LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 18/2012
Bible Quotation for today/God's
Call and Choice
02 Peter/ 01-15: " From Simon Peter, a
servant and apostle of Jesus Christ To those who through the righteousness of
our God and Savior Jesus Christ have been given a faith as precious as ours: May
grace and peace be yours in full measure through your knowledge of God and of
Jesus our Lord. God's divine power has given us everything we need to live a
truly religious life through our knowledge of the one who called us to share in
his own[glory and goodness. In this way he has given us the very great and
precious gifts he promised, so that by means of these gifts you may escape from
the destructive lust that is in the world, and may come to share the divine
nature. For this very reason do your best to add goodness to your faith; to your
goodness add knowledge; to your knowledge add self-control; to your self-control
add endurance; to your endurance add godliness; to your godliness add Christian
affection; and to your Christian affection add love. These are the qualities you
need, and if you have them in abundance, they will make you active and effective
in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if you do not have them, you are
so shortsighted that you cannot see and have forgotten that you have been
purified from your past sins. So then, my friends, try even harder to make God's
call and his choice of you a permanent experience; if you do so, you will never
abandon your faith.11 In this way you will be given the full right to enter the
eternal Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.2 And so I will always
remind you of these matters, even though you already know them and are firmly
grounded in the truth you have received. I think it only right for me to stir up
your memory of these matters as long as I am still alive. I know that I shall
soon put off this mortal body, as our Lord Jesus Christ plainly told me. I will
do my best, then, to provide a way for you to remember these matters at all
times after my death.
Latest
analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous
sources
Al-Assad: Between the carrot and the stick/By Tariq
Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat/March 17/2012
Syria: The forbidden truth/By Diana
Mukkaled/Asharq Alawsat/March 17/2012
Veteran U.S. political
commentator: I would be shocked if Israel were to attack Iran/By Yael
Lavie/Haaretz/
March 17/2012
Iran: what if nothing happens/By
Anthony Bubalo/Haaretz/March 17/2012
An apology from the South/By: Hazem al-Amin/Now Lebanon/March 17/2012
Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for
March 17/2012
At least 27
dead in Damascus bombings. Russians man Syrian air defenses
Syrian security compounds hit by deadly twin attack
Annan urges UN Security Council to break Syria deadlock
Turkey urges citizens to leave Syria, set to cut consular
services
Five Syrian opposition groups form new coalition
France 'Strongly Condemns' Damascus Blasts
Russia: Annan not Seeking Assad's Ouster
U.N. Team to Leave for Syria Monday
Report: Gulf Arab states to close Syria embassies over
regime violence
Baghdad to Iran: No arms to Syria over Iraq
Opposition Israeli leader Tzipi Livni 'Israel must sharpen
condemnation of Syria'
Saudi sends military equipment to Syria rebels: diplomat
Annan warns of Syria escalation, says talks continue
Islamic Jihad seeks 'balance of terror' with Israel
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon Iran
terrorists could be plotting next attack
Veteran U.S. political commentator: I would be shocked if
Israel were to attack Iran
India issues warrants for Iranians suspected in attack on
Israeli embassy
Indian journalist involved in Delhi attack on Israeli
embassy also connected to Bangkok bombers
India links Delhi terror attack on Israeli embassy to
botched Thai bombing
Rai travels to Egypt, will meet religious figures
Al-Rahi Travels to Cairo Amid Spat with LF
U.S. Says $5 Million of Hizbullah’s Assets Frozen
President Michel Sleiman says Lebanese should not add fuel
to Syrian fire
Syrian uprising flag in Mukhtara
Hezbollah, Cypriot FM discuss obstacles to offshore oil
extraction
Escort services in Lebanon slip through cracks of law
Lebanese swept up in worldwide tide of green for St.
Patrick’s Day
Lebanon:8-year-old boy
among 3 dead after school wall collapses in Minyeh
Lebanon: Rallies for
and against Assad return to Martyrs' Square
Ex Lebanon's PM,
Siniora decries army's alleged mistreatment of antique gun owner
Beirut: Minister Bassil
warns of 12-hour power outages this summer
Lebanon:
Wall collapses at Metn church
Lebanon, France Conduct Joint Military Exercise
Lebanon: Spiritual Summit on March 25 to Discuss Syrian
Crisis Repercussions on Lebanon, Coexistence
STL: Fransen Rejects Indictment Amendment, Baragwanath
Suspends Defining 'Criminal Association'
Hezbollah MP, Walid Succariyeh says Syria heading toward
“war of attrition”
U.S. Says $5 Million of Hizbullah’s Assets Frozen
by Naharnet/ 17 March 2012, 06:46
The Terrorist Assets Report referred by the Department of Treasury to the
Congress found that around $5 million in Hizbullah assets were blocked in the
United States.
A chart in the report said exactly $4,882,893 were blocked as of 2011.The 20th
annual report to the Congress found $21.1 million in assets blocked from
“specially designated global terrorists, terrorists threatening the Middle East
peace process and foreign terrorist organizations.”It described Hizbullah as a
“terrorist organization threatening to disrupt” the Mideast peace process.
The U.S. has identified Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria as state sponsors of
terrorism. The Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) said it
identified a total of $520.1 million in assets from the four countries, blocking
$398.6 million of it. OFAC is the lead office responsible for implementing
sanctions with respect to assets of "international terrorist organizations and
terrorism-supporting countries."
Rai leaves for Cairo, retorts to his critics by quoting
Jesus
March 17, 2012 /Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai on Saturday left
Beirut for Cairo where he is expected to meet with a number of Egyptian state
and religious figures, the National News Agency reported. Before his departure,
Rai commented on the criticisms his latest remarks generated.
He told reporters at Beirut-Rafic Hariri International Airport: “The Bible says
we are unprofitable servants; we have done that which was our duty to do. This
is what Jesus Christ says.”
“A fruit laden tree shows humbleness and bows down so that people can cultivate
its fruits.” Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said earlier in the week: “It
saddens me to hear statements from the Patriarch that have a negative impact on
us and the Patriarchate.”His comments come in response to Rai’s statements to
Reuters that all groups in the region were threatened by "war and violence,
economic and security crises,” with Christians being especially vulnerable
because of their comparatively small and decreasing numbers.The Patriarch also
said that “the closest thing” to democracy in the Arab world was Syria and that
he was against “turning the Arab Spring into winter.”-NOW Lebanon
Rai travels to Egypt, will meet
religious figures
March 17, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai
departed on a four-day visit to Egypt Saturday as part of his regional pastoral
tour, intending to deepen national and ecclesiastical ties between the two
countries. “We are still in the process of our pastoral visits to parishes in
Lebanon, in the East and even further than that. Today, we visit our parishes in
Cairo, where [Maronites] have been for 260 years, since 1745,” Rai told
reporters at Rafik Hariri International Airport before his departure. Tourism
Minister Fadi Abboud accompanied Rai to the airport along with Egypt’s
Ambassador to Lebanon Mohammad Tawfiq as well as other religious and political
figures. Rai said he was scheduled to meet with a number of religious figures
including the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church, Pope Shenouda III, Coptic
Catholic Patriarch Antonios Najib and Greek Orthodox Patriarch of Alexandria
Theodoros II. “We will also meet with Egyptian officials to strengthen the
friendship between Egypt and Lebanon on the national and church levels," Rai
added.
President Michel Sleiman says
Lebanese should not add fuel to Syrian fire
March 17, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman said in remarks published Saturday that Lebanon
should remain on the sidelines regarding events in Syria, and that Lebanese
should not risk inflaming the situation.
“The lesson of Lebanese’ noninterference [in Syria] is that they should not add
fuel to the fire as long as they are unable to put it out,” Sleiman told An-Nahar
newspaper in an article in defense of the government’s policy to disassociate
itself from the crisis in its neighbor. Lebanese officials have said that their
country should not involve itself in the unrest in Syria, arguing that Lebanon
cannot be in confrontation with any Arab country -- particularly Syria given
Lebanon's historical and geopolitical ties with it. Sleiman also commented on
the one-year uprising against President Bashar Assad, saying that Syrian people
all strive for democracy, and adding that when a true democracy takes shape, the
people will decide who they want to keep in power or change.
“Those who participated in the referendum and those who boycotted it both said
that they want democracy. All that is left is for them to know how to apply it
in a correct way capable of preserving the components of Syria’s society and not
drain the country of [these] civilizational components, as represented by the
presence of [a multitude of] sects," he added.
Sleiman has supported Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai's warning against the
transfromation of the "Arab Spring" into what he described as an "Arab winter,"
given what he says is the rise of extremists in countries that have witnessed
drastic change. The president has said that Rai, in his statements, sought to
preserve the presence of free Christians in the Levant in the face of popular
upheavals sweeping the Arab world. Commenting on the participation of Lebanon in
the Arab League summit scheduled for March 29 in Baghdad, which is expected to
touch on the crisis in Syria, Sleiman said that Lebanon’s attendance is never
tied to anything, and that the country makes its decisions independently.
“Lebanon is the foundation of the Arab League and there is no value or meaning
to it without [Lebanon],” he said.
“When Lebanon decides to attend or be absent from a meeting, this is not related
to anything," he continued, noting that "we are trying to have everyone be
present [at the summit] because it is called the Arab League." On domestic
issues, Sleiman dismissed remarks that his request to raise the retirement age
of army generals was related to his desire to extend his term.
"Forget this talk of extending [terms]," he said. "We want to consolidate our
democratic system which relies on the rotation of power under all
circumstances," Sleiman added.
Hezbollah MP, Walid Succariyeh says Syria heading toward “war of attrition”
March 17, 2012 /Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Walid Succariyeh said on
Saturday that Western countries “will not agree on a political solution [for the
Syrian crisis] and the situation will head toward a war of attrition in Syria.”
The Hezbollah MP told Al-Manar television station that the Syrian opposition “is
multi-colored and not united. There are fundamentalist groups among the
opposition [in Syria] that are being manipulated by [foreign forces].” The
Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says that the unrest in Syria has left over
9,000 people killed since protests erupted in the strife-stricken country in
mid-March 2011.Succariyeh said that Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid
Jumblatt “has placed a bet on the collapse of the Syrian regime and he believes
that the Syrian opposition is avenging [the murder] of his father—who according
to Jumblatt was assassinated by the Syrian regime.” Jumblatt placed the flag of
the Syrian revolution on his father, former PSP leader Kamal Jumblatt’s, grave
on Friday.
-NOW Lebanon
An apology from the South
Hazem al-Amin/Now Lebanon/March 16, 2012
This YouTube link contains video footage of an incident that occurred aboard a
Middle East Airlines flight from Paris to Beirut. It seems that the passenger
who caused the incident was drunk. The incident could have been of normal and
passing occurrence had the man not said in the midst of his inexplicable rage,
“I am from the South,” and repeated this expression as though it were enough to
instill fear in those confronting him! Likewise, one of those who tried to
control the man’s angry rampage said something that is equally worth commenting
on, as he addressed the angry man, saying: “If you are from the South, then I am
from Baalbek!” Accordingly, one cannot confront anyone from the South except
through someone from Baalbek. Passengers aboard the plane were from all regions,
ages and classes. Crew members had competences, influence and capacities but all
of that could not be used to control the defiance of someone saying “I am from
the South.” Since “nothing strikes iron but iron,” another passenger invoked his
being from Baalbek in order to confront the man’s argument of hailing from the
South. However, the former soon found out that his being from Baalbek is “old
news,” the efficiency of which was lost as the South rose to the forefront. The
incident could have been ordinary and insignificant were it not for this
symbolic substance, which was invoked by a drunken man who felt that his hailing
from the South is an excess of strength that can be exploited at an altitude of
40,000 feet. In reality, all Lebanese know where this feeling of excess strength
comes from, and many feel exposed to its potential implications every day. The
“field” strength of Hezbollah and its political and security fringes is no
longer an implied matter, the mechanisms of which operate within political
realms; rather, it has become part and parcel of the Lebanese people’s life.
It would be unjust to say that Hezbollah prompted this man to do what he did
aboard that flight. However, it would not be unjust to lay the blame on this
excess strength in order to explain what the man did. He is not a member of
Hezbollah and, in all likelihood, he was punished as soon as the plane landed
and did not find anyone to save him. However, the most important part of the
Middle East Airlines incident is that “being from the South” has acquired an
intimidation potential that can be brandished to counter any power and within
the framework of any confrontation. Loading the fact of “being from the South”
with such a negative substance was based on the logic of excess strength spread
by Hezbollah on the streets. This can be felt even by those who are weak and
from the South like us. Despite our weak influence, our variety of ages and our
waning strength, we enlist caution among many of those who share with us this
same weakness and weariness.
Any power, whether actual or implied, has values and meanings that should be
generalized. Power also has a spoken form, images and arts it seeks to spread
and adopt. “Being from the South”, as an accent, a logic and tact, is being
brought to us today in the language and accent of power, thus tearing it out of
its past and implications. In this sense, “being from the South” acquires a new
meaning, which represents a major break with the past.
However, the power suggesting its accent onto us is unwanted by more than half
of the Lebanese people. As it is aware of this fact, it loads its accent with
the utmost level of arrogance and turns words into keys of implicit
intimidation. Those who are most affected by the newly acquired substance of
“being from the South” are undoubtedly those who are from the South but do not
derive any strength out of it. They are the victims of this expression, over and
over again and at an altitude of 40,000 feet, someone stole their “being from
the South” and used it to threaten the plane passengers.
**This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW
Arabic site on Friday March 16, 2012
Syrian uprising flag in Mukhtara
March 17, 2012/By Maher Zeineddine /The Daily Star
MUKHTARA, Lebanon: Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblatt marked the
35th anniversary of the assassination of his father Kamal Friday by placing a
pre-Baath flag of Syria on the grave of the PSP founder. “The 35th anniversary
is a day of speaking candidly to one’s self, of returning to roots. Long live
free Syria!” Jumblatt said during a memorial ceremony at his residence in his
hometown of Mukhtara in the Chouf mountains. Anti-regime protesters in Syria,
who have been in the streets for a year, wave pre-Baath era Syrian flags during
demonstrations.
Jumblatt has expressed his support for Syria’s uprising, blasting Syrian
President Bashar Assad’s brutal crackdown on protesters and calling on him to
step down.
In a ceremony later in the day, Jumblatt said “the Syrian people will survive
and the life of tyrants is short.”
Locals and a host of politicians and PSP officials flocked to Jumblatt’s
residence in Mukhtara to pay respects to his late father.
Although Syrian troops are believed to have killed his father, the younger
Jumblatt has long been an ally of Syria and once said that he “forgave” his
father’s assassins. His ties with the Syrian regime frayed in the wake of the
2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, when the PSP leader
blamed Damascus for the crime.
But Jumblatt withdrew from the March 14 coalition in August 2009 and toned down
his rhetoric against Syria. This move culminated in a reconciliatory meeting
with Assad in March 2010, but ties between Jumblatt and Assad cooled again in
the wake of Syria’s uprising.
Participants in the memorial marched with the PSP leader to Jumblatt’s grave,
where Druze sheikhs performed prayers and visitors laid wreaths amid a steady
snowfall.
Accompanying Jumblatt were his sons Taymour and Aslan, a delegation representing
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, representatives of Palestinian factions,
Economy Minister Nicolas Nahhas on behalf of Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Sidon
MP Bahia Hariri, Chouf MP Marwan Hamade along with other March 14 MPs, PSP
ministers, MPs from Jumblatt’s bloc and the late Jumblatt’s comrades. No March 8
bloc figures participated in the event.
Kamal Jumblatt and his bodyguard and driver Fawzi Shedid and Hafez Ghoseini were
shot dead by gunmen who intercepted their car in the Chouf on March 16, 1977.
The late Jumblatt founded the PSP in 1949 and headed the National Movement, a
coalition of Lebanese leftist factions that fought alongside Palestine
Liberation Organization militants against Christian parties during Lebanon’s
1975-1990 Civil War.
Among those phoning Jumblatt for the occasion were former President Amin Gemayel,
former Prime Ministers Saad Hariri and Fouad Siniora, Bsharri MP Strida Geagea
of the Lebanese Forces, north Lebanon mufti Sheikh Malek Shaar, and Sidon-based
Sheikh Ahmad Assir. Jumblatt also received a telegram from Russia’s Ambassador
to Lebanon Alexander Zasypkin.
In a ceremony in Baaqlin later Friday to mark Kamal Jumblatt’s assassination and
to unveil a statue dedicated to PSP martyrs, the PSP leader saluted the martyrs
of “the Syrian Arab Revolution” along with those of Baaqlin and the rest of the
Chouf who were killed during the Civil War.
The Druze leader said that no matter how harsh political bickering is in the
country, “we must resort to democratic dialogue ... because the innocent will
pay the price of strife in a civil war [if one erupts].”
Speaking during the same ceremony, Hamade, who hails from Baaqlin, said that
Syrian Druze “are today facing the most dangerous conspiracies ... which are
dragging them to enlist in the Shabbiha [thugs] of Assad’s falling regime and to
clash with their brethren.”
Hamade called on the Druze in Syria not to fall in the Syrian regime’s “trap,”
saluting the “child martyrs in Deraa, Homs, Hama, Idlib” and the “heroes of
Damascus.”
Hamade praised Walid Jumblatt, calling him “my first ... and dearest comrade.”
Hamade broke off from Jumblatt’s Parliamentary bloc in January 2011, over a
dispute in naming a prime minister following the fall of Saad Hariri’s
government.
Hezbollah, Cypriot FM discuss obstacles to offshore oil
extraction
March 17, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Hezbollah MP Mohammad Raad met with Cyprus’ Foreign Minister Erato
Kozakou-Marcoullis Saturday and discussed issues of mutual concern including
Lebanon's maritime border dispute with Israel. The resistance party's press
office said Raad spoke to Kozakou-Marcoullis about Israel's occupation of
Lebanese territory and its continuous violation of the country's sovereignty. He
also addressed Israel's violation of Lebanon's Exclusive Economic Zone. During
the meeting, which was attended by head of Hezbollah's International Relations
office Ammar Musawi, the three also discussed bilateral relations and
developments in the region. Kozakou-Marcoullis has expressed her country's
willingness to help resolve the dispute between Lebanon and the Jewish state.
The disagreement is blocking Lebanon's approval of a 2007 agreement in which the
edges of the Exclusive Economic Zones between Lebanon and Cyprus were
delineated.
Cyprus has approved the bilateral agreement. Lebanon maintains that a 2010
agreement between Israel and Cyprus delineating maritime borders violates its
own borders as both Lebanon and Israel lay claim to an 860 square kilometer area
said to be rich in oil and natural gas. Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah
has warned Israel against any attempt to encroach on Lebanon’s resource-rich
territorial waters.
Kozakou-Marcoullis met with a number of officials including President Michel
Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel
Aoun and former President and Kataeb leader Amin Gemayel. During her visit to
Lebanon, which began Thursday, the Cypriot official has said that it is in the
interest of Lebanon, Cyprus and Israel to resolve the maritime border dispute as
soon as possible so that the extraction of resources could commence within the
framework of mutual Cypriot-Lebanese economic relations.
8-year-old boy among 3 dead after school wall collapses in
Minyeh
March 17, 2012/ The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Three people, including an 8-year-old
boy, died Saturday and seven were injured after a wall collapsed at a school in
Bhaneen village in the district of Minyeh, north Lebanon. Security sources
identified the dead students as Usama Zrayqa,15, Abdel-Rahman al-Siddiq, 16, and
Ahmad al-Rifai, 8. The seven injured students suffered various fractures and
were transferred to nearby hospitals. The incident ocurred at the Public
International Vocational School for Technical Studies. The wall, which was made
of mud, collapsed due to flooding caused by rain. President Michel Sleiman
expressed his deep sadness concerning the death of the three students, his press
office said Saturday. Sleiman also stressed the need to investigate the reason
behind the collapse of the wall. In January, a decades-old five-story building
in the neighborhood of Fassouh, Ashrafieh, collapsed killing 27 people and
injuring 12 others. The incident sent shockwaves across the country and prompted
the government to dismantle the Jal al-Dib bridge built shortly after the 1975
Civil War.Also Saturday, mudslides caused the collapse of a wall that was part
of a church in the Metn area, northeast of Beirut. Two cars were damaged.
Siniora decries army's alleged mistreatment of antique gun owner
March 17, 2012/ The Daily Star /SIDON, Lebanon: Head of the Future Movement
Parliamentary bloc MP Fouad Siniora urged the government Saturday to investigate
the alleged mistreatment by security forces of a Sidon man who was briefly
arrested last week for possession of arms.“The treatment that Hanqir received is
not acceptable. This is not the humane treatment that every person deserves,”
Siniora told reporters at a Sidon hospital where he was visiting Zakaria Hanqir,
the man who accused the army of mistreating him. Hanqir, 63, was admitted to
hospital for a health issue unrelated to his experience while detained. Hanqir
was briefly arrested last week for possession of arms and rifles which he argues
are part of his antique collection. He has said that the weapons are not usable
and that they date back 50 years. Prior to his arrest, security forces stormed
his house and found a large quantity of weapons along with an old unexploded
landmine.
During a talk with reporters on March 15, Hanqir recounted his interrogation at
the hands of the army’s intelligence unit and said that the investigator accused
him of smuggling arms into the northern town of Arsal and then to the Syrian
city of Homs, a rebel stronghold. He denied the allegations.Hanqir, a medical
doctor, accused security personnel of mistreatment during the
interrogation.Siniora also accused security forces of beating Hanqir and
verbally abusing him.“I was personally offended when I heard what they did to
him ... I ask the president and the prime minister directly to handle the
investigation into this matter because it is not acceptable,” he added.Siniora,
a former prime minister, added that security forces had the right to investigate
people suspected of violating the law.
Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon Iran
terrorists could be plotting next attack
Ynet Published: 03.16.12/, On 20th anniversary of attack on Israeli embassy in
Buenos Aires, Deputy FM slams Iran for targeting diplomats . Deputy Foreign
Minister Daniel Ayalon and Minister Yossi Peled attended a ceremony on Friday
marking the 20th anniversary of the terror attack that killed 29 at the Israeli
embassy in Buenos Aires. The commemorative event was held at the Israel Embassy
Square, which was built on the same grounds that housed the old embassy in the
Argentine capital. Local leaders were in attendance, as well as family members
of the attack's victims. Ayalon noted during the ceremony that those who are
responsible for the embassy attack, as well as a blast that targeted a Jewish
community center in Buenos Aires in 1994, remain uncaught, warning that they
could be "plotting their next attack." In his speech, the Foreign Ministry
official pointed a blaming finger at Iran, but asserted that the perpetrators of
the attack failed to open a rift between Buenos Aires and Jerusalem. He asserted
that that the attacks forged a pact between Israel and Argentina to fight "the
Iranian and global terrorism." He identified Iranian Defense Minister Ahmad
Vahidi has one of the individuals responsible for the attacks two decades ago.
Ayalon brought up the recent bombings and terror plots in India, Azerbaijan,
Georgia and Thailand, stressing that “Iran is the main responsible” for the
attacks. The diplomat accused the Islamic Republic of intentionally targeting
Israeli diplomats, thus undermining the primary means of peaceful conflict
resolution. Addressing Iran's disputed nuclear program, Ayalon said that the
Tehran is seeking to achieve a Mideast hegemony by developing atom weapons. He
posited that a nuclear Iran could completely alter the region's strategic map.
Baghdad to Iran: No arms to Syria over Iraq
By JPOST.COM STAFF 03/17/2012/Iraqi gov't statement comes one day after the US
said it was consulting with Baghdad about overflights transporting materiel.
Iraq will not permit Iran to ferry arms to Syria through or over its territory,
an Iraqi government spokesman said Saturday AFP reported. Iraqi government
spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the Iranian ambassador was told "Iraq will not
permit the use of its air space or its territory for th transit of any arms
cargo to Syria," according to the report.The United States on Friday said it was
in contact with Iraq and encouraging it to ensure no military cargo headed for
Syria is transported through Iraqi airspace. State Department spokeswoman
Victoria Nuland said in a press briefing that the US was "making the point that
any export of arms or related materials from Iran, frankly, to any destination
would be a violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1747."Any arms sent to
the President Bashar Assad's regime in Syria, she continued, "would obviously be
used in the brutal repression that the regime is exacting on its own people.At
least 27 people were killed and 97 were wounded in two explosions that hit
Damascus early Saturday, a Syrian television channel reported. The explosions
killed security force personnel and civilians, state television reported,
blaming what it said were terrorists behind the year-long uprising against Assad.
The explosions came two days after the first anniversary of year-long uprising,
in which the United Nations says more than 8,000 people have been killed and
some 230,000 forced to flee their homes as the violence spreads.Reuters
contributed to this report.
At least 27 dead in Damascus
bombings. Russians man Syrian air defenses
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report March 17, 2012/Syrian State TV reported two car
bombing attacks on Air Force Intelligence and Security Police Headquarters
killing at least 27 people and wounding 97 Saturday morning, March 17, accusing
“terrorist gangs.” In a third attack, a bomb was planted on a bus carrying
members of the Palestinian Liberation Army in the Al Yarmouk suburb of the
Syrian capital. The pro-Iranian PLA operates under Syrian military intelligence
command. debkafile reports: Western military experts tracking the various
centers of violence in the Middle East in the last eight days see a line
connecting the outbreak of missile fire from Gaza to southern Israel, which
erupted on March 9, the blasts which hit Damascus on March 17.
They were also linked to several more incidents in the wide region of Iraq,
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Lebanon, Iran, and Syria as the United States, NATO members
and Israel intensified their naval movements in the Mediterranean, the Red Sea
and the Gulf of Aden.
Those sources highlight three military developments, all involving Iran, in just
over a week:
1. Their initial premise is that the car bombings in Damascus Saturday were the
work of foreign hands, possibly set up by Saudi Arabia or Qatar to revive the
anti-Assad revolt, after the regime smashed the armed rebellion in its last
stronghold in Idlib. The rebels scattered, many of them to Turkey, although the
protest movement was not stamped out.
This defeat went down painfully in Saudi Arabia and Qatar, the rebels’ foremost
arms and fund suppliers, and they may have struck Assad’s strategic support
centers Saturday to inject new life in the armed revolt.
The fact that a pro-Iranian Palestinian group in Damascus was also targeted by
anti-Assad Arab powers was no more a coincidence than the targeting of the
pro-Iranian Jihad Islami in Gaza by the Israeli Air Force last week.
2. The airlift carrying aid to Assad last month, the biggest Iran had ever
organized, was critical in helping him win out over the revolt.
As OC US Central Command Gen. James Mattis explained March 3 to the Senate Armed
Services Committee: They (Iranians) are working earnestly to keep Assad in
power. They have flown in experts. They are flying in weapons. It is a
full-throated effort by Iran to keep Assad there and oppressing his own people.”
debkafile’s military sources add: This effort was made possible by Baghdad’s
permission to fly over Iraq directly to Syria. According to our Washington
sources, US President Barack Obama tried interceding with Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki to block the Iranian transport flights to Syria only to be
turned down.
The massive air transport of equipment on behalf of Bashar Assad served also as
a practice maneuver for Iran to staged airlifts of hardware to Middle East
arenas of interest in other potential conflicts, such as hostilities between
Syria and Lebanon and Israel.
This week, therefore, the Iranians took active part in two Middle East conflicts
in Syria and the Gaza Strip, where Israelis were partly consoled by the
performance of their homemade Iron Dome interceptor in blowing up a large number
of Iran-supplied Grad missiles before they landed on their cities.
Iran’s heavy involvement in a third area Yemen attracted less attention. Tehran
is keeping up a supply of arms and cash to northern and southern Yemeni tribes
fighting the government with a view to gaining a foothold in Yemen ports and
access to the Red Sea and Bab al-Mandeb Sraits, the meeting point between the
Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
3. Tuesday, March 13, Deputy Russian Defense Minister Alexei Antonov vigorously
denied accusations that Russian Special Forces were stationed in Syria. He would
only admit that “Syria has technical experts of the Russian military,” going on
to explain: “For example, where we export tanks… we have to send technical
experts to train our foreign counterparts to use the equipment.”
Intelligence sources confirm that the Russian official mentioned tanks, but not
the 50 Pantsyr-S1 interceptor batteries, now the backbone of Syrian air and
missile defenses, which Moscow sold Syria or that Russian military crews have
since mid-January taken over their operation from Syrian personnel.
This is what Gen. Martin Dempsey, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,
meant when he pointed out that “Syria's air defenses were five times more
sophisticated as those in Libya, making airstrikes riskier and more
complicated.”
So if the US, any NATO power, Turkey, Saudi Arabia or Qatar, is inclined to
embark on military operations to enforce security zones in Syria under a
protective umbrella of no fly-zones on the Libyan model, Gen. Dempsey warned
them they would be lethally challenged by a dense network of sophisticated
Russian-made air defenses operated by Russian experts. This network also
shielded the Iranian airlift to Syria from attack.
Syrian security compounds hit by deadly twin attack
BEIRUT, (Reuters) - Twin blasts hit the heart of Damascus on Saturday, killing
members of the security forces and civilians in an attack that state television
blamed on "terrorists" seeking to oust President Bashar al-Assad in a year-long
revolt. Syrian television reported that cars packed with explosives had targeted
an intelligence centre and a police compound at 7.30 am (0530 GMT), blowing the
front off one building and sending debris and shattered glass flying through the
streets. Gruesome images from the sites showed what appeared to be smoldering
bodies in two separate vehicles, a wrecked minivan smeared with blood, and
severed limbs collected in sacks. "We heard a huge explosion. At that moment the
doors in our house were blown out ... even though we were some distance from the
blast," one elderly man, with a bandage wrapped round his head, told the public
television channel. It said several people had died and more than 40 were
injured. No one claimed responsibility for the coordinated detonations, which
echoed a handful of similar attacks that have struck Damascus and Syria's second
city Aleppo since December. The explosions came just two days after the first
anniversary the year-long uprising, in which more than 8,000 people have been
killed and about 230,000 forced to flee their homes, according to United Nations
figures.They also coincided with a joint mission by the Syrian government, the
United Nations and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation that was due to start
assessing humanitarian needs in towns across Syria which have suffered from
months of unrest.
One source involved in the mission said team members were still gathering in
Syria and it was not immediately clear if they would begin their work this
weekend as previously planned.
ANNAN WARNING
The U.N.-Arab League envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, warned on Friday that the
crisis could spill over into other neighboring countries and urged international
powers to lay aside their differences and back his peace initiative. While the
West and much of the Arab world have lined up to demand that Assad steps down,
his allies Russia, China and Iran have defended him and cautioned against
outside interference.
"The stronger and more unified your message, the better chance we have of
shifting the dynamics of the conflict," an envoy said, summarizing Annan's
remarks to a closed-door meeting of the 15-nation Security Council. Turkey said
on Friday it might set up a "buffer zone" inside Syria to protect refugees
fleeing Assad's forces, raising the prospect of foreign intervention in the
revolt, although Ankara made clear it would not move without international
backing.
Saturday's attacks followed three suicide bombings in Damascus in December and
January which killed at least 70 people, and an attack in Aleppo in February
that killed 28.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, in a video recording posted on the Internet
last month, urged Muslims around the region to help Syrian rebels.
Syria has blamed al Qaeda for at least some attacks on its territory and has
vowed to respond with an iron fist.
The army has pounded rebel strongholds in some towns and villages in recent
weeks before sending in troops to round up suspects. Opposition activists say
thousands of civilians have died, with many bodies found bearing signs of
torture.
The Syrian government denies accusations of brutality and says it is grappling
with a foreign-backed insurgency.
Diplomats have warned that without a swift resolution, Syria will descend into a
full-blown civil war.
Syria lies in a pivotal position within the Middle East, bordering Turkey,
Jordan, Israel, Iraq and Lebanon, and its 23-million-strong population comprises
a mix of faiths, sects and ethnic groups.
"I think that we need to handle the situation in Syria very, very carefully,"
Annan told reporters in Geneva on Friday.
"Yes, we tend to focus on Syria but any miscalculation that leads to major
escalation will have impact in the region which would be extremely difficult to
manage," he said.
The veteran diplomat presented Assad with a six-point peace proposal at talks in
Damascus last weekend. Envoys said he told New York on Friday that the response
to date was disappointing.
Assad insists the Syrian opposition stops fighting first, while the United
States, Gulf Arabs and Europeans have demanded that Assad and his much stronger
forces must make the first move. Russia wants both sides to stop shooting
simultaneously.
Annan will send a team to Damascus early next week to discuss a proposal to
deploy international monitors in the country, his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi has
said.
Increasingly alarmed by the growing violence, Turkey urged its citizens to quit
Syria on Friday and raised the prospect of creating a safe zone on its border to
protect the refugees.
"A buffer zone, a security zone, are things being studied," Turkish Prime
Minister Tayyip Erdogan told reporters, adding this was not the only proposal
under consideration.
Ankara is wary of military intervention and has made clear any creation of a
'security zone' would need some form of international agreement, not least
because it would require armed protection and could alter the dynamics of the
uprising.
Turkey says it is now hosting 14,700 Syrian refugees after 250 people crossed
its borders on Friday. Some 1,000 had arrived the day before, fleeing fierce
fighting in Idlib province.
Opposition Israeli leader
Tzipi Livni 'Israel must sharpen condemnation of Syria'
By JPOST.COM STAFF 03/17/2012/ Livni says Assad's crimes offer Israel
opportunity to join with Arab League, moderate Arab countries to help Syrian
people. Opposition leader Tzipi Livni on Saturday called for "more intense
international intervention" in Syria and "more decisive Israeli condemnation" of
the continuing "massacre" being perpetrated by Syrian President Bashar Assad in
the country.
Speaking while on a tour of Druse villages in the North, Livni said that "the
crimes committed by Assad give Israel a diplomatic opportunity to create avenues
of action together with the Arab League and the more moderate Arab countries
against Syria - a partnership that can also help in the struggle against Iran in
the future."
Israel has been reticent to take an active part in diplomatic action against the
violent crackdown in Syria which is entering its second year and has claimed
more than 8,000 lives.
Livni called for a change in approach, saying "this is not the time for polite
diplomacy. The time has come for the Israeli government to take an active and
clear stance, as well as diplomatic action."
She added: "Israel would do well to join the principled and moral group that is
coming out against the Assad regime and be part of efforts to provide the Syrian
people with needed humanitarian aid."
Former UN chief Kofi Annan is currently in Syria as the joint special envoy of
the UN and the Arab League, in attempts to broker a ceasefire and political
dialogue between government and opposition.On Friday he urged the UN Security
Council to agree on a strong and unified message in support of his efforts.
Annan said that unified pressure from the Security Council on Syria has
succeeded in the past, such as when it pressed Damascus to withdraw forces from
neighboring Lebanon, envoys said. That withdrawal was completed in 2005.
Russia and China have twice vetoed Security Council resolutions condemning the
government of Assad for his year-long attempts to crush pro-democracy
demonstrations. Negotiations on a third draft resolution - this time penned by
the United States and calling for a ceasefire and humanitarian access for aid
agencies - have stalled over disagreements about who in Syria should be the
first to stop fighting and who is to blame for the conflict.
Underlining Assad's growing isolation, four members of the Gulf Cooperation
Council (GCC) announced Friday the closures of their embassies in protest
against its violent crackdown, the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) said.
Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates and Qatar were to follow in the footsteps of
Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and halt diplomatic activity in Syria, the GCC was
quoted as saying in a statement.
Russia condemned the decision, saying it was vital to keep communication open.
Reuters contributed to this report.
Five Syrian opposition groups
form new coalition
March 17, 2012 /Five Syrian opposition groups on Saturday announced the
formation of a new coalition, a sign of how difficult opponents of the Damascus
regime find it to cooperate, a year after the start of the protest movement. The
five groups, meeting in Turkey, said their yet unnamed coalition would act
independently from the Syrian National Council (SNC), the main opposition
coalition which was set up in August to fight President Bashar al-Assad's
regime. The new group is made up of the liberal National Movement for Change,
the Islamist Movement for the Fatherland, the Bloc for Liberation and
Development, led by Nawaf al-Bashir, a tribal chief, the Turkmen National Bloc,
and the Kurdish Movement for a New Life.
Asked about relations between the new coalition and the SNC, Ammar al-Qurabi,
leader of the National Movement for Change, told AFP his "coalition was not set
up in opposition to anyone, other than Assad's regime, but rather to unite the
opposition outside the SNC." "We see the SNC as a temporary structure which will
disappear with time, while our own coalition is a more long-term entity that
will be there after liberation" in Syria, according to Imamduddin al-Rashid,
head of the Movement for the Fatherland. The SNC has emerged as one of the main
voices of the opposition, but is often criticized by activists inside Syria who
say the mostly exiled leadership has little connection to protesters on the
ground. The SNC was dealt a blow earlier this week when three prominent members
resigned in frustration.
"There is a small group that wants to monopolize the SNC and all the
decision-making," Kamal al-Labwani, one of those who quit, told AFP. "They are
doing nothing for the opposition.
"Some are in it for personal gain and the Muslim Brotherhood is trying to
monopolize aid and weapons to gain popular influence on the ground."
Labwani said he planned to call for a conference in Istanbul that would gather
all opposition groups in order to pressure the international community to offer
them assistance.
"We need a council that plays an effective role in overseeing the armed
uprising, represents the revolution, helps with the downfall of the regime and
spreads democracy," he said. "We don't want another dictatorship." The
opposition's lack of unity and transparency has stood in the way of Western and
Arab governments giving it military backing, although Sunni powerhouse Saudi
Arabia and Qatar have increasingly spoken in favor of such a step.-AFP/NOW
Lebanon
Al-Assad: Between the carrot and the stick!
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Alawsat
I write this article before UN envoy to Syria, Kofi Annan, presents his report
to the UN Security Council, however all signs indicate that Bashar al-Assad is
between the carrot and the stick! Even without knowing what Annan has requested
from al-Assad, there is practical consensus that Annan’s mission is al-Assad’s
last chance.
Of course, nobody has publicly pledged to go to war, however the indicators [of
war] are clear to see; the Turks have praised the statement made by Prince Saud
al-Faisal that arming the Syrian opposition is an “excellent” idea, indeed
Ankara has announced that it will consider establishing a buffer zone inside
Syrian territory. This is something that cannot be achieved via consent between
Turkey and the al-Assad regime; rather this would require major military action,
and such action, of course, is justified. For with the influx of Syrian refugees
into Turkey, not to mention the al-Assad regime laying land-mines along the
border, Ankara has every right to take military action to protect its borders
which have been repeatedly violated by al-Assad regime forces, as well as in
order to secure territory for the Syrian refugees.
The story is not just Turkey, for now we see the Gulf States collectively and
permanently closing their embassies in Syria, and withdrawing their staff,
whilst the western states are doing the same, and there are even calls for a
collective European decision along the same lines. This is an indication that
the situation is escalating, not calming down. If, as some claim, part of
Annan’s mission is to calm the situation and carry out political dialogue
leading to al-Assad exiting power along the lines of the Yemeni model, then we
cannot also help but notice that – at the same time – the international movement
is escalatory, and is more like a declaration of war; therefore al-Assad is
between the carrot and the stick. This, of course, is a message to al-Assad and
those around him, particularly when the US president [Barack Obama] and the
British prime minister [David Cameron] tell al-Assad that the noose is
tightening around him, and this is not calming talk whatsoever!
This week has seen important movement in the region, from the visit of the US
Director of Intelligence to Turkey, to the visit paid by the Chief of Staff of
the French Army to Ankara, whilst information reveals that the Turkish
Intelligence chief will visit Saudi Arabia in the near future, and all of this
is not without meaning. What is more important than this is the Russian
position, which some believe is turning against al-Assad, in fact some are
saying that Moscow’s position on Syria has already changed, and it is only a
question of bringing this out. I have received information from well-informed
sources that on Thursday night a Russian official told an official within the
tyrant of Damascus’s regime – during a telephone call – that al-Assad must
respond positively to Annan’s requests, otherwise Moscow would no longer be able
to present itself as the protector of a killer, more than it already has. If you
believe this story, and I have no doubt in my source – and we must also recall
[Russian Foreign Minister] Lavrov’s criticism of al-Assad at the Russian State
Duma two days ago – then this represents a breakthrough in the Syrian crisis.
This also perhaps explains why Hassan Nasrallah came out and called for a
ceasefire in Syria, from all sides; and so it is as if Nasrallah today is al-Assad
circa 2006!
Therefore all signs indicate that al-Assad is now between the carrot and the
stick; there is movement from different sides, which may be slow, but this
movement is not in the interests of al-Assad, and that is certainly what is
required.
Syria: The forbidden truth
By Diana Mukkaled/Asharq Alawsat
When we saw the images of the massacre, and the horror of what had happened to
its victims, we suddenly thought that dying in a mortar shell attack would be
more peaceful than what was experienced by the victims of the Karm al-Zaytun
massacre in Homs.
Children were brutally killed in cold-blood…and then there were the images!
Some of these children died with their eyes open; the terror and murder did not
allow them even a final respite. It was clear that these children knew they were
facing death; that there was no form of deception.
As human beings, the images from the Homs massacre are beyond our ability to
understand. As journalists, the bloody scenes of the children and all the other
victims of this massacre are nothing more than the latest black mark condemning
our profession. This exposes the extent to which we have surrendered to the
desires of the Bashar al-Assad regime, which is preventing us from covering the
explosive events in Syria first-hand.
The Syrian regime has prohibited us from entering Syria and covering the
revolution there. Whilst the Arab media seems to have agreed to this, Western
journalists did not surrender to this prohibition and were not convinced that
this ban was reason enough to prevent them from entering and documenting what is
happening in the country. These journalists infiltrated Syria and revealed news
and stories that confirmed what we had already known about the revolution since
its first day, namely that the Syrian protesters are facing an oppressive and
killing machine, whose tyranny knows no boundaries.
Some of those Western journalists were killed, and the regime threatened that
“necessary measures” would be taken against those that remained, or other
journalists who attempt to infiltrate the country.
There were voices of objection in Lebanon, for example, who asked: how can
journalists be allowed to infiltrate Syria via Lebanon? They called for these
journalists to be arrested and held to account, issuing statements calling for
action to be taken against those “violating [Lebanese] sovereignty.”
Yet those talking about alleged violations of sovereignty did not take into
account another question: how can we allow the killing of children [in Syria]?
Who is allowing these children to be killed? We should pay more attention to
this, rather than taking into account who is allowing journalists to infiltrate
Syria. The outrage, caused by a slight border infringement, cannot compare to
the bloody violation of the sanctity of life, and here it seems perverse that
those denouncing the infiltration of journalists into blood-stained Syria are in
turn justifying the killings taking place there.
Perhaps we can say that the death of journalists [in Syria] is another strong
reason against Arab journalists going to Homs and Idlib.
But can we still believe this, after we saw the massacre of women and children
in Karm al-Zaytun?
Some were right to say: If we, as Arab journalists, went to Syria and observed
what was going on there, this would not change the reality or diminish the
extraordinary efforts being undertaken by the Syrian activists. These Syrian
activists are covering the events on the ground whilst under fire, and then
covering their own deaths as well!
However these activists are covering the events on the ground in Syria – which
they are experiencing first hand – in our absence, for we are the ones who are
supposed to be covering this, reporting on their revolution and their victory
over oppression. When one Lebanese media outlet reported that “both parties” in
Syria share responsibility for the massacre that took place in Karm al-Zaytun,
it did not seek to physically go to Syria to cover this, and therefore was
unable to provide its readers with the truth or who was truly responsible for
what happened!
We are being prevented from covering the events in Syria first hand, but this
does not mean that we must believe the official account being put forward by the
Syrian regime!
Iran: what if nothing happens?
By Anthony Bubalo/Haaretz
It is astonishing how easier it is to argue that the main actors in this drama
would do nothing this year, rather than to argue that they would do something. A
good friend asked me to write something on Iran. ‘What is there left to say?’ I
asked. ‘That’s true of any subject’ he suggested, helpfully. But all of a sudden
it came to me.
Amidst official statements, media interviews and op-eds variously predicting
that America will bomb Iran, or that America will negotiate with Iran, or that
Israel will bomb Iran, or that Iran will close the Straits of Hormuz, or that
the Iranian economy will collapse, or even that the regime will collapse, I do
not recall reading, hearing or seeing anyone say that nothing will happen this
year.
As I rolled this idea around in my head I was astonished at how much easier it
was to argue that the main actors in this drama would do nothing this year,
rather than to argue that they would do something.
Let’s start with America. President Obama is squeezing Iran with sanctions, but
no-one expects this to change Iran’s position on its nuclear program. At best it
might force Iran to the negotiating table, but who actually believes that the
Iranians and the Americans have the will or the ability to do a deal on
anything, let alone the nuclear program, especially in a US presidential
election year?
But if sanctions do not work, or if rising oil prices make them unsustainable,
does anyone believe that Obama would start a war with Iran, when he has spent
his first term getting America out of Iraq and has started to do the same in
Afghanistan? In fact, does anybody believe he would do this when even his more
gung-ho predecessor could not bring himself to attack Iran?
What about Israel? Prime Minister Netanyahu has said a lot on Iran, but I
struggle to think of another example in Israel’s military history where the
country has threatened to bomb something so many times without ever actually
doing it. Usually when Israel sees a threat and decides that it has the military
means to deal with it it does so.
If the problem is American objections, then Obama statement’s in the wake of the
AIPAC conference suggest that this is not going to change this year. Others
suggest Israel will act, even against US wishes, because the nuclear threat is
becoming acute, crossing technical thresholds and moving into a ‘zone of
immunity’, provided by the Fordow nuclear site built under a mountain near Qom.
I defer to those with deeper technical knowledge of the Iranian nuclear program
and simply ask, isn’t that what people said last year (and the year before)? In
fact, does not Iran’s real immunity lay in the nuclear knowledge that it now has
and that no amount of bombing can really destroy.
Which brings us, finally, to Iran.
It is not exactly doing nothing. It continues to put in place the various
components its needs to one day produce a nuclear weapon. But most Western
intelligence agencies say that Tehran has not yet taken the decision to actually
build a bomb. In fact, even if Iran were in a technical position to make such
decision this year why would they do it, given the self-evident advantages of
keeping a nuclear capability ambiguously hidden away in the attic rather than
out on the table for everyone to see and react to.
So in the face of growing economic pressure and threats of military action, what
will Iran do? The regime won’t abandon its nuclear program because it can live
with economic sanctions. It can brutally repress any domestic unrest stimulated
by sanctions. It probably does not really believe that anyone is going to bomb
its nuclear facilities. Or it may figure that even if it is wrong on this count
it can survive an attack that might only serve to rally most Iranians against
the external threat.
I had thought until recently that the regime might, if sanctions were proving
effective, lash out in some provocative way, as suggested by recent attacks on
Israeli diplomats in India and Georgia. But with everyone now firmly established
at the precipice of this crisis I wonder whether Tehran, even with its history
of misreading American intentions and policy, would really think that now was a
good to time to do anything that would unnecessarily bring even more pressure
onto itself.
Even though the argument that no-one will do anything this year has been an
easier argument to make, I am still unsure of the evidence and my conclusion. So
I decided to re-read some recent commentary by people whose views on this issue
I respect. One, a former US official, said that America, Israel and Iran ‘are
now engaged in a three-way game of chicken’ in which ‘physical or political
survival makes blinking more dangerous than confrontation’. But what if, I
wondered, everyone blinks at the same time?
**Anthony Bubalo is the Director of the West Asia Program at the Lowy Institute
for International Policy in Sydney, Australia.
Veteran U.S. political commentator: I would be shocked if Israel were to attack
Iran
By Yael Lavie/Haaretz
Joe Klein, the seasoned political writer of Time magazine, does not mince words
when it comes to Iran."If the Israeli military attacks Iran unilaterally, it
will be the stupidest thing that Israel has done since the 1982 incursion into
Lebanon, stupid and even more disastrous."
Joe Klein, the seasoned political writer of Time magazine, does not mince words
when it comes to Iran. We are sitting in his Rockefeller Center office,
overlooking midtown Manhattan, a place where the 40-year veteran of journalism
spends very little time these days. He is usually on campaign buses or planes.
"This is the 10th U.S. election I am covering. The 10th! It's like a disease
with me." But it's a disease that spawned a distinguished career, which peaked
in 1996 when Klein, today 65, published "Primary Colors: A Novel of Politics,"
under the pseudonym "Anonymous," to great success. The novel, a thinly
disguised, detailed behind-the-scenes account of Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign
for the Democratic presidential nomination, revealed the mechanism fueling the
machine of the Democratic then-candidate, and although the characters' names
were made-up, it was easy to figure out what the real-life analog of most of
them was, as well as that of the author.
All of that did not stop President Clinton from giving Klein continued coverage
access throughout his second term in office. In fact, Democrats in general seem
to like Joe Klein. Republicans maybe not so much. "Look, there is a real price
to be paid for saying certain kinds of things. I was accused of being an
anti-Semite many times ...," Klein reminisces with a sad smile, recalling his
coverage of McCain's 2008 presidential campaign.
Why was that?
"The trouble I have gotten into usually has been because of Iran ... I mean I
got kicked off John McCain's campaign because of Iran. There was a press
conference in South Carolina and I asked him a simple question. I said 'Why do
you keep on talking about [President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad since Ahmadinejad has
absolutely no power over Iran's military or nuclear program.' At the time, I
suggested there was a small group of Jewish neoconservatives surrounding McCain
who were pushing us toward war with Iran, and I said it may or may not be in
Israel's best interest to attack Iran - although I kind of think it isn't - but
it is certainly not in America's best interest to do so!"
Not only John McCain was angry at Klein for his comments. The Anti-Defamation
League came out strongly against him as well. Klein, however, who is openly
Jewish, remained unapologetic.
'Death cult'
The prominence of the Iran issue in the current Republican primary race also
incenses Klein, who is quick to elaborate that the force behind the rhetoric is
not just a "small group of Jewish neoconservatives."
"There is this whole bunch of meshugenner Evangelicals who love their little
Jewish 'sisters and brothers,' who they believe are going to incinerate
themselves once the Rapture comes ... The Evangelicals are a major force in
American politics and the Republican politicians listen to what they are is
saying. When you have a politician like [Newt] Gingrich or [Rick] Santorum say
that Iran's government is completely irrational, that it is a death cult - using
words like 'satanic cult that will use the bomb as soon as it gets it' - they
are following a Rapturian line, No. 1, and No. 2, there are people in the
Israeli government - and I know this for a fact - who are selling that to them."
Isn't that more or less the line of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu?
"Yes, well, Bibi inserted himself into the American election like no other
foreign prime minister has ever done. He already did it last spring. When he
came here and purposely misquoted the president, saying that he favored a
two-state solution [of the Israel-Palestine conflict] on the 1967 lines, without
mentioning he also supports the [idea of] mutually agreed-upon land swaps as
part of the process. That happens to be the position of the Netanyahu
administration as well, by the way - the land swaps - yet Netanyahu sold it here
as something other than that, after meeting with Obama then, and by doing so he
placed a bet on the Republican Party in this presidential election. The Obama
staff was furious about that. And you know, as an American Jew, I found that
behavior disgraceful and disrespectful."
It can be argued that the Netanyahu hard line on Iran is selling quite well in
the States. And what if Iran is indeed that dangerous?
"Look, the Iranians are no bargain either ... the Iranian administration does
its best to make itself [appear] as obnoxious as possible in the world - towards
Israel and the U.S. But what I am saying is that it's one thing to say Iran
should not have a bomb because that is going to escalate things in the region,
which is probably true. But when these guys - the Republicans - say you are
dealing with a satanic death cult that is going to launch as soon as they get
the bomb, that is crazy talk. And the fact is that you have an awful lot of
uninformed Americans who are willing to believe it. That is what I was getting
at with McCain in 2008: that the only reason McCain was using Ahmadinejad so
much was to scare people like my Jewish parents, because they knew Ahmadinejad
is a Holocaust denier.
"I have been to Iran a couple of times. Ahmadinejad sounds crazy, but he is a
puppet. And the Iranians are really really feeling the pressure right now. Not
just from the sanctions. The sabotage. The universal approach of the world. They
are very proud people. I have many great Iranian friends, some of whom have been
jailed by the creeps in the regime. I have no love lost for the Iranian regime.
I also think the mismatch between the Iranian regime and the Iranian people is
the greatest of any country in the world."
But what if Israel's hard line continues to the extent that it decided to attack
Iran unilaterally. What do you think the Obama administration would do then?
"I don't know what it would do, but I know what it should do if that happens:
They should shut down all military assistance to Israel. I mean, look at the
settlements, look at the crap that Obama got about the settlements and he did
not even withhold funds like Bush, Sr. did when he was president in the 80s, a
Republican president. I thought it was entirely appropriate when Israel refused
to stop building settlements to withhold funds from them, but Obama did not.
"All that being said, I would be shocked if there were an Israeli attack on
Iran. Think about it: The Israeli military does not go around bragging of what
they can do before an attack. It may not be out of character for Likud, because
I think that the last 30 years of Israel foreign policy, when Likud has been in
charge, has been an unmitigated disaster, but the Israeli army does not behave
this way usually before a war. It's not the Israel Defense Forces' strategy,
no?"
'Like watching Jonestown'
Klein speaks out of genuine concern. He has been covering the Middle East for
years, in between U.S. presidential campaigns. Israel is clearly very dear to
him. Over the last couple of months, however, Klein has been concerned only from
afar. His time is consumed by the ongoing election year coverage, most recently
by the Republican primaries - when he is not getting kicked off GOP buses or
planes. He calls the nomination race to date a "spectacle" that is "like
watching Jonestown unfold: There is no cohesive party line and they look like a
cult."
What is the feeling within the Obama administration about the Republican
candidates? Given the chaotic nature of the Republican primaries, it seems like
they are not sweating.
"Not really the case - they are concerned to a certain degree. Obama is going to
have a tough re-election campaign and they know that. It's not going to be like
last time. You cannot run as the Messiah again if you have been in office for
four years and have proven to be all-too human."
Klein proceeds to critique the Obama term to date. Though he acknowledges that
the administration inherited a troubled country to begin with, he also claims
that it did not succeed in some major areas, which can be exploited by the
Republicans.
Klein: "There is a very sane, rational case to be made that Obama tried to do
too much too soon. Going after universal health care may not have been wise; the
Republicans can say that he should have focused more on the economy. There is
also a larger case to be made that the American economy needs some major
revision. There is no creative destruction in government here and there needs to
be. The Democrats who should have been very much about managing the government
because they were the party of government this term ... never manage it very
well."
The journalist recalls talking with Bill Clinton toward the end of his second
term: "He recognized too late - he admitted it to me - that job one for an
American president is to prove that you can manage the government and manage the
economy. Which Clinton managed to do partly in 1993 with a budget that brought
in surpluses. But Obama has not done that. He went with a lot of crap in his
stimulus package. If you look at this financial reform - we had an outrageous
breach of confidence with the banks here, which caused the collapse in
2007-2008. His response to that was entirely insufficient and the bill that he
eventually came up with is a disaster."
Some argue that Obama's foreign policy has not been a huge success either.
"He admitted to me in an on-the-record interview that he blew the Middle East in
his first year. But you have to look at the bigger picture of his policy, and it
is three-dimensional. The bigger picture is that colonialism is so over.
Colonialism is so 50 years ago, and when we try to impose our will, even with
the best intentions, in the Middle East, we are starting with a negative and we
are moving into a bigger negative because of the history of Western imperialism
in the region. It is something that I think Barack Obama understands, and that
George W. Bush did not understand."
Are you willing to predict whom Obama will eventually run against in November?
"I am not going to guess for you ... I stopped making predictions a long time
ago. There are just too many moving parts for a mere mortal to predict ... We
journalists are very good at doing 'right now,' and we are excellent at doing
the past, but God forbid we try to predict the future - it's like trying to
predict the Middle East. Never, ever try to predict what will happen in the
Middle East: You will never get it right."