LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 28/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 4,12-23. When he heard that John had been arrested, he withdrew to Galilee. He left Nazareth and went to live in Capernaum by the sea, in the region of Zebulun and Naphtali, that what had been said through Isaiah the prophet might be fulfilled: Land of Zebulun and land of Naphtali, the way to the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles, the people who sit in darkness have seen a great light, on those dwelling in a land overshadowed by death light has arisen." From that time on, Jesus began to preach and say, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand."As he was walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon who is called Peter, and his brother Andrew, casting a net into the sea; they were fishermen. He said to them, "Come after me, and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him. He walked along from there and saw two other brothers, James, the son of Zebedee, and his brother John. They were in a boat, with their father Zebedee, mending their nets. He called them, and immediately they left their boat and their father and followed him. He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Striking at the head. By MARTIN VENGADESAN. January 27/08
Assassination Politics/Arab News -27 January/08
Lebanon: Hezbollah and the Jan. 25 Bombing. Written by Stratfor. January 27/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 27/08
Lebanon's Amal movement calls protestors off the streets-Earthtimes
Lebanon power cut protest leaves one dead (2nd Lead)-Monsters and Critics.com
Rifi: Police Arrested 3 Suspects in Eid's Murder, Car was Packed with 75 kg of Explosives-Naharnet
Ban Thanks Prodi for Helping Lebanon-Naharnet
Jumblat Warns Arabs against standing Crippled before Assad, Ahmadinejad-Naharnet
Lebanon Braces for Cairo Meeting, Moussa Report Urges Arabs to Resolve Crisis-Naharnet
Lebanon & Gaza in dangerous situation-Arab Times
Bush: Beirut Bombing is Part of Attack on Lebanese Institutions-Naharnet
Mussa to urge Arab states to do more for Lebanon-Focus News
Lebanon situation volatile: Kuwait-Kuwait Times
Lebanon holds memorial service for slain police officer-AP
Lebanon vows to fight 'empire of terror' after killings-AFP
Tears, Wrath and Calls for Vengeance Mark Funeral of Slain Police Counter-Terrorism Officer-Naharnet
Police Martyrs Honored, Decorated-Naharnet
Mufti Jouzou Blames Opposition for 'Every Drop of Blood'-Naharnet
Sfeir Sounds the Alarm: Programmed Destruction of Lebanon Underway-Naharnet
Arabs to Confront Opposition-Naharnet
Programmed Destruction of Lebanon Underway: Patriarch-AINA
Wahab: Opposition Capable of 'Decisive' Action-Naharnet
Majority Parliamentary Team Heads to Cairo-Naharnet

The World Council of the Cedars Revolution
Representing the hopes and aspirations of many millions of Lebanese in Lebanon and throughout the Diaspora
2300 M Street, NW, Suite 800 , Washington , DC , USA 20037
Phone + 1 202 416 1819, Fax + 1 202 293 3083
www.cedarsrevolution.org
cedarsrevolution@gmail.com
Press release
Office of Counter Terrorism
Riots by Hezbollah and the Syrian-Iranian war room to paralyze Lebanon's institutions
Beirut, Cedarsnews, Jan 27, 2008
The Office of Counter Terrorism (OCT) of the WCCR, which monitors the Terror activities against the Cedars Revolution, Lebanon's civil society and the democratically elected Government in Lebanon has issued the following bulletin:
The incidents taking place in Beirut's suburbs as of Sunday afternoon (local time) are an attempt by Hezbollah and the Syrian-Iranian war room to paralyze Lebanon's institutions and break down communications inside the country. The ultimate objective of these incidents is to seize power in Lebanon and establish a Terror regime. Following are our observations:
1) Hezbollah and its various allies in southern Beirut, including Amal Movement have deployed in the neighborhoods of Shiyah and on the roofs of many buildings with weapons and sniper rifles as of Saturday evening. They have sent crowds of militants into the streets after having inserted armed elements among them. The so- called "protests" were manipulated by the Terror militia and were organized as Urban uprising.
2) The propaganda room of Hezbollah and its allies is disseminating a language to the Lebanese, Arab and international media, via their networks and operatives funded by Iranian Petro dollars to portray the events as "protests because of lack of electricity." The areas Hezbollah's militants are coming from have the same ratio of electricity than other areas in the capital. In addition Iranian-funded Hezbollah has enough generators to sustain electrical power for months. Some media, manipulated by Hezbollah propagandists, are using the terminology disseminated by the Iranian militia such as "protesters," and "opposition". The forces now operating in the southern suburbs are part of the Hezbollah highly trained militia. They have began firing at the Lebanese Army units and at civilians in these area.
3) These aggressions against the Lebanese Army and civilians are part of the Terror war waged by the Syrian-Iranian axis and Hezbollah for months. They came after the assassination of a number of members of Parliament, Brigadier General Hajj of the Lebanese Army and Commander Eid of the Lebanese Police. The Office of Counter Terrorism at the WCCR warn from an expansion of the Hezbollah operations into Beirut International Airport, downtown Beirut and other important Government and civilian centers.
4) The Office of Counter Terrorism will continue to monitor the situation and urge the Lebanese Government, the Lebanese Army, the Lebanese Police and the forces of civil society to remain vigilant.
Office of Counter Terrorism
Ret Col. Charbel Barakat

Ban Thanks Prodi for Helping Lebanon
Nahaernet/U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon paid tribute to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi thanking him for the work he did during his tenure as premier "for peace in the world, evoking the role of Italy in Lebanon and in the moratorium on the death penalty" adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December, a press representative for the Italian premier's office said. President Giorgio Napolitano said Saturday a consensus had not yet emerged on the way forward for Italy after more talks with political leaders following the collapse of Romano Prodi's government. His meetings included representatives of several members of Prodi's center-left coalition, as well as of the small party whose defection brought down his 20-month administration. "For the moment it is impossible to summaries anything," Napolitano told reporters after the talks with leaders of the minor groupings. He will be meeting the larger parties on Monday and Tuesday.
Meanwhile the left-wing daily La Repubblica reported that Napolitano would try to persuade conservative opposition leader Silvio Berlusconi to suspend his clamor for new elections until electoral reform could be pushed through parliament. Napolitano is determined to resist pressure to send voters back to the ballot box before Italy's widely criticized electoral law is overhauled under a caretaker government. The president is due to see the 71-year-old former prime minister -- who pushed through the current law shortly before the April 2006 elections which gave a narrow victory to the Prodi camp -- on Tuesday. The flamboyant Berlusconi, Italy's richest man, wants to take advantage of the left's plunging popularity: three recent voter surveys show the Italian right with double-digit leads over the left. Berlusconi is backed by his right-wing ally Gianfranco Fini and Clemente Mastella, a former justice minister, who pulled his Catholic centrist UDEUR party out of Prodi's coalition earlier this month after being named in a corruption probe. "We are against a technical government... and in favour of early elections," Mastella said after his talks with Napolitano. Communist leader Oliviero Diliberto also called for elections, while environment minister Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio said he wanted Prodi to be asked to form a new government to continue improvements in the Italian economy.
Apart from Napolitano, a former communist, left-wingers such as Rome's mayor Walter Veltroni, and the head of the employers' federation Luca Cordero Di Montezemolo, want a caretaker administration, saying elections under the present law would be the worst possible course.
The current system's main flaw is that it results in fragmented parliaments with unstable coalitions in government. It was pushed through parliament by the outgoing Berlusconi government with the goal of limiting the extent of an expected win by the left. Prodi, too busy struggling to keep his squabbling coalition together, was unable to address many pocketbook issues over his 20 months in office even while returning Italy to economic growth after years in the red under Berlusconi. For Veltroni, who heads a newly-formed centre-left grouping, the Democratic Party, elections would come too soon, before he has managed to bring under proper control the ex-communists and reformist Catholics who came together in the new party only a few months ago. Commentators also said Prodi, 68, who has a different view of left-wing politics than Veltroni, should not be counted out in the future, though he has said he wants to bow out. The Corriere della Sera paper said Saturday that if unable to convince enough parties that a caretaker government is needed, Napolitano could name a prominent figure to conduct further negotiations and exhaust every possible solution. This could be Franco Marini, 74, the current president of the Senate, who has also been tipped to head a transitional government, the paper said. The Vatican's secretary of state, Tarcisio Bertone, when questioned by journalists on Saturday said he hoped that Italy's political factions "would reach an accord for the common good," the ANSA news agency reported.(AFP) Beirut, 27 Jan 08, 08:20

Rifi: Police Arrested 3 Suspects in Eid's Murder, Car was Packed with 75 kg of Explosives
Naharnet/National Police Chief Brig. Gen. Ashraf Rifi uncovered that the vehicle used in the assassination of Maj. Wissam Eid, one of Lebanon's top terrorism investigators, was rigged with 75 kilograms of explosives. Rifi told the Jeddah-based Okaz newspaper that the amount used in Friday's bombing was the biggest to be used since the series of assassinations began in 2005 with the killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri. He said investigators were able to determine the brand of the car and its chassis number. Rifi said three suspects were arrested at the crime scene in the Chevrolet neighborhood of Hazmieh east of Beirut.
Meanwhile investigators were trying to determine if the latest bombing was part of a string of attacks that have targeted leading anti-Syrian politicians in the past three years, a security official said. Eid was one of the country's top terrorism investigators who was probing assassinations of prominent anti-Syrian figures and a series of other attacks in recent years, including Hariri's murder. Eid, 31, worked for the police intelligence agency which is closely tied to the government and had survived two previous assassination attempts. Friday's attack also killed his bodyguard and three passers-by and wounded around 40 people.
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, whose government is locked in a fierce power struggle with the Hizbullah-led opposition, vowed to pursue "the criminals who planned and carried out this crime which is aimed at destroying the state security institutions." "The road to independence is fraught with dangers and filled with sacrifices," Saniora said. Police investigators on Saturday collected fingerprints and bits of shrapnel and debris from the car at the explosion site in an effort to discover clues, including the vehicle owner. Rifi also vowed to continue the fight against terrorist groups. "Our choice is to defend this country. Our decision is to continue our march to confront the empire of death and terror," Rifi. As a senior officer in the intelligence department, Eid had handled "very important" files including "all those having to do with the terrorist bombings," Rifi said. His work in the technology field was believed to include sifting through millions of telecommunication tips and cellular phone contacts as part of those investigations. The police intelligence department Eid worked for is close to the anti-Syrian majority that controls Lebanon's government and parliament and it and has been often criticized by the pro-Syrian opposition. Syria has been blamed for many of Lebanon's recent bombings, including that of Hariri. Damascus has denied the charges. Beirut, 27 Jan 08, 13:04

Jumblat Warns Arabs against standing Crippled before Assad, Ahmadinejad
Naharnet/Druze leader Walid Jumblat warned Arab foreign ministers due to meet in Cairo on Sunday against standing helpless before Syria and Iran and called on them to salvage Lebanon from falling prey to Damascus and its Lebanese allies. Jumblat also was skeptical about partnership with the Hizbullah-led opposition.
"We always call for partnership. We have reached out (to the opposition and called) time and again for partnership," Jumblat told Ash-Sharq Alawsat newspaper.
"But is partnership possible with a party that doesn't believe in it (partnership)?" Jumblat asked. He said that "when we dared to denounce the tutelage regime … bloody messages began with a first message to (Telecommunications Minister) Marwan Hamadeh followed by various other messages (aimed at) obliterating all symbols of independence and sovereignty." In a separate interview with the Future News television, Jumblat accused the Syrian regime and its allies of standing behind the assassination of Capt. Wissan Eid. He said it "is impossible for vehicles with a huge number of explosives to roam the streets without knowledge of the allies." "Enough lies," Jumblat pleaded. "They neither want the army nor the intelligence bureau of the Internal Security Forces nor the government because they don't acknowledge the state of Lebanon."Jumblat believed that as long as "some" Arab states feared to condemn Syria then Lebanon will not survive being torn apart by the "claws of the Syrian regime."He urged Arab foreign ministers as well as Arab League chief Amr Moussa to denounce Syria. Beirut, 27 Jan 08, 08:50

Lebanon Braces for Cairo Meeting, Moussa Report Urges Arabs to Resolve Crisis
Naharnet/Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa will call on Arab foreign ministers at a meeting in Cairo on Sunday to step up diplomatic efforts to resolve Lebanon's political crisis and heal deep mistrust in the country. Meanwhile Lebanon braced for the Cairo meeting which is expected to come out with a salvage plan to the prolonged presidential crisis after Moussa failed to achieve a breakthrough in his latest mission to Beirut and Damascus. Well-informed diplomatic sources said the foreign ministers were expected to focus on the election of a new president for Lebanon. They said, however, that the Syrian stance was still unclear and it was not known whether or not it would match the Arab position. One diplomatic source said the foreign ministers will focus on ways to reach an "Arab consensus" taking into account the regional dimensions of the Lebanon crisis. In a report to the foreign ministers, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, Moussa is to urge Arab countries to "continue efforts to provide the appropriate atmosphere on the Arab, regional and international fronts to aid the Arab League in its efforts with the Lebanese parties in a positive manner. "The efforts should take into account the political and security fears and suspicions of the two sides, and their place in Lebanese politics, with its Arab, regional and international dimensions. "The differences between the two sides on the formation of the cabinet reflect the extent of the lack of trust between them, and have implications that go beyond just numbers," the secretary general said. Moussa has held several rounds of talks with feuding political leaders in Lebanon to spur them to elect a new president and end the crisis which has left the country without a president since November 23.
On January 5, Moussa proposed a three-point Arab initiative which calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, the formation of a national unity government in which no one party has veto power, and the adoption of a new electoral law. Lebanon's ruling parliamentary majority has accepted the bid but the Hizbullah-led opposition demands it be granted a third of the seats in a new government so the opposition can have veto power.(Naharnet-AFP)
Beirut, 27 Jan 08, 09:25

Bush: Beirut Bombing is Part of Attack on Lebanese Institutions
Nahaernet/U.S. President George Bush on Saturday condemned a car bombing in Beirut that killed a top intelligence officer and four others, saying it was part of an attack on the country's institutions. "I strongly condemn the terrorist bombing in Beirut that killed Lebanese Internal Security Forces Captain Wissam Eid and many other Lebanese," Bush said in a statement. "This bombing, the latest in a series of terrorist attacks targeting those who are working to secure Lebanon's independence and sovereignty, is a part of the continuing assault on Lebanon's institutions," Bush said. "We will not falter in our support for the democratically-elected Lebanese government." Angry mourners vowed revenge at the funeral Saturday for Eid, 31, who was Lebanon's top anti-terrorism investigator and was involved in probes related to a spate of killings in recent years of mainly anti-Syrian politicians and figures, including former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri.
Saad Hariri, the leader of Lebanon's Western-backed parliamentary majority and a scion of the Sunni Muslim community, on Friday indirectly accused Syria of involvement in the murder. Damascus blamed it on "the enemies of Lebanon." Syria has also rejected any involvement in the car bomb assassination in February 2005 of Saad's father Rafiq Hariri, the first of a long list of mostly anti-Syrian figures killed in Lebanon in recent years.
Bush also called for a resolution to the country's political crisis as Lebanon has been without a president since pro-Syrian head of state Emile Lahoud stepped down on November 23. "We renew our call for the immediate selection of a new President in accordance with Lebanon's constitution. We demand that Syria, Iran, and their allies end their interference in and obstruction of Lebanon's political process," Bush said. A standoff between the majority and the Hizbullah-led opposition has prevented an agreement on an elected successor to Lahoud. (AFP) Beirut, 26 Jan 08, 19:45

Lebanon: Hezbollah and the Jan. 25 Bombing
Written by Stratfor
Saturday, 26 January 2008
Hezbollah supporters in southern BeirutSummary - JOSEPH BARRAK/AFP/Getty Images
Hezbollah was behind the Jan. 25 bombing that killed Lebanese intelligence officer Capt. Wissam Mahmud Eid, a reliable source has said. The bombing is part of an effort by Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, which are coordinating closely to step up an anti-government campaign in Lebanon.
By Stratfor Today This Report Expresses the views of Stratfor.
Analysis
Stratfor has received information from a reliable source that Shiite militant group Hezbollah carried out the Jan. 25 bombing that targeted and killed Capt. Wissam Mahmud Eid, a Sunni intelligence officer in Lebanon's Internal Security Forces (ISF). Syria, Iran and Hezbollah are ramping up their anti-government campaign in Lebanon, and Eid's assassination is unlikely to be the last.
Eid reportedly had been targeted for assassination three times prior to the Jan. 25 attack, which took place in the Hamzieh-Chevrolet Christian district in an eastern Beirut suburb. The bomb that killed him was sizable, consisting of about 132 pounds of TNT. Though the exact details of the blast are still a bit murky, it appears that the bomb was placed in a car near a bridge close to a congested traffic roundabout during rush hour. The bomb was timed to go off as Eid was driving toward the bridge. This location had a number of characteristics making it a key choke point, allowing the perpetrators to ensure the blast hit the intended target.
Eid was tasked with monitoring Hezbollah activities in Beirut's southern suburbs, a stronghold for the militant organization. As Stratfor has recently reported, Hezbollah has sent special forces to the Ain al-Abed neighborhood in the southern suburbs for key operations. These special forces are equipped with state-of-the-art communications and other gear and report directly to a security officer code-named Abu Jafaar.
In coordination with Syria, Hezbollah has put plans in motion to up the ante in the group's anti-government campaign by carrying out targeted attacks — such as the Jan. 15 bomb aimed at a U.S. Embassy vehicle — and by orchestrating tire-burning protests during the past few days. Through his work, Eid reportedly confirmed that Hezbollah was behind the U.S. Embassy vehicle attack.
The Western-backed government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora has devoted a great deal of resources to tracking Hezbollah operations ever since the end of the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah summer conflict in Lebanon. Recently, Hezbollah has brought at least 10 booby-trapped cars into Greater Beirut. Hezbollah agents purchased the cars from used automobile dealers, an industry dominated by Lebanese Shia.
Hezbollah intends to paralyze the Siniora government's spy network through these attacks, and Eid's assassination was a clear sign of this goal. Sources report that Hezbollah is waiting for what it expects to be yet another failed Arab League summit bid to reach a political consensus in Lebanon; the next summit round will be held in Damascus at the end of March. Once this summit passes and Syria gets its time to shine, Hezbollah could resort to more spectacular tactics, such as hostage taking, to pressure the Siniora government into making concessions on a new political arrangement.
Though this was a Hezbollah operation, Syria probably was heavily involved. Ashraf Riffi, director-general of the ISF, said in a press conference following the attack that Eid was a key figure in the investigation of the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri. Riffi added that Eid possessed sensitive documents related to the investigation at the time of the blast. Syria aims to escape responsibility for involvement in the al-Hariri blast, giving it reason to take out Eid, too.
The Syrians, Iranians and Hezbollah are closely coordinating their intelligence operations in Greater Beirut. The Syrians have reportedly set up a specially fitted apartment for monitoring purposes in western Beirut's exclusive Bir Hasan residential area. A Syrian communications, monitoring and surveillance specialist is in charge of the new espionage site and reportedly works closely with Iranian and Hezbollah intelligence operatives.
Hezbollah — assisted by Syrian intelligence agents, who understand the Lebanese domestic situation better than their Iranian counterparts — is consolidating its operations in Matn, Antelias, Zalqa, Nahr al-Kalb and Junieh. These are areas of Christian-dominated eastern Beirut, where the bulk of Lebanon's bombings have taken place. East Beirut is also a hub of government and military activities; most army intelligence and public security officers operate there. By contrast, western Beirut is the staging area for agents of Hezbollah, Syria and Iran, since it is difficult for the Siniora government to penetrate Hezbollah's security apparatus there. Hezbollah is also motivated by a desire to avoid a Sunni-Shiite clash if such an operation were carried out in predominantly Sunni western Beirut.
Hezbollah's increased activity in Beirut and its collaboration with Syria to expand its anti-government campaign in Lebanon means the Eid killing will have a sequel.
By Stratfor Today
This Report Expresses the views of Stratfor.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 26 January 2008 )

Editorial: Assassination Politics
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7&section=0&article=106127&d=27&m=1&y=2008
Arab News -27 January 2008
No one in Lebanon, other than the most fervent opponents of the anti-Syrian government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, is going to believe that yesterday’s murderous bombing in eastern Beirut was unconnected to the assassinations that begun three years ago with Rafik Hariri. Lebanon’s top anti-terror investigation officer, Capt. Wissam Eid, who was killed along with his driver and a number of civilians and who was investigating the most recent attacks, was clearly the target. Those who decided to murder him obviously feared that he had information linking them to one, if not all nine, other assassinations of members of the anti-Syrian movement. Eid had already provided the international enquiry into Hariri’s murder with valuable information and this was not the first attempt on his life; two years ago a grenade was thrown at his house.
The killing will not stop the investigations but it is difficult not to fear for Lebanon’s future. There has been a marked increase in violence in the past couple of months. In December, a car bomb killed the army’s head of operations and this month there were two other bomb attacks, one targeting a US Embassy vehicle, killing a number of civilian bystanders, and the other aimed at UN peacekeepers. Only a blind optimist could believe that there will not be others. The violence will not end until the country’s political crisis is solved.
The country is still without a president and given the complete deadlock in Parliament between supporters of the government and the Syrian- and Iranian-backed opposition is likely to remain so. Attempts to elect a successor to pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud, who finally stepped down last November, have been delayed 13 times so far, although the presidential crisis is not the reason for Lebanon’s divide; it is merely a symptom. Even if a president were elected, it would not end the divide or the violence. In fact, there are still hopes of a compromise candidate: army chief Gen. Michel Suleiman. Both the government and the opposition have agreed to support him and his candidature was also backed by Arab foreign ministers at their meeting in Cairo earlier this month. Now, however, everything is in question. This latest killing happened just three days after Arab League efforts to secure agreement between the two sides to vote for Suleiman failed — despite Siniora’s claims prior to this latest killing that they are still on track. Officially, there are plans for a parliamentary vote on Feb. 11 but it will probably be delayed again; the opposition is now demanding to be brought into a national unity government as the payoff.
Would that be such a disaster? Yes, if it is a means to ensure renewed foreign interference in Lebanon’s government. The majority of Lebanese simply will not allow it. But Lebanon needs unity. The opposition represents a sizeable section of Lebanese society which cannot be ignored forever. The only answer — but it is one Lebanon does not seem ready to address — is constitutional change, to ensure that no community feels isolated and so opts to look abroad for friends.

Striking at the head
By MARTIN VENGADESAN
Strike off the head and the body dies. That is the basic motive behind political assassinations. StarMag examines how this age-old act of violence has impacted the arena of power and politics in light of the recent assassination of Benazir Bhutto and to mark the 60th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's death, also at the hand of an assassin.

“Friends and comrades, the light has gone out of our lives, and there is darkness everywhere, and I do not quite know what to tell you or how to say it. Our beloved leader, the father of the nation, is no more.” – Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru on the death of Mahatma Gandhi in 1948

JANUARY 30 marks the 60th anniversary of the death of one of the 20th century’s greatest leaders – Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, also known as the Mahatma, or Great Soul. He was assassinated by Hindu nationalist Nathuram Godse who shot him three times as he was walking to his evening prayer.
A political scientist has described the killing of Mahatma Gandhi ( below) 60 years ago as the last ‘moral assassination’ in South Asia. In contrast, the murder of former Pakistan premier Benazir Bhutto (above) last month could be described as a ‘criminal’ assassination.
The violent death of a man who steadfastly preached and practised non-violence, shocked the world and was seen as an international catastrophe.
Last month, as I began thinking of ways to commemorate the life of this remarkable man who was a beacon of hope to so many, the world was hit by the horrifying news of the death of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto. Once again a prominent leader had been struck down by an assassin, and I couldn’t help wondering: What makes a human being decide to target the life of another, often laying down his own life in the process?
As a “strategic principle”, the concept is simple; cut off the head and kill the body. But does it really work? Do assassinations, which date as far back in recorded history as the murder of the Egyptian Pharaoh Amenemhat I over 4,000 years ago, accomplish the goals of the assassin?
Dr Ng Kam Weng is the director of Kairos Research Centre, and a keen student of history. He took the trouble to take a look at the history of assassinations with me and share his views.
“We have to start by looking at the difference between assassination and murder,” he explains. “To me, an assassination is the killing of a political figure with a view to promoting a cause or the cynical calculus of war and conflict. In saying that, I am putting aside the murder of a celebrity like John Lennon, which is a pathological case that I wouldn’t call an assassination.
“Often the political figure is a symbolic one and the assumption in the mind of the assassin is that this leader is the cause, either directly or indirectly, of the sufferings and misfortune of a particular community.”
Killing for such a reason is defined as a “moral assassination”, according to Sankaran Krishna, a political science associate professor from the University of Hawaii, who adds that Gandhi's killing was the last of such moral assassinations in South Asia.
“Assassinations aren't what they used to be,” Sankaran opined at a University of Texas seminar, which was reported in The Daily Texan online. From “moral and political”, such killings became “criminal” in the 1990s after Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi (Nehru's grandson and no relation to the Mahatma) was killed in 1991 by a suicide bomber.
The term assassin is derived from the fanatical followers of Hassan-I-Sabbah, leader of a mysterious Ismaili sect that was founded in Alamut (modern day Iran) in the 11th century.
According to legend, members of the sect would commit murders to further their cause while under the influence of the drug hashish. While there are conflicting tales about this ancient cult, the appellation “hasshishins” now survives in mutated form!
»If everybody has a stake in peace, and there is less of a ‘us versus them’, ‘all or nothing’ mentality that could result in drastic, violent action« DR NG KAM WENG
Such fanaticism was responsible for the taking of Gandhi’s life, for he was killed not just by a random hothead, but as a result of careful planning by a Hindu nationalist group, angered by Gandhi putting pressure on the newly independent Indian government to make concessions to Pakistan for the sake of peace. But what purpose was achieved by the killing of a 78-year-old man?
“They were angry about the desecration of mother India, although one can even pose the question, was there ever one India?
Regardless of the historical accuracy of that issue, this segment of Hindu society felt that Gandhi’s willingness to make sacrifices for peace was resulting in a weakened India and that is why they took the extreme decision to kill him,” says Dr Ng.
Godse and fellow conspirator Narayan Apte, who were executed on Nov 15, 1949, might have hoped to strengthen India over Pakistan by killing Gandhi. But in the years since independence and partitioning, the two nations has had several armed encounters while India also had to grapple internally with threats to its secular nature.
What’s more, the entire South Asian sub-continent has experienced an alarming number of assassinations over the last half century. India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have been dogged by political assassinations, quite often running within a single family, as can be seen by the tragedies that have befallen the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty in India and the Bhutto family in Pakistan.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Muhammad Muhsin Ahmad Zahari. “I believe that despite the trappings of parliamentary democracy, these nations retain largely feudal elements in their structure,” muses Dr Ng. “Because of the concentration of power, assassination is a temptation and the effects are greater there than, say, in the United States, which lost four presidents to assassinations over the years, yet has a well-established structure of power to cope with the loss of its leader.”
One can only wonder what must pass through the minds of young men like Rahul Gandhi (who lost his grandmother Indira Gandhi in 1984 and father Rajiv to assassins) or Bilawal Bhutto Zardari (whose grandfather Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged after a politically-motivated trial and whose mother and uncles also met violent deaths) as they venture into politics.
Dr Ng believes that a less feudal and centralised structure might eventually stabilise nations with such a tragic history.
“If the political mechanism allows for the sharing of power, then everybody has a stake in peace, and there is less of a ‘us versus them’, ‘all or nothing’ mentality that could result in drastic, violent action.”
Archduke Franz Ferdinand was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914.
Sankaran, as quoted in The Daily Texan online, believes the difference between assassinations then and now can be seen in the aftermath of Gandhi's and Rajiv's deaths.
He noted that Godse chose to stay alive so he could say in court why he killed Gandhi – it wasn't personal but for his country.
On the other hand, suicide bombers, like Rajiv's killer, close the book on debate about the political situation in a country rather than “inaugurating one” like Godse did when he gave his speech to the court, The Daily Texan online reports Sankaran as saying.
To what extent can a leader recognise that he or she is a potential victim of an assassination and prepare for it?
“While organisational leaders have a certain degree of blindness to what is happening on the ground, many have tried to protect themselves. The problem is that since Roman times, the bodyguards themselves have become the assassins.
Lee Harvey Oswald, suspected assassin of President Kennedy, grimaces as he is shot to death at point-blank range by nightclub owner Jack Ruby in the basement of the Dallas police headquarters Nov. 24, 1963. Plainclothes officer at left is J.A. Leavelle.
“The Praetorian Guard was complicit in the murders of Roman emperors like Caligula (41CE) and Galba (69CE) and this was echoed in Indira Gandhi’s death, when she was shot by her Sikh bodyguards who were angered that she had ordered an assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar,” notes Dr Ng.
Even in cases where the leader is extremely well protected, there is no guarantee against assassination. Case in point is the murder of US President John F. Kennedy in 1963 and to this day there are numerous explanations and conspiracy theories. It didn’t help that the prime suspect, Lee Harvey Oswald, was himself slain within a few days!
But Kennedy wasn't the first US President murdered this way. That unhappy honour goes to Abraham Lincoln. His assassin, John Wilkes Booth, thought that if he could simultaneously kill the President, the Vice President, and Secretary of State, he could throw the Union government, which was winning the civil war, into disarray, and give time to the Confederacy to regroup to fight afresh.
The most famous assassination of all is, of course, that of Roman general Julius Caesar whose stabbing death on the Senate floor in 44BCE has given us a catchphrase for the ultimate betrayal (albeit with help from Shakespeare) in “Et tu, Brute?”
US President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in 1865.
Ironically, his killers wanted to save the republic from Caesar whom they thought was becoming too powerful and aiming to make himself emperor. As history tells us, Caesar's death led to his nephew and heir Octavian taking over and becoming the first Roman Emperor Augustus!
In ancient times, whatever motivated assassins, it was powerful enough to overcome their fear of horrible, gruesome punishment, if they were caught alive. For example the assassin of Henri IV of France, François Ravaillac, was scalded with boiling oil and his flesh torn by pincers, before finally being pulled apart by four horses, a typical medieval punishment for regicide (the murder of a king).
Of course, assassinations, and murder in general, have become easier to accomplish in today's world, points out Dr Ng.
“In medieval times, the assassin would have to be close to the victim. Often stabbing or poison was the mode and there would be little hope of escape for the assassin. Nowadays technology has rendered killing less personal. It does require a certain abstraction, the ability to dehumanise the other fellow and view him (or her) as a potent symbol of the enemy.
“Assassinations can also be used as a form of intimidation. In Lebanon we have the murders of leaders like Bachir Gemayel (1982) and Rafik Hariri (2005), which discourage other leaders from stepping forward and perhaps putting an end to the country’s wars.”
The assassination of legendary Afghan leader Ahmad Shah Masood in 2001, indeed, left a huge vacuum in the war-torn country.
At the time of his death, Masood was seen as the chief military obstacle to and the last bulwark against the Taliban taking full control of all of Afghanistan. He died of injuries inflicted by shrapnel from a bomb detonated by two Arabs posing as journalists.
With his passing, so too went Afghanistan's best hope for a strong leader who was “among advocates of peace, negotiations and respect for the rights of all Afghans,” reported the Islamic Republic News Agency of Iran.
But if the act to “cut off the head to kill the body”, the outcome of an assassination is never certain.
As Dr Ng points out: “When the Ferdinand Marcos regime assassinated opposition leader Benigno Aquino in 1983, instead of silencing the opposition, it united them and began the groundswell of emotion that led to Marcos’ toppling just three years later.”
And Aquino's widow, Corazon, went on to become the President of the Philippines.
“And in the case of Charlotte Corday who stabbed the French revolutionary leader Jean-Paul Marat to death in his bath in 1793, one would say she failed in her objective. She declared ‘I killed one man to save 100,000’, but Marat's supporters merely accelerated the chaotic killings at the guillotine after his death,” adds Dr Ng.
Of all the assassinations, none has probably resulted in as much bloodshed as that of the Austro-Hungarian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, whose murder came about as a result of a string of coincidences. On June 28, 1914, at Sarajevo, the Archduke and his wife Sophie were attacked by a bomb thrown at their car by a group of Serbian extremists known as the Black Hand gang.
Although it missed them, it injured some civillians, and the Archduke and his wife went to visit them at the hospital. On the way, they came across one of the failed plotters, Gavrilo Princip who was at the cafe. At this point their car stalled, allowing Princip a clear shot at the Archduke who died soon after.
Within months of the incident, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, triggering off a series of alliances that resulted in the outbreak of World War I.
That war went on to reshape the Western world and left behind unfinished business that would eventually lead to yet another terrible war.
Coming back to Gandhi, while his killers might have succeeded in taking away his life as punishment for “desecrating mother India”, they failed to kill his powerful legacy which has inspired many others, chief among them, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.
Rebecca Leatheam, in a 1999 article in Business Asia, quoted in HighBeam Encyclopedia, noted:
“Lord Mountbatten, the last British Viceroy of India, said Gandhi would go down in history as 'on par with Buddha and Jesus Christ', and Albert Einstein, philosopher and Nobel Prize science winner, said 'Generations to come will scarcely believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.' Fifty years after Gandhi's death the nation he created is the world's largest democracy, with the secret ballot, a free press and an independent judiciary.”
In today's India, Gandhi continues to be revered as a secular saint and the father of the nation. His popularity, 60 years after his death, remains undiminished.
In a poll conducted last year by New Delhi Television or NDTV, India’s equivalent of CNN, Gandhi was voted the country’s greatest icon, beating “Indian stalwarts like industrialist J.R.D. Tata, Infosys chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy and actor Amitabh Bachchan by a huge margin.”
Indeed, Gandhi was prescient when he wrote on May 3, 1919, that “Victory attained by violence is tantamount to a defeat, for it is momentary.” The Mahatma lives on.