LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 07/07

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 12,18-27.
Some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to him and put this question to him, saying, "Teacher, Moses wrote for us, 'If someone's brother dies, leaving a wife but no child, his brother must take the wife and raise up descendants for his brother.' Now there were seven brothers. The first married a woman and died, leaving no descendants. So the second married her and died, leaving no descendants, and the third likewise. And the seven left no descendants. Last of all the woman also died. At the resurrection (when they arise) whose wife will she be? For all seven had been married to her." Jesus said to them, "Are you not misled because you do not know the scriptures or the power of God? When they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but they are like the angels in heaven. As for the dead being raised, have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the passage about the bush, how God told him, 'I am the God of Abraham, (the) God of Isaac, and (the) God of Jacob'? He is not God of the dead but of the living. You are greatly misled."


Free Opinion
Syria's Useful Idiots. By: Michael Young. June 7/07
 

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 07/06/07
Authorities Seize Truckload of Arms Coming From Syria, Discover Explosives Depot-Naharnet
Bomb in Baby Milk Can Dismantled-Naharnet
Disengagement Palestinian Forces Begin Deployment in Ein el Hilweh-Naharnet
Fatah al-Islam's Fate Awaits Palestinian Decision and Lebanese Action-Naharner
Sporadic Lebanon clashes amid surrender reports-Khaleej Times
US aid to Lebanon increases 16-fold-Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Christians fear violence in Lebanon may spread-Mission Network NEws (press release) - Grand Rapids,USA
Survey Offers Stark Perspectives on Muslim-American Identity, Loyalty-FOX News
D'Alema: We Value Actions from Syria, Not Words-Naharnet
Syria denies backing Fatah al-Islam-United Press International
The shape of Lebanon since Israel's assault-Socialist Worker Online
MI: Syria's Assad preparing for war, but won't initiate-Ha'aretz
US still opposed to Syria Israel talks-Jerusalem Post
Syria differentiates between Hariri probe and tribunal-People's Daily Online
Peretz: We'll be ready for Syria-Jerusalem Post
Italian FM calls for return of Golan Heights to Syria-People's Daily Online
$25000 reward offered in case of Canadian missing in Syria-CBC British Columbia
Different takes on fighting in camps-Daily Star
US official expects Hariri court judges to be named 'very soon'-Daily Star
Lebanese Army tries to keep lid on dual crisesDaily StarDaily Star
Italian foreign minister to meet with senior officials in BeirutDaily Star
Akkar MP abandons March 14 Forces over 'widening gaps'Daily Star
Qassem appeals for talks on unity cabinetDaily Star
UN assessment team inspects border at MasnaaDaily Star
Education minister confirms dates for official examsDaily Star
Hariri meets Feltman, thanks Bush for help on courtDaily Star
Canada urges nationals to take precautionsDaily Star
Twin refugee crises tax capacity of relief agenciesDaily Star
'Lebanese of all stripes should support the army' - Harb-Daily Star
Reports outline details of alleged terror plot-Daily Star
Northerners brace themselves as army forges into Nahr al-Bared-Daily Star

Authorities Seize Truckload of Arms Coming From Syria, Discover Explosives Depot
The Lebanese army seized a truckload of weapons coming from Syria intended for use in new battle fronts to ease pressure on Fatah al-Islam militants locked up in fierce fighting with army troops trying to crush the terrorists entrenched inside the Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared.
The daily An Nahar on Wednesday said Lebanese authorities also discovered a depot containing more than 200 kilograms of explosives in house raids on suspected Fatah al-Islam militants in the northern Akkar province.
Meanwhile, Lebanese troops maintained their siege of Nahr al-Bared for a 17th day, fighting on-again off-again gunbattles with militants on Wednesday.
Security officials told the Associated Press the arms belonged to Hizbullah. They said the shipment of Grad rockets and ammunition for automatic rifles and machine guns was seized late Tuesday at a random army checkpoint at Douriss near Baalbek, a Hizbullah stronghold in east Lebanon's Bekaa valley.
Six Hizbullah members in the truck were let go but the confiscated weapons were taken to the nearby Ablah army barracks, the officials said.
There was no immediate comment from Hizbullah on the weapons' seizure. An Nahar said the truck driver, who was not identified, was arrested.
It quoted witnesses on the scene as saying that the driver tried to turn away from the checkpoint after he was taken by surprise, but that military vehicles intercepted the truck and arrested the motorist. Under a U.N. Security Council resolution that halted last summer's fighting between Israel and Hizbullah, any transfer of weapons to groups other than the government is illegal. The shipment's destination was not known. But An Nahar said the arms cache was planned for use in warfronts to be opened elsewhere in Palestinian refugee camps after attempts to start a warfront at the southern refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh failed.
Islamic militants in Ain al-Hilweh clashed with Lebanese troops on Sunday in an attempt to ease the military pressure on allied Fatah al-Islam guerrillas.
But Palestinian factions swiftly met and formed a joint disengagement force to quell the Ain al-Hilweh battles. Back to the explosives depot, An Nahar said the army and police carried out house raids after nightfall Tuesday on the villages of Ayyat and al-Borj in the al-Joumah area in Akkar. It said the explosives were found at the house of a suspected Fatah al-Islam militant detained four days ago.(Naharnet-AP) Beirut, 06 Jun 07, 08:11

Bomb in Baby Milk Can Dismantled
Lebanese army explosives experts dismantled Wednesday a bomb that was placed near a popular public beach in the southern Lebanese port city of Tyre, security officials said. The bomb -- a pack of 2 kilograms of explosives wired to a timer -- was placed in an empty can of baby milk powder, the officials said.
The location is some 500 meters away from the posh Rest House beach resort in Tyre and about 1.5 kilometers from the Palestinian refugee camp of Rashidiyeh.
Troops sealed off the area, about 80 kilometers south of Beirut, as experts dismantled the bomb. Tyre is popular with vacationing U.N. peacekeepers, who are deployed in the zone along the border with Israel to monitor a cease-fire that ended the July-August war between the Jewish state and Hizbullah.
The city is also a stronghold of the Shiite group. Lebanon has witnessed a string of bombings in Beirut since fighting erupted between Lebanese troops and Fatah al-Islam militants at the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared on May 20. On Monday, a bomb exploded in an empty bus parked in the northeastern Beirut suburb of Sad Boushriyeh, injuring 10 people.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 06 Jun 07, 09:51

Fatah al-Islam's Fate Awaits Palestinian Decision and Lebanese Action
Intermittent exchanges of sniper fire and mortar rounds prevailed over the Nahr al-Bared front Tuesday amidst failure by Palestinian factions to agree on a joint initiative to deal with the Fatah al-Islam terrorist network. Schools in North Lebanon's Akkar Province, where Nahr al-Bared is located, resumed teaching on the 17th day of the ongoing confrontation between the Lebanese Army and Fatah al-Islam, which reflects a belief that the army has succeeded in isolating the terrorists in a narrow enclave near the center of the camp. Palestinian sources told Naharnet the current decline in intensity of the clashes between the army and Fatah al-Islam terrorists was due to an undeclared decision by Premier Fouad Saniora's government to give the Palestinians time to solve the problem. The accepted settlement from the government's point of view, according to the sources, should be based on the unconditional surrender of Fatah al-Islam militants involved in attacks against the army in return for a solid pledge to extradite other members to their respective countries.
However, one source said, "Fatah al-Islam refused to turn in any of its members, which torpedoes the whole deal."
The source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that in addition to Fatah al-Islam's rejection of the Lebanese government's basic conditions for a settlement, "Palestinian factions also are split on how to deal with the Fatah al-Islam issue."
He said the mainline Fatah group of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the two Marxist-oriented groups, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) support "the principle of uprooting Fatah al-Islam totally."
Such a categorical approach, the source said, "would put an end, once and for all, to this terrorist group and prevent its spread to other refugee camps and guarantees the future safety of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon."However, Islamist and pro-Syrian Palestinian factions were opposed to any military solution to Fatah al-Islam.
According to the source, such factions as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Ahmed Jibril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC) "do not want Fatah al-Islam uprooted." "They are interested in arranging a cease-fire between Fatah al-Islam and the Lebanese Army, which is rejected by the Lebanese Government as well as the three mainline Palestine Liberation Organization Factions, Fatah, PFLP and DFLP," he added.
"It is a deadlock. The government told the Palestinians 'solve it' and the Palestinians cannot agree on a joint approach," he added, stressing that "there should be no cease-fire deal with the terrorists."
Meanwhile, Fatah's number two man in Lebanon Khaled Aref told reporters four members of Fatah al-Islam have turned themselves in to his mainline group in Nahr al-Bared. Aref said the four are "Palestinians from Nahr al-Bared who had been misguided by the terrorists."
In a related development, tense calm prevailed over the refugee camp of Ein al-Hilweh in the southern city of Sidon as a disengagement force grouping Palestinian Islamists separated Jund al-Sham militants from Lebanese Army troops to avoid a showdown that could threaten safety of the shanty town's population estimated at nearly 90.000 people. The Palestinian source, who had taken part in negotiations with the Saniora government, criticized the disengagement force in Ein al-Hilweh saying its fighters are actually "saving the necks of Jund al-Sham terrorists."
"By separating them from the army, they are actually protecting them. The disengagement force is the practical application of coexistence with terrorists. If we coexist with them in Ein al-Hilweh, some one will say lets coexist with the others (Fatah al-Islam) in Nahr al-Bared."Ein al-Hilweh's disengagement force is made up of fighters from Usbat al-Ansar, Ansar ullah and the Islamist Jihadist Movement.
The problem with Islamist factions, the source explained, "is that they cannot adopt a Fatwa (religious ruling) to kill other Islamists, or alleged Islamists. This keeps the terrorists alive."The PLO supports the Beirut government in its approach to "finish" Fatah al-Islam. The source, however, believes that "as long as Jund al-Sham survives in Ein al-Hilweh, Fatah al-Islam might survive in Nahr al-Bared.""The fate of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon is at stake. We either rid ourselves of terrorists or we'll face whatever the terrorists face," he concluded. PLO siplomatic representative Abbas Zaki, meanwhile, left for the Jordanian Capital of Amman for an apparent meeting with his superiors to discuss the Lebanon situation. It appears that the Fate of the two terrorist networks, Fatah al-Islam and its sister Jund al-Sham, awaits Lebanese action based on a final Palestinian decision. No deadlines have been announced. Beirut, 05 Jun 07, 17:24

Disengagement Palestinian Forces Begin Deployment in Ein el Hilweh
A disengagement Palestinian security force was deployed in two neighborhoods of Ein el-Hilweh refugee camp in southern Lebanon to prevent a renewal of clashes between Islamic militants and Lebanese troops that have so far claimed three lives. Some 40 men, carrying automatic rifles, from various Palestinian factions in the camp deployed in Taamir and Taware neighborhoods that were the scene of clashes Sunday and Monday between Jund al-Sham Islamic militants and Lebanese troops ringing the country's largest refugee camp.The calm that followed Sunday's clashes, in which two soldiers and a militant were killed, continued to hold Wednesday as the combined force of secular and Islamic extremists, took up positions in the neighborhoods. Loudspeakers on the minarets of mosques urged people to reopen stores and resume normal life in the camp. The army reopened its checkpoints around the camp for traffic. The trouble at Ein el-Hilweh, with 65,000 residents, erupted when Jund al-Sham -- sympathetic to Fatah Islam -- clashed with Lebanese soldiers Sunday night and Monday morning.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 06 Jun 07, 13:13

Canada urges nationals to take precautions
Tuesday, June 05, 2007
Canada's Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said Monday he was worried by the ongoing clashes in Lebanon. "Canada remains concerned about the continuing violence in Lebanon. Our thoughts are with all those who may be affected by this conflict," MacKay said in a statement. The statement also addressed Canadian citizens: "We also want to ensure that Canadians are aware of the risks involved in travel to places, like Lebanon, where there are security concerns. In the case of Lebanon, the government's Travel Report has warned against nonessential travel to that country since September 2006. A warning against all travel to Tripoli and the immediate area was recently added, as was a recommendation that all Canadians in that area leave if it was safe to do so." Canadians who chose to travel to Lebanon were also advised to inform themselves of the latest information in the Travel Report.

D'Alema: We Value Actions from Syria, Not Words
Italy's Foreign Minister Massimo D'Alema has urged Damascus to act against the infiltration of "terrorists" from Iraq to Syria and Lebanon where the army is locked in deadly gunbattles with Islamists. "We have made clear to the Syrian authorities that we value actions and not words," D'Alema said in Beirut Tuesday after arriving from Syria for six hours of talks Lebanese leaders. "We encourage all aspects of cooperation in order to prevent the infiltration of extremist terrorist groups," he said during a press conference with Premier Fouad Saniora at the Grand Serail.
"We spoke about this with the Syrian leadership. We also spoke about such cooperation with Lebanon," he said. D'Alema said that during a meeting in Damascus, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem "expressed dismay at the infiltration of al-Qaida elements from Iraq to Syria, and probably to Lebanon.""He assured me that they have tried to put an end to such an inflow, and there were confrontations which led to the killing of some of them, while others were arrested," he said.
"But he said that they (Syrians) were not always capable of preventing the infiltration of these elements from Iraq," D'Alema added.
The Italian foreign minister's visit comes amid fighting in Lebanon between the army and Fatah al-Islam militants at the northern Palestinian refugee camp of Nahr al-Bared, and a day after at least 10 people were wounded in a bomb blast in Sad Boushriyeh, northeast of Beirut.
D'Alema also met with Speaker Nabih Berri, a key figure in the Hizbullah-led opposition, and held talks with parliament's majority leader Saad Hariri and Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir. In Damascus, D'Alema said his talks with Syrian officials helped him to carry what he called "encouraging elements" to ease the crises in Lebanon.
"We are optimistic on the subject of cooperation with Syria," he said after meeting President Bashar Assad. "My talks in Damascus have shown there are encouraging and useful elements" concerning the security and political crises in Lebanon, he told a press conference with Muallem. "I will transmit to Syrian leaders my personal evaluation on this matter. I will transmit our wish to work (with Syria) to resolve the problems in Lebanon," said D'Alema. Before leaving Damascus, the Italian foreign minister condemned "the threat of terrorist groups" in Lebanon and called for the implementation of U.N. Security Council resolution 1701. The ceasefire resolution that brought an end to the July-August war between Israel and Hizbullah calls for the disarmament of armed militias.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 06 Jun 07, 07:55

U.S. aid to Lebanon increases 16-fold
U.S. assistance to Lebanon increased 16 fold this year to bolster its fledgling democracy.
In a statement Tuesday, the State Department said Congress had appropriated $769.5 million for Lebanon this year, as opposed to less than $50 million in previous years. "This large increase in U.S. assistance for Lebanon reflects the support of the United States Government - its Administration and Congress - for the people of Lebanon," the statement said, referring to challenges that the western-leaning prime minister, Fouad Siniora, has faced from Syria, radical Islamists the Iranian back terrorist group, Hezbollah, which launched a war against Israel last summer against Siniora's wishes. More than half of the appropriated $769.5 million, as well an additional $30.6 million from a separate appropriation, goes to supporting Lebanon's military, law enforcement and international peacekeepers charged with preventing Hezbollah from launching another war on Israel. Additionally, the United States is expediting delivery of arms purchased by Lebanon's government.
Separately, the State Department announced an emergency cash infusion of $3.5 million to the U.N. Relief and Works Agency, the principle body dealing with Palestinian refugees, arising from the crisis created by clashes in Palestinian refugee camps between Islamist extremists and Lebanese forces.

Survey Offers Stark Perspectives on Muslim-American Identity, Loyalty
Wednesday, June 06, 2007
By Kelley Beaucar Vlahos
WASHINGTON — While terrorists strap on bombs and wreak horrors half a world away, a debate continues in the United States over whether the seeds of such radicalism exist among the American-Muslim community. Events like the arrest of a Brooklyn, N.Y., Muslim extremist last week for plotting to explode the fuel lines at John F. Kennedy International Airport, or the arrest a month earlier of men linked to an extremist group plotting to attack the military installation at Fort Dix, N.J., invigorates that debate. A recent finding in the biggest survey ever taken of Muslim-Americans indicates that nearly a quarter of young Muslims believe homicide bombing can be justified to defend Islam, and 47 percent of all those surveyed consider themselves "Muslim first" ahead of being Americans.
Demographics breakdowns in the survey by Pew Research Center entitled "Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream" may be the greatest cause for concern, say observers. Though 13 percent of all respondents said that suicide bombing in defense of Islam was justified under certain, albeit rare, circumstances, that number rose to 26 percent of respondents between the ages of 18 and 30. Added to that is the fact that the negative responses appear to be weighted toward African-American Muslims. For example, 9 percent of African-American Muslim respondents viewed Al Qaeda favorably as opposed to 3 percent of all foreign-born Muslims.
"It is precisely because an indoctrination is taking place. It means that a huge jihadi political effort is ongoing within the United States to brainwash young minds. That is the central problem," said Walid Phares, a terrorism expert for the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies.
According to the poll, 53 percent of those surveyed said it is more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. That majority cited increased intolerance and a greater proclivity for anti-terror policies to single out Muslims in its objectives.
"There is a serious tension between the success of assimilation and the success of radical ideology," said Stephen Schwartz, a Muslim convert and author of "Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror."
Schwartz said he believes the spread of radical Wahhabi Islam by Saudi Arabian migrants over the last two decades has created a hotbed of extremist activity, particularly after the Sept. 11 attacks. "The problem we have as Americans is that our openness and our freedom gave the radical ideologists the green light," Schwartz said. Muqtedar Khan, a professor of political science and international studies at the University of Delaware, suggests that young Muslim-Americans are more likely expressing rebellious views than reflecting a real affinity to radical activity in the United States.
"It's their way of saying they are not going to suck it up to the system, a way to express their discontent with the system," Khan said while acknowledging that this age group was more likely to absorb anti-American and anti-Israel rhetoric on the Internet and be more devout. Khan acknowledges this as a problem the community needs to deal with, perhaps through better programs to engage the youth, but said "it should not be seen as though they are going to go out and join (the jihad)."
The poll does offer a flip side. Among the 60,000 American Muslims who responded to the Pew survey, sizable majorities are educated, generally happy and believe the American dream can be achieved through hard work. They reject extremism and suicide bombings. In fact, these Muslims — and they include recent and older immigrants from across the globe as well as native African-Americans — are more likely to embrace mainstream American culture and are much more assimilated than their "ghettoized" counterparts in Europe today.
"Although many Muslims are relative newcomers to the U.S., they are highly assimilated into American society," read the survey's conclusions. "With the exception of very recent immigrants, most report that a large proportion of their closest friends are non-Muslims. On balance, they believe that Muslims coming to the U.S. should try and adopt American customs rather than trying to remain distinct from the larger society."According to the Pew poll, approximately 1.4 million Muslim adults over 18 live in the U.S. today, nearly 85 percent of Muslims in the United States arrived after 1985; 39 percent after 2000.
The majority of American Muslims — 65 percent — are foreign-born, with almost a quarter of those coming from Arab countries. Of the 35 percent native-born Muslims, 20 percent of them are African-American. Almost 60 percent of those surveyed have more than a high school education and 22 percent overall are currently enrolled in college, while 57 percent hold full or part-time jobs. According to the poll, 24 percent are self employed or small business owners.
The results, say some of the analysts who spoke to FOXNews.com, show that it is unwise to use the poll to warn of a potential terror cell around every corner.
"I don't see that happening within this country because Muslims have overwhelmingly been supportive, as well as seeing themselves fully American, as well as Muslim," said Farid Senzai, a researcher with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a collaboration of scholars in the field of Islamic studies who served as advisors to the poll. "Clearly, Muslims here have integrated in ways that Muslims have not so much (in Europe)."
Europe is a touchtone because of its massive, often isolated enclaves of Islamic immigrants, particularly in France, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, where reports of extremism include terror plots, tensions over religious law spilling into the courts, and in some cases, rioting and assassinations.
A different story is present in the U.S., said Senzai and others. While it is more difficult to get into this country legally, once Muslims are here they are more welcomed and appreciated than in Europe, and are more inclined to integrate as a result. Match this to the European model where "opportunities are very low," Khan said .
Khan immigrated to the United States from India in 1992 but also spent time teaching in England, where he said he confronted more prejudice there than in the 14 years he's spent in the United States. He said British Muslims lived in hopeless situations comparably. "They are among the least educated and skilled, least likely to be homeowners. That is not true about Muslim Americans at all. They live in suburbs, they have jobs and their education is very high," said Khan. "The (American) model is working fine."
But Phares, who just published his book "War of Ideas: Jihadism against Democracy," said he is skeptical about the advisers who helped to design the poll questions, suggesting they had a predisposition to what the American-Muslim community should look like. "The Pew experts wanted to see the results that we all saw —- as an indictment of the U.S. government not of the responsible parties for this radicalization process within the community," said Phares.
Others point out that a joint poll conducted in January by Center for International and Security Studies at Maryland and the Center on Policy Attitudes entitled "Public Opinion in Iran and America on Key International Issues" found that in the context of war, 24 percent of all Americans feel that intentional killing of civilians is often or sometimes justified. Schwartz doesn't buy that explanation. He points to the percentage of the poll that find that 47 percent of respondents consider themselves "Muslim first." While a previous Pew poll found that Christians in America responded in similar fashion, Schwartz insists that these Muslims "are not saying something benevolent." Khan argued that many Muslim first identifiers are recent immigrants who have arrived from failed states and never felt part of a nation before. Like devout Christians and Jews, "their religious identity has an impact on them everyday. "People should not make foolish conclusions about that," he said.

Christians fear violence in Lebanon may spread
Print Mobile Posted: 6 June, 2007
Lebanon (MNN) -- Clashes between Lebanese troops and Islamic militants are spreading from the north, near Tripoli. A bomb blast Monday night near Sidon, in the country's south, fed fears that civil war is inevitable. SAT-7's David Harder says some of the apprehension stems from the fact that this latest blast occurred in Bouchrieh suburb, a Christian neighborhood.  It follows a string of bombs in and around Beirut that have exploded since May 20. "It certainly seems that it is targeting Christians. It may be a political motivation. There are many different groups, many factions that some groups would have an interest in drawing into the fighting for whatever reason." Naji Daoud, the SAT-7 Lebanon Country Director, says this one was close to home. "A bomb went off just one street away from a staff member's home, injuring ten people in a shopping area. Our employee was driving home at the time, but fortunately she didn't drive down the street where the bomb detonated. It was a loud explosion, and we all heard it. When she got home, her parents and sister were in tears, but fortunately they were not injured." Officials also recently discovered and disabled a car bomb in the Christian part of the city. While the blast rattled staff nerves, it won't stop them from presenting the hope of Christ via satellite television. SAT-7 crews continue to work on programs and are busy looking at ways to expand their studio facilities so they can increase production and support the launch of the new SAT-7 KIDS channel. SAT-7 is hoping to have that channel on the air later this year. Harder says their regular programs remain a source of comfort: "Our staff are able to really be part of the fabric of society within the Middle East and show that, yes, Christians undergo difficult times, but yet, at the same time, they have hope in Christ. And there are many principles in the Bible that can help during these difficult times." Naji adds, "Please pray for that this current situation will be resolved. The overall political climate in Lebanon is not good, and many people are worried about the future."

Syria's Useful Idiots
By MICHAEL YOUNG
BEIRUT, Lebanon -- On Wednesday, the United Nations Security Council voted to set up a tribunal that will try suspects in the February 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. Syria is the leading suspect in the case, so the establishment of the tribunal serves as a step toward creating a stable Lebanon. It also poses a clarifying question to the United States: What will engaging Syria mean for building a liberal future for Lebanon?
At the moment, it is clear that Syria hasn't stopped meddling in Lebanon's internal affairs. The Security Council only created its tribunal after efforts to establish a similar tribunal within Lebanon were stymied by Syrian allies. Indeed, to understand what is at stake in the Lebanese crisis today, flip through the report released last April by the U.N. commission investigating the Hariri assassination.
The commission, led by Belgian prosecutor Serge Brammertz, now assumes that Hariri's assassination was tied to his political activities, particularly his preparations for the summer 2005 legislative elections. This sets up a key passage in the report: "[A] working hypothesis is that the initial decision to kill Hariri was taken before the later attempts at rapprochement got underway and most likely before early January 2005. This leads to a possible situation in the last weeks before his murder in which two tracks, not necessarily linked, were running in parallel. On one track, Hariri was engaged in rapprochement initiatives and on the other, preparations for his assassination were underway."
Lebanese citizens celebrate Wednesday's establishment of a U.N. tribunal for the Rafiq Hariri murder.
For anyone who followed Lebanese politics at the time, this deceptively anodyne passage says a lot. Hariri was hoping to score a victory against Syria and its Lebanese allies during the elections, after Syria had extended the mandate of his bitter rival, President Emile Lahoud. The Syrians felt that such a victory would jeopardize their position in Lebanon and, although there was mediation to patch up Hariri's differences with the Syrians, the plot to eliminate him continued. It is plain from Mr. Brammertz's phrasing that those who were planning the former prime minister's elimination are the same ones with whom the intermediaries were trying to reconcile him.
Mr. Brammertz is building a case that, from the information provided to date, can only point the finger at Syria and its Lebanese supplicants. The Hariri tribunal, now that it has been formally established, poses an existential threat to the Syrian regime, and it is in Lebanon that the Syrians have and will continue to hit back to save themselves.
The outbreak of violence in northern Lebanon between the Lebanese army and a group calling itself Fatah al-Islam is the latest stage in such an endeavor. In a BBC interview last week, Prime Minister Fuad Siniora openly linked Fatah al-Islam to Syrian intelligence. The group has claimed to be an al Qaeda affiliate, but observers in Lebanon, including Palestinian sources usually critical of the Siniora government, qualify this, saying that Fatah al-Islam is acting on Syria's behalf. The daily Al-Hayat has reported that the group's weapons come from caches belonging to Palestinian organizations under Syrian control, including the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Fatah al-Intifada, from which Fatah al-Islam allegedly broke off.
Meanwhile, a more subtle battle is taking place over interpretation of what is happening in Lebanon. This is especially important because there are those in Washington who still insist that something can be gained from dealing with Syria. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi thought so in April when she visited Damascus, did the Gertrude Bell tour of the Hamadiyyeh souq, and capped it all with a visit to President Bashar Assad, all for precisely nothing in return.
The Iraq Study Group also thought Syria could be a useful partner in Iraq, even as all the signs suggest that Damascus has little real influence there and is sowing dissension to compensate. That's why understanding what is going on in Lebanon is vital for a sense of what can be gained from Syria elsewhere. Yet something is amiss when the most obvious truths are those the pundits won't consider.
For example, what did the former CIA agent Robert Baer mean in Time magazine, when he wrote that the Lebanese government should "know better" than to believe that Fatah al-Islam is a Syrian creation, because "at the end of the day Fatah Islam is the Syrian regime's mortal enemy"? Mr. Baer's point was that a Lebanese civil war might undermine Syrian stability, but also that Sunni Islamists oppose the minority Alawite Syrian regime. He reminded us that "the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood used northern Lebanon as a rear base to seize the Syrian city of Hama in 1982."
It is Mr. Baer who should know better. Syria has fueled a sectarian war in neighboring Iraq by funneling Sunni al Qaeda fighters into the country, without worrying about what this might mean for its own stability. Syria's vulnerabilities have not prevented it from hosting Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, the Palestinian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood. And Syria's anxieties notwithstanding, throughout its years in Lebanon it developed ties with many Sunni Islamist groups and recently welcomed to Damascus a prominent Lebanese Islamist it has co-opted, Fathi Yakan.
The point is that Syria will have no qualms about provoking sectarian discord in Lebanon to ward away the menace of the Hariri tribunal.
And what are we to make of the journalist Seymour Hersh, now considered an authority on Lebanese Sunni Islamist groups on the basis of a flawed article he wrote for the New Yorker last March? In that article, and in a recent CNN interview, he indirectly suggested that Fatah al-Islam had received weapons not from Syria but from the Siniora government.
The only source Mr. Hersh cited in his article for the Fatah al-Islam story was Alistair Crooke, a former MI6 agent who co-directs Conflicts Forum, an institution advocating dialogue with Islamist movements. Mr. Crooke did not have direct knowledge of what he was claiming, as he "was told" that weapons and money were offered to the group, "presumably to take on Hezbollah."
Mr. Hersh is wading into very muddy waters with very simple ideas. The relationship of the Lebanese government and the Hariri camp with Sunni Islamists is byzantine, but there is no evidence to date that the government or the Hariris had any strategy to use al Qaeda against Hezbollah. In fact most Lebanese Sunni Islamists are not linked to al Qaeda. And Mr. Hersh has provided no proof that Fatah al-Islam received government assistance. Still, the Syrian regime's media has repeatedly used Mr. Hersh's charges to discredit the Lebanese government.
Then there are those with little patience for Lebanese independence. Arguing that Syria is worth more to the U.S. than Lebanon, they advocate Washington's ceding Lebanon to Syria as a price for constructive dialogue. For example, Flynt Leverett, a former National Security Council staffer now at the New America Foundation, recently told National Public Radio, where he appears regularly, that the Bush administration had "romanticized" the 2005 "Cedar Revolution." This was his way of implying that the latter was worth discarding. For Mr. Leverett and others, a Lebanon free of Syria is inherently unstable, even as they disregard Syrian responsibility for that instability.
In a March 2005 op-ed in the New York Times, as Lebanese took to the streets demanding a Syrian pullout, Mr. Leverett urged the U.S. to abandon efforts to establish a "pro-Western government" in Beirut. Instead, he proposed that "the most promising (if gradual) course for promoting reform in Syria is to engage and empower [President] Assad, not to isolate and overthrow him."
This makes for restorative reading today, as Mr. Assad's regime pursues its destabilization of Lebanon, Iraq and Palestinian areas, ignores domestic reform and continues to detain thousands of political opponents in its prisons.
There is nothing wrong with keeping an open mind on Syria. However, an "open mind" can be shorthand for blindness or bad faith. Given the evidence, it makes no sense to dismiss Syrian involvement in the Lebanese crisis, or to blame the crisis on an al Qaeda affiliate allegedly financed by the Lebanese government. Nor does it make sense to assume that Lebanon is a burden that the U.S. should jettison in favor of a stabilizing Syria, considering the fact that al Qaeda materialized from across the Syrian border. We're asked to believe that a group, said to be financed by the Siniora government, picked a fight with that very government, and somehow innocently did so just as the U.N. prepared to establish a tribunal the Syrians fear.
When Syria is systematically exporting instability throughout the region, you have to wonder whether its regime can be a credible partner to the U.S.
**Mr. Young is opinion editor of the Daily Star in Beirut and a contributing editor at Reason magazine.
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