For Immediate Release Lebanon

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 10/07

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 14,25-33. Great crowds were traveling with him, and he turned and addressed them, If any one comes to me without hating his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, 'This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.' Or what king marching into battle would not first sit down and decide whether with ten thousand troops he can successfully oppose another king advancing upon him with twenty thousand troops? But if not, while he is still far away, he will send a delegation to ask for peace terms. In the same way, everyone of you who does not renounce all his possessions cannot be my disciple.

Opinions
Iran: Muscle Power vs. Brain Power:By: Amir Taheri. September 9/07

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 10/07
Hizbullah wants President Rejecting U.N. Resolution-Naharnet
Split Lebanon Heads to Presidential Elections.Naharnet
Israeli minister accuses Syria of encouraging terror.AFP
Report: Syria calling reserve forces following Israeli flyover.Al-Bawaba
The war option.Ynetnews
Assad's arsenal.Ynetnews
Lebanon captures Saudi militant near battle camp.Khaleej Times
Foreign envoys line up to mediate in Beirut as Berri urges March 14 to accept his offer-Daily Star
Netanyahu pokes holes in Olmert's war performance-Daily Star
Siniora presides over reconciliation ceremony for Chouf villages, touts potential of Berri's offer-Daily Star
Geagea claims opposition may use force to block poll-Daily Star
Seven more Fatah al-Islam suspects rounded up-Daily Star
Experts divided over what Constitution demands in election of new president-Daily Star
Lebanon signs loan deals with World Bank, EU to help reform, reconstruction-Daily Star
Nadim Makdisi dies at age 86-Daily Star
Women bear brunt of post-war crises-Daily Star
Zouk's night markets attract record number of visitors-Daily Star
Beach-goers share Ramlet al-Baida with oil, floating garbage-Daily Star
Beirut Street Festival opens three-month helping of culture-Daily Star
Olmert promises 'relentless' attacks in Gaza Strip-Daily Star
Report: Militiamen Trained to Fight Israel, Jumblat, Geagea-Naharnet
Assad for Peace with Israel as Damascus Calls Reserves-Naharnet
The US and Israel are preparing wars for 2008.Voltaire Network
Lebanon faces uncertain presidential polls.Khaleej Times
Germany's help sought for army.Gulf Daily News
Consensus or 'an explosion' - Aoun.Daily Star
Conflict between Ramadan Charity and Terror Fund raising-Naharnet
Assad biting his lip.Ha'aretz
Iran dismisses massive US fine as 'baseless' AFP
Lebanon tensions rise as siege ends.Guardian Unlimited
Druze MK to be charged over Syria visit, says Dichter.Ynetnews
Druze MK to be charged over Syria visit, says Dichter.Ynetnews,
Analysis: Olmert's silence is show of self-confidence.Ha'aretz
Ankara says Israel jettisoned fuel tanks in its territory.Ha'aretz
Al-Qaeda Takes Credit for Algeria Blasts-Reuters
Israeli army nabs top Hamas commander in southern Gaza.AFP

Hizbullah wants President Rejecting U.N. Resolution
Hizbullah said Sunday it wants a new president for Lebanon who rejects U.N. Security Council resolutions.
The stand was outlined by Hizbullah MP Hussein Haj Hassan in an address at a party-run school in the southern coastal town of Tyre.
"Any president (chosen) along the lines of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 and who vows in front of the United States to implement this resolution will be rejected," Haj Hassan said. Any President who adheres to the resolution adopted in Sept. 2004 "would be an American President and not a president for Lebanon. Such a president cannot be accepted."The resolution called for the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon, the disbanding of militias operating in Lebanon, including Hizbullah's armed faction known as the Islamic resistance and the election of a president for the country in line with the nation's constitution and without foreign intervention. Haj Hassan stressed that the Hizbullah-led opposition "has all the required capabilities to take the steps demanded by its masses, but has refrained from carrying out such steps out of its interest on maintaining stability."
Haj Hassan, however, did not disclose the steps demanded by its followers. Beirut, 09 Sep 07, 13:41

Lebanon captures Saudi militant near battle camp
(AFP)9 September 2007
NAHR Al BARED, Lebanon - Lebanese troops have detained a Saudi militant who gave himself up after being spotted hiding in a field near a refugee camp where a three-month siege ended last week, a military source said on Sunday. ‘The Saudi was captured at around 11 pm (2000 GMT) on Saturday in the village of Nabi Kzayber,’ some two kilometres (just over a mile) from the Nahr Al Bared camp where Islamist militants put up a ferocious resistance to the army siege, the source said.
Terrified of being lynched by the villagers who had spotted him, the unarmed and exhausted 24-year-old fled to the home of a Muslim cleric begging to be handed over to the army. The cleric called in the military. Troops have launched intensive search operations around Nahr Al Bared since the battle ended on September 2 with a desperate breakout attempt by the remaining militants. Soldiers have killed at least four militants who managed to break through army lines and captured around a dozen more, according to an AFP count. On Sunday, three military heliopters were focusing their search on a mountainous area between 10 and 50 kilometres (between six and 30 miles) north of the camp, an AFP correspondent said. A senior mainstream Palestinian official said on July 2 that a total of 42 Saudis were fighting in the ranks of the Fatah Al Islam group led by Palestinian Shaker Al Abssi. He said of those, half had already been killed or surrendered and the following week the Lebanese authorities confirmed they had recovered the bodies of 10 Saudis. The army has said that in all it has killed at least 222 militants. It lost 163 troops during the siege.

Foreign envoys line up to mediate in Beirut as Berri urges March 14 to accept his offer
By Rym Ghazal -Daily Star staff
Monday, September 10, 2007
BEIRUT: As international efforts to help Lebanon avert a crisis over its presidential election picked up steam, Speaker Nabih Berri warned the ruling coalition on Sunday against dragging the country into a "great disaster." In a flurry of diplomacy aimed at resolving Lebanon's latest dispute, Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir continued his visit to the Vatican, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner announced that he will return to Lebanon on Thursday, and a Swiss envoy said his country might convene an international summit in Geneva next month to discuss the crisis in Lebanon. Swiss envoy Didier Berfetre made a quick visit on Saturday to Beirut, where he met with Berri and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to discuss holding a summit in Geneva. Meanwhile, Berri warned the ruling coalition that his initiative "is their last chance, there will be no more initiatives after this," according to the speaker's spokesperson, who spoke to The Daily Star on Sunday.
Berri announced two weeks ago that the opposition was ready to drop its demand for a national unity government if all Lebanese factions could agree on a consensus candidate for the presidency. The speaker officially called for a special session of Parliament on September 25 to elect a new head of state.
"The speaker will not respond to individual statements, he is waiting for the March 14 to issue a unified reaction to his initiative," said Arafat Hijazi, Berri's spokesperson.
The ruling coalition has yet to hold a meeting on the issue, as the head of the parliamentary majority, MP Saad Hariri, is out of the country and is expected to return early this week. Hariri is mediating a crisis in Pakistan along with Saudi intelligence chief Prince Muqrin bin Abdel-Aziz al-Saud, on the eve of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's planned return to the country to challenge President Pervez Musharraf, who sent him into exile seven years ago.
"If they accept his initiative, then the speaker will do everything in his power to finally settle matters," said Hijazi. "But if they reject it, then we are heading to a great disaster." "The disaster may be bigger than two governments ruling Lebanon," he added. Hijazi said that Berri will announce his response to the ruling coalition's decision on the "Kalam al-Nass" talk show on Thursday on the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation.
Last week, the Democratic Gathering leader, Walid Jumblatt, dropped his own bomb on the same show by rejecting Berri's initiative, following in the footsteps of Lebanese Forces chief Samir Geagea. "The speaker said he didn't put preconditions as they claim, but rather asked for the ruling majority to respect the Constitution," said Hijazi. Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh said on Sunday that the March 14 coalition will hold a meeting before Berri's televised interview.
"While Berri's initiative may be a step in the right direction, it is just a step that is incomplete without the presence of others," Hamadeh told Voice of Lebanon on Sunday. "We closed the door against accepting a horse ridden by the Syrian regime in the presidential matter," he added.
The head of the Democratic Renewal bloc, Nassib Lahoud, will officially announce his candidacy on Thursday at BIEL.Another hopeful, MP Boutros Harb, declared himself a neutral candidate on Sunday. "I refuse to be a candidate for or against either team," Harb said in a statement faxed to The Daily Star. He also called for calm and for "respect" among leaders, and praised Berri's initiative. "It is an effort to get all the disputing sides closer together ... and should be considered seriously," he said.
For his part, Hizbullah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan said Sunday that his party wants a new president willing to stand up to the United Nations if he has to.
"Any president [chosen] along the lines of UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and who vows in front of the United States to implement this resolution will be rejected," Hajj Hassan said in a statement. Any president who adheres to the resolution adopted in September of 2004 "would be an American president and not a president for Lebanon. Such a president cannot be accepted."
The resolution calls for disbanding militias operating in Lebanon, including Hizbullah. Meanwhile, MP Ghassan Tueni expressed his support for Berri's initiative, saying any other alternative would be destructive for Lebanon. Tueni pointed to what he termed the "existing duty" that a consensus president should neither be from the opposition ranks nor from those of the pro-government March 14 Forces. Tueni also warned that the alternative to Berri's latest offer would be to "create a vacuum," thus threatening Lebanon and its structure. "The March 14 Forces cannot nominate Geagea. And if it did, I will neither vote for him nor for Aoun," Tueni told New TV on Sunday."The initiative distinguished Berri as Parliament speaker and not spokesman for the minority opposition," he added.

Experts divided over what Constitution demands in election of new president
Interpretation of Article 49 under debate by rival camps
By Hani M. Bathish -Daily Star staff
Monday, September 10, 2007
BEIRUT: Constitutional experts are divided in their interpretations of Article 49 of the Constitution concerning the quorum needed to elect a president. The issues of a "two-thirds quorum" and a "consensus candidate" have become intertwined and achieving either depends on accord being reached between both sides of the political divide.Speaker Nabih Berri has called for agreement over a consensus candidate before an electoral session of Parliament is convened, insisting on the need for a quorum of two-thirds of MPs to hold a vote. Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir has also come out in favor of accord and a two-thirds quorum.
"One opinion says that Article 49 did not specifically stipulate that a quorum is needed, whereas elsewhere in the Constitution whenever a quorum is required it is mentioned clearly," legal expert Ziad Baroud told The Daily Star. "The other opinion sees that since the voting majority to elect a president is two-thirds in the first round, then two-thirds of MPs have to be present," Baroud added.
Article 79, for example, is clear in requiring two-thirds of MPs to attend an ordinary session of Parliament to vote on a constitutional amendment; Article 49, on the other hand, only speaks of a two-thirds majority vote needed to elect a president in the first round of voting.
Baroud said that the Constitutional Council is the only body that ought to interpret the Constitution whenever there is doubt and multiple views and opinions. "In the absence of a constitutional council there is no use in repeating the same conflicting points of view ... The issue of a quorum is now no longer a legal issue, it has become deeply politicized," Baroud said.Youssef Saadallah Khoury, former head of the State Shura Council, insists that Article 49 is "precise and clear" with regard to the need for two-thirds of MPs to be present in order for a session to convene, since a two-thirds majority is needed in the first round of voting.
"In the electoral session a president is elected by two-thirds majority in the first round of voting, if a president is not elected in the first round, a second round of voting is held immediately within the same session. [MPs] do not leave until they elect a president and the white smoke issues forth," Khoury said, making reference to the white smoke that issues from the Vatican upon the election of a new pope.
He said the constitutional text is clear in that an electoral session cannot convene without the attendance of two thirds of MPs. "If a session is opened without two-thirds of MPs attending it would be unconstitutional and any other interpretation would be political and outside the realm of law," Khoury said.
The speaker has officially declared September 25 as a date for the electoral session to convene, but only if two-thirds of MPs attend. Baroud said that Berri's proposal should be given every opportunity for success. "The speaker's proposal is not a complete package, take it or leave it. The speaker is asking the parties to meet in order to come to an agreement," Baroud said.
"The proposal deserves to be treated positively; either the parties accept it or they put forward another proposal, but not talking about it is counterproductive," Baroud said, adding that he considers the proposal a continuation of the French-sponsored inter-Lebanese talks in Saint Cloud.
Baroud said that far from being unknown, the result of failing to meet constitutional deadlines for electing a president are well known and dire. He said the September 25 session called for by the speaker is just one milestone along the long road leading up to the election of a president and the expiration of the constitutional deadline on November 24. "We would still have two months to go and a lot can change in two months," Baroud said.
If the 10th day before the end of President Emile Lahoud's term in office is reached, i.e. November 14, without the convening of an electoral session of Parliament, Baroud said MPs will no longer require the speaker to convene a session. "If that stage is reached, MPs automatically meet in the Parliament as an electoral body to elect a new president," he added.
He said the March 14 Forces are seeking consensus with the opposition to elect a president and will only elect a president by half-plus-one of MPs as a last resort and only if the 10th day comes and there is still no president. Baroud said that constitutional deadlines are absolute and should not be treated lightly.
Khoury feels it is the duty of MPs to attend an electoral session of Parliament, although there are no penalties prescribed in the event that an MP does not attend.
"If some MPs do not attend it becomes a political matter ... but legally they have to elect a new president," Khoury said.
Regarding constitutional amendments, Baroud feels as a matter of principle that they should be the exception rather than the rule and only a last resort in the event an "existential crisis" threatens the whole country. In Lebanon, Baroud feels a constitutional amendment is considered every six years.
"In 1948, the first president of the republic, Beshara al-Khoury, amended the Constitution to allow himself to run for a second term. In 1958, the parties opposed to then-President Camille Chamoun blamed internal strife at the time on Chamoun's secret desire to extend his term in office," Baroud said, giving a historical perspective to the issue.

Split Lebanon Heads to Presidential Elections
Lebanon in less than three weeks faces uncertain presidential polls in parliament, with its feuding political parties at daggers drawn over choosing a consensus candidate.
Although parliament speaker Nabih Berri has called for a special session of the deeply-divided legislature on September 25 to pick a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, it remains unclear whether the election will actually take place.
The 128 deputies have from September 25 to November 24 to elect a president, who in accordance with tradition is drawn from the country's Christian Maronite community. However, from November 14 until the end of Lahoud's mandate, parliament will be in permanent session, according to the nation's constitution.
The September 25 meeting will mark the first time since last October that lawmakers have gathered.
Berri in past months has refused to convene parliament after six of his opposition allies resigned from the government, plunging Lebanon into its worst political crisis since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. Analysts said that by calling a session for the first time in nearly a year, Berri was putting pressure on the Western-backed majority and placing the ball in their court. "He is trying to show that he himself is not an obstruction," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut. "We can almost call it a tactical move, it's like a move in a chess game."
Joseph Maila, a respected Lebanese political scientist, said the upcoming parliamentary session may prompt deputies from the ruling majority to agree on a consensus candidate or risk being accused of plunging the country into further chaos. "He (Berri) is trying to move forward the political process and pushing deputies from the majority to go into action," he told AFP. Berri last month also raised the stakes by saying that opposition parties were willing to drop their demand for a national unity government on condition Lebanon's feuding factions agreed on a candidate for the presidency. He insisted, however, that the president would have to be elected by a two-third quorum in parliament. The ruling majority and the opposition, led by factions allied to Syria and Iran, are at odds on whether the president is elected by a two-thirds quorum or by a simple majority. Sami Salhab, a law professor at Lebanese University, said the constitution was very clear on the number of votes required and the quorum issue was part of tradition rather than a constitutional requirement.
"Article 49 is very clear," Salhab said. "In the first round, the president must be elected by two-thirds of the 128 deputies and after that by half the deputies plus one, meaning 65 deputies." The majority controls 69 seats in the 128-seat parliament.
Salem said that the rival parties would likely wait until the 11th hour to strike a deal amid much "behind-the-scenes" wheeling and dealing. He also pointed out that two key players, the United States and Lebanon's former powerbroker Syria, had yet to enter the fray. "You really only have two scenarios: either there is agreement on the president ... or we have division" and that means each side picks a president, he said. The latter scenario, experts say, would spell "catastrophe" and would be a grim reminder of the final years of the civil war when two competing administrations battled it out. If a new president is not elected, his powers would automatically be transferred to the government headed by Prime Minister Fouad Saniora. But Lahoud has said he could appoint army chief Michel Sleiman as premier.(AFP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 09 Sep 07, 15:14

Israeli minister accuses Syria of encouraging terror
JERUSALEM (AFP) — An Israeli minister accused Damascus of "encouraging terrorism" on Sunday, three days after Syria said Israeli warplanes violated its airspace.
Asked about the incident on which Israel has maintainted a staunch silence, Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan said: "Those who think that the Syrians are ready to sit down at the table of negotiations are wrong."The Syrians cannot say that they want peace and encourage terrorism," said Eitan, a member of Israel's powerful security cabinet. Up to now, Israeli ministers and senior officials have declined to comment when asked about Thursday's incident.
Syria said its air defences opened fire on Israeli warplanes which had violated Syrian airspace at dawn, ratcheting up the tension between the neighbouring foes that remain officially at war. Peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in 2000 over disagreements over the Golan Heights, the strategic plateau the Jewish state seized from Damascus during the 1967 Six-Day War and unilaterally annexed in 1981.Syria shelters a number of radical Palestinian groups and is home to Khaled Meshaal, the exiled leader of Hamas who tops Israel's most wanted list and heads a movement branded a terrorist organisation by the West.
Israel also accuses Damascus of supporting Lebanon's Hezbollah militia with which the Jewish state fought a devastating 34-day war last year.

Report: Syria calling reserve forces following Israeli flyover
Posted: 09-09-2007 , 10:11 GMT
Syria was reportedly calling its reserve forces. The Daily newspaper an-Nahar, in an un-attributed report, said Syria has "called to service part of its reserve force."
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told ministers at the weekly cabinet meeting Sunday that Israel cannot always expose its military operations to the public. "The security sources and IDF soldiers are demonstrating unusual courage," said Olmert, according to Haaretz. "We naturally cannot always show the public our cards." The Israeli leader did not specifically refer to Syria's outrage after Israeli jets violated its airspace early Thursday. Olmert's remarks, however, come amid an ongoing Israeli blackout regarding the Syrian charges. Cabinet ministers and senior Israeli officers refused to comment on or off the record on the incident.
The newspaper added Syria is still undecided on its response to the flyover. The Israeli army, however, has reportedly lowered its state of alert on the Syrian border compared to last week. Meanwhile, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem will on Sunday present the Turkish leadership with evidence that the Israeli airplanes indeed violated Syrian airspace, according to the London-based Arabic-language newspaper Al-Hayat. Moallem will arrive in Ankara on Sunday, and is scheduled to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan as well as his Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan. Prior to departing for Turkey, Moallem will meet with European Union envoys in Damascus. © 2007 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)The war option

Following Second Lebanon War, Syria views military clash as viable option
Giora Eiland Published: 09.09.07, 16:26 / Israel Opinion
Fifteen years ago, following the Madrid conference, Syria realized that a significant part of the Arab world preferred peace with Israel. Hence, Hafez Assad concluded that it was incumbent on Syria to attain a strategic balance with Israel - namely, to ensure an achievement
in the event of war, even if Syria has no partners.
The operative interpretation of this was preparing for a surprise attack whose objective would be to take over a significant part of the Golan Heights. The military achievement may be limited, but would be impressive enough to ultimately lead to a diplomatic settlement whereby Israel would be forced to relinquish the Golan.
Towards the end of the ‘90s Assad senior switched strategy: He realized that following the fall of the Soviet Union the military divide grew in favor of Israel. The military option did not seem viable. Assad answered the calls by Clinton and Barak and engaged in negotiations for comprehensive peace. The dispute over 400 meters in the vicinity of the Sea of Galilee prevented the parties from reaching an agreement.
Since March of 2000, the Syrians found themselves greatly frustrated. On the one hand it was impossible to reach a peace agreement with Israel, and on the other the military option was perceived as impractical. From Israel's standpoint these years (2000 – 2006) were very convenient. There was no diplomatic pressure, there didn't seem to be an option of war, and the Israel-Syrian border continued to be the quietest.
The current Syrian policy is the outcome of events that transpired over the past two years. In 2005, under international pressure (to which Israel was a partner behind the scenes) the Syrians were forced to withdraw their troops from Lebanon. Their key objective since 1976 – preserving political rule and economic profit in Lebanon – was severly undermined.
New focus
The focus of the Syrian political effort has hence shifted from preserving the lost Lebanese asset to securing another asset – the Golan. The second and more significant event was the second Lebanon War: "Hizbullah's victory" led some Syrian military leaders to the conclusion that a significant military achievement is possible vis-à-vis Israel. Hence, these two events explain Syria's current policy, which says the following: Syria is determined to take back the Golan Heights. The preferable option would be to do so via a diplomatic agreement. However, if Israel continues to refuse – it would do well to know (as should the US) that a military option is once again a possibility.
The demonstrative way in which Damascus described the penetration of Israeli Air Force aircraft into Syrian airspace is designed to serve this policy. On the one hand Syria emphasized the "Israeli aggression" vis-à-vis Syrian peace overtures, and on the other hand, if and when Syria decides to initiate a military maneuver against Israel, Israel's recent violation will be recorded as "another Israeli provocation that forced it to respond."
The bottom line is that it seems that Syria, like Israel, is not interested in a military confrontation at this point in time, yet contrary to the good years of 2000-2006, now it is simply unwanted or not a preferred option. And the difference is clear. The writer is a retired IDF major-general and former head of the National Security Council

Assad's arsenal
Syrian military has chemical weapons but won’t be quick to use them
Ronen Bergman Published: 09.09.07, 14:05 / Israel Opinion
If the news items regarding the infiltration of IDF aircraft into northern Syria's airspace are true, then the concern expressed by Syria is clear.
The reports publicized recently about a significant military build-up in Syria pertained to Syria's desire to strengthen entire sections of its security apparatus, which has been neglected for many years. The Gulf War in 1991 constituted a key development in Syria's approach towards Israel. A Syrian division joined American forces at the time. President Hafez Assad read the reports compiled by his people and was amazed by America’s technological capabilities.
"If this is what the Americans have – the Israelis have much more," he told his associates. In other words: Assad clearly understood his army's inferiority against the IDF and decided to join the Madrid conference and enter negotiations with Israel. Nonetheless, Syria continued to vigorously develop its Air Force and its ground-to-ground missiles whose range covers Israel's entire territory.
Simultaneously, the Syrians armed themselves with what is termed "the nuclear weapons of the poor" – ie chemical weapons. They view this as a strategic response to the nuclear weapons the world claims Israel has in its arsenal. In December 1991, then IDF Chief of Staff Ehud Barak stated that Syria's chemical capability "is greater than that of Iraq." Two plants manufacturing chemical weapons are located in Allepo in northern Syria, and Scud missiles armed with chemical weapons are deployed in al-Safir in the south. Syria's chemical weapons plants are relatively small, and therefore difficult to detect. In addition to dedicated factories, Syria can also take advantage of the potential of more than 12 government pharmaceutical plants that can quickly be transformed to manufacture chemical warfare materials.
The Yom Kippur War proved to the Syrians that even when they launch a successful surprise attack, their aircraft are still incapable of penetrating deep into Israel. The Israel Air Force's technological and human resource superiority coupled with advanced anti-aircraft systems foiled the attempts to bomb deep inside Israel. Syria reached the conclusion that it required an additional force.
Successful missile tests
Since 1995, and perhaps even prior to that, Syria has been serially manufacturing Scud C type missiles that
are capable of reaching any point in Israel. The arsenal in the hands of the Syrians was extended at the end of 2000 by some 300 to 400 Scud B and C type missiles and 30 launchers. A Scud B missile is capable of carrying a 1,000 kilogram warhead to a distance of up to 300 kilometers (roughly 200 miles.) Scud C type missiles can carry a 770 kilogram warhead to a distance of up to 500 kilometers (roughly 320 miles.)
At the end of September 2000, Syria conducted several successful tests with Scud D missiles, which reached a range of 580 kilometers (roughly 360 miles) during these tests. At the beginning of July 2001, Israel monitored the launching of a Scud missile fired from the Haleb region in the north of Syria until it landed 700 kilometers (roughly 430 miles) from there in the southern desert. Israel's assumption is that Syria knows all too well that Jerusalem will respond harshly to the use of chemical weapons against it. As in Saddam Hussein's case, Israel believes that Basher Assad will order the launching of missiles at us only if he feels his regime is at risk.

Ynetnews/ Internal security minister announces police will deal with delegation of Druze religious figures who visited Damascus despite ban
Efrat Weiss Published: 09.08.07, 20:46 / Israel News
The members of a delegation of 330 Druze clergymen who traveled to Syria will be dealt with and charged according to Israeli law, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter announced Saturday. The delegation includes Knesset Member Said Naffaa (Balad). "Those who travel to an enemy state should know that they will be dealt with according to Israeli law, and so will MK Naffaa and the members of the delegation," Dichter said in a statement. Problematic Pilgrimage Druze MK ignores ban, travels to Syria / Roee Nahmias MK Said Naffaa's request to conduct pilgrimage to enemy country denied by Interior Ministry, yet he and 330 Druze religious figures ignore ruling. MK Effie Eitam: 'Naffaa following in Bishara's footsteps' The delegation left for Syria Thursday morning despite the Interior Ministry's decision to deny their applications to do so. The group was invited to several formal receptions in Syria and participated in religious ceremonies.
MK Naffaa filed a request with Interior Affairs Minister Meir Sheetrit asking him to allow Druze followers to travel to the tomb of Habil in Zabadani, located some 30 miles west of Damascus. Israel has allowed Druze to perform the pilgrimage to the Habil shrine since 1988. Habil is the Arab name for Abel, Cain's brother. The two sons of Adam and Eve are mentioned, though not by these names, in the Quran.Naffaa's office told Ynet the purpose of the visit was to cultivate the relations between the Druze in Syria and those in Israel. Sheetrit denied the request. Naffaa said in response that Sheetrit had said that officials on all levels refuse to allow the clergymen to visit Syria and Lebanon. MK Effie Eitam (National Union-National Religious Party) addressed the report and said Naffaa was "following in the footsteps of Bishara, who started out by visiting capital cities of nations and ended with him acting as an agent of the enemy." Eitam said he expected the security establishment to determine what Naffaa's dealings in Damascus were. Eitam said the attorney general was obligated to warn Naffaa in advance that traveling to an enemy country illegally would lead to criminal charges being filed against him upon his return.

Report: Militiamen Trained to Fight Israel, Jumblat, Geagea
The daily newspaper an-Nahar reported Sunday that members of Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and two pro-Syrian factions were receiving military training in the Bekaa Valley and the Byblos Province. The un-attributed report said a file has been compiled and handed over to security agencies regarding the issue of military training and arming. The file, according to the report, states that Hizbullah is training followers of Syrian-backed ex-ministers Zaher Khatib and Wiam Wahab at bases in the Bekaa valley. Each group of potential militiamen receives a six-day military training, the report added. FPM followers, it said, receive a two-day training in weekends at bases in the Byblos Province by former Lebanese Army officers who are members of Aoun's movement, the report added. After the training, followers of the three factions are formed into squads of seven-10 members each armed with "Iranian-Made" Kalashnikov assault rifles, the report added. Cadets are told that the training aims at confronting "a major invasion of Lebanon by Israel and its allies, especially Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat and (Lebanese Forces leader) Samir Gegea," the report added. Such training focuses on recruits from the Aley, Chouf, Kharoub and southern Metn provinces in addition to recruits from the northern Metn and Kesrouan provinces, "thought at a lesser degree", the report added. Hizbullah had denied charges by Geagea that it is involved in arming and training recruits from allied factions of the opposition that is backed by Syria and Iran. Beirut, 09 Sep 07, 10:19

Assad for Peace with Israel as Damascus Calls Reserves
Syria was reportedly calling its reserve forces as its president Bashar Assad said he is working for peace with Israel, denying charges of channeling Iranian weapons to Lebanon's Hizbullah. The Daily newspaper an-Nahar, in an un-attributed report, said Syria has "called to service part of its reserve force."
Meanwhile, Assad told CBS: "We call for peace talks. We had peace talks 15 years ago … We work for peace with Israel … Our land is occupied and we need peace to regain our land." He denied charges that Syria was channeling Iranian weapons to Hizbullah, saying Damascus supports the party "politically because they have a just cause." "We have not allowed Iran to provide Hizbullah with Weapons and missiles. Where is the evidence for such a charge?" Assad asked.
He said charges regarding Syria's involvement in smuggling weapons to Hizbullah in Lebanon "have been made for a year. Intelligence services, probably from all over the world, operate on the Lebanese side of the border with Syria and the Israelis fly over Lebanon … I told them provide us with a single evidence that we have sent one missile to Hizbullah. These are fake claims." Syria, Assad said, supports Hizbullah politically. "We do not provide anybody with safe haven. They have their safe haven among the Lebanese people. This is the source of their strength," Assad said. "As for support, this depends on the kind of support. We have good relations (with Hizbullah) and we support herm politically because they have a just cause," he added. Assad also denied that Damascus airport is being used by terrorists as a springboard to fight the U.S. forces in Iraq. "They enter illegally across the border and we've managed to arrest them," Assad stressed.
Asked to comment on Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadenjad's call to wipe Israel off the Map, Assad said: "This is freedom of speech. Any person in the world has the right to express himself freely. This is just an expression." Beirut, 09 Sep 07, 09:19

Conflict between Ramadan Charity and Terror Fund raising
As Ramadan approaches, many U.S. Muslims are worried about how they will manage to fulfill their charitable obligations without facing the charge of financing terrorism in Gaza or Lebanon. The start of Ramadan sometime next week coincides with the anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks which prompted anti-terrorism crackdowns that many here say unfairly target Muslims. Six major Muslim charities operating in the United States have been shut down after being designated as fund raisers for terrorist organizations and several others have been raided or closed. "These are indirect ways of having Islamic charities close down without due process," said Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"It scares away the donors and even some employees." There has also been a very suspicious pattern of raids taking place just ahead of Ramadan when Muslims typically do the bulk of their required giving known as "zakat", said Shereef Akeel, a lawyer who represents two of the raided charities.
In 2004, Missouri-based Islamic American Relief Agency was shut down in the days leading up to Ramadan because of alleged ties to the militant Palestinian group Hamas and Al-Qaida. It was indicted in March for providing aid without a license in Iraq while the country was under U.S. sanctions.
In 2005, federal agents knocked on the doors of prominent Detroit-area Muslims and asked them if they were planning on donating to Michigan-based Life for Relief and Development and other charities. And in 2006, Life was raided and every local television station was on hand to capture images of federal agents carting away computers and boxes of documents.
While it is important to ensure that charitable funds are not diverted to terrorist activities, the federal government's inability or refusal to provide hard evidence against the charities has created a backlash, said Akeel. Especially since many Muslims have stopped donating to overseas programs out of fear that the money will be either frozen or tied up in legal fees and that they could be held liable for inadvertently funding terrorism. "What we have done is compromise our image and our standing abroad," he told AFP. "There's no better PR than when you have American organizations on the ground." Life for Relief and Development has managed to keep operating despite the bad publicity from the 2006 raid, said administrative director Mohammad Alomari.
But it had to go to court to prevent its bank from flagging it as a money launderer or terrorist financer when the charity's account was closed shortly after the raid.
It was back in court last month to stop the Justice Department from charging it 115,000 dollars in copying fees so it could get its documents back.
While charges have not yet been filed, the charity believes it is being investigated for work it did in Iraq while the country was still under sanctions.
It has managed to avoid being tied to terrorism because it carefully followed all regulations and chose not to come to the aid of orphans in Lebanon, Gaza and the West Bank, Alomari said. "People in the Muslim community are scared. They have to give zakat. But how do you give it? Do you give it only to the mosque? Do you give it to a friend who takes it overseas? The avenues of giving are narrower," Alomari said in his suburban Detroit office.
"There used to be a lot of different organizations. We certainly weren't the largest. But by default now we're the largest because they closed down the other ones."
Federal officials say they are committed to protecting legitimate charitable work and only target organizations when they have strong evidence that the money is being misdirected. "These actions are not going after people who are sending legitimate funds for legitimate purposes and are accidentally swept up," said Molly Millerwise, a Treasury Department official. "Every one of our charitable designations that has been tested in U.S. court has been upheld," she said.
The nation's largest Muslim charity, Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, is currently in court defending itself against allegations of funding terrorism by supporting Hamas. In late July, the Treasury Department froze the assets of Michigan-based Goodwill Charitable Organization after it was declared a front for the anti-Israeli militant group Hizbullah. The Treasury department has worked closely with the charitable community to develop guidelines that will help them ensure their funds are not being misdirected towards terrorist activities, Millerwise added. "The charitable sector and the U.S. government share the same goal: we want charitable giving to continue but we don't want the money going to terrorists," Millerwise said.(AFP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 09 Sep 07, 10:49

The US and Israel are preparing wars for 2008
Lebanese and International press focused today on the internal and external movement to solve the Lebanese crisis in the light of the French envoy’s return to Beirut again. The press wondered about the envoy’s new proposals to solve this crisis.
8 September 2007
From Beirut (Lebanon)
An Event and a Regional Trend
The European diplomatic reports which some of the area’s capitals receive, point out the US president Bush may put the possibility of bombing targets in Iran and the option of the Israeli war against Syria, Lebanon and Gaza Strip on the agenda of what is left of his presidential term. A high ranking Arab diplomatic source has attributed to a British report as saying that the probable period for aggression on Iran will be the beginning of next year and that the US satellites have selected 2.500 targets which were positioned on the maps of the US air force.
Some experts consider that the Israeli military movement suggests a serious readiness for such a plan and starts off from the time’s race with the change of the balance of powers in the area in the aftermath of the defeat of the US-Israeli strategy in the July war before the fighters of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and because of the presence of Bush and Cheney in the White House, in addition to the neoconservative team that supports the Israeli military adventures, may not occur again before ten or twenty years due to the course of conditions inside the US that resulted from the Iraq war.
Some Israeli leaders feel a deep anxiety concerning reports by US centers of studies, which hold Israel responsible for the lost adventures of the US despite the size of US supporters in the Democratic Party and among the Congress’s majority. The diplomatic sources said these calculations are based on reports, which say that the Iranian nuclear project may achieve its real goal in 2009 and this date will coincide with big transformations in the Syrian and Lebanese defensive capabilities and in the size of the danger that the Palestinian resistance represents in confronting the Israeli occupation.
A European expert in the area’ affairs said such kinds of reports and beating the drums of war in the area are a political cover to prepare the platforms for compromise and negotiations, which will join Washington, Damascus and Tehran. Therefore, despite putting the worst possibilities into consideration, the coming months may witness surprises that may drop the phantom of war, especially after the Congress’s committees and general organization start the round of accountability with Bush’s administration on the failure in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An Event and a Lebanese Trend
The contradictory information about the reality of the Saudi stand and Representative Saad Hariri’s stand towards Berri’s initiative raise doubts on the real chances to reach a compromise on the presidential merit. The current information about the Saudi side and the circles of the Future Bloc leader refer to two possibilities: either reaching an understanding on the two thirds quorum and opening the door of dialogue to agree on a president, or wasting time until reaching the last ten days of president Lahoud’s term in order to name a president from the loyalists in a parliamentary meeting that violates the constitutional quorum.
The anticipated meeting of March 14 coalition will be the touchstone for extracting preliminary indicators: either the result will be a clear decision by the Future Bloc to commit to the two thirds quorum or the initiative will fall through Hariri’s submission to his two allies, Jumblatt and Samir Geagea, as it happened with the Saudi initiative.
Informed political sources said that some circles in March 14 alliance try to push the discussion on Baabda and Baalbek discourse far from the principle of the quorum through discussing the characteristics of the president in order to preserve the half plus one card that Jumblatt stressed clinging to in order to keep the outlet of the ten last days of the current president’s term.
On the Saudi level, the rejection to pressurize the kingdom’s Lebanese allies suggests a reserved stand towards the initiative, while the tour of the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner will form an important station in the communications related to the Lebanese conditions.
The opposition leaders believe that the loyalists’ connection to the US stand, which insists on keeping the option of detonation without closing the door of the communications and endeavors that the French lead, is responsible for the obstacles.
Arab and International Press
President Bashar Al-Assad has denied, in an interview with the US CBS television network, Bush’s administration’s claims that Syria allows terrorists to use his country as a bridge to enter Iraq, pointing out that he supports the US if its success in Iraq means achieving stability in this country.
Al-Bayan said in its editorial that with the approach of the international peace conference on the Middle East Israel sens an aggressive message to Syria through violating its airspace.
The Washington Post said in its editorial if President Bush is sympathetic to the Egyptian democratic activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, he should do what proves this.
Agence France Presse said that in a new step that increases tension between the US and Iran, a US court issued a sentence that holds Tehran responsible for detonating the barracks of the US Marines in Beirut in 1983, demanding 2.65 billion dollars as a compensation for the families of 241 US soldiers, who were killed in the explosion.
Christian Science Monitor said in an article that the US boasts of spreading democracy abroad, but it rejects it if the results do not suit the US interests.
Seymour Hersch said in an interview with Rebelion that the French government has invited Secretary General of Hezbollah to a conference on the Lebanese crisis as a whole, pointing out that Hassan Nasrallah is the most influential character in the Middle East and his popularity is in its climax.
Lebanese Press
An-Nahar said patriarch Sfeir and the mufti Qabbani have warned from boycotting the presidential elections.
As-Safir said patriarch Sfeir stressed that the Vatican has its own word in Lebanon.
Al-Akhbar said Lebanon will be the center of an international meeting in New York.
Al-Hayat said that the Italian prime minister called President Bashar Al-Assad and told him that the European Union opposes excluding Syria from the international conference on peace in the Middle East.
Arab Satellite Stations’ Interviews
Al-Jazeera
Program: Special Covering
Leader of Al-Qaeda organization Ossama Bin Laden said that the US prestige was broken after the September 11 attacks and despite the power of the US, 19 youths have deflected the track of its compass.
Lebanese Television Stations’ News
Al-Manar said the positive meeting between House Speaker Berri and General Michel Aoun stressed the unity of the opposition forces while division appeared among the loyalists.
The NTV said Mi’rab started to take DNA samples for presidential candidates.
The NBN said the domestic arena in Lebanon is stagnant.
The OTV said Jumblatt’s stand is dubious while the silence of the head of the Future Bloc Saad Hariri is continuous.
The LBC said the mystery of the Israeli warplanes’ violation of the Syrian airspace is not solved yet.
The Future said the French movement has already started and Kouchner will visit Beirut at the conclusion of his Arab tour.
Television Stations’ Interviews in Lebanon
Al-Manar
Program: The Hours’ Talk
Head of the Lebanese Democratic party Talal Arsalan said if the president is chosen from March 14 alliance, he will not arrive to Baabda, pointing out that Saad Hariri is confused and is waiting for the Saudi and US stands.
***Tendencies is a daily political watch newsletter about the Near East, issued by New Orient News agency in Beirut, Lebanon. It is available on Voltairenet.org in Arabic, English and French languages. Also worth a read is Indicators, the daily Near East economic watch newsletter, available in Arabic and English.

Iran: Muscle Power vs. Brain Power
07/09/2007
Amir Taheri -AlShark Al Awasat
was born in Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris. Between 1980 and 1984 he was Middle East editor for the London Sunday Times. Taheri has been a contributor to the International Herald Tribune since 1980. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Taheri has published nine books some of which have been translated into 20 languages, and In 1988 Publishers'' Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, "Holy Terror", as one of The Best Books of The Year. He has been a columnist Asharq Alawsat since 1987
What are the duties of a true believer on the first night of his burial? How did Ayatollah Dast-Ghayb achieve martyrdom? What was the name of the lion who cried over Imam Hussein's martyred corpse in the desert of Karbala?
These are some of the questions that young Iranians must answer before gaining admission to higher education.
The new interview system is part of a project designed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "cleanse" Iranian higher education from what he regards as "the polluting influence of the Infidel".
He says he wants to create "a truly Islamic university."
One may wonder why the Islamic Republic, established 28 years ago, has not already done so.
During the past quarter of a century an estimated 10 million Iranians, including Ahmadinejad, have graduated from the nation's 170 universities and centres of higher education. Should we regard them as products of the "satanic culture of the West"?
The radical president refers to his "academic cleansing" policy as " The Second Islamic Cultural Revolution."
The first "Islamic Cultural Revolution" was launched in 1980 by Khomeini who closed all centres of higher education for two years. A committee was created to "cleanse" the universities. Its members included the current "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi, and former presidents Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Muhammad Khatami. Its secretary-general was one Abdul-Karim Sorush, subsequently recast as the" Martin Luther of Islam".
The committee purged over 6000 university professors and lecturers, virtually destroying the Iranian academia. Dozens of academics were executed as hundreds fled into exile. The committee also expelled thousands of students on charges of monarchist or Marxist tendencies. It also censored or totally re-wrote dozens of textbooks to conform to the Khomeinist ideology.
When the universities were reopened two years later, the committee tried to fill them with students and teachers sympathetic to Khomeinism. The trick was to allocate special places for members of The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and children of families believed to be loyal to the regime.
Further, it established a black list of authors and writings that has since become longer each year, reminding one of the worst days of the Inquisition in medieval Europe. The madness of censorship, supervised by the so-called Ministry of Islamic Orientation and Culture, reached a new peak this week when a new volume of Rafsanjai's memoirs was banned! The lesson is simple: if you ban someone, someone will ban you! (I must acknowledge a personal interest: my name and all my books are on the black list!) However, more than two decades of purges and "cultural cleansing" did not prevent Iranian universities from becoming major bastions of opposition to the Khomeinist ideology. Under Khatami's presidency, Iran experienced the largest and longest student revolt in its history. Khatami crushed the revolt through the IRGC with mass arrests and the expulsion of thousands of students.
Ahmadinejad launched his second "Islamic Cultural Revolution" last year by appointing a semi-literate mullah as Chancellor of Tehran University, the first time that a cleric was put in charge of the nation's oldest and largest centre of higher education.
According to Ghulam-Hussein Hadad-Adel, Speaker of the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament, "the enemies of Islam are targeting the universities" with a view to encouraging reform. The ruling establishment is clearly nervous about what would happen at universities when the academic year begins this month.
The purge ordered by Ahmadinejad started last July with the replacement of over 20 college deans. In almost every case, a bona fide academic was pushed out in favour of an IRGC member. According to reports, scores of professors and lecturers have been told that their services are no longer required. The purged teachers include individuals who had previously served as members of the Islamic Majlis or, in two cases, as ministers in pre-Ahmadinejad Cabinets.
At the same time, dozens of academics have been arrested, including some returning from scientific conferences abroad. Among the latter are professors Hussein Bashiriyeh, Saeed Shahandeh and Hadi Samati. An unknown number of students have been arrested throughout the country. In Tabriz, capital of the East Azerbaijan province, all seven members of the students union were picked up and taken to an unknown destination last month. The families of two of them Goshtasp Vaseqi and Muhammad Aslani claim that they may have died under torture. In Tehran over 150 student activists have been "disappeared" in recent weeks.
As part of the purge, 30 privately owned colleges have been shut and their assets seized. Thirteen others are under investigation. The moves could affect some 100,000 students whose studies will be interrupted.
Serving notice that any protest on the campus will be crushed, a special force, known as the Ashura Brigade, commanded by IRGC veteran General Qassem Kargar, has been assigned the task of "ensuring a peaceful atmosphere" at centres of higher education.
Ostensibly mandated to enforce the Islamic Dress Code, enacted in May 2006, armed guards are posted at all centres of higher education to prevent anti-regime demonstrations.
"Cleansing" the universities through expulsions and arrests may be easy for a government prepared to use force against un-armed civilians. However, when it comes to the content of education, things are not as easy as the Tehran radicals might wish.
A report prepared for Ahmadinejad claims that at least 40 per cent of the textbooks in use in Iranian universities do not conform to Khomeinist dogma. The problem for the authorities is that it has alienated the Iranian intellectual elite.
No Iranian author, academic or scientist of note would be prepared to participate in the so-called "Islamic Cultural Revolution." Efforts to find somebody to prepare a cursus on Khomeini's supposed "philosophy" have provoked only derision among intellectuals approached to assume the task. After months of efforts to prepare a special course on Ahmadnejad's denial of the Holocaust, the committee charged with the task has produced nothing but a slim pamphlet that consists almost entirely of translations from Western "negationist" writers.
Iran today is a society whose "muscle" power is at war against its "brain" power.
Hadad-Adel says the Islamic Republic must prevent "dangerous thoughts and ideas".
But, who decides what is dangerous?
In fact, the central role of the university is to allow dangerous thoughts and ideas to be expressed and measured against other thoughts and ideas. The imposition of a uniform mode of thought and prefabricated ideas is better suited to a concentration camp than a university campus.
The first "Islamic Cultural Revolution" failed to subject generations of Iranians to mass brainwashing in the name of education. The second one will also fail. One national characteristic of Iranians is curiosity, and a taste for different and dangerous thoughts and ideas.

The US and Israel are preparing wars for 2008
Lebanese and International press focused today on the internal and external movement to solve the Lebanese crisis in the light of the French envoy’s return to Beirut again. The press wondered about the envoy’s new proposals to solve this crisis.
8 September 2007
From Beirut (Lebanon)
An Event and a Regional Trend
The European diplomatic reports which some of the area’s capitals receive, point out the US president Bush may put the possibility of bombing targets in Iran and the option of the Israeli war against Syria, Lebanon and Gaza Strip on the agenda of what is left of his presidential term. A high ranking Arab diplomatic source has attributed to a British report as saying that the probable period for aggression on Iran will be the beginning of next year and that the US satellites have selected 2.500 targets which were positioned on the maps of the US air force.
Some experts consider that the Israeli military movement suggests a serious readiness for such a plan and starts off from the time’s race with the change of the balance of powers in the area in the aftermath of the defeat of the US-Israeli strategy in the July war before the fighters of Hezbollah in Lebanon, and because of the presence of Bush and Cheney in the White House, in addition to the neoconservative team that supports the Israeli military adventures, may not occur again before ten or twenty years due to the course of conditions inside the US that resulted from the Iraq war.
Some Israeli leaders feel a deep anxiety concerning reports by US centers of studies, which hold Israel responsible for the lost adventures of the US despite the size of US supporters in the Democratic Party and among the Congress’s majority. The diplomatic sources said these calculations are based on reports, which say that the Iranian nuclear project may achieve its real goal in 2009 and this date will coincide with big transformations in the Syrian and Lebanese defensive capabilities and in the size of the danger that the Palestinian resistance represents in confronting the Israeli occupation.
A European expert in the area’ affairs said such kinds of reports and beating the drums of war in the area are a political cover to prepare the platforms for compromise and negotiations, which will join Washington, Damascus and Tehran. Therefore, despite putting the worst possibilities into consideration, the coming months may witness surprises that may drop the phantom of war, especially after the Congress’s committees and general organization start the round of accountability with Bush’s administration on the failure in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An Event and a Lebanese Trend
The contradictory information about the reality of the Saudi stand and Representative Saad Hariri’s stand towards Berri’s initiative raise doubts on the real chances to reach a compromise on the presidential merit. The current information about the Saudi side and the circles of the Future Bloc leader refer to two possibilities: either reaching an understanding on the two thirds quorum and opening the door of dialogue to agree on a president, or wasting time until reaching the last ten days of president Lahoud’s term in order to name a president from the loyalists in a parliamentary meeting that violates the constitutional quorum.
The anticipated meeting of March 14 coalition will be the touchstone for extracting preliminary indicators: either the result will be a clear decision by the Future Bloc to commit to the two thirds quorum or the initiative will fall through Hariri’s submission to his two allies, Jumblatt and Samir Geagea, as it happened with the Saudi initiative.
Informed political sources said that some circles in March 14 alliance try to push the discussion on Baabda and Baalbek discourse far from the principle of the quorum through discussing the characteristics of the president in order to preserve the half plus one card that Jumblatt stressed clinging to in order to keep the outlet of the ten last days of the current president’s term.
On the Saudi level, the rejection to pressurize the kingdom’s Lebanese allies suggests a reserved stand towards the initiative, while the tour of the French foreign minister Bernard Kouchner will form an important station in the communications related to the Lebanese conditions.
The opposition leaders believe that the loyalists’ connection to the US stand, which insists on keeping the option of detonation without closing the door of the communications and endeavors that the French lead, is responsible for the obstacles.
Arab and International Press
President Bashar Al-Assad has denied, in an interview with the US CBS television network, Bush’s administration’s claims that Syria allows terrorists to use his country as a bridge to enter Iraq, pointing out that he supports the US if its success in Iraq means achieving stability in this country.
Al-Bayan said in its editorial that with the approach of the international peace conference on the Middle East Israel sens an aggressive message to Syria through violating its airspace.
The Washington Post said in its editorial if President Bush is sympathetic to the Egyptian democratic activist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, he should do what proves this.
Agence France Presse said that in a new step that increases tension between the US and Iran, a US court issued a sentence that holds Tehran responsible for detonating the barracks of the US Marines in Beirut in 1983, demanding 2.65 billion dollars as a compensation for the families of 241 US soldiers, who were killed in the explosion.
Christian Science Monitor said in an article that the US boasts of spreading democracy abroad, but it rejects it if the results do not suit the US interests.
Seymour Hersch said in an interview with Rebelion that the French government has invited Secretary General of Hezbollah to a conference on the Lebanese crisis as a whole, pointing out that Hassan Nasrallah is the most influential character in the Middle East and his popularity is in its climax.
Lebanese Press
An-Nahar said patriarch Sfeir and the mufti Qabbani have warned from boycotting the presidential elections.
As-Safir said patriarch Sfeir stressed that the Vatican has its own word in Lebanon.
Al-Akhbar said Lebanon will be the center of an international meeting in New York.
Al-Hayat said that the Italian prime minister called President Bashar Al-Assad and told him that the European Union opposes excluding Syria from the international conference on peace in the Middle East.
Arab Satellite Stations’ Interviews
Al-Jazeera
Program: Special Covering
Leader of Al-Qaeda organization Ossama Bin Laden said that the US prestige was broken after the September 11 attacks and despite the power of the US, 19 youths have deflected the track of its compass.
Lebanese Television Stations’ News
Al-Manar said the positive meeting between House Speaker Berri and General Michel Aoun stressed the unity of the opposition forces while division appeared among the loyalists.
The NTV said Mi’rab started to take DNA samples for presidential candidates.
The NBN said the domestic arena in Lebanon is stagnant.
The OTV said Jumblatt’s stand is dubious while the silence of the head of the Future Bloc Saad Hariri is continuous.
The LBC said the mystery of the Israeli warplanes’ violation of the Syrian airspace is not solved yet.
The Future said the French movement has already started and Kouchner will visit Beirut at the conclusion of his Arab tour.
Television Stations’ Interviews in Lebanon
Al-Manar
Program: The Hours’ Talk
Head of the Lebanese Democratic party Talal Arsalan said if the president is chosen from March 14 alliance, he will not arrive to Baabda, pointing out that Saad Hariri is confused and is waiting for the Saudi and US stands.
***Tendencies is a daily political watch newsletter about the Near East, issued by New Orient News agency in Beirut, Lebanon. It is available on Voltairenet.org in Arabic, English and French languages. Also worth a read is Indicators, the daily Near East economic watch newsletter, available in Arabic and English.

Iran: Muscle Power vs. Brain Power
07/09/2007
Amir Taheri -AlShark Al Awasat
was born in Iran and educated in Tehran, London and Paris. Between 1980 and 1984 he was Middle East editor for the London Sunday Times. Taheri has been a contributor to the International Herald Tribune since 1980. He has also written for The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Taheri has published nine books some of which have been translated into 20 languages, and In 1988 Publishers'' Weekly in New York chose his study of Islamist terrorism, "Holy Terror", as one of The Best Books of The Year. He has been a columnist Asharq Alawsat since 1987
What are the duties of a true believer on the first night of his burial? How did Ayatollah Dast-Ghayb achieve martyrdom? What was the name of the lion who cried over Imam Hussein's martyred corpse in the desert of Karbala?
These are some of the questions that young Iranians must answer before gaining admission to higher education.
The new interview system is part of a project designed by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to "cleanse" Iranian higher education from what he regards as "the polluting influence of the Infidel".
He says he wants to create "a truly Islamic university."
One may wonder why the Islamic Republic, established 28 years ago, has not already done so.
During the past quarter of a century an estimated 10 million Iranians, including Ahmadinejad, have graduated from the nation's 170 universities and centres of higher education. Should we regard them as products of the "satanic culture of the West"?
The radical president refers to his "academic cleansing" policy as " The Second Islamic Cultural Revolution."
The first "Islamic Cultural Revolution" was launched in 1980 by Khomeini who closed all centres of higher education for two years. A committee was created to "cleanse" the universities. Its members included the current "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi, and former presidents Hashemi-Rafsanjani and Muhammad Khatami. Its secretary-general was one Abdul-Karim Sorush, subsequently recast as the" Martin Luther of Islam".
The committee purged over 6000 university professors and lecturers, virtually destroying the Iranian academia. Dozens of academics were executed as hundreds fled into exile. The committee also expelled thousands of students on charges of monarchist or Marxist tendencies. It also censored or totally re-wrote dozens of textbooks to conform to the Khomeinist ideology.
When the universities were reopened two years later, the committee tried to fill them with students and teachers sympathetic to Khomeinism. The trick was to allocate special places for members of The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and children of families believed to be loyal to the regime.
Further, it established a black list of authors and writings that has since become longer each year, reminding one of the worst days of the Inquisition in medieval Europe. The madness of censorship, supervised by the so-called Ministry of Islamic Orientation and Culture, reached a new peak this week when a new volume of Rafsanjai's memoirs was banned! The lesson is simple: if you ban someone, someone will ban you! (I must acknowledge a personal interest: my name and all my books are on the black list!) However, more than two decades of purges and "cultural cleansing" did not prevent Iranian universities from becoming major bastions of opposition to the Khomeinist ideology. Under Khatami's presidency, Iran experienced the largest and longest student revolt in its history. Khatami crushed the revolt through the IRGC with mass arrests and the expulsion of thousands of students.
Ahmadinejad launched his second "Islamic Cultural Revolution" last year by appointing a semi-literate mullah as Chancellor of Tehran University, the first time that a cleric was put in charge of the nation's oldest and largest centre of higher education.
According to Ghulam-Hussein Hadad-Adel, Speaker of the Islamic Majlis, Iran's ersatz parliament, "the enemies of Islam are targeting the universities" with a view to encouraging reform. The ruling establishment is clearly nervous about what would happen at universities when the academic year begins this month.
The purge ordered by Ahmadinejad started last July with the replacement of over 20 college deans. In almost every case, a bona fide academic was pushed out in favour of an IRGC member. According to reports, scores of professors and lecturers have been told that their services are no longer required. The purged teachers include individuals who had previously served as members of the Islamic Majlis or, in two cases, as ministers in pre-Ahmadinejad Cabinets.
At the same time, dozens of academics have been arrested, including some returning from scientific conferences abroad. Among the latter are professors Hussein Bashiriyeh, Saeed Shahandeh and Hadi Samati. An unknown number of students have been arrested throughout the country. In Tabriz, capital of the East Azerbaijan province, all seven members of the students union were picked up and taken to an unknown destination last month. The families of two of them Goshtasp Vaseqi and Muhammad Aslani claim that they may have died under torture. In Tehran over 150 student activists have been "disappeared" in recent weeks.
As part of the purge, 30 privately owned colleges have been shut and their assets seized. Thirteen others are under investigation. The moves could affect some 100,000 students whose studies will be interrupted.
Serving notice that any protest on the campus will be crushed, a special force, known as the Ashura Brigade, commanded by IRGC veteran General Qassem Kargar, has been assigned the task of "ensuring a peaceful atmosphere" at centres of higher education.
Ostensibly mandated to enforce the Islamic Dress Code, enacted in May 2006, armed guards are posted at all centres of higher education to prevent anti-regime demonstrations.
"Cleansing" the universities through expulsions and arrests may be easy for a government prepared to use force against un-armed civilians. However, when it comes to the content of education, things are not as easy as the Tehran radicals might wish.
A report prepared for Ahmadinejad claims that at least 40 per cent of the textbooks in use in Iranian universities do not conform to Khomeinist dogma. The problem for the authorities is that it has alienated the Iranian intellectual elite.
No Iranian author, academic or scientist of note would be prepared to participate in the so-called "Islamic Cultural Revolution." Efforts to find somebody to prepare a cursus on Khomeini's supposed "philosophy" have provoked only derision among intellectuals approached to assume the task. After months of efforts to prepare a special course on Ahmadnejad's denial of the Holocaust, the committee charged with the task has produced nothing but a slim pamphlet that consists almost entirely of translations from Western "negationist" writers.
Iran today is a society whose "muscle" power is at war against its "brain" power.
Hadad-Adel says the Islamic Republic must prevent "dangerous thoughts and ideas".
But, who decides what is dangerous?
In fact, the central role of the university is to allow dangerous thoughts and ideas to be expressed and measured against other thoughts and ideas. The imposition of a uniform mode of thought and prefabricated ideas is better suited to a concentration camp than a university campus.
The first "Islamic Cultural Revolution" failed to subject generations of Iranians to mass brainwashing in the name of education. The second one will also fail. One national characteristic of Iranians is curiosity, and a taste for different and dangerous thoughts and ideas.

Ynetnews/ Internal security minister announces police will deal with delegation of Druze religious figures who visited Damascus despite ban
Efrat Weiss Published: 09.08.07, 20:46 / Israel News
The members of a delegation of 330 Druze clergymen who traveled to Syria will be dealt with and charged according to Israeli law, Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter announced Saturday. The delegation includes Knesset Member Said Naffaa (Balad). "Those who travel to an enemy state should know that they will be dealt with according to Israeli law, and so will MK Naffaa and the members of the delegation," Dichter said in a statement. Problematic Pilgrimage Druze MK ignores ban, travels to Syria / Roee Nahmias MK Said Naffaa's request to conduct pilgrimage to enemy country denied by Interior Ministry, yet he and 330 Druze religious figures ignore ruling. MK Effie Eitam: 'Naffaa following in Bishara's footsteps' The delegation left for Syria Thursday morning despite the Interior Ministry's decision to deny their applications to do so. The group was invited to several formal receptions in Syria and participated in religious ceremonies.
MK Naffaa filed a request with Interior Affairs Minister Meir Sheetrit asking him to allow Druze followers to travel to the tomb of Habil in Zabadani, located some 30 miles west of Damascus. Israel has allowed Druze to perform the pilgrimage to the Habil shrine since 1988. Habil is the Arab name for Abel, Cain's brother. The two sons of Adam and Eve are mentioned, though not by these names, in the Quran.Naffaa's office told Ynet the purpose of the visit was to cultivate the relations between the Druze in Syria and those in Israel. Sheetrit denied the request. Naffaa said in response that Sheetrit had said that officials on all levels refuse to allow the clergymen to visit Syria and Lebanon. MK Effie Eitam (National Union-National Religious Party) addressed the report and said Naffaa was "following in the footsteps of Bishara, who started out by visiting capital cities of nations and ended with him acting as an agent of the enemy." Eitam said he expected the security establishment to determine what Naffaa's dealings in Damascus were. Eitam said the attorney general was obligated to warn Naffaa in advance that traveling to an enemy country illegally would lead to criminal charges being filed against him upon his return.