around to reach reasonable and acceptable solutions, then:
First, they must begin where they left off at the previous Dialogue Conference and the Consultative Conference that followed it. In other words, they must move to identify the mechanisms by which to implement the decisions they had agreed on, and not go back to discuss those decisions anew.
Second, they must discuss a defense strategy that includes all the imminent threats to the country, particularly those looming from Syria.
Third, they must discuss shielding Lebanon from the regional conflicts so that it no longer is the open arena for the conflicts of others at the expense of Lebanon’s blood and treasure.
Fourth, more importantly, they must discuss amending the Taef Agreement to the effect of restoring authority to the office of the President so he can carry out the national role he is entrusted with and assume his constitutional powers that grant him the prerogative of settling matters of contention.
On the other hand, if the politicians’ intentions remain what they are, which is to say one thing while secretly harboring other ideas, the dialogue will certainly continue to be a conversation of the deaf and the situation will go from bad to worse until a certain end comes to pass.
Lebanon, at your service
Abu Arz/September 12, 2008

Jumblat, Arslan Stress on Unity at Aridi's Funeral
Naharnet/The slain official of the Lebanese Democratic Party Saleh Aridi was buried at his hometown of Baisour in Mount Lebanon amidst strict security arrangement and national mourning. Representatives of the Lebanese officials and various factions took part in Saturday's funeral that was addressed by the two leaders of the Druze community, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and LDP leader Talal Arslan. Both stressed on national unity and proceeding with the march of reconciliation to safeguard stability. Jumblat said "the message has been received, the loss is huge and can only be compensated by commitment to unity." "Only the 1949 armistice accord could protect Lebanon and the state should protect all its citizens," he added. He stressed on President Michel Suleiman's call for national dialogue and paid special tribute to the participation in the funeral by AMAL movement and Hizbullah. Arslan started his speech by paying tribute to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Jumblat and other leaders. He said Aridi, the mountain eagle, fell in defense of the Arab belonging of the mountain but the mountain would not fall. Arslan pledged to proceed with what he had started in May with Nasrallah and Jumblat.
He said "assassinations are half crimes, they aim at vengeance and the criminal does not distinguish between the majority and opposition."
He said the Aridi killing "aimed at sowing the seeds of discord. Discord would not happen."Arslan said "Lebanon has one enemy that is Israel. The mountain's role is to protect the resistance."He vowed that the mountain would lead the march to reconciliation and unity. Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 17:25

Law enforcement: An encouraging sign for a notoriously weak Lebanese state
By The Daily Star
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Editorial
With Lebanon having passed through such momentous times in the past few years, it is only natural that seemingly mundane matters have been lost in the shuffle. For this reason, it is encouraging to note that at least some officials are trying to take practical steps to strengthen the notoriously weak Lebanese state. The latest example of this comes in the form of checkpoints set up by the Internal Security Forces (ISF) in order to notify motorists that they will soon be required to wear their seatbelts - and that violators will be fined.
Surely, the critics will scoff, saying that the government has more important business to which it could intend. That may be the case, but just as babies should learn to crawl before they start to walk, the Lebanese state will find it easier to pursue complex undertakings if and when it finally demonstrates an ability to handle more elementary ones. The enforcement of traffic regulations, after all, is one of the ISF's responsibilities, and if the pronouncements of the US Embassy are to be believed, that organization is being lavished with shiny new vehicles and the latest in police training so that it can increase the Lebanese state's authority. Throw in the seven or eight hundred Lebanese estimated to die on the country's roads every year, the conclusion of experts that seatbelts could save a substantial percentage of their lives, and the ISF's need to build a reputation as a truly national institution, and there is every reason to task its members with this sort of duty.
The next step will be to break with tradition by ensuring that the law is applied uniformly. If even anecdotal evidence emerges that officers are being less lenient with residents of some areas or members of some religious communities than they are with others, the initiative will be nothing more than yet another example of poisonous sectarianism. Likewise, if those who are "connected" are able to avoid punishment by using wasta, the effort will quickly fizzle out.
There are several constants that apply to governance in virtually any context, and one of them is that no state should issue rules if it lacks the ability and/or the will to enforce them. Seatbelts save lives, so officials are correct in wanting to make their use compulsory.

Rectangular, Not Round Table, for Dialogue Participants
Naharnet/Lebanon has begun preparations for the Sept. 16 dialogue – this time with a rectangular and not round table setting for the participants of the 14 political groups in an effort to resolve deep differences, particularly over the defense strategy.
President Michel Suleiman has begun conveying invitations to the leaders who will take part in the national dialogue set to begin at Baabda palace next Tuesday.
News reports on Saturday said Tuesday's session which is scheduled to begin at 11 am will be limited to the opening statement by Suleiman, who chairs the dialogue.  Arab League chief Amr Moussa, who was invited by Suleiman, is expected to attend the conference which will tackle a single controversial issue – the defense strategy, the daily As Safir reported Saturday, "unless the participants agreed to include other topics."Al Anwar newspaper, meanwhile, said Suleiman aims at bringing the various points of view closer in order to reach a "comprehensive formula" regarding the defense strategy. The dialogue table, according to several media reports, will be rectangular, and not round like the one used in previous national talks, since Suleiman will be chairing the conference. National dialogue, which was first launched in March, was interrupted following Israel's summer 2006 war on Lebanon. Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 09:08

Qassem Sets 3 Conditions for Dialogue Success
Naharnet/Hizbullah's second-in-command Sheikh Naim Qassem has set three conditions for the "speedy success" of the national dialogue to be re-launched next Tuesday.
1- Participants should unanimously agree that Israel is the only enemy.
2- They should be convinced of building a capable, just well-balanced, strong and clean state which would put an end to all sort of corruption and promote equality among all citizens.
3- The goal should be to provide the necessary elements needed to liberate the land as well as ensuring the defense of Lebanon through the defense strategy.
"The Resistance had never been an obstacle to the state, but rather had always been supportive," Qassem said in press remarks.
"There is no state-for-Resistance equation or Resistance-for-state equation," Qassem stressed, reiterating that Hizbullah believes in one equation only – "A state that nurtures the Resistance." Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 11:04

Saniora: 'Defense Strategy' Title of Dialogue
Naharnet/Prime Minister Fouad Saniora said national dialogue meetings will be held under the title "the defense strategy.""Just as Parliament is master of itself, so are the participants (in the dialogue)," Saniora said in remarks published by several newspapers on Saturday. "They (participants) decide what they want, and in light of discussions dialogue timetable will be set," he added. Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 10:02

Efforts to Bring Hizbullah, Mustaqbal, PSP Together
Naharnet/Hizbullah's decision to dispatch head of its politburo Sheikh Ibrahim Amin al-Sayyed, an official representative of Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, to the funeral of slain Druze official Saleh Aridi was seen as a step toward reconciliation between Hizbullah and Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party.
The daily As Safir on Saturday, citing well-informed sources, said both sides have expressed their desire to "upgrade the present security coordination formula" between Hizbullah's Wafiq Safa and PSP's Akram Shehayeb. It said serious backstage efforts continue in this regard between Hizbullah and Mustaqbal Movement in a bid to achieve reconciliation. The sources said there is a "real chance to achieve a breakthrough" in this regard. (An Nahar photo shows Jumblat shaking hands with Hizbullah's Sheikh al-Sayyed) Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 12:32

Report: Hizbullah Involved in Kidnapping of Britons in Iraq?
Naharnet/Fears for five Britons held hostage in Iraq for more than a year have grown after British officials concluded the men have come under the control of "hardliners" and hinted that Hizbullah might be involved in their kidnapping, the Daily Telegraph reported. "The intermediaries are not bringing anything back from their contacts anymore and are blaming the real hardliners, who are now in control," a British official told the daily. The five men, a computer expert and his four-man security detail, were seized from the ministry of finance in Baghdad in May, 2007. The British newspaper said there were concerns that any opportunity to negotiate the men's release has been lost. "Hizbullah, which trains and directs Iraqi Shiite fighters both within the country and at bases in Iran is also believed to be playing an increasingly important role in the situation," the Daily Telegraph said. "Less and less is coming from the channels as we see a phenomenon of splintering among the splinter group that is holding these men," said one official with on the ground duties in Baghdad. "This is now a situation where the Hizbullah loyalists who have no where to go politically, are in charge." The kidnapping of the five Britons has been described by government officials as "planned and executed from the Hizbullah playbook," the newspaper said. One official said the involvement of Hizbullah raised the probability that the men, like hostages in Lebanon a generation ago, will either die in captivity or be held for many years.(AP photo shows a British soldier standing guard after a roadside bomb explosion in Basra, 550 kilometers southeast of Baghdad) Beirut, 13 Sep 08, 07:34

Bush to Host President Suleiman on September 25
Naharnet/U.S. President George Bush will host Lebanese President Michel Suleiman September 25 for wide-ranging talks on the Middle East, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in a statement Friday. "The president looks forward to discussing bilateral relations between the United States and Lebanon, U.S. support for a sovereign and democratic Lebanon, and a range of regional issues," she said. It will be their first meeting since Suleiman was elected in May.
The two leaders were expected to discuss the Middle East peace process as well as Syrian efforts to preserve its influence in its smaller neighbor, and Lebanese national unity talks scheduled for September 16. The announcement of the visit came two days after the car bomb assassination of Saleh Aridi, the first pro-Syrian political figure to die in an attack of this kind, in what was widely seen as an attempt to derail the unity talks.(AFP) Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 21:03

The Aridi Bomb: The Latest in a Series that Targeted Hawi, Kassir and Chidiac
Naharnet/The international committee probing the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes has shown an "exceptional interest" in the Saleh Aridi assassination, especially that preliminary investigations detected similarities with the attempts that has targeted Samir Kassir, George Hawi and May Chidiak, Naharnet learned Friday. Head of the international investigation team Daniel Bellmare has informed Lebanese Judicial, military and security authorities of his "interest in the outcome of preliminary investigations into the Aridi crime to decide whether the committee would delegate a team to survey the crime scene and go through evidence that could help in the investigation he is carrying out," according to information obtained by Naharnet. Meanwhile, security sources said the remote-controlled bomb used to kill Aridi, a ranking official of the Lebanese Democratic Party,i was similar to devices that had been used to assassinate anti-Syrian figures Hawi and Kassir. The 700-gram bomb also was similar to the device used in the abortive attempt to assassinate LBC Journalist Chidiac, who lost her arm and leg in the rather lethal blast that ripped through her car. In Aridi's case, the magnet-empowered bomb was stuck to the bottom of the victim's Mercedes car below the base for the driver's seat and was detonated by remote control from "a short distance," the daily An-Nahar reported. Aridi's driver, the report added, "informed investigators on the victim's movements in the last two days, the latest of which was attending an Iftar banquet at the Saha (square) Restaurant" on the main road leading to Beirut Airport, hardly two hours before he was killed by the car bomb explosion in his hometown of Baisour.
The report noted the Iftar banquet was sponsored by "a certain party." It did not identify the party, however.Aridi drove straight from the restaurant to Baisour, 22 kilometers to the east. Baisour was the theater of fierce clashes in May between the town's Druze and Hizbullah fighters who advanced from nearby Kaifoun, base for a giant relay station for Hizbullah's al-Manar television that was raided by Israeli jetfighters on Aug. 14, 2006.Aridi is to be buried later in the day in Baisour amidst national mourning in the Aley province. Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 08:57

Jumblat, Arslan Stress on Unity at Aridi's Funeral
Naharnet/The slain official of the Lebanese Democratic Party Saleh Aridi was buried at his hometown of Baisour in Mount Lebanon amidst strict security arrangement and national mourning. Representatives of the Lebanese officials and various factions took part in Saturday's funeral that was addressed by the two leaders of the Druze community, Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and LDP leader Talal Arslan. Both stressed on national unity and proceeding with the march of reconciliation to safeguard stability. Jumblat said "the message has been received, the loss is huge and can only be compensated by commitment to unity." "Only the 1949 armistice accord could protect Lebanon and the state should protect all its citizens," he added.
He stressed on President Michel Suleiman's call for national dialogue and paid special tribute to the participation in the funeral by AMAL movement and Hizbullah.
Arslan started his speech by paying tribute to Syrian President Bashar Assad, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Jumblat and other leaders.
He said Aridi, the mountain eagle, fell in defense of the Arab belonging of the mountain but the mountain would not fall. Arslan pledged to proceed with what he had started in May with Nasrallah and Jumblat. He said "assassinations are half crimes, they aim at vengeance and the criminal does not distinguish between the majority and opposition." He said the Aridi killing "aimed at sowing the seeds of discord. Discord would not happen."Arslan said "Lebanon has one enemy that is Israel. The mountain's role is to protect the resistance."He vowed that the mountain would lead the march to reconciliation and unity. Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 17:25

Hizbullah-Iraq Busted, Two Members Arrested
Naharnet/The U.S. Army on Friday announced the arrest of two members of the Hizbullah Battalions in Iraq (HBI), which is backed by Iran.
A communiqué said the two were arrested in a major house raid in the New Baghdad district, on the capital's southeastern edge. No clashes were reported in the bust, the communiqué added. The arrest raises to 20 the number of HBI captured operatives that the U.S. military says is a group sponsored by the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps. In a non-related development, the U.S. military said a mass grave has been discovered in the Diyala province.
The victims, according to the statement, were killed about 18 months ago when the area was controlled by al-Qaida. Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 14:42

Gen. Qahwaji Calls for National Unity
Naharnet/Army Commander Gen. Jean Qahwaji said response to the Saleh Aridi assassination should be adherence by the Lebanese people to their national unity.
Qahwaji, in an interview with the daily As-Safir Friday, also urged the various factions to proceed with the reconciliation march to safeguard the nation's stability.
The time has come to bolster the military establishment by increasing its allocations in the state budget, Qahwaji stressed. Beirut, 12 Sep 08, 12:18