LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 28/09
Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to
Saint Mark 9:38-43.45.47-48. John said to him, "Teacher, we saw someone driving
out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow
us."Jesus replied, "Do not prevent him. There is no one who performs a mighty
deed in my name who can at the same time speak ill of me. For whoever is not
against us is for us. Anyone who gives you a cup of water to drink because you
belong to Christ, amen, I say to you, will surely not lose his reward. Whoever
causes one of these little ones who believe (in me) to sin, it would be better
for him if a great millstone were put around his neck and he were thrown into
the sea. If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to
enter into life maimed than with two hands to go into Gehenna, into the
unquenchable fire.
And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter
into life crippled than with two feet to be thrown into Gehenna. And if your eye
causes you to sin, pluck it out. Better for you to enter into the kingdom of God
with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into Gehenna, where 'their worm
does not die, and the fire is not quenched.'
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
Spread of Jihadi "operations"
inside America: a quantitative warning/By: Walid Phares/September
27/09
Latest
News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 27/09
Sleiman opens Sixth Francophone
Games/Now Lebanon
Iran test-fires missiles amid
nuclear tension/AFP
Suleiman: Syria, Iran Not Playing
Negative role in Lebanon-Naharnet
Fillion
in Beirut Sunday to Open Francophone Games-Naharnet
Opposition Accuses Geagea of Trying to Catapult Hariri into a Frustration-Naharnet
Hariri warm to 15-10-5, Hezbollah says-United
Press International
Will Venezuela supply uranium to Iran's nuclear
weapons program?-Examiner.com
Can Former Iraqi Baathists in Syria Ever Go Home?-TIME
Spread of Jihadi "operations" inside America: a
quantitative warning
By: Dr. Walid Phares
sept 27/09/09
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2009/09/spread_of_jihadi_operations_in.php
It is unprecedented in American counter terrorism annals: in one day the nation
was dealing with three separate Jihadist plots to blow up civilian and other
targets inside the Homeland. Although the cases were addressed at different time
periods by the FBI and other agencies, nevertheless, the thickening web of
Terror attempts breached the crossing line of US national security. This week,
authorities revealed three conspiracies by American Jihadists: Michael C. Finton,
(other name: Talib Islam) a 29-year-old man who wished to follow the steps of
American-born Taliban John Walker Lindh, was arrested after trying to detonate
what he thought was a bomb inside a van outside a federal courthouse in
Springfield, Ill. Hosam Maher Husein Smadi, a 19-year old Jordanian national was
arrested after placing what he believed was a bomb at a downtown Dallas
skyscraper. But perhaps the most troubling case is of Afghan-born Najibullah
Zazi who set up shop in suburban Denver, scouting the Web and visiting beauty
supply stores in a hunt for chemicals needed to build bombs for Al Qaeda.
Sources called the alleged plot one of the most significant terror threats to
the U.S. since 9-11. Add to the list the North Carolina Jihad cell, led by
Saifullah Boyd, which was planning on attacking civilian and military targets
across the country.
The immediate question raised by an increasingly worried public is about the
connection between all these terror cases: are they all connected? While law
enforcement and certainly judicial authorities proceed in a bottom up reasoning,
that is to build the case for a global connection between all what is happening
with the help of legal evidence, analysts in the field of counter terrorism and
conflict are already realizing the meaning of what is happening inside America.
The Zai case suspects
In my book Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America (2005-2006) I
clearly projected that Jihadists, individuals and cells will be mushrooming and
expanding inside the United States within few years from then and that they will
precisely do what they are trying to do now. I have also projected how large
they will become, with time. It was a simple deduction: if the Government
doesn’t counter this ideological growth, Jihadists will keep coming. And in fact
they kept coming, spreading crossing the barriers of ethnicities, races,
nationalities and geographical frontiers. The Jihadists committed to harm the
US, and based inside our borders, are now by the hundreds. When I suggested this
fact on CNN in 2006, and reiterated it on Oprah’s show so that the public
realizes what is to come, I raised a few eyes brows. Now unfortunately, we are
meeting the cells of Jihadism in our cities and little towns, and sadly the
expectation is that we will see more, and we may unfortunately not be able to
stop them all from reaching their goals.
The North Carolina cell, the New York subway plot, the Dallas attempt, the
Illinois case, added to the previous cases of the shooting of a soldier in
Arkansas, the precedent New York cells, Georgia’s young Jihadists, all the way
back to the infamous Virginia paintball network, if anything gives us the genome
of what is morphing inside the country -- a vast body of dispersed cells with at
least one binding force -- the Jihadi ideology. The question thus is to find out
who is propagating the doctrines of Jihadism: who is funding it; who is
protecting the indoctrination operation which leads naturally to the rise of
homegrown or foreign linked, lone wolves or packs of Jihadists, Terrorists. That
is the real question: where is the factory?
What should the US Government do? Well, it must first of all come to the front
of the threat and lead the nation against it. This is not a matter of only local
police or law enforcement efforts. President Obama and Congressional leaders
from both parties must give this spreading plague a top priority: for if one of
these groups is successful, our national economy will crumble again, or at least
will be wounded even more severely, let alone the human consequences of terror.
Americans are watching with great concerns, these terror plots being revealed.
They expect their elected officials to address these fears before the worse
happens.
**********
Dr Walid Phares is the author of The Confrontation: Winning the War against
Future Jihad and the Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation
for the Defense of Democracies. Dr Phares is an advisor to the US House Caucus
on Counter Terrorism
Watch a short interview on Canada's CTV: "American and Canadian Jihadists are
connected through ideology and more."
http://watch.ctv.ca/news/latest/canadian-ties/#clip217436
Listen to a short radio interview on Washington Dateline
http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/feeds.radioamerica.org/rd-bin/rdfeed.mp3?DWP&cast_id=13073
Suleiman:
Syria, Iran Not Playing Negative role in Lebanon
Naharnet/President Michel Suleiman denied that Iran and Syria were playing a
"negative role" in Lebanon and said U.S. President Barack Obama has vowed to him
that there will be no deal at Lebanon's expense. "I don't believe there is any
Syrian or Iranian role in failure to form a Lebanon government," Suleiman said
in an interview published Sunday by pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat. He said the most
difficult part in forming a Cabinet was a "political agreement" on a national
unity government. Suleiman said that if Iran and Syria wanted to 'Impede" the
formation of a government, they would have intervened to prevent so. He insisted
that the dispute in Lebanon centered around names and the distribution of
ministerial portfolios. "I do not expect that states would interfere when it
comes to such details," Suleiman said. "The Syrians have no intention to hinder
(government formation) at all," he stressed. "They also have no intention of
interfering in (Lebanese) internal affairs because the nature of relations
between the Syrians and us is now built on trust." Suleiman said Obama has
emphasized during talks between the two leaders in New York on the sidelines of
the U.N. General Assembly meeting that there will be no deal at Lebanon's
expense. Obama "vowed to me that there will not be any settlement at the expense
of Lebanon," Suleiaman said, adding that the U.S. president is "committed to the
interests of Lebanon." Beirut, 27 Sep 09, 08:41
Fillion in Beirut Sunday to Open Francophone Games
Naharnet/French Prime Minister Francois Fillion will arrive in Beirut Sunday to
open the Sixth Francophone Games which will take place in the Lebanese capital
from Sept. 27 till Oct. 6.
This international event is held every four years with the participation of more
than 3,000 athletes from 68 French-speaking countries, allowing them to meet,
compete and freely express the diversity of the francophone culture. Lebanon has
been chosen to host the Sixth Francophone Games, also known as "Jeux de la
Francophonie."
Fillion is expected to meet President Michel Suleiman, PM-designate Saad Hariri
and Speaker Nabih Berri during his Lebanon stay. Beirut, 27 Sep 09, 10:47
Opposition Accuses Geagea of Trying to Catapult Hariri into a Frustration
Naharnet/The Opposition believed that recent remarks by Lebanese Forces leader
Samir Geagea aimed at "implicating PM-designate Saad Hariri in order to catapult
him into a frustration to become in greater need for the Lebanese Forces and the
Phalange Party." The daily An-Nahar on Sunday quoted a leading figure in the
Opposition as saying that Geagea "already knows that Hariri is aware that the
Free Patriotic Movement represents the majority of Christians, and he ought to
take this into account when it comes to government formation."The source said
they believed Geagea's speech on Saturday was a response to the Michel Aoun's
FPM and its drive for openness toward the Lebanese "since Geagea is seeking to
highlight a role greater than his magnitude in the Christian arena."Asked
whether Druze leader Walid Jumblat approves of such comments by Geagea, the
Opposition source said: "Of course not."
Beirut, 27 Sep 09, 10:01
Iran test-fires missiles amid nuclear controversy
Sun Sep 27,
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran test-fired three short-range missiles on Sunday as the
Islamic republic began war games shortly after the UN nuclear watchdog disclosed
it was building a second uranium enrichment plant.
Hossein Salami, air force commander of the elite Revolutionary Guards, said
Monday would also see a test-firing of a long-range missile which Iran says has
a range of 1,300-2,000 kilometres (800-1,240 miles), capable of reaching
arch-foe Israel.
"Tomorrow we will test the long-range Shahab-3 missile," he told state
television.
He also told reporters, without elaborating, that the Guards had tested a
"multiple missile launcher for the first time" on Sunday. Later in the day,
Shahab-1 and Shahab-2 medium-range missiles would be test-fired.
Iran's Fars news agency said the multiple launcher could fire two missiles aimed
at separate targets simultaneously.
Salami said Iran was also now capable of firing missiles from mobile launchers.
"This exercise has a message of friendship for friendly countries. For greedy
countries that seek to intimidate us, the message is that we are capable of a
prompt and crushing response to their animosity," state television's website
quoted him as saying.
Dismissing Israel as a potential threat, Salami said: "That regime is not in a
position that we need to comment about threats from it."
He said Iran has "increased the precision of our missiles ... Hopefully, these
missile tests will contribute to our deterrent and defensive capabilities."
Salami said the Guards will not launch any new type of missile during the
exercise which is expected to last several days, but he added that Iran "has
boosted the number of missiles and can contain long-term missile conflicts."
Earlier, state media reported that the three short-range missiles fired on
Sunday were of the Tondar-69, Fateh-110 and Zelzal versions.
All three weapons, powered by solid fuel, have a range of between 100 and 400
kilometres (60 and 250 miles).
State-owned Press TV broadcast footages of sand-coloured missiles being fired in
desert terrain.
Iran's manoeuvres come after US President Barack Obama earlier this month
scrapped his predecessor George W. Bush's plan to deploy missile interceptors in
Poland and a powerful tracking radar in the Czech Republic by 2013.
He said he had decided to replace the shield with a more mobile system using
mainly sea-based interceptors.
In taking the decision, Obama emphasised the threat of Iran's short-range and
medium-range missiles instead of the potential danger of its longer-range
weapons.
The White House said the intelligence community now believed Iran was developing
shorter-range missiles "more rapidly than previously projected," while
progressing more slowly than expected with intercontinental missiles.
US ally Israel, most Arab states and parts of Europe -- including much of Turkey
-- are within range of the Shahab-3.
Over the past two years, when Bush was still in office, Iran stepped up work on
its ballistic missiles, testing a more advanced solid-fuel medium-range missile,
and also said it had successfully put a satellite into orbit.
Iran has in the past threatened to target US bases in the region and to block
the strategic Gulf Strait of Hormuz waterway for oil tankers if its nuclear
sites are attacked.
Israel and the United States have never ruled out a military option to thwart
Iran's nuclear drive, which they suspect of having a military aim despite
Tehran's denial.
On Friday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Iran was building
a second uranium enrichment plant, sparking concern by Western leaders.
Iran's nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi said the new plant on the road from Tehran
to the holy city of Qom would operate under IAEA supervision.
The disclosure of the new plant's existence came just days before an October 1
meeting in Geneva between Iran and six world powers to discuss Tehran's disputed
atomic programme.
Amin Sabooni, executive editor of the English-language Iran Daily, said it was
just a "coincidence" that the missile drills were taking place amid the latest
nuclear controversy.
"I don't read much into it. It is just a coincidence that the tests are being
done at a time when there is unnecessary noise from the West" over the new
atomic plant, he told AFP.
Politics - Qawooq:Hizbullah ready to cooperate.
N.N.A. Sept.27,2009 Senior South Lebanon Hizbullah official cleric Nabeel
Qawooq,has expressed full party willingness to facilitate a new cabinet- forming
and that all efforts would be made to this end. Qawooq,who addressed freshly
graduated party affiliuated pupils in the southern Lebanese village of
Aytroun,urged a quick government- formation lest that Israel draws the wrong
conclusion out of any further delay. He reiterated party sticking to the notion
of a national unity government which again contradicts U.S-Israeli wishes as he
put it. While reiterating party consent to the 15-10-5 formula,he concluded that
his party's growing deterrant capability helped bring about stability and
security to South Lebanon amid marked retreat in Israeli aggressive designs.
Politics - Minister Abou Faour: Political responsibility is doubled and
regional positive developments ought to be invested in forming a new government
NNA - 27/9/2009 - State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs in the caretaking
government, Wael Abou Faour, considered that today, the responsibility of
various political sides in Lebanon is doubled from that of the previous phase,
since there is a moment of "regional positivity" which ought to be invested, as
quickly as possible, in ensuring the formation of a new Lebanese government. He
added that the Arab-Arab contacts could denote a push and incentive for
launching the government formation process and dealing with the problems at
stake.
Abou Faour hoped that the greatest achievement of preserving this nation and its
internal stability, civil peace and democratic regime, would be accomplished;
thus, sparing it from all hurricanes that could occur in the region and any
pacts or deals that could be held. Minister Abou Faour's words came during a
wide graduation ceremony for high school and university students in the town of
Al-Aqaba.
Politics
- MP Moussawi points to an American-Zionist plot to cause a huge fire in the
region and drench it with strife
NNA - 27/9/2009 - Deputy Nawaf Al-Moussawi stated that the Palestinian cause and
the region, as a whole, are passing through a dangerous road-bend; warning
against an American-Zionist plot intended to cause huge fires in the region and
swamp it with sectarian strife and internal disputes. MP Moussawi called for
quick Arab and Islamic moves to aid Jerusalem and heal the wounds of the
Palestinian internal political life. He considered that such a matter entails
putting an end to Palestinian internal segregation, boosting national unity and
attachment to resistance as the sole choice for restoring the Palestinian
people's rights, in addition to a unified Arab stand in the face of dangers
awaiting the region. Moussawi assured that the Faithfulness to the Resistance
Bloc is working hard on ensuring the Palestinian refugees' right to a normal and
dignified living in Lebanon until their return to their homeland. Moussawi's
words were relayed in a statement issued this evening by the Palestinian
Liberation Organization Front, in which it indicated that a delegation from its
Political Bureau met with MP Moussawi, expressing gratitude for the supportive
stands by Hizbollah and its Secretary General and the Faithfulness to the
Resistance Parliamentary Bloc to the Palestinian people's rights, especially the
Palestinian refugees' repatriation right.
Politics - MP Aoun: Deliberations over new government
formation are quiet and positive
NNA - 27/9/2009 - Member of the Change and Reform Bloc, Deputy Alain Aoun,
described deliberations regarding the new government formation as being positive
and taking place in a quiet manner. He stressed herein on the importance of
"media respite" in parallel with the positive and serious deliberations path,
which began in a different manner in its second phase, he noted. Aoun
highlighted the Free Patriotic Trend's true intentions to give a new chance to
dialogue, which could eliminate a huge part of the problem, especially the
crisis of trust.
Aoun also disclosed that another meeting with Designated Prime Minister, Saad
Hariri, shall take place upcoming Thursday.
Politics - Raad: Hezbollah delays Israeli aggression
NNA head of the Hezbollah parliamentarian bloc MP Mohammad Raad, expressed
optimism with regard to forming a new cabinet albeit, he preconditioned any
future cabinet on the degree of party and allied participation under the rubric
of partnership. Speaking at a funeral of a party member at the Southern Lebanese
village of Sharkiya in presence of 2 Amal deputies Zein and Jaber, MP Raad
reiterated that his party will never embroil Lebanon in any war with Israel. To
the contrary he explained the party would do all in its power to avoid or delay
any armed conflict with the Israelis. Raad reiterated support for 15-10-5
formula and that any future government not based on the formula would be a flop.
Also and in an address at another funeral in the South Lebanese village of
Kosaybeh, he warns Israel not to attack Lebanon or Iran because this would draw
a retaliation of Hezbollah and Iran. Any miss adventure on part of Israel or
America would exact a high price on Israel because in his words the long arm of
Hezbollah is capable of reaching out any place in Israel. He ended on a note
that Israel knows pretty well Hezbollah capabilities and this is why they
hesitate to move against us.
Politics - Qawooq:Hizbullah ready to cooperate.
N.N.A. Sept.27,2009 Senior South Lebanon Hizbullah official cleric Nabeel
Qawooq,has expressed full party willingness to facilitate a new cabinet- forming
and that all efforts would be made to this end. Qawooq,who addressed freshly
graduated party affiliuated pupils in the southern Lebanese village of
Aytroun,urged a quick government- formation lest that Israel draws the wrong
conclusion out of any further delay. He reiterated party sticking to the notion
of a national unity government which again contradicts U.S-Israeli wishes as he
put it. While reiterating party consent to the 15-10-5 formula,he concluded that
his party's growing deterrant capability helped bring about stability and
security to South Lebanon amid marked retreat in Israeli aggressive designs.