LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JANUARY 3/2006

Below New from the Daily Star for 3/01/06
Hariri: Preserve resistance and maintain trust
Row between Hizbullah-Amal alliance and majority escalates
Year kicks off with tribute to victims of 2005 assassinations
Hamade: Lahoud's relation with Hariri one of surveillance
Conference says supporting the resistance a priority
Location and nature of international court to be settled soon
Year kicks off with tribute to victims of 2005 assassinations
Hamade: Lahoud's relation with Hariri one of surveillance
Conference says supporting the resistance a priority
Location and nature of international court to be settled soon
Hariri: Preserve resistance and maintain trust
Below New from Miscellaneous Sources
Border town rejects plan to move from Lebanon to Israel-Haaretz 3.1.06
Iran Means What It Says-Middle East Forum.bY: Michael Rubin - 3.1.06
Lebanon: The game of death and love-yementimes 3.1.06
U.S. brass say enemy at Syria border 'neutralized'-nationworld 3.1.06
Assasination Inquiry Seeks to Interview Syria's Leader-Nytimes 3.1.06
Resurgence in landmine injuries, fatalities IRIN 3.1.06
U.N. team seeks to quiz Assad-CNN 3.1.06
Questionable Catharsis-arabnews 3.1.06

Syrian legislator: Assad will reject interview
By ASSOCIATED PRESS 2.1.06
Syrian legislator Faysal Kalthoum said late Monday that Damascus would reject the UN committee's request to interview Assad if it violates the dignity of the presidency. "This request must not contradict the constitutional and legal rules surrounding the dignity of the presidency, the symbol of sovereignty and national dignity," he told AP. If it does, it will be rejected by all Syrians, he said. The commission asked to interview Assad in July last year but was refused. The US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, urged Syria to comply. "We strongly support the commission's investigative efforts," Bolton said in a statement Monday. "We expect the government of Syria to comply with these requests fully and unconditionally as the Security Council resolutions require."

Hariri: Preserve resistance and maintain trust
Mp holds lahoud 'politically and morally responsible' for past year's strife
By Karine Raad -Daily Star staff
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
BEIRUT: In a recent interview with As-Safir, Beirut MP Saad Hariri remained adamant on preserving the resistance, but made it clear that support must also come from his allies. Hariri said he was confused by the rift within the Cabinet, noting when the government asked the UN Security Council to expand its investigation into the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri to include all attacks since the assassination attempt on Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamade, he "heard no official or party leader demanding the disarmament of Hizbullah." However, Hizbullah and Amal ministers who have suspended their participation in the Cabinet "said they wanted the Cabinet to convene and issue a letter addressed to the Security Council stipulating that the remaining articles of Resolution 1559 were fulfilled," he added. "We tried to assure them, but we also said that Lebanon cannot stand in defiance of international legitimacy," he said. Hariri and his allies said at the time that if such a letter was written it would include the fact that President Emile Lahoud remained in office against popular will and that Syria's security apparatus and secret intelligence were still active in Lebanon. "Some issues cannot be approved," the MP said.
Hariri said it was "not possible to accept that our allies in the government defend the Syrian regime, whereas the head of the international investigation committee, Detlev Mehlis, accuses the Syrian regime of involvement in the string of assassinations, in addition to the nations of the world and the majority of the Lebanese."
He held Lahoud "politically and morally responsible" for the past year's developments and for hampering administrative and judicial procedures, such as yet to be completed security designations. Hariri also said his contacts with Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah were still in tact, "but I, like many others, noticed the Sayyed speaks and some of his officials speak differently." The parliamentary majority leader said he appreciated Nasrallah and the sacrifices made by the resistance, but feared the lack of trust between the two sides would only increase. He was also disappointed at attempts by some to depict the March 14 alliance as targeting the resistance with American and European support.
Asked about accusations made by the Shiite ministers that Premier Fouad Siniora was undermining Hariri's personal guarantees to the resistance, Hariri said he approved a text drafted by the Shiite ministers, but also made it a condition that all national parties agree. Hariri praised Siniora's performance, regardless of "minor protests by this or that party."
"I understand the fears of the resistance, but the resistance must also understand the fears of the others, and I do not stab my allies in the back," he said. Addressing accusations the majority was seeking to sign a peace deal with Israel, the MP assured that even after the liberation of the remaining occupied Lebanese territories and release of Lebanese detainees from Israel, Lebanon would still not sign a treaty with Israel unless all other Arab states did so first.
"The people have the right to ask if it is right that Lebanon suffers the consequences of the war with Israel alone ... and this is what my allies are asking," he added.Hariri believed that a Shiite pullout from the government would harm the country, stressing the need to encourage trust between all parties.He insisted the Cabinet majority would not accept any such resignation, though, and will strive to bring the Shiites back into the fold.Asked his opinion of what would happen if the Shiite bloc insisted on quitting the government altogether and holding parliamentary elections, he replied: "Let new elections be held, perhaps we would increase the number of our seats."Commenting on last week's rocket attack from South Lebanon on Israel, Hariri said someone was either trying to "implicate and embarrass" the resistance, or "there are some intransigent parties allied with Syria, but what is most dangerous is to link the resistance with Al-Qaeda."
He further blamed Damascus for the ongoing hostility between the two countries.
"(Syria) is pressuring its allies in Lebanon to stir strife; we are not pursuing this regime, it is pursuing us," he said.
Hariri said Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa "is a nationalistic man who cares about Arab consensus, which we support and this is his duty, but we also ask him to take into consideration our stand because we are the victims and the weaker side."Hariri denounced accusations his allies were internationalizing the Hariri investigations, saying his relation with the U.S. and the West were indispensable to Lebanon's interests.The gap between the Shiite ministers and the Cabinet majority has only grown wider as of late, particularly as the former believes a deal made in Riyadh has been broken.
Amal MP Ali Hassan Khalil and Hizbullah MP Hajj Hussein Khalil met with Hariri in Saudi Arabia in mid-December, where they agreed on a text that defined the mission and role of the resistance.
The initial text did not restrain the resistance, even after the liberation of occupied territories and release of detainees, whereas a second version stipulated the resistance's mission and role would end with liberation.
Notably, Hariri's Christian allies and MP Walid Jumblatt supported Siniora in refusing to link the destiny of Hizbullah's arms with the Middle East crisis.Consequently, tensions rose when Nasrallah suggested a new round of elections and a possible alliance with MP Michel Aoun.In the hope of resolving the crisis, Speaker Nabih Berri and Hariri have planned to meet.

Row between Hizbullah-Amal alliance and majority escalates
By Adnan El-Ghoul -Daily Star staff
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
BEIRUT: Last year's climate of political tension in Lebanon continues in the new year, as the government crisis remains unresolved and the Lebanese street continues to burn after an explosive testimony from former Syrian Vice-President Abdel-Halim Khaddam. Despite the delicate tones being used in official statements, the row between the Hizbullah-Amal alliance and the parliamentary majority is escalating while other political parties are growing impatient with the failure to break the political impasse. While negotiations are being held between the Shiite blocs and members of MP Saad Hariri's Future Movement, a divide has widened among Christian MPs and ministers demanding to be included in the dialogue. Fears are also mounting within Druze leader Walid Jumblatt's camp that a rapprochement favorable to Hizbullah's demands is in the works.
To quell these fears, Hariri affirmed the importance of consultations with his March 14 allies in a recent interview with a local daily, and vowed his alliance with Jumblatt would last "100 years."
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fouad Siniora reaffirmed his commitment to realizing the return of the Shiite ministers who suspended their participation in the Cabinet. However, he also called for a Cabinet session this Thursday, with or without the Shiite ministers. Sources close to the Cabinet said the government would not discuss issues of national importance requiring consensus during the session. "We have not given up on bringing our colleagues back to the Cabinet through further talks and consultations," Siniora said. "We are going through a sensitive stage trying to solve the government impasse ... Dialogue is not a tune that we keep repeating; we must add to it hard work, determination and firm decisions to reach positive results."
However, the premier stressed the need to grasp the economic opportunities in front of Lebanon while searching for the truth behind the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri.
After consultations with Saudi Foreign Minister Saudi al-Faisal, Lebanese Speaker Nabih Berri left for the Hajj pilgrimage, where he is expected to meet Hariri. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak also left for Riyadh Tuesday to meet with Saudi King Abdullah regarding the Syria-Lebanon crisis and Egypt's concerns over the alleged Syrian involvement in the murder of the late Hariri. An unidentified Saudi official told The Associated Press the timing of Mubarak's visit was linked to allegations made by former Syrian Vice President Abdel-Halim Khaddam in a television interview Friday. Khaddam claimed Syrian President Bashar Assad threatened
the late Hariri several months before his assassination last February. His statements added fuel to the ongoing fire in Lebanon by compromising one of the three main components in Berri's initiative, namely his bloc's ties with Syria.
However, officials from the Amal Movement defended Berri's initiative for a nation-al dialogue.
"Berri's initiative will bridge the distance that spans the different Lebanese factions and restore the dialogue necessary to enhance Lebanese unity and reaffirm positions regarding basic national issues," said Amal bloc MP Abdel-Majeed Saleh.
After a meeting between Berri and Siniora Friday, Hariri gave an interview with As-Safir newspaper in which he took a reconciliatory tone toward the resistance, but also demanded something in return.
Hariri stressed that he is adamant about protecting the resistance, but made it clear that his allies in the March 14 forces - namely its Christian MPs and ministers - must also support any agreement made with Hizbullah.
Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah said Hariri could not deny that he had agreed with Amal and Hizbullah negotiators regarding the remaining articles in UN Security Council Resolution 1559, particularly its calls for the disarmament of all militias in Lebanon. "I was confused by the rift between the country's Cabinet majority and coalition of Shiite ministers over the disarmament issue when the issue was not even raised," Hariri said in the interview. He added that negotiators from the Shiite bloc had said they wanted the Cabinet to issue a letter to the Security Council stipulating that Resolution 1559 had been fulfilled. "We replied that Lebanon cannot stand in defiance of international legitimacy," he said.
However, such a statement can only complicate talks further in Saudi Arabia because, as Hariri said, "some issues cannot be approved. It is not possible to accept that our allies in the government defend the Syrian regime."
The Change and Reform bloc headed by MP Michel Aoun held the alliance between Hizbullah and the Future Movement "responsible for the present divide in the country." Following a party meeting, the bloc issued a statement saying "the present alliance that formed the government based on unilateral decisions has plunged the country into deeper and more dangerous internal segregation at a time when unity is badly needed to face the imminent challenges ahead."
The bloc demanded the two parties "make up their minds" and engage in a "fruitful dialogue to discuss concrete issues, and not confine dialogue to the failing duo making up the alliance." It added: "The dialogue must include the main factions representing the main Lebanese political groups to come up with clear responses to the most pressing national issues and to their fears on the economical, political and security levels."

Conference says supporting the resistance a priority
By Karen Mneimne -Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
BEIRUT: The National Conference to Support the Resistance said that Hizbullah is a "national duty and the only real option to defend Lebanon's territories, national sovereignty and independence." In a final statement adopted on Monday at the end of the two-day conference, protecting the resistance was at the top o a list of 14 recommendations. The conference endorsed Friday the option to resist and confront the "American-Israeli schemes against Lebanon and other Middle Eastern countries."
Several civil society organizations took part and emphasized the need to promote the culture of resistance and reinforce the society's immunity to meet the current challenges facing Lebanon. During the conference, eight working papers were discussed. Some of them dealt with "Distinction between Terrorism and the Resistance," "Role of Culture in the Resistance," and "Methods to Reinforce National Unity." The conference president Yehya Ghaddar read out the 14 recommendations and said "several similar conferences and activities will be held in Lebanon soon."
Following the discussions and interventions, participants announced the establishment of the National Gathering to Support the Resistance in order to increase the participation of the civil society organizations in the gathering.
In the recommendations, the conference called upon the National Gathering to Support the Resistance "to strengthen the awareness about the nature of the Zionist enemy and its danger."
Furthermore, the recommendations said comprehensive and civil resistance should be a priority of the civil society, the parties, forces and youth, cultural and women's associations.
The conference also called "to mobilize all immigrant forces to confront the Zionist project that targets Lebanon's territories, people, state and entity."It also made an appeal to "generalize Lebanon's national culture among immigrants so that they form a pressure group wherever they are and defend the resistance and national interests.

"Location and nature of international court to be settled soon
By Nada Bakri
Special to The Daily Star
Tuesday, January 03, 2006
BEIRUT: The thorny issues of a venue and structure for the court to try those accused of killing former Premier Rafik Hariri looks set to be settled soon, as a top UN diplomat heads to Beirut to discuss the matter with Lebanese politicians. According to pan-Arab Al-Hayat newspaper, which was quoting a top Lebanese politician who wished to remain anonymous, the UN official is due to arrive in Beirut on January 15. Future Movement MP Walid Eido confirmed this to The Daily Star and said the UN official, who will be representing UN chief Kofi Annan, will discuss the procedures of creating this court with the Lebanese officials. "Talks will focus on the nature of the court, its location, the location of hearing suspects in addition of course to the law that will be applied," said Eido. He added that the diplomat will follow up on the Security Council discussions with the Cabinet regarding the nature of the court.  Eido said he will also define the "kind" and framework of international aid the Lebanese Cabinet needs in this matter.
The majority bloc in Parliament, headed by Future Movement leader Saad Hariri, had been pushing for an international court for over three months but was faced with an opposition from the Shiite coalition of Amal and Hizbullah.
Both parties claim such a court could open up possible doors of international intervention in Lebanon's internal affairs, adding the creation can wait until the probe is over. While supporters of the international court argue that the Lebanese judiciary is currently incapable of establishing justice, as it is undergoing reforms and it might not be ready on time to deal with an issue of that caliber.  However the murder of MP Gebran Tueni in mid December gave the creation of an international court the push it needed. Following Tueni's murder, Siniora's Cabinet held an emergency meeting in which ministers voted for officially requesting the establishment of the international court. But the decision was strongly rejected by Amal and Hizbullah ministers, who have been since suspending their participation in the Cabinet's sessions. In light of those tensions, Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun proposed the creation of a mixed court that includes international and Lebanese judges.
According to Aoun, the international element guarantees the ability to enforce the court's decisions, while the Lebanese one would provide transparency to alleviate the fears of those worried about Western pressures. George Labaki, an expert in international law, told The Daily Star that because of the involvement of high-level Lebanese and Syrian government officials, situating a trial in Lebanon is off the table, leaving a need for some international forum. But he said the existing bodies like the International Criminal Court are only meant to try crimes against humanity, thus Hariri's case is out of their jurisdiction.
"Unless the Lebanese request that all assassinations and mass graves recently found be also investigated," said Labaki.
The nature of the court, its mandate and the law it will apply has to be decided by the Security Council, said Labaki, adding from a legal point of view the creation of a court can wait until the end of the investigation.

Resurgence in landmine injuries, fatalities
BEIRUT, 2 January (IRIN) - After a steady decrease in the number of landmine victims since the withdrawal of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon in 2000, last year witnessed a sudden resurgence of cases.
In December alone, three girls were injured by an unexploded cluster bomb in the south of the country, leading one to have her leg amputated. A foreign worker also had to have a leg amputated after stepping on a landmine at a construction site in Beirut.
"We have 21 survivors and five killed this year," Brigadier General Salim Raad, director of the National De-mining Office, established in 1998, said. "The numbers have almost doubled in comparison to 2004."
According to Raad, poverty is the main reason behind the increase in cases.
"Farmers often use their land right up to the minefield fence," he explained. "A cow was once trapped in a neighbouring minefield and, being the farmer's main source of income, he went to save her. They both died."
Raad said that the economic situation was worsening in the country. Some reports suggest that some 28 percent of the country's population live in poverty.
In another incident a year ago, Ahmad al-Sahili stepped on a mine as he was helping a friend collect iron to sell in the Nabatieh area of South Lebanon, which has yet to be de-mined. The young mechanic, who had been set to travel to Gabon for better job prospects, was injured in his arms and left leg, and required the amputation of his right leg.
His sight was also damaged, and since then he has been unable to work.
"We thought people would learn from my accident," al-Sahili said. "Unfortunately, they still continue to go gather iron in areas they know are dangerous."
Between 2002 and 2004, a large-scale de-mining operation was made possible by a US $50-million donation by the United Arab Emirates in collaboration with the United Nations Mine Action Coordination Centre in South Lebanon and the Lebanese Army.
"Four main areas were cleared," explained Dalya Farran, officer in charge of media relations at the UN mine centre. "But the funding has been exhausted, and we need to continue clearing other areas."
Meanwhile, British NGO Mines Advisory Group, in cooperation with the Lebanese Army, has continued de-mining operations all over the country, albeit on a much smaller scale.
(b) Demining Lebanon (/b)
After 15 years of civil war and 22 years of Israeli occupation of the South, experts estimate there to be some 450,000 unexploded mines countrywide.
An estimated 370,000 of these are concentrated along the Blue Line, a border demarcation between Lebanon and Israel drawn up by the United Nations and guarded by UN Interim Forces in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
The rest are scattered throughout the country with a concentration in the southern areas of Jezzine, Hasbayya and Nabatieh, as well as in the northern mountains of Tannourine, about 65 km from the capital.
"While the majority of mines are the result of Israeli invasions and occupation, all militias – local and foreign – have planted mines in Lebanon," said Raad.
The main obstacle to de-mining efforts, he added, is the lack of accurate maps kept by those who originally planted the deadly devices. "They forgot where they put the mines," Raad said. Israeli maps of minefields handed over to UNIFIL, for example, are considered only 60 percent accurate. "Israelis also used cluster bombs, thrown from planes and scattered by the wind," explained Raad. "There is no map for these either." Mines were planted mainly in areas where agriculture used to be the major source of income for villagers. While five million square metres of land have been de-mined so far, residents in non-cleared areas still remain vulnerable.

Assasination Inquiry Seeks to Interview Syria's Leader
By JOHN O'NEIL
Published: January 2, 2006
United Nations investigators have asked to interview Syria's President, Bashar al-Assad, about the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, wire services reported today.
The move comes three days after a former vice president of Syria said that Mr. Assad had directly threatened Mr. Hariri, and is likely to lead to an escalation of tensions over the investigation into the bombing that killed Mr. Hariri and 20 other people last February.
A spokeswoman for the United Nations inquiry, Nasrat Hassan, told the BBC that investigators had requested interviews with Mr. Assad and with Syria's foreign minister, Farouq Shara, along with others. She said the investigators were awaiting a reply.
A preliminary report by the United Nations panel had concluded that the bombing was a terrorist act carried out by high-ranking Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officers after Mr. Hariri had ignored warnings to stop pushing for greater autonomy from Syria, which has dominated Lebanon since Syrian troops ended a bloody civil war there more than 20 years ago.
Syria has vehemently denied any connection to the bombing. But on Friday, the former vice president, Abdel-Halim Khaddam, told Al Arabia television that Mr. Hariri had been summoned to Damascus for a meeting with Mr. Assad.
The Syrian president warned Mr. Hariri "in extremely harsh words," not to interfere with Mr. Assad's plan to extend the term of his Lebanese ally, President Emile Lahoud, Mr. Khaddam said. He quoted the Syrian president as telling Mr. Hariri in 2004: "You want to bring a [new] president in Lebanon. I will not allow that. I will crush whoever attempts to overturn our decision."
According to Reuters, a United Nations official said today that Mr. Khaddam's account "corroborates information the commission has received," although it contradicts statements by Syria's foreign minister that the meeting between Mr. Assad and Mr. Hariri was cordial.
The official said that investigators would also question Mr. Khaddam as soon as possible.
The Syrian parliament responded to the Khaddam interview by voting on Saturday to demand that the government put him on trial for treason, and the ruling Baath party voted yesterday to expel him.
Mr. Khaddam, who fled to exile in Paris last summer, was widely regarded as the architect of Syria's policy in Lebanon under Mr. Assad's father, Hafez al-Assad, who died in 2000. His statement represents the first break among the so-called Old Guard who had supported the elder Mr. Assad and still dominate the tight ruling circles in Damascus.
The killing of Mr. Hariri led to an outpouring of anger that forced the younger Mr. Assad to withdraw Syrian troops from Lebanon in April. It also heightened tensions with the United States, which has been at odds with Syria over what the Bush administration sees as a failure to crack down on insurgents infiltrating into Iraq and other matters.
Syria has given permission to the United Nations panel to interview two relatives of Mr. Assad who were implicated in a draft report by the panel that was released through a computer error: the president's brother, Maher al-Assad, who commands the presidential guard, and his brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat, the head of Military Intelligence.
But Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who until recently led the investigation, reported to the United Nations last month that his work had been continually blocked by "procedural maneuvering and sometimes contradictory feedback from the Syrian authorities." He has also said that the investigation will take months, or even years, to complete.
The United Nations security council recently extended the term of the investigative panel by another six months and is expected to name a replacement for Mr. Mehlis soon.

World should react to plight of Iranians in Israel
Monday, January 02, 2006 - ©2005 IranMania.com
LONDON, January 2 (IranMania) - Iranian Foreign Minister Manuchehr Mottaki stressed the need to disclose the illegal and inhuman actions of the 'Zionist' regime for keeping four Iranian nationals in captivity for over 23 years, MNA reported.
In a message addressed to a conference in Birjand about the fate of the kidnapped diplomats, Mottaki said that the world public opinion should become sensitive about the fate of the missing Iranians who were kidnapped in Lebanon in 1982 and transferred to Israel. According to undisputed evidence the Iranian nationals were abducted and persecuted by Phalangist forces who then handed them over to the 'Zionist' regime, he said. ?Other reliable reports confirm they have been seen in Israeli prisons.?  Mottaki noted that the foreign ministry has prioritized defending the rights and freedom of the four Iranian nationals who had entered Lebanon for diplomatic and media work but were held hostage by the criminal 'Zionist' mercenaries in an act that was against international, legal and diplomatic law.
The Islamic Republic of Iran holds the 'Zionist' regime responsible for the illegal arrest and long-term imprisonment of the four Iranian nationals and it?s the foreign ministry?s duty to make use of all political, international and legal means to release them, he underlined. Mottaki urged various non-governmental organizations, legal authorities and other members of the Iranian nation to take a part alongside government bodies in efforts to clarify the fate of the missing diplomats.
He expressed regret over the irresponsibility of international organizations toward the case, adding that some European countries which refuse to tolerate any criticism of the inhuman actions of the 'Zionist' regime have been indifferent toward the plight of the kidnapped Iranian nationals.

From Heroism to Infamy
By Amal Chaaban - American Chronicles
January 1, 2006
What can one say about Hizballah’s heroism that has not yet been said? How does one then explain their rapid-fire fall from grace? How does one explain that Lebanon’s heroes have become a thorn in our side and worse: traitors. How are we as Lebanese to reconcile the images that we are seeing of the 5 MP’s walking out of parliament and stopping the governing of the country with the images of the men who saved part of it?
Hizballah’s fall from grace started on February 14, 2005 with the murder of Rafiq Al Hariri. When Lebanese of all stripes took to the street, Hizballah stayed strangely silent. They did however break that silence once demonstrations started to demand an end to the Syrian presence in Lebanon. Not only did they break the silence, they called on all of their supporters to take to the streets in support of Syria. That’s right. In support of a country that has occupied us, arrested our men, stolen our resources and a good percentage of our GDP and generally abused us. One of the first things that was said at the rally was: "We are here to thank Syria which has stayed by our side for many years….”. What exactly are they thanking them for? Choosing our governing officials? Stealing from the country? Arbitrary arrests of anyone who said a word in opposition?
For those of us who have always believed in Hizballah, this comes as a mortal blow. These are our heroes. They liberated the 25-mile zone and now they are betraying us in the worst way. It is understandable that Hizballah is not a fan of UN resolution 1559 but this is not the right way to express their displeasure with aspects of it. Apologists for Hizballah point to their Iranian connection and Iran’s stand with Syria. Hizballah’s first allegiance should be to Lebanon not Syria. If they cannot do this then perhaps they need to rethink their geographical location.
For the five members of Parliament (duly elected to serve the citizenry of Lebanon) to walk out because of a motion to ask for international aid to investigate the series of bombings plaguing Lebanon and robbing us of our leaders is absolutely unacceptable. We all know Syria is behind the bombings, we just need to prove it and an international investigation is the only way we can hope to do that. There is no way an investigation could be carried out in Lebanon without attempted Syrian interference and/or intimidation. Hizballah is feeling the heat. Hassan Nasrallah has done interviews that appear to be defending Hizballah’s position on the issue of Syria. Hizballah need to make a decision. They need to decide if they are with us or against us. If they are against us, they need to leave. NOW.

U.S. brass say enemy at Syria border 'neutralized'
By Kim Gamel - The Associated Press
AL ASAD, Iraq - Recent offensives near the Iraqi border with Syria have dealt a blow to al-Qaida and cut off the group's ability to smuggle in foreigners through the volatile western area to join the insurgency, a U.S. commander said Sunday.
Maj. Gen. Steve Johnson, commander of the 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force Forward, said the operations had ''neutralized'' the group's ability to use the vast Euphrates River valley to organize and attract followers.
The fighting helped restore Iraqi control of the border with Syria, eliminated smuggling lines and paved the way for successful Sunni Arab regional participation in Dec. 15 parliamentary elections, he said in an interview with a small group of reporters at this dusty U.S. base in al Asad, in western Anbar province near the Syrian border. He said U.S. forces had ''dealt the enemy a . . . significant blow out here in the western Euphrates, knocked him off of his stride, took away his areas where he was congregating, made it difficult for him to organize and cut into his rat lines that run through this particular part of the country.''
He also said the number of suicide bombings had gone down, without giving specific numbers.
Brig. Gen. Boomer Milstead agreed.
''There's been a significant decrease in the smuggling of fighters from Syria,'' he said. The expeditionary force leaders spoke on the sidelines of a visit by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Gen. Peter Pace, who is on a weeklong holiday tour with a group of entertainers to rally troops. The trip began Wednesday in Qatar, and included visits to Bahrain, Afghanistan and the east African nation of Djibouti. Johnson said a largely local insurgency persisted in western Iraq, although they sometimes worked with al-Qaida and other rogue elements.
''I think there's a marriage of convenience between a number of them,'' he said, adding he did not believe al-Qaida was a dominant factor.
''I believe we have neutralized his ability to do the things that he wanted to do out here. They've gone on to other places where it's easier to operate,'' he said, declining to elaborate on where those areas might be.
In the recent offensives, U.S. commanders used Iraqi forces, although Americans bore the brunt of the fighting.
Johnson praised Iraqi forces for their performance, saying 2,500 new forts had been established along the border. ''We've restored control of the border to the Iraqis,'' he said.

Syria Gov't to Launch Inquiry on Kaddam
By Anadolu News Agency (aa), Damascus
Monday, January 02, 2006
The Syrian government has decided to launch an inquiry into former Vice President Abdelhalim Kaddam, charged with corruption. Official newspaper Al-Tavra reported the Cabinet will take necessary steps to ensure Haddam faces court.
Reportedly, the government has fulfilled the demands emanating from the parliament. In his statements to Al-Arabia television, Haddam claimed “Syrian President Bassar Asad and high level Syrian government authorities threatened former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and the ruling Baath Party at the time they decided to expel him. Kaddam, settled in France after leaving Syria last September, had resigned from office. Following his departure Hariri was killed in a bomb attack staged on February 14. Syria denies any involvement in the the attack that killed Hariri.

U.N. team seeks to quiz Assad
Monday, January 2, 2006 Lebanon (CNN) -- U.N. investigators looking into the assassination of a former Lebanese leader have asked to interview Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, a spokesperson for the investigators said. According to the spokesperson Monday, a request has been made for an interview with al-Assad and al-Sharaa, among others. There was no immediate response from the Syrian government.
The decision to seek interviews with the two men came only days after former Syrian Vice President Abdul Halim Khaddam told the al-Arabiya network that al-Assad had made direct personal threats against Rafik Hariri, months before the former Lebanese prime minister was assassinated in Beirut last February.
Khaddam was a key Syrian policy maker before resigning as Syria's vice president in June.
While the spokesperson said the information presented by Khaddam corroborates information already received by the U.N. commission already, no mention was made of what prompted the request for the interviews.
Khaddam's accusations came as the U.N. inquiry into Hariri's death focuses on senior Syrian figures. He said Hariri had been summoned to Damascus, and Assad had spoken very harshly to him.
In his interview with al-Arabiya, the former vice president said he was not accusing al-Assad of complicity in Hariri's death. But he launched a wide-ranging assault on his style of leadership:
"Well the harshness was something like -- al-Assad told him: 'You want to bring a new president to Lebanon, you want to do so and so. I will not let you. I will smash anyone for even trying to disobey our orders.' I don't recall his exact words but that was the level of harshness. Hariri went out, his blood pressure went up and his nose started bleeding."
Khaddam said that "authority is in the hands of one person -- a one-man rule.""And authority is extremely centralized. That made institutions, party leadership and popular organizations completely absent -- and their role became to rubber stamp the decisions of the president." Khaddam also criticized the Syrian government for political missteps in Lebanon and not providing political reform and economic help domestically. During a parliamentary session Saturday, several lawmakers stood up to denounce Khaddam's comments. One member of parliament -- Sha'aban Shaheen --said Khaddam's comments "constitute a criminal offense that reaches the level of treason and we demand he be put to trial before the Syrian security high court."
Observers say they could undermine al-Assad's already delicate position as Syria's president. The U.N. Security Council has already declared Hariri's assassination an act of terrorism, and the U.N. investigation has implicated high Syrian officials.

The game of death and love
Atif Awad- TamenTimes 2/1/06: When late Jamal Abdul Nasser and some of the Arabs who backed the idea and the strategy of confronting the Zionist entity the State of Israel by forming the Arab coalition countries: Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Lebanon before 1967 war, the response of the Lebanese politicians at that time was that Lebanon is a tourist country with its own specific features and privacies. Consequently, there was no need for the establishment of a military front in this country or in its borders with the Zionist state, and that the protection of such borders remains the task of its forces and resistance.
The Arab leader Jamal Abdul Nasser welcomed this Lebanese desire, as he was of the opinion that Lebanon, although part of the Arab world, has a unique privacy.
Since its independence in the forties of the last century, Lebanon has been always a unique Arab country with a unique privacy in the Arab region. This led Nasser to say: “Lebanon is the lung of Arabs through which they breath.”
Because of that exceptionality, the Lebanese were the most allergic to what happens in the Arab land as Lebanon was often charred by the fire of the increasing Arab conflicts, even if such conflicts take place in countries that are geographically far away from Lebanon. Lebanon, due to its geographical situation is considered to be the source for western civilization and cultures, as well as the door that is open for the western communities into the Arab world. The Lebanese people could utilize all such cultures and their intellectual talents in favor of the Arab region.
The antagonist Arabs never left Lebanon alone. They intervened in the Lebanese internal affairs, causing the Lebanese community to lose its unity and made Lebanon a battlefield for Arabs to fight each other. They exploited Lebanon’s liberty and its ethnical structure, which also has its influence on the Lebanese structure as a whole. The situation was then converted to fierce battling and civil war between its ethics.
This country (Lebanon) started since then to rebuild itself after fifteen years of bitter fighting. Moreover, it was not only Lebanon that benefited from this experience, but there were other non-Lebanese people who gained their share of the benefit.
Meanwhile, the Arab armies had become unable to drive the Israeli military equipment away, and the Lebanese could, in a wonderful and unique manner, force the Israelis, who were occupying the south of Lebanon, to leave overnight.
But, like the reflective and sensitive mirrors, the situation remained as it was in the past, Lebanon remained the unique structure and the other Arabs never wanted to lift their hands from Lebanon.
Whenever the Arab citizen fears the change of force balances in the regions, he/she tends in secrecy to inflame this country with conspiracies. Undoubtedly, Lebanon is not that powerful force, nor was it a wonderful and transparent structure and liberty gate for its nation and beloved population.
O! Arabs, hostile friends, stop your being malicious to Lebanon since you can only master the inflammation of battles and conflicts in the Arab region.
**Atif Awad is an Egyptian journalist and a short-story writer residing in Yemen

Exile enrages Syria by linking Assad to Hariri assassination
By Harry de Quetteville
(Filed: 02/01/2006) Syria's ruling Ba'ath party yesterday expelled one of the country's most senior politicians after he implicated President Bashar al-Assad in an assassination plot last year.
The party denounced Abdel-Halim Khaddam, 73, a former vice-president and a stalwart of the Ba'ath regime, as a traitor to the "party, the homeland and the Arab nation" for his remarks. Earlier the Syrian parliament had called for him to be put on trial for high treason. Mr Khaddam, who resigned six months ago, is already in exile in Paris. It was there that he made a scathing attack on the Assad regime last week. He said that Mr Assad had threatened the former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri only months before the ex-premier was murdered in a bomb explosion in the Lebanese capital, Beirut. ''I will destroy anyone who tries to hinder our decisions," he quoted the president as telling him, after a meeting with Mr Hariri. Interim reports of a United Nations investigation into Mr Hariri's killing have pointed the finger at Syria and its vast security apparatus in Lebanon. The UN reports had put intense pressure on the Assad regime, but the investigation has been losing momentum in recent weeks and the worst appeared over for the Syrian president.
Mr Khaddam also used the interview to re-brand himself from old-guard Ba'athist to new-style reformer, saying he had resigned because the pace of change in Syria was too slow for him and that he wanted to serve his "motherland" not a "regime".
In Lebanon his remarks have been greeted as confirmation that Mr Assad ordered Mr Hariri's murder.
But in Syria they have seen as the comments of an opportunist seeking to set himself up as a potentially Western-backed rival to Mr Assad.

Editorial: Questionable Catharsis
2 January 2006 -Rarely in the annals of modern Arab history has an official of such high rank as Abdel-Halim Khaddam made such damning remarks about his head of state. The former Syrian vice president is no longer in power and is living abroad, which might allow him the leeway to express his opinion and speak his mind. But after serving for 30 years under former President Hafez Assad, transferring allegiance to his son Bashar when he took office in 2000 after his father’s death, Khaddam was one of the longest-serving veterans in Damascus’ Baathist regime, and therefore was considered as true blue and loyal as they come. Which makes his sudden and extraordinary claim -- that President Bashar threatened former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri only months before Hariri’s death -- all the more shocking and mysterious.
Khaddam’s allegations are certainly extremely damaging to the Syrian leadership, coming as they do amid a UN inquiry into Hariri’s death, which has deemed the February assassination an act of terrorism and pointed to complicity by senior Syrian officials. Overall, the UN report concluded that it was highly unlikely that the complex plot to kill Hariri could have been conducted without the knowledge of Syrian security forces. Khaddam takes the scenario one step further when he alleges that the Syrian security services could not have carried out such an assassination without the approval of Bashar.
Khaddam’s testimony appears to be backed up by UN investigator Detlev Mehlis who said several sources had said they had been told by Hariri that Bashar had threatened “to break Lebanon over [his] head,” if he did not support the extension of pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emil Lahoud’s term. During the UN probe, witnesses told investigators that Hariri was indeed threatened by Bashar at a crunch meeting in August 2004. Hariri himself, in a taped account cited by the UN report, described the meeting as the “worst day of his life.” From the beginning, Syrian officials have denied responsibility for the assassination, many pointing out that their country does not stand to benefit from the murder of Hariri who was a staunch opponent of the Syrian presence in Lebanon. Some Lebanese even don’t discount the possibility that a third party could be taking advantage of the situation to settle scores, knowing that suspicions will be directed at Damascus.
However, even if Khaddam’s comments are accurate, that he was one of the architects of Syria’s 30-year involvement in Lebanon makes his catharsis somewhat questionable. And while explaining his decision to resign in June — he criticized the regime for failing to modernize and sought to portray himself as a reformist — he forgot that he himself, while in power, remained fiercely opposed to any loosening of the Baath Party’s grip on power. It is possible that Khaddam may be positioning himself as an alternative to the Syrian president. Whatever his motives, Khaddam’s intervention is of immense significance and is bound to cause even more problems for the Syrian leadership.

Iran Means What It Says
 by Michael Rubin -  http://www.meforum.org/article/885
 January 2, 2006
 This is an English version of an essay first published in Slovak.
On December 14, 2005, Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad delivered a televised speech in which he called the Nazi murder of six million Jews a fabrication. "They have created a myth in the name of the Holocaust and consider it above God, religion, and the prophets. If someone were to deny the existence of God... they would not bother him. However, if someone were to deny the myth of the Jews' massacre, all the Zionist mouthpieces and the governments subservient to the Zionists tear their larynxes and scream against the person as much as they can." In October 2005, he presided at a "World Without Zionism" conference. Banners called for Israel to be "wiped off the map." The use of English to display the slogans belied the explanation that such rhetoric was meant for internal consumption only.
  Ahmadinejad's comments surprised Europe "It's really shocking that a head of state who has a seat in the United Nations can say such a thing," said European Commission President Jose Manuel Barrosso. The German foreign ministry summoned the Iranian chargé d'affaires to protest the "shocking" remarks.
Europe should not be shocked, however. Ahmadinejad's sentiments were nothing new. Exactly four years before Ahmadinejad's Holocaust-denial, Expediency Council Chairman ‘Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani took the podium at Tehran University to deliver the Friday sermon, the official weekly policy statement of the Iranian government. In what should have been a wake-up call for any who believes that the Islamic Republic and the norms of Western society are compatible, Rafsanjani declared, "If one day, the Islamic world is also equipped with weapons like those that Israel possesses now, then the imperialists' strategy will reach a standstill because the use of even one nuclear bomb inside Israel will destroy everything… It is not irrational to contemplate such an eventuality." U.S. and European analysts rationalized Rafsanjani's remarks, suggesting that he referred to self-defense only. Tellingly, though, many Iranian parliamentarians understood the Expediency Council Chairman to mean what he said: Threatening offensive use of a nuclear weapon.
Iranian figures ranging from Islamic Revolution leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to current Supreme Leader ‘Ali Khamene‘i and even so-called moderates like former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami have all called for Israel's destruction. Until Ahmadinejad, Iranian politicians have played their European counterparts like fiddles. Take Khatami: Addressing the Italian Parliament in March 1999, he declared, "Tolerance and exchange of views are the fruits of cultural richness, creativity, high-mindedness and harmony. One must recognize this opportunity." Khatami's conciliatory tone, though, was reserved only for gullible foreign diplomats, parliamentarians, and academics. He spoke with a different voice when addressing his domestic audience. In a televised address on October 24, 2000, for example, he declared, "In the Qur'an, God commanded to kill the wicked and those who do not see the rights of the oppressed… If we abide by human laws, we should mobilize the whole Islamic World for a sharp confrontation with the Zionist regime… If we abide by the Qur'an, all of use should mobilize to kill." Eradication of Israel remains Islamic Republic dogma. The problem is not one of politics, but rather one of ideology. This is where Brussels' strategy falls short.
Take Europe's critical engagement: Between 2000 and 2005, Iranian-European Union trade nearly tripled. During the same period, not only did Tehran's application of capital punishment double, but the Iranian government spent several billion dollars on its nuclear program. Iranian officials repeatedly exploit European openness to further revolutionary aims. On June 17, 2002, for example, European foreign ministers agreed to fast track a new trade pact with Iran. European Union officials like External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten lobbied hard for the deal, arguing, "There is more to be said for trying to engage and to draw these societies into the international community than to cut them off." Less than a week later, Denmark's Police Surveillance Agency intercepted Iranian agents seeking to assassinate several prominent Iranian dissidents and journalists.
Likewise, former European Commission President Romano Prodi spent his tenure seeking to bolster economic ties with Iran. His July 1998 visit to Tehran broke a long-standing taboo; Iran rewarded the Italian national oil company with a $3.8 billion gas exploitation deal. The erosion of European pressure on Iran coincided not with the empowerment, but rather the demise, of the reform movement. The following July, Iranian security forces and vigilantes sacked a Tehran University student dormitory. The government began shuttering newspapers and arresting journalists. It reversed civil liberties. European governments chastised the Iranian government gently; to take significant action would endanger commercial contracts. The Islamic Republic's hierarchy, in turn, dismissed European entreaties and continued on its anti-democratic course.
EU-3 negotiations with Tehran have followed a similar pattern. European diplomats project desperation. They assume the sincerity of its partners and constantly strive to find the magic formula which will enable the Ayatollah's to abandon their nuclear future. When British Foreign Minister Jack Straw assures the British public and the Iranian government that under no circumstances will force be used in the current dispute, he emboldens his Iranian adversaries to filibuster.
European diplomacy will fail for two reasons: First, the Islamic Republic's nuclear drive is motivated by domestic politics, not security concerns which diplomacy can address. Both anecdotes and covert opinion polling regularly find 80 percent of Iranians to have lost faith in the Islamic Republic. Iranians do not believe reform possible, but rather hope for systematic change. The vast majority are analogous to those in the Soviet Union who did not merely want glasnost but rather sought an end to Communist domination. Ten percent of Iranians would follow the Khatami's reformism. These are the Iranian equivalent of Mikhail Gorbachev's proponents. The remainder believes in Ahmadinejad's hardline vision. They are the true believers, akin to the die-hard Stalinists who opposed reform to the end.
These true-believers and ayatollahs are faced with a booming population increasingly hostile to their rule. They hold the Islamic Republic's theocratic tenets above the popular will. Herein lays the nuclear card: If the Islamic Republic achieves nuclear capability, it can do whatever it wants domestically without fear of outside interference. It can, for example, deploy its Revolutionary Guard tanks against student protestors. It can liquidate political prisoners, as it did in 1989. European diplomats often speak of pursuing a China model, in which they would encourage Tehran's economic liberalization first. But Iran is not China. Demography matters. If the European Union tries to treat Iran as it has China, Europe should prepare for ten Tiananmen Squares.
The second reason European diplomacy is doomed to failure is the Revolutionary Guard. Inward looking and ideological, the Revolutionary Guard are the Islamic Republic's elites. Established by Ayatollah Khomeini because of his distrust of the ordinary Iranian military, Revolutionary Guard units are the trusted guardians of Iran's most sophisticated weapons systems and sensitive programs. European diplomats may drink grape juice together with their Iranian counterparts in Vienna, but Iranian diplomats simply have no knowledge of or influence over the Islamic Republic's nuclear program. The Iranian Foreign Ministry is not in the chain of command. Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah ‘Ali Khamene‘i, the only personality in Iran with the power to make binding decisions, has shown no willingness to engage, let alone sit down with, European leaders.
In recent years, the Revolutionary Guard—the prime backers of Ahmadinejad—have expanded their influence in Iran. The Supreme Leader has appointed Revolutionary Guard heads to the leadership of the Revolutionary Foundations, the uniquely Iranian institutions which monopolize import-export, the oil industry, and any significant hard currency earner. The Guard has managed to scuttle signed contracts allowing Turkish and European firms to operate cell phone networks and the new Tehran airport. It is this ideological and xenophobic core which controls both Iran's nuclear industry and its missile programs. Ahmadinejad's Holocaust denial and threats to "wipe Israel off the map" are the ingrained ideology of this group. Recent apocalyptic references by Ahmadinejad—who may just believe that he can hasten the return of the Hidden Imam, a Messianic Shi‘ite figure through the cleansing of violence and war—should frighten all Europeans. Diplomacy assumes sincerity of all partners, but Ahmadinejad shows every indication of wanting war, not peace.
Political problems can be resolved through diplomacy, but the ideological underpinnings of a hostile regime cannot. Pol Pot could not be dissuaded from genocidal xenophobia. Gamal Abdul Nasser would never abandon Arab nationalism. Saddam defiantly upholds the principles of his rule, even after his ouster from power. The Iranian leadership is no different. No amount of diplomacy will convince Iran's clerical leadership to abandon tenets and policies they see rooted in their own interpretation of theology. The Iranian leadership is as dangerous as its expanding arsenal. But, at least with Ahmadinejad's candid commentary, European officials can see the Islamic Republic for what it is rather than what they wish it to be.
***Michael Rubin, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, is editor of the Middle East Quarterly. His most recent book is Eternal Iran: Continuity and Chaos (Palgrave, 2005).

Border town rejects plan to move from Lebanon to Israel
By Eli Ashkenazi -Haaretz 3.1.06
Residents of Ghajar, a town that straddles the border with Lebanon, rejected Monday the idea of moving villagers from the northern, Lebanese part of the community into Israeli territory. According to Channel 2 news, the military establishment recommends the move.
"We have been approached before with this evacuation idea, and residents strongly opposed it," local council head Ahmed Fatali said Monday night. "This is our land and our homes. Residents own another 600 dunam [150 acres] located in Lebanese territory.
There's no reason for people to leave their homes. I don't believe the residents have changed their minds," Fatali said.
Since Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, Ghajar has been divided by an invisible border between the northern, Lebanese, half and the southern, Israeli half.
About a month ago, Hezbollah attempted to take advantage of Ghajar's vulnerable status, and launched a massive attack to abduct Israel Defense Forces soldiers. The lack of a border fence has also facilitated the smuggling of drugs from Lebanon.
A checkpoint has been set up at the entrance to the village, and all vehicles except those belonging to local residents are prohibited from entering.
About three years ago the local council petitioned the High Court of Justice, demanding the free movement of traffic be restored, and the court recently asked the local council and the government to work out a solution.
"The situation is difficult," the judges wrote, "and it requires actions on different levels, both national and international.