LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 28/09
Bible Reading of the day.”
Luke4/23-27: He said to them, “Doubtless you will
tell me this parable, ‘Physician, heal yourself! Whatever we have heard done at
Capernaum, do also here in your hometown.’” He said, “Most certainly I tell you,
no prophet is acceptable in his hometown. But truly I tell you, there were many
widows in Israel in the days of Elijah, when the sky was shut up three years and
six months, when a great famine came over all the land. Elijah was sent to none
of them, except to Zarephath, in the land of Sidon, to a woman who was a widow.
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet, yet not one
of them was cleansed, except Naaman, the Syrian.”
Free Opinions, Releases, letters &
Special Reports
Hezbollah uses Mexican
drug routes into U.S. Works beside smuggler cartels to fund operations.Washington
times 27.03.09
George Galloway: The Suicide
Bomber of Western Politics.
Being a Partner for
Peace.rial. The New York Times 27/03/09
Syria's missed chances.By: Bassel Oudat/Al-Ahram
Weekly 27/03/09
Rewarding hardliners.By: Khalil
El-Anani/.Al-Ahram Weekly
27/03/09
'Anti-corruption' needs to be more than a buzzword in Lebanese politics.The
Daily Star 27/03/09
Secular Sectarians/Future News
27/03/09
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for March
27/09
Israel: 'Iron Dome' rocket shield test a success-CNN
International
Clinton says US will reach out to
Iran.Associated Press/Israel News
Al-Intimaa: to discuss confronting
the Iranian danger in Doha summit/Future
News
Jumblatt: ‘Assad has changed his
tune, Lebanon should too'/Future
News
Aoun Says Berri is 'Ally of my
Ally,' Can Win 'Alone' in Jezzine, His Next Parliamentary Bloc is 35-Strong-Naharnrt
1
Killed, 3 Arrested in Shootout with Police in Baalbek-Naharnrt
Bassil Accuses Government of Violating Wiretap Law-Naharnrt
FPM
Against Appointments of Central Bank Governor Deputies-Naharnrt
Judicial Source: Attack on
Judges' Vehicles is a Message to Tribunal-Naharnrt
Cabinet Approves
Appointments of Central Bank Governor Deputies-Naharnrt
PLO Suggests Referring
Medhat's Murder Case to International Commission-Naharnrt
Jumblat Will Not Visit
Syria, Encourages 'State-to-State' Relations-Naharnrt
Turkey willing to revive Israel-Syria talks: PM-AFP
'Egypt sending troops to Sudan border to combat
Gaza smuggling'-Ha'aretz
Saad Rafiq Hariri: The Special Tribunal for
Lebanon offers us a ...Independent
With Isolation Over, Syria Is Happy to Talk-New
York Times
Parliament fails to tackle thorny issues-Daily
Star
Hizbullah plotting revenge - Israel-Daily
Star
Campaign laws 'must be enforced-Daily
Star
Lebanon reclaiming its reputation as must-go tourist spot-Daily
Star
Lebanon's travel, tourism industry to contribute 9.3 percent of GDP-Daily
Star
Siniora says not everyone pleased with reforms-Daily
Star
Tribunal prosecutor asks Beirut to transfer case to The Hague-Daily
Star
AUB team pioneers research on smoking-Daily
Star
Beirut marathon aims to boost awareness of climate change-Daily
Star
Iran, NATO hold first direct talks since Islamic Revolution.(AFP)
EXCLUSIVE: Hezbollah uses Mexican drug routes into U.S. Works
beside smuggler cartels to fund operations
Washington times
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/27/hezbollah-uses-mexican-drug-routes-into-us/?page=3
Sara A. Carter (Contact)
Friday, March 27, 2009
Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins
do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance
its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S.
law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say. The Iran-backed
Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in
South America's tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil.
Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that
control access to transit routes into the U.S.
Hezbollah relies on "the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers
and transportation experts as the drug cartels," said Michael Braun, who just
retired as assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration (DEA).
"They work together," said Mr. Braun. "They rely on the same shadow
facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected.
"They'll leverage those relationships to their benefit, to smuggle contraband
and humans into the U.S.; in fact, they already are [smuggling]."
His comments were confirmed by six U.S. officials, including law enforcement,
defense and counterterrorism specialists. They spoke on the condition that they
not be named because of the sensitivity of the topic.
While Hezbollah appears to view the U.S. primarily as a source of cash - and
there have been no confirmed Hezbollah attacks within the U.S. - the group's
growing ties with Mexican drug cartels are particularly worrisome at a time when
a war against and among Mexican narco-traffickers has killed 7,000 people in the
past year and is destabilizing Mexico along the U.S. border.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton was in Mexico on Thursday to discuss
U.S. aid. Other U.S. Cabinet officials and President Obama are slated to visit
in the coming weeks.
Hezbollah is based in Lebanon. Since its inception after the Israeli invasion of
Lebanon in 1982, it has grown into a major political, military and social
welfare organization serving Lebanon's large Shi'ite Muslim community.
In 2006, it fought a 34-day war against Israel, which remains its primary
adversary. To finance its operations, it relies in part on funding from a large
Lebanese Shi'ite Muslim diaspora that stretches from the Middle East to Africa
and Latin America. Some of the funding comes from criminal enterprises.
Although there have been no confirmed cases of Hezbollah moving terrorists
across the Mexico border to carry out attacks in the United States, Hezbollah
members and supporters have entered the country this way.
Last year, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was sentenced to 60 years in prison by
Mexican authorities on charges of organized crime and immigrant smuggling.
Mucharrafille, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, owned a cafe in the city of
Tijuana, across the border from San Diego. He was arrested in 2002 for smuggling
200 people, said to include Hezbollah supporters, into the U.S.
In 2001, Mahmoud Youssef Kourani crossed the border from Mexico in a car and
traveled to Dearborn, Mich. Kourani was later charged with and convicted of
providing "material support and resources ... to Hezbollah," according to a 2003
indictment.
A U.S. official with knowledge of U.S. law enforcement operations in Latin
America said, "we noted the same trends as Mr. Braun" and that Hezbollah has
used Mexican transit routes to smuggle contraband and people into the U.S.
Two U.S. law enforcement officers, familiar with counterterrorism operations in
the U.S. and Latin America, said that "it was no surprise" that Hezbollah
members have entered the U.S. border through drug cartel transit routes.
"The Mexican cartels have no loyalty to anyone," one of the officials told The
Washington Times. "They will willingly or unknowingly aid other nefarious groups
into the U.S. through the routes they control. It has already happened. That's
why the border is such a serious national security issue."
One U.S. counterterrorism official said that while "there's reason to believe
that [Hezbollah members] have looked at the southern border to enter the U.S.
... to date their success has been extremely limited."
However, another U.S. counterterrorism official confirmed that the U.S. is
watching closely the links between Hezbollah and drug cartels and said it is
"not a good picture."
A senior U.S. defense official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because
of ongoing operations in Latin America, warned that al Qaeda also could use
trafficking routes to infiltrate operatives into the U.S.
"If I have the money to do it - I want to get somebody across the border -
that's a way to do it," the defense official said. "Especially foot soldiers.
Somebody who's willing to come and blow themselves up. That's sort of hard to do
that kind of recruiting, training and development in Kansas City."
Adm. James G. Stavridis, commander of U.S. Southern Command and the nominee to
head NATO troops as Supreme Allied Commander-Europe, testified before the House
Armed Services Committee last week that the nexus between illicit drug
trafficking - "including routes, profits, and corruptive influence" and "Islamic
radical terrorism" is a growing threat to the U.S.
He noted that in August, "U.S. Southern Command supported a Drug Enforcement
Administration operation, in coordination with host countries, which targeted a
Hezbollah-connected drug trafficking organization in the Tri-Border Area."
In October, another interagency operation led to the arrests of several dozen
people in Colombia associated with a Hezbollah-connected drug trafficking and a
money-laundering ring. Hezbollah uses these operations to generate millions of
dollars to finance Hezbollah operations in Lebanon and other areas of the world,
he said.
BLOOMBERG NEWS Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton takes a look at
crime-fighting Black Hawk helicopters with Genaro Garcia Luna, Mexico's public
security secretary, on Thursday at a federal police base in Mexico City. Mrs.
Clinton discussed U.S. aid with Mexican officials.
A Mexican marine patrols near the U.S.-Mexico border wall in Tijuana, Mexico,
Wednesday, March 18, 2009. The administration of President Barack Obama is
preparing to send federal agents to the US-Mexico border as reinforcements in
the fight against Mexican drug cartels. The Obama administration is preparing to
send federal agents to the US-Mexico border as reinforcements in the fight
against Mexican drug cartels.
"Identifying, monitoring and dismantling the financial, logistical, and
communication linkages between illicit trafficking groups and terrorist sponsors
are critical to not only ensuring early indications and warnings of potential
terrorist attacks directed at the United States and our partners, but also in
generating a global appreciation and acceptance of this tremendous threat to
security," he said.
Mr. Braun, who spent 33 years with the DEA and still works with the organization
as a consultant, said that members of the elite Quds, or Jerusalem, force of
Iran's Revolutionary Guards also are showing up in Latin America.
"Quite frankly, I'm not opposed to the belief that they could be commanding and
controlling Hezbollah's criminal enterprises from there," Mr. Braun said. The
DEA thinks that 60 percent of terrorist organizations have some ties with the
illegal narcotics trade, said agency spokesman Garrison Courtney.
South American drug cartels were forced into developing stronger alliances with
Mexican syndicates when the U.S. closed off access from the Caribbean 15 years
ago, Mr. Braun said.
Mexico's transit routes now account for more than 90 percent of the cocaine
entering the U.S., he said. The emphasis on Mexico intensified after the Sept.
11 attacks, when beefed-up U.S. security measures greatly reduced access to the
U.S. by air and water, he said.
The shift put Mexico's drug cartels in the lead and helped them amass billions
of dollars and an estimated 100,000 foot soldiers, according to U.S. defense
officials.
Hezbollah shifted its trade routes along with the drug cartels, using Lebanese
Shi'ite expatriates to negotiate contracts with Mexican crime bosses, Mr. Braun
said.
The World Trade Bridge between Nuevo Laredo and its sister city, Laredo, as well
as Interstate 35 and Highways 59, 359 and 83, are like veins feeding the Mexican
syndicates, running from southern Texas to cities across the U.S. and as far
north as Canada, U.S. officials say. In addition, access routes from El Paso,
Texas, to San Diego are also high-value entry points.
Ben Conery contributed to this report.
Elias Bejjani's Comment that was sent to the writer of the above
report:
Excellent piece, President Obama needs to read it thoroughly as
well the British Government.
the question is: When the Western countries will wake up and start talking to
Iran. Hezbollah and Hamas the only language that they understand, The language
of power and deterrence? Hopefully the Free World's avoidance-avoidance approach
in dealing with terrorism groups and countries will not give birth to new
Hitler's role models. One of them is already now in Iran!! President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad is openly threatening world civilization, peace and democracy. In
our country, Lebanon, we have a historic saying the free world needs to learn:
"The country that its own people are not ready to die for it principles, does
not continue to be a country". Free world countries must not hesitate in
sending their armies to contain and destroy terrorists be countries or groups.
It has no option but to fight Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas militarily
without any hesitation. There should be no doubt that the military confrontation
with terrorism that might cost 10 thousand soldiers now, will cost ten millions
after 0 years. Unfortunately the Free World repeating its fatal mistake
with Hitler and allowing the same devastating Scenario to be replicated.
Report: Hizbullah, Mexican drug cartels working together
American officials say ties between Shiite organization and Mexican drugs lord
for trafficking of drugs, money, people into US strengthening over recent year.
One official voice concern that al-Qaeda may use same routes
Israel News
Ties between Lebanon's Shiite Hizbullah organization and Mexican drug cartels
have been strengthening over the past few years, the Washington Times reported
Friday.
Hizbullah relies on "the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers
and transportation experts as the drug cartels," said Michael Braun, former
administrator and chief of operations at the US Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA).
US Treasury Department accuses Caracas of sheltering members of Lebanese terror
organization, helping group to launder money
"They work together," added Braun, "They rely on the same shadow facilitators.
One way or another, they are all connected. They'll leverage those relationships
to their benefit, to smuggle contraband and humans into the US; in fact, they
already are (smuggling)."
A number of American security officials, counterterrorism experts and drug trade
law enforcement officials agreed with Braun's comments and said Hizbullah's use
of the Mexican drug routes continued to increase with time.
The routes in question start in South America's tri-border region of Paraguay,
Argentina and Brazil and continue to smuggling routes above and below the
US-Mexico Border. Hizbullah is also suspected of operating similar routes
through Venezuela and Columbia.
To finance its operations, Hizbullah relies in part on funding from a large
Lebanese Shiite Muslim diaspora that stretches from the Middle East to Africa
and Latin America. Some of the funding comes from criminal enterprises.
'Mexican cartels loyal to no one'
There have been no confirmed cases of Hizbullah moving terrorists across the
Mexico border to carry out attacks in the United States, but it is believed that
members and supporters of the group have entered the US in this way in the past.
Last year, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was sentenced to 60 years in prison on
charges of organized crime and immigrant smuggling. Mucharrafille, a Mexican of
Lebanese descent was arrested in 2002 for smuggling 200 people, said to include
Hizbullah supporters, into the US.
Mahmoud Youssef Kourani was convicted by an American court of providing
"material support and resources ... to Hizbullah" in 2003 after crossing the
border two years earlier.
"The Mexican cartels have no loyalty to anyone," a US law enforcement official
told The Washington Times. "They will willingly or unknowingly aid other
nefarious groups into the US through the routes they control. It has already
happened. That's why the border is such a serious national security issue."
Another US counterterrorism official confirmed that the US is keeping a close
eye on the links between Hizbullah and drug cartels and said it is "not a good
picture." A senior US defense official warned that al-Qaeda could also make use
of the trafficking routes to infiltrate operatives into the US.
Aoun Says Berri is 'Ally of my Ally,' Can Win 'Alone' in Jezzine,
His Next Parliamentary Bloc is 35-Strong
Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun vehemently attacked
leaders in the ruling March 14 coalition, describing them as "(Jeffery)
Feltman's men," a reference to Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Near
Eastern Affairs.
Aoun, on the other hand, defended his alliance with Hizbullah, saying the
Memorandum of Understanding had been established to avoid a civil war.
"There was a risk that civil fight might erupt. That's why I pursued a policy of
understanding with Hizbullah to face up to isolation attempts by March 14
Forces," Aoun said in a live TV interview with late-night political talk show
Kalam el-Nass aired on LBCI Thursday.
"The Memorandum of Understanding with Hizbullah had set a framework for
relations with Syria," he added.
Aoun labeled Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri "the ally of my ally."
"Berri says that he is the ally of my ally, and I say the same thing because I
don't wish to impose a different relationship on him," he went on to say. He did
not elaborate. Aoun refused to determine his position on whether he would back
Berri for another term as parliament speaker.
The former army general said he intends to form a 35-strong parliamentary bloc,
stressing that he will alone win the election in Jezzine.
"I can win in Jezzine without an ally," he stressed in an indirect reference to
Berri. Aoun said the upcoming election is a "global battle," adding that he
believed a March 14 victory is a "loss" for Lebanon. "I will not nominate MP
Saad Hariri to the next premiership if we become the majority," he stressed.
Aoun said electors were "being brought in from all five continents to vote
against me." He said Maj. Gen. Issam Abu Jamra is a candidate in Ashrafiyeh. "We
did not bring him by force," adding that the FPM has one seat in Marjayoun and
five in Beirut. Aoun said he was against Mustaqbal Movement. "We cannot follow a
political line that had margined Ashrafiyeh," he explained, adding that
Ashrafiyeh votes had been "liberated from the occupiers" – March 14 Forces. Aoun
confirmed that he will not give his parliamentary seat to anybody. "I also don't
accept that names be thrown in my face at the table in a surprise." He accused
the secret police service of "working against us." "Instead of uncovering
crimes, they are in touch with elements accused of crimes," Aoun claimed.
Beirut, 27 Mar 09, 08:57
1 Killed, 3 Arrested in Shootout with Police in Baalbek
Naharnet/A person identified as Ali Jaafar was killed and three people were
arrested during clashes with security forces in the eastern city of Baalbek,
Voice of Lebanon radio station reported Friday. It said the fighting occurred at
dawn between a group of criminals wanted for various offenses and security
forces in the area of Dar al-Wasaa. On Thursday, another such criminal, Ali
Zoaiter, was killed after he opened fire at an army unit during a military raid
in Ras al-Dekwaneh, near Beirut.
Three other members of the gang were also arrested. Beirut, 27 Mar 09, 10:53
Secular Sectarians
Date: March 27th, 2009 Source: Future News
‘March 8’ forces did not decide yet what they want from Lebanon in general and
from the parliamentary elections in specific.
These forces did not agree on a political program by which they will undergo
elections scheduled on the 7th of June, as they did not determine their
political horizon or their national objective.The dialogue level and the
political dispute have never declined to this level in 1943 or the Taef
agreement. The political conduct has never been this stumpy in terms of
underestimating the intelligence of the Lebanese. This is blatantly shown as one
of ‘March 8’s eloquent declared that his coalition will go through elections
away from the sectary lists imposed by the current electoral divisions that have
returned -Lebanon back to the Middle Ages.
Some even think that assuming the saying of Joseph Goebbels, the Nazist minister
of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda, “If you tell a lie big enough and keep
repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it” might help them leap
over their sectary, and regional affiliation.
How can elections be separated from the sectary divided electoral lists while
this “eloquent” and his party have never conducted any civil or secular
behavior, as all of their practices during the Lebanese civil war and after it
thrust with sectarianism and regionalism.
In this context, another question pops out: who went to Doha and demanded
endorsing sectary and regional divisions and returning Lebanon to law 1960 which
plunged it back to the Middle Ages? Who is persistently paralyzing Lebanon and
delaying the adoption of the 2009 budget in favor of “electoral money” under the
pretext of “development”? Part of the answer to this question is in the
confusion of “Thank you Syria” group within this political reality. The other
part, however, is subject to many items, starting with finding a common
perception among the members of this group after performing a self-critique to
the fatal mistakes they have done over the last period. The upcoming
parliamentary elections are more than decisive and important, as Lebanon’s
political regime desperately needs maintenance and development, especially that
the recession the country is enduring indicates an imminent collapse if the
complexes remained untackled.
Al-Intimaa: to discuss confronting the Iranian danger in
Doha summit
Date: March 26th, 2009 Source: Future News
The “Lebanese Intimaa” assembly called today for including the Iranian threat to
the region in the agenda of the Arab summit hosted by Doha end of this month,
accusing Iran of exploiting “the accumulation of problems in the Arab region,
and gaps and weaknesses and the Arab regimes must confront this threat
decisively.”
The assembly said in a statement after its periodical meeting that “the big
explosion near Miyeh Wmiyeh camp, which targeted a Palestinian leader, took
place while the Arab interior ministers were meeting in Lebanon”, pointing out
that this timing is dangerously symbolic and shows the fragility of the security
situation in Lebanon, in the presence of illegal weapons outside the authority
of the State, and this must urge the Arab interior ministers and their
governments to realize that the continuance of this situation is dangerous, and
the chance of being reflected on all Arab countries.
Jumblatt: ‘Assad has changed his tune, Lebanon should too'
Date: March 26th, 2009 Source: Assafir
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a longtime and vociferous critic of Damascus, says
that Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad has changed his political worldview in
recent weeks so the Lebanese should respond to this in the interest of improving
relations with their powerful neighbor.
"As a state, Lebanon cannot maintain enmity against Syria because this defies
logic, history and geography," Jumblatt said in an interview published by
Beirut's leftist As-Safir newspaper Thursday. Jumblatt is leader of the
Progressive Socialist Party, a key component of the anti-Syrian March 14
alliance. His suggestion that Syria's opponents in Lebanon should soften their
criticism of Damascus could put him at odds with his allies in March 14.
He said that the 1989 Taëf agreement that led to the end of the 1975-90 Lebanese
civil war should be the basis for a new relationship between Lebanon and Syria.
The agreement, brokered by the Arab League, sought to amend the balance of power
in Lebanon and formalize relations with Syria, its powerful eastern neighbor.
Tension between the two countries has been high since the February 2005
assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri. Syria has been
widely blamed for that killing, and for subsequent bombings and assassinations,
but has denied any involvement.
Under intense international pressure, Syria withdrew its forces in Lebanon in
April 2005, ending a 29-year military presence. But it still has many allies in
the country that is sharply divided between pro-Syrian and anti-Syrian blocs.
Jumblatt stressed: "Special relations between the two countries must be
established on the basis of the Taëf agreement that demands Lebanon maintain the
armistice with Israel and hinder the formation of anti-Syrian organizations in
Lebanon on the one hand and demands Syria refrain from interfering in Lebanon's
internal affairs on the other." Jumblatt was for many years a staunch supporter
of Damascus, particularly during the civil war. But in recent years he has
become a strident critic of the Damascus regime. Still, he said, he was prepared
to adopt another approach in tackling the Syrian issue because "for the time
being, there is no need for tension."
But he stressed: "I will hold to my principles ... Assad has admitted that he
made mistakes, but for the sake of my own credibility, I cannot jump from one
extreme to the other. "I choose the middle way between my previous position when
I used to call for toppling the Syrian regime and the stance that calls for
normalizing relations with Syria. "I chose adherence to the Taëf agreement which
formalizes the relations between Lebanon and Syria, which have started to take
shape with the recent establishment of diplomatic relations, to be followed by
the demarcation of the border."
Bassil Accuses Government of Violating Wiretap Law
Naharnet/A fresh dispute over wiretapping erupted at Cabinet meeting on Thursday
between Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil, who accused the government of
violating the law, and the ruling majority. Local media on Friday said the
majority Cabinet ministers were committed to ensuring that all security forces'
needs were met.They said Bassil, however, presented a dossier, stressing that
eavesdropping wiretapping cannot continue. Bassil said the deadline given to
security and military authorities ran out without any amendment to the wiretap
law number 140. Bassil had objected to granting both security and military
authorities the right to withdraw "all" data. "Quote me as saying: The
government is not only violating the law, but also the sanctity of the people,"
Bassil told reporters following the lengthy Cabinet session which ended around
midnight.Cabinet decided to set up a ministerial committee headed by Prime
Minister Fouad Saniora to draft a technical, scientific and security plan that
would ensure the work of the security services. Beirut, 27 Mar 09, 09:35
FPM Against Appointments of Central Bank Governor Deputies
Naharnet/Cabinet ministers of the Free Patriotic Movement – Issam Abu Jamra,
Jebral Bassil, and Mario Aoun -- have expressed reservations over the
appointments of the four deputies to the central bank governor. The daily An
Nahar on Friday said the FPM ministers complained that they were not consulted
with for the final decision. They argued that they were informed of the
appointments on the same day. The remarks were made during a Cabinet meeting on
Thursday.
An Nahar said President Michel Suleiman stepped in, saying that the issue had
been thoroughly examined and it was time to approve the appointments.
The president's intervention prompted the opposition ministers from Gen. Michel
Aoun's FPM to retract their reservation on the appointments, voicing regret
instead over the manner with which the appointments were made and not the names
of the deputies to the central bank governor. Beirut, 27 Mar 09, 10:16
Judicial Source: Attack on Judges' Vehicles is a Message to Tribunal
Naharnet/A judicial source said the attack on the cars of two senior judges in
Beirut's Badaro neighborhood was a message to the Lebanese judiciary as the
international tribunal began operating. "This attack is a message to the
Lebanese judiciary upon the launching of the international tribunal in The
Hague," the source told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published
Friday. Lebanese authorities are investigating the shooting incident that
targeted the cars of magistrates Talal Baydoun and Mirna Wanssa. Prime Minister
Fouad Saniora called for "intensified" investigations into "this unacceptable
attack." He described it as "an attempt to undermine the state and its organs
and will not be dealt with lightly." Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the shooting
as "an attempt to destroy Lebanon through targeting judges." Echoing Berri's
comments, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud told reporters: "We absolutely reject
any attempt to target the judiciary, and hope that the results of the
investigation can be reached soon and made public." Asked whether the shooting
can be linked to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Baroud said he preferred "not
to forestall the investigations." He pointed out that Lebanese judges were
victims of violence long before the launching of the tribunal. Beirut, 27 Mar
09, 10:14
PLO Suggests Referring Medhat's Murder Case to
International Commission
Naharnet/Palestine Liberation Organization representative Abbas Zaki has
suggested to Lebanese authorities to refer the case of his deputy's
assassination to the U.N. commission investigating ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's
murder, a Fatah official told As Safir daily. The official, who spoke on
condition of anonymity, also said that the Palestinian authority has asked some
Western countries, particularly French security apparatuses, to provide
satellite images of the crime scene and information about landline and mobile
phone communications on the day of the crime. Medhat was killed, alongside three
others, in a massive explosion that tore through his convoy, hurling his car
from the road into a field near the Miyeh Miyeh Palestinian refugee camp outside
the southern city of Sidon on Monday.
The Fatah official said preliminary investigation revealed that the bomb was
made locally and was planted above ground so as to hurl the targeted vehicle
into the field nearby. He said calm returned to Miyeh Miyeh and Ain el-Hilweh
camps, but authorities will execute orders to arrest several suspects soon.
Zaki, meanwhile, told An Nahar daily in remarks published Friday that a
Palestinian team will arrive in Beirut from Ramallah in the next 48 hours to
cooperate with Lebanese investigators probing Medhat's assassination. "There are
primary leads on the identity of the culprits. We hope (to find more information
about them) so that they get the required punishment," Zaki told An Nahar.
Beirut, 27 Mar 09, 08:37
Jumblat Will Not Visit Syria, Encourages 'State-to-State'
Relations
Naharnet/Democratic Gathering head Walid Jumblat confirmed that he will not
request a visit to Syria and assured he remains steadfastly determined to
establish "relations from state to state." The leader of the Progressive
Socialist Party also told BBC Radio that issues around Syrian-Lebanese relations
have started to take a diplomatic path. He stressed that it is essential for the
borders to be delineated from Hermel in the north to Shabaa in the south and
reiterated his demand that Syria not meddle in Lebanese internal affairs. With
regard to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Jumblat said he has adopted a
wait-and-see approach and stressed that he will respect the court's ruling.
About the greater Middle East, he added that Lebanon is incapable of
evenhandedness on the issue of the Arab-Palestinian conflict. He said that
Lebanon opposes neutrality on this matter. Jumblat told As-Safir in remarks
published on Thursday that "Lebanon cannot be enemies with Syria. This is
against history." He also noted that Syrian President Bashar Assad has
"reconsidered his position" regarding relations between the two states. Beirut,
27 Mar 09, 10:46
Tribunal Spokesperson Denies Cassese Remarks on 4 Generals
Naharnet/The spokesperson of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon denied on Thursday
that the court's president, Antonio Cassese, said the fate of the four detained
generals will be decided in May. "Head of the tribunal Cassese did not issue a
statement, nor did he give an interview to any newspaper or media outlet whether
Lebanese or Arab or international," Suzanne Khan told LBC TV station. In an
interview with the Italian daily La Repubblica, Cassese reportedly said: "The
fate of the four (detained) generals will be decided in May, either they are
released or charged." Khan said that the story was "fabricated." The four former
security generals are held since August 2005 for suspected involvement in
ex-Premier Rafik Hariri's assassination. Beirut, 27 Mar 09, 09:00
Turkey willing to revive
Israel-Syria talks: PM
ANKARA (AFP) — Turkey is ready to mediate between Israel and Syria if the two
agree to resume stalled indirect talks, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan was
quoted as saying Friday. Turkey mediated four rounds of indirect talks between
Israel and Syria last year, but the process was suspended in December after the
Jewish state launched a deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip. Erdogan said the
negotiations could be revived if both countries wished, adding the prospect
would depend also on the attitude of the new Israeli government, which is yet to
take office after elections in February. "If they make such a request to Turkey,
we will do our best," Anatolia news agency quoted Erdogan as saying in a
television interview. "We are determined to do whatever we can for peace in the
Middle East... All issues should be resolved at the negotiating table," he said.
The Gaza offensive also strained Israel's ties with Turkey, which has been the
Jewish state's main regional ally since the two signed a military cooperation
agreement in 1996. In January, Erdogan stormed out of a heated debate on Gaza at
the World Economic Forum in Davos after clashing with Israeli President Shimon
Peres and accusing the Jewish state of "barbarian" acts against the
Palestinians.
Egypt put troops on Sudan border to combat Gaza smuggling
27/03/2009
By Amos Harel, Barak Ravid and Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent and News
Agencies
Egypt has been sending forces to its border with Sudan in an effort to prevent
smuggling into the Gaza Strip, due to intensive international pressure following
Israel's offensive on the Hamas-ruled coastal territory earlier this year. "The
Egyptians are patrolling the border and inspecting it," a senior intelligence
sources said. "They weren't doing that until now. They started doing it because
of the increased international pressure to act against the smuggling. But so
far, the results are only partial."
The Iranians are concerned over the memorandum of understanding signed between
Israel and the United States to combat smuggling into Gaza, the source said.
Eight NATO members also said they would join the anti-smuggling effort. The
Iranians see the recent interception of the arms ship Monchegorsk, which was en
route to Syria, as a warning of the difficulties they are likely to face in
delivering arms, the source added. That ship, which was carrying arms from Iran
to the Syrian army, was stopped in Cyprus following American pressure and its
cargo was confiscated.
The source said the Iranians, who established smuggling networks via the Persian
Gulf, Aden and east Africa, with an emphasis on Sudan. In the past the Iranians
have tried to smuggle arms via Turkey. The routes planned to move weapons in
planes, trucks and trains, and from Turkey to Syria and from Syria to Lebanon. A
few of these shipments were caught by Turkish security services working against
the smuggling. News of Egypt's reinforcement efforts comes in the wake of
foreign media reports saying that the Israel Air Force attacked a convoy of
Iranian arms passing through Sudan en route to the Gaza Strip in Sudan in
January.
Israeli officials declined to confirm or deny Israel's involvement in the air
strike in Sudan. They also refused to comment on the various foreign media
reports about the strike. Arab and U.S. media reports said that Israel was
behind the attacks, since the convoys were smuggling weapons destined for Gaza.
Hamas, which rules Gaza, smuggles weapons into the Strip through tunnels along
the Egyptian border.
Being a Partner for Peace
Editorial/
March 26, 2009
The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/27/opinion/27fri1.html
As he prepares to take office as Israel’s next prime minister, Benjamin
Netanyahu is offering what sounds like a tantalizing commitment. He said that
his government will be a “partner for peace.” “I will negotiate with the
Palestinian Authority for peace,” he said.
We would like very much to take Mr. Netanyahu’s words at face value, and it
would be a lot easier to do that if he had not worked so assiduously to build
his reputation as a hard-liner with deep misgivings about the very peace process
he now claims to be willing to embrace. In this year’s election campaign, he
disparaged talks on a peace treaty with the Palestinians. Even now, he has not
spelled out exactly what terms he is offering as a “peace partner.” He still
cannot bring himself to endorse a two-state solution — which we believe must be
part of any serious regional peace effort.
It will not be that hard to judge by his deeds, and relatively soon, whether Mr.
Netanyahu is serious about seeking peace with the Palestinians. His government
is expected to win parliamentary approval next week. After that, we suggest that
he start with freezing further settlement construction and expansion in the West
Bank, as Israel has so often promised but failed to do. He should lift
roadblocks between Palestinian cities and towns that are not needed for
security. In East Jerusalem, he should stop the humiliating eviction of
Palestinians. And in Gaza, he must expand exceptions to the blockade to allow
the import of cement and reconstruction materials.
If Mr. Netanyahu is serious about being a partner for peace, he will not get in
the way of the militant group Hamas entering a Palestinian unity government with
the rival Fatah faction — as long as that government is committed to preventing
terrorism and accepts past agreements between Israel and the Palestinians. He
will recognize that the United States has its own interests in diplomacy with
Syria, Iran and the Palestinians — and allow the Obama administration the
freedom to pursue them. He also will not start a preventive war with Iran.
Palestinians are understandably skeptical about the change in Israeli
leadership. Mr. Netanyahu’s “peace partner” commitment was part of a hard-nosed
political deal designed to ensure that the Labor Party — a leader in Mideast
peace efforts — would join his government and thus broaden its appeal at a
difficult time.
As The Times’s Ethan Bronner reported, Israel is increasingly isolated and
facing its worst diplomatic crisis in two decades following its Gaza war. Mr.
Netanyahu has understandably raised alarms with the expectation that his foreign
minister will be an ultranationalist leader with what are widely considered to
be anti-Arab views. Failing to pursue peace talks with the Palestinians would
only make things worse by causing frictions with the new Obama administration
and with Europe.
Mr. Netanyahu is widely believed to be more open to peace talks with Syria than
with the Palestinians. But some Israeli experts and officials have suggested
that despite his hawkish reputation, he could turn out to be a leader who may
also conclude peace with the Palestinians. He is now on record as promising to
pursue that. We will watch eagerly and hope Israelis hold him to it.
Rewarding hardliners
Dialogue sounds like a good idea. But is it, asks
By: Khalil El-Anani*
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/940/op3.htm
President Barack Obama's infatuation with dialogue may have gone too far. He
began his presidential term with a promise to talk to foes across the board,
including Iran and Syria. And a few days ago he told the Iranians to turn over a
new leaf, promising to engage them in far-ranging discussions.
It is good to talk, but not when your opponent sees your overtures as a sign of
weakness. The US currently promises to talk to all its adversaries -- Syria,
Iran, the Taliban, North Korea, Russia and Somalia. Only Al-Qaeda has been
excluded. Even they might be approached! Just wait.
Obama's call for dialogue with Iran, as well as with moderate members of the
Taliban, seems rational and pragmatic on the surface. But deep down there is
something inane, if not outright sinister, about it. The Nowruz speech shows the
US administration to be indecisive at best, hapless at worst.
Thanks to Obama's new policy radicals are being rewarded. The more extreme you
are the more likely the US is going to treat you with kid gloves. This type of
diplomacy will encourage hardliners to stand tough and feel vindicated. Now
Iran, Syria and the Taliban are all thanking their lucky stars.
Everywhere dialogue is offered hardliners will use it to bolster their own
position vis-à-vis moderates. This is clear in the case of Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who saw Obama's call for dialogue as a personal reward for
all the years during which he challenged the West. Come the next presidential
elections in June Ahmadinejad will be hard to challenge. And Taliban extremists,
who vowed not to let up until the US is defeated, just as the Soviets had been,
now feel their years of bloody radicalism have paid off.
From now on the US must brace itself for a hardening of position by all its
opponents. And its allies in countries such as Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and
Pakistan, now feeling vulnerable, are soon going to start making demands of
their own.
In the midst of all the talk about engaging former foes one group seems to have
been left out, the moderate Islamists. President Obama doesn't seem interested
in opening channels of dialogue with Islamist moderates, be they legally
organised as in the case of the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, the Justice and
Development Party in Morocco and the Movement for the Society of Peace in
Algeria, or legally handicapped as is the case with the Muslim Brotherhood in
Egypt and Syria and the Ennahda Movement in Tunisia.
It is ironic that Obama's aides, while touting dialogue with the radicals as if
it were a magic cure, seem to have forgotten about the moderates. Newsweek 's
Farid Zakaria thinks it is a great idea when in fact it is both naïve and
unethical.
Moderate Islamists have a wider appeal across the Arab and Islamic world than
the radicals, and are well positioned to challenge Islamic radicalism. Yet they
are being left out of the equation while groups that used to chant "death to
America" are being solicited to engage.
What is this if not a backhanded boost for the radicals?
Why exactly are the moderates left of the equation? One, perhaps the most
important, reason is that the US doesn't want to step on the toes of its allies,
who all face a political challenge from Islamist moderates. Egypt, Tunisia,
Libya and Syria (now a potential US ally) are all happier repressing the
Islamist opposition than talking to it. And the Americans don't want to get
caught in the middle.
Another reason is that moderate Islamists are not that interested in talking to
the US. Some Islamists think that such a dialogue would compromise their puritan
image and undermine their political appeal. And now that the US is losing
interest in the moderates they are likely to be repressed more by their
governments, which in turn may fuel the flames of radicalism. That's how
self-defeating the current policies are. We've already seen how Arab governments
cracked down on the Islamist opposition in the last two years of the Bush
administration. The trend is likely to continue.
By talking to the radicals the US is hoping to drive a wedge between hardcore
extremists and those within their ranks with more moderate views. But do you
really believe there are moderates in the ranks of the Taliban? Do you really
believe that Al-Qaeda was spreading mayhem around the globe just for fun? And
what would happen, I wonder, if it transpires that Al-Qaeda is planning a big
attack on US interests or those of a US ally? Would the US still opt for
dialogue then?
* The writer is a political analyst with Al-Siyasa Al-Dawliya magazine published
by Al-Ahram.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
Syria's missed chances
A year has elapsed since Syria presided over the Arab summit. What was achieved,
Bassel Oudat asks from Damascus
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2009/940/re92.htm
Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly
The Syrian leadership pinned much hope on its chairmanship of the 2008 Arab
summit. As summit chair, valid for a whole year, President Bashar Al-Assad had
the chance to act as a regional leader, coordinate with other Arab states,
mediate Arab affairs and sponsor efforts regarding major Arab issues, including
the Arab-Israeli conflict. It was an opportunity that the Syrians desperately
wanted, and sadly squandered.
There was another major reason that made the Syrian leadership hope for much
from its summit chairmanship. A year ago, Syria was being isolated by the United
States and Europe. The US Syria Accountability Act has taken its toll. And some
Arab countries were keeping their distance from Damascus. In short, Syria was
left out in the cold and was hoping that the summit would help it make a
comeback. Surely, the summit was going to make Europe and the US more
respectful, or at least make Arab countries less hostile -- or so the Syrians
thought.
The Damascus summit ran into immediate snags, prompting some Arabs to call for
its cancellation or postponement. But Syria, thinking of all the advantages the
summit may provide, insisted on holding it. Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallim
said that the summit would be held "with those who attend, regardless of the
level of representation". Consequently, many Arab countries lowered their level
of representation. Only 10 Arab leaders showed up in Damascus while 11 others
stayed away. Lebanon, not having a president at the time, was not invited. Qatar
helped foot the bill for the gathering.
Following the summit, Minister Al-Muallim commended the summit in terms of "the
attendance, the work done, and the discussions held". It was a "remarkable
summit", said Al-Muallim, denying that it deepened Arab divisions. His upbeat
remarks showed how great Syrian expectations were, and how badly Al-Assad wanted
to be summit chief. Syria expected the summit to boost its ability to resist US
and European pressures, end its isolation, confront sanctions, and mend its
relations with Arab countries.
Things didn't go the way the Syrian leadership wanted. Due to its differences
with some Arab countries, Damascus couldn't offer the leadership it had hoped
for, nor could it effectively influence the course of Arab decision-making.
Remarkably, the Syrian government didn't invite the Iranian president to attend
the March 2008 summit, but it invited the Iranian foreign minister in an
observer status. Damascus simply couldn't risk antagonising those Arab countries
that accuse it of being a lackey of Iran. But this didn't stop Syria's critics
from accusing Damascus of acting as a beachhead for Iranian policy in the
region.
Refusing to bow to pressure, Damascus insisted that its cooperation with Tehran
was and relations with Hizbullah were irreversible. Syria remained convinced
that its relations with Hizbullah are the main leverage it has in Lebanon. But,
unable to divert the accusations, the ability of Syria to act as a summit leader
diminished. Syria was neither able to implement the decisions of the summit or
to act as a spokesman of all Arab countries.
Each time Damascus tried to formulate or suggest Arab policy it was ignored. As
summit chair, President Al-Assad intended to visit several Arab countries for
consultation about Arab affairs. But as tensions persisted, the idea was
shelved.
Syrian political analyst Said Moqbel told Al-Ahram Weekly that: "a review of
political events since the Damascus summit a year ago shows that Syria couldn't
benefit from its chairmanship of the summit, nor could it consolidate its
regional role. On the contrary, Syria's differences with major Arab countries
are proof that Damascus cannot be a key player except with Arab consensus and
solidarity. Syria is unlikely to play any regional role unless it fully takes
its relations with Arab countries into account. Syria must be aware by now of
the importance of its relations with other Arab countries, for these relations
define the scope of Syria's power."
To sum up, Syria missed several opportunities in the very year that its summit
chairmanship was supposed to boost its regional and international leverage.
Speaking during a visit to Damascus last week, Arab League Secretary-General Amr
Moussa said that the Syrian summit chairmanship was "active", while voicing hope
that the regional situation would improve before Qatar takes over the summit
chairmanship. "The level of implementing the decisions of the Damascus summit
was high, especially with regards to main economic and developmental decisions,"
the secretary-general added, complimenting his hosts.
As Damascus helps arrange the 21st summit in Doha, it must be keen not to lose
this last opportunity to show every possible courtesy to Qatar, the one country
that stood firmly by it in a difficult year.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
George Galloway: The Suicide Bomber of Western Politics
Canada was right to deny the British MP entry.
March 27, 2009
By: Michael Weiss
Pajamas Media
The Canadian government’s recent decision to prevent the odious British MP
George Galloway from entering the country has prompted a storm of criticism,
mainly from Canadian editors that find Galloway’s pro-jihad views despicable,
but nevertheless think his freedom of speech is being violated.
Tom Oleson of the Winnipeg Free Press, for instance, writes in a column entitled
“Canada is bigger than this,” “[E]ven though Galloway is a foolish and hateful
man who preaches foolish and hateful things, that is not enough reason to bar
him from speaking in Canada.” And in an early blog post reacting to the
controversy, the National Post’s Jonathan Kaye wrote, “A better solution would
have been to let the guy in, but then have police on hand to apprehend him as
soon as he violated Canada’s anti-terror laws — say, by fund raising for a
banned terrorist group (something he’s done before).”
It’s something he’s done again. Indeed, it wasn’t Galloway’s “preaching” that
got him barred from Canada; it was his self-confessed financing of Hamas, which,
according to Canadian law, is very much a terrorist group.
Galloway, who was due to deliver a speech at the Metropolitan United Church in
Toronto on March 30, was denied an entry permit by Canadian border security
agents associated with the Ministry of Public Safety. Under the Immigration and
Refugee Protection Act, a foreigner who has “engag[ed] in terrorism” may be
deemed a security threat and prohibited from traveling to Canada.
Galloway has vowed to appeal the decision, and this week he told an audience at
Columbia University in New York — he’s still persona grata in the United States
— “I have not now, nor have I ever been a supporter of Hamas.” However,
Galloway’s deeds in the Palestinian territories earlier in the month prove
otherwise. He took a much-publicized trip to Gaza as part of a convoy
coordinated by Viva Palestina, a so-called “charity” that was formed in protest
to the Israeli assault on Hamas in February. While there, Galloway publicly
handed over more than £1.5 million in cash, vehicles, and other goods to Ismail
Haniyeh, the political leader of Hamas and the elected prime minister of the
Palestinian Authority.
This Al Jazeera clip, reproduced by the Middle East Media Research Institute,
shows Galloway handing over the money and telling his hosts:
We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all of the contents, and we make no
apology for what I am about to say: We are giving them to the elected government
of Palestine. Just in case the British government or the European Union want to
face me in any court, let me tell them live on television: I personally am about
to break the sanctions on the elected government of Palestine. Many of my
friends have to give their cash to charities. By Allah, we carried a lot of cash
here. You thought we were all fat. We are not fat. This is money that we have
around our waists. And we have to give this. … Some of my friends have to give
this money to charities, and they will do this in private later this evening,
because they need receipts and it’s not practical to do it here.
But I, now, here, on behalf of myself, my sister Yvonne Ridley, and the two
Respect councillors — Muhammad Ishtiaq and Naim Khan — are giving three cars and
25,000 pounds in cash to Prime Minister Ismail Haniya. Here is the money. This
is not charity. This is politics. The government of Palestine is the best people
where this money is needed. We are giving this money now to the government of
Palestine. If I could, I would give them 10 times, 100 times more. We are
against this siege. We are opposing this siege. We are breaking this siege. We
are breaking this siege.
I am saying now to the British and European governments: If you want to take me
to court, I promise you, there is no jury in all of Britain who will convict me.
They will convict you for the siege of the Palestinian people. Revolution until
victory! Revolution until victory! Revolution until victory! Viva, viva! There’s
more money coming in from my friends. Viva viva, Palestine!
There is every chance that his flamboyant challenge to British authorities will
be met and that he will be prosecuted back home for providing material aid to a
terrorist organization, because that’s what Whitehall also considers Hamas. Viva
Palestina is already under investigation by the British Charity Commission for
failing to provide the necessary documents that detail its purpose, its fund
raising activities, and the actual recipients of its largesse.
Galloway is quite the ham pseudo-radical of a species that only Britain, in its
venerable, centuries-long tolerance of cranks and eccentrics, could condescend
to produce. He is unafraid of abasing himself before tyrant and transsexual
alike (see his unforgettable performance as a kitty lapping at a saucer of milk
at the behest of Dead or Alive singer Pete Burns on the UK version of Celebrity
Big Brother), and he is adept at navigating the fault line between tragedy and
farce. Galloway is the suicide bomber of Western politics.
A former member of the Labour Party, Galloway was expelled in 2003 when, as
acting vice president of the Stop the War Coalition, he told an interviewer on
Abu Dhabi TV that the Labour government had become “Tony Blair’s lie machine”
and that “the best thing British troops [in Iraq] can do is to refuse to obey
illegal orders.” Since then, he has been an ostentatious member of the so-called
RESPECT Coalition, made up of the all-but-irrelevant Socialist Workers’ Party
and a hodgepodge of obscurantist Islamists. (RESPECT has since succumbed to a
fratricidal dispute that nearly parodies the violent clash between Fatah and
Hamas: the unelectable Marxists want dominance over the electable theocrats, and
the theocrats want nothing to do with “progressive” events such as gay pride
parades.)
There really hasn’t been a totalitarian regime in the last quarter century to
which Galloway has failed to lend his support. He once said the disappearance of
the Soviet Union was “the biggest catastrophe of [his] life,” prefiguring
Vladimir Putin’s woozy nostalgia for good the old days. Although naturally an
opponent of the Anglo-American overthrow of the Taliban, Galloway did previously
endorse the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. He also openly supported
Saddam Hussein during the first Gulf War, telling the Iraqi dictator in Baghdad,
“I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability,” words he has
since claimed were — what else — taken out of context. Surely this admission in
Galloway’s autobiography I’m Not the Only One is as pellucid as any statement he
makes on his largely ignored late night radio talk show: “Just as Stalin
industrialized the Soviet Union, so on a different scale Saddam plotted Iraqis
own Great Leap Forward. He managed to keep his country together until 1991.”
Of the jihadists now operating in Iraq, Galloway declared, in a 2005 speech at
the al-Assad Library in Damascus, “These poor Iraqis — ragged people, with their
sandals, with their Kalashnikovs, with the lightest and most basic of weapons,
are writing the names of their cities and towns in the stars, with 145 military
operations every day, which has made the country ungovernable by the people who
occupy it.” Of the Assad dynasty in Syria, he also said on that occasion, “I
have one hundred percent agreement with Syria’s policies on the international
level, but on domestic level there are points of difference. But, when it comes
to defending Syria’s integrity and dignity from foreign attack, this is another
point. And I am with Syria.”
Both the U.S. Senate and the independent Volcker Commission implicated Galloway
as an illegal profiteer of the U.N. Oil-for-Food program. Although the British
House of Commons found “no evidence” to substantiate this charge, the key bank
accounts used to funnel the ill-gotten Baathist cash were never examined or
audited by the investigating committee. It did, however, suspend Galloway from
parliamentary service for a different infraction, this one relating to his
affiliation with another dodgy “charity,” Mariam Appeal, whose unstated goal was
ending the Iraqi sanctions. Galloway’s Iraq point man for Mariam Appeal was a
Jordanian businessman, Fawaz Zureikat, whose name turns up repeatedly in
recovered Oil-for-Food documents produced by the former Iraqi State Oil
Marketing Organization. Indeed, on the substantive merits of the case against
him, Galloway has never adequately answered the questions that Christopher
Hitchens and I posed to him in our 2005 dossier regarding his involvement in
this international crime. (Lest you think it presumptuous of us to have expected
him to read our little pamphlet, copies of it were distributed outside the venue
in Manhattan where Hitchens that same year debated the Scottish terrier, to the
accompaniment of much media coverage.)
Perhaps most relevant to the current news cycle is the fact that Galloway has
been to Canada before. Two years ago he visited Ottawa as the guest of honor at
the 74th anniversary of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, the black shirt
outfit responsible recently for roughing up Hitchens, Michael Totten, and
Jonathan Foreman in Beirut. The SSNP’s flag carries a logo that is a conspicuous
imitation of the Nazi swastika, and its anthem is sung to the tune “Deutschland,
Deutschland, Uber Alles.”
How nice, then, that a liberal democracy often assailed for its capitulation to
Islamic speech codes and political correctness has managed to turn away an
abettor of terrorism and a preening blimp that has never refused an ideology
that would gladly have him for a martyr.
Clinton says US will reach out to Iran
Secretary of state declares Tehran has role to play in region that includes
neighboring Afghanistan, says she hopes it will be constructive
Associated Press Published: Israel News
US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Thursday that Iran has a role
to play in the region that includes neighboring Afghanistan and she hopes it
will be constructive.
Clinton told reporters in Monterrey, Mexico, that the United States will
continue to reach out to Iran, even though earlier efforts were unsuccessful.
President Barack Obama's outreach to Iran in a video message recently was
rebuffed by Iranian leaders.
Iran's Supreme Leader seems unreceptive to dovish videotaped message by US
President Obama to Iranian people
Iran has accepted an invitation to a conference on Afghanistan next week at The
Hague, Netherlands, that also will be attended by the US.
US State Department officials have said no substantive meetings are planned
between the US and the Iranians.
But Clinton reaffirmed US hopes that Iran will help in stabilizing Afghanistan.
"Iran borders Afghanistan," she said. "It has a role to play in the region and
we hope it will be a constructive role."
Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected Obama's outreach, saying
Tehran was still waiting to see concrete changes in US policy. Obama spoke out
to Iran on the occasion of Nowruz, the Persian new year, and expressed hopes for
an improvement in nearly 30 years of strained relations. Clinton said those
efforts will continue.
"We are doing what President Obama said we would do. We are reaching out to the
Iranian leadership, but equally importantly, to the Iranian people. That was
certainly the spirit in which the president extended new year's greetings," she
said.
"We have a long-held view that there are going to be difficult obstacles to
engaging in the short run with the Iranians, but we are going to continue to
reach out," she said.
Majdalani asks Aoun if he consulted the government before
visiting Syria
iloubnan.info - March 27, 2009, 16h30 - updated
BEIRUT – MP Atef Majdalani wondered on Friday when the government will react to
some ministers continuing to violate its resolutions and particularly with
dealing in the issue of Lebanon’s affairs with other countries.
Majdalani said, “I am addressing my question to the government following
Minister of Social Affairs Mario
Aoun’s visit to Damascus and held talks with the Syrian Prime Minister Naji el-Otari
without the approval of consulting first with the government.”
He added: "How can we expect Syria to build a relationship with the State of the
State of Lebanon if the members in the Lebanese government do not respect the
decisions of their government, and visit Syria without the knowledge of the
government?”