LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember 02/2010

Bible Of The Day
Warning the rich/James 5/1-6: " Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming on you. 5:2 Your riches are corrupted and your garments are moth-eaten. 5:3 Your gold and your silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be for a testimony against you, and will eat your flesh like fire. You have laid up your treasure in the last days. 5:4 Behold, the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you have kept back by fraud, cry out, and the cries of those who reaped have entered into the ears of the Lord of Armies. 5:5 You have lived delicately on the earth, and taken your pleasure. You have nourished your hearts as in a day of slaughter. 5:6 You have condemned, you have murdered the righteous one. He doesn’t resist you."

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Desperate measures/Now Lebanon/November 01/10
Assad Remains Defiant, Washington Might be Signaling Departure/The Weekly Standard/November 01/10
Fares Soueid in a recent statement/NNA/November 01/10
The Significance of Boycotting the Special Tribunal/By: Abdullah Iskandar/November 01/10
Are U.S. Officials Understanding and Responding to Middle East Crises? Ya Think?/By Barry Rubin/November 01/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 01/10
Hizballah's "zero hour" exercise for toppling Beirut government and war on Israel/DEBKAfile Special Report
Hizballah, Syria, Iran sow alarm in Lebanon without a shot/DEBKAfile Special Report
52 Worshippers Killed in Baghdad Church Drama /Naharnet
Hizbullah Simulation Aims to Hold Grip on Lebanon, Besiege Hariri in Less than 2 Hours/Naharnet
Syria's Shaaban: Meetings with Hariri Depend on Circumstances /Naharnet
Berri's Optimism Stems From 'Data I Cannot Disclose' /Naharnet
Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir: STL investigations key to ending political murders in Lebanon/Daily Star
Syria denies undermining Lebanese state/Daily Star
Saudi Arabia: Lebanon must 'immunize' against surprises/Daily Star
March 8 source: Lebanon situation will mirror Syrian-Saudi dialogue/Daily Star
Hariri in London to meet with prime minister, Prince Charles, British officials/Daily Star
Lebanon breaks record for biggest glass of wine/Daily Star
Lebanon still supports STL, Hariri says/Now Lebanon /Naharnet
Majdalani rejects equating “false witnesses” issue with Hariri murder/Now Lebanon /Naharnet
Gemayel: Nasrallah’s speech step in coup against institutions/Now Lebanon /Naharnet
Gemayel: Nasrallah's Speech is a New Step in Process of Obstructing Constitutional Institutions /Naharnet
Hackers Shut Down Saudi Education Ministry Website, Post Nasrallah Photo /Naharnet
In Beirut, a Crash Course in Arabic and a Bonus Too: Class Trips to Hizbullah, Hamas Offices /Naharnet
Secret Documents Confirm Indictment to be Issued Soon /Naharnet
Ammar: STL's Course and Performance of its Investigators Will Destroy Lebanon and its Stability /Naharnet
Hashem: There are Several Leaks Surrounding Indictment /Naharnet
Aoun Warns: No Dialogue if Cabinet Session on False Witnesses Fails /Naharnet
Qassem: Hizbullah Won't Quit Government over False Witnesses' Issue /Naharnet
Hariri Ends Kuwait Visit: Give Unity Government a Chance to Invest in Stability /Naharnet
Berri Meets Syrian, Saudi, Iranian Ambassadors ahead of Cabinet Session /Naharnet
Saudi King's Son Meets Assad to Defuse Lebanon Tension over Nasrallah's Boycott Call /Naharnet
Obama Phones Saudi King, Stresses Full Support for Hariri, Tribunal /Naharnet
Suleiman Seeks Consensus on Solving False Witnesses /Naharnet
Ban Phones Hariri, Discusses Dahiyeh Incident /Naharnet
Saudi-Syrian-Iranian Rapprochement Enforces A-A-G Equation /Naharnet

Hizballah's "zero hour" exercise for toppling Beirut government and war on Israel
DEBKAfile Special Report November 1, 2010, Hizballah last Thursday, Oct. 28, conducted a command exercise in all parts of Lebanon to test its armed militia's readiness for what its leaders called "zero hour" i.e. asserting its grip on Lebanon and "cornering" Prime Minister Saad Hariri. debkafile's military sources report the exercise took all day and led up to the sabre-rattling speech delivered by Hizballah leader Hassan Nasrallah that night, which was interpreted by all Lebanese factions interpreted as a declaration of war on their government and the prologue to heating up the border with Israel.
(To read our Oct. 30 report on the speech and its impact, click here.)
The Shiite terrorist group made no bones about the reasons for its war stance - just the opposite:
1. Hizballah found it necessary to answer the Israel Defense Forces' recent "electronic exercise," in keeping with a top-level Iranian-Syrian-Hizballah decision never to leave any American or Israel military step without response.
2. It was a practice for the military action planned for the hours leading up to the Special Lebanese Tribunal's issuance of indictments against Hizballah leaders for complicity in the assassination of Lebanese ex-prime minister Rafiq Hariri five years ago.
The "zero hour" exercise demonstrated, according to Hizballah sources, "the quick implementation on the ground" of the necessary deployment. They claimed that in "less than two hours" they were able to "maintain a security and military grip of large areas of Lebanon."
Our sources note that this is the first time Hizballah has leveled publicly about its plan for seizing control of Lebanon by force of arms - even without waiting for the STL indictments to be issued. The disclosure was made five days after the critical command exercise in order to establish a fact. It took advantage of a moment when its key opponents were otherwise engaged.
President Barack Obama has his hands full with the Democrats' sliding rating in polls ahead of the Nov. 2 midterm elections to Congress.
Saudi King Abdullah had an eye on an ambitious initiative to convene a national conciliation conference of all Iraqi factions for breaking the long impasse over the formation of a new government in Baghdad. The Saudi king was seeking an al-Arab breakthrough that would push Iran off the board.
And in Jerusalem, political circles in Jerusalem are full engaged in the trivia of domestic scandal, such as the illegal employment of a foreign worker at Defense Minster Ehud Barak's home or endless bickering over the stipends for yeshiva students with families.
Hizballah also feels it can safely send its gunmen out on the streets of Beirut and vent its ire on Israel without being jumped on by Western media because they are all totally absorbed in al Qaeda's bomb package plot and its intercontinental ramifications.

Hizballah, Syria, Iran sow alarm in Lebanon without a shot
DEBKAfile Special Report October 30, 2010, 7:29 PM (GMT+02:00)/The speech Hassan Nasrallah, leader of Lebanon's Hizballah, delivered Thursday night Oct. 29 was taken in all sections of Lebanese society as a virtual declaration of war on his country, a conflict which they fear will be even fiercer and crueler than the 1975 civil war. It is widely believed, according to debkafile's Middle East sources, that the power-sharing order the diverse communities achieved after that conflict will be swept away and replaced with a pro-Iranian, pro-Syrian puppet regime.
The Shiite Hizballah is already on the move. It latest step took place last Wednesday, Oct. 27, when a crowd of Lebanese Shiite women prevented two investigators of the STL tribunal probing the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri from obtaining documentary evidence for their case at a gynecology clinic in South Beirut. The documents were seized and destroyed. The UN officers needed medical treatment.
The next day, Nasrallah thundered his call for "every official and every citizen to boycott the work of the UN investigators… Cooperation would be an assault on the Resistance (Nasrallah's name for his Hizballah)," he said. The Hizballah chief went on to invoke "our honor and dignity" as "requiring us to have a different stance."
Far from staging a minor incident, the Shiite women were hurriedly mobilized to keep the UN investigators attached to the STL's Prosecution Office from gaining access to one of the top-secret security and intelligence archives which Hizballah has hidden away in unlikely places like the clinic.
UN Secretary Ban Ki-moon condemned the attack in the strongest terms as unacceptable.
However, Hizballah's threats to the Beirut government and country at large are growing fiercer as the moment approaches for the STL to issue indictments against its officials for complicity in the Hariri assassination.
At the clinic, the UN investigators apparently got too close for comfort to incriminating documents.
Early Thursday, in growing alarm over the methods employed by Hizballah and its patrons, Syria and Iran, to thwart the UN tribunal's work, the UN Security Council held a closed-door situation.Later, US ambassador to the United Nations, Susan Rice, slammed Syria for displaying "flagrant disregard" for Lebanon's sovereignty. She cited its provision of increasingly sophisticated weapons to Hizballah and other militias in violation of a UN resolution and its issuance of 33 arrest warrants for senior Lebanese officials and foreigners.
"Hizballah remains the most significant and most heavily armed Lebanese militia," said Ambassador Rice in the most extreme US criticism of Damascus heard in years. "It could not have done so if not for Syria's aid, and facilitation of Syrian and Iranian arms."
debkafile's Beirut and intelligence sources stress that even the strongest words cannot save Lebanon from its dizzying fall into the clutches of Hizballah, Syria and Iran, thereby derailing a key Obama administration policy for the Middle East.
Washington's partners-in-fiasco would be French President Nicolas Sarkozy who shared in the formation of this policy and the Israeli government headed by Binyamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. They all buried their heads in the sand for two years without lifting a finger Hizballah was massively armed by Iran and Syria and they all developed their power-grab for Beirut.
The tenor of Nasrallah's speech Thursday night demonstrated that the American diplomat's strong words cut no ice and would not deter Hizballah from enforcing its strong-arm laws on the Lebanese government and citizenry.

52 Worshippers Killed in Baghdad Church Drama
Naharnet/Iraqi security forces stormed a Baghdad church where militants had taken an entire congregation hostage for four hours, leaving at least 52 people dead, including a priest, Iraqi officials said Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the hostages died at the hands of the attackers or during the rescue late on Sunday night in an affluent neighborhood of the capital.
The incident began when militants wearing suicide vests and armed with grenades attacked the Iraqi stock exchange at dusk Sunday before turning their attention to the nearby Our Lady of Deliverance church — one of Baghdad's main Catholic places of worship — taking about 120 Christians hostage.
Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, the deputy interior minister, said 52 people were killed and 67 wounded, in the bloodbath. Officials said at least one priest and 10 policemen were among the dead. Many of the wounded were women.
A Christian member of parliament on Monday described the Iraqi rescue operation as "not professional," saying "it was a hasty action that prompted the terrorists to kill the worshippers."
"We have no clear picture yet whether the worshippers were killed by the security forces bullets or by terrorists, but what we know is that most of them were killed when the security forces started to storm the church," Younadem Kana said.
Video footage from an American drone that was overhead during the attack showed a black plume of smoke followed by flashes from inside the building before what appears to be soldiers going in. U.S. forces often supply air support to Iraqi forces conducting operations on the ground, feeding them video footage of what American drones see from the air. The casualty information was confirmed by police and officials at hospitals where the dead and wounded were taken.
There were conflicting accounts about the number of attackers involved in the assault, with Baghdad military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi saying Sunday night that security forces killed eight, while the U.S. military said between five and seven died.
Two police officers on the scene, however, say only three attackers were killed and another seven arrested afterward.
Outside the Syrian Catholic church Monday morning, Raed Hadi leaned against his car on top of which rested a casket holding the body of his cousin, who was killed in the siege. Hadi was waiting for the police to let him onto the church grounds to bury his relative. He railed against Iraqi authorities.
"It was a massacre in there and now they are cleaning it up," said Raed. "We Christians don't have enough protection. ... What shall I do now? Leave and ask for asylum?"
Police pushed back onlookers from around the church by erecting a barbed wire fence but residents and people from the Christian community claimed that it was too little, too late.
A cryptically worded statement posted late Sunday on a militant website allegedly by the Islamic State of Iraq appeared to claim responsibility for the attack. The group, which is linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, said it would "exterminate Iraqi Christians" if Muslim women in Egypt were not freed.
It specifically mentioned two women in Egypt that extremists maintain have converted to Islam and are being held against their will in Egypt. The two are wives of priests and are believed to have converted to Islam to leave their husbands since divorce is banned by Egypt's Coptic Church. One woman disappeared in 2004 and another in July.
Egypt's Christians had maintained they were kidnapped and staged rallies for their release. Both were later recovered by police, denied any conversions and were then spirited away to distant monasteries. In the message, the militants claim the two are still Muslim and called upon the Vatican, which held a meeting earlier in October to discuss the fate of Christians in the Middle East, to release the women. "We direct our speech to the Vatican and say that as you met with Christians of the Mideast a few days ago to support them and back them, now you have to pressure them to release our sisters, otherwise death will reach you all," the message said. Iraqi Christians, who have been frequent targets for Sunni insurgents, have left in droves since the 2003 U.S.-led war. Catholics used to represent 2.89 percent of the population in 1980; by 2008 they were just 0.89 percent. One Iraqi man who identified himself only as Abu Sami for security reasons, said his wife was inside the church during the attack. Although she was unharmed, he said he feared that the church siege signaled a new round of violence by militants against Iraq's Christian community.
"I expect the coming attacks will be worse in the future since the government is doing nothing to protect us. We are peaceful people and never harmed any of our fellow countrymen, so we do not understand the reasons behind such evil attacks," he said. "Many Christians now believe that they do not have any hope in Iraq and the best thing to survive is to seek another country to live in," he said.(AP) Beirut, 01 Nov 10, 06:37

STL investigations key to ending political murders in Lebanon - Sfeir
By The Daily Star /Monday, November 01, 2010 /Naharnet
BEIRUT: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Friday the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was necessary to end the string of political murders in the country.“If we want to put an end to political assassinations then the tribunal should issue its indictment naming those who committed the crime,” he said. “If we want matters to continue the same way, then assassinations will continue, which is harmful to Lebanon and other countries as well,” he added.
In an interview with Al-Jazeera satellite channel, Sfeir said claims that Hizbullah wanted to take control of the country, “draw worry for those who are not affiliated with the party.”
Sfeir denied that Hizbullah had plans to take control of Lebanon. “However,” he said, “methods that the party adopts are powerful, and power eventually leads to control.”
“Lebanon should remain the way it is, for all its sects, which should be awarded equal power,” said the prelate. “If one [sect] were to overpower the others, this goes against the principles upon which Lebanon is founded.” The patriarch said while Christians had been in control of the decision-making process ahead of Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War, “decision-making was now in the hand of others.” Sfeir, however, admitted that Christians in Lebanon had more “power” than Christians in other countries of the region.
Sfeir said the Maronite Church stood at an equal distance from the rival March 8 and the March 14 camps. He voiced dissatisfaction with the share allotted to Christians in the public administrations.Sfeir also said he would visit Syria “when circumstances are appropriate.” “So far it is not clear whether ties between Lebanon and Syria are back on track because one country has interests in the other,” he added. “If Syria wants to befriend Lebanon in order to control us, then we do not want this friendship,” he added. – The Daily Star

Syria denies undermining Lebanese state
By The Daily Star /Monday, November 01, 2010
BEIRUT: A state-run Syrian newspaper has dismissed US accusations that Syria was undermining Lebanon’s independence and sovereignty, calling the claims “irresponsible.”
Tishrin newspaper said Sunday the accusations reflect a “pure Israeli will” and that US policies lack credibility. Saudi Arabia’s Al-Watan newspaper said in its Saturday issue that the deadlock in Lebanon has reached a “dangerous stage.” Tensions have mounted in Lebanon over the indictment to be issued by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. In statements made to reporters at the UN this week, US Ambassador Susan Rice singled out Syria and said it displayed a “flagrant disregard” for Lebanon’s sovereignty and political independence. She accused Syria of providing weapons to Hizbullah and other Palestinian militias in violation of a UN resolution.
Tishrin said the US accusations were in “full harmony” with Israel’s regional policies. Last week, the US vowed continued support for the STL, accusing Hizbullah of “intimidation” in urging a boycott. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah warned all Lebanese Thursday not to help investigators probing the 2005 killing, saying that such cooperation would be tantamount to an attack on the resistance. His speech came one day after two STL investigators and their interpreter were attacked by women at a gynecology clinic in a Hizbullah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut. Saudi Arabia’s Al-Watan newspaper described Nasrallah’s comments as an attempt to “impede justice,” adding that the truth will be revealed “sooner or later.”
“Nasrallah’s remarks are an indication of how Hizbullah does not have the interest of all the Lebanese people in mind,” State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters.
“It has a narrow agenda and we will do everything that we can to help the Lebanese government and Lebanese people resist this obvious intimidation.” – AP, with The Daily Star

Saudi Arabia: Lebanon must 'immunize' against surprises
Osseiri says with dialogue, country can be safeguarded
By The Daily Star /Monday, November 01, 2010
BEIRUT: Saudi Ambassador Ali Awad Osseiri called on the Lebanese over the weekend to “immunize” their country against any surprises. “Saudi Arabia plays a positive role in Lebanon and is keen on preserving the country’s unity,” he said. Syria’s Ambassador Ali Abdel-Karim Ali, meanwhile, said the unity of the Lebanese will safeguard their country.
Speaking to politicians and crowds in the rural north Lebanon district of Akkar, Osseiri said his country was “closely following up” on developments on the Lebanese political scene.
Asked about the repercussions of the indictment to be issued by the UN-backed tribunal probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Osseiri said he was confident that the Lebanese would work for the best interest of their country. “We call on all the Lebanese to immunize their country against any surprises,” said the Saudi ambassador.
The country has been caught in a standoff over the indictment to be pronounced by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL). Hizbullah announced that the court was moving toward indicting “rogue” members of the party and slammed the STL as an Israeli project.
Last week, the party’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese to boycott the tribunal, adding that anyone who cooperated with the STL would be considered an agent.
Osseiri said the Saudi monarch devoted time to ensure that Lebanese ranks are kept united, adding that King Abdullah considered the “Lebanese internal front to be strong.”
“[King Abdullah] sees that the Lebanese should adopt dialogue as a means to solve all their problems so that Lebanon can be strong and safeguarded against attempts to weaken the country or sow divisions among the Lebanese,” said Osseiri. The Saudi ambassador had started a tour of north Lebanon Friday by visiting the coastal city of Tripoli, where he met prominent political and religious leaders there. Osseiri headed to Akkar Saturday, one of Lebanon’s most impoverished regions, where he met the lawmakers of the district and residents.
“I am planning to visit the four corners of Lebanon to get to know the people of this country,” he said. Osseiri said his visit to various Lebanese regions aimed to spread a “message of unity.” “[Saudi Arabia] hopes that the next [Lebanese] generations will not inherit animosity and hatred and move away from divisions,” he said. Saudi Arabia and Syria are considered Lebanon’s main powerbrokers. A tension in ties, or conversely a rapprochement between the two Arab countries clearly reflects on the situation in Lebanon. Also speaking over the weekend, the Syrian Ambassador said Lebanon and Syria were united by the same challenges and goals. “National entente and dialogue are the guarantee to unity, civil peace, sovereignty, independence, and freedom,” Ali told a luncheon in the Iqlim al-Kharoub town of Jieh. Ali highlighted that inter-Lebanese dialogue was key to protecting Lebanon, “that we cherish and hope will remain strong and healthy.” The Syrian ambassador said Israel should not be allowed the opportunity to boast that it has intercepted Lebanon’s telecommunications network in a bid to target Lebanon’s steadfastness and resistance. – The Daily Star

March 8 source: Lebanon situation will mirror Syrian-Saudi dialogue
Discussions on ‘false witnesses’ in cabinet ‘will not be decisive’
By Wassim Mroueh /Daily Star staff
Monday, November 01, 2010
BEIRUT: A Cabinet session set to convene Wednesday won’t be a decisive one regarding “false witnesses” in the investigation into the murder of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A senior source from the March 8 coalition told The Daily Star Sunday that the ministers’ failure to reach an agreement on the matter at the next session “is not the end of the world,” adding that he did not expect a vote to be held on the issue. “All domestic contacts are marginal, the key issue is the Syrian-Saudi talks,” said the source, adding: “Everyone is in a wait-and-see mode awaiting the outcome of the Syrian-Saudi talks, what we are monitoring is the outcome of the Syrian-Saudi differences over Iraq.”
According to the source, if the outcome of the Syrian-Saudi talks are negative, then this will have a negative impact on Lebanon, and if the result is positive, then this would have a positive effect on the country. Syria and Saudi Arabia back different candidates for the prime minister’s post in Iraq. A political source told The Daily Star that Saudi Prince Abdel-Aziz Bin Abdullah, who paid a short visit to Syria Sunday, mainly discussed the situation in Lebanon with Syrian President Bashar Assad.
Lebanese daily An-Nahar reported Sunday that Prince Abdel-Aziz would deliver a letter from Saudi King Abdullah Ibn Abdel-Aziz to Assad and that the two would discuss “a mechanism to ease political tensions that resulted from a call by [Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan] Nasrallah to boycott the international tribunal [probing Hariri’s murder].”
Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said he was not notified about any “middle or final solution” to the issue, confirming it was on the agenda of Wednesday’s Cabinet session.
A report forwarded by Najjar indicated the issue did not satisfy conditions required in order to be referred to the Justice Council, but should be dealt with by the Lebanese judiciary.
The Hizbullah-led March 8 forces insisted the issue should be handled by the Justice Council, while the rival March 14 coalition headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri supported Najjar’s view. Once referred to the Justice Council, any verdict related to the matter could not be appealed.
Speaking to Voice of Lebanon radio station, Najjar reiterated his position that referring the issue of “false witnesses” to the Justice Council was not possible “in light of the clarity of the legal text in Lebanon.” “The dominant opinion is that the Justice Council has exceptional prerogatives and the Cabinet can’t go into judicial affairs,” he added.
Echoing Najjar, head of the Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt said he had no information about a solution to the issue of “false witnesses” that led to calling for the Cabinet session.
A source close to Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri told The Daily Star that contacts between Berri, Hariri and President Michel Sleiman have never stopped, noting that there were no substantial contacts over the issue of “false witnesses.” While confirming that the Cabinet would convene Wednesday, the source said Berri was not actively involved in the contacts, but was awaiting steps to be taken by Sleiman, expecting no decision to be taken by the speaker before Tuesday. Hizbullah stepped up its offensive on the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) by calling on the Lebanese to boycott its probes.
In a brief televised speech last week, Nasrallah said two STL investigators, who were obstructed from carrying out their investigations by a crowd of women at a medical clinic in Beirut’s southern suburb, violated ethical, religious and humanitarian norms by asking for a gynecologist’s patient records.
He called upon the Lebanese to boycott STL probes, saying everything presented to it was passed to Israel. In July, Nasrallah slammed the STL as an “Israeli project” designed to spark civil strife in the country. He expected members of his party to be indicted by an impending STL indictment Hizbullah’s number two Sheikh Naiim Qassem said the party would defend itself against any indictment targeting it. “All foreign diplomats are asking about our reaction following the issuance of the indictment, and the answer is: we will defend ourselves,” Qassem told Qatari newspaper Al-Watan in remarks Sunday. “Our reaction to the indictment has to do with the circumstances and the atmosphere surrounding its issuance … There are several possible scenarios for Hizbullah’s reactions which we can’t predict from now,” he added. Concerning the issue of “false witnesses,” Qassem said that the Lebanese judiciary would have probed the matter “several years ago” if it had been seriously looking for truth. “Hizbullah wants to know the real criminal that false witnesses wanted to hide,” said Qassem, denying his party planned to topple the Cabinet by withdrawing from it over the issue of “false witnesses.”

Hariri in London to meet with prime minister, Prince Charles, British officials
By The Daily Star /Monday, November 01, 2010
BEIRUT: Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in London Sunday evening after concluding a one-day official visit to Kuwait. Hariri is scheduled to hold talks Monday with British Prime Minister David Cameron, British Foreign Minister William Hague, Prince Charles and an array of Lebanese businessmen residing in Britain.
The premier will be accompanied by Defense Minister Elias Murr and his advisers. Earlier Sunday, Hariri held talks with Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah and his Kuwaiti counterpart Nasser al-Mohammad al-Jaber al-Sabah at the Bayan palace in the city of Kuwait. Hariri discussed with the two the situation in Iraq and in the Palestinian occupied territories along with Israeli violations. He agreed with the Kuwaiti leaders to soon hold a meeting for the Lebanese-Kuwaiti High Commission in Beirut.
Hariri detailed a number of investment projects in which Kuwait could take part. Kuwaiti Crown Prince Nawwaf al-Ahmad al-Jaber al-Sabah, Kuwaiti Prime Minister and a number of Kuwaiti officials participated in the meeting. A Lebanese delegation composed of the Minister of the Displaced Akram Shehayeb, former MP Bassem Sabaa, Lebanese Ambassador to Kuwait Bassam Naamani, Hariri’s aide Nader Hariri and advisers Hani Hammoud and Fadi Fawwaz also took part in the talks. Hariri held separate talks with his Kuwaiti counterpart at the Emiri Diwan.
Delivering a speech at the opening session of the “Second Kuwait Financial Reform 2010” in the city of Kuwait, Hariri said Lebanon “looked forward to approaching its political crises with awareness and responsibility.” “We look forward to … avoiding drifting into what could harm the national stability and hinder the will of dialogue and communication among the Lebanese,” he said. The event was organized under the patronage of the Kuwaiti prime minister.
“The experiences of the past years are enough to draw lessons from and make sure that we have no choice but solidarity in order to strengthen our national unity and start the work to continue rebuilding Lebanon, and give the national unity government a chance to invest in the stability so that it can be able to play its role in the economic and social investment,” Hariri said.
Lebanon has plunged into its worst political crisis in two years with rumors that an impending indictment by a UN-backed tribunal probing the murder of Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, – Saad Hariri’s father – would indict members from Hizbullah. The Hizbullah-led March 8 coalition said the court aimed at targeting the resistance, while rival March 14 forces headed by Hariri considered the tribunal the only chance to punish murderers. Hariri said Lebanon’s chance would not be lost “and I am totally confident that time will not go backward and that this country in which you placed high hopes in the past will always be a place of trust in the future.” He urged Iraqi political factions not to waste the “golden opportunity” of meeting in Riyadh on the invitation of Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdel-Aziz to resolve differences over the formation of a government. Separately, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon telephoned Hariri Friday evening during which the two discussed the incident two investigators from the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) experienced last week in the Beirut southern suburbs.
The two investigators were prevented from carrying out their investigations at a gynecology clinic in Beirut’s southern suburbs when they were accosted by an angry crowd of women.
Ban and Hariri stressed Lebanon’s commitment to respect the international legitimacy in order to serve the proper conduct of the investigation and the imperatives of justice. – The Daily Star

Lebanon breaks record for biggest glass of wine
Monday, November 01, 2010 /Daily Star
BEIRUT: Seeking to brush off its political troubles and burnish its reputation for good living, Lebanon claimed a record over the weekend for the world’s biggest glass of wine. Organizers of a wine festival in Beirut poured around 100 bottles of Lebanese wine into the giant glass, 2.4 meters high and 1.65 meters wide. “The previous record was set in Portugal 12 years ago, and I’m proud to announce that Lebanon has achieved a new record,” Guinness World Records adjudicator Liz Smith told Reuters Television at the festival Friday evening. The size of the glass meant that even with dozens of bottles poured in, it was not even a quarter full. And no one appeared in a rush to drink from the cocktail of red, white and rose wines which were sloshed in with abandon. Organizers said winemakers from across the country had contributed their produce as part of a campaign to promote Lebanese wine – half of which they said is exported.
“This glass brings together all the wine producers [in Lebanon],” said Nada Farah. The wine glass may be a useful accompaniment for Lebanon’s other forays into culinary extremes. In recent years it has claimed the world’s biggest servings of kibbeh and tabbouleh and the biggest bowl of hummus. – Reuters

Lebanon still supports STL, Hariri says
November 1, 2010 /“Official Lebanon is still in its stance of support for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL),” Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Monday according to MTV.
Speaking to reporters with his delegation in London, Hariri also said that Wednesday’s cabinet session will not experience a dispute over the “false witnesses file” because there are multiple solutions for agreement. Hariri is in the UK on his first official visit since becoming PM.On Thursday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on all Lebanese to boycott the STL and to end cooperation with its investigators. The “false witnesses” file tops the agenda of the cabinet session set for this Wednesday. March 8 politicians have called for the cabinet to task the Justice Council with investigating the issue of witnesses who gave unreliable testimonies to the international probe into former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination. However, March 14 has said that the regular judiciary should handle the issue.-NOW Lebanon

Gemayel: Nasrallah’s speech step in coup against institutions
November 1, 2010 /Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah’s recent speech is a “new step toward […] the advancing coup against constitutional institutions and justice,” Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel said on Monday, according to a statement from his office.
“What is Lebanon’s fate if it is left prey to the law of the jungle?” he asked, saying that is essential that the “murderers of martyrs” be held accountable. Tension is high in Lebanon after unconfirmed reports that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) will soon issue its indictment for the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. There are fears that should the court indict Hezbollah members, it could lead to clashes similar to those of the 2008 May Events – when gunmen led by the party took over half of Beirut. On Thursday, Nasrallah called on all Lebanese to boycott the STL and to end cooperation with its investigators.-NOW Lebanon

Majdalani rejects equating “false witnesses” issue with Hariri murder
November 1, 2010 /Lebanon First bloc MP Atef Majdalani said Monday that he rejects the March 8 coalition’s attempt to equate the issue of “false witnesses” with the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. He told ANB news that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) must issue its indictment before the issue of witnesses who gave unreliable testimonies to the international investigation can be addressed, adding that the furor raised thus far over the issue is “political par excellence.” March 8 has called for the cabinet to task the Justice Council with investigating unreliable witnesses. Some March 14 figures have said that the regular judiciary should handle the issue, while others have argued that unreliable testimonies cannot be investigated until the UN-backed tribunal issues its indictment in the case.-NOW Lebanon

Assad Remains Defiant, Washington Might be Signaling Departure
3:03 PM, Oct 29, 2010
Since taking office, the Obama administration’s policy toward Syria has been one of engagement. Repeated visits by high-level U.S. officials, as well as a strong push to re-send an ambassador there, were meant to signal to Damascus a departure from the Bush administration’s policy of isolation. The Syrian response, however, has left many in Washington miffed.
Take the most recent example of how Syria returns Washington’s favors. In an interview on Tuesday with the pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat, Syrian president Bashar al-Assad officially—and publically—bit the outstretched hand, perhaps for the last time. Assad told the interviewer that the U.S. has “created chaos in every place it entered.” “Is Afghanistan stable?” he rhetorically asked. “Is Somalia stable? Did they bring stability to Lebanon in 1983?” Assad’s statement is the continuation of a series of provocative actions that have signaled clearly that Syria, although perhaps interested in reconciliation with the U.S. on a theoretical level, is not prepared to pay the price where it counts. Continued support of Hezbollah and a refusal to break with Iran suggest that Damascus has already made its calculation that its interests are better served by aligning with what it perceives to be an ascendant Iran.
What was surprising, however, was the U.S. reaction. Rather than downplay these provocative remarks, State Department spokesman P. J. Crowley replied in kind, pointing out that “Recent Syrian behavior and rhetoric has had a destabilizing effect on Lebanon and the region, has contributed to recent tensions.” In addition to arming Hezbollah with deadlier weapons, Syria continues to obstruct the Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, carried the baton further yesterday. Rice singled out Syria, declaring that it has “displayed flagrant disregard for the sovereignty, territorial integrity, unity, and political independence of Lebanon under the sole and exclusive authority of the Lebanese government.” Although it is too early to tell, these strong words may signal the beginning of a more confrontational Syria policy.Instead of signaling an interest in reconciliation with the West, Damascus has pursued even greater cooperation with both Hezbollah and Iran. And although many on Capitol Hill have pointed to Syria’s provocations and cried foul, the Obama administration has continued to push engagement as its policy, leading lawmakers to delay the confirmation of Robert Ford, the proposed ambassador to Syria. Assad may soon discover that Obama’s outstretched hand was worth more than his own two clenched fists.

Desperate measures
November 1, 2010
Now Lebanon/Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud, of the Change and Reform bloc, suggested on Sunday that one way to defuse the ongoing crisis surrounding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon would be to hand the case over to the Lebanese judiciary.
How silly of us to not think of this option earlier. We forget that Lebanon’s judiciary is the envy of the rest of the world. How can a court that is merely founded by a UN Security Council resolution and based on what it calls the “highest international standards of criminal justice” compete with such a transparent, clean and efficient system as our own?
Minister Abboud is also concerned that some evidence will be tampered with if it remains in the hands of the STL. Again, we only have to look at the way in which the Hariri murder crime scene was handled in the aftermath of the blast to get an idea of the meticulous way in which the Lebanese authorities work.
But seriously though, the source of the current round of misinformation and threats – not to mention loopy ideas like Abboud’s – stems from the Thursday speech of Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah in which he called on all Lebanese to boycott the STL and, upping the ante further, declared that whoever cooperates with the tribunal is working against the Resistance.
Why? Because Nasrallah assures us that all data gathered by the STL is shared with that arch-bogeyman, Israel. As usual we only have his word on this allegation, and while that might be enough for some people to take to the bank, we prefer hard evidence before drawing our own conclusions. Still, Nasrallah is convinced and that’s what counts. “We have reached a very dangerous point where we can no longer remain silent… Our honor has been breached,” he declared.
Apart from asking Nasrallah when Hezbollah ever remained silent on anything, the more salient question is: Who is Nasrallah to speak for all Lebanese in the first place? Who is this man who holds no public office to tell us that our honor has been breached and that, in his party’s convoluted way, if we support the tribunal we are in some way giving succor to a country that his party, not Lebanon, is hell-bent on destroying. How dare he? And while we are on the subject of honor or dignity, call it what you will, Nasrallah should recall the honor he showed the Lebanese people when he sent his masked gunmen onto the streets of Beirut on May 7, 2008.
Then again Hezbollah appears to live by a two-pronged creed that it deploys to outstanding effect when it wants to intimidate and blackmail.
The first unshakeable tenet is that the Resistance is divine and can do no wrong. Hence the party could never have been involved in the murder of a former Lebanese prime minister and 21 others on February 14, 2005. If it is being accused it is because someone wants to take it down, simply.
The second principle is “if you are not with us, you are pro-Israel,” a card that it plays to stunning effect even though the most basic logic argues that opposing A does not necessarily mean one is endorsing B. The Lebanese can disagree with Israeli policies and actions, not to mention recall past atrocities, and still demand international law deliver justice in the Hariri killing.
Yes, it is likely that Israel is following the STL’s activities closely. It would dearly love to see Hezbollah hurt, but again it is a curious logic to assume that this means the court has been tainted. We must place our trust in international justice. To simply lash out at a legal entity because the US, Israel and the vast majority of the international community support it only serves to create internal instability.
If Nasrallah is feeling the heat - and his increasingly inflammatory statements suggest he is – he shouldn’t seek to bring the country down with him. If, as his number two Naim Qassem says, Hezbollah has nothing to hide and is innocent, then it should cooperate with the STL and show that it too believes in justice. For all our sakes.

Syria's Shaaban: Meetings with Hariri Depend on Circumstances
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar Assad's advisor Buthaina Shaaban said meetings with Prime Minister Saad Hariri depend on the circumstances. "Contacts with Prime Minister Saad Hariri may stop at one point and then resume, depending on the circumstances," Shaaban said in an interview published Monday by As-Safir newspaper. "However, there is no problem in the relationship between Syria and Hariri and a meeting could take place at any moment," she said. "Things are good," Shaaban stressed, pointing out that an Assad-Hariri contact may take place "at any moment when the need arises." Beirut, 01 Nov 10, 08:23

Berri's Optimism Stems From 'Data I Cannot Disclose'
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri said he is optimistic in resolving the current crisis.He said his optimism stems from "data I cannot disclose." "I do not promote optimism just to pass time, but based on data I possess that I cannot disclose right now," Berri said. He said Syrian-Saudi consultations were ongoing in an effort to find a solution to the crisis over the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Berri said he was also relying on France's "active role," particularly after his successful visit to Paris. Beirut, 01 Nov 10, 08:09

Hizbullah Simulation Aims to Hold Grip on Lebanon, Besiege Hariri in Less than 2 Hours
Naharnet/Hizbullah has reportedly unleashed a simulation of the zero hour aimed at holding both a security and military grip on Lebanon and corner Prime Minister Saad Hariri.
A report published Monday by al-Akhbar newspaper said that prior to Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's Oct. 28 speech a "main Opposition group was carrying out an electronic, field simulation for the assumed zero hour." This was an indirect reference to Hizbullah.
The simulation, according to the daily, preceded an electronic Israeli simulation for a future war with Hizbullah that could reach Tel Aviv.
It said the Hizbullah mockup was based on a scenario of the issuance of the International Tribunal indictment accusing Hizbullah of ex-PM Rafik Hariri's assassination.
Just a few hours before issuance of the indictment, Hizbullah plans to deploy security and political forces en masse, without bloodshed and without targeting citizens or residential areas, the report said. The quick implementation on the ground, which was carried out in less than two hours, was "designed to hold a security and military grip on large areas of Lebanon," Al-Akhbar wrote. It said among the targets, were also centers and sites as well as political, military and security figures. The plan also aims at looking for (simultaneously and during a two-hour period) the officials Syria had issued arrest warrants against or those who tried to stir sectarian strife.The report said Hizbullah's plan includes pinning down those officials' whereabouts and arresting them "in order to curtail their movement and get hold of major cities in Lebanon."
The report said Hizbullah's plan includes pinning down those officials' whereabouts and arresting them "in order to curtail their movement and hold a grip on major cities in Lebanon from the capital and the suburbs to the Kesrouan highlands and north Lebanon and well as holding a grip on seaports and border crossings to prevent the escape of personalities."
Al-Akhbar said news may not have reached Prime Minister Saad Hariri that his mansion in downtown Beirut, better known as Center House, and the Grand Serail have been toppled and that they are in the hands of Hizbullah security forces and that Hariri had been isolated. Beirut, 01 Nov 10, 10:33

Fares Soueid
November 1, 2010
On October 31, the Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) carried the following report:
The coordinator of the March 14 General Secretariat Fares Soueid talked about the current developments during a political meeting held at the headquarters of the Syriac Union Party in Sadd al-Bouchrieh. He said, “Lebanon in the pre-Ahmadinejad visit stage is not like Lebanon in the post-visit stage. Before Ahmadinejad’s visit, Hezbollah tried to say to the Lebanese people that it was a Lebanese party possessing weapons to defend the country and liberate the land occupied by the Israelis. It was trying to say that its alliance with Iran was due to the arms support it was providing and that the party would offer blood to defend Lebanon, claiming to have the right to differentiate itself from the other sects. This was believed by a team of Lebanese. However, following Ahmadinejad’s visit, the Iranian president defined the position of the party, the mission of these weapons and the side in charge of these weapons and their goals.
[Ahmadinejad said] that this party, the South and the entire country among others, are one front under Iran’s command, that the arms aim at overthrowing the global imperialistic regime and at eliminating the Zionist entity and that the entire region is under Persian Islamic control, thus toppling the talk about the fact that these arms do not aim at destroying Lebanon, but rather at liberating occupied Lebanese territories. Ahmadinejad announced that the command of these arms was not in Lebanon but in Iran, and that this region has fallen under the control of the Islamic Republic, even culturally, with the introduction of new terms such as ‘Khosh Amadid’ [Welcome] among others. Had I been in Hezbollah’s place, I would not have been pleased with Ahmadinejad’s visit. The party was trying to convince and actually convinced the Lebanese Republic to sit around the dialogue table with the parties who do not possess arms, and discuss the ways to introduce it into the legitimate power. However, the exposure of these arms, their goals and size toppled the dialogue table.
The current situation is unacceptable because there is an Arab wish to keep Lebanon from being part of the Iranian political space. It is thus not allowed for Lebanon to fall under Iranian influence, the proof of that being the political balance which has imposed itself since Ahmadinejad conducted his visit and until this day. There is one team in Lebanon saying that the country should be free, sovereign and independent, and another saying that Lebanon’s security and Israel’s security are in its hands and that if the international community wishes to see stability in this region, it must talk to it. Everyone knows that on November 16-17, Iran is invited to engage in dialogue with the P5+1. Before that time, I think that something very dangerous will happen in Lebanon. Iran is activating its team in the region to improve the circumstances of the negotiations with the United States. If an agreement is reached, none of the other sides will matter and all these armed parties will return to the table of negotiations like all the remaining major parties.
We are not weak because the will of our people to defend Lebanon is exceptional. When Abu Ammar threatened the entity and Syria, the Christians were the first to defend Lebanon. There is a threat targeting the Lebanese entity through the attempts to control it and change its cultural and political aspects. The Christians will deter these attempts. We do not have weapons, we do not use weapons and we do not want to form a militia in the face of another militia. However, we will use diplomatic means and corroborate our insistence on maintain the state in order to deter this attempt. The defense of the entity should be done via a Lebanese state rising above the sects, and this is a very important issue which is seen for the first time in Lebanon’s modern history.
Some called Saad Hariri the avenger of blood, but they are wrong. The avengers of blood are one and a half million Lebanese people. The most dangerous thing which Hezbollah is trying to consecrate in Lebanon is the fact that the law is not applied on the powerful in the country… But the war days have ended since 1992 and the law cannot be implemented on only one team of Lebanese and not the other because it possesses arms. [What] requires a confrontation is the attempt to isolate Lebanon from the international community and saying that whoever deals with the tribunal is Israeli. By doing so, they are asking Lebanon to sever its relations with the international community.
We are strong and are not alone in this battle. Therefore, we will not pull out from it, [there is a plan] for Iran to negotiate on behalf of Lebanon and all the Arabs, and to say that no negotiations will be successful without Iran’s presence around the table. Syria exited Lebanon thanks to the strength of the March 14 supporters, and not one act of violence occurred. Through its insistence on the peacefulness of its action, its democracy and Arab and international relations, the March 14 team will stand in the face of Hezbollah’s arms. No one can scare us in this land, neither Ahmadinejad nor a thousand of him. We have our roots in this country.”

The Significance of Boycotting the Special Tribunal
Sun, 31 October 2010
By: Abdullah Iskandar
Hezbollah’s call, a few days ago, for boycotting UN investigators looking into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri can be considered the culmination of the party’s stance on the Special Tribunal. Indeed, Hezbollah has shed doubt on this tribunal since its establishment, voiced reservations to sanctioning it and withdrawn its ministers from the government cabinet in protest to its sanctioning, which resulted in a political and security crisis, one which could only be contained in the Doha Agreement and the election of a President of the Republic.
And despite the fact that state institutions, especially the Presidency and the cabinet of ministers, were not able to fully exercise their role, by virtue of the structure of the cabinet and of the successive crises which were due to the Special Tribunal in the first place, the situation in Lebanon remained subjected to a ceiling of understandings, some of the main features of which were to move forward with the National Dialogue Table, to include the right of resistance (i.e. keeping weapons in the hands of Hezbollah) in the Ministerial Statement, and to support the Special Tribunal.
Intermittently holding the National Dialogue Table and speaking officially of the formula of the army, the people and the resistance, as well as of supporting UN resolutions regarding Lebanon, among them the Special Tribunal, all of this has produced at least a minimum of internal stability at the security level. It had still been hoped that the National Dialogue Table, which was discussing the national defense strategy, would find some kind of formula for Hezbollah’s weapons within the system of defense – making such weapons, at least in official discourse, an issue being worked on resolving internally and without foreign interference. The formula of the army and the resistance protects these weapons from being targeted by foreign parties, in an effort to reassure Hezbollah about its weapons – provided that all of this is accompanied by consensus, at the National Dialogue Table and in the Ministerial Statement, over the Special Tribunal.
In such a climate, Hezbollah cooperated with UN investigators, despite all of its reservations over the tribunal, its function, how it was formed, and the mechanism governing its work. Such cooperation cannot be viewed as separate from the general climate in the country following the Doha Agreement. Indeed, it reflects recognition by Hezbollah – which is party to the National Dialogue Table, the Doha Agreement and the government cabinet – that it is part of the internal political game, even if it is the strongest party within it. And Hezbollah remained this way, even when it began declaring that the tribunal was politicized and served Israeli goals, reaching up to asking it to direct its investigation towards Israel, on the basis of evidence and clues on the field and at the political level. Indeed, the party continued to consider that the evidence it held could reach the tribunal’s investigators through Lebanese courts, in order to reach the truth.
In other words, Hezbollah remained within the circle of internal consensus over the main headlines, and the political partner of others within the framework of respecting the Lebanese state’s international commitments. And in spite of what befell this partnership in terms of provoking issues of dispute and of taking unilateral initiatives, Hezbollah clung to giving itself such an image, and made sure not to sever relations with the state or with its other partners.
Today, the declaration made by Hezbollah in the words of its Secretary-General Sayyid Hassan Nasrallah of boycotting the Special Tribunal does not represent only a stance on the tribunal in itself, especially as it has had this very same stance ever since the tribunal was established. Indeed, demanding that the state and its officials exercise similar boycott makes it breach the minimum consensus, in all the issues that it covers, especially the National Dialogue Table and the formula of the army (the state), the people and the resistance. And that is the fundamental significance of calling on Lebanon to boycott the Special Tribunal.
Indeed, the issue here does not concern the UN investigation into the Hariri assassination and how it is conducted. Rather, it concerns the new position Hezbollah has chosen for itself on the Lebanese scene, based on regional and perhaps domestic assessments. Indeed, the party now falls, at the political level, outside of ministerial agreement and internal consensus, thus threatening the National Dialogue Table, which represents the effective guarantee of stability at the security level. Constitutionally, the part now falls outside of the state, threatening the latter’s internal balance as well as its international commitments as per the United Nations Charter, and therefore its existence as a member of this international organization.

Are U.S. Officials Understanding and Responding to Middle East Crises? Ya Think?
By Barry Rubin * Gloria Center
http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/10/are-us-officials-understanding
October 28, 2010
If you've lost faith in the current administration's ability and mass media's ability to respond to Middle East developments, here's more evidence. There's a relatively new American idiomatic expression, "Ya [you] think?" Said sarcastically, it means: Wow, duh, the answer to that question is really obvious! So consider how hidden, obscure stories [sarcasm] are being dug out by policymakers and top media. The New York Times reports that the U.S. government is "increasingly alarmed by unrest in Lebanon, whose own fragile peace is being threatened by militant opponents of a politically charged investigation into the killing in 2005 of a former Lebanese leader." Ya think? Lebanon has been taken over (or recaptured, if you wish) by the Iran-Syria anti-American, revolutionary Islamist, terrorist-sponsoring axis, operating largely--though by no means completely--through their client, Hizballah. Might this be of some concern for U.S. policymakers? Four years ago, Lebanon was run by an independent-minded, pro-Western government that would have preferred peace with Israel (though knew that was impossible), opposed Iran, and saw radical Islamism as its antagonist. Today, Lebanon has been "lost" in large part through Western (don't forget France's responsibility) weakness and inaction.
I predict that even on this latest point the administration is wrong. There isn't going to be any big conflict over any report that the Syrians murdered former Prime Minister Rafiq Harari. Everybody in Lebanon knows that Syria did so, possibly (though this is far less certain) with Hizballah's help.
But there won't be any problem if the UN-backed investigation publicly states this because everyone in Lebanon has also been intimidated into silence. Even Harari's own son, the most important Sunni Muslim leader and head of the Sunni-Christian-Druze [well, no longer Druze since they have joined the pro-Syrian side for all practical purposes] has surrendered to Damascus. And of course there remains the question of what, if anything, this administration will do about Lebanon. Answer: Nothing, except continue to aid the army which, at best, is neutral and, at worst, is an ally of Hizballah. Speaking of Syria and great discoveries. The Washington Post reports that Syria just doesn't seem to be responding to administration efforts to engage, moderate, and pull that country out of Iran's orbit.
Ya think?
During the last almost two years there has been example after example of Syria opposing all aspects of U.S. policy; sponsoring terrorism to kill Americans in Iraq and against Israel; sabotage the Israel-Palestinian peace process; dominate Lebanon; help Hamas and Hizballah; and build an ever-tighter alliance with Iran.
And now people in Washington are starting to notice this? So what will the administration do, end engagement with Syria and take a tough line? Ya think?
Should I mention the blindness towards the Turkish regime's entrance into the Iran-Syria-Hamas-Hizballah bloc, and the need for U.S. opposition to that government to help ensure its defeat in next year's election? Hint: In an interview Republican People's Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu states, "Washington is just beginning to wake up to the true nature" of the current regime. If that government ever does, it will understand that victory for Kilicdaroglu is a vital U.S. interest.
Should I mention that nothing could be more obvious than the fact that the Israel-Palestinian negotiations process is going to go nowhere because the Palestinian Authority doesn't want to make a deal with Israel. And then add that this problem is being exacerbated by U.S. policy making the PA believe this strategy can succeed fully by getting recognition for a unilateral declaration of independence?
Should I mention the new U.S. policy of engaging the Taliban is disastrous and may result in the movement that partnered the September 11 attacks against America returning to power? The New York Times published an anthropologists' op-ed explaining how the United States can coopt the Taliban and turn it against al-Qaida! Ya think?
But don't take my word for it. Ask the would-be Times Square bomber who worked with that group, or a teenager who describes how the Taliban tried to recruit him as a suicide bomber (something it will be able to do to lots more youth if it can operate legally.
And here's what New York Times reporter David Rhode wrote after spending several months as a Taliban prisoner in 2009: "Before the kidnapping, I viewed the organization as a form of 'al-Qaeda lite'...primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan. Living side by side with the[m], I learned that the goal [was]...to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with Al Qaeda that spanned the Muslim world." Ya think? Should I mention the total reversal of U.S. policy on Hamas from trying to undermnie that radical Islamist group's rule in the Gaza Strip to believing Hamas will fall if Gaza becomes prosperous? Should I mention that most Arab governments are shocked at U.S. expressions of weakness and want a strong American policy to protect them from Iran and revolutionary Islamists? Should I mention that despite the praiseworthy (but overdue) increase in anti-Iran sanctions there's no doubt that Tehran will get nuclear weapons and this development will transform the strategic balance in the region? Should I mention that the administration doesn't react to its own intelligence which shows Iran is helping kill Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan through training terrorists and supplying both advisors and military equipment in both countries? Eighteen months ago I laid out all of these points in detail and pointed out the needed U.S. policy to respond. Every one of these issues has developed predictably since then. Anybody in the U.S. government noticing these things and perhaps getting prepared to do something about them? Ya think?