LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
JULY 10/2006

Below News From the Daily Star for 10/07/06
Olmert rules out timetable for Gaza offensive, rejects Haniyya's proposal for cease-fire
Israeli missile rips apart family in Gaza
7 terror suspects escape from Saudi prison
Mother, neighbor describe terror suspect as 'peaceful'
Outpouring of praise bears Hrawi to final resting place
Army rounds up 80 near border in North
Hariri flies to Jeddah after meeting with Nasrallah on progress of dialogue
Sudanese foreign minister wraps up visit
Aoun raises pressure on defiant judges
Qabbani pays tribute to slain Hariri in speech to Rawdah High's class of 2006
Lebanese firm inks deal to build refinery in Iraqi Kurdistan
LAU president wishes graduates'success, happiness, satisfaction'
Syrian envoy talks up deals with Kuwaitis
Canadian energy firm: Baghdad lacks oil strategy
Without guarantees, Israel will remain in Shebaa.By Eyal Zisser
Palestinian resistance will find a way to prevail over occupation.By Bouthaina Shaaban
Gunmen slaughter 41 Sunnis in Baghdad
Below News From miscellaneous sources for 10/07/06
Lebanon: All Are Rotten-Dar Al-Hayat
Recruited in Canada-Calgary Sun
America Faces Losing the Big Stake: the War on Terror!-Dar Al-Hayat
Talk of Liberation War From Syria-Arutz Sheva
NY attack suspect attended Canadian university-CBC News
Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism-Houston Chronicle
Aoun on His Way to Baabda, Anti-Syrians on Their Way Out-Naharnet
Israel Negotiates / Active mediators-Ha'aretz

N.Y. attack suspect attended Canadian university
Last Updated Sat, 08 Jul 2006 21:42:28 EDT
CBC News
The man who has been accused of planning a bomb attack on the United States attended university in Canada in the 1990s, CBC News reports. Assem Hammoud's computer contained maps and bomb plans for an attack on New York, a Lebanese official said. (Associated Press) Assem Hammoud, 31, was arrested on April 27 in Lebanon, where he confessed to being the mastermind behind an alleged plot to bomb underwater tunnels between New York City and New Jersey, Lebanese and U.S. officials said. Nadila Qotob, his mother, said in an interview from Lebanon that her son lived in Canada, had a girlfriend here and studied at a Quebec university. There are conflicting reports as to whether Hammoud had a Canadian passport or not.
Maps, bomb plans Eight suspects linked to al-Qaeda, one of whom may be Canadian, planned to launch the attack in October or November, U.S. officials said.
CBC reported that a suspect was questioned in Canada, and intelligence agencies have been investigating possible suspects in Montreal for two months. The Canadian Press said the suspect was released because of a lack of evidence.
The plan was apparently disrupted while it was still in its early stages by security officials who tracked the suspects through internet chat rooms. Lebanese officials found maps and bomb plans on Hammoud's computer, seized from the Lebanese International University where he taught economics, acting interior minister Ahmed Fatfat said Saturday.
Hammoud was arrested on a tip from the FBI, he said. "During the investigation, Assem Hammoud admitted that he was planning to go to Pakistan for four months for training on the implementation of this operation," he said.
Not a fundamentalist But he was not an al-Qaeda member, his mother said, citing his Western lifestyle.
However, Lebanon's internal security forces discounted that, saying in a communiqué Saturday that he was hiding his true nature. "[Al-Qaeda] requested from him not to show any religious tendencies during his stay in Lebanon and to give the picture of a frivolous and uncommitted youth," the communiqué said. Security forces in different countries have arrested two or three of the eight suspects, reports said. In Canada, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said "we will co-operate with the U.S. and we'll start gathering all the information."

Pre-emptive arrests in terrorism plots attract criticism
Attorneys raise concerns that people are rounded up for words, not actions
By ERIC LIPTON
New York Times -July 9, 2006, 1:56AM
ANALYSIS
WASHINGTON - In Miami last month, and now in New York, terrorism cases have unfolded in which suspects have been apprehended before they lined up the intended weapons and the necessary financing or figured out other central details necessary to carry out their plots. For officials in Washington, it is a demonstration of the much-needed emphasis on pre-emptive arrests in the post-9/11 era. "We don't wait until someone has lit the fuse to step in," Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said Friday at a news conference about the New York plot.
But the Miami and New York cases are inspiring a new round of skepticism from lawyers who are openly questioning whether the government, in its zeal to stop terrorism, is forgetting an element central to any case: intent to commit a crime.
"Talk without any kind of an action means nothing," said Martin Stolar, a New York defense lawyer.
"You start to criminalize people who are not really criminals."In the two most recent suspected plots, the authorities have simultaneously warned that the suspects were contemplating horrific attacks — blowing up the Sears Tower in Chicago and setting off a bomb in a tunnel between New York and New Jersey — but then added that as far as they knew, no one was close to actually making such a strike. In the Miami case, an FBI official said at a recent hearing that the suspects apparently did not have written information on how to make explosives, details on the layout of the Sears Tower or any known link to a terrorist group. In New York, officials said Friday that none of the eight suspects thought to be planning the tunnel attack were in the United States, that they apparently did not have bomb materials and that they had not completed reconnaissance on their supposed target. The arrest on April 27 in Beirut, Lebanon, of Assem Hammoud, 31, a Lebanese man who is accused of being the mastermind of the tunnel plot, came after the authorities monitored Internet chat rooms used by Islamic extremists.
In announcing the case, federal officials, including Chertoff, said the government could not waste time trying to determine whether the suspects were smart enough or serious enough to turn their threats into destructive action.
"It is a mistake to assume that the only terrorist that's a serious terrorist is the kind of guy you see on television, that's a kind of James Bond type," Chertoff said Friday. "The fact of the matter is mixing a bomb in a bathtub does not take rocket science."

Recruited in Canada
Sources say suspected terror leader studied in Montreal
Sun, July 9, 2006-By CP
OTTAWA -- The man pegged as ringleader of an alleged terrorist plot to bomb tunnels in New York attended Montreal's Concordia University in the mid-1990s, according to sources.
A Beirut TV station says Assem Hammoud was recruited into al-Qaida in 1994 while the Lebanese national was studying in the city. A source familiar with the case denied reports Hammoud, identified by the FBI as central figure in the scheme, held a valid Canadian passport. The source said yesterday neither the 31-year-old Hammoud, also known as Amir Andalousi, nor his parents are Canadian citizens -- meaning if he did travel on a Canadian passport, the document was fake.
Nor has Foreign Affairs received a request for assistance from Hammoud, as might be expected when a Canadian passport holder runs into trouble abroad. "He is not Canadian, therefore he is not entitled to a Canadian passport," said the source, who asked not be to named. "He has no legal ties to Canada." Meanwhile, Hammoud's mother, Nabila Qotob, said Hammoud studied economics in Canada and has visited his Canadian girlfriend here, and confirmed he did not hold a Canadian passport.
In Lebanon, authorities found maps and bomb plans on Hammoud's personal computer yesterday. "The information found in Hammoud's personal computer was very important because it contained maps and bombing plans that were being prepared," acting Interior Minister Ahmed Fatfat said. Eight al-Qaida-linked suspects, one of them reported to be a Canadian, had hoped to pull off the attack on New York's Holland Tunnel in October or November, U.S. officials say. The Canadian was not identified.

Lebanon: All Are Rotten
Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat - 09/07/06//
It may be said that a poisoned atmosphere is griping Lebanon today. Despite the failure of the regional pro-Syrian project, and the subsequent withdrawal of the Syrian army, the other, so-called March 14 project could not make headway.
Such mutual feebleness, bolstered by a backward political culture, is what we see in the form of local clashes in al-Shouf and Sidon, and among students in their universities. Still, the stupid political polemic which is taking place is even more indicative.
A politician was attacked for daring to criticize a religious figure. Defending religious authorities became a sacred vocation. Though the political exchange has taken, this time, a peaceful form, different from the violent scene we found in the protest against a TV comedy program, the nature of both events is the same.
For his part, the politician has shown a certain paranoid attachment to his "dignity". He insulted other politicians (some of them dead, and some who are living), and distinguished between people who according to the source of the water they drink!
The absence of a real political life has allowed the culture of primeval instincts to dominate politics. Above all, it seems that the "national dialogue" has begun to lose its ability to control conflicts, whose portents began to surface in the aforementioned argument, as in the case of the local clashes. Apparently, the tension the region is witnessing over the Iranian-Western relations is keeping the situation from exploding, or at least delaying an explosion. Perhaps the transition to a volatile regional situation is a condition for shifting the ongoing conflicts from inter-sectarian ones to a much more dangerous clash among sects.
Such a rotten situation, in a country that is not based on sectarianism, is too exemplary to produce fascism, or a Bonapartism that towers above small combatant and equal entities while pretending to carry salvation to the people.
In Lebanon, fascism is impossible, though semi-fascist sectarian tendencies are all over. The same applies to Bonapartism leaving us with some caricatures of Bonaparte, the closest figure being represented by Major General Michel Aoun. They seem as though they are waiting for something terrible to happen, certainly not during the tourist season in the summer.

America Faces Losing the Big Stake: the War on Terror!
Adel Malek Al-Hayat - 09/07/06//
Gaza Massacres Indicate More Dangerous Stages and Arabs are "Tired" of Supporting the Palestinian Struggle
We used to say that the 'triangle of sorrow' was flaring up, but today, we see that this triangle is becoming more volatile and wounds are oozing.
• Lebanon: all types of verbal battles are taking place; their implications may affect the national unity.
• Palestine: the massacres rate of recurrence is increasing because the Israeli claw cannot shed enough Palestinian blood.
• Iraq: the war on terror is still fierce, despite the reconciliation plan proposed by Prime Minister Nouri al-Malki.
• Iran: it takes time to respond to the US and the Western countries regarding the nuclear file, while there is an escalating dispute over a reply.
The goings-on in the Palestinian occupied territories, particularly Gaza, Beit Lahia and Beit Sahour, unequivocally refer to the tragic situation, which became a quandary, regardless of the results of the current efforts to release Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier who was kidnapped by Palestinian militants. Regarding this situation, there are clear words that should be said to the torturer and the victim.
Israel has been practicing State terrorism. It can kidnap and try Palestinian ministers and members of parliament as a means of pressure on the Hamas movement to release the Israeli soldier, who was abducted in a qualitatively well-planned operation.
Returning to the last few days' tragedies in Palestine, we may recall Ehud Olmert's visit to Washington. After leaving the White House, one of Olmert's senior aides asked him about his first impressions, and he replied: "I am very, very, very satisfied with the President's comments" (he was keen on repeating the word three times). He added that he spent seven hours with the US president, as if he were the president of China to take all that time.
Since his return from Washington, Olmert has been waiting for an opportunity to flex his muscles as the new leader for Kadima Party and prime minister. He resorted to escalation through confrontations between Israeli forces and Hezbollah supporters the day after the assassination of the Majdoub brothers (from the Islamic Jihad movement) in Saida, South Lebanon. However, they reached a ceasefire agreement for fear of a larger confrontation. Since the Lebanese network (Rafi and his partners) dealing with the Israeli Mossad was uncovered, Israel has been seeking to retaliate, which spoilt its plans for more assassinations in Lebanon.
While the Hamas movement and Palestinian people have been suffering from the aid cut at a time when the security forces as well as the civil servants have not received their salaries for months, Mahmoud Abbas and Ismail Haniya managed to reach an agreement after stupendous negotiations on the so-called 'refugees agreement'. This took place after skirmishes between Abbas and Hamas supporters had reached a dangerous level, portending militant confrontations between the two parties. This understanding has contained the state of anger, but no sooner a few hours had elapsed than the crisis of the Israeli soldier in Gaza erupted. At this point, the Olmert-led Israeli government found it an opportunity to escalate the situation at different levels. So it killed scores and arrested dozens of ministers and members of Parliament. Up to the point of writing this article, the Israeli government has been refusing to exchange the arrested soldier for the release of a number of Palestinian prisoners (the number was in thousands and may end in modest numbers, or even none), regardless of the current mediations, including that of Egypt. The destiny of reaching an understanding over the document seems to be delayed until the current storm settles.
Amid the harsh suffering of the Palestinians over the past few days, mothers in Gaza have been crying, "Where are the Arabs?"
It seems that mothers in Gaza know nothing of the terrible Arab silence. The Arabs have been exhausted by struggle, perhaps for the sake of the Palestinian Cause.
Again, the Arab system failed in the Gaza test. The Arab street also seemed too fatigued to effectively practice pressure to show sympathy with the Palestinians, except for some limited demonstrations that took place in a few Arab capitals' streets.
In Israel, some 58% are opposed to the conduct of their government and called to put an end to the military operation and resume negotiations. An organization called 'The Courage to Rebel' was announced in Israel, leading a rebellion movement against the military service in the occupied Palestinian territories on the grounds that this service includes crimes against the Palestinians. The organization's slogan is 'There is no military solution to the issue'.
Such a phenomenon will, nevertheless, take much time to be influential inside the Israeli military establishment. Along the way we wonder: who has gone crazy? In reply to Ehud Olmert's words during an internal discussion that "he wants the Palestinians to understand that the landlord has gone crazy? But what about the Israelis? Are they wise, merciful and understanding? This is the torturer…but what about the victim?
Regardless of the severe criticism, it is meant to protect the Palestinian struggle against falling victim to not only Israel's 'victories' but also its own 'victories'. The split between the Abbas-led authority and Hamas has done wrong and reduced the possibility of the Haniya-led government practicing its powers, because it still represents an opposition front and does not recognize or deal with Israel.
There is a large difference between Hamas as a Palestinian opposition movement and as a government assuming official responsibilities.
Is it not contradictory that Hamas refuses to recognize or negotiate with Israel, while it is the party that should negotiate on the Palestinians' behalf?
It is not strange to find increasing voices calling for the Hamas-led government to resign and return to the opposition ranks. These voices also call for the formation of a political technocrat government caring for the interests of the Palestinians in full co-operation and co-ordination with the Palestinian Authority Chairman, Mahmoud Abbas.
The Palestinian situation is so bad that a Ramallah citizen painfully complained, "When Mahmoud Abbas ran for elections, he announced that the internal security was at the top of his priorities. We voted for him on this basis. After over a year and a half had passed, security had not been achieved". The man added (and hence the tragedy), "We do not ask the president to liberate Palestine or establish an independent state, we only ask for the minimum level of responsibility - security for citizens". Is there anything more significant than a complaint by a Palestinian saying, "We no longer ask you to liberate Palestine... we only ask you to provide security"?!
Ariel Sharon is still alive. Everything is attributed to the former Israeli prime minister's unilateral Gaza withdrawal decision. When he took that decision he counted on the failure of the Palestinians to control security in the strip following withdrawal. Sharon has won the bet while breathing his last.
The abduction of the Israeli soldier should not stray our vision of the stage that will follow this crisis. It is a Palestinian responsibility; all parties should be up to the dangers, carefulness, commitments and necessities of this stage, in order to spread not only the 'death for the sake of Palestine' culture, but also the 'life for Palestine', for whose martyrs to which we reverently bow our heads.
This is one side, but what about the other 'universal war'?
Amid such developments, there is more bad news for the US, expecting its 'comprehensive' war on terror to end in failure.
This caution was mentioned by a large number of Western experts and analysts, who emphasized that the 'comprehensive war on terror' was doomed to fail, despite the contrary confirmations by the White House.
Regardless of what has been achieved so far: arresting terrorists, holding elections in Iraq and Afghanistan, dismantling networks and groups, and the killing of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi; experts and analysts in the world consider that today's world is less secure than prior to the September 11, 2001 attacks. They think that the US and its allies will inescapably be exposed to another big attack.
In addition to this worrying information, a study by the 'US Foreign Policy' magazine confirms the same conclusion through a feature it carried in co-operation with a Washington-based study center. The magazine asked more than 116 well-known American experts belonging to the Democratic and Republican parties.
The list of experts included former foreign ministers, CIA directors and a number of prominent analysts. The results were as follows: 84% of experts saw that Washington is heading for a defeat in its 'war on terror'. Some 86% believed that "Today's world is more dangerous". And some 80% said a new large offensive is likely to take place. Director of Woodrow School of International Affairs, affiliated with Princeton University, Anne Marie Slaughter said: "We are about to lose the war on terror, because we are tackling symptoms, not reasons".
This is in the US. In France, experts agree on the same skepticism regarding the issue of fighting terror. Former official of the French DST Counter-Espionage Agency, Alan Scheuer, said: "The issue started the wrong way. Fighting terror is silly, just as declaring war on anger. Terror cannot be combated, but individuals can". He added, "The Americans have been plunging deep into the idea of war on terror since the 9/11 events. So they can neither raise the appropriate questions nor find the proper answers. You can further kill terrorists, but they are endless".
Let us move from Washington and Paris to London. Members of the House of Commons warned PM Tony Blair of a serious threat from Al-Qaeda. Parliament's Internal Affairs Committee considered that the situation in Iraq has been a ground for propagating and training terrorists. This opinion is rejected by Blair. 'International struggles, such as the confrontation in the Middle East, nurture the feeling of injustice in the Muslim world. This may strengthen support for terrorists', the deputies said in their report.
On the first anniversary of the London attacks (two days ago), deputies said in their report: 'A year after British Islamists killed 52 subway passengers in suicide bombings, several community leaders consider that Blair's decision to side with President George Bush has been a breeding ground for Islamist extremism'. The Committee highlighted the so-called 'terrible deterioration' of the security situation in Afghanistan. It argued there are signs that the methods, which previously caused destruction in Iraq, are being repeated there. In the report's final conclusion, the committee maintained: 'Though there are successes against the Al-Qaeda leadership and infrastructure, the risk of international terror may have been increasing, and Al-Qaeda is still a dangerous and grave threat to the United Kingdom'.
Is it logical that the US considers Israel's acts in Palestine a right to self-defense?
Bad news for the US has not ended. A 'Financial Times' poll clearly showed that the US is regarded, across the European Continent, as a more grave threat to international peace than Iran and North Korea!
Such a conclusion provoked many average Americans, as well as officials in the Bush Administration, which tries to propagate itself as the protector of its citizens against incoming and local terror.
This is the result of the pre-emptive wars that President George W. Bush insisted on as the best defense. Through such policies and wars, Bush is urging all kinds of terror to collaborate against the US and its policies in the Middle East and other parts of the region. Now, those for whom the US entered the pre-emptive war are giving advice to the US. Afghani President Hamid Karzai says: "The international community has to reconsider the way such war on terror is conducted". (This was while he commented on the latest surge of terror in Afghanistan.)
The US is faced with a key question: given the approaching defeat in the war on terror, how can it face the upcoming stage? It may have the answer, but what should the small countries, pursuing the US and depending on its promises, do to face the failure of the US' plans in the war on terror?
This issue will be approved and welcomed by some parties. However, it will be a concern for others who dealt with US policies, trends and attitudes that are unchangeable.
A question remains: will Washington resort to further involvement as a form of 'forward retreat', or will retreat this time actually go backward?

Talk of Liberation War From Syria
Jul 09/06
(IsraelNN.com) Following the recent Israel Air Force flyby over the palace of Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, Syrian officials are hinting at a possible escalation of hostilities along the Golan Heights border.
Fighter planes buzzed al-Assad’s palace to send a warning message to him, with Jerusalem holding the Syrian leader directly responsible for ongoing Hamas terror. The incident caused significant embarrassment to Damascus, despite Syrian reports that anti-aircraft fire was directed at the Israeli planes. Syrian Member of Parliament Muhammad Habash stated in a Syrian TV interview that a repeat occurrence would result in a response, stating the Golan Heights would not remain as it is.
The Syrian official went on to mention a “liberation war” and “resistance” in his reference to the Golan Heights.

Aoun on His Way to Baabda, Anti-Syrians on Their Way Out
Gen. Michel Aoun has unleashed a broadside against the ruling anti-Syria majority in Lebanon, saying it comprised deceivers whose days in office are numbered, when he is on his way to Baabda.
Brushing aside the honor pact requiring rival politicians to tone down their verbal altercations, Aoun took a swipe at Beirut MP Saad Hariri, without naming him. He claimed the billionaire heir to the assassinated ex-PM, Rafik Hariri, believed "Lebanon is a ranch that can be purchased. Whoever thinks so will not be staying in the country for much longer."
The government, which is largely loyal to the Hariris was comprised of "liars… (who) have failed to honor one sentence of the 34-page policy statement" that won them a vote of confidence in Parliament a year ago.
Speaking Saturday to followers at the "Guest House" club in Rabieh, the presidential aspirant refuted allegations that he had shifted political allegiances since his return to Lebanon from exile from France. "Anyone who opposes them is considered (pro-) Syrian," he said in remarks published Sunday in An Nahar.
"They are cowards. They were humiliated by the Syrians, and they still feel intimidated by the mere mention of Syria," he said. "In contrast, we confronted them (the Syrians). When the confrontation ended, we requested the best of relations."
"They are seeking to further bankrupt the people, and for us to cover for your crimes to escape your accusations? Not in their wildest dreams," said the ex-army commander, who was ousted from Baabda in 1990, in a massive Syrian military intervention that sent him into exile in France for 15 years.
Since his return last year, Aoun has indicated a political shift. His alliance with the pro-Syria, Iran-backed Hizbullah has blocked a two-third majority in Parliament required to oust the controversial president, Emile Lahoud.
As a result, U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which rejected in 2004 a Syrian-imposed, there-year extension of Lahoud's mandate remains unfulfilled. "The United Nations handed down Resolution 1559 without any regard for our (Lebanese) will," said Aoun. Once a mortal foe of Lahoud and Damascus, he said: "The Syrians, at least, had a heart. These have no compassion for anyone," he said."Those who accuse us of being pro-Syrians are those who were with Syria during its intervention in Lebanon, and moreover, they are the ones who fought along its side," said Aoun. "Now they want to pass their judgment on us because we have forgiven it (Syria)." He predicted that Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government would "disintegrate into pieces," rather than swiftly bow out. As for his own aspirations in re-occupying the seat of the head of state in Baabda, Aoun said: "We're on our way. Beirut, 09 Jul 06, 09:29