LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
September 13/06

Reading - Commentary of the day : Saint Augustine
“He spent the night in communion with God.”
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 6,12-19.
In those days he departed to the mountain to pray, and he spent the night in prayer to God. When day came, he called his disciples to himself, and from them he chose Twelve, whom he also named apostles: Simon, whom he named Peter, and his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called a Zealot, and Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. And he came down with them and stood on a stretch of level ground. A great crowd of his disciples and a large number of the people from all Judea and Jerusalem and the coastal region of Tyre and Sidon came to hear him and to be healed of their diseases; and even those who were tormented by unclean spirits were cured. Everyone in the crowd sought to touch him because power came forth from him and healed them all.

Opinions
International Tutelage Over Lebanon? By: Hazem Saghieh

A View from the Eye of the Storm-A Rational Advocate
Experts: Iraq Key Battleground in Terror War-NewsMax.com

Replicating the 1982 Experience? By: Abdullah Iskandar

Latest New from the Daily Star for September 13/06

Assailants botch attack on US Embassy in Damascus
Western envoys discuss deployments to UNIFIL
Army accuses Israel of altering Blue Line
Nasrallah condemns invitation to Blair as 'a national disaster'
Paris mayor inks deal to help Beirut recover
Lebanese frown on anti-US attack in Syria
Israeli soldiers blow whistle on use of illegal weapons
UNIFIL briefs Siniora on Israeli withdrawal
There once was a house in Nabatiyeh

Lebanese politicians: Never have so few done so little for so many
The good, the bad and the ugly at the UN -By Rami G. Khouri

Globalization can benefit all, but how long must we wait? By Joseph E. Stiglitz

Ahmadinejad rolls out red carpet for Maliki, vows to help restore security
Latest New from Miscellaneous sources for September 13/06

Pope Benedict Visits His Hometown, Charming Its Residents-New York Times 

Hizbullah Pours Scorn on March 14 Forces for 'Aligning Themselves with Israeli Enemy

Nasrallah blasts Blair's Lebanon visit-Jerusalem Post

Cyprus holds 'Syria arms cargo'-BBC News

Cyprus Says Detained Ship Carrying Air Defence Radars to Syria-Voice of America

UN Lebanon force is strengthened-Euronews.net

Israel leaves more south Lebanon positions-United Press International

Republic of Lebanon outlook revised to negative; 'B-' long-term ...AME Info
Japan, DPR Korea, Syria and Tajikistan qualify for U-17 World Cup-People's Daily Online

LEBANON: Lifting of blockade brings hope to Beirut-Reuters

German govt to decide on Lebanon force Wednesday-Reuters

Olmert appoints committee of inquiry to probe Lebanon war-Monsters and Critics.com

Al-Qaida condemns UN peacekeepers as enemies of Lebanon-Irish Examiner

Hezbollah tackles challenges of rebuilding south Lebanon-International Herald Tribune

Russian engineers dispatched to Lebanon-Houston Chronicle

US Ambassador: Iran & Syria Continue to Support Terror-Arutz Sheva

Syria and Russia to Cooperate in Railways Transpor-tSANA

Come in from the cold, Annan urges Iran and Syria-Financial Times

Israeli Arab lawmaker unrepentant on Syria visit-Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Israeli Court Rules To Release Hamas Lawmakers-ABC News

US Observes 5-Year Anniversary of 9/11-Guardian Unlimited

'Struggle for civilization'-Newsday 

LA building evacuated over odd package-Houston Chronicle

Harper, Bush link 9/11 to struggle against terror-National Post

Full text of Stephen Harper's 9-11 speech-SooToday.com

We're engaged in a 'great global struggle': Rice-CTV.ca, Canada 

Rice notes Canada's sacrifice in Afghanistan-Globe and Mail

Rice Warns Against Afghanistan Pullout-CBS News, New York

International Tutelage Over Lebanon?
Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat - 12/09/06//
The 50th anniversary of the Suez War or the 1956 Tripartite Invasion of Egypt is forthcoming in a few weeks. This war ended with the installation of multinational forces in Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba, which was considered by the Arab peoples, amid unprecedented celebration, a historic victory for Egypt and Arabs. It was because of this war that many extraordinary adjectives were attached to late Egyptian President, Gamal Abdel Nasser. Then, dictatorship was established to eliminate what remained of independent political parties, free press and unionist activity in Egypt.
However, in less than three years, during which a union was reached between Egypt and Syria, a disagreement arose between Nasser and Syria's Baath Party, which had enthusiastically supported the union. The Baathists then accused their new opponent of protecting the security of Israel through an international police force and of evading the mission of 'liberating Palestine.' In this way, the enormous historic achievement of 1956 turned into national treason. In 1967, when Nasser called for these forces to be withdrawn in response to Syrian Baathist outbidding, Israel considered his maneuver an act of war. Consequently, Egypt received a blowing strike on June 5 of the same year.
Now, we observe a similar scenario in Lebanon. The difference between the two events is that, in 1956, Nasser was the one who fought and then asked for the installation of multinational forces; whereas in Lebanon, Hezbollah was the one who fought, and the government (including Hezbollah!) was the one who wanted to install a multinational force. Apart from that, the 1956 War saw the combination of Egyptian military defeat and a political victory that resulted from the fact that Washington and Moscow backed Cairo against the old colonial powers. On the other hand, the meanings of victory and defeat became ambiguous in the 2006 War, which has come to be the subject of a daily debate.
Both wars, however, gave birth to two leaderships that no one in the Arab World could question their absolute victory; otherwise they would be accused of heresy. Just as the battles of Suez established Nasser's dictatorship, some people in Beirut seek to undermine the Lebanese authority under the pretext of the recent sweeping victory. The Baathist comrades in Damascus were the ones who accused the Egyptian leader of treason because of the multinational forces. Now, they and their supporters, seek to raise doubts of further treason in Lebanon. In both cases, the Baathi aim was triggering direct military collision with the Jewish State over different borders: sometimes the Egyptian, sometimes the Lebanese, but never the Syrian. One can only hope that the multinational forces will not be withdrawn or forced to withdraw under the pressure of acts such as suicide operations. In this case, the Arabs would indulge in a war with Israel, and the June 1967 catastrophe would be repeated in Lebanon. This is bearing in mind that the Lebanese, last month, were very close to such a miserable end.
In fact, the international tutelage over Lebanon is an unreachable goal. Anyone who has national modesty and cares a bit for people would admit that the Lebanese have failed, and are still failing, to establish stable civil peace. He would also know that demilitarizing the country and assigning its border security to the world means saving huge revenues to be invested in growth and development. In Lebanon's modern history, it was the European forces that stopped the civil dispute in Mount Lebanon in 1860. The Europeans set up an oasis of freedom and development, according to the criteria of the time and the region, but it was all destroyed by the hands of Gamal Pasha, who we once called the 'butcher'.
Meanwhile, all the Lebanese know, even if they do not admit it, that the neighboring states are interested in deepening the divisions among them. Using the neighbors' military forces, such as in 1976, led to internal disasters and border eruptions, which required the power of the whole world to resolve.
It is enough to have the minimum amount of decency in order for maximum silence to prevail!

Replicating the 1982 Experience?
Abdullah Iskandar Al-Hayat - 12/09/06//
Beirut's government determines its relations with Syria based on a number of issues according to Syria's willingness to: stop smuggling weapons, participate in the disarmament efforts outside the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, maintain control over the arms inside the camps, implement the border demarcation and establish diplomatic ties. On the other hand, Damascus' government evaluates these relations according to Beirut willingness to back the battle against Israel, and declare irrevocable support for Syria.
The first issue relates to the fact that the Lebanese government seeks to control the determining factors in its confrontation with Israel. This is because the arms chaos, and the unresolved borders and communication channels deny the Lebanese government the potential to control these factors.
The second issue is that the Lebanese government should overlook some powerful, mostly armed, parties, which are widespread in Lebanon, and maintain security and political tensions at a level Damascus sees favorable in the confrontation with Israel.
This situation can be concluded from the general controversy that has broken out in Lebanon, even if Syria seems to be cooperating with international Resolution 1701. The Resolution lays down the Lebanese government's expectations of its normal relations with Damascus. The controversy surrounds the position of both Israel and its international allies as sponsors of the Lebanese government or, at least, some Lebanese powers, which are faced with countless accusations of receiving orders from external parties, loyal to Israel, and serving the interests of Israel. This is an attempt to deprive these powers of national legitimacy while sustaining their grip on the government.
Obviously, Damascus does not want to directly oppose Resolution 1701 at present, and is merely bending before the storm. It leaves a number of ambiguities in dealing with the issue. After all emphases made on Syria's commitments, the latest of which by Italian PM Romano Prodi and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Syria has denied these commitments. Damascus assigns its Lebanese allies the task of destroying the Resolution to maintain Lebanon on the confrontation vanguard. The Lebanese voices, which criticized the government and its approach in the current crisis, are now resounding in their denouncement of the occupation of Lebanon and the international mandate, thus sowing the seeds of conflict with the international UNIFIL forces in the South, as a shield for Israel.
The scenario is not oblivious to the experience of the multinational forces after the Israeli occupation of Beirut in 1982. From that point, the establishment of Hezbollah took place, as well as the open confrontation with the Jewish State, up until the latest aggression.
However, the regional and international circumstances, which paved the way for the success of the battle against the multinational forces appointed with the mission of protecting the evacuation forces of the PLO in Beirut, have changed so that Hezbollah - despite its victory in the latest confrontation, its assertion that its strength has not been diminished and its losses in souls and weapons were limited - can no longer impose its view on the government.
However, all this does not mean that work should stop because of a change in the equation. Rather, it is expected that the campaign will grow under the banner of confrontation which no longer exists, and the front of which the international deployment aims to close.
In this sense, confrontation has moved inward. As a result, accusations and tension have grown between the majority of the March 14 forces on one hand, and the forces allied with Syria, on the other. The battle for the government's survival is severe because Lebanon's future situation is at stake. It is the magnetizing point for international and Arab efforts, and reflects the divided positions regarding Syria and Iran.
What is new in the current situation, which is an attempt to replicate the post-Israeli invasion experience in 1982, is that the EU's commitment (via UNIFIL) and the Arabs' commitment support the current Lebanese government, and deny Syria a renewed tutelage, which it had previously obtained through the Taif Agreement, to continue with the confrontation with Israel.

Rice praises Syrian forces who repelled embassy attack
National News/ STELLARTON, Nova Scotia Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is praising the Syrian security agents who repelled an attack on the U-S Embassy in Damascus. Syria's official news agency said one of the counterterrorism officers was killed, along with three of the heavily armed attackers.
At a news conference with her counterpart in Canada, Rice said it's too early to speculate on a reason for the attack, declining to answer whether the assault may be an indication that the rigid control of Syrian president Bashar Assad (bah-SHAHR' AH'-sahd) might be slipping. In the past, the Bush administration has been very critical of Assad's regime. Syria's ambassador to the U-S tells C-N-N he suspects an al-Qaida splinter group that has been blamed for other Syrian attacks.

Syrians foil US embassy bombing
A bomb attack on the US embassy in Damascus has been foiled by local security forces, Syrian officials say. Attackers tried to drive two cars at the embassy compound but three men were killed by guards and a fourth was captured, the interior minister said. One car bomb went off but a second failed, he told Syrian state TV, adding that it was being examined for clues. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Washington appreciated Syria's efforts to protect the embassy. A member of Syria's security forces was also killed but there are no reports of US casualties. Security forces have sealed off the Rawda area, which also houses other embassies and security installations. Damascus has seen sporadic unrest in recent years, including a reported attempt to bomb the Canadian embassy. There is currently no US ambassador to Damascus and very limited contact between the governments.
'Religious slogans' "Three terrorists were killed and one was wounded," the Interior Minister, Gen Bassam Abdel Majid, said. It was, in his words, a "terrorist operation targeting the US embassy" and involving home-made bombs and automatic weapons.
"One [attacker] was captured, injured, and the investigation may reveal where they came from or their backgrounds," the minister added. Ayman Abdel-Nour, a Syrian political commentator who was in the area, said the attackers had run "toward the compound shouting religious slogans while firing their automatic rifles". Grenades were reportedly thrown at the embassy's wall, said by the Associated Press news agency to be about 2.5m (8ft) high.
Witnesses said that after an initial exchange of fire, two of the attackers sought refuge in a nearby building but were pursued and gunned down by security forces. According to the Syrian state news agency, 14 people were injured including two members of the security forces and a local employee at the embassy. TV footage from the scene showed pools of blood on the pavement and what appeared to be improvised explosive devices using pipes and gas canisters. A Chinese diplomat was treated in hospital for minor injuries caused by a stray bullet, the official Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.
He had been standing on the roof of the Chinese embassy, which is situated close to the US compound.
Heightened tension Ms Rice said Washington "very much" appreciated the Syrians' efforts to secure the embassy. She added that it was too early to say who was behind the incident. Syria is an authoritarian state where the security forces exert tight control on the population and the media. A BBC correspondent in the region says the reported attack comes at a time of heightened tensions between Washington and Damascus, with bitterness in Syria over US support for Israeli military action in Lebanon. The US accuses Syria of supporting the insurgency in Iraq and not doing enough to prevent weapons going to Hezbollah militants in Lebanon. In June, four people died when Syrian security forces said they had foiled an attack by Islamist militants near the state-run television studios. In April 2004, four people were killed in a clash between Syrian police and a team of suspected bombers in the diplomatic quarter of Damascus. The authorities accused Islamist militants of trying to blow up an explosives-laden car near the Canadian embassy.

Full text of Stephen Harper's 9-11 speech
By David Helwig
SooToday.com
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Prime Minister Harper honours 9/11 victims and restates Canada's commitment to fighting terror
Good evening.
Today is the 5th anniversary of the terrible events of September 11, 2001.
I am speaking to you from the Hall of Honour in the Centre Block of Parliament.
With me are some Canadians whose lives have been touched by 9/11 in ways that most of us can't even begin to imagine.
Men and women who lost loved ones in the attacks on the World Trade Centre.
- Tanja Tomasevic, who lost her husband, Vladimir
- Danny Eisen who lost his cousin Danny, and
- Maureen and Erica Basnicki, who lost their husband and father, Ken
I asked them to join me because words alone are not enough to express what needs to be said today.
As we pay tribute to the 24 Canadians who lost their lives on that infamous day five years ago, their family members remind us that they were real people with real lives.
Lives that were cut short – deliberately so – by a murderous act of terrorism.
Like most Canadians, I have a vivid memory of that morning.
As my wife, Laureen, and I watched the second tower collapse on television, - as the enormity of the events began to sink in, - I turned to her and said: "This will change the course of history."
And so it has.
In the years that followed, terror struck:
- Bali in Indonesia
- Madrid in Spain
- London in Great Britain
And security forces in many countries - including Canada – have foiled alleged terrorist plots before they could be executed.
The targets and tactics were different in every case, but the objective is always the same: To kill, maim and terrify as many people as possible.
Not in the name of any idealistic cause, but because of an ideology of hatred.
And while this war of terror has displayed some of the worst of which humanity is capable, so too has it revealed the greatness and generosity that lie at the core of so many ordinary people.
Something which was on display for all to see when Canadians opened their arms and homes to thousands of travellers whose flights were diverted on 9/11.
And because of this war of terror, people around the world have come together to offer a better vision of the future for all humanity.
For this vision to take hold, the menace of terror must be confronted.
And that is why the countries of the United Nations, with unprecedented unity and determination launched their mission to Afghanistan.
To deal with the source of the 9/11 terror and to end, once and for all, the brutal regime that horribly mistreated its own people while coddling terrorists.
And that is why I invited the families of some of the Canadian soldiers who are currently serving in Afghanistan to join us here today.
I want to thank Raquel Hounsell, Janice Shaw and Jane Hill for being here
Their husbands are currently serving in Afghanistan.
And Captain Edward and Judy Kosierb, whose son is serving in Afghanistan.
Their presence here reminds us that real people – Canadian men and women with families and children – are courageously putting themselves forward to make that part of the world a better place.
It is the desire to make a better and safer world which compels our soldiers to put their lives on the line.
There are Canadian heroes being made every day in the desert and the mountains of southern Afghanistan.
These are the stories we don't hear – the countless acts of courage and sacrifice that occur every day on the battlefield.
And in the towns and villages where Canadians are reconstructing the basic infrastructure of a shattered nation.
Because of their efforts, the Taliban is on the run, not the charge.
Women now have basic rights as human beings.
Youngsters are getting a chance to go to school.
And many – but not yet all Afghan families – are beginning to rebuild their lives with our help.
Because we are a country that has always accepted its responsibilities in the world.
From two great wars in Europe, from Korea to the Balkans, Canada has acted when the United Nations has asked.
And as the events of September 11 so clearly illustrate, the horrors of the world will not go away if we turn a blind eye to them, no matter how far off they may be.
And these horrors cannot be stopped unless some among us are willing to accept enormous sacrifice and risk to themselves.
I would ask that, tonight, you keep in your thoughts and prayers the victims and families of 9-11 and all those ordinary people who have died or lost loved ones in related acts of terror.
I would ask as well, that you keep in your thoughts and prayers the personnel and families of the extraordinary people in Afghanistan and elsewhere who have put themselves on the line so that the world is a better and safer place for all of us.
Good night.

Experts: Iraq Key Battleground in Terror War
Dave Eberhart, NewsMax.com
Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2006
WASHINGTON -- "Iraq and Afghanistan still remain the central fronts in the war on terror. A premature withdrawal from either would only embolden Islamic radicals and terrorist extremists in their efforts, leading to more death and destruction for Americans and others."
That's what Peter Brookes, senior fellow for national security affairs at the Heritage Foundation, told lawmakers Sept. 7 during a program titled, "9/11: Five Years Later -- Gauging Islamist Terrorism."
Brooke's testimony before the House Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation complemented that of Dr. Walid Phares, Middle East expert and senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, who also emphasized the importance of Iraq in the war on terror: "The enemy who flew airliners against the twin towers and the Pentagon, the one the U.S. defeated in Tora Bora and is still engaging in the Sunni triangle in Iraq, is the enemy which is still striking against democracies and allies around the world," said Phares.
The highlighting of Iraq before the House committee came just before Democrats on the Senate Intelligence Committee disclosed a newly declassified October 2005 CIA assessment that prior to the war Saddam Hussein's government "did not have a relationship, harbor or turn a blind eye toward" al-Qaida operative Abu Musab al-Zarqawi or his associates.
Aside from the ongoing debate about links between Saddam and al-Qaida before 9/11, the message delivered to the House committee was clear: "If the U.S. stops, wavers, or confuses its vision of its enemies and their plans, the entire progress can be reversed to the advantage of the jihadi terrorists," pronounced Phares.
Another emphasis of both Phares and Brookes was on the vital importance of staying focused and getting more engaged in an underlying war of ideologies.
Phares noted that inside the United States and its allies in Europe, the jihadist movement is absorbing the counterterrorism pressures, analyzing the measures, and mutating to bypass them.
The expert defined two stages in the enemy's warfare: the development stage, which covers the spread of the ideology and the recruitment from the indoctrinated pools of militants, and the penetration of the national systems. The second stage, he said, occurs when the strikes are prepared and launched.
"U.S systems are countering them only at the final stage; that is, in their preparation for terror activities," Phares concluded.
Brookes basically agreed, saying, "[W]e have to be more imaginative and innovative in our defense of our interests than the terrorists are on offense. We shouldn't only be looking for terrorists under the proverbial lamppost because that is where the light is brightest. We have to continue to be imaginative and innovative in fighting terrorism."
Brooks characterized the evolving enemy as now often "homegrown," being radicalized both at home and abroad by terrorist recruiters, clerics and over the Internet -– with terrorist groups now including women, pregnant mothers, and converts to Islam.
"Al-Qaida -- which was a terrorist group on 9/11 -- is now a global terrorist movement. Much to his frustration, Osama bin Laden is now more of a worldwide inspiration to his terrorist ‘disciples' than an active commander, directing day-to-day terrorist operations," Brookes said.
Phares noted that the final report of the 9/11 Commission missed two major historic failures:
The U.S and its allies didn't identify the ideology of jihadism as the producer of terrorists and terrorism;
The jihadi strategic penetration of the U.S. was in fact a threat to national security. A 9/11 was possible because the enemy counted on the poor perception by the government, little mobilization by the public, and more importantly, the possibility that "the jihadi factory within America will be able to produce future terrorism."
"The U.S and its allies must deliver and win the battle of identifying, defining and naming the enemy," added Phares. "Legislative branches in America and within democracies worldwide must have the political courage, the right knowledge and the wisdom to address this challenge.
"The current state of national and international laws is not able to provide a historic basis for governments, media and public to mobilize fully against an enemy living and thriving within these societies," Phares concluded.
Deadly ‘Complacency'
Brookes emphasized that while the U.S. has made significant progress in securing the homeland and fighting terrorism overseas, complacency about the challenge of Islamist terrorism "will prove to be deadly, potentially making the horrors of 9/11 seem minor in comparison." The Heritage fellow pointed to a continuing need for new security procedures, education, technologies and intelligence sources that can detect and prevent terrorist attacks against American interests and citizens -- especially overseas -- where counterterrorism or security may not be as vigilant or effective as it is in the homeland.
Lawmakers at the House committee hearing praised Phares' presentation as a "teacher lecture on the mind of the jihadists."
Indeed, the expert went into detail about the enemy jihadists, explaining that they are of two ideological types: Salafist, who are radicals who developed within Sunni societies, and Khomenists, who are radicals who developed within Shiia communities.
The Salafists, he added, have various ideological and political branches: Wahabis, Muslim Brotherhood, Tablighi and others.
"From this ‘tree' came al-Qaida, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Jemaa Islamiya, Salafi Combat Group, and dozens of smaller groups around the world," Phares explained.
"The Khomeinists are the radical clerics in control of Iran," Phares added. "They have created Hezbollah in Lebanon, and along with the latter expanded cells around the world. The head of Salafi Jihadists today is al-Qaida; the head of Khomeinist jihadism is the Iranian regime."
Whatever progress the U.S. has made in the war on terror, both internationally and domestically, hangs on the ability of the U.S. and its allies to move forward, faster and with a strategic mutation in the next stage of the war with al-Qaida, while also preparing for the possibility of the engagement by the Khomeinist threat abruptly, concluded Phares.
For his part, Brookes concluded with a warning about the well-intentioned hopes and wishes that Islamic terrorism is something that now only happens overseas, such as in Iraq, Afghanistan, the U.K. or Spain, or as limited to the horrors of 9/11:
Such hopes "are not based in reality -- in my view," he cautioned.

A View from the Eye of the Storm"_*
Talk delivered by Haim Harari at a meeting of the International Advisory Board of a large multi-national corporation, April, 2004:
"As you know, I usually provide the scientific and technological "entertainment" in our meetings, but, on this occasion, our Chairman suggested that I present my own personal view on events in the part of the world from which I come.
I have never been and I will never be a Government official and I have no privileged information. My perspective is entirely based on what I see, on what I read and on the fact that my family has lived in this region for almost 200 years. You may regard my views as those of the proverbial taxi driver, which you are supposed to question, when you visit a country.
I could have shared with you some fascinating facts and some personal thoughts about the Israeli-Arab conflict. However, I will touch upon it only in passing. I prefer to devote most of my remarks to the broader picture of the region and its place in world events. I refer to the entire area between Pakistan and Morocco, which is predominantly Arab, predominantly Moslem, but includes many non-Arab and also significant non-Moslem minorities.
Why do I put aside Israel and its own immediate neighborhood? Because Israel and any problems related to it, in spite of what you might read or hear in the world media, is not the central issue, and has never been the central issue in the upheaval in the region.
Yes, there is a 100 year-old Israeli-Arab conflict, but it is not where the main show is.
The millions who died in the Iran-Iraq war had nothing to do with Israel.
The mass murder happening right now in Sudan, where the Arab Moslem regime is massacring its black Christian citizens, has nothing to do with Israel.
The frequent reports from Algeria about the murders of hundreds of civilians in one village or another by other Algerians have nothing to do with Israel.
Saddam Hussein did not invade Kuwait, endanger Saudi Arabia and butcher his own people because of Israel.
Egypt did not use poison gas against Yemen in the 60's because of Israel.
Assad the Father did not kill tens of thousands of his own citizens in one week in El Hamma in Syria because of Israel.
The Taliban control of Afghanistan and the civil war there had nothing to do with Israel.
The Libyan blowing up of the Pan-Am flight had nothing to do with Israel, and I could go on and on and on.
The root of the trouble is that this entire Moslem region is totally dysfunctional, by any standard of the word, and would have been so even if Israel had joined the Arab league and an independent Palestine had existed for 100 years.
The 22 member countries of the Arab league, from Mauritania to the Gulf States, have a total population of 300 millions, larger than the US and almost as large as the EU before its expansion. They have a land area larger than either the US or all of Europe.
These 22 countries, with all their oil and natural resources, have a combined GDP smaller than that of Netherlands plus Belgium and equal to half of the GDP of California alone.
Within this meager GDP, the gaps between rich and poor are beyond belief and too many of the rich made their money not by succeeding in business, but by being corrupt rulers.
The social status of women is far below what it was in the Western World 150 years ago.
Human rights are below any reasonable standard, in spite of the grotesque fact that Libya was elected Chair of the UN Human Rights commission.
According to a report prepared by a committee of Arab intellectuals and published under the auspices of the U.N., the number of books translated by the entire Arab world is much smaller than what little Greece alone translates.
The total number of scientific publications of 300 million Arabs is less than that of 6 million Israelis.
Birth rates in the region are very high, increasing the poverty, the social gaps and the cultural decline.
And all of this is happening in a region, which only 30 years ago, was believed to be the next wealthy part of the world, and in a Moslem area, which developed, at some point in history, one of the most advanced cultures in the world.
It is fair to say that this creates an unprecedented breeding ground for cruel dictators, terror networks, fanaticism, incitement, suicide murders and general decline. It is also a fact that almost everybody in the region blames this situation on the United States, on Israel, on Western Civilization, on Judaism and Christianity, on anyone and anything, except themselves.
A word about the millions of decent, honest, good people who are either devout Moslems or are not very religious but grew up in Moslem families:
They are double victims of an outside world, which now develops Islamophobia, and of their own environment which breaks their heart by being totally dysfunctional.
The problem is that the vast silent majority of these Moslems are not part of the terror and the incitement, but they also do not stand up against it. They become accomplices, by omission, and this applies to political leaders, intellectuals, business people and many others. Many of them can certainly tell right from wrong, but are afraid to express their views.
The events of the last few years have amplified four issues, which have always existed, but have never been as rampant as in the present upheaval in the region. A few more years may pass before everybody acknowledges that it is a World War, but we are already well into it.
These are the four main pillars of the current World Conflict, or perhaps we should already refer to it as "the undeclared World War III":
*1. The first element is the suicide murder.*
Suicide murders are not a new invention but they have been made popular, if I may use this _expression, only lately. Even after September 11, it seems that most of the Western World does not yet understand this weapon. It is a very potent psychological weapon. Its real direct impact is relatively minor. The total number of casualties from hundreds of suicide murders within Israel in the last three years is much smaller than those due to car accidents. September 11 was quantitatively much less lethal than many earthquakes More people die from AIDS in one day in Africa than all the Russians who died in the hands of Chechnya-based Moslem suicide murderers since that conflict started. Saddam killed every month more people than all those who died from suicide murders since the Coalition occupation of Iraq.
So what is all the fuss about suicide killings? It creates headlines. It is spectacular. It is frightening. It is a very cruel death with bodies dismembered and horrible severe lifelong injuries to many of the wounded. It is always shown on television in great detail. One such murder, with the help of hysterical media coverage, can destroy the tourism industry of a country for quite a while, as it did in Bali and in Turkey.
But the real fear comes from the undisputed fact that no defense and no preventive measures can succeed against a determined suicide murderer. This has not yet penetrated the thinking of the Western World. The U.S. and Europe are constantly improving their defense against the last murder, not the next one. We may arrange for the best airport security in the world. But if you want to murder by suicide, you do not have to board a plane in order to explode yourself and kill many people. Who could stop a suicide murder in the midst of the crowded line waiting to be checked by the airport metal detector? How about the lines to the check-in counters in a busy travel period? Put a metal detector in front of every train station in Spain and the terrorists will get the buses. Protect the buses and they will explode in movie theaters, concert halls, supermarkets, shopping malls, schools and hospitals. Put guards in front of every concert hall and there will always be a line of people to be checked by the guards and this line will be the target, not to speak of killing the guards themselves. You can somewhat reduce your vulnerability by preventive and defensive measures and by strict border controls but not eliminate it and definitely not win the war in a defensive way. And it is a war!
What is behind the suicide murders? Money is, money and power and cold-blooded murderous incitement, nothing else. It has nothing to do with true fanatic religious beliefs. No Moslem preacher has ever blown himself up. No son of an Arab politician or religious leader has ever blown himself up.
No relative of anyone influential has done it. Wouldn't you expect some of the religious leaders to do it themselves, or to talk their sons into doing it, if this is truly a supreme act of religious fervor? Aren't they interested in the benefits of going to Heaven? Instead, they send outcast women, naive children, retarded people and young incited hotheads. They promise them the delights, mostly sexual, of the next world, and pay their families handsomely after the supreme act is performed and enough innocent people are dead.
Suicide murders also have nothing to do with poverty and despair.
The poorest region in the world, by far, is Africa. It never happens there. There are numerous desperate people in the world, in different cultures, countries and continents. Desperation does not provide anyone with explosives, reconnaissance and transportation. There was certainly more despair in Saddam's Iraq than in Paul Bremmer's Iraq, and no one exploded himself.
A suicide murder is simply a horrible, vicious weapon of cruel, inhuman, cynical, well-funded terrorists, with no regard to human life, including the life of their fellow countrymen, but with very high regard to their own affluent well-being and their hunger for power.
The only way to fight this new "popular" weapon is identical to the only way in which you fight organized crime or pirates on the high seas: the offensive way.
Like in the case of organized crime, it is crucial that the forces on the offensive be united and it is crucial to reach the top of the crime pyramid. You cannot eliminate organized crime by arresting the little drug dealer on the street corner. You must go after the head of the "Family".
If part of the public supports it, others tolerate it, many are afraid of it and some try to explain it away by poverty or by a miserable childhood, organized crime will thrive and so will terrorism.
The United States understands this now, after September 11. Russia is beginning to understand it. Turkey understands it well. I am very much afraid that most of Europe still does not understand it. Unfortunately, it seems that Europe will understand it only after suicide murders arrive in Europe in a big way. In my humble opinion, this will definitely happen. The Spanish trains and the Istanbul bombings are only the beginning. The unity of the Civilized World in fighting this horror is absolutely indispensable. Until Europe wakes up, this unity will not be achieved.
*2. The second ingredient is words, more precisely lies.*
Words can be lethal. They kill people. It is often said that politicians, diplomats and perhaps also lawyers and business people must sometimes lie, as part of their professional life. But the norms of politics and diplomacy are childish, in comparison with the level of incitement and total absolute deliberate fabrications, which have reached new heights in the region we are talking about. An incredible number of people in the Arab world believe that September 11 never happened, or was an American provocation or, even better, a Jewish plot.
You all remember the Iraqi Minister of Information, Mr. Mouhamad Said al-Sahaf and his press conferences when the US forces were already inside Baghdad. Disinformation at time of war is an accepted tactic. But to stand, day after day, and to make such preposterous statements, known to everybody to be lies, without even being ridiculed in your own milieu, can only happen in this region. Mr. Sahaf eventually became a popular icon as a court jester, but this did not stop some allegedly respectable newspapers from giving him equal time. It also does not prevent the Western press from giving credence, every day, even now, to similar liars.
After all, if you want to be an anti-Semite, there are subtle ways of doing it. You do not have to claim that the holocaust never happened, and that the Jewish temple in Jerusalem never existed. But millions of Moslems are told by their leaders that this is the case. When these same leaders make other statements, the Western media report them as if they could be true.
It is a daily occurrence that the same people who finance, arm and dispatch suicide murderers, condemn the act in English in front of western TV cameras, talking to a world audience, which even partly believes them. It is a daily routine to hear the same leader making opposite statements in Arabic to his people and in English to the rest of the world. Incitement by Arab TV, accompanied by horror pictures of mutilated bodies, has become a powerful weapon of those who lie, distort and want to destroy everything.
Little children are raised on deep hatred and on admiration of so-called martyrs, and the Western World does not notice it because its own TV sets are mostly tuned to soap operas and game shows. I recommend to you, even though most of you do not understand Arabic, to watch Al Jazeera, from time to time. You will not believe your own eyes.
But words also work in other ways, more subtle. A demonstration in Berlin, carrying banners supporting Saddam's regime and featuring three-year old babies dressed as suicide murderers, is defined by the press and by political leaders as a "peace demonstration". You may support or oppose the Iraq war, but to refer to fans of Saddam, Arafat or Bin Laden as peace activists is a bit too much. A woman walks into an Israeli restaurant in mid-day, eats, observes families with old people and children eating their lunch in the adjacent tables and pays the bill. She then blows herself up, killing 20 people, including many children, with heads and arms rolling around in the restaurant. She is called "martyr" by several Arab leaders and "activist" by the European press. Dignitaries condemn the act but visit her bereaved family and the money flows.
There is a new game in town: The actual murderer is called "the military wing", the one who pays him, equips him and sends him is now called "the political wing" and the head of the operation is called the "spiritual leader". There are numerous other examples of such Orwellian nomenclature, used every day not only by terror chiefs but also by Western media. These words are much more dangerous than many people realize. They provide an emotional infrastructure for atrocities. It was Joseph Goebbels who said that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. He is now being outperformed by his successors.
*3. The third aspect is money.*
Huge amounts of money, which could have solved many social problems in this dysfunctional part of the world, are channeled into three concentric spheres supporting death and murder.
In the inner circle are the terrorists themselves. The money funds their travel, explosives, hideouts and permanent search for soft vulnerable targets. The inner circles are primarily financed by terrorist states like Iran and Syria, until recently also by Iraq and Libya and earlier also by some of the Communist regimes. These states, as well as the Palestinian Authority, are the safe havens of the wholesale murder vendors.
They are surrounded by a second wider circle of direct supporters, planners, commanders, preachers, all of whom make a living, usually a very comfortable living, by serving as terror infrastructure.
Finally, we find the third circle of so-called religious, educational and welfare organizations, which actually do some good, feed the hungry and provide some schooling, but brainwash a new generation with hatred, lies and ignorance. This circle operates mostly through mosques, madrasas and other religious establishments but also through inciting electronic and printed media. It is this circle that makes sure that women remain inferior, that democracy is unthinkable and that exposure to the outside world is minimal. It is also that circle that leads the way in blaming everybody outside the Moslem world, for the miseries of the region. The outer circle is largely financed by Saudi Arabia, but also by donations from certain Moslem communities in the United States and Europe and, to a smaller extent, by donations of European Governments to various NGO's and by certain United Nations organizations, whose goals may be noble, but they are infested and exploited by agents of the outer circle. The Saudi regime, of course, will be the next victim of major terror, when the inner circle will explode into the outer circle. The Saudis are beginning to understand it, but they fight the inner circles, while still financing the infrastructure at the outer circle.
Figuratively speaking, this outer circle is the guardian, which makes sure that the people look and listen inwards to the inner circle of terror and incitement, rather than to the world outside. Some parts of this same outer circle actually operate as a result of fear from, or blackmail by, the inner circles. The horrifying added factor is the high birth rate. Half of the population of the Arab world is under the age of 20, the most receptive age to incitement, guaranteeing two more generations of blind hatred.
Some of the leaders of these various circles live very comfortably on their loot. You meet their children in the best private schools in Europe, not in the training camps of suicide murderers. The Jihad "soldiers" join packaged death tours to Iraq and other hotspots, while some of their leaders ski in Switzerland. Mrs. Arafat, who lives in Paris with her daughter, receives tens of thousands of dollars per month from the allegedly bankrupt Palestinian Authority, while a typical local ringleader of the Al-Aksa brigade, reporting to Arafat, receives only a cash payment of a couple of hundred dollars, for performing murders at the retail level.
*4. The fourth element of the current world conflict is the total breaking of all laws.*
The civilized world believes in democracy, the rule of law, including international law, human rights, free speech and free press, among other liberties. There are naive old-fashioned habits such as respecting religious sites and symbols, not using ambulances and hospitals for acts of war, avoiding the mutilation of dead bodies and not using children as human shields or human bombs. Never in history, not even in the Nazi period, was there such total disregard of all of the above as we observe now. Every student of political science debates how you prevent an anti-democratic force from winning a democratic election and abolishing democracy. Other aspects of a civilized society must also have limitations. Can a policeman open fire on someone trying to kill him? Can a government listen to phone conversations of terrorists and drug dealers? Does free speech protect you when you shout "fire" in a crowded theater? Should there be death penalty, for deliberate multiple murders? These are the old-fashioned dilemmas. But now we have an entire new set.
Do you raid a mosque, which serves as a terrorist ammunition storage? Do you return fire, if you are attacked from a hospital? Do you storm a church taken over by terrorists who took the priests hostages? Do you search every ambulance after a few suicide murderers use ambulances to reach their targets? Do you strip every woman because one pretended to be pregnant and carried a suicide bomb on her belly? Do you shoot back at someone trying to kill you, standing deliberately behind a group of children? Do you raid terrorist headquarters, hidden in a mental hospital? Do you shoot an arch-murderer who deliberately moves from one location to another, always surrounded by children? All of these happen daily in Iraq and in the Palestinian areas. What do you do? Well, you do not want to face the dilemma. But it cannot be avoided.
Suppose, for the sake of discussion, that someone would openly stay in a well-known address in Teheran, hosted by the Iranian Government and financed by it, executing one atrocity after another in Spain or in France, killing hundreds of innocent people, accepting responsibility for the crimes, promising in public TV interviews to do more of the same, while the Government of Iran issues public condemnations of his acts but continues to host him, invite him to official functions and treat him as a great dignitary. I leave it to you as homework to figure out what Spain or France would have done, in such a situation.
The problem is that the civilized world is still having illusions about the rule of law in a totally lawless environment. It is trying to play ice hockey by sending a ballerina ice-skater into the ring or to knock out a heavyweight boxer by a chess player. In the same way that no country has a law against cannibals eating its prime minister, because such an act is unthinkable, international law does not address killers shooting from hospitals, mosques and ambulances, while being protected by their Government or society. International law does not know how to handle someone who sends children to throw stones, stands behind them and shoots with immunity and cannot be arrested because he is sheltered by a Government. International law does not know how to deal with a leader of murderers who is royally and comfortably hosted by a country, which pretends to condemn his acts or just claims to be too weak to arrest him.
The amazing thing is that all of these crooks demand protection under international law, and define all those who attack them as "war criminals," with some Western media repeating the allegations.
The good news is that all of this is temporary, because the evolution of international law has always adapted itself to reality. The punishment for suicide murder should be death or arrest before the murder, not during and not after. After every world war, the rules of international law have changed, and the same will happen after the present one. But during the twilight zone, a lot of harm can be done.
The picture I described here is not pretty. What can we do about it? In the short run, only fight and win. In the long run, only educate the next generation and open it to the world. The inner circles can and must be destroyed by force.
The outer circle cannot be eliminated by force. Here we need financial starvation of the organizing elite, more power to women, more education, counter-propaganda, boycott whenever feasible and access to Western media, internet and the international scene. Above all, we need a total absolute unity and determination of the civilized world against all three circles of evil. Allow me, for a moment, to depart from my alleged role as a taxi driver and return to science. When you have a malignant tumor, you may remove the tumor itself surgically. You may also starve it by preventing new blood from reaching it from other parts of the body, thereby preventing new "supplies" from expanding the tumor. If you want to be sure, it is best to do both.
But before you fight and win, by force or otherwise, you have to realize that you are in a war, and this may take Europe a few more years.
In order to win, it is necessary to first eliminate the terrorist regimes, so that no Government in the world will serve as a safe haven for these people.
I do not want to comment here on whether the American-led attack on Iraq was justified from the point of view of weapons of mass destruction or any other pre-war argument, but I can look at the post-war map of Western Asia. Now that Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya are out, two and a half terrorist states remain: Iran, Syria and Lebanon, the latter being a Syrian colony. Perhaps Sudan should be added to the list. As a result of the conquest of Afghanistan and Iraq, both Iran and Syria are now totally surrounded by territories unfriendly to them. Iran is encircled by Afghanistan, by the Gulf States, Iraq and the Moslem republics of the former Soviet Union. Syria is surrounded by Turkey, Iraq, Jordan and Israel. This is a significant strategic change and it applies strong pressure on the terrorist countries. It is not surprising that Iran is so active in trying to incite a Shiite uprising in Iraq. I do not know if the
American plan was actually to encircle both Iran and Syria, but that is the resulting situation.
In my humble opinion, the number one danger to the world today is Iran and its regime. It definitely has ambitions to rule vast areas and to expand in all directions. It has an ideology which claims supremacy over Western culture. It is ruthless. It has proven that it can execute elaborate terrorist acts without leaving too many traces, using Iranian Embassies. It is clearly trying to develop nuclear weapons. Its so-called moderates and conservatives play their own virtuoso version of the "good-cop versus bad-cop" game. Iran sponsors Syrian terrorism, it is certainly behind much of the action in Iraq, it is fully funding the Hezbollah and, through it, the Palestinian Hamas and Islamic Jihad; it performed acts of terror at least in Europe and in South America and probably also in Uzbekistan and Saudi Arabia and it truly leads a multi-national terror consortium, which includes, as minor players, Syria, Lebanon and certain Shiite elements in Iraq. Nevertheless, most European countries still trade with Iran, try to appease it and refuse to read the clear signals.
In order to win the war it is also necessary to dry the financial resources of the terror conglomerate. It is pointless to try to understand the subtle differences between the Sunni terror of Al Qaeda and Hamas and the Shiite terror of Hezbollah, Sadr and other Iranian inspired enterprises. When it serves their business needs, all of them collaborate beautifully.
It is crucial to stop Saudi and other financial support of the outer circle, which is the fertile breeding ground of terror. It is important to monitor all donations from the Western World to Islamic organizations, to monitor the finances of international relief organizations and to react with forceful economic measures to any small sign of financial aid to any of the three circles of terrorism.
It is also important to act decisively against the campaign of lies and fabrications and to monitor those Western media who collaborate with it out of naivety, financial interests or ignorance.
Above all, never surrender to terror. No one will ever know whether the recent elections in Spain would have yielded a different result, if not for the train bombings a few days earlier. But it really does not matter. What matters is that the terrorists believe that they caused the result and that they won by driving Spain out of Iraq. The Spanish story will surely end up being extremely costly to other European countries, including France, who is now expelling inciting preachers and forbidding veils and including others who sent troops to Iraq. In the long run, Spain itself will pay even more.
Is the solution a democratic Arab world?
If by democracy we mean free elections but also free press, free speech, a functioning judicial system, civil liberties, equality to women, free international travel, exposure to international media and ideas, laws against racial incitement and against defamation, and avoidance of lawless behavior regarding hospitals, places of worship and children, then yes, democracy is the solution.
If democracy is just free elections, it is likely that the most fanatic regime will be elected, the one whose incitement and fabrications are the most inflammatory. We have seen it already in Algeria and, to a certain extent, in Turkey. It will happen again, if the ground is not prepared very carefully. On the other hand, a certain transition democracy, as in Jordan, may be a better temporary solution, paving the way for the real thing, perhaps in the same way that an immediate sudden democracy did not work in Russia and would not have worked in China.
I have no doubt that the civilized world will prevail. But the longer it takes us to understand the new landscape of this war, the more costly and painful the victory will be. Europe, more than any other region, is the key. Its understandable recoil from wars, following the horrors of World War II, may cost thousands of additional innocent lives, before the tide will turn."


Syria: Embassy Attack Linked to Militants?
The U.S. embassy in Damascus is reported to have come under attack, with reports of heavy gunfire and loud explosions. Security forces have sealed off the Rawda area, which houses other embassies, security installations and senior officials' residences.
The attack was most likely carried out by an al Qaeda-linked cell in Lebanon. Al Qaeda has steadily increased its presence in the Levant in the past several months. Syrian security forces have engaged in shootouts with alleged jihadists in the capital city since the Feb. 14 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al Hairi. Though these shootouts were largely political in nature, designed to facilitate a dialogue between Washington and Damascus, jihadists have a real incentive to stage attacks in the Levant and target the regime that has offered cooperation to U.S. forces in Iraq against al Qaeda. In the wake of the Lebanon war, a strong need arose in al Qaeda to challenge it's Shiite rival, Hezbollah, for regional fame.