LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 16/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 5,20-26. I tell you, unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter into the kingdom of heaven. You have heard that it was said to your ancestors, 'You shall not kill; and whoever kills will be liable to judgment.'But I say to you, whoever is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment, and whoever says to his brother, 'Raqa,' will be answerable to the Sanhedrin, and whoever says, 'You fool,' will be liable to fiery Gehenna. Therefore, if you bring your gift to the altar, and there recall that your brother has anything against you, leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.
Settle with your opponent quickly while on the way to court with him. Otherwise your opponent will hand you over to the judge, and the judge will hand you over to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. Amen, I say to you, you will not be released until you have paid the last penny.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Nasrallah Throws down the Gauntlet, Haaretz. 15/02/08
The Targeted Killing of Imad Mugniyeh.By: Alan M. Dershowitz.FrontPage Web Site. 15/02/08
Gotch.By: Jamie Glazov. FrontPage web site.15/02/08
Justice Served: Killing Mughniyah. By: Robert Baer. 15/02/08
Militant's death a serious blow to Hezbollah.By NICHOLAS BLANFORD. 15/02/08
Terror expert: Assassination strong message to Syria-Ynetnews. 15/02/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 15/08
Earthquake Shakes Lebanon-Naharnet
Nasrallah Vows Worldwide War on Israel, Pacifies Syria-Naharnet
Million People Show Up for Hariri Memorial in Beirut-Naharnet
U.S. Doubles its Contribution to Tribunal-Naharnet
FBI Putting Terror Forces on Alert After Nasrallah's Threat-Naharnet
U.N. Concerned at Targeted Assassinations in Lebanon, Elsewhere-Naharnet
Hariri Accuses Syria of Dragging Hizbullah into Civil War-Naharnet
Geagea to Hizbullah: No to Tents, No to Threats-Naharnet
Jumblat: Giving Opposition Veto Power is Tantamount to Treason-Naharnet
Muallem: We Will Soon Reveal Mughniyeh's Killers-Naharnet
Muallem Threatens Lawsuits Against U.S. Over Lebanon War-Naharnet
U.S. Supports 'Strong Democratic' Lebanon on Hariri Memorial-Naharnet
Israel FM Dismisses Hizbullah Threats-Naharnet
U.S. Alarmed by Nasrallah's Open War Declaration-Naharnet
Israelis Overseas Cautioned Against Possible Hizbullah Attack-Naharnet
Feb. 14 Rally Opens Door to International Pressures-Naharnet
Mughniyeh's Killing May Well Be Costly for Syria-Naharnet
Israel Prepares to Storm Gaza, Confront Hizbullah Reprisal-Naharnet
Syrian FM says assassination destroyed all hopes of peace-Jerusalem Post
US doubles to $14 million its contribution to UN tribunal for ...International Herald Tribune
Hariri says "hand extended" to Lebanon opposition-Reuters
Brazilian Foreign Minister: Syria ready to talk with Israel-Monsters and Critics.com
Syria May Pay Price for Killing-The Associated Press
Million People Show Up for Hariri Memorial in Beirut-Naharnet
Israel on Alert After Nasrallah's Open War Declaration-Naharnet
Nasrallah Vows Worldwide War on Israel, Pacifies-Naharnet
Death of a terrorist-Economist
Rival Beirut rallies display Lebanon's divided soul-Times Online
Who Killed Hizballah's Terror Master?AP
Hezbollah chief declares 'open war' on Israel at funeral AFP,
Hezbollah threatens Israel at slain commander funeral Reuters,
Hezbollah chief threatens Israel after militant's death-AP
Iran's foreign minister at funeral in Lebanon of slain Hezbollah ...International Herald Tribune
CHRONOLOGY-Events in Lebanon since Hariri's killing-Reuters
Iran's Khamenei hails 'great' Hezbollah commander-Africasia
Lebanon lacks Hariri's building spirit, says Arab League chief-Monsters and Critics.com
Germany provides 1 million dollars to UN tribunal on Lebanon-Earthtimes

Hezbollah chief threatens Israel
By SAM F. GHATTAS, Associated Press Writer
BEIRUT, Lebanon - The chief of Hezbollah vowed Thursday to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world after accusing the Jewish state of killing the militant Imad Mughniyeh in Syria.
Israel ordered its military, embassies and Jewish institutions overseas to go on alert Thursday, fearing revenge attacks for a car bomb that killed Mughniyeh — accused of masterminding dramatic attacks that killed hundreds of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s. Hezbollah and its Iranian backers blamed Israel but Israel denied involvement. In a videotaped eulogy broadcast on a giant screen to thousands attending the south Beirut funeral for Mughniyeh, Nasrallah said Israel had taken the fight outside the "natural battlefield" of Israel and Lebanon. "You have crossed the borders," he said. "With this murder, its timing, location and method — Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, let the whole world listen: Let this war be open."

Earthquake Shakes Lebanon
A 5.1 magnitude earthquake struck Beirut, east and south Lebanon at 12:37 pm Friday, causing minor damage and sending many panicked residents into the streets. Police reported five people were lightly injured in the south.
The head of the Bhannes Center for Seismic and Scientific Research, Iskandar Sursock, said the epicenter of the tremor is a small sliding plateau south of Zrariyeh village in Tyre province, which is not the major sliding plateau that caused the lethal quake in 1956.
He said Lebanon may witness in the coming 15 days a series of aftershocks which should not pose a bigger threat than Friday's quake.
Head of Lebanon's National Center for Scientific Research Moueen Hamze said aftershocks were probable. "We urge citizens to take precautions," he said.
Residents of Syria, Jordan, the West Bank and Israel also reported feeling the earthquake.
People in some areas of Beirut left their apartments and went into the streets after the jolt at 12:37 pm, which lasted a few seconds.
In the southern coastal city of Tyre, residents ran toward the seashore and began reciting verses of the Koran, an Agence France Presse correspondent witnessed.
NBN TV reported material damage in the southern villages of Sreefa and Mais al-Jabal and cracks in some southern roads. It also said that some villages experienced power cuts.
Police said four people were lightly injured in Tyre when parts of a balcony fell on top of them. In the southern port city of Sidon, another man was lightly injured when a cupboard in this home fell on him, security sources said.
Also, the chimney on one building in Tyre came tumbling down, crushing several vehicles, but there were no immediate reports of victims.
Another tremor measuring about 4.0 on the open-ended Richter scale struck Lebanon on February 12 and was also felt in Israel. Its epicenter was six kilometers east of Tyre.(Naharnet-AP-AFP) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 14:09

U.N. Concerned at Targeted Assassinations in Lebanon, Elsewhere
The U.N. Security Council expressed great concern at targeted assassinations in Lebanon and elsewhere on Thursday, the third anniversary of the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and the day of the funeral of assassinated Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh.
The council did not agree on a press statement drafted by France and the United States which would have reaffirmed its "strongest condemnation" of the Feb. 14, 2005 bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others and condemned "all targeted assassinations" of Lebanese officials since October 2004.
But the current council president, Panama's U.N. Ambassador Ricardo Arias, told reporters the members asked him to report their "great concern of any targeted assassinations that have been committed in Lebanon or in any other place."
Arias said the council also asked him to report "its great concern for the institutional stability in Lebanon, the importance for the Lebanese people to reach an agreement and understanding on the differences."
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Lebanon's feuding parties to mark Thursday's third anniversary of Hariri's assassination by redoubling efforts to achieve the national reconciliation the slain premier worked hard to realize.
Neither the Security Council nor the secretary-general mentioned Tuesday's murder in Damascus of Mughniyeh, one of the world's most wanted fugitives.
Mughniyeh was accused of masterminding attacks that killed hundreds of Americans and French in Lebanon in the 1980s.
Ban reaffirmed the U.N.'s commitment to assist Lebanon in finding the truth about the bombing in central Beirut that killed Hariri, and in bringing to justice those who planned and carried out the attack as well as other political assassinations and terrorist attacks in Lebanon.
"This solemn anniversary comes at a perilous moment for Lebanon," Ban's spokeswoman Michele Montas said in a statement.
"The secretary-general believes there could be no greater homage paid to the memory of Rafik Hariri than for the parties in Lebanon to redouble their efforts to achieve national reconciliation and to ensure the stability, security and prosperity for which Rafik Hariri worked so hard during his lifetime," she said.
The anniversary comes as the Lebanese are more divided than ever between supporters of Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government and the opposition, led by Hizbullah and supported by Syria and Iran.
At Mughniyeh's funeral in Beirut on Thursday, Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned of a war without boundaries, heightening the already tense situation in Lebanon, where the government and opposition have been locked in a 15-month power struggle.
The deadlocked parliament has failed 14 times to elect a new president to succeed pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud whose term ended in November.
The sectarian element to the political fight has heightened fears of an explosion with Sunni Muslims largely supporting Saniora's government, while Shiites back the opposition. Christians are divided between the two sides.
U.N. investigators are probing Hariri's assassination and assisting Lebanese authorities in their investigations of 19 other assassinations and bombings.
In his final appearance before the U.N. Security Council in December before stepping down, the chief U.N. investigator, Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, said he is more confident than ever that those allegedly involved in the Hariri assassination will be brought before a tribunal to face justice.
He said that recent progress has enabled U.N. investigators to identify "a number of persons of interest" who may have been involved in some aspect of the crime -- or knew about the preparations.
The Netherlands has agreed to host the tribunal that will prosecute suspects in the Hariri assassination. A deeply divided U.N. Security Council unilaterally established an international tribunal on May 30 after the speaker of the Lebanese parliament refused to call a session to have members ratify the statutes to create it.
The secretary-general late Wednesday announced the establishment of a Management Committee of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon which will provide advice and policy direction on all non-judicial aspects of the court's operations and review and approve its annual budget. The committee is composed of the main donors to the tribunal. Ban also announced that he has received indications that expected contributions to the Lebanon tribunal will cover its operations for the first 12 months of operations which along with other developments "confirms the secretary-general's belief in the irreversibility of the establishment of the tribunal," Montas said.(AP) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 08:00

Million People Show Up for Hariri Memorial in Beirut
More than one million people showed up in downtown Beirut on Thursday to pay tribute to former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on the third anniversary of his assassination as just a few kilometers away Hizbullah prepared to bury top commander Imad Mughniyeh who was killed by a car bomb in Syria.
Amid fears of clashes between rival pro- and anti-Syrian factions, army troops and security forces were deployed in force in the capital. The factions have faced off repeatedly in recent weeks. A sea of people gathered under pouring rain and poor visibility in Martyrs' Square in central Beirut, where Hariri is buried, waving Lebanese flags and photos of the slain leader as well as other politicians and figures killed in the past three years.
Rally organizers said about one million pro-government supporters gathered in and around Martyrs Square, while another 500,000 crowded the streets.
As the rally got underway, members of Hariri's family and the ruling coalition inaugurated St. George Square on the Beirut seafront where Hariri was killed by a massive car bomb on Feb. 14, 2005.
They also unveiled a bronze statue, a sculpture in the form of a flame and an obelisk bearing inscriptions about his accomplishments and sayings.
Politicians meanwhile gave fiery speeches demanding an end to the country's presidential deadlock and accusing Syria of meddling in Lebanese politics.
Saad Hariri saluted the crowd before delivering his speech as flag-waving partisans shouted allegiance.
"Today you have come again to say we want a president. And we say to you we will have a president," Hariri told the crowd from behind bullet-proof glass.
"The enemies of Lebanon are still trying to assassinate the Lebanese people just as the Israeli enemy tried to assassinate the Lebanese people during the 2006 July war," he added. Hizbullah claimed victory after that 34-day war in which neither of Israel's stated aims -- to recover two captured soldiers and halt rocket attacks on northern Israel -- was achieved. "We want a President for the republic. They tried to assassinate Beirut, the international tribunal and the presidency by installing void," Hariri said.
"Together we will continue to insist that Gen. (Michel) Suleiman is elected President in order to open a new phase of dialogue and consensus and cooperate for Lebanon's sake," he added. "This is the goal of the citizens gathered here in Martyrs Square as well as in the southern suburbs for the funeral service of resistance commander (Imad Mughniyeh)."
Druze leader Walid Jumblat, a sharp Hizbullah critic, said the government will not succumb to opposition efforts to deliver Lebanon "to the Iranian-Syrian black evil world."
He accused Syria and the "double-crossing regime" of its President Bashar al-Assad of killing Mughniyeh.
Jumblat vowed that the blood of the pro-government March 14 Forces and that of the revolutionaries "will nail down all unbelievers anywhere they were – be they in their palaces, squares or caves."
Ex-President Amin Gemayel also pledged to "liberate downtown Beirut and return the Lebanese capital to its people."
A huge crowd cheered Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea as he began his speech.
"We used to say the tribunal is coming. We now say the court came," Geagea said in reference to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon to try suspects in Hariri's murder.
"No to your tents and threats. We won't allow the presidential seat to be your captive," he said. "You people tell them that we will resist until victory."
Sheikh Ali al-Amin, the Shiite Mufti of the southern city of Tyre said: "I say to those encouraging an escalation that Lebanon will not be transformed into another Iraq."
MP Atef Majdalani, in turn, said in his speech: "We will remain committed to electing Gen. Michel Suleiman president," stressing that March 14 "wants justice and equality, while they (opposition) want anarchy to achieve unrest and civil war."
Secretary General of al-Jamaa al-Islamiyah Ali Sheikh Ammar vowed to "live on despite the bloodshed."
"Hariri's murder anniversary should be an opportunity to restore a climate for constructive dialogue and national unity," he told the crowd.
MP Elias Atallah, addressing Free Patriotic Movement leaderGen. Michel Aoun, said: "We tell Rabiyeh resident 'Forget about the Document of Understanding (which was singed with Hizbullah ) on the expense of the country.'"
To Hizbullah, Atallah said: "There is no use for the rockets or intimidation."
National Liberation Party Secretary General Elias Abu Assi also addressed the opposition, telling it: "Come back to us when you regain your senses. We in March 14 will not rest until justice is achieved and independence is guaranteed."
Cabinet Minister Mohammed Safadi reminded the opposition that the March 14 coalition has made concessions.
"Do they want us to give up our backing to consensus candidate Gen. Suleiman?" asked Safadi. "We want a government whose war or peace decision is in its hands."
Nassib Lahoud, a former ambassador to the U.S. and a member of the ruling majority, said his side would not budge from its demands for the election of a president without outside interference, followed by the formation of a national unity government.
Cabinet Minister Jean Oghassabian vowed that March 14 will elect Suleiman President, adding that "we will not accept institutional void."
In an indirect address to Hizbullah, Cabinet Minister Michel Pharaon said: "We won't be terrorized. Gen. Suleiman will be elected president and Lebanon will emerge victorious."
MP Bassem al-Sabaa described the opposition tent city in downtown Beirut as an "occupation," saying it "is a crime against Lebanon."
Minister Nayla Mouawad lashed out at Syria, saying: "We were born free and we will die free. We won't allow Lebanon's destiny to be linked to the Syrian regime."At the exact time of the explosion that killed Hariri, church bells tolled and mosque minarets blared Allah Akbar chants.
Lebanon has been without a president since last November when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term. A subsequent power struggle between the ruling majority anti-Syrian faction and the opposition has left a continuing vacuum. By early afternoon cars and buses were continuing to flood to Beirut where the Hariri organizers handed out flags and umbrellas to the demonstrators. "Open our parliament, free our government, elect a president now," read one banner, referring to the ongoing power struggle. "Enough martyrs. Enough Blood," read another banner. "Yes for Tribunal," another sign said. The government declared Thursday a holiday to commemorate Hariri's death and schools and universities were ordered shut.(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 14 Feb 08, 17:10

Nasrallah Vows Worldwide War on Israel, Pacifies Syria
Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah on Thursday declared "open war" on Israel worldwide after accusing the Jewish state of killing his top commander Imad Mughniyeh outside the battleground. Nasrallah issued the war declaration in an address to mourners taking part in Mughniyeh's funeral procession at south Beirut's Master of the Martyrs compound. "You Zionists have killed hajj Imad in Damascus, outside the battleground. You've crossed the limits," Nasrallah said.
"Let the whole world hear this, if you want this kind of open war, open war let it be," Nasrallah added as mourners chanted "death to Israel, death to America."
"Our battlefield with you is on Lebanese territory and you have overstepped the border," Nasrallah told Israeli leaders who had denied involvement in the Mughniyeh assassination by a car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus on Tuesday evening. Nasrallah pledged that Mughniyeh's blood would result in the "disappearance" of Israel. The threat echoed calls by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for scrapping Israel off the map.
Nasrallah's threat means that Israeli interests all over the world have been declared war targets. Thousands of supporters, including Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, gathered in the rain for Mughniyeh's funeral procession. Mughniyeh was linked to attacks against U.S., Iraqi, French, Kuwaiti, and Jewish targets in the past two decades. He also played a major role in the abduction of western hostages in Lebanon in the 1980s.
Prior to Nasrallah's address, Mottaki read a letter of condolences in Farsi from Ahmadinejad. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a message of condolences to Nasrallah, stressing that Mughniyeh's "martyrdom should make the Lebanese people proud to have given the world such great men in the fields of seeking freedom and fighting cruelty." Hizbullah's deputy chief, Sheikh Naim Qassem, led funeral prayers after which Mughniyeh's coffin was held on shoulders across the streets of south Beirut, followed by thousands of mourners for burial at the two martyrs graveyard. Mughniyeh was proclaimed "martyr of Allah" after Nasrallah pledged that the Israelis would face "tens of thousands of Imad Mughniyehs in the next war." Beirut, 14 Feb 08, 17:57

Nasrallah Throws down the Gauntlet, Haaretz
When Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah recited quotes from David Ben-Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, to emphasize to Israel that "if it loses one war, it will collapse," or the Winograd report to impress his supporters with the fact that Israel lost the fight against several thousand Hizbullah fighters, we can once more be overwhelmed that Nasrallah and his advisers follow what is going on in Israeli society far more closely than Israel follows developments in Lebanon, Haaretz reported on its website. But Nasrallah, Haaretz said, also knows that sharp rhetoric and expert usage of language are no substitute for a plan of action.
Haaretz said that Nasrallah presented his plan in his Thursday speech by setting the rules for war against Israel: "If you want an open-ended war, it will be an open-ended war," and he also explained what this would entail.
Haaretz said because Hizbullah blames Israel for the assassination of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, which it said occurred "outside the natural battleground of the war" (in other words Syria and not in Lebanon), the Shiite group considers it legitimate to use the same method and target Israel outside the "natural battleground": not directly on Israeli territory but against Israeli targets abroad.
Thus, Haaretz went on to say, Nasrallah absolved himself of the rules he followed for years, according to which he was conducting a war of Lebanese liberation against Israeli occupation. It said Nasrallah henceforth is adopting a war against Israel's existence on behalf of his group, not in the name of Lebanon.
In this new equation, according to Haaretz, where Nasrallah opened a new "personal account" for himself and Hizbullah versus Israel, lies the novelty of his speech.
The report said Nasrallah also diverged from the way he had characterized the Lebanon war to date - as a Lebanese war against Israel, and every Hizbullah victory as a Lebanese one. Haaretz said Nasrallah's Thursday speech did not contain a word on the Lebanese army and certainly not about the government, which he considers illegitimate. he said that his fighters were ready for the next war, that they had equipped themselves with weapons, and that they have conscripted thousands so in the next war, Israel will face tens of thousands of Hezbollah fighters.
It said Nasrallah stressed in his speech that his men were ready for the next war, that they had equipped themselves with weapons, and that thousands have been conscripted as fighters "so in the next war, Israel will face tens of thousands of Hizbullah fighters."
This was a speech that was directed at the Lebanese government and its supporters, no less than it was for Israel's consumption, Haaretz wrote on its website.
It said that if Lebanese analysts expected Wednesday that Mughniyeh's killing would result in positive gestures of political reconciliation on the part of Nasrallah, particularly after Saad Hariri called for "national unity," it would seem that Thursday's competing rallies and speeches have brought Lebanon one step closer to a violent confrontation. Haaretz concluded that it is not the ridicule of his rivals that is now threatening Lebanon, but Nasrallah's ability to determine, at any given moment, whether the country goes to war or keeps the peace. Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 14:20

U.S. Doubles its Contribution to Tribunal
The United States has announced that it is doubling to $14 million its contribution to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon that would try suspects in the assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice disclosed the gesture in a statement issued Thursday on the third anniversary of Hariri's killing along with 22 others in a massive car bombing on the Beirut seafront. "We hope the tribunal will help deter further political assassinations, end an era of fear for Lebanese citizens and impunity for the perpetrators of these crimes, and help protect the sovereignty of Lebanon," Rice said.
Washington suspects Syria of having assassinated anti-Syrian figures like journalists, lawmakers and security officials in a bid to destabilize Lebanon and regain the influence it once had here. Rice said the doubling of the U.S. pledge from $7 million to $14 million would be effective once legal notifications have been made in Congress. She also asked for more support from other countries. The international court will be established in The Hague, Netherlands, and the Lebanese government will pay 49 percent of the expenses.(AP-AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 09:28

FBI Putting Terror Forces on Alert After Nasrallah's Threat
The FBI is putting its 101 domestic terror squads on the alert for any threats against synagogues and other potential Jewish targets in the United States after top Hizbullah official Imad Mughniyeh was killed and the group's leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah threatened to punish Israel.
FBI spokesman Rich Kolko said Thursday that no specific threats had been received by any Jewish centers after Tuesday's assassination of Mughniyeh. Hizbullah and its Iranian backers blamed the killing on Israel, whose government denied involvement but its army would not discuss it.
Still, the FBI ordered its Joint Terrorism Task Forces to contact community sources for information signaling ramped-up Hizbullah activity over the next month. Such high-priority orders are not issued often, but they are not considered unusual. "The FBI monitors world events and continues to maintain a strong posture through the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Forces for any and all threats emanating from any terrorist group," Kolko said in a statement. "Although we have no specific threat information at this time, we remind everyone to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to the appropriate authorities."
Intelligence officials said few, if any, Hizbullah fighters are in the United States. However, the Shiite group has fundraisers and sympathizers in the country. The United States considered Mughniyeh one of the world's most wanted and elusive terrorists.
The FBI order was sent out the day before Thursday's fiery eulogy by Nasrallah, who vowed to avenge Mughniyeh's death by retaliating against Israeli targets abroad. The Israeli government denied it was involved in the Damascus car bombing that killed Mughniyeh, although its military officials refused to confirm or deny involvement.
In addition to reinforcing its troop presence along the Lebanese border, Israel put its military and embassies on alert and advised Jewish organizations around the world to do the same. But Jewish institutions in the United States described the alert as another reminder to be aware of possible threats since strict protective measures are usually in place.
"Security for Jewish organizations and Jewish institutions around the world is a 365-day concern and has been for a long time," said Michael Salberg, director of international affairs for the Anti-Defamation League in New York. "When things heat up, when an incident occurs that raises concerns, it's a reminder. It doesn't change our focus on security." The New York Police Department, the largest in the country, strengthened patrols at the Israeli mission at the United Nations and its New York consulate after news of the threat, chief spokesman Paul Browne said. He said police were monitoring synagogues and schools as well.
The Homeland Security Department acknowledged it was monitoring the situation overseas, but spokesman Russ Knocke would not talk about how closely the monitoring was being done. The department last year gave $24 million (-16.4 million) in grants to help Jewish nonprofit organizations in major cities bolster security measures in a nod to the widespread belief that they are potential terror targets.
At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack described Nasrallah's remarks as "alarming."
"Any time you have a terrorist organization making threats against a fellow democracy, a member of the United Nations, that is something that should concern every civilized nation around the world," McCormack told reporters.
"As a general matter, those kinds of statements are quite concerning and they should be alarming to everyone," he said. "Quite clearly, Hizbullah has a long record of carrying out violent acts and acts of terrorism around the globe. You have a pathway of violence that stretches from Buenos Aires to Kuwait and a lot of places in between." Some Jewish institutions, such as synagogues and advocacy organizations, refuse to discuss security measures. For others, Thursday's call re-emphasized measures already in use. At Temple Judea, in Coral Gables, Florida, Executive Director Marsha Botkin said they doing nothing differently.
"We have very tight security for getting in the building," Botkin said.
The temple has security cameras, doors are all regularly locked and visitors have to buzz to get in, she said. And when they hold services, a police officer is outside.
At the Ramaz School's three buildings on New York's Upper East Side, there have been armed security guards outside and other guards inside for several years, said Kenneth Rochlin, the school's administrator. Visitors must have appointments.
Israel's message was a reminder of the importance of paying attention. Andrea Policky, executive assistant at Temple Israel, the largest Reform Congregation in the northeastern United States, said its security staff has been placed on high alert. "They are aware of the situation," she said. "The security officers have been instructed on what to look for." In California, the Los Angeles Police Department had not received any specific threats related to Mughniyeh's death but was increasing its presence at Jewish institutions, malls and ports, said Deputy Chief Michael Downing, who heads the department's counterterror unit. The Anti-Defamation League for several counties in Southern California sent out an e-mail warning to Jewish institutions urging vigilance.(AP) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 08:05

Hariri Accuses Syria of Dragging Hizbullah into Civil War
MP Saad Hariri has launched a vehement attack against Syria, accusing the Damascus regime of being an "Israeli product."
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has made a similar accusation against the pro-government March 14 coalition a few days after the end of the 2006 summer war between Israel and Hizbullah. "Today you have come again to say we want a president. And we tell you we will have a president," Hariri said in his speech to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of his father, five-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
"The enemies of Lebanon are still trying to assassinate the Lebanese people just as the Israeli enemy tried to assassinate the Lebanese people during the 2006 July war," Hariri told the crowd from behind a bullet-proof glass. Hariri blames Syria for the killing of his father in a massive suicide truck bombing in Beirut and for a series of bombings and assassinations since. Hariri's assassination ignited mass protests and international pressure that forced Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon after 29 years of control. Hizbullah claimed victory after that 34-day war in which neither of Israel's stated aims -- to recover two captured soldiers and halt rocket attacks on northern Israel -- was achieved.
Hariri said Damascus "has been at truce with Israel for the last 34 years, preventing the Syrian people from launching any form of resistance to liberate the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.""This Israeli product (Syria) is dividing the Palestinians and trying to drag the resistance (Hizbullah) in Lebanon into a civil war that will destroy the country and devastate our Lebanon," he added.On the presidential elections crisis, Hariri said: "We want a President for the republic. They tried to assassinate Beirut, the international tribunal and the presidency by installing void."
"Together we will continue to insist that Gen. (Michel) Suleiman is elected President in order to open a new phase of dialogue and consensus and cooperate for Lebanon's sake," he added. "This is the goal of the citizens gathered here in Martyrs Square as well as in the southern suburbs for the funeral service of resistance commander (Imad Mughniyeh)."Hariri reached out to the opposition, telling it that "our hand is extended and will remain to be stretched out, no matter what the difficulties." Concerning an Arab League summit due to be held in Damascus in March, Hariri said "there will be no value to any summit in the absence of a Lebanese president." Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 08:50

Geagea to Hizbullah: No to Tents, No to Threats
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has lashed out at Hizbullah, telling the Shiite group "No to your tents and threats. No to your obstacles and anarchy." Geagea's remarks came in a speech Thursday on the occasion of the third anniversary of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri.
"We will not accept to be deprived of a President. We will not allow the presidential seat to remain a pawn in your hands," Geagea told the estimated one million people who gathered in Martyrs Square to honor Hariri. "Real partnership is through participation in the struggle to liberate decisions – decisions on war and peace," he said. Addressing the crowd, Geagea said: "Don't fear them … regardless of their crimes," assuring them that justice will prevail.
"You people tell them that we will resist until victory," Geagea told the mass which cheered his calls. On the international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of Hariri and related crimes, Geagea said: "We used to say the tribunal is coming. We now say the court came." Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 08:49

Jumblat: Giving Opposition Veto Power is Tantamount to Treason
Naharnet/Druze leader Walid Jumblat, a sharp Hizbullah critic, has said that giving the opposition veto power was tantamount to treason.
"Once we elect a president with a one-third (political power to obstruct the government) and once we give up the premiership, then this will be the moment of treason and surrender," Jumblat told on Thursday an estimated one million people gathered to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri. The government will not succumb to opposition efforts to deliver Lebanon "to the Iranian-Syrian black evil world," he said from behind a bullet-proof glass. Jumblat vowed that the blood of the pro-government March 14 Forces and that of the revolutionaries "will nail down all unbelievers anywhere they were – be they in their palaces, squares or caves." He also accused Syria and the "double-crossing regime" of its President Bashar Assad of killing top Hizbullah official Imad Mughniyeh. Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 09:11

Muallem: We Will Soon Reveal Mughniyeh's Killers
Naharnet/Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said investigations are under way into who was behind the car bomb that killed top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus, adding that he expected the perpetrators to be found soon. Mughniyeh was killed late Tuesday night when his car exploded in an upscale Damascus neighborhood in an incident that was not only a blow to Hizbullah, but also to Syria's much-vaunted internal security services. "Syrian security forces are continuing investigations into this terrorist crime and we hope you will hear results soon," Muallem said Thursday at a joint press conference with his Iranian counterpart Manouchehr Mottaki. "We as a state will show with full proof the party involved in this crime and who stands behind them," Muallem said.
Hizbullah has accused Israel of killing Mughniyeh and vowed revenge, though the Jewish State has denied any involvement in the attack.
Muallem described the killing of Mughniyeh, who has been implicated in a string of attacks against Americans, Israelis and Jews, among others, throughout the 1980s and 1990s, as a blow to peace. He said those who killed Mughniyeh "assassinated any attempt to revive the peace process," hinting for the first time that Israel might be involved. For his part, Mottaki said that the matter of the assassination came up in his talks with Syrian President Bashar Assad and he said Israel was retaliating for its losses in the June 2006 war in Lebanon and "imagined it could exact a heavy price by assassinating one leader of the Lebanese resistance."(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 07:37

Muallem Threatens Lawsuits Against U.S. Over Lebanon War
Naharnet/Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem has said Damascus would retaliate with its own sanctions a day after Washington announced new sanctions against the Assad regime. Speaking at a press conference with his Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, Muallem said Thursday: "This is not the first time the United States has taken measures against Syria." "But this time I tell you we will punish the United States ... there are scores of Syrians who became victims during the Israeli war against Lebanon (in 2006), they will file lawsuits against America," which provided Israel with the weapons, he said.
On Wednesday, U.S. President George Bush, in an executive order, said he was expanding sanctions against senior government officials in Syria and their associates deemed responsible for or to have benefited from public corruption. The order named no specific officials
A high ranking Syrian official on Thursday ridiculed Bush's decision, saying that a country occupying the land of others has no right to hurl accusations.
"The ones who steal the resources of other countries through occupation and corruption have no right to accuse others," the official told the Associated Press. "The Bush administration is not matched by any government in the world when it comes to corruption." The official was referring to reports of billions of dollars wasted by the U.S. government on Iraq's reconstruction. The White House said Wednesday's order expanded action taken in May 2004 when Bush issued an executive order banning all U.S. exports to Syria except for food and medicine. He ordered the sanctions then after long-standing complaints that the Middle Eastern nation was supporting international terror and undermining U.S. efforts in Iraq.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 09:57

U.S. Supports 'Strong Democratic' Lebanon on Hariri Memorial
Naharnet/The United States backed efforts for "a strong, democratic state" in Lebanon free from Syrian influence, on the third anniversary of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassination. "Since the assassination of Prime Minister Hariri, many other Lebanese patriots have been murdered by those who seek to use violence and intimidation to derail progress toward a free, independent, and prosperous Lebanon," U.S. President George Bush said in a statement Thursday.
"It is vital that the perpetrators of these attacks be brought to justice, and I therefore call upon the international community to redouble its support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon," he said. The United Nations has vowed to help Lebanon set up the international court to try suspects in Hariri's murder, but the special court has yet to get off the ground amid a deep political crisis in the country. "Syria, Iran and their allies must end their efforts to undermine Lebanon's legitimate government and to interfere in its political process," said Bush, adding that the "United States' support for the government and people of Lebanon remains firm and unwavering." Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice reiterated the U.S. government's commitment to Lebanon.
"The United States shares your sorrow, but also your hope," Rice said in a statement commemorating the assassination as well as all those "killed, injured, or persecuted in the service" of Lebanon. "Our commitment to you and your chosen government is unshakeable. We and the international community will not rest until your calls for peace, justice, and freedom have been answered," Rice said. Her spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters the anniversary "is a reminder to the world and to people of Lebanon about the sacrifices that many around the world and in Lebanon are making to build a strong, democratic state."
"And it is also a date on which we will take the opportunity to underline to the Lebanese people that we are fully supportive and stand with those who want to build a better Lebanon, a free Lebanon, a democratic Lebanon and one that stands independent and unfettered from foreign interference," he said.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon marked the anniversary by reaffirming the world body's resolve to help Beirut establish the truth and bring those responsible to justice through the establishment of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.(AFP) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 07:33

Israel FM Dismisses Hizbullah Threats
Naharnet/Israel knows how to respond to Hizbullah's threats to attack the Jewish state and its targets abroad, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Thursday.
"Hizbullah is a terror organization. It has carried out terror attacks in the past and is constantly trying to carry out attacks," Livni's office quoted her as saying in a statement. "Israel has been under threat from its creation. We know how to deal with these threats and we will know how to do so now," she said in Washington.
"Israel is a strong state, the Jewish people are strong and our answer to terror is clear. Statements by this or that terrorist won't change this and we are not panicking." Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah earlier declared "open war" on Israel during a speech at the Beirut funeral of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, who was killed in a car bombing in Damascus on Tuesday, which was blamed on Israel. Israel denied any involvement in the assassination, but declared a state of high alert inside the country and for Israelis abroad in the wake of the attack.(AFP)

U.S. Alarmed by Nasrallah's Open War Declaration
Naharnet/The United States said Thursday that Hizbullah's "open war" declaration against Israel is "alarming" because of its track record of successful attacks around the globe. "As a general matter, those kinds of statements are quite concerning and they should be alarming to everyone," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters after saying he did not know the details of the threats. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel during Thursday's funeral for commander Imad Mughniyeh. Hizbullah blames Israel for the car bombing in Damascus that killed him Tuesday, but the Jewish state denies the charge. "Any time you have a terrorist organization making threats against a fellow democracy, a member of the United Nations, that's something that should concern every civilized nation around the globe," McCormack said. When asked why the remarks were so alarming, McCormack replied: "Quite clearly Hizbullah has a long record of carrying out violent acts, acts of terrorism around the globe." Referring to the accusations regarding Mughniyeh's own role in attacks, he said: "You have a pathway of violence from Buenos Aires to Kuwait and a lot of places in between."(AFP) Beirut, 14 Feb 08, 19:56

Israelis Overseas Cautioned Against Possible Hizbullah Attack
INaharnet/srael's anti-terrorist office advised citizens abroad on Thursday to take extra precautions after threats against Israel by Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah.
In general terms, the agency linked to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office told people to be extra alert and to pay attention to suspect situations.
It warned people to "avoid as much as possible frequenting places widely known to be popular with Israelis." It also warned of the "danger that Israelis abroad might be kidnapped, particularly business people having contacts with Arabs and Muslims." In that context, it advised people not to agree to meet people in isolated places. The office said it was issuing the recommendations because of the "spread of threats against Israel" following the assassination of top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh in Damascus on Tuesday and the "increase in terrorist threats by Hizbullah against Israeli targets abroad." Hizbullah has accused the Jewish state of responsibility for Mughniyeh's assassination, something it has denied.(AFP) Beirut, 14 Feb 08, 19:00

Feb. 14 Rally Opens Door to International Pressures
The Feb. 14 mass rally served as a notice to the international and Arab communities that the Cedar Revolution remains alive, which would serve in upgrading support for the non-conditional holding of presidential elections. An-Nahar's Rosana Boumounsef noted that the international and Arab communities "needed" the mass rally on the third anniversary of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination to persist with "investing its political significance in pressures aimed at facilitating the election of Gen. Michel Suleiman president."The majority "proved| Thursday by massing the huge crowd in downtown Beirut irrespective of security pressures and bad weather that claims by the Hizbullah-led opposition regarding its downfall are mere non-factual allegations, she concluded. "Any settlement should be based on this fact," Boumounsef added. Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 14:17

Mughniyeh's Killing May Well Be Costly for Syria
President Bashar al-Assad boasts that Damascus is "the capital of resistance," a claim borne out by the presence here of Hamas leaders and a host of other radical Palestinian groups. But the killing of Imad Mughniyeh, one of America's most-wanted fugitives, in the Syrian capital shows how costly the regime's traditional hospitality toward Arab hard-liners can be. Mughniyeh's presence on Syrian soil was a deep embarrassment to Damascus, fueling U.S. accusations that the country allows extremists of many stripes -- Palestinian militants, Hizbullah operatives and Iraqi insurgents -- to operate freely.
And the fact that someone was able to set off a car bomb Tuesday in an upscale district of the capital to kill Mughniyeh is a blow to the reputation of Syria's feared security services, which are a cornerstone of the regime's autocratic control of the country.
It could also raise questions over the strength of the regime's grip.
Mughniyeh, Hizbullah's one-time security chief, was a terror icon of the 1980s and 1990s, linked to the killings of hundreds of Americans, French, Jews and Israelis in bombings and airline hijackings over two decades. He had dropped almost completely from sight for close to 15 years, but Western intelligence officials say he remained a significant figure in Hizbullah and continued to be a danger.
Syria has long been on Washington's list of states supporting terrorism, and the Bush administration has sought to isolate the Assad regime for its support of Hizbullah fighters and radical Palestinian groups. Its attempts intensified after the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which many in Lebanon blame on Syria.
U.S. President George Bush stepped up pressure on Syria again Wednesday, ordering new sanctions to punish officials in Damascus for alleged efforts to undermine stability in Iraq and meddle in Lebanon's sovereignty and democracy. The order did not specifically name any officials.
Syria's allies Hizbullah and Iran blamed Israel for the assassination, though Damascus has not said who it believes was behind the attack. Mughniyeh presumably had many enemies, and Israel has denied any role. But if the Jewish state was behind the killing, it would be the second time in recent months that Syria's top enemy has been able to strike freely on its territory. In September, Israeli warplanes bombed a target in eastern Syria that Damascus said was a military facility, though some reports contended it could have been a nascent nuclear facility. A Western diplomat based in Damascus said the incident was a double embarrassment for Syria -- "on account of (Mughniyeh) being here and because they could not protect him."
"The Syrian security agencies have a lot of explaining to do as to how a hit like this could be carried out in a city that's remarkably secure," said Jon Alterman, head of the Middle East program at Washington's Center for Strategic and International Studies. "Some in the security services were either caught unaware or are complicit in the killing," he said. The assassination came at a time when Syrian security forces have been cracking down on pro-democracy activists. At least 12 activists have been rounded up in recent weeks, including a former lawmaker suffering from cancer.
Syria has seen violence by Islamic extremists in recent years, with security forces clashing with al-Qaida-inspired militant groups on several occasions. In September 2006, Islamic militants tried to storm the U.S. Embassy in Damascus in an unusually brazen attack in which three assailants and a Syrian guard were killed.
Most of those attacks were linked to Jund al-Sham, an al-Qaida offshoot that was established in Afghanistan. Militants often denounce Assad's secular regime and have at times called for its overthrow. But al-Qaida has not made a concerted effort to act in Syria, not because of the strength of its security services, but because of Damascus' anti-Western stance, according to Syria expert Joshua Landis. "It's not just because the police are good. Syria's been given a pass by al-Qaida and others because of its anti-American position, but Americans and the West don't want to admit that because they don't want to admit that there's a cause and effect," said Landis, director of the Center for Peace Studies at the University of Oklahoma. He also maintains a widely read blog on Syria.
Syria has long been accused of allowing Muslim militants to use its territory to cross into Iraq, where they take part in attacks against U.S. and Iraqi forces. It dominated neighboring Lebanon for three decades until it was forced to withdraw its military in 2005. But Damascus has regained much of its influence, using Hizbullah to stymie Lebanon's U.S.-backed government. Mughniyeh's presence in Damascus will only hurt Syria's image at a time when it has been emerging from its international isolation. European, American and Arab officials have increased their visits to the country after years of avoiding it. But Syria is unlikely to give up its support for militant Palestinian leaders and Hizbullah, a cornerstone of its foreign policy for decades, giving it considerable leverage in the region. Assad was apparently referring to Syria's role as a haven for radical Arab groups when he credited Damascus for the spread of a "culture of rejection to all traces of colonialism, old and new" in an address last month. He branded the city as "the capital of resistance."(AP) Beirut, 15 Feb 08, 08:05

The Targeted Killing of Imad Mugniyeh
By Alan M. Dershowitz
FrontPageMagazine.com | Thursday, February 14, 2008
If Imad Mugniyeh - the Hezbollah terrorist mastermind who was responsible for hundreds if not thousands of murders – was indeed successfully targeted for assassination, his untimely death should be cause for celebration. I say untimely, because if he had been killed years ago, many innocent lives would have been saved.
At the time of this writing, no one can be sure whether Imad Mugniyeh is really dead, whether if he is dead he was killed by a car bomb, and who is responsible for his killing. But his targeting makes the strongest case for the appropriateness of targeted killing of terrorists who are being harbored by states that support terrorism.
Mugniyeh has been indicted by the FBI for the murder of hundreds of Americans. Syria, where he made his home, was unwilling to turn him over to the United States for justice. He continued to engage in terrorism.
The case for targeting him is compelling - legally, morally, religiously, and militarily. By any reasonable definition of that term, he is a combatant who has declared war on the United States, Israel, France and other countries whose citizens he has killed. Although he did not wear a uniform, he was a general in the terrorist war. Under the laws of war any combatant is a proper target, so long as the means used to kill him are “proportional” -- that is, he can be killed without disproportionate harm to non-combatants. When that condition is met, targeted killing is highly preferable to more conventional military means that have been employed over the centuries.
Throughout history, when one nation has been attacked it has been responded by counterattacking the attacking nation. The counterattack often takes the form of military invasion, air attacks and other conventional military means. Inevitably these military attacks cause large numbers of civilian casualties. Targeted killing on the other hand, if done properly, does exactly what its name suggests – it targets a combatant who is involved in ongoing terrorist attacks, and by killing him prevents the death of innocent civilians. Yes it is “extrajudicial” killing, but all military deaths are extrajudicial, as are conventional killings in self-defense and killings of armed felons who are escaping or resisting arrest.
What I am most opposed to are judicial killings, namely the death penalty for people who are already in custody. When a person such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is already in custody, there is an alternative to killing him – namely confining him for life. When a terrorist like Imad Mugniyeh is not in custody and cannot be captured, there is no reasonable alternative to killing him. Targeted assassination is the option of choice. So a hardy three cheers for whomever killed Imad Mugniyeh. It was a good deed, a lawful deed and a life-saving deed.

Hezbollah chief declares 'open war' on Israel at funeral
BEIRUT (AFP) - Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah declared "open war" on Israel in a fiery speech at the funeral in the Lebanese capital on Thursday of a top commander killed in a car bombing he blamed on Israel. "Zionists, if you want this kind of open war, then let the whole world listen: Let this war be open," he said in the speech broadcast on a giant screen at Imad Mughnieh's funeral in the Hezbollah bastion of southern Beirut.
Nasrallah said that by killing Mughnieh in Damascus, Israel had taken its battle with the militant group outside Lebanon's borders and as such it should expect attacks anywhere. "You killed him outside our natural battleground," he said. "Our battleground with you is on Lebanese territory and you have overstepped the border.""The blood of Imad Mughnieh will contribute to the disappearance of the Jewish state," he added.
In Israel, which has welcomed Mughnieh's killing in a car bombing in the Syrian capital late Tuesday but denied involvement, military radio said Nasrallah was now openly threatening Israeli targets abroad. Thousands of Hezbollah supporters, including Iran's Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, were gathered for the funeral of Mughnieh, who was linked to notorious attacks against US and Jewish targets in the 1980s and 1990s.
Mottaki read a message of condolence from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, while Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sent a similar message to Nasrallah. "Dear brother... I congratulate and offer my condolences on this great martyrdom to you, his family, the Hezbollah youth and all Lebanese," Khamenei said. "It should make the Lebanese people proud to have given the world such great men in the fields of seeking freedom and fighting cruelty," he said.
Mughnieh's funeral took place in a packed Hezbollah-complex just as the anti-Syrian ruling majority wound up a mass rally in central Beirut to commemorate the third anniversary of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination. A spokesman for the Shiite Muslim group which heads the opposition in Lebanon said 20,000 people were inside the complex located in the southern suburbs stronghold of Hezbollah. Thousands more were gathered on the streets. Loudspeakers blared music to the glory of the Hezbollah movement that waged a 34-day war against Israel in 2006 and broadcast speeches hailing Mughnieh's accomplishments.
Mughnieh, in his late 40s, was on America's "most wanted list" for a string of attacks against Westerners and Israelis, notably the bombing of the US marine barracks in Beirut in 1983 and the hijacking of a TWA flight in 1985.

Who Killed Hizballah's Terror Master?
By SCOTT MACLEOD/CAIRO AND BRIAN BENNETT/WASHINGTON
Wed Feb 13, 5:10 PM ET
Imad Mughniyah, who was assassinated Tuesday in Syria, was a man of the Middle East's shadows. He was a terrorist mastermind behind political causes. For him, though, it was as much about the fight as the cause. He shunned the light. He never gave public speeches or lectures. He is not known to have given any press interviews, not even to sympathetic or politically aligned journalists. Western reporters who sought the Lebanese Shi'ite group Hizballah's help to arrange a rendezvous were politely but sternly advised not to go there.
So, did the CIA or some other American intelligence agency finally do Mughniyah in? Everyone, including some of his friends, may have had a motive.
U.S. officials told TIME today that Mughniyah had traveled to Iraq to train the Shi'ite warlord Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army. Mughniyah, says one American official, was Hizballah's "chief of external operations" and "considered the key to their military activity." U.S. officials acknowledge that American spy agencies had intensely been tracking Mughniyah the past five years as he moved between Tehran, Baghdad, Damascus and Beirut.
Apart from his ties to Hizballah, Mughniyah was also believed to have worked closely with Iran. A U.S. official confirmed reports that in 2006, Mughniyah accompanied Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on a trip to Syria and met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
In the 1980s, he had been accused of everything from bombing the U.S. embassy and U.S. Marines barracks in Beirut to the kidnappings of American journalists, academics and the Beirut CIA station chief. More recently, some have claimed that Mughniyeh collaborated with Osama bin Laden. After al-Qaeda's top guns, Mughniyah has the highest price on his head of any terrorist wanted by the FBI - $5 million.
Hizballah immediately blamed Israel for Mughniyah's assassination in Damascus, Syria, Tuesday night. Israel's Mossad spy agency is a reasonable suspect, given Israel's determination to bring him to justice for his alleged involvement in the 1990s bombings in Argentina of the Israeli embassy and a Jewish cultural center. Israeli intelligence has a good history of eliminating terrorist masterminds, even when they are located in unfriendly Arab capitals.
A U.S. official told TIME that Mughniyah had been linked to the 2002 discovery of 50 tons of weapons by Israeli Navy commandos who intercepted a freighter called Karine A in the Red Sea. More recently, said the U.S. official, Mughniyah was connected to the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers that led to the July 2006 invasion of Lebanon.
The Israeli Prime Minister's office issued a statement denying any involvement in Mughniyah's killing. A senior ex-intelligence official told TIME: "The Americans wanted him, so did the Saudis and the Lebanese Christians. We weren't the only ones." Still, the former official, who asked not to be identified, has been hunting Mughniyah for over 20 years and described him as "a fanatical killer." "It was as if a big stone had been removed from my heart," he said.
In the John Le Carre world of Middle East terrorism and politics, however, it's impossible to rule out the wildest of conspiracy theories, including that Mughniyah's friends in Syria or Iran may have found his continued existence to be an inconvenience. Or, they may have believed it was politically useful to demonstrate that they can be relied on to control terrorism in the Middle East - as long as the U.S. doesn't try to go after the regimes in Damascus or Tehran. With reporting by Aaron J. Klein/Jerusalem

A sea of people under rain mark Hariri murder
Thursday, 14 February, 2008
Beirut - One million Lebanese participated in a huge demonstration Thursday in the martyr square in central Beirut to mark the third anniversary of the assassination of Lebanon’s former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri,
according to the organizers of this annual event
It was like a sea of people determined to express their outrage once again against the assassination of their beloved Prime minister .
They all waived the Lebanese flags and posters .
The rally was supposed to start around 10 AM but thousands showed up hours earlier .
The Lebanese army was ready. Over 800 thousands troops were deployed for this event to maintain law and order .
At 12:55 which is the exact time of the explosion that killed Hariri, church bells tolled and mosque minarets blared Allah Akbar chants.
The pouring rain didn’t deter them from coming from all over Lebanon to the Martyr square.
All shouted :
No to your tents.
No to your threats.
We want a President for the republic
The tents are in reference to the Hezbollah tent city occupying downtown Beirut in an effort to topple the government .
The threats are in reference to the continued threats by opposition against the ruling majority .
Lebanon has been without a president since November 23 , when the pro-Syrian president stepped down at the end of his term
The leaders of the March 14 ruling majority were all there but arrived at different times
The first to arrive was Democratic gathering leader MP Walid Jumblatt , followed by parliament majority leader Saad Hariri who was followed by former president Amin Gemayel . The last to arrive was leader of the Lebanese Forces Dr. Samir Geagea .
Geagea told the participants : We used to say the ( Hariri International ) tribunal is coming. We now say the court came. No to your tents and threats. We won’t allow the presidential seat to be your captive. You people tell them that we will resist them until our last victory.
Gemayel said : Our gathering today sends a message to everyone that we will liberate downtown Beirut and return the Lebanese capital to its people.
Jumblatt said : March 14 Forces’ blood and the blood of the revolutionaries will nail down all nonbelievers anywhere they were - be they in their palaces, squares or caves.
Minister Naila Mouawad said : We were born free and we will die free. We won’t allow Lebanon’s destiny to be linked to the Syrian regime.
MP Bassem al-Sabaa said : Downtown Beirut’s occupation by the opposition is a crime against Lebanon.
Hariri said : "The truth is that Lebanon is being assassinated . It all started with the attempt to assassinate Minister Marwan Hamadeh . They tried to assassinate May Chidiac , they tried to use terrorists to assassinate the army in Nahr el-Bared , they have assassinated many leaders of the parliamentary majority and are still attempting to assassinate the government of prime minister Fouad Siniora . They are trying to assassinate the presidency of the republic by forcing the void in Baabda, they are trying to assassinate the conscious of Lebanon by attacking the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir and are trying to assassinate the Arab peace initiative “
Beirut's Martyr's square. Hundreds of of thousands Lebanese converged on central Beirut for the third anniversary of the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime minister Rafiq Hariri
The pouring rain didn’t deter them from coming from all over Lebanon to the Martyr square. Transportation was not a problem as you can tell from this picture . These people came all the way from Tripoli 

SENATOR LIEBERMAN ON IRAN
Wehrkunde conference on security policy in Munich, February 9
IRAN UPATE
February 14, 2008
“...Iran’s nuclear program is not only a threat in itself. It is also the front line of our global battle to stop the spread of nuclear weapons. If we do not work together to get Iran right, a great deal else in the world is likely to go very wrong.... Although the [National Intelligence Estimate] reported that Iran’s covert work on bomb design may have been temporarily suspended in 2003, it also said – far more importantly – that Iran’s overt work on enrichment continues apace. Indeed, it is that now-overt enrichment program, which began as a covert program carried out by Iran in violation of both its NPT obligations and its safeguards agreement with the IAEA, that will allow Iran to obtain the fissile material that remains the greatest hurdle to developing nuclear weapons...
“The release of the NIE prompted some to speculate that international efforts to prevent Iran’s nuclearization would collapse, but thankfully they have not... Even now as we work to ensure the adoption of a third round of Security Council sanctions, we must also look ahead to what other steps we can take together that will reduce this threat. I would suggest that we consider action in three areas.
“First, we must ensure that the resolutions that the UN has imposed are actually upheld. Under the current sanctions regime, countries are responsible for monitoring and reporting on their own behavior. This is an inherently inadequate arrangement, since many governments lack the technical capacity to ensure compliance, while others – in all frankness – lack the political will to do so. The Security Council has in the past authorized the creation of independent committees to ensure that its resolutions are being properly monitored and implemented... There is an urgent need now to create a similar special committee to monitor the sanctions we have adopted, and will adopt, against Iran.
“Second, all of our nations have a responsibility to abide by not only the letter, but the spirit, of the Security Council resolutions, and to do everything in our power to ensure that they succeed in their purpose – which is convincing Iran to suspend its enrichment activities. For this reason, the French and British governments have recently proposed that the European Union should expand its own set of targeted sanctions against Iran, above and beyond those which have been authorized by the Security Council. It would be very effective and significant for the EU to do this – and for other responsible stakeholders in the international system, including our allies in East Asia and the Middle East, to follow Europe’s lead... The power to prevent war with Iran lies disproportionately with those who have the greatest economic leverage over Iran. They have a responsibility to use it, and soon.
“Third, even as we continue to strengthen the ad hoc sanctions regime specifically designed to pressure Iran, we must also develop country-neutral rules that would spell out, in advance, the punitive steps to be taken against any country that abuses its obligations under the NPT as the Iranians have done – a kind of universal criminal code for nuclear proliferators. If a government is caught abusing the privileges of the NPT or exploiting safeguards loopholes, it should be made to forfeit at least temporarily some of the rights enjoyed by other NPT signatories that have respected the terms of the treaty. At a minimum, any such country should be required to dismantle or surrender all nuclear materials and equipment that it acquired covertly. We might also consider a country-neutral rule that would require any such violator to submit to intrusive, wide-area inspections for at least a decade and prohibit it from enrichment, reprocessing, or nuclear related exports during this time...
“Finally, let’s recognize that the international community is also concerned about Iran’s nuclear activities and intentions because of the way the Iranian regime conducts itself, in both its repressive treatment of its own people and its rogue behavior on the world stage. It is time to consider ways to reform the rules of our global nonproliferation system so that they can both reinforce, and be reinforced by, other international norms that we have a vital collective interest in – such as the promotion of human rights and the protection of the rule of law, and the prevention of genocide and terrorism. Given the uniquely terrible destructive power of nuclear weapons, we should take uniquely powerful precautions to prevent their acquisition by any regime whose leaders have openly called for the destruction of another sovereign state, or that has a long-established and well-documented track record of arming and supporting terrorist groups, or of brutally suppressing the human rights of its citizens – all of which the current regime in Iran has done...”
**www.committeeonthepresentdanger.org. P.O. Box 33249, Washington DC 20003-3249
**Contact: Larry Haas, larry@larryhaasonline.com. 202 257-9592

Terror expert: Assassination strong message to Syria
Researcher says Damascus deliberately chosen as site for assassination of Hizbullah military commander Mugniyah. Another expert says finding suitable replacement for terror chief to take long time
Roni Gal Published: 02.14.08, 19:04 / Israel News
Syria was not chosen at random to be the site of Hizbullah military commander Imad Mugniyah assassination, Lt. Colonel (Res.) Moshe Marzouk, senior research fellow at the Institute for Counter-Terrorism said Thursday.
“The time, place and manner in which Mugniyah was assassinated sends a very clear message to Syria, a country which harbors and aids terrorist organizations and stands behind many terror attacks, yet denies that it does so,” Marzouk said.
Syria Operation
Arch-terrorist Imad Mugniyah killed in blast / News agencies
Senior Hizbullah military leader believed to be the mastermind behind attacks against Jewish center in Buenos Aires in 1994 and US military barracks in Beirut in 1983 killed in mysterious blast in Damascus. Hizbullah blames Israel for assassination, Israel denies involvement
Marzouk stated that he "congratulates whoever carried out this assassination,” and noted that Syria was chosen as the site for Mugniyah’s assassinations as this “links Syria intimately to this arch-terrorist. The way Mugniyah died clearly illustrates the path that both he and Syria chose, and which came back to strike at them both like a boomerang right in the heary of Damascus.”
While Syria tires to portray itself to the world as a peace-loving, stable country, Marzouk believes that its actions speak otherwise. “Syria is part and parcel of the axis of evil. It doesn’t only aid and harbor terror cells and organizations, but also helps them launch attacks on Israel, Jordan and even Iraq.”
Marzouk further noted that “Syria allies itself with the most extremist of terror groups, clearly indicating that it does not seek peace or co-existence. These terror groups seek the annihilation of the State of Israel, and will never acknowledge its right to exist.”
'Syria leery of direct confrontation'
Professor Eyal Zisser, Director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies at Tel-Aviv University, said Thursday that he believes that although Syria is now licking its wounds, it will lie low for the time being in order to avoid armed confrontation. However, Zisser also noted that Damascus will most likely continue aiding various terror groups and organizations.
“Syrian President Bashar al-Assad still maintains that official Syrian policy is not to aid or support terror, and so the fact that Mugniyah was assassinated in Damascus is a marked source of embarrassment,” said Zisser. “Assad could easily stop aiding and abetting these terror organizations, but right now it serves his interests.”
Zisser also noted that Syria has been supporting and harboring terror for over 40 years now in order to serve its political interests. “Syria is cool, calculated and very leery of direct confrontation,” he said, “and so it contends indirectly with its enemies by supporting, aiding and abetting these terror groups. Only when Syria is forced to pay the price for its actions does it recoil and retreat.”
‘Assassination likely prevented future attacks'
Chairman of the Council for Peace and Security, Maj. General (Ret.) Danny Rothschild, spoke to Ynet about the repercussions of Mugniyah’s assassination.
“This assassination likely prevented many future terror attacks, and ‘quality’ attacks at that,” said Rothschild, also noting that there is likely to be retaliation for Mugniyah’s assassination.
“There are two levels of retaliation at play here,” said Rothschild. “People are probably already on the phone to operatives to carry out small scale attacks as soon as possible. As for larger scale, ‘quality’ attacks, these take more time and planning, and will likely be carried out abroad.”
As for a successor to Mugniyah, Rothschild believes that the Hizbullah commander will be replaced “but no successor can function at his level of expertise. It will take them (Hizbullah) a long time to find someone who can plan and carry out ‘quality’ attacks of Mugniyah’s caliber.”
Rothschild further noted that “seeing as Hizbullah believes that Israel carried out this attack, it creates some sort of deterrence as far as we are concerned, and also with respect to Hamas. After all if Israel can pull off an operation like that in Damascus, it can carry out these types of assassinations anywhere.”

Hizballah Mourns Its Shadowy Hero
By: NICHOLAS BLANFORD
It took the assassination of Imad Mughniyah for the world to finally get a glimpse of what this most elusive and ruthless of Islamic militants actually looked like. He lived in the shadows of Middle Eastern violence his entire adult life, allegedly altering his features through plastic surgery, travelling on an Iranian diplomatic passport on unscheduled flights and never giving interviews or releasing video-taped statements. The only pictures of Mughniyah, 45, publicly available were a few grainy black and white snaps from the 1980s, portraying a serious, sallow-faced young man with a black pointed beard.
Hours after announcing his death in a car bomb blast in a Damascus suburb, the Shi'ite Hizballah organization's television channel, Al Manar, broadcast a more recent picture of Mughniyah. It showed a plump, middle-aged man wearing combat fatigues and a forage cap and sporting a thick beard streaked with grey. His wire-framed spectacles gave him a benign, almost professorial, look, belying the fact that Mughniyah stood accused of killing more Americans than any other militant before the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Indeed, before Osama bin Laden, there was Imad Mughniyah. And his death is a serious blow to Hizballah.
The Shi'ite organization rarely talked in public about Mughniyah and his alleged exploits from the 1980s. Sheikh Sobhi Tufayli, a founder of Hizballah who led the organization between 1989 and 1991, once told me that Mughniyah was innocent of the charges leveled against him by the U.S. "He had nothing to do with it," the gruff cleric said, then added "Besides do you think I would tell you if he did?"
In a July 2003 interview, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the current Hizballah leader, told me that the U.S. accusations against Mughniyah were "just accusations." "Can they provide evidence to condemn Mughniyah?" he asked. But he added "Hajj Imad is among the best freedom fighters in the Lebanese arena. He had a very important role during the occupation [of southern Lebanon by Israel]. But as for his relationship with Hizballah, we maintain the tradition of not discussing names."
It's true that the long international hunt for Mughniyah threw up many accusations about his misdeeds in the 1980s, but not much evidence has been produced to back them. Although he is alleged to have masterminded the suicide bomb spectaculars against U.S. targets in Lebanon in the mid-1980s and run the Beirut kidnapping networks that took dozens of foreigners hostage, the only crime for which he has been indicted by the U.S. is the hijacking of a TWA airliner in 1985 in which a U.S. navy diver was killed.
Indeed, such was Mughniyah's mythical status that sometimes it was not always certain if he really existed at all. "I sometimes would ask myself if Mughniyah was a real person or a figment of imagination," said Magnus Ranstorp, a Hizballah specialist at the Swedish National Defense College in Stockholm who has traced Mughniyah's activities for years. "But the intelligence agencies I was in contact with were under no illusions. He was the real deal."
Still, despite the scenes of mourning in Lebanese Shi'ite circles that has greeted Mughniyah's death, his high profile earned the irritation of some grassroots Hizballah fighters busy battling Israeli occupation troops in south Lebanon in the 1990s. "They talk about Imad Mughniyah, but what did he do?" a Hizballah fighter once grumbled to me. "They suspect him of kidnapping American journalists, blowing up the French paratroops and the U.S. embassy. But things we did in the south [fighting Israeli troops] were militarily worth a hundred times more than what they claim Mughniyah did. Kidnapping is the easiest thing in the world. The CIA is crazy."
During the chaotic days of the 1980s, Mughniyah was able to travel with relative ease around the Middle East and even in Europe. In the mid-1980s, the CIA cut a deal with Lebanese military intelligence to fund a sophisticated listening post in the Lebanese mountains that could eavesdrop on conversations throughout the Middle East and was staffed by fluent Hebrew, French and Farsi speakers. In exchange, Lebanese intelligence was obliged to pass on any information gleaned about the kidnappers of Westerners. In 1986, Lebanese intelligence used a voice frequency sample to trace Mughniyah to a hotel in Paris. A former Lebanese officer involved in the operation told TIME that French intelligence agents met Mughniyah in his hotel room, but did not arrest him.
According to Ranstorp, from the early 1990s, Mughniyah was "extraordinarily cautious," in covering his trail, dividing his time mainly between Beirut and Tehran where he moved with his family in 1990. Damascus, therefore, seems an unlikely location for Mughniyah's enemies to catch up with him. "I always thought they would get him in Beirut, so what does it mean that he was killed in Damascus?" asked Robert Baer, a former CIA officer who tracked Mughniyah in 1980s Beirut and is also TIME's intelligence analyst.
Hizballah has blamed Israel, and the organization's expected retaliation will likely aim in that direction. But could the $5 million price tag for Mughniyah's head have proved too tempting for a member of the Syrian regime? Or was it a favor by Damascus to the U.S. in exchange for an easing of international pressure?
The recent history of the Middle East is littered with unsolved assassinations. And perhaps that is for the best. Sometimes the truth can be more dangerous than the crime itself.

Justice Served: Killing Mughniyah
By: Robert Baer
Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008
There are two ways to look at today's assassination of Hizballah's most notorious terrorist, Imad Fa'iz Mughniyah. In this country it will be one of rendering justice, one less terrorist, a turn on the war in terror.
There was an outstanding American arrest warrant for Mughniyah, for the murder of a Navy diver in 1985. The diver was a passenger on TWA 847, which was diverted to Beirut. Mughniyah personally ordered the diver's murder. And, unlike other cases where Mughniyah's role was shadowy, there is solid evidence for his presence in the hijacking; his fingerprints were found on the airplane.
Mughniyah also was the mastermind of several other savage hijackings and the taking of Western hostages, including a former colleague, CIA station chief Bill Buckley. All of these attacks were carried out at the behest of Iran.
The mainstream press has reported that Mughniyah truck bombed the Marines and two American embassies in Beirut in the 1980s, as well as being behind two bombings against Israeli and Jewish targets in Argentina. Whether he was responsible or not for all of this mayhem — there is no conclusive evidence he was — no one is going to shed a tear in this country, in Israel, or the West for his passing.
I myself spent fifteen years tracking Mughniyah. At one point I was offered the opportunity to car bomb a house he was spending the night in. It was illegal for the CIA to conduct assassinations and I, of course, declined. But the United States and Israel have spared no effort to arrest Mughniyah. He avoided capture because, as it is widely recognized in Western intelligence circles, he was the world's most elusive and capable terrorist — and arguably more dangerous than Osama bin Ladin. The Israelis were currently after Mughniyah because he had been training and arming Hamas.
There had been reports that Mughniyah slipped into Iraq after the 2003 invasion, presumably to organize Iraqi Hizballah cells. Today, U.S. officials told TIME he had been training Moqtada al-Sadr's Mahdi Army in Iraq. Hizballah certainly has made no secret about its intention to help the Iraqi Shi'a.
His death will provide us with a sense of closure, particularly the family of the Navy bomber. But it also augurs more violence to come. It is unlikely we'll ever find out who killed Mughniyah, but the fact that the list of suspects is so long in itself is a bad sign. The group with the most to gain are the anti-Syrian factions in Lebanon — the Sunnis, Druze, and anti-Syrian Christians. By assassinating Mughniyah in Damascus, they grievously embarrassed Bashar al-Asad, underscoring what many Lebanese do not want us to forget: Syria harbors terrorists. The fact that Mughniyah was killed on the eve of the anniversary of the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq Hariri is probably not a coincidence.
It is unclear exactly what could set off violence in Syria. But it should be kept in mind that Hizballah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah was extremely close to Mughniyah. As Lebanon boils, Nasrallah will be sorely tempted to take revenge, whether it's against anti-Syrian Lebanese leaders, Israel, or even the United States.
**Robert Baer, a former CIA field officer assigned to the Middle East, is TIME.com's intelligence columnist and the author of See No Evil and, most recently, the novel Blow the House Down

Let Beirut Burn, They Say ...Lebanon's Warmongers
By RANNIE AMIRI
February 14, 2008
http://www.counterpunch.org/amiri02142008.html
"If you think we are going to sit with our hands tied, then perhaps we would have to burn everything. If you want chaos, then we welcome chaos. If you want war, then we welcome war. We have no problem with weapons or with rockets which we will launch on you."
- MP Walid Jumblatt, Progressive Socialist Party leader in Lebanon's ruling March 14 Coalition, in comments directed at the opposition prior to this week's commemoration ceremonies in Beirut.
February 14th, 2008 marks the third anniversary of the assassination of the late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Since his death, the country has witnessed political, military and social upheaval. Recent statements by Walid Jumblatt and parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri in the days prior to the commemoration of this tragic and seminal event have exposed Lebanon's deep wounds. Indeed, they have nearly been tantamount to declarations of war; partly as an attempt to provoke the opposition into one and partly out of frustration from failing to have done so.
A brief recap of what has transpired in Lebanon since the 2005 Hariri assassination:
The withdrawal of Syrian troops after a 29-year presence; a continued string of high-profile political assassinations; the 2006 Israeli invasion resulting in over 1000 civilian casualties and a humanitarian crisis from one million displaced persons and widespread destruction of the country's infrastructure; the resignation of five Shiite ministers from Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's cabinet, paralyzing the government and clearly delineating the line between the opposition (led by Hezbollah, Amal, and The Free Patriotic Movement) and the March 14 Coalition (led by Hariri's Future Movement, the PSP and the Lebanese Forces among others); intermittent yet foreboding Sunni-Shia street violence; fighting between the Lebanese Army and the imported militants of Fatah al-Islam in the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared; the continued vacancy of the post of president after 14 postponed parliamentary sessions, and most recently, riots over electricity and water cuts to Beirut's southern suburbs.
Previously discussed has been the evidence presented by Seymour Hersh, one of the United States most respected investigative journalists, regarding the Bush administration's strategy of cooperating with friendly Arab dictatorships to supply and arm Sunni radicals-including those affiliated with al-Qaeda-to act as force against Hezbollah. Directly implicated in bringing these groups into Lebanon vis-à-vis Palestinian refugee camps were Saad Hariri and Prime Minister Siniora.
But we know this occurred only after the Israelis failed to crush Hezbollah themselves in 2006. New facts, however, have brought to light the truly treacherous nature of this government even then.
Al-Manar reports that the respected Israeli political analyst Emmanuel Rosen disclosed that a "well informed political source" admitted to him the Olmert government "received a letter from the Lebanese government in the last 24 hours of the war asking them not to stop the war before Hezbollah was crushed, adding that it is extremely preferable to liquid Nasrallah."
Ha'aretz correspondent Avi Issacharoff, in his book Spider Webs - The Story of the Second Lebanon War (to be published in the United States as 34 Days: Israel, Hezbollah and the War In Lebanon) says:
"For the first time, we revealthat moderate Arab states and the people close to the Lebanese government have conveyed messages to the Israeli government via different sides demanding Israel continue the war until Hezbollah was completely crushed."
Of course, that didn't happen. But the deaths of thousands of Lebanese, a second Qana massacre and the littering of southern Lebanon with cluster bombs did. Whereas many rightly place the blame for this carnage squarely on the Israelis, it now seems they had partners in Lebanon encouraging their crimes.
With the failure of the 2006 war to achieve its objective, the implosion of the deal with the radicals of Fatah al-Islam, and the unwavering demand of the opposition for veto power in the cabinet, the belligerent tone adopted by the majority continues to ratchet upward as Jumblatt's comments illustrate. Saad Hariri himself said: "If confrontation is our destiny, then we stand ready."
When all of these facts are brought to the forefront, the duplicity of Lebanon's government becomes truly remarkable. They seek to convince us of being the victims, yet they suffered the least and complained the most about the war. The people of southern Lebanon and Beirut on the other hand, who suffered the most from the Israeli onslaught, complained the least, even when left homeless. A third of the cabinet positions, in order to exercise some measure of restraint on those cutting deals with the United States and Israel-against them no less-is their only demand.
Plainly stated, Lebanon's March 14 Coalition is the War Party and Siniora, Hariri, Jumblatt, Geagea and Gemayal its foot soldiers. They have the support of the War Party in the United States and forged an alliance with Israel (every government of which constitutes a War Party) against their own people.
What Jumblatt and Hariri have threatened to do, in no uncertain terms, is to bring the house down if the opposition does not yield. The only obstacle standing between them and the disaster they wish to precipitate is the resilience and patience of a people who have already withstood the mightiest military in the Middle East. Twice.
The challenge facing these people now will not be a military one but rather to keep a peace their own government has shown no interest in preserving.
**Rannie Amiri is an independent commentator on the Arab and Islamic worlds. He may be reached at: rbamiri@yahoo.com.

Gotcha!
By Jamie Glazov
FrontPageMagazine.com
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Frontpage Interview’s guest today is Kenneth R. Timmerman, the New York Times bestselling author of Countdown to Crisis, The French Betrayal of America, Preachers of Hate: Islam and the War on America, and Death Lobby: How the West Armed Iraq. In 2006 he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for his groundbreaking reporting on Iran ’s nuclear weapons program. He is the author of the new book, Shadow Warriors: The Untold Story of Traitors, Saboteurs, and the Party of Surrender.
FP: Kenneth R. Timmerman, welcome to Frontpage Interview.
Timmerman: It’s my pleasure, Jamie.
FP: Thank you for joining us today to discuss the assassination of Imad Mugniyeh, one of the most wanted terrorists in the world, in Damascus on Tuesday. Give us the background on this guy. Aside from al Qaeda, no one else surpasses him in responsibility for American deaths right?
Timmerman: That’s right. Before 9/11, Mugniyeh was the world’s most wanted terrorist, for the simple reason that he had killed more Americans than anyone else. The CIA has said he was behind the April 1983 bombing of the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 63 people. Later that year, he orchestrated the bombing of a U.S. military barracks in Beirut that killed 241 U.S. Marines. The very next year, he kidnapped, tortured, and murdered the CIA station chief in Beirut, William Buckley, and carried out another attack on the U.S. embassy in Beirut. In 1985, he hijacked TWA flight 847 in a famous standoff in Beirut, where he and his accomplices brutally murdered U.S. Navy diver Robbie Stethem and threw his body out onto the tarmac. He kidnapped reporter Terry Anderson and others in Lebanon, then moved to Argentina in the 1990s, car-bombing the Israeli embassy there in 1992 and the AMIA Jewish center in 1994. And that’s just his more famous attacks.
FP: How would you categorize this man?
Timmerman: He is a serial killer. One of my sources, a former Iranian intelligence officer who knew Mugniyeh, told me that he just liked the smell of blood. For the Muslim feast of Aid al-Fitr, Mugniyeh used to personally slaughter the lamb his family would eat, smearing himself and his children with the blood. I tell all of these stories and more in my 2005 book, Countdown to Crisis: the Coming Nuclear Showdown with Iran.
FP: Sure enough, for the jihadists, as with leftist revolutionaries, it is only blood that can redeem the earth.
So who do you think is responsible for Mugniyeh’s killing? What is their motive?
Timmerman: The list of Mugniyeh’s enemies is long. Hezbollah, of course, has accused the Israelis. It won’t be long before they accuse us, too. One of my sources who grew up with Mugniyeh and remains close to his family in Lebanon, told me yesterday morning that Hezbollah surveillance teams picked up the arrival at Beirut airport of an 8-man U.S. paramilitary team just two days before Mugniyeh was killed.
I saw a report just yesterday suggesting that the Rev. Guards lured Mugniyeh into a trap into Damascus, to make sure that he never revealed the extent of his involvement with al Qaeda in the 9//11 plot. This was a secret the Iranians would have liked to ensure that Mugniyeh carried to his grave.
I’ve got news for them, though: the word is out. Just take a look at pages 240-241 of the 9/11 commission report, which describes in elusive terms the travel of eight to ten of the “muscle” hijackers in and out of Iran in the company of a “senior Hezbollah operative.” That operative was none other than Imad Mugniyeh.
FP: In other words, you are saying that Mugniyeh was involved with the 9/11 terror attack and so was Iran - and the Iranians might have very well killed him so that the full extent of their own involvement would not become known.
Timmerman: There is absolutely no doubt that Mugniyeh and his masters in Iran were directly and materially involved in the 9/11 plot.
First, there is the evidence discovered very late in the day by the 9/11 Commission, which I describe in detail in Countdown to Crisis. What is astonishing is that this information has not been widely publicized. I spoke again just yesterday with one of the top investigators involved in reviewing the highly-classified U.S. intelligence reports on Mugniyeh’s involvement in convoying 9/11 hijackers in and out of Iran prior to 9/11. He was astonished when I told him that few people were yet aware of this. “That’s like saying you didn’t know that Jesse James was a crook,” he said.
The Iranians were TERRIFIED on the day of 9/11 and for the next month that the United States would “connect the dots” and discover their involvement to the 9/11 plot, as I reported in Countdown to Crisis.
Senior Iranian government officials were making desperate phone calls to relatives in the United States, asking them to rent apartments for family members so they could get out of Tehran before what they assumed would be a massive retaliatory U.S. military strike.
Of course, as we know now, that U.S. retaliatory strike never occurred – because the CIA and other U.S. government agencies succeeded in burying the information they had collected (or the case of our technical agencies, that they had siphoned up).
I believe when Americans realize the full extent of the Iranian government involvement in the 9/11 plot, they will demand action from their president – no matter what party affiliation that president may have.
FP: The French and the Saudis, who are supposed to be our “allies,” are known for having not cooperated in key instances of catching this terrorist, right?
Timmerman: Correct. Mugniyeh was photographed arriving at Orly airport in 1985 a few months after the FBI had identified his fingerprints in the rear lavatory of TWA 847, the plane he had hijacked to Beirut. They asked the French to arrest him, but the French government refused, fearing Hezbollah retaliation in the way of bombs in the streets of Paris – not an unreasonable fear, by the way. (I lived in Paris at the time and Hezbollah did this kind of thing periodically).
To their credit, the French leaked the photographs they took of Mugniyeh to the news media – actually, to me. I distributed them internationally through my newsletter, Middle East Defense News (MEDNEWS). Those photos are in the appendix of my book, and also can be found in nearly every publication that has ever run a photo of Mugniyeh.
In 1995, the CIA got word that Mugniyeh was flying into Saudi Arabia and asked the Saudi government to detain him on the ground. Again, fearful of retaliation, the Saudis told the captain he couldn’t land. In 1996, a similar incident happened in Qatar: hot intelligence, transmitted to the local authorities – then nothing.
FP: What ramifications does this assassination have for Hezbollah? For Lebanon? For the terror war in general? There will be retaliation won’t there?
Timmerman: Hezbollah is no longer a small gang of bang-men and two-bit thugs, but a world class terror operation with extraordinarily good intelligence, state-of-the-art communications, and networks spanning the globe. Hezbollah always retaliates when one of their men gets whacked. And with the exception of their top leader, Hassan Nasrallah, no one was more important than Mugniyeh to their organization.
One of my sources, who is close to the top Hezbollah leadership, told me recently that Mugniyeh won the personal loyalty of Hezbollah fighters and the leadership in the early 1990s when he almost single-handedly financed Hezbollah’s operations through drug-smuggling in the tri-state border zone in South America. When Hezbollah would send their fighters to train in Revolutionary Guards camps in Iran, it was Mugniyeh who personally shook their hands and congratulated them on graduation day.
Today, February 14, is the third anniversary of the assassination of Lebanese prime minister Rafic Hariri, and his supporters are planning a huge demonstration in Beirut. Hezbollah is also planning a huge demonstration, to bury Mugniyeh. The possibility that the two groups could clash is very great. Just the morning of Mugniyeh’s death, a leader of the anti-Syrian coalition, Walid Jumblatt, warned Hezbollah that the coalition would disarm Hezbollah. “If you want war, then we’ll have war,” he said. Things are not going well in Lebanon, and this has just turned up the heat on a pressure-cooker already about to explode.
FP: This is a great day of celebration and joy for Americans, Israelis and all those on the side of freedom, right?
Timmerman: Without any doubt. State Department spokesman Sean Mccormack said it nicely on Wednesday. "The world is a better place without this man in it. One way or the other he was brought to justice." Other U.S. government officials have made similar comments. This is a man who prided himself on never carrying out two terrorist operations that were identical to each other.
Over the years I have gotten to know a number of former Iranian intelligence operatives, and people within Hezbollah and elsewhere who knew him personally. This is a man so utterly evil, and yet so thoroughly respected within his tiny community of evil minds, that I felt I should try to bring him alive as a fictional character, which I did in my recent thriller, Honor Killing, which tells the story of an Iranian plot to bring a nuclear weapon into the United States.
FP: Ken Timmerman, thank you for joining us.
Timmerman: Thank you Jamie.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Jamie Glazov is Frontpage Magazine's managing editor. He holds a Ph.D. in History with a specialty in U.S. and Canadian foreign policy. He edited and wrote the introduction to David Horowitz’s Left Illusions. He is also the co-editor (with David Horowitz) of The Hate America Left and the author of Canadian Policy Toward Khrushchev’s Soviet Union (McGill-Queens University Press, 2002) and 15 Tips on How to be a Good Leftist. To see his previous symposiums, interviews and articles Click Here. Email him at jglazov@rogers.com.