LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 23 /12

Bible Quotation for today/
James 1/12-15: Happy are those who remain faithful under trials, because when they succeed in passing such a test, they will receive as their reward the life which God has promised to those who love him. If we are tempted by such trials, we must not say, This temptation comes from God. For God cannot be tempted by evil, and he himself tempts no one. But we are tempted when we are drawn away and trapped by our own evil desires.15 Then our evil desires conceive and give birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Nasrallah's anger/By Mshari Al-Zaydi/Asharq Alawsat/September 22/12
Expel the Iranians from Syria/By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat/September 22/12

Washington’s Iran war game vs. real Iranian, Israeli war preparations
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis September 22, 2012/assorted figures this week cited 2013 as the year in which the United States was expected to go to war on Iran. Among them was Iran’s atomic commission director Fereydoun Abbasi-Davani, former US ambassador to Israel Martin Indyk, and players in the US-Iranian war game staged at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in Washington, whose heads are close to US President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
This apparent US-Iranian concord was unusual but not fortuitous, say debkafile analysts.
On the part of Washington, it had a distinct purpose, which was to demonstrate to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu that an Israeli attack before the US presidential election would be superfluous.
The message was played out in the Saban institute’s war game: The player representing Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the Americans are tired of the fight and they are led by a weak man with no stomach for the struggle.
The script then proves him wrong: On July 6, 2013, Iranian agents coming in from Venezuela blow up a hotel on the Caribbean island of Aruba killing 137 people, many of them American holidaymakers including nuclear physicists. It was clearly a revenge attack for the assassination of Iranian nuclear scientists.
The next chapter of this scenario had President Obama, portrayed as reelected in November, ordering Iranian Revolutionary Guards headquarters in eastern Iran to be bombed, 40 Iranian security installations shut down by cyber warfare and Tehran warned that US intelligence had the names of Iranian agents in 38 countries and their lives were at risk.
Iran purportedly responds by blocking the Strait of Hormuz, through which the world receives a third of its oil. The players representing the US government then slap down a 24-hour ultimatum for Iran to halt its nuclear program or else face the destruction of all its facilities, along with the entire Iranian military deployment in the Persian Gulf.
Tehran fails to comply and the US and Iran are at war.
This scenario implicitly made the point that since the US election was only weeks off and America would most likely go to war with Iran next year anyway, Israel had no need to jump the gun before November, 2012.
This was most likely the answer Israel’s Defense Minister Ehud Barak received too when he met with Chicago Mayor and Obama’s former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel for lunch at City Hall Thursday, Sept. 20.
The only known result of their conversation was a gift by the mayor to the minister of a six-pack of Chicago’s famous Goose Island 312 beer. Whether Barak shared it with Netanyahu and whether the beer was to their taste was not revealed.
Apart from this message, the Saban Institute war game notably hinged on two basic premises while skipping a third.
The first was that American and Iranian leaders both acted on wrong strategic and intelligence assessments of the other’s intentions and therefore miscalculated each other’s responses. Had they realized this, the war might have been avoided.
A second working assumption was that Iran had scattered half of its stocked enriched uranium in dozens of places across the country to reduce their vulnerability to attack, while keeping the other half in one place. This was taken to signal qualified Iranian willingness for a diplomatic resolution of its controversy with the United States.
Where the Saban war game erred was in leaving the Syrian factor out of the equation.
debkafile’s military sources point out that Syrian President Bashar Assad is using the same strategy as Iran for his chemical and biological arsenal. Half has been distributed and placed in the care of an estimated 20 Syrian army units; the other half reposes at fixed storage sites – a device indicating to Washington and Moscow that he is open to negotiating an end to the war before deciding to loose his weapons of mass destruction against Syrian rebels.
The Washington think tank’s war game fails to take into account that Iranian and Syrian steps are so closely synchronized that Syrian already looms large as the most likely venue for the approaching core event of a conflict pitting the US and Israel against Iran. Syria and Iran have become almost interchangeable against their shared foes.
Elite units of Iran’s al Qods, the Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) external arm, are being airlifted into Syria and Lebanon, as the IRGC chief Gen. Ali Jafari, disclosed Sunday, Sept. 16. I
Iranian troops are now deployed on Israel’s northern and eastern borders.
Israel responded Wednesday, Sept. 19, with a snap military exercise, the largest the IDF has staged in many years, on its borders with Syria and Lebanon.
Not all the Israeli units taking part in the drill returned to home basewhen the drill was over. Substantial military strength, estimated at two divisions, is therefore building up and facing the Iranian troops across the border in Syria and Lebanon.
Indeed, that same Wednesday saw more than one telling event in the same incendiary context: Iran’s foreign minister Ali Akbar Salehi paid an unscheduled visit to Damascus for talks with Assad on his way home from a meeting in Cairo with Egyptian, Turkish and Iraqi foreign ministers. They gathered on the initiative of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi for another go at resolving the Syrian disaster. Saudi Arabia which is deeply committed to backing the rebels was pointedly absent.
Iran played ball with Egypt for the purpose of lining up its diplomatic ducks for the war to come by putting together a potential Muslim bloc to stand against the US-Israel-Arab grouping. Tehran is looking ahead to the inevitable propsect of peace negotiations taking off amid the fury of war - or as soon as it ends.
Shortly after the Israeli drill, US intelligence officials accused Iran of “secretly transporting large quantities of weapons and military personnel, almost daily, under the cover of civilian aircraft – via Iraqi airspace – to aid embattled Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.”
The accent on “almost daily” confirmed that a major buildup of Iranian military strength is in progress in Syria. Typically, Iran is disguising its actions by using civilian aircraft.

Aoun: Army Incapable of Defending Lebanon against Israeli Assault
إNaharnet Newsdesk 22 September 2012, 06:40
Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed the importance of the complementary role of the army and resistance, reported al-Akhbar newspaper on Saturday.
He explained that the Lebanese army is functioning as a border guard “and it would be incapable of defending Lebanon in case of an assault, especially an Israeli one."
He told the newspaper: “The army is the sole power that can tackle developments on the internal scene. It combats terrorism and supports the security forces in combating crime.”
“It will however be incapable of confronting a foreign assault and this is where the resistance's role in liberating land comes in,” continued the MP.
Aoun said: “The resistance does not play a security role, but it intervenes when the army fails in tackling a security development.”
“The resistance is a central figure in defending Lebanon,” he added.
“Militias are used in all world countries to assist the army in its duties,” remarked the FPM leader.
He gave the example of the French resistance against Nazi Germany during World War II.
Asked if Iran would request Hizbullah's assistance to respond to any Israeli attack, Aoun replied that Israel explained that the military maneuvers it had recently conducted were aimed at confronting Hizbullah, Syria, and Iran.
“A war with Iran will therefore include these three powers,” he noted.
“If Israel considers these three forces as a single front, then it will likely attack Iran first, then Syria, and finally Hizbullah,” the MP said.
“I am in agreement with the party that its arms are aimed at defending Lebanon,” Aoun stated.
Commenting on the developments in Syria, he told al-Akhbar that a military strike against it will “never happen.”
He explained that Europe's financial crisis will prevent it from taking military action against Syria, while “no one should be fooled into believing that the United States is capable of doing everything.”
“Other major powers have entered the picture, which will lead the region towards a new world order,” he added.
“The situation in Syria will be resolved through political dialogue or the defeat of one of the sides involved. I believe the opposition will be defeated, not the ruling regime,” he stressed.
Addressing the 2013 parliamentary elections, Aoun stressed the importance of holding the polls, warning of the dangers of failing to stage them.
He said that the March 14 forces would benefit from the postponement of the elections, adding however that it is still early to launch electoral campaigns.

Free Syrian Army Infiltrates Arsal, Attacks Army Post
Naharnet/22 September 2012/The Army Command announced on Saturday the infiltration of a Free Syrian Army unit of the Bekaa town of Arsal on Friday night. It said in a statement that the unit, “backed by a large number of gunmen, infiltrated the outskirts of the town and then attacked an army post in the area.”No one was injured in the attack, it said. The army then brought in reinforcements to Arsal to contain the situation and pursue the assailants, who fled to nearby mountainous regions and border villages.The Army Command stressed that it “will not allow any side to use Lebanese territory in order to drag Lebanon towards the developments of neighboring countries.”It renewed its determination “to defend Lebanese territories and confront any violation regardless of what side is behind it.”
Al-Manar television had reported that gunmen from Arsal kidnapped three Lebanese soldiers and detained members of the Free Syrian Army.Security sources later denied to OTV the abduction of any Lebanese soldier in Arsal.They added that the Free Syria Army unit withdrew to Syria after clashes with the army.Lebanon's political parties are deeply divided over the Syrian revolt, with the Western-backed opposition supporting the uprising and March 8 allies a lead backer of President Bashar Assad.

Syria Rebels Move Command Center from Turkey to Syria
Naharnet/ 22 September 2012,
Syrian rebels announced that their command center has been transferred from neighboring Turkey to inside Syria, in a video posted on Saturday.
"The Free Syrian Army command has moved into liberated areas of Syria following arrangements made with battalions and brigades to secure these zones," FSA chief, Colonel Riyadh al-Asaad, said in the video.The next step would be to "liberate" the capital Damascus in the near future, he added."Our goal is not to replace the agonizing criminal regime," he said, stressing that it would be up to the Syrian people to decide who will be their rulers after the fall of the regime.The announcement came as the FSA is undermined by internal rivalries, particularly between the central command, which had been set up in Turkey more than a year ago and led by Asaad, and the interior command led by Colonel Qassem Saadeddine.Another major problem plaguing the rebels is the proliferation of splinter groups which have emerged over the months of steady militarization of the conflict, with some claiming autonomy.Several radical groups have been accused of human rights violations."The transfer will allow the command center to be closer to the fighters," General Mustafa al-Sheikh, head of the military council grouping rebel chiefs, told Agence France Presse.He declined to say where the new command would be located.On September 5, Sheikh told AFP that rebel leaders planned to overcome divisions and address the growing number of militias fighting on behalf of the FSA.He said reforms were key to winning the support of the international community which has so far been reluctant to arm the rebels "on the grounds that the (FSA) is not a real institution."The rebel army has thousands of fighters, among them about 3,000 officers of various ranks, including 70 generals, according to Sheikh.Source/Agence France Presse.

Iran's Revolutionary Guard says expects Israel to launch war
DUBAI (Reuters) - Israel will eventually go beyond threats and will attack Iran, the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards was quoted as saying on Saturday.
As speculation mounts that Israel could launch air strikes on Iran before U.S. elections in November, Mohammad Ali Jafari told a news conference that the Jewish state would be destroyed if it took such a step."Their threats only prove that their enmity with Islam and the revolution is serious, and eventually this enmity will lead to physical conflict," Jafari said when asked about Israeli threats to strike Iran's nuclear facilities, the Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA) reported. "We are making all efforts to increase our defensive capabilities so that if there is an attack ... we could defend ourselves and other countries that need our help with high defensive capabilities." Jafari's comments, made at an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) military exhibition, come as Israeli leaders have increased their rhetoric against Iran. "A war will occur, but it's not clear where or when it will be," Jafari was quoted as saying on Saturday. "Israel seeks war with us, but it's not clear when the war will occur.""Right now they see war as the only method of confrontation," he said. Israel, which bombed an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981 and launched a similar strike against Syria in 2007, has threatened to do the same in Iran if diplomatic efforts fail to stop the nuclear work it believes is aimed at getting weapons capability. Iran, which says its nuclear work is for peaceful means, has said it could strike U.S. military bases in the region as well as Israel if attacked. "If they (Israel) start something, they will be destroyed and it will be the end of the story for them," Jafari said, according to ISNA.
(Reporting By Yeganeh Torbati; Editing by Robin Pomeroy)

Muslims in Lebanon Protest Film, Cartoons amid Death Calls
Naharnet/21 September 2012/..Muslims, Sunnis and Shiites, in Lebanon took to the streets on Friday to vent their anger over a U.S.-made film and French cartoons mocking Islam.
In the southern port city of Sidon, Sunni clerics called "a day of rage" against insults to the Prophet Mohammed but urged followers to contain their anger to inside their mosques.
French schools were closed and the army was deployed at French institutions in Sidon, Beirut and the northern city of Tripoli, in anticipation of a backlash against the publication of obscene cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed in a French satirical magazine. Separately, thousands of supporters of Hizbullah and the AMAL movement took to the streets after Friday prayers in the eastern city of Baalbek, an AFP correspondent said. The Sunni authority for Sidon and several clerics in Tripoli called for Saudi Arabia and Egypt's Al-Azhar -- the highest authorities in Sunni Islam -- to issue a fatwa condoning the murder of anyone associated with the film and for those who denigrate Islam or its prophet. "He who dares to insult Islam and the Prophet Mohammed shall not live. There are things that cannot be tolerated and insulting the Prophet Mohammed is one of them," Sheikh Maher Hammoud, imam of the Quds mosque, said during his sermon.
"Every one of these should be killed."
An AFP correspondent in Sidon said 300 people gathered at the mosque and that, after Friday's weekly Muslim prayers, protesters burned U.S. and Israeli flags while chanting "Death to America, death to Israel!"In Tripoli, radical Islamist cleric Omar Bakri called on the "soldiers of Islam" to avenge the creators of the film and publishers of the cartoons, an AFP correspondent reported.
Bakri asked fellow Muslims to support a fatwa that would make it "legitimate to kill those who have insulted the Prophet Mohammed."
"I'm not in favor of the demonstrations that condemn, because they do more harm than good. They are not a solution to stop these continuous abuses against our religion; this can only happen with a strong response," Bakri said. Outside Tripoli, Sheikh Mustafa Malas decried the silence of Arab and Muslim officials toward their American and French counterparts.
"Arab and Islamic countries must take a decisive stand against the United States and France after the insults to our Prophet, and boycott their goods," he said during his Friday sermon.
"They have repeated these offensive behaviors ... Their actions amount to a war declared on Islam and they must not be surprised by reactions of reprisal."
The correspondent reported seeing military vehicles and a large army and police presence outside the French high school and cultural mission in the northern city of Tripoli.
The army has also stepped up security measures to protect the French ambassador's residence in Beirut with military vehicles.
Protesters also burned American and Israeli flags outside a Beirut mosque, where troops were on guard nearby.
A public demonstration called for by Sheikh Ahmed Asir, a controversial Sunni cleric, is set for 5:00 p.m. in downtown Beirut.

Nasrallah's anger
By Mshari Al-Zaydi/Asharq Alawsat
Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the resistance, whose love for Khomeini knows no bounds, seized the opportunity to get involved in the severe crisis that is raging in our region against the American film insults Islam. He even ensured that his speech on this matter had a unique and exceptional flavor, particularly as he has given a number of speeches in recent days. He did this by taking the decision to appear in public in front of his supporters in the Beirut suburb of “al-Mustaqila”, rather than appearing via video link. This public appearance was in order to make reference to the present and public nature of this battle, which has seen many masks being cast aside. Nasrallah, who is the populist orator who can play on the emotions of the crowd, chose the route of escalating and intensifying the sentiments and religious passion of the audience. This was in order to draw attention away from the real battle that is taking place in Syria, and this is something that truly represents an insult to all Islamic – and indeed human– values. Hassan Nasrallah has usually been successful with such maneuvers, and he succeeded throughout the era of the “resistance”, with many Muslim Brotherhood supporters and Arab would-be revolutionaries following his lead. However this time Nasrallah was let down by timing, and his attempt to obscure and draw attention away from the bloody massacres being carried out by his companion Bashar al-Assad against the unarmed Syrian people has now been exposed. Indeed we previously saw the Syrian pro-regime Shabiha militia, in dozens of quasi-comedic video clips, forcing prisoners to blaspheme against God Almighty and swear allegiance to Maher and Bashar al-Assad as if he they were deities, in a disgusting profane and sacrilegious manner. However it seems that this was something that was not sufficient to prompt the master of resistance to appear in public! During his last speech, Nasrallah said "the whole world needs to see your anger on your faces, in your fists and your shouts…the whole world should know that the prophet has followers who will not be silent in the face of humiliation,"
Nasrallah is deliberately adding fuel to the fire, aiming to incite the people to the greatest expressions of anger and consequently directing attention away from the Syrian crisis under the pretext of Islam and the prophet being insulted!This manoeuvre has been exposed, to the point that Egyptian Salafist MP Mamdouh Ismail recognized this, and told the “Al Youm Al Sabaa” newspaper that “Hezbollah is seeking to exploit the American film that insulted the prophet, peace be upon him, in the interests of the Bashar al-Assad regime that it utilizing violence against its people.”
What Hassan Nasrallah and others like him are doing is both extremely dangerous and easy to pull off. There are many such figures amongst the Sunnis and Shiites, and indeed amongst all religions, namely those who can convert the highest moral and ethical values of a religion to tools of political conflict in order to make quick gains by exploiting people’s religious and spiritual emotions.
Almost two centuries ago, Mohamed Bin Laboun, a popular and wise poet from the Arabian peninsula, condemned those who trade on religion, saying:
To those who wear turbans, backbiters and the likeGive them the chance to talk, and they will destroy everything

Expel the Iranians from Syria
By Tariq Alhomayed/Asharq Al-Awsat
Well, the quartet proposed by Egypt to solve the Syrian crisis – comprising of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran – has convened twice, not just once, and now it is abundantly clear that everyone has realized it does not have any chance of success. This is something I have already highlighted on two occasions, even before the quartet’s first meeting.
It is clear today that everyone realizes there is no hope for this quartet, and the mere invitation of Iran to the negotiation table has rendered it a failure, since Tehran is one of the main obstacles in Syria so how can it be part of the solution? When I say that everyone has realized, this has become apparent from some recent positions, especially with Saudi Arabia being absent from the latest meeting in Cairo. Opinions are now beginning to be voiced out loud about the difficulty of reaching an agreement in light of Iran’s involvement, and official statements are also flowing in this direction, the latest being the statement of the Secretary General of the Arab League, Nabil Elaraby, who declared that with regards to the Syrian crisis, all doors have been knocked without any success. This was essentially to be expected, for I, and a few others in this newspaper, have been saying this since day one of the Syrian revolution, and no one can continue to be deceived by al-Assad’s tricks forever.
Returning to the quartet, what is important now is that it has confirmed to some Iran’s true intentions towards Syria, and the danger in merely believing that Tehran could be part of the solution. In Cairo, Iran called for observers to be sent to Syria from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Turkey and Iran itself, and this proposal is extremely serious for Iran is effectively saying to its counterpart regional powers: “Come and divide Syria among ourselves along the lines of Lebanon”. It is difficult now to imagine the formation of a Lebanese government without a compromise between Saudi Arabia, Iran and more recently Turkey. Yet instead of addressing this erroneous situation in Lebanon, Iran wants to apply it in Syria, under an Arab cover and from an Arab capital!
The mere fact that Egypt’s quartet proposal was accepted in the first place means that some in our region still believe in half-baked solutions under weak pretexts such as pragmatism or dealing with the situation realistically, and this is a danger in particular. As I have said repeatedly, Iran is not a neighbor of Syria, nor does Syria’s sectarian composition grant it a right to intervene. The Syrians chant “no to Iran and no to Nasrallah”, whilst we find ourselves trying to give a cover to Iranian influence in Syria, so Iran can proceed with creating a faction there, along the lines of Hezbollah. This is out of the question, and we must be wary of it, especially if Syria descends into a state of total chaos. Then Tehran would seek to create a new source of legitimacy in Syria as it did with Hezbollah in Lebanon, under the pretext of “liberating the occupied territories”, and from now on we must look out for this since no one is seeking to accelerate the fall of al-Assad!
Therefore, I hope now that we are all alert to the danger of Iran in Syria, especially after the quartet’s meeting in Egypt, which was supposed to demand the expulsion of the Quds Force from Syria – after the commander of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards acknowledged their presence there – rather than Tehran calling upon the quartet to send observers. What is actually required is the expulsion of Iran from Syria, instead of legitimizing its interference!

Iran commanders threaten Israel's downfall
By JPOST.COM STAFF 09/21/2012 /
IRGC, ground forces commanders say Iranian retaliation to Israeli strike will lead to destruction of "Zionist regime."
Iranian military commanders on Friday threatened the complete destruction of the State of Israel as the country unveiled a domestically manufactured air defense system as part of a military parade, various Iranian news agencies reported.
"If the Zionist regime makes such a move, there will no longer be a thing called the Zionist regime,” Revolutionary Guards General Amir Ali Hajizadeh said, according to Iran's Press TV. “The Zionist regime cannot even imagine our response to the military attack of this regime."Commander of Iran's ground forces Brig.-Gen. Ahmad Reza Pourdastan told the semi-official Mehr news agency “The enemy will regret it if it one day decides to attack Iran. We will deliver such a response to them that they will regret their act of aggression.”
The parade, displaying military hardware, marked the anniversary of the 1980-1988 Iran-Iraq war. According to Iranian state media, the military displayed Shahab 3, Sejjil, Qadr, Sahab and Zelzal missiles during the parade. Iran has claimed the Shahab 3 has a range that can reach Israel and they have reportedly experimented with integrating a nuclear warhead onto the missile.
According to Mehr, the military also unveiled its domestically manufactured Ra’d (Thunder) air defense system. "The system has been manufactured with the aim of confronting US aircraft and can hit targets at a distance of 50 kilometers and at an altitude of 75,000 feet (22,860 meters,)" Hajizadeh said.
Ahmadinejad blames Israel of anti-Islam film
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad accused Israel of being behind the anti-Islam film that has sparked violent protests in the Muslim world, AFP reported on Friday.
Speaking at the military parade in Tehran, Ahmadinejad called the film an Israeli plot "to divide (Muslims) and spark sectarian conflict."
Ahmadinejad's comments on the anti-Islam film came after Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said earlier this week that the American-made video is tied to "Islamophobic policies of arrogant powers and Zionists."
Khamenei added that it is incumbent upon Western governments to prove to the Muslim world that they are against attacks against Islam. "Leaders of [the US and European countries] must prove that they were not accomplices in this big crime in practice by preventing such crazy measures,” he said.
The 13-minute English-language movie, which was circulated on the Internet under several titles including "Innocence of Muslims," mocks the Prophet Muhammad and portrays him as a buffoon.
The film helped generate a torrent of violence last week in which the US ambassador to Libya and three other Americans were killed in an attack in Benghazi. US and other foreign embassies were stormed in cities in Asia, Africa and the Middle East by furious Muslims.
For many Muslims, any depiction of the prophet is blasphemous. Caricatures deemed insulting in the past have provoked protests and drawn condemnations from officials, preachers, ordinary Muslims and many Christians. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, 55, a Coptic Christian widely linked to the film in media reports, was voluntarily questioned on Saturday by US authorities investigating possible violations of his probation for a bank fraud conviction. Initial reports described the filmmaker as Sam Bacile, a self-described “Israeli Jew” and now a Los Angeles property developer, who said that the $5 million movie was financed by donations from 100 Jews.Reuters and Tom Tugend contributed to this report

West defeats Iran initiative at UN nuclear meeting
By REUTERS 09/22/2012/
Recognized nuclear weapon states oppose Iran, Egypt, which wanted language on nuclear disarmament at IAEA. VIENNA - Western states defeated an Iranian proposal at the UN nuclear agency's annual assembly on Saturday to amend their draft resolution on a policy area central to its work in preventing the spread of atom bombs.
The draft text was adopted in a vote shortly after midnight after days of closed-door negotiations failed to achieve the traditional consensus, with divisions between a small number of countries led by Iran and a much larger Western-dominated group.Diplomats said Iran and Egypt had wanted to include language in the resolution suggesting the UN agency should have a role also in nuclear disarmament, apparently reflecting frustration on their part at the lack of faster progress on this issue.
This was opposed by a large majority including the United States, Britain, France and Russia - four officially recognized nuclear weapon states - which believe the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is not the right forum for this, they said.
The West accuses Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapons capability in secret. The Islamic Republic denies the charge.
Tehran often hits out at the United States over its atomic arsenal, and also criticizes Iran's arch foe, Israel, and that country's assumed nuclear weapons.The annual General Conference of the 155 IAEA member states traditionally adopts several resolutions, setting out general and often vaguely worded policy aspirations and guidelines, during a week-long meeting in Vienna.
As in 2011, the most contentious issue was a text regarding the IAEA's activities in seeking to make sure nuclear material is not diverted for non-peaceful purposes, a crucial task for the UN agency under the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Last year, the gathering failed to agree the resolution on "strengthening the effectiveness and improving the efficiency of the safeguards system" submitted by some 30 Western states.
Safeguards refer to measures undertaken by UN inspectors to discover any attempt by non-nuclear weapons states to use atomic technology or material for developing weapons - for example regular visits and camera surveillance of sites.
This year, Iran said a paragraph saying IAEA "safeguards are a fundamental component of nuclear non-proliferation" should be amended to add "and nuclear disarmament." This was rejected by 55 votes against and nine for. The resolution then passed by 89 for, no vote against and 16 abstentions, including Iran.
Several countries, including South Africa and Brazil, stressed their support for nuclear disarmament even though they voted against the Iranian proposal.
Under the NPT, a 1970 pact, the five recognized atomic bomb "haves" agreed to work toward eliminating their nuclear weapons, and the "have-nots" pledged not to pursue them.
Critics say there has been more emphasis on meeting the non-proliferation goal than getting the five major powers - the United States, China, Russia, France and Britain - to fulfill their part of the deal.

Sleiman's proposal on Hezbollah arms triggers March 14 criticism
September 21, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: March 14 officials criticized President Michel Sleiman's proposal for a national defense strategy Friday because it allows Hezbollah to keep its arms – albeit under the command of the Lebanese Army, which would have the exclusive authority to use force. “When it comes to the national defense strategy, the only reference should be the constitution and the Taif Accord,” March 14 General Secretariat Coordinator Fares Soueid told An Nahar daily in remarks published Friday, asserting that Sleiman’s proposal is “unconstitutional.”
On the other side of the political divide, the response was positive. Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Walid Sukkarieh said he considered Sleiman’s proposal an attempt “to embrace the resistance and join it to the army.” Soueid said that Sleiman’s proposal completely contradicts the constitution because it acknowledges an institution that Lebanon’s most important legal document does not recognize – namely, the resistance. Under the proposal, Hezbollah would not hand its arms over to the Army, as demanded by the March 14 coalition, nor would there be coordination between the resistance and the Army, which Hezbollah is willing to accept as a compromise.
Sleiman’s proposal also states that until the Army’s capabilities are reinforced, a consensus must be reached on the appropriate means to manage Hezbollah’s arsenal and put it at the Army’s disposal.
“No matter how important the Lebanese Army becomes, it will not be able to defeat the Israeli enemy, because the people are the primary defenders of Lebanon,” Sukkarieh told Al-Manar television Friday.
Sukkariyeh said that the resistance should be the main pillar of any national defense strategy.
While the March 14 coalition has repeatedly called for giving the state exclusive authority over issues of defense, the March 8 forces say that the Lebanese state and army are not capable of facing Israel alone in case of any attack on Lebanon, and thus Hezbollah should keep its arms.
Hezbollah is backed by the Syrian regime and Iran. The group’s military arsenal is one of thorniest issues in the Lebanese political realm.
Lebanese Forces official Gen. (ret.) Wehbe Katisha told Al-Jadeed TV that his group rejects legitimizing Hezbollah’s arms, noting however that the LF does not totally reject Sleiman’s proposal.
“President Sleiman is trying to unite the Lebanese in all possible ways, however we cannot accept to have a party allowed to carry arms in Lebanon,” Katisha said.
He also said he expects several more National Dialogue sessions before participants plunge into the topic of Hezbollah’s arms.
“The March 8 forces refuse to admit that there is a real problem pertaining to Hezbollah’s arms. There is nothing in the whole world called resistance outside official institutions,” Katisha said.
The LF official said that former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora tried to extract a vow from the March 8 figures attending Thursday’s dialogue session that they would not involve Lebanon in any conflict between Israel and Iran, but that he could not get a clear answer.
“This is the biggest evidence that such arms are not here just for the sake of Lebanon,” said Katisha.
LF leader Samir Geagea refrained from attending the dialogue session yesterday, as his party doubted it would be fruitful, and asserted that Hezbollah is not yet “serious” about discussing its arms.
Following the session, participants agreed to consider the proposal made by the president a starting point for discussion of a national defense strategy that includes the issue of Hezbollah’s arms.
The discussion is expected to resume in the next session, which is scheduled for Nov. 12.
Future MP Michel Pharaon told the Kataeb-run Voice of Lebanon Radio that the March 14 coalition will not accept any proposal that violates the principle of the state’s right to control the arms on its territory. “Sleiman’s proposal is not a decision, but a starting point [for a discussion],” said Pharaon.
The MP added that the evaluation of the proposal would be linked to how different rivals understand and implement it.

Sleiman’s defense strategy seen as a road map
September 22, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Political analysts called President Michel Sleiman’s proposal for a national defense strategy a “road map” for resolving the issue of Hezbollah’s arms, as well as reasserting the state’s role in defending Lebanon against any Israeli attack. “The president did not present a plan for a defense strategy. He presented a road map for tackling the problem of [Hezbollah’s] arms. It’s a road map for the role of the state and Hezbollah in defending Lebanon,” retired Lebanese Army Gen. Elias Hanna told The Daily Star Friday.
Simon Haddad, professor of political science at the American University of Beirut, said Sleiman’s proposal for a national defense strategy unveiled during Thursday’s National Dialogue session was the “beginning to discuss a defense strategy and resolve the problem of Hezbollah’s weapons.”
“The two sides [March 8 and 14 parties] cannot reject out of hand the president’s plan. They will make comments and reservations on it and demand amendments,” Haddad said.
“Sleiman’s proposal is an attempt to find a compromise formula to resolve the arms problem. It is an attempt to break the stalemate over the issue of arms and a defense strategy,” the professor said. Professor Fadia Kiwan said “a new political climate” in Lebanon as a result of the repercussions of the Arab Spring uprisings had prompted Sleiman to come forward with his proposal for a national defense strategy. “There is a new situation in Lebanon and an important change in the political climate. The developments in the region call on the state to gradually shoulder its responsibility to defend the border against any Israeli threat,” said Kiwan, head of the political sciences department at Beirut’s Saint Joseph University.
“The president’s plan calls for placing the decision of war and peace in the hands of the state.”
That rival parties in the opposition March 14 coalition and the Hezbollah-led March 8 bloc had accepted to discuss a defense strategy was an indication that the political climate was changing, Kiwan said.
“Sleiman’s proposal is clear. While it reassures the resistance and does not cast doubt about its value, the proposal seeks to gradually place the resistance’s arms under the command of the Lebanese Army,” Kiwan said. She added that the two sides had shown acceptance of the president’s plan.
During a National Dialogue Committee meeting at Baabda Palace Thursday, Sleiman unveiled to rival Lebanese leaders a national defense strategy that would allow Hezbollah to keep its arms but place them under the command of the Lebanese Army, which would have exclusive authority to use force.
Under the proposal, Hezbollah would not hand its arms over to the Army, as demanded by the opposition March 14 coalition, nor would there be coordination between the resistance and the Army, the defense strategy that Hezbollah has backed.
Instead, the arms of the resistance would be used by the state until the Army could take over all defense responsibilities. The plan stipulates that the resistance would operate only in the event of occupation.
“In line with Article 65 of the Constitution and the law of National Defense and until the Army is provided with the appropriate power needed to carry out its missions, an agreement [should be] reached on the appropriate frameworks and mechanisms to use the resistance’s arms, to specify control over them and to put them under the command of the Army – which has the exclusive right to use force,” the proposal says. Sleiman’s plan calls for providing the Army with sufficient weapons, equipment and training to develop its human and military capacity to defend Lebanon’s land, airspace and sea.
In his proposal, Sleiman said Lebanon faces dangers from Israel, terrorist groups and the proliferation of arms among individuals, parties and Palestinian groups, which require a defense strategy that has at its heart an Army capable of defending the state.
National Dialogue members, who received copies of Sleiman’s proposal, are expected to make their remarks in the next session scheduled for Nov. 12.
Kiwan said discussions at National Dialogue would focus on how to bolster the state’s role in order to enable it to carry out its defense responsibilities on the border with Israel.
“The growing Israeli threat and the developments in the region, particularly in Syria, demand that the Lebanese state take over security missions on the border,” she said.
The decisions for war and peace should be in the hands of the Lebanese state, but Hezbollah will not have to surrender its arms given the state of war with Israel, that some parts of Lebanese territory remain under Israeli occupation and that resistance leaders are targeted by Israel.
“The general regional climate is conducive for the Lebanese state to restore its prestige and shoulder its security responsibility on the border with Israel,” Kiwan said.
Hanna, the retired army general, said Sleiman’s proposal did not amount to a full-fledged defense strategy. “The president presented broad outlines [for a defense strategy,” said Hanna, who teaches political science both at the AUB and Notre Dame University. He urged Sleiman to present a more specific defense strategy.
“The president must present a national security strategy from which a defense strategy could emanate in cooperation between the Army – backed with its military expertise and knowledge – and the resistance ... to hammer out a military doctrine,” Hanna said.
Hanna insisted that the decision of war or peace was neither in the hands of the Lebanese state nor Hezbollah. “The decision is linked to a regional equation. It lies in the hands of Iran and Israel,” he said.
Haddad, the AUB professor, said Sleiman’s proposal does not have any chance of being implemented.
“The president’s plan will not solve the arms problem. It is the beginning to talk about the issue,” he said. “Unless Hezbollah’s members are incorporated into the Lebanese Army, there will be no solution for the arms problem,” he added.
Hezbollah will not accept that the Lebanese Army supervise the resistance’s activity, he said.
Kiwan, the USJ professor, said Sleiman’s proposal was not a maneuver. “It is a serious attempt to tackle the arms problem. It is a main mission that could be one of the president’s most important achievements,” she said. Asked what chance Sleiman’s proposal stood, Kiwan said: “All the parties have signaled that they will accept the plan.”

Peaceful anti-film demos held in Lebanon amid tight security
September 21, 2012/The Daily Star
SIDON/BEIRUT/TRIPOLI: Protesters across the country took to the streets Friday to voice their anger at a film insulting Islam’s Prophet Mohammad as security was bolstered to avert possible violence.
Around 1,000 supporters of Sheikh Ahmad Assir protested in Beirut’s Martyrs’ Square amid tight security measures that included police and Army personnel blocking traffic on roads leading to the protest.
Tens of people gathered at the Mohammad Amin Mosque carrying an oversized pre-Baath Syrian flag, which has become a symbol of the Syrian uprising against President Bashar Assad.
Women and men sat on plastic chairs and held up anti-Zionist signs as Lebanese singer Fadel Shaker dedicated songs to the “free people of Hama and Homs.”
Some of the signs read: “Spiteful Zionists, die of jealousy” and “We sacrifice [our] mothers and fathers for you, O messenger of God.”
Assir delivered a speech in which he said that even when provoked, insulted and oppressed, the Prophet Mohammad retained his patience and forbearance, and that this is how Muslims today should behave.
He also accused Western countries of being the true extremists: "Countries that allow the presence of such extremists ... are extremist themselves."
However, he added that true Christians were not responsible in any way for actions by Western individuals or countries.
"Christians have nothing to with such insults; they are above those who insulted us ... this applies particularly to our Christian partners in Lebanon," he said, going on to praise Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai and President Michel Sleiman for condemning the film. In east Lebanon, demonstrators also gathered to protest “Innocence of Muslims,” the low-budget film that insults the prophet and has sparked a spate of demonstrations, some of which were violent, against U.S. and foreign missions around the world.
The Baalbek protest was organized by Hezbollah as part of a series of protests this week.
In a rare public appearance Monday urging people to protest, Hezbollah’s Secretary General Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah warned of worldwide repercussions if the full version of the movie is released.
In Tripoli, north Lebanon, protests did not take place due to the heavy security measures around the city, particularly French institutions including schools, cultural centers and banks.
Last week in Tripoli, one protester was killed and 15 policemen were injured when stick-wielding and stone-throwing demonstrators protesting “Innocence of Muslims” clashed with Lebanese security. Protestors also set ablaze fast food establishments KFC and Hardee’s, which are housed in the same building.
Thirty minutes prior to the end of Friday’s prayer when usually demonstrations begin, Tripoli's police chief said that 14 people have been arrested over last week's attack on the American fast food restaurants KFC and Hardee’s during protests in the northern city against the anti-Islam film. Meanwhile, In the Ras al-Nabaa neighborhood of Beirut and in the southern coastal city of Sidon, angry protesters burned U.S. and Israeli flags, chanting “Death to America” and “Death to Israel.”In Sidon, Sheikh Maher Hammoud called on all Muslims capable of killing the filmmaker to do so.
“Every Muslim capable of killing the insulter of our religion, the producer of this film, should do so,” the sheikh said, comparing his fatwa to the one issued against Salman Rushdie, author of “The Satanic Verses.”In 1989, Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared Rushdie's novel “blasphemous” and called for his death.
The Sidon protesters chanted slogans calling for the death of the filmmaker who produced “Innocence of Muslims.”
In Ras al-Nabaa, demonstrators carrying flags of the Youth Party for Arab Lebanon burned U.S. and Israeli flags, a few miles away from the French Embassy, which was closed Friday.
The French Cultural Center closed its branches in the southern coastal city of Sidon as well as the northern city of Tripoli Friday. French schools across the country also closed Friday.
The French cultural centers had announced that they would close Friday, fearing protests in response to the publication Wednesday by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo of cartoons depicting the prophet. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said Wednesday that his government had stepped up security at embassies in countries where there could be a hostile reaction to the cartoons.
Security around the American Embassy in Lebanon has been boosted since protests over the film erupted.Currently, a 14-minute preview is available on YouTube, though it is inaccessible in several predominantly Muslim countries.- With additional reporting by Mohammed Zaatari, Antoine Amrieh, and Dana Khraiche

Experts estimate $40 bln gas reserves off Lebanese coast
September 22, 2012/By Osama Habib/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: An international firm has estimated the volume of gas in Lebanon’s south-west corner to be close to 25 trillion cubic feet, valued by experts to be worth over $40 billion. “In the 3,000 square kilometers we are covering in the south-west corner of Lebanon, near the borders of Cyprus and Israel, an initial assessment [indicates] there may be 25 trillion cubic feet of gas,” David Rowlands, chief executive of Britain-based Geo Ltd. Spectrum Company CEO, told The Daily Star Friday. The Lebanese government contracted Spectrum to conduct a 3-D seismic survey off the Lebanese coast.The results so far have been more than encouraging as major U.S., European and Asian companies have expressed a keen interest in drilling gas off the Lebanese coast.
Many Lebanese, who have lost faith in their government’s ability to solve the economic crisis and cut the size of the huge public debt, believe the gas reserves may represent the last hope for rescuing the country’s economy. The total maritime area that will be surveyed is 22,000 square kilometers, meaning that gas levels could be higher than initial estimates show, Rowlands added.
He declined to speculate the market value of the 25 trillion cubic feet of gas, but some experts have estimated it to be worth in excess of $40 billion at current market prices.
Experts interviewed by The Daily Star say that the value of the gas deposits could double or triple in the coming years as the world becomes more dependent on natural gas.
Rowlands said this single discovery is much bigger than the findings announced in Cyprus.
“In Cyprus’ offshore bloc 12, the estimated discovery was between 5 to 6 trillion cubic feet of gas. The 25 trillion in just one area of Lebanon suggests there could be much more gas off the Lebanese coast,” Rowlands said. He added that Dolphin Geophysical, which is subcontracted by Spectrum, is currently surveying the 3,000 square kilometers in Lebanon’s south west corner with its high-capacity seismic vessel, M/V Polar Duke.
Rowlands said that Israel has so far announced the discovery of 30 to 32 trillion cubic feet of gas.
“We are saying in our estimates that there is 25 trillion cubic feet of gas in one area alone. There could be more gas offshore Lebanon than Israel’s offshore gas,” he explained.
The companies will provide all the data they have collected to the Lebanese government in January 2013.
Rowlands said that Spectrum has a contract with the Lebanese Energy and Water Ministry to acquire onshore oil data as well.
“Our people are going to be in Beirut next Tuesday and Wednesday to meet with the Energy Ministry officials and to do some scouting onshore Lebanon and to determine where we are going to position our onshore survey,” Rowlands revealed.
“It is our intention in the first quarter of next year to conduct a seismic survey ... We believe that Lebanon has oil reserves onshore just like Syria.”
Roudi Baroudi, secretary-general of World Energy Council, said that Lebanon’s oil and gas wealth is much larger than that unveiled by Spectrum.
“We estimate that Lebanon’s offshore can produce up to 90,000 barrels of oil per day over the next 20 years, with the market value of this output is around $100 billion,” Baroudi said.
But he stressed that tapping the massive oil and gas wealth in Lebanon requires a quick political decision.“If March 8 and March 14 forces cannot reach an agreement on the Petroleum Administration or to benefit from this wealth then it is better to keep the gas reserves buried under the sea until the politicians return to their senses,” Baroudi said. Echoing similar frustration by the government’s inability to form the Petroleum Administration, Rowlands said five members of the administration have been identified while the last member is expected to be elected soon. “At a Deloitte and Touche conference in London ... the companies present said they were frustrated with the delays in forming the administration,” Rowlands said.

Army arrests Beshara kidnapping suspect
September 22, 2012/By Van Meguerditchian The Daily Star
BEIRUT: As part of a nationwide crackdown on abductions, Lebanese Army Intelligence arrested Friday a man suspected of kidnapping Youssef Beshara, confiscating and returning most of the $400,000 ransom that had been demanded in return for his release. Security sources identified the man by his last name, Allaw. He was arrested in Beirut’s Shiyah neighborhood.
Beshara, whose brother Anis Beshara owns a popular chain of bakeries, was kidnapped near his home in the Metn’s Bsalim last week.
His daughter paid a $400,000 ransom to her father’s kidnappers, and he was released Tuesday.
During the Friday raid in Shiyah, the Army found $380,000 of the ransom money, and Maj. Walid Salman returned the money to the Beshara family.
The arrest was part of a security plan put into place Wednesday to tackle the growing phenomenon of kidnapping. With the backing of Baabda Palace and the coordination of the country’s security forces, multiple operations have been carried out in the past 48 hours against those suspected of involvement in kidnapping.
“The security operation will continue to reassert the state’s full authority in the country,” Interior Minister Marwan Charbel told The Daily Star over the telephone Friday.
Earlier this week, the Army freed 45-year-old Fouad Daoud from captivity after a Wednesday raid in Baalbek that sparked an armed confrontation between his captors and Army Intelligence units.
Daoud was abducted last week in the Bekaa city of Zahle. His kidnappers demanded $250,000 in ransom during several phone conversations with his children. One person was arrested in connection with the abduction.
Ali Ahmad Mansour, a 73-year-old financier who was snatched Tuesday by an armed group in the Bekaa, remains in captivity.
Charbel said Army Intelligence units raided several houses in the Bekaa’s Brital area Friday, and arrested suspects believed to be behind Mansour’s kidnapping.
“Several people were arrested today by the Army and we are close to locating Mansour and freeing him,” Charbel added.
He said there had been an increase in the groups carrying out kidnappings in the past few months because of the instability in Syria and Lebanon’s own turbulent political situation. “If the Lebanese were united, the state would be stronger and these types of incidents would not take place,” he added.
In an attempt to strengthen the cooperation between the Army and other security forces, officials from the Internal Security Forces and General Security met Thursday at the Defense Ministry in Yarzeh.
Voicing optimism that the rate of kidnappings would dwindle in light of the high-level meetings, Charbel said the recent arrests will be a deterrent for others hoping to carry out kidnappings.
“The success of some [earlier] kidnappings encouraged the emergence of new gangs and new kidnappings,” he added.
Charbel stressed that those behind the recent spate of kidnappings were not backed by politicians or political parties. “The members of these gangs already have arrest warrants and are being pursued by the police ... They have no political cover whatsoever,” the minister said.
Meanwhile, Military Investigative Judge Imad Zein issued arrest warrants for Maher Meqdad, the Meqdad clan spokesperson, as well as Hasan Meqdad and Taher Sultan. The men, who were already in custody, were promptly served with the warrants.
Military Prosecutor Saqr Saqr charged the three men Thursday with “forming an armed group to [undermine] the prestige of the state, kidnapping citizens and threatening to kill them, as well as the possession of unlicensed weapons and explosives.”
Maher Meqdad was arrested last week by Army Intelligence units after they raided his house in the Beirut southern suburb of Haret Hreik.
In August, the Meqdads snatched over two dozen Syrian nationals in addition to a Turkish businessman in retaliation for the Damascus kidnapping of their relative, Hassan Meqdad.
Most of the hostages were released shortly after their Aug. 13 abduction, but the Turkish national and four Syrians were held longer – the latter accused of being members of the rebel Free Syrian Army.Under pressure from the Lebanese Army, the armed clan released Turkish businessman Aydin Tufan Tekin on Sept. 11, nearly a month after it kidnapped him.
Two days later, Turkish citizen Abdulbasit Arslan was handed over to General Security by Al-Mukhtar Al-Thaqafi, the armed group who claimed responsibility for holding him hostage for almost a month.
The remaining four Syrian hostages were freed in a Lebanese Army raid last week.
Lebanon has been hit by a wave of kidnappings since the unrest in Syria began last year. Last year three Al-Jasem brothers and a former Syrian Baathist leader were kidnapped in Beirut; in May 11 Lebanese Shiite pilgrims were kidnapped by a Syrian opposition faction near Aleppo.
While one of the 11 men was released earlier this month, the remaining pilgrims have been left in limbo as competing efforts to secure their release have pitted the government against Sunni figures and politicians from the March 14 coalition.

Day of Love’ violence kills 15 in Pakistan
September 22, 2012/ Agencies
ISLAMABAD: Muslim protests against insults to the Prophet Mohammad turned violent in Pakistan, where at least 15 people were killed Friday, but remained mostly peaceful in other Islamic countries.
The Obama administration sought to shore up already tense U.S. ties with Pakistan as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Friday on “responsible leaders” everywhere to explicitly condemn violence sparked by an anti-Islam film produced in the U.S.
But Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, standing beside Clinton at the State Department, ignored the invitation.
Instead, Khar focused her remarks entirely on the film, which Muslims believe to be blasphemous.
She thanked President Barack Obama and Clinton for speaking out against the video and for making it clear that it did not have the support of the U.S. government. But she avoided direct criticism of the violence.
“The condemnation of this blasphemous video, which has certainly stoked the sensitivities of the Muslims, goes a long way,” Khar said. “Your condemnation has given a strong message that the U.S. government not only condemns it, but has absolutely no support for such blasphemous videos or content anywhere.”
Clinton, who spoke before Khar, repeated her denunciation of the film but made it clear she was looking for condemnation of the violence.
“We found the video ... offensive, disgusting and reprehensible, but that does not provide justification for violence, and therefore it is important for responsible leaders, indeed responsible people everywhere, to stand and speak out against violence and particularly against those who would exploit this difficult moment to advance their own extremist ideologies,” Clinton said.
In France, where the publication of cartoons denigrating the Prophet stoked anger over the earlier video released by the U.S., authorities banned all protests over the issue.
“There will be no exceptions. Demonstrations will be banned and broken up,” Interior Minister Manuel Valls said.
Tunisia’s Islamist-led government also banned protests against the images published by French satirical weekly Charlie Hebdo. Four people were killed and almost 30 wounded last week when the U.S. Embassy was stormed in a protest over the film. Many Western and Muslim politicians and clerics have appealed for calm, denouncing those behind the mockery of the Prophet, but also condemning violent reactions to it.
The imam of Mecca urged Friday that laws be passed to prevent incitement of religious hatred as he reacted to the anti-Islam film and publication of cartoons of a naked Prophet Mohammad.
“We call on the world ... to enact a code of honor and a binding law to prohibit and criminalize any violation of monotheistic religions and prophets,” Sheikh Saleh bin Mohammad al-Taleb said in his weekly sermon at the Grand Mosque.
“Let the politicians and policy makers know that the people express uncontrolled reactions when sacred symbols are humiliated,” he said.
Sheikh Saleh also criticized the violent protests against the low-budget film “Innocence of Muslims.”
“Muslims must show their kindness in their reactions – it is not kindness to kill innocent people and destroy property,” he said, advising them to “raise awareness of the Prophet using social networks.”
Western diplomatic missions in Muslim nations tightened security ahead of Friday prayers. France ordered embassies, schools and cultural centers to close in a score of countries, and Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said some would stay shut over the weekend.
Outside the French Embassy in London, around a hundred Muslim protesters shouted slogans against the French magazine. Protesters outside the embassy in London’s plush Knightsbridge district shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) and waved placards reading “Shariah for France” and “Muslims will conquer France,” an AFP reporter at the scene said.
A police cordon held the demonstrators back from the embassy while around 25 women wearing niqabs, or full face-veils, protested in a separate group nearby.
In Pakistan, tens of thousands of people joined protests encouraged by the government in several cities including Islamabad, Karachi, Peshawar, Lahore, Multan and Muzaffarabad.
The bloodiest unrest erupted in the southern city of Karachi, where 10 people were killed, including three policemen, and more than 100 wounded, according to Allah Bachayo Memon, spokesman of the chief minister of Sindh province. He said about 20 vehicles, three banks and five cinemas were set on fire.
Crowds set two cinemas ablaze and ransacked shops in the northwestern city of Peshawar, clashing with riot police who fired tear gas. At least five people were killed. In Mardan in the northwest, police said a Christian church was set on fire and several people hurt.
Security forces fired in the air in Peshawar and the eastern city of Lahore to keep protesters away from U.S. consulates, while police used tear gas on around 1,000 protesters in Islamabad.
The U.S. Embassy in Pakistan has run television spots, one featuring Hillary Clinton, saying the government had nothing to do with the film about the Prophet.
Pakistan had declared Friday a “Day of Love” for the Prophet and Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf said an attack on Islam’s founder was “an attack on the whole 1.5 billion Muslims.” The Foreign Ministry summoned the U.S. charge d’affaires to lodge a protest over the video.
In neighboring Afghanistan, police contacted religious and community leaders to try to prevent bloodshed. Protests in Kabul and the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif only attracted a few hundred people and no violence was reported.
Around 10,000 Islamists gathered in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka after Friday prayers, chanting slogans and burning U.S. and French flags and an effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama.
In Benghazi, however, thousands of Libyans marched in support of democracy and against the Islamist militias that Washington blames for the attack on the U.S. consulate last week that killed four Americans, including the ambassador. Authorities said eight people in total had been arrested over the attack.
A few dozen Egyptians protested near the French Embassy in Cairo, but were kept away from the premises by police.
In Yemen, where the U.S. Embassy was stormed last week, several hundred Shiite protesters chanted anti-American slogans, but riot police blocked the route to the embassy.
Anger over the film brought several thousand Shiites and Sunnis together in a rare show of sectarian unity in Iraq’s southern city of Basra, where they burned U.S. and Israeli flags.
Some 200 Moroccans protested outside a mosque in Rabat’s twin city of Sale after weekly prayers, chanting anti-U.S. slogans and denouncing Obama, an AFP photographer reported.
“Death to Obama,” “Down with the West,” and “American Satan,” were among slogans shouted by the protesters, most of them Islamists.

LESLIE'S BLOG: STRENGTH AND TOLERANCE
Leslie J. Sacks
It's Always Our Fault - Revisiting the "Stockholm Syndrome"
I've been following the sad news out of Benghazi. The late ambassador Stevens was a courageous man committed to uplifting the Libyan people who, together with the Egyptians, are supposedly our new "allies." Seeing photos of his corpse being dragged like garbage through the streets of the city by those who demand the niceties of Sharia Law, those who wish to establish the worldwide Muslim Caliphate and enforce the subjugation of women - I had nothing pithy left to say, only sadness to feel.
Yet it took the American Embassy in Cairo, Hilary Clinton and the Vatican to raise my hackles. The embassy tweeted: "we condemn the continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims"; whilst Hilary, parading the endemic White House political correctness, called the obscure video by a crackpot "reprehensible" saying "we absolutely reject its content and message." The Vatican's Father Lombardi did not condemn the killings in Benghazi; rather he condemned "provocations against the sensibilities of Muslim believers."
Yet, the attack in Benghazi was more an act of war than a spontaneous protest - 400 militants showed up with mortars and RPGs.
Why? Why does the most powerful government in the world apologize to a rioting rabble, murderers of ambassadors, avowed followers of Bin Laden, pillagers of sovereign American property, whilst at the same time equating the obnoxious and isolated video with the iniquitous violence, as though the two were in any way comparable? The allure of the freedoms guaranteed by our Bill of Rights seems lost to the White House; the integrity of moral judgment has become clouded amongst our leaders.
Yes, this obscure and largely unseen video may indeed hurt the feelings of some devout Muslims, and may inflame some habitual anti-American hatred. But so will every Hollywood movie, every porn site, every political statement that's deemed impure and insulting to the Islamists who have zero tolerance to Western mores and traditions. This 14-minute video by some Egyptian Copt in California about the prophet Muhammad, "Innocence of Muslims," has been on YouTube since June - yet the propagators of these riots waited until September 11th, that infamous anniversary, to fan the flames. (On September 8th a major Egyptian TV station aired this largely ignored short film).
The real question is not the volatility of millions of Middle Easterners taught from birth to hate America and to despise Israel (as any excuse is usually enough). The real question is why we feel the need to pander and apologize to the most radical, violent and intolerant extremes around the world, to let them set the tone; a tone designed to stifle all criticism of Islam, to declare as blasphemy any attempt to reform radical Islam. (To Islamists, free speech does not extend to defamation of Islam and democracy merely another avenue to implement their 7th century theology).
There were indeed in the past other isolated incidents - Geert Wilders' "Fitna" movie in Amsterdam, the now infamous cartoons in the Jyllands-Posten newspaper in Denmark, a few pages of a discarded Koran burnt in error in Afghanistan. In the whole scheme of things, it's remarkable that there are not many more of these criticisms of Islam as we experience some of its radical manifestations today.
When Saudi citizens murdered 3000 innocents on 9/11, no embassies were burnt in America, no ambassadors murdered, no riots started. Yet an amateur film of no value seems to bother the Muslim World more than these 3000 victims. Apologies seem to go only one way - that is the real quandary. We are irrevocably always the Infidels, and they are always the revered protectors of Muhammad.
Ignored yet more relevant is the proliferation, by contrast in the Middle East, of daily anti-West, anti-Semitic propaganda. It's everywhere, all the time - it's the staple of much of the media, the education system, the Madrassas and the Mosques.
A 41 episode series (Horse Without a Horseman) based on the forged Protocols of the Elders of Zion has been running on Egyptian TV presenting the Jews as a cabal of conspiring demons taking over the world. In Syria, a government-supported TV series trotted out the ancient blood libel, that of Jews murdering Muslim children, then using their blood to bake Passover Matzos. Strange also, since Kosher laws expressly forbid blood residues from meat.
Hamas and the Palestinian Authority regularly equate Jews with the sons and daughters of pigs and monkeys, deserving of death and banishment. The PA pay convicted and jailed suicide bombers $3000 per month using American government subsidies.
Ahmadinejad talks of destroying Israel. Huge crowds danced, celebrated and handed out sweets in the Middle East capitals on 9/11.
The list is endless as are the calls to violence, rage and vengeance.
Does anyone from that world apologize for these daily genocidal exhortations? Does anyone from the West demand it? None that I have heard. Why? At MSNBC a consensus from a talk show recently advocated jailing the videographer as an accessory to murder, but not jailing the murderers themselves, not any lynch mobs. The murderers are granted victimhood in our upside-down world.
US Ambassador to Egypt, Anne Patterson, had forbidden the embassy's security to carry live ammunition - talk about a misguided attempt not to antagonize the Muslim Brotherhood, after all, talk about a more direct accessory to murder.
Where's the outrage when in the Middle East homosexuals are tortured, women stoned, acid thrown into the faces of young girls, Coptic Churches burned, IQ deficient kids used as suicide bombers? The silence is more than deafening.
We now apologize for our unique freedom of speech, the core bastion of our society; we apologize for the words, cartoons and photos of a few independent individuals exercising their inalienable right to free expression, to differing opinions overwhich we have no control over or responsibility for.
Our ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, and White House spokesman, Jay Carney, insist unwaveringly, against all evidence, against the findings of the Libyan and Egyptian authorities, that the violence was not premeditated, that it was entirely due to the obscure YouTube video. Reports also further note that the brother of Al Qaeda's current leader, namely Mohammed Zawahiri, was instrumental in the Cairo attack.
Yet we seem to take the hate speech in the Middle East for granted, the beheadings, kidnappings, rapes, murders, suicide bombings. We cowardly choose to respond by subsidizing these supremacist and fanatical leaders, these anti-American entities. We now show every variation of weakness and pandering, any apology we can muster in spite of the immutable reality that the Middle East only respects the strong horse and mocks the weak horse. Logic and morality be damned.
We, and our ambassadors, should not be anywhere in which we cannot engender respect or elicit appreciation. Skype as an alternative really works very well nowadays. The White House ignores the green revolution in Iran, that hugely deserving opposition to a viciously anti-American regime, in a country of people primarily pro-American. Yet this same White House supports Egyptian President Morsi who demands the release of the first World Trade Center bomber, blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. This same White House supports the Muslim Brotherhood, who has refused to recognize the State of Israel and whose leaders reaffirmed Jihad on Israel.
We apologize when we should stand firm; strangely, we draw our enemies close and alienate our friends.
I don't understand - do you?
Hitchens schools a Muslim on free speech
Libya, Afghanistan and the Middle East -- Why Obama and Romney are Both Wrong
Misplaced Blame for the Embassy Attacks
Mr. President, Mitt Romney Is Not the Enemy
Stephens: Muslims, Mormons and Liberals
Posted on Western Free Press
LESLIE'S BLOG: STRENGTH AND TOLERANCE
Leslie J. Sacks

Question: "Was Jesus Christ married? Did Jesus have a wife?"
GotQuestions.org
Answer: The recent discovery and translation of the fourth-century "Jesus' wife papyrus" has reopened the discussion as to whether Jesus had a wife / was married. The "Jesus' wife papyus" says, "Jesus said to them, 'My wife ...'" This discovery is interesting in that it is the first Gnostic writing to explicitly state that Jesus had a wife. While a couple of the Gnostic gospels mention Jesus having a close relationship with Mary Magdalene, none of them specifically state that Jesus was married to her or to anyone else. Ultimately, it does not matter what the "Jesus' wife papyrus" or Gnostic gospels say. They have no authority. They have all been proven to be forgeries invented to create a Gnostic view of Jesus.
If Jesus had been married, the Bible would have told us so, or there would be some unambiguous statement to that fact. Scripture would not be completely silent on such an important issue. The Bible mentions Jesus’ mother, adoptive father, half-brothers, and half-sisters. Why would it neglect to mention the fact that Jesus had a wife? Those who believe/teach that Jesus was married are doing so in an attempt to “humanize” Him, to make Him more ordinary, more like everyone else. People simply do not want to believe that Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1, 14; 10:30). So, they invent and believe myths about Jesus being married, having children, and being an ordinary human being.
A secondary question would be, “Could Jesus Christ have been married?” There is nothing sinful about being married. There is nothing sinful about having sexual relations in marriage. So, yes, Jesus could have been married and still be the sinless Lamb of God and Savior of the world. At the same time, there is no biblical reason for Jesus to marry. That is not the point in this debate. Those who believe Jesus was married do not believe that He was sinless, or that He was the Messiah. Getting married and having children is not why God sent Jesus. Mark 10:45 tells us why Jesus came, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Do you want to learn about the true "wife" of Jesus? If so, please read our article on "What does it mean that the church is the bride of Christ?"

GotQuestions.orgQuestion: "What does it mean that the church is the bride of Christ?"
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Answer: The imagery and symbolism of marriage is applied to Christ and the body of believers known as the church. These are those who have trusted in Jesus Christ as their personal savior and have received eternal life. In the New Testament, Christ, the Bridegroom, has sacrificially and lovingly chosen the church to be His bride (Ephesians 5:25-27). Just as there was a betrothal period in biblical times during which the bride and groom were separated until the wedding, so is the bride of Christ separate from her Bridegroom during the church age. Her responsibility during the betrothal period is to be faithful to Him (2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:24). At the Second Coming of Christ, the church will be united with the Bridegroom, the official "wedding ceremony" will take place and, with it, the eternal union of Christ and His bride will be actualized (Revelation 19:7-9; 21:1-2).
At that time, all believers will inhabit the heavenly city known as New Jerusalem, also called “the holy city” in Revelation 21:2 and 10. The New Jerusalem is not the church, but it takes on the church’s characteristics. In his vision of the end of the age, the Apostle John sees the city coming down from heaven adorned “as a bride,” meaning that the inhabitants of the city, the redeemed of the Lord, will be holy and pure, wearing white garments of holiness and righteousness. Some have misinterpreted verse 9 to mean the holy city is the bride of Christ, but that cannot be because Christ died for His people, not for a city. The city is called the bride because it encompasses all who are the bride, just as all the students of a school are sometimes called “the school.”
As believers in Jesus Christ, we who are the bride of Christ wait with great anticipation for the day when we will be united with our Bridegroom. Until then, we remain faithful to Him and say with all the redeemed of the Lord, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).