LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
December 09/09
Bible Reading of the day
Luke 11/27-32: "It came to
pass, as he said these things, a certain woman out of the multitude lifted up
her voice, and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts
which nursed you!” 11:28 But he said, “On the contrary, blessed are those who
hear the word of God, and keep it.” 11:29 When the multitudes were gathering
together to him, he began to say, “This is an evil generation. It seeks after a
sign. No sign will be given to it but the sign of Jonah, the prophet. 11:30 For
even as Jonah became a sign to the Ninevites, so will also the Son of Man be to
this generation. 11:31 The Queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with
the men of this generation, and will condemn them: for she came from the ends of
the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and behold, one greater than Solomon is
here. 11:32 The men of Nineveh will stand up in the judgment with this
generation, and will condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonah,
and behold, one greater than Jonah is here."
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Lebanese civil society group asks
MPs not to legitimize Hezbollah’s arms/Louisa Ajami and Manal Sarrouf/, December
8, 2009
For Hezbollah, Lebanon is an
afterthought/By: Tony Badran/Now Lebanon/December 8, 2009
Taliban's Counter Strategy is based on declared US
Strategy/By
Walid Phares/December
08/09
Where Is the OIC When
Mosques Are Attacked?/by
Walid Phares/December
08/09
Nasrallah: Prime Minister of
Lebanon/By: Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/December 08/09
Iran…and political
hallucination/Tariq Alhomayed/December
08/09
Latest
News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for December 08/09
Sfeir Rejects 'Resistance
Army'/Naharnet
Netanyahu: Syria willing to renew talks without
conditions/Ha'aretz
LEBANON: Government policy statement on
Hezbollah's arms irks Washington/Los
Angeles Times
Ghanem urges Resistance to not
compete with state/Now Lebanon/Now Lebanon
Makari says Article 6 hinders state
institutions/Now Lebanon/Now Lebanon
Aoun: Education, Fighting
Corruption Should Come Before Abolishment of Confessionalism/Naharnet
Confidence Vote Debate
Starts, Hariri: Cabinet Faces Test of People's Trust/Naharnet
Resentment over Syrian
Request to Summon Lebanese Officials for Questioning/Naharnet
Berri: Resistance Not Subject to
Bargaining/Naharnet
Report: Israel Has Timetable for
Ghajar Pullout, Last Stage in January/Naharnet
Jumblat: Formation of a Senate
Could be Part of Berri's Proposal/Naharnet
Experts: 'Sleeper Cells' in
Palestinian Camps in Lebanon/Naharnet
Lebanese Man Accused of Buying Arms
for Hizbullah to be Detained in the U.S./Naharnet
Hariri: Israeli Threats Boost Our
National Unity/Naharnet
Abbas from Baabda: Reports About
Issuing Passports to Palestinians Not True/Naharnet
Phalange Party Rejects Duality of
Arms, Authority in Ministerial Policy Statement/Naharnet
Quarrel Between Hizbullah Members,
UNIFIL in Marjeyoun/Naharnet
Six Bodies Found in Nahr
Al-Bared Refugee Camp/Naharnet
US 'seriously concerned' about Hezbollah/UPI.com
Suspected Lebanese Arms Dealer Agrees To Detention/KDKA
IDF Intel: Hezbollah rockets deployed south of
Litani River/Ynetnews /Daily Star
Four
bodies found in Nahr al-Bared camp/AFP
Workshop discusses obstacles facing working women/Daily
Star
Italy
donates over $7 million in development aid/Daily
Star
AUB
celebrates diversity on Founders Day/Daily
Star
Arrest warrants issued for Fatah al-Islam suspects/Daily
Star
Five
Bekaa men jailed for drug trafficking/Daily
Star
Arab
educators call for greater collaboration/Daily
Star
English language gaining ground in region/Daily
Star
Palestinian refugees surviving, not living/AFP
Rights group: End abuse of stateless individuals/Daily
Star
Municipal polls must be held on time - LADE/Daily
Star
Lebanon's Solidere unit eyes Saudi Arabia, Montenegro/Daily
Star
Telecommuting good for both employees and employers: poll/Daily
Star
Abbas
urges peace in Sleiman talks, offers camps cooperation/Daily
Star
Netanyahu: Hizbullah is Lebanon's real army/Daily
Star
Finance minister holds talks on traffic congestion/Daily
Star
Syrian court summons local officials in Sayyed case/Daily
Star
Jumblatt urges action on climate change/Daily
Star
MPs
set for hot debate on Cabinet statement/Daily
Star
Sfeir Rejects 'Resistance Army'
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Tuesday that he rejects a
"resistance army that would one day use its weapons against the enemy and
another day domestically."
Sfeir made his remark before heading to Baabda Palace for talks with President
Michel Suleiman. Beirut, 08 Dec 09, 12:03
Ghanem urges Resistance to not compete with state
Now Lebanon/December 8, 2009 /MP Robert Ghanem addressed deputies during
Tuesday’s parliamentary session in Nejmeh Square, stressing that the Resistance
is noble if it abides to the “concept of the state,” with which it does not
compete. He explained that the state has its role, power, and is the primary
entity. “We do not accept making compromises,” he added. He also said that
“several alarming events” had taken place prior to the cabinet formation and
that eliminating political sectarianism should be a result, not a goal. “We need
to start implementing administrative decentralization and a fair electoral law.
That is how we eliminate political sectarianism,” he said. He urged fighting
corruption, dealing with traffic problems, protecting the environment as well as
giving importance to education “to strengthen the culture of dialogue.”“I grant
my vote of confidence to the cabinet, and I hope it will be able to confront
challenges and have successful achievements,” he concluded.-NOW Lebanon
Phalange Party Rejects Duality of Arms, Authority in
Ministerial Policy Statement
Naharnet/Phalange Party on Monday reiterated its objection on the sixth article
of the ministerial Policy Statement "despite full support for the government and
keenness on ministerial solidarity."After its joint Political Bureau-Central
Council monthly meeting under party leader Amin Gemayel, the party stressed that
its stance on the ministerial Policy Statement is "clear and direct, it objects
on the sixth article of the statement -- Hizbullah's arms article -- because in
principle it contradicts with all the goals and constants Phalange Party is
working for. It also contradicts with all of what the Cedar Revolution called
for in terms of national sovereignty." "This article torpedoes the principle of
arms exclusivity to the Lebanese State and its extending of sovereignty on all
its territories. It also contradicts with international resolutions and the
compliances of sovereignty, border demarcation, and the truce agreement (with
Israel)," added the statement of Phalange Party. The party stressed that it will
not hesitate to take the proper stance on each issue separately inside the
cabinet according to its beliefs, principles, and constants. On the other hand,
the party hailed the "reconciliations and dialogue meetings between leaders from
all sides." Beirut, 07 Dec 09, 21:21
Lebanese Man Accused of Buying Arms for Hizbullah to be Detained in the U.S.
Naharnet/A "terror" suspect won't fight detention on charges he came to
Philadelphia to try to steer a huge cache of missiles and machine guns to his
native Lebanon, in what proved to be an undercover sting. Dani Nemr Tarraf hoped
to ship anti-aircraft missiles, 10,000 machine guns, night-vision equipment and
other weapons to Lebanon via Iran or Syria, according to court documents. In
statements after his arrest, the muscular Tarraf admitted to membership in
Hizbullah and said he has received military training from the group, according
to a detention memo.
"As the sheer quantity would indicate, these (weapons) are not for target
practice," Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Miller argued at Monday's detention
hearing. He said they were destined for the hands of thugs and killers. Tarraf,
38, is charged with violating arms-control laws, conspiring to acquire
anti-aircraft missiles, passport fraud and other counts. He answered questions
through an Arabic interpreter. U.S. Magistrate Henry Perkin ordered detention,
finding him both a danger and a flight risk. Tarraf is described as a German
citizen with homes in Lebanon and Slovakia and extensive business dealings in
China and Lebanon. He claimed last year to have 130 people working for him, the
government said. Tarraf has pleaded not guilty. Defense lawyer Marc Neff said
his client understands the seriousness of the case. The several-defendant plot
initially involved the transport of stolen cell phones, laptops and video games,
before it evolved through Tarraf into an arms-smuggling operation, the November
indictment charged. According to court documents, Tarraf paid about $20,000 cash
to an undercover officer in July as a deposit on machine guns and shoulder-fired
Stinger missiles and traveled to Philadelphia to inspect the merchandise last
month. Tarraf wanted missiles that could "take down an F-16," according to an
affidavit.(AP) Beirut, 08 Dec 09, 10:11
Hariri: Israeli Threats Boost Our National Unity
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri on Monday addressed those who doubt the
chances of Lebanon to prosper in shadow of Israeli threats by saying: "The
enemy's threats against our country are real and clear, but that boosts our
national unity. National unity boosts stability, and stability boosts
productivity and achievements." Hariri was speaking at a dinner thrown in his
honor by the economic committees in BIEL. "I tell you, and I tell every Lebanese
man and woman: We are standing at the gate of a real, concrete, and promising
opportunity which we will not be forgiven by our children and grandchildren if
we lose it. An opportunity that if we seize is itself the opportunity that can
compensate the entire citizen's lost chances," added Hariri. Hariri stressed
that Lebanon did not only avoid the world economical crisis, but also managed to
develop the economy in its shadow.
"This internal political opportunity is accompanied by a regional opportunity
reflected in the Arab rapprochement and the rebuilding of the Arab interests
system which the Lebanese State will always be, in all its ingredients and
institutions, an essential part of it -- considering that the Lebanese people
are the pioneers of modern Arabism, just like Arabism is a shield that has
protected Lebanon in face of all threats," added Hariri. Beirut, 07 Dec 09,
22:45
Experts: 'Sleeper Cells' in Palestinian Camps in Lebanon
Naharnet/Despite the relative calm of Lebanon's Palestinian refugee camps in
recent months, experts warn that Islamist groups are still operating within and
could strike at any time.
At Ain al-Hilweh, the largest of Lebanon's 12 camps, which is known to harbor
extremists and fugitives, small sleeper cells have kept a low profile but could
mobilize quickly depending on developments, they say. "In theory, this is the
sort of environment al-Qaida, for example, generally chooses for its sleeper
cells, which could be used at any time," said Hazem al-Amin, a journalist and
expert on regional Islamist groups. "And that is not a reassuring thought. It
might not happen immediately, but it is always a possibility." His comments came
as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas discussed the plight of the refugees with
Lebanese officials on Monday. The spread of Islamist groups in the camps was
brought starkly into focus in 2007 when Fatah al-Islam, an obscure
al-Qaida-inspired militia, fought fierce battles with the Lebanese army at Nahr
al-Bared camp in northern Lebanon.
The fighting killed 400 people, including 168 soldiers, and displaced some
30,000 refugees from the camp, which was leveled in the fighting.
There were widespread fears at the time that Ain al-Hilweh, near the southern
coastal town of Sidon and home to about 70,000 refugees, would be the next front
for the Islamists.
Reports say that Abdul Rahman Awad, dubbed the "Prince of Fatah al-Islam," is
holed up in the camp despite army calls to hand him over. The group has been
linked to deadly bombings targeting U.N. peacekeepers in the south and civilian
buses. By long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the camps,
leaving security inside to the Palestinians.
At Ain al-Hilweh, the main Palestinian factions moved quickly to try to contain
the situation following the Nahr al-Bared battles and drew up a pact with the
army to preserve the calm. But parts of the camp where radical factions are
thought to be based remain off-limits to outsiders.
Sahar Atrache, an analyst with the Brussels-based International Crisis Group,
said the camps, notably Ain al-Hilweh, are fertile ground for extremism.
"It's a little prison: the conditions are deplorable and there are no prospects
for the inhabitants," Atrache told AFP. "And these are the grounds where jihadis
find their young recruits."
"And I'm not talking about the conventional Islamic Jihad and Hamas, but groups
who follow the so-called global jihad."
Atrache and others say successive Lebanese governments are largely to blame for
the miserable conditions of the refugees who are denied basic human rights. The
new cabinet headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri has acknowledged the need to
address the issue, and included it in its policy statement.
Mounir Maqdah, who commands the main police force in Ain al-Hilweh, said he was
well aware of the danger of extremist groups exploiting the sense of
hopelessness among the younger refugees. "We do realize that there are groups
who could take advantage of the situation of our youth," he said. But Maqdah and
others downplayed concerns that groups close to al-Qaida could be taking root
inside the camp. "It is true there is a wave of Islamism which is affecting the
whole world," said Sheikh Jamal Khattab, a Sunni cleric at Ain al-Hilweh who
heads the Haraka Islamiyya Mujahida and has allegedly recruited fighters for
al-Qaida in Iraq. "But if there were really any groups like al-Qaida in Ain al-Hilweh,
Lebanon today would be another Iraq."Still, experts say it could be just a
matter of time before the next bout of violence. "Like any problem, you can
ignore it, but it could explode at any moment," warned Atrache. "The way the
Lebanese are dealing with it, it's ignoring the real problem."(AFP) Beirut, 08
Dec 09, 10:39
Report: Israel Has Timetable for Ghajar Pullout, Last Stage
in January
Naharnet/Israel has told the UNIFIL leadership that it would withdraw from the
northern part of the village of Ghajar in several stages, al-Akhbar daily quoted
official Lebanese sources as saying Tuesday. The sources also told the newspaper
that Israel agreed in an oral message to UNIFIL to hand over authority to U.N.
peacekeepers in the Lebanese side of Ghajar in separate stages pending full
pullout mid January. Israel Radio said on Monday that the Jewish state approved
UNIFIL's proposal that suggests withdrawing Israeli forces from the northern
part of Ghajar village and give authority there to UNIFIL troops.The radio also
said that Terje Roed-Larsen, the U.N. secretary-general's special representative
for the implementation of Security Council Resolution 1559, met with Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak. He reportedly
arrived in Israel on Friday and also met twice with President Shimon Peres.
Earlier, Israel's Channel 2 reported that the Israeli foreign ministry's
director-general, Yossi Gal, met late last week with UNIFIL commander Maj.-Gen.
Claudio Graziano to discuss the terms of a possible Israeli withdrawal from the
northern part of Ghajar. Beirut, 08 Dec 09, 09:07
Resentment over Syrian Request to Summon Lebanese Officials for Questioning
Naharnet/The issue of Syrian warrants demanding that a number of Lebanese
political, judicial and security officials as well as journalists appear in a
Damascus court to be questioned over a lawsuit filed by Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed
has stirred up unfriendly feelings among Lebanese political circles while
judicial authorities kept silent. The daily An-Nahar on Tuesday said the issue
is being dealt at the "highest level" as Syria was considering revoking the
warrants. Lebanese political sources close to Damascus told the daily that these
warrants had "no value," adding that Syria will not allow any move to hamper the
visit of Prime Minister Saad Hariri to the Syrian capital. Justice Minister
Ibrahim Najjar, who refused to comment of the issue, denied his Ministry had
received any memorandum or warrant from the Syrian judiciary. Judicial sources,
however, confirmed that the Prosecutor General office had received a memorandum
from the Syrian judiciary. State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza also declined to
comment. "I have no comment and I will not speak about this issue at all," Mirza
told pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. While An-Nahar pointed that the Lebanese judiciary
had received the warrants from the Syrian judiciary under a 1951 agreement
signed by Lebanon and Syria, sources at the Lebanese justice ministry criticized
the "method of communication" with the Lebanese judiciary. The issue also drew
reaction from the majority March 14 coalition. "What is Syria's benefit from
hindering Hariri's visit by targeting advisers and other officials close to
him?" one Majority source asked. Lebanon First bloc member Nuhad Mashnouq said
the "least we can say about this is that the timing of the warrants was
inappropriate both politically and diplomatically and is not in harmony with the
spirit of understanding between Syria and Saudi Arabia." Beirut, 08 Dec 09,
08:11
Berri: Resistance Not Subject to Bargaining
Naharnet/Speaker Nabih Berri said he was committed to the offer which calls for
setting up a committee to abolish political sectarianism. In remarks published
Tuesday by the daily As-Safir, Berri stressed that the resistance issue was not
a subject for bargaining. "I will not back down on this demand because the issue
is not only linked to the future of Lebanon but to its resurrection," Berri
thought. He refused to link the issue of abolishing political sectarianism to
create a kind of "balance" with resistance weapons, stressing that
"Let it be known that the resistance is a non-negotiable issue for me," Berri
said. The resistance, he added, is a "strategic choice that is not subject to
bargaining." Beirut, 08 Dec 09, 09:33
Aoun: Education, Fighting Corruption Should Come Before Abolishment of
Confessionalism
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun said Tuesday that
abolishment of confessionalism in politics could be reached through an
educational program for youth and fighting corruption. Giving the example of
Turkey, Aoun said in his statement during a vote of confidence debate in
parliament that a lot of steps should be taken before abolishing confessionalism.
"Sectarianism doesn't produce corruption. But corruption encourages
sectarianism," he told MPs and members of cabinet. Aoun, who was the first to
speak in parliament after PM Saad Hariri, also said Lebanon will not be shaken
on the security level because it has immunity. Following his statement, Speaker
Nabih Berri snapped back at Aoun saying he hasn't called for abolishment of
sectarianism. "I called for the formation of the national committee tasked with
studying abolishment of confessionalism," Berri said. Berri's latest proposal
has stirred debate in the country with Christian parties the most critical of
abolishment of sectarianism. Beirut, 08 Dec 09, 12:54
Jumblat: Formation of a Senate Could be Part of Berri's Proposal
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat has said Speaker Nabih
Berri most probably had in mind the formation of a senate when he proposed
abolishing confessionalism in politics. "Part of Speaker Berri's proposal could
have been the formation of the senate that represents all sects equally and
serves the interests of confessions and religions," Jumblat told al-Jazeera
satellite TV network on Monday. "There would be a non-confessional parliament"
in case the senate was formed, the PSP leader said in response to a question
about the obsessions of Christians on Berri's proposal. He said his father Kamal
Jumblat tried for 25 years to abolish sectarianism in politics. But he failed
because confessional forces and cultural and religious interests are more
powerful than civil society in Lebanon. Jumblat the father also failed because
he faced the obstacle of the Arab world which is based on religious and
sectarian regimes, the MP told al-Jazeera. "The Arab and Islamic worlds did not
evolve. The West evolved hundreds of years ago after wars, cultural revolutions
and uprisings until religion was separated from the state," the Druze leader
said. "Although our system calls for equality among all, in reality there is
distinction between sects dividing the Lebanese between first class and second
class" citizens, Jumblat said in response to a question. Beirut, 08 Dec 09,
08:14
Confidence Vote Debate Starts, Hariri: Cabinet Faces Test of People's Trust
Naharnet/Lebanon's debate on a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Saad Hariri
and his 30-member Cabinet started in Parliament on Tuesday. "Cabinet faces a
test of people's trust," said Hariri prior to reading the Cabinet policy
statement. He said "success cannot only be achieved through a coalition
government, but through a government of principles and goals." Hariri stressed
the "unity and authority of the state as well as the sole authority on all
issues related to the country's general policy." The policy statement said the
government is "determined to prevent all forms of tampering with civil peace and
security," emphasizing that military and security decisions will solely remain
in the hands of the state. On the issue of resistance and arms, the statement
said the government affirms the right of Lebanon – its people, army and
resistance -- to "liberate or recover" Shabaa Farms, Kfar Shouba Hills and the
Lebanese part of the border town of Ghajar; to defend Lebanon against any
aggression and to uphold Lebanon's right to water through legitimate means
available.
It said the government is committed to U.N. Resolution 1701 and is determined to
agree to a unified position on a comprehensive national defense strategy to
safeguard Lebanon.
He said the government looks forward to seeing improvement in "brotherly"
relations between Lebanon and Syria. The statement called for the implementation
of decisions adopted by Lebanese parties during National Dialogue Committee
meetings concerning the handover of weapons in Palestinian refugee camps.
Sixty-five lawmakers will get a chance to speak out during the three-day vote of
confidence process. The vote, due Thursday, will decide the fate of
Hizbullah arms in Hariri's government. Hariri's Cabinet is likely to win a
landslide parliamentary vote of confidence. Beirut, 08 Dec 09, 11:08
Where Is the OIC When Mosques Are Attacked?
by Walid Phares
12/08/2009
According to the Associated Press, Jihadi terrorists "stormed a mosque in
Rawalpindi, killing at least 36 worshippers, including six military officers,
during Friday prayers as they sprayed gunfire and threw grenades before blowing
themselves up," Pakistani officials said. A military statement said four
attackers hurled grenades and then opened fire as they rushed toward the mosque,
located on Parade Lane in a military residential colony, just a few miles from
the capital. Two Jihadists then blew themselves up inside, while the other two
terrorists were killed in an exchange of gunfire. Seventeen children and 10
civilians were killed. The dead included a major general, a brigadier, two
lieutenant colonels, one major and a retired major as well as three regular
soldiers, military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. Witnesses said two of
the militants entered the mosque, which had up to 200 worshippers inside, while
others ran into buildings nearby.
Per the AP, "Nasir Ali Sheikh saw the attackers at the mosque as he walked there
to pray. He said they were dressed in traditional Pakistani clothing of loose
pants and a long tunic and carried hand grenades, automatic weapons and
ammunition belts slung around their shoulders. "They were killing people like
animals," he said. "I couldn't understand what was happening." TV footage showed
that the mosque's walls and prayer mats were covered in blood and shattered
glass lined the floor.
What horrifies observers around the world is the unethical Jihadi behavior in
terror operations. The sheer, open and cold blood massacring of children, women,
elderly and civilians in general, even when they coin these horrors as
"martyrdom operations" (amalyyat istishadiyya), they qualify unarguably as war
crimes. The Jihadi Salafists have been perpetrating these types of international
law breaches since the early 1990s in Algeria, where more than a hundred
thousand civilians, mostly women, children, older persons and cultural
personalities have been butchered for ten years. Salafi Jihadism has been among
the most barbaric levels of violence produced by radical ideologies in the
modern history of the Arab and Muslim world. Intellectuals and politicians in
the region have long ago indicted this "movement" as catastrophic. Moderate
Iraqi, Jordanian, Bahraini, Kuwaiti, Pakistani, Lebanese and Egyptian writers
and commentators have appeared on air and wrote often about the necessity for
their governments to forcefully condemn not only the perpetrators but also the
ideology and the doctrines allowing such mayhem.
But what surprises me and many other observers is the heavy silence of the
largest club of governments and regimes in the world, just below the United
Nations: The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). With a membership
exceeding 50 countries and a dizzying economic power embodied by many of its oil
producing regimes, the OIC should have been at the forefront of fighting the
Salafi Jihadist method. Since the massacres in Algeria in the 1990s, the OIC has
refrained from expressly denouncing the movement and ideology behind these
perpetrators. If we put aside the Jihadist massacres of 9/11, Madrid, London,
Beslan, Mumbai and those perpetrated in southern Sudan, arguing that these
societies are non Muslim (not that this should justify the bloodshed) but even
when the al Queda, Taliban and other Salafist terror groups had targeted Muslim
societies in Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Indonesia, and Pakistan,
still the alleged representative of the one billion Muslims dodged the ideology
behind the murder of Muslim women, children and elderly. The question is why?
The OIC was overwhelmingly active to get a vote on the so-called "defamation of
religion" at the United Nations but ran away from indicting the doctrine that
kills people of its own religion. One would at least expect that the OIC would
narrow its indictment of Jihadism to focus on what many Arab Muslim governments
coin as "Takfirism," that is the so-called hot headed fringe within the Islamist
web. But that never happened; why not?
Then Mosques have been attacked by Jihadi terrorists, while shouting "Allahu
Akbar," in Gaza, Iraq, Afghanistan and now in Pakistan. Where on earth is the
OIC when the very worship places it is supposed to protect are targeted by
militants claiming "Jihad." We've seen the OIC bureaucracy thoroughly
investigate any possible criticism of the ideology of Jihadism coining it "Islamophobia"
while the Jihadists murder Muslims inside their own Mosques. The OIC, whose
member states are mostly authoritarians, is busy fighting the Swiss democratic
referendum on the shape of the Minarets in the Alps, while Mosques are ravaged
in one of the most populated Muslim countries in the world: Pakistan. Something
is utterly wrong here.
OIC bureaucrats must first of all rush to the defense of the children and women
executed by the Jihadists inside the Masajid, Shia or Sunni, Pakistani or Arab,
and openly condemn the savage behavior of those who are claiming themselves as
the soldiers of the new Jihad. In refraining from coming to the rescue of their
own populations and civil societies -- including their own houses of worship --
these bureaucrats would be sending a message to a billion people that
Petrodollars are protecting the murderous ideologies instead of protecting
innocent civilians.
---------------------------------------
Dr. Phares is the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future
Jihad and a senior fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies. For
more, visit www.walidphares.com .
Taliban's Counter Strategy is based on declared US Strategy
By Walid Phares
Taliban waiting for 2012?
Now that we know the administration’s new strategy for Afghanistan, what is the
Taliban strategy against the United States?
Such a question is warranted to be able to project the clash between the two
strategies and assess the accuracy of present U.S. policies in the confrontation
with the forces it is fighting against in that part of the world.
So, how would the Taliban/al-Qaida war room counter NATO and the Afghan
Government based on the Obama Administration's battle plan?
Strategic Perceptions
The jihadi war room is now aware that the administration has narrowed its scope
to defeat the so-called al-Qaida organization while limiting its goal to
depriving the Taliban from achieving full victory, i.e. depriving them "from the
momentum." In strategic wording this means that the administration won’t give
the time and the means, let alone the necessary long term commitment to fully
defeat the Taliban as a militia and militant network.
The jihadist strategists now understand that Washington’s advisers still
recommend talking to the Taliban, the entire Taliban, but only after the latter
would feel weak and pushed back enough to seek such talks. Underneath this
perception, the Salafi Islamists’ analysts realize that present American
analysis concludes that al-Qaida and the Taliban are two different things, and
that it is possible to defeat the first and eventually engage the second.
Such a jihadist understanding of U.S. defective perceptions will give the
Taliban and al-Qaida a first advantage: knowing that your enemy, the United
States, isn’t seeing you as you really are.
Strategic Engagement
The US has reconfirmed that the goal of the mission in Afghanistan is to destroy
al-Qaida, train the Afghan armed forces but not to engage in nation-building.
Unlike previous American commitments, which weren’t very successful anyway, the
current strategy officially ignores the ideological battle.
Hence the Taliban understands that their lifeline to further recruitment based
on madrassas graduations is wide open. Washington’s efforts and dollars won’t
touch the ideological factory of jihadism, which is the strategic depth of the
Taliban and al-Qaida.
Hence, the jihadi network in Afghanistan will continue and further develop its
indoctrination structures, untouched and un-bothered by American military
escalation. The Marines and other NATO allies will be fighting today’s Taliban,
while tomorrow’s jihadists will be receiving their instruction in full
tranquility.
By the time the US deadline to withdraw would be reached, in 2011, 2012, or even
beyond, the future forces of the enemy will be ready to be deployed. One wave of
terrorists will be weakened by the action of the U.S. and NATO armed forces,
while the next wave will be prepared to take over later.
Deadly Deadline
The administration’s plan included a timeline for withdrawal from the central
Asian country (although reinterpreted as beginning of withdrawal). Basing their
assessment on the notion of “no open ended engagement,” the shapers of the new
Afghanistan strategy have told the enemy’s war room on camera that America’s
time in Afghanistan is until 2013 maximum, after which it will be Taliban time
again.
As many analysts have concluded, all the jihadists war planners have to do is to
wait out the hurricane of escalation. The deadly deadline proposed in the
strategy has no precedent in the history of confrontation with totalitarian
forces. The Taliban waited out eight years, what are two, three or eight more
years, if the U.S.-led coalition's action is not qualitatively (not just
quantitatively) different?
A Surge to Exit
As presented to the Afghan people, the administration's new plan for the
battlefield is seen as a last surge before the general exit of the country. The
Taliban’s war room has understood the equation. Thirty thousand more U.S. troops
will deploy with their heavy equipment, backed by another 5,000 to 10,000 allied
forces. Offensives will take place in Helmund and other areas. Special forces
will move to multiple places and shelling will harass the Islamist militias as
long as two years or more.
The Taliban will incur losses and al-Qaida's operatives will be put under
heavier pressure: All that is noted in Mullah Umar’s book and saved on
Zawahiri’s laptop. Then what?
Then the time for exit is up and U.S and NATO forces begin their withdrawal.
When that happens, the surviving Taliban, plus the new wave just graduating from
madrassas, or the jihadi volunteers sent from the four corners of the virtual
“Caliphate” will have a choice to make: Either they will accept the U.S.
negotiators' offer to join the Afghan government or — depending on their
assessment then — will reject the offer and shell the "infidel troops" as they
pull out.
In a nutshell, the new strategy is convenient to that Taliban war room: They now
can figure it all out until the Mayan year of 2012 — and way beyond.
All that it takes for democracies to offer the totalitarians victories is to not
understand the latter’s long-term goals. And we’ve just done that, so far.
*********
Dr. Walid Phares is director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation
for Defense of Democracies and author of "The Confrontation: Winning the War
against Future Jihad."
December 7, 2009
Civil society group asks MPs not to legitimize Hezbollah’s arms
Louisa Ajami and Manal Sarrouf, December 8, 2009
Now Lebanon/
A group of protestors calling themselves al-Multazimoun, or the Committed,
gathered in Riad al-Solh Square on Tuesday to express their concerns about
“legitimizing weapons outside State control,” saying that Hezbollah’s arsenal
“threatens civil peace and national unity.”
The protest comes as Lebanese MPs gathered in Nejmeh Square in downtown Beirut
for the first of three days of parliamentary sessions to discuss the
recently-drafted Ministerial Statement and eventually give the cabinet a vote of
confidence. The most disputed item of the Ministerial Statement is Article 6,
which pertains to Hezbollah’s arsenal and the right of the Lebanese Resistance
to exist. A group of Christian March 14 ministers already expressed their
reservations on the article, but allowed the statement to be drafted
nonetheless.
Multazimoun’s manifesto, which members handed out to the press during the
protest, described the group, formed in February 2009, as a non-sectarian and
politically unaffiliated gathering whose goal is to “defend the Lebanese
people’s freedom and dignity” and which is “committed to the principles of the
Cedar Revolution, to Lebanon’s sovereignty and independence.”
“We only have one objective,” Multazimoun General Coordinator Najib Salim Zouein
told NOW, “supporting the establishment of the State, and we as part of the
civil society will take action against anything that obstructs the process.”
“As the civil society we have a voice,” Dina Lteif, a Multazimoun member, told
NOW. “We the people are the source of power. We send a message to all MPs,
especially the majority deputies, who promised us we would embrace the State,
that we are afraid of illegitimate weapons. The [opposition] is trying to
legitimize its weapons by using vague language in the Ministerial Statement.”
Kataeb MP Sami Gemayel feels the same. He stopped by the demonstration to greet
protestors before heading to the parliament building. “I promise that we will do
all that we can to confront the legitimization of Hezbollah’s weapons and to
forbid the State from violating the constitution and from not committing to the
people’s will,” he told NOW.
When NOW asked Gemayel what his plan was to address the issue of Hezbollah’s
arms during the upcoming parliamentary sessions, he said only that he and his
fellow Kataeb MPs “will do all that we can.”
“We are happy that someone is taking action and letting the truth be told,” he
told the protestors. “It is our duty to support anyone who is telling the truth,
especially on such an important issue, which will determine the Lebanese’s
future for the coming years.”
“What happened with the Ministerial Statement is abnormal and unacceptable,”
Gemayel added.
“On June 7 we voted for a movement that made concessions we do not support,”
Zouein said. “The first concession was reelecting Speaker Nabih Berri. The
second was forming this cabinet, which does not reflect the election’s results.
It was formed under pressure of [the opposition’s] weapons.”
“We accepted the national-unity cabinet, but we cannot accept MPs legitimizing
weapons outside State control. We urge MPs not to grant the government the vote
of confidence because we did not give them our vote to do so.” But despite the
protestors’ cries to block the passage of the Ministerial Statement, only three
deputies – National Liberal Party leader MP Dori Chamoun, Zahle MP Nicolas
Fattouch and Lebanon First bloc MP Amin Wehbe – have said they will not support
it and will not give the cabinet their votes of confidence.
Accordingly, demonstrators were not very optimistic. A March 14 member who
attended the protest but preferred not to give his name said that while he
thinks that the gathering will not have an impact on the parliament’s decision,
the aim was to “keep the issue of Hezbollah’s weapons in the spotlight.”
“The cabinet gave up its right to make war-and-peace decisions” with its passage
of the Ministerial Statement “and it legitimized Hezbollah’s weapons, which is
not normal [internationally],” he said. Najwa al-Khazen, who was at the
demonstration but is not a Multazimoun member, concurred. “We only want the
State alone to possess weapons; no other country in the world has illegitimate
weapons,” she told NOW.
Multazimoun member Dina Lteif, addressing Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan
Nasrallah, said, “We want the liberation of occupied land more than you, but by
peaceful and civilized means. And we want a stronger state than the one you
want, which can only be built through unity and under the national army and
State institutions’ authority.”
For Hezbollah, Lebanon is an afterthought
Tony Badran, December 8, 2009
Now Lebanon/Two things were unsurprising about Hezbollah’s political document,
unveiled on November 30 by the party’s secretary general, Hassan Nasrallah,
namely its content and characterization in the media. The document reaffirmed
the party’s determination to defend its parallel state while simultaneously
forcing its priorities on Lebanon’s state and society, without abandoning its
ideological principles or strategic objectives.
A closer look at the document shows that what has been hailed as a “new”
platform is in fact a point-by-point expansion of the principles laid out in
Hezbollah’s founding document, the so-called Open Letter, of 1985. And what is
not explicitly laid out in the document, Nasrallah clarified in his press
conference, as did other Hezbollah officials in media outlets.
First and foremost, the party remains as determined as ever to safeguard its
autonomous armed status in an open-ended way, reaffirming the “duality” between
itself on the one hand and the rest of Lebanon on the other. In fact, as
Nasrallah himself remarked to the assembled journalists, the “Resistance” (by
which he meant Hezbollah’s autonomous armed status), “still holds first place.”
The document’s section on Lebanon outlines Hezbollah’s conception of the country
as being directly intertwined, both thematically and structurally, with the
Resistance. In other words, there is no Lebanon without the Resistance. As
Nasrallah’s deputy, Naim Qassem, put it in 2007, Hezbollah’s objective is to
integrate the rest of society into the Resistance, not vice versa, as some are
claiming.
A key statement in that regard was the section on the so-called “defense
strategy” for Lebanon. Here Nasrallah reiterated Hezbollah’s long-held position
on a “twinning” of a “popular resistance” with a “nationalist army,” in a
“complementary” security regime. In that perilous scheme, the Lebanese state and
its official decision-making institutions and processes are completely omitted.
Nor was it surprising that the document failed to mention United Nations
Security Council Resolution 1701 as well as the Taif Accord – two key documents
today affecting the Lebanese polity.
Nasrallah’s aims more closely resemble what he imposed through the disastrous
April Understanding of 1996. In a book he authored in 2002 titled “Hezbollah:
The Program, the Experience, the Future”, Naim Qassem described the
understanding as having been “tailored to the demands of the Resistance,”
especially in how it bestowed “legitimacy on the Resistance.” The April
Understanding, in Hezbollah’s eyes, enshrined in writing its operational
autonomy vis-à-vis an emasculated Lebanese state, under the direct supervision
of Iran and Syria.
Hezbollah and its regional patrons have been consistently striving to empty
Resolution 1701 of its substance in order to return to the framework of the
April Understanding. It is safe to assume that this is the reading that
Nasrallah wants to impose on the new Lebanese government as well. Not only did
he time the unveiling of Hezbollah’s document to coincide with the agreement on
the ministerial statement, the terminology he used was intended to codify
Hezbollah’s interpretation of that statement. Hence Nasrallah’s repetition of
the formula mentioning “the Resistance, a loyal people, and the nationalist
army” echoing that of the cabinet statement that Hezbollah imposed by force
after the 2008 Doha Accord.
Meanwhile, some of those who commented on the party document argued that it
somehow represented a departure from the old platform, instead highlighting
Hezbollah’s “evolution” toward “Lebanonization.” This interpretation displays a
woeful misunderstanding of what Hezbollah is about. One tenet of this approach
is that the party, as Augustus Richard Norton once put it, is “preparing for
life after the Resistance.”
Norton’s theory is wrong. As the new document shows, Hezbollah’s conceptual
universe is tied in with the idea of “resistance,” elevated into a comprehensive
worldview, or what Qassem once referred to as “the project of [Jihad in] the
Path of God.” Not coincidentally, the two Quranic verses that lead Hezbollah’s
document are about Jihad in the Path of God.
Those who underline that Hezbollah is becoming more of a Lebanese party also
tend to play down its global reach and organic ties to Iran. Instead, those
advocating this view play up the party’s involvement in Lebanon-related issues.
However, this has repeatedly been undermined by events, not least the group’s
cells in Azerbaijan, Egypt, Iraq and South America; and now by the text of
Hezbollah’s latest document.
The document repeats Hezbollah’s intent to eradicate Israel, adding that the
liberation of Jerusalem and all of Palestine is a religious duty. Support for
the Palestinians, the document adds, is Iranian policy under the leadership of
Iran’s supreme guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the “Ruling Jurisconsult”. In this
way, Nasrallah reaffirmed Hezbollah’s subservience to Khamenei, stressing that
this attitude was an “ideological, doctrinal and religious position, and not a
political one subject to revision.”
Through this trans-national ideological vision released in sync with the
launching of the new cabinet, Hezbollah openly reaffirmed that in its conceptual
universe, Lebanon was but an operational base in a broader war that it will
force on the Lebanese whether they liked it or not. The party official and
parliamentarian Nawwaf Moussawi expressed this plainly in an interview with
Al-Jazeera, noting that Hezbollah was not bound by Lebanon’s geographic
boundaries: “[W]e crossed the border [in 2006] … out of our belief that the
battle is one and the same.”
So much for Hezbollah’s “Lebanonization.”
**Tony Badran is a research fellow with the Center for Terrorism Research at the
Foundation for Defense of Democracies.
Iran…and political hallucination!
Tariq Alhomayed
ASHARQ ALAWSAT on Dec. 6, 2009.
In one of his speeches in Isfahan, the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
says that the attacks launched by America and it’s military allies over the past
few years on some countries in the [Middle East] region are based on religious
grounds and that “their motive for carrying out these attacks that they did not
make public is that they know that there will come a day when a man descended
from Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him, will appear in this region and he
will eliminate all the wrong-doers in the world. The Iranian nation will be
among the supporters of this divine man.” Ahmadinejad continued and confirmed
that “Iran has the documents to prove this.” And of course that’s not all;
Ahmadinejad added, “The first task for Iranian officials is to build [up] Iran
and their second task is represented in preparing to enter the administration of
world affairs.”
Is there a better example of political hallucination? The question here is that
if talk such as this works on the supporters of the Iranian regime and its
president, how can Tehran’s ideas and political projects be marketed in the Arab
world? [How was it sold to] some of the cultural and political elites,
especially those that engage in politics and particularly Arab nationalists who
used to describe some Arab regimes as backward? How have they i.e. some
nationalists today become theorists of the Iranian hallucinations?
This is not the first time that Iranian politicians have used such political
hallucinations. Ahmadinejad claimed that a halo was shining on him when he was
in New York around two years ago. Also, it was not long ago that we heard that
the authority of the Iranian [Supreme] Guide is derived from the authority of
God. Therefore, it is clear that Tehran uses this method to play on emotions and
of course, what’s hidden is even worse.
All of those hallucinations are coming out and almost half of the Iranian nation
was, and still is, divided over its regime, and the proof of this is the
magnitude of threats issued by the regime as a continuous warning to the Iranian
opposition, not to mention cutting off internet access in Iran and [other]
methods of communication with the outside world.
When we say political hallucination, then what Ahmadinejad is doing and saying
might please some of his supporters; however he will lead Iran to an inevitable
and upcoming disaster if the chain of escalation with the international
community that we are seeing from Iran continues, especially with regards to the
nuclear file. The nuclear file is an issue for which Iran uses all our regional
issues and fronts such as Gaza and Lebanon. There is information that there is a
state of panic within Hezbollah and many people in Lebanon are very concerned
that the Lebanese front might open suddenly in a new war with Israel.
What we want to say is that as long as this is the logic in Iran and this is the
way Tehran deals with political issues then this makes us pessimistic about
solving the Iranian nuclear file or pending regional issues with Tehran –
whether in Iraq, Lebanon, Yemen or with regards to interference in the
Palestinian cause – in a rational and peaceful manner, as long as Iranian policy
is based on hallucination. How can it not [be based on hallucination] when
Ahmadinejad is saying that he has documents proving that America targeted
regional states because it knows that a man will be sent down [by God] to save
the region from oppression.
*Published in the London-based ASHARQ ALAWSAT on Dec. 6, 2009.