LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
October 10/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 11,5-13. And he said to them, "Suppose one of you has a friend to whom he goes at midnight and says, 'Friend, lend me three loaves of bread, for a friend of mine has arrived at my house from a journey and I have nothing to offer him,' and he says in reply from within, 'Do not bother me; the door has already been locked and my children and I are already in bed. I cannot get up to give you anything.' I tell you, if he does not get up to give him the loaves because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence. And I tell you, ask and you will receive; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives; and the one who seeks, finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. What father among you would hand his son a snake when he asks for a fish? Or hand him a scorpion when he asks for an egg? If you then, who are wicked, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the Father in heaven give the holy Spirit to those who ask him?"

Rabanus Maurus (c.784-856), Benedictine abbot and Bishop
Three books to Bonosus, Bk.3,4; PL 112, 1306/"He will give him whatever he needs"
You should never lack confidence in God nor despair of his pity... Sing to the Lord these words of the prophet: «As the eyes of servants are on the hands of their masters, as the eyes of a maid are on the hands of her mistress, so are our eyes on the Lord our God till he have pity on us. Have pity on us, O Lord, have pity on us, for we are more than sated with contempt» (Ps 123[122],2-3)... If we are sated with contempt because of our numberless sins yet our eyes should remain turned to the Lord our God until he has pity on us, nor should we cease to beseech him until he grants us forgiveness for our faults. Indeed, it belongs to the steadfast and persistent soul never to desist from persevering in prayer through despair of being answered but to persist unwearyingly in that prayer until God shows it mercy. So that you do not begin to think you are offending the Lord by persisting in your prayers when you are not worthy of being heard, remember the parable in the Gospel. There you will find that those who pray to God with importunate perseverance are not displeasing to him, for it is said: «If he does not give it to him because of their friendship, he will get up to give him whatever he needs because of his persistence.» Understand, then, that it is the devil who tempts us to despair of being answered so that hope in God's goodness, anchor of our salvation, foundation of our life, guide for the path heavenwards, may be taken away from us. Paul, the apostle, says: «In hope we were saved» (Rm 8,24).

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Lebanon's smell of victory, next time-By Michael Young 09/10/08
The ultimate caretaker of Lebanese democracy is still flat on its back.The Daily Star 09/10/08
Action is needed to eliminate WMDs from the Middle East-By Shlomo Ben-Ami 09/10/08
No safe haven, no exit for the global economy this week-By David Ignatius 09/10/08
 

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for October 09/08
Missing Americans held in Syria over visas: report-Reuters
Suleiman Franjieh Proposes Roadmap to Thorough Christian Reconciliation Based on Aoun-Naharnet
Hizbullah's Man in Gaza-Naharnet
France to Damascus: No to Turning Lebanon into another Georgia-Naharnet
U.S. Embassy Asks Prosecution to Track Two American Citizens-Naharnet
Grenade Blasts Shake Tripoli-Naharnet
Syria Assures Troop Deployment Only Aimed at Combating Smuggling-Naharnet
Parliament Approves New Measure to Combat Money Laundering-Naharnet
Hale Discloses Washington's Long-Term Plan to Rebuild Lebanon's Army-Naharnet
Geagea: Delaying the Reconciliation With Franjieh Escalates Tension-Naharnet
Pro-Syrian Lebanese leader rules out Syrian troop entry into Lebanon-Xinhua
Pair of American journalists reported missing in Lebanon-Daily Star
Hamas and Fatah Both Deny Affiliation to Palestinian Hezbollah-Asharq Alawsat
Parliament puts off talks on reviving Constitutional Council-Daily Star
LAF officers to visit Pentagon for talks on aid - newspaper-Daily Star
Why should three men keep 4 million Lebanese in limbo?-Daily Star
Syrian official denies ulterior motive to troop deployment-Daily Star
Masked assailant kills man in Ain al-Hilweh-(AFP)
IMF credits Banque du Liban for fending off credit crunch-Daily Star
Conference looks to raise awareness for early diagnosis, detection of autism-Daily Star
Indonesian envoy touts interfaith dialogue-Daily Star
UNHCR chief delivers award to 'heroic' de-miners working in South Lebanon-Daily Star
Funds for displaced from Nahr al-Bared almost all gone-Daily Star
Lessons for Lebanon from a fellow victim of sectarian conflict-Daily Star
Ahmadinejad echoes pope on financial crisis-(AFP)

WCCR Press Release: Washington's Aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces
Written by WCCR
Wednesday, 08 October 2008
WCCR
Why is Washington rushing now to aid the Lebanese army without a strategy in place ?
The World Council of the Cedars Revolution
www.cedarsrevolution.net cedarsrevolution@gmail.com
Press release
Washington DC, CRNews: Attorney John Hajjar, US Director for the WCCR said "Lebanon's friends in the US were pressing the previous Seniora Government to ask Washington for military, diplomatic and political assistance while Hezbollah was outside the Government, while there was a parliamentary majority able to back his government and while a huge popular majority in Lebanon was taking the streets to tell the world that Lebanon wanted UNSCR 1559 implemented. It was then a window of opportunity to begin a bridge of US military assistance to the Lebanese Army. Because during the three years after the rise of the Cedars Revolution, most of Lebanon was free from the control of Hezbollah and civil society was able to express itself in that direction. Unfortunately neither the Seniora Government and its supporters in the Parliament made that demand nor US diplomats in charge of the file realized that the window was closing. It was then that military assistance was needed top equip an Army tasked with the disarming of the militias, including Hezbollah and fighting the Jihadi Salafists, some of whom were dispatched ironically from Syria.
Sadly the opportunity was missed big time. And when the Army was tested last May as Hezbollah was invading the capital and the mountain, it was then that Seniora and March 14 should have taken a stand and call for assistance. It was before then that it made sense to send Lebanese officers to the US to train and form counter terrorism units to prepare for this eventuality. But after Hezbollah won the day and March 14 surrendered in Doha to the will of Iran, and the right of Hezbollah to bear weapons was legislated, why is this rush on behalf of Washington to send the help now? It simply doesn't make sense strategically. They should have shipped the weapons and trained the Lebanese officers when Lebanon was governed by the Cedars Revolution not after it was defeated and Hezbollah and Syria are co-governing Lebanon? I am wondering what kind of advice DOS and DOD are getting on Lebanon?
For it doesn't take an expert to understand that Hezbollah and its allies have veto power inside the Lebanese Government and therefore there can not be a defense related decision without their approval. The President alone cannot order the Army into combat. He needs Hezbollah legally and also politically. The cabinet is totally paralyzed from the inside. Why are we acting as if Lebanon is ruled by an allies as in Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan or Morocco, not to say Colombia or the Philippines? It is not. Is that so difficult to understand?
Or is it that Lebanon's politicians told Washington the Lebanese Armed Forces will fight al Qaeda in the Palestinian camps and that weapons are needed for that task. Well Iran is now claiming it is fighting al Qaeda so is Syria. Are we blind to jump into their game?
We want the Lebanese Army to become a real ally and to be treated as such. But for that we need to revive the Cedars revolution first. And to do so we need to help the Lebanese free themselves from the power of Hezbollah. Sending equipment to an Army whose officers have been assassinated by the Syrian-Iranian axis is not the right thing to do. In short we need to reshape American policy towards Lebanon. We need to let the taxpayers in our country here know exactly what is the situation in Lebanon. We can't afford spending hundreds of millions on a bridge to nowhere in Lebanon. End….

Grenade Blasts Shake Tripoli
Unidentified assailants threw a hand grenade in the northern port city of Tripoli's Syria street Wednesday night, the second such incident in two days, a security source told As Safir daily. The source said the grenade exploded at around 11:00 pm near Abdul Nasser mosque in the area which separates the neighborhoods of Baal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh, causing material damages. Assailants also threw a hand grenade near the area between Qobbe and Bab al-Tabbaneh on Tuesday night. No casualties were reported. Predominantly Sunni Muslim Bab al-Tabbaneh and the predominantly Alawite Baal Mohsen districts have witnessed deadly clashes in June and July. Tensions between the two communities had eased in the past few weeks after both sides signed a reconciliation accord and the army had deployed heavily. Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 05:19

Syria Assures Troop Deployment Only Aimed at Combating Smuggling
Naharnet/Syria on Wednesday defended its deployment of extra troops on the border with Lebanon as a measure to combat smuggling and infiltration by saboteurs, dismissing concerns raised in Beirut and Washington. "These measures aim to control the border, only from Syrian territory, and we have no other intentions," an official told Agence France Presse, declining to be named. "Syria has in effect boosted its security measures with a few hundred (extra) soldiers, and the spy satellites know the truth," the official said. "Our aim is to control the border, combat smuggling and stop saboteurs from crossing these borders," the official said, adding that the issue had been raised during Lebanese President Michel Suleiman's visit to Damascus in August. The U.S. State Department said on Monday that Washington was concerned about Syrian troop movements near the Lebanese border and warned Damascus against interference in Lebanon.
On September 27, a car bomb exploded near a Shiite shrine in southern Damascus killing 17 people. The next day, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was quoted as saying northern Lebanon had become "a base for extremists" and warned that such developments "posed a threat" to his country. The anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon said Assad's words appeared to be setting the stage for a return of Syrian forces to Lebanon. A September 29 car bombing in the northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, the scene of frequent sectarian clashes, killed four soldiers and three civilians.(AFP) Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 06:46

France to Damascus: No to Turning Lebanon into another Georgia
Naharnet/Paris has warned Damascus against crossing the border into Lebanese territory, the pan-Arab daily al-Hayat reported Thursday. Citing European diplomatic sources in Beirut, the newspaper said France has informed Damascus of its "clear position" regarding Syrian troop buildup along the border with Lebanon: "No to turning Lebanon into another Georgia."Al-Hayat quoted a well-informed French source as saying that the number of Syrian troops deployed along the border was "much less than 10,000." A Lebanese army spokesman had said that nearly 10,000 Syrian Special Forces have been deployed in the Abboudiyeh region along the border. The French source, however, said that the Syrian measure is strictly internal and on Syrian territory, and that it is aimed at cracking down on smuggling and other crime. Syria on Wednesday defended its deployment of extra troops on the border with Lebanon as a measure to combat smuggling and infiltration by saboteurs, dismissing concerns raised in Beirut and Washington. Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 13:09

Hizbullah's Man in Gaza
Naharnet/Palestinian Salem Thabet, a ranking official of the Aqsa Martyrs Brigade group, is Hizbullah's man in Gaza. He commands the "Mughniyeh Squads," named after the party's commander killed by a car bomb in Damascus last February. Thabet told Asharq al-Awsat daily he named his group after Mughniyeh "because he was a leader of Fatah's squad 17 and had worked with the (late) President Yasser Arafat" when the latter was commanding the mainstream guerilla faction and the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon before the 1982 Israeli invasion. In answering a question about the nature of his relations with Hizbullah, Thabet told the daily: "It is an organizational relation." He said his squads receive "financial and logistical support from Hizbullah."
He said Mughniyeh had represented the concept of "persisting revolution, everywhere. A united revolution in Lebanon and Palestine."
Thabet said he was in Lebanon "during the last war" in reference to the 34-day confrontation between Hizbullah and Israel in the summer of 2006.
However, he said he did not take part in the war. The newspaper quoted sources with the mainstream Fatah faction as saying Thabet receives "hundreds of thousands of dollars from Hizbullah." They said President Mahmoud Abbas tried to talk Thabet into interrupting the relations with Hizbullah but "couldn't convince him." The Israelis had raised Thabet's issue with Abbas, the report added. Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 13:22

Two Missing Americans Reportedly Jailed in Syria
Naharnet/The Jazeera Television network on Thursday reported that the two American citizens missing in Lebanon since Oct. 1 have been arrested in Syria on charges of entering the country illegally. The short report did not disclose further details. The U.S. Embassy in Damascus, in a terse statement, said it has not been informed by the Syrian authorities on the issue. The report came shortly after the U.S. embassy in Lebanon asked the prosecutor's office to order a search for the two American citizens who haven't been heard from since Oct. 1. The request was presented to Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza who ordered the Central Detective Department to follow up the case. Mirza also issued a memo to the office of Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil to allow a thorough review by investigators of telephone contacts made by Taylor Luck since he and Holli Chmela arrived in Lebanon on Sept.29.
Reliable sources told Naharnet Taylor made his last call from the main square of the northern coastal town of Batroun at 5:00 pm on Oct. 1.
The sources, however, refused to disclose the destination of the call, saying only Luck used his Jordanian mobile telephone to make the contact.
The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday issued a statement asking for information on Chmela and Luck. Luck worked for the Amman-Based Jordan Times newspaper and Chmela was a trainee at the daily. Their employers said they were not on an assignment in Lebanon. Luck had asked for vacation that should have ended on Oct. 4. He told colleagues he would go to Lebanon and return overland via Syria. "The families of Ms. Holli Chmela, age 27, and Mr. Taylor Luck, age 23, are asking for the public's assistance in providing information on the possible whereabouts of the two U.S. citizens," the embassy statement said.
"They have not been heard from since October 1, 2008 when they reportedly departed Beirut en route to Byblos and Tripoli," it added.
It said Chmela and Luck arrived in Lebanon on September 29 from Amman, Jordan for vacation. "The two reported to a friend on October 1 that they were traveling from Beirut to Tripoli via Byblos that same day. They were then to cross by land to Syria before returning to Jordan."
The two were to report to work in Jordan on October 4, the statement added. It explained that the U.S. Embassy is working with the Lebanese Internal Security Force (ISF) and the Surete Generale to pursue further leads in this investigation. In addition, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut is coordinating efforts with the U.S. Embassies in Amman and Damascus as well as with the Department of State in Washington. Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 13:39

U.S. Embassy Asks Prosecution to Track Two American Citizens
Naharnet/The U.S. embassy on Thursday asked the prosecutor's office to order a search for two American citizens who haven't been heard from since Oct. 1.
The request was presented to Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza who ordered the Central Detective Department to follow up the case.
Mirza also issued a memo to the office of Telecommunications Minister Jebran Bassil to allow a thorough review by investigators of telephone contacts made by Taylor Luck since he and Holli Chmela arrived in Lebanon on Sept.29.  Reliable sources told Naharnet Taylor made his last call from the main square of the northern coastal town of Batroun at 5:00 pm on Oct. 1. The sources, however, refused to disclose the destination of the call, saying only Luck used his Jordanian mobile telephone to make the contact. The U.S. Embassy on Wednesday issued a statement asking for information on Chmela and Luck.
Luck worked for the Amman-Based Jordan Times newspaper and Chmela was a trainee at the daily. Their employers said they were not on an assignment in Lebanon. Luck had asked for vacation that should have ended on Oct. 4. He told colleagues he would go to Lebanon and return overland via Syria. "The families of Ms. Holli Chmela, age 27, and Mr. Taylor Luck, age 23, are asking for the public's assistance in providing information on the possible whereabouts of the two U.S. citizens," the embassy statement said. "They have not been heard from since October 1, 2008 when they reportedly departed Beirut en route to Byblos and Tripoli," it added. It said Chmela and Luck arrived in Lebanon on September 29 from Amman, Jordan for vacation. "The two reported to a friend on October 1 that they were traveling from Beirut to Tripoli via Byblos that same day. They were then to cross by land to Syria before returning to Jordan."
The two were to report to work in Jordan on October 4, the statement added. It explained that the U.S. Embassy is working with the Lebanese Internal Security Force (ISF) and the Surete Generale to pursue further leads in this investigation. In addition, the U.S. Embassy in Beirut is coordinating efforts with the U.S. Embassies in Amman and Damascus as well as with the Department of State in Washington. "Anyone with information on the whereabouts of Chmela or Luck is asked to call the U.S. Embassy, the ISF or ISF emergency," the statement concluded. Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 12:19

Suleiman Franjieh Proposes Roadmap to Thorough Christian Reconciliation Based on Aoun
Naharnet/Marada Movement leader Suleiman Franjieh has proposed a roadmap to thorough intra-Christian reconciliation based on participation by Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun. "Why do they (Lebanese Forces) reject Aoun's participation although I consider him a father to me and I feel relaxed to have him near me?" Franjieh asked. "They want (MP) Nayla Moawad's participation. They think that they can confront Franjieh in Zghorta by Nayla Moawad from Zghorta. They are handling it on a tit-for-tat concept, which we wouldn't accept," Franjieh told Orange Television on Wednesday evening. "Let them accept reconciliation as we had proposed it. If we say no, then they can say Hizbullah and Syria prevented us" from going into reconciliation, he added. He rejected the concept of bilateral reconciliation with the Lebanese Forces Party, saying the move should be thorough. "If something bad happens to us it would be Samir Geagea who has committed it or benefited from it because he is the only person who could benefit from such a development to say later the Syrians killed Suleiman Franjieh because he was headed to reconciliation and the Syrians did not want reconciliation," according to Franjieh. He charged that "they could be preparing something through the Salafis … but it wouldn't work." "We are ready for reconciliation at any time, but with white hearts (good intentions)," Franjieh concluded. Beirut, 09 Oct 08, 09:43

Parliament Approves New Measure to Combat Money Laundering
Naharnet/Parliament on Wednesday approved a law widening powers of investigators into cases of money laundering while maintaining limited lifting of the nation's banking secrecy. The house also approved joining the U.N. treaty on combating corruption.
Parliament adopted a law dropping fines on due license fees for vehicles, provided settlement is completed before the end of 2008. Beirut, 08 Oct 08, 21:40

Hale Discloses Washington's Long-Term Plan to Rebuild Lebanon's Army
Naharnet/U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Hale said Wednesday Washington has launched a "long term" effort to rebuild the Lebanese Army's capabilities. Hale, in a television interview, said the joint Lebanese-American Military Committee that is entrusted with the task of overseeing the bilateral cooperation is a level of relationship that "we use with a limited number of our close friends in the Middle East. It is a state-state, army-army and defense-defense relation." "We support the Lebanese Army's mission … especially combating terror and safeguarding stability in addition to implementing UNSCR 1701, which is a sensitive and basic target for the international community and the Lebanese people," Hale added. Syria's army, he added, has left Lebanon and "we insist that it stays out (of Lebanon)." The Syrians, according to Hale, "should fully implement UNSCR 1701, halt intervention in Lebanon's affairs, halt the flow of foreign fighters to Iraq, maintain a distance with Iran and its alarming behavior and halt support for terror and spreading it to the region." He said the Syrians should also be "clear" regarding their nuclear activities and should release political detainees. Beirut, 08 Oct 08, 21:06

Syrian official denies ulterior motive to troop deployment
'Our aim is to control the border'
Compiled by Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Syria on Wednesday defended its deployment of extra troops on the border with Lebanon as a measure to combat smuggling and infiltration by saboteurs, dismissing concerns raised in Beirut and Washington. "These measures are aimed to control the border, only from Syrian territory, and we have no other intentions," a Syrian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
"Syria has in effect boosted its security measures with a few hundred [extra] soldiers, and the spy satellites know the truth," the official said.
"Our aim is to control the border, combat smuggling and stop saboteurs from crossing these borders," the official said, adding that the issue had been raised during Lebanese President Michel Sleiman's visit to Damascus in August.
The US State Department said Monday Washington was concerned about Syrian troop movements near the Lebanese border and warned Damascus against interference in Lebanon.
"The recent terrorist attacks that took place in Tripoli and Damascus should not serve as a pretext for, you know, further Syrian military engagement or ... should not be used to interfere in Lebanese internal affairs," it said.
On September 27, a car bomb exploded near a Shiite shrine in southern Damascus killing 17 people.
The next day, Syrian President Bashar Assad was quoted as saying Northern Lebanon had become "a base for extremists" and warned that such developments "posed a threat" to Syria.
The anti-Syrian parliamentary majority in Lebanon said Assad's words appeared to be setting the stage for a return of Syrian forces to Lebanon.
A September 29 car bombing in the Northern Lebanese port city of Tripoli, the scene of frequent sectarian clashes, killed four soldiers and three civilians.
The Lebanese Army said on September 22 that Syria had boosted troop numbers along the border with North Lebanon but that Damascus stressed the move was linked to a crackdown against smugglers.
"Nearly 10,000 Syrian special forces have been deployed in the Abboudiya region along the border between Lebanon and Syria," a Lebanese Army spokesman told AFP.
Syria, a longtime powerbroker in its smaller neighbor, withdrew its troops from Lebanon in 2005 after a deployment of three decades.
Meanwhile, UN chief Ban Ki-moon has offered his full support to UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams, who downplayed the seriousness of the Syrian deployment at the Lebanese-Syrian borders.
In an interview Wednesday with the Lebanese An-Nahar newspaper, Williams said the UN intended to work to improve the situation in Lebanon and the entire Middle East.
"We have an important initiative and the developments [in the Middle East] are encouraging; we are cautiously dealing with them to realize peace and stability in the region," Williams said. During his monthly news conference on Tuesday in New York, Ban said Damascus must stop taking unilateral measures which obstruct the process of building good relations, a reference to the Syrian deployment since September 21 and the possibility that Syria might use the terrorist attacks in Tripoli as an excuse to interfere in Lebanon.
Ban also said it was crucial that both the Lebanese and Syrian presidents benefited from the positive momentum which was established with Lebanon's national-unity Cabinet, the election of a new president and the will to establish diplomatic ties between the two countries.
The UN chief said Syria had given "encouraging signals," and was welcoming international meetings on its territory.
"When we met both Lebanese and Syrian presidents they promised to achieve progress," Ban added. - AFP, with The Daily Star

Lessons for Lebanon from a fellow victim of sectarian conflict
Delegates from northern Ireland explain how they made peace
By Andrew Wander -Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 09, 2008
BEIRUT: A prominent politician who helped negotiate the historic power-sharing deal that has brought peace to Northern Ireland says foreign influence is interfering with the process of reconciliation in Lebanon. Ian Paisley Jr., a member of the Northern Ireland Legislative Assembly who helped negotiate a settlement between bitter political rivals there, told The Daily Star that reconciliation would only succeed if Lebanon were given the space to resolve its own problems.
"The biggest problem I see with Lebanon is its neighbors pulling the strings here," he said. "Lebanon needs space to resolve its issues at its own speed."
His comments came at a workshop which saw three Northern Irish politicians speak about their experiences of reconciliation and power-sharing. The event was part of a peace-building initiative sponsored by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
Speaking to workshop delegates, Paisley called for politicians to abandon overly ideological standpoints and embrace a pragmatic approach to bridging the gaps between each other's positions.
"The absolute language of politics has to move into the reality of what we have to do. Holding to absolutes isn't always the best way to go into negotiations," he said.
Paisley's Democratic Unionist Party supports maintaining Northern Ireland's ties to Britain. The party signed a power-sharing deal with its major political rival, Sinn Fein, which believes that Northern Ireland should be part of the Irish Republic to the south.
Alex Attwood of the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), a republican party with more moderate views than Sinn Fein, told the workshop that reconciliation meant putting political differences to one side. "In trying to move from a violent conflict to a non-violent conflict, you have to sit down with people who it's very difficult to sit down with," he said.
His message was backed by Alan McFarland, an Ulster Unionist Party member, who said that a lack of trust does not necessarily doom negotiations to failure. "We make peace with our enemies, not with our friends," he said. "I was talking with people who in most other countries would have been considered mass murderers. The lesson from it all is that trust doesn't come first. Trust is what you end up with."
The Northern Irish politicians had traveled to Lebanon to take part in a round of meetings with Lebanon's political leaders, including President Michel Sleiman, to talk about the ongoing national dialogue and offer advice based on their experience of bringing peace to Northern Ireland.
Wednesday's workshop was organized by the UNDP and the Westminster Foundation for Democracy (WFD), a public body funded by the British Foreign Office that aims to strengthen democracy in countries around the world.
It was attended by 50 civil society representatives, as well as Lebanese politicians and youth groups, who asked questions about the Northern Ireland peace process and ways it could be applied to Lebanon.
The politicians said there were similarities between Northern Ireland and Lebanon. "Both societies have experienced conflict and people have damaged each other," McFarland said. "Lebanon seems to have reached the point that we reached in the mid-90s, where all parties agree that achieving a peaceful solution is the only answer." But they were quick to admit that there were also major differences between the two situations. "In terms of the scale of the conflict, Ireland was far less," Attwood told the delegates. The workshop was part of UNDP's Peace Building Project, which seeks to promote reconciliation in Lebanon by encouraging civil society organizations to engage with the peace process rather than leaving it to political leaders.
According to the visitors from Northern Ireland, this is one of the keys to success. "If you leave the politics to the politicians we might not get it right," Attwood said. "You have to build in the power of the community and civic society to keep politics on the right line."
Parallels drawn between Lebanon and Northern Ireland are not new. Before the 1975-1990 Civil War in Lebanon, politicians from Northern Ireland were urged by the British to study Lebanon's confessional political system as an example of power-sharing government

Parliament puts off talks on reviving Constitutional Council
Daily Star staff/Thursday, October 09, 2008
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Parliament on Wednesday postponed talks on a draft law that calls for an extension of the deadline to appoint members to the country's Constitutional Council, whose activity has been paralyzed since 2005. Speaker Nabih Berri asked the Administration and Justice Committee to examine the draft with Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar next week. The proposal may be presented and discussed at another legislative session later in October.
Parliament convened in an ordinary session on Wednesday, in the absence of heavyweight MPs Walid Jumblatt, Michel Aoun and Saad Hariri.
According to As-Safir newspaper, MP Robert Ghanem, head of the Administration and Justice Committee, submitted a proposal to extend the deadline for submitting candidacies for membership on the Constitutional Council.
The daily said discussion of the Ghanem proposal had been expected to take up an essential part of the parliamentary debate on Wednesday, especially after Najjar submitted a draft law aiming to introduce reforms to the makeup and by-laws of the council. However, talks were postponed till next week to give the committee enough time to look into both proposals. "Reviving the Constitutional Council is a pressing matter," Berri told As-Safir in comments published Wednesday.
The Taif Accord, which put an end to Lebanon's 1975-1990 Civil War called for the establishment of a Constitutional Council to "interpret the constitution, to observe the constitutionality of the laws, and to settle disputes and contests emanating from presidential and parliamentary elections." The current council's term ended in 2005, and since then efforts have failed to form a new council. Speaking to Voice of Lebanon Radio on Wednesday, Ghanem said the proposal he submitted was aimed at speeding up the formation of the council. "Reviving the council is our main target and all other details can be discussed afterwards," he said, adding that he and Najjar shared similar views on the matter.
Ghanem said that as soon as Parliament approves the draft law he submitted, candidates would be expected to submit their documents within 15 days.
"Then Parliament would call for a session to elect five of the members of the council and the government would appoint the other five," he added.
Ghanem said he expected the formation of the Constitutional Council within two months. Also during Wednesday's session, Parliament announced that all citizens who paid overdue car-inspection and municipality fees in 2008 would be exempted from 90 percent of their late fees.
Meanwhile, the Finance and Budget Committee, headed by MP Samir Azar, is expected to hold a session on Monday to discuss a number of issues, including granting the Cabinet the right to draft legislation pertaining to customs. The Public Works, Transport, Energy and Water Committee, headed by MP Mohammed Qabbani, is also expected to convene on Monday.
Separately, Lebanese Forces (LF) leader Samir Geagea asked former Minister Suleiman Franjieh on Wednesday to "speed up the holding of a meeting ... to ease tensions in the North." Speaking after a meeting with MP Jawad Boulos, Geagea said: "Any delay in holding this meeting might worsen the situation and result in dramatic developments."
The prospective meeting between Geagea and Franjieh falls within an initiative launched by the Maronite League to broker inter-Christian reconciliation, especially after a clash in the Northern town of Bsarma on September 17, which led to the death of two people.
The LF leader also accused some politicians and their "media outlets" of disregarding Taif Accord by what he called their "rejection of reconciliation and civil peace.""What country will we build if some politicians and their media outlets continue to live in a state of war?" he asked.
Geagea said that he was expecting a meeting between him and Franjieh to be held early this week and that he was informed by Maronite League head Joseph Tarabay that the latter was still discussing the date with the Marada Movement. Also on Wednesday, the Central News Agency (CNA) reported that a joint Future Movement-Hizbullah security committee meeting would be held at the Helou Internal Security Forces Barracks in the Beirut neighborhood of Mar Elias in the coming days. The CNA quoted Future Movement sources as saying that the meeting would discuss the second phase of the campaign to remove political banners and posters from the streets of Beirut, including the airport highway. The sources said that the 99 percent of political posters and banners in the capital had already been taken down. The sources added the Future Movement had "fully abided by the agreement reached between the two parties in the first phase of the campaign." - The Daily Star

LAF officers to visit Pentagon for talks on aid - newspaper
Daily Star staff/Thursday, October 09, 2008
BEIRUT: A high-ranking Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) delegation is expected to head to the Pentagon next week to set a training, equipping and arming timetable, according to a report published by pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Wednesday. The delegation's expected trip comes just days after US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State David Hale flew in to Beirut with pledges to provide Lebanon with its "security needs to enable it to protect its lands and people."
On Monday Lebanon and the US signed three military contracts worth $63 million in US grants to the LAF. The grants are aimed at providing the Lebanese Army with secure communications, ammunition and infantry weapons.
Beirut and Washington also set up a joint military commission in charge of organizing their bilateral military relationship.
"We discussed with [President Michel Sleiman] military cooperation between Lebanon and the US in light of the recent meeting at the Defense Ministry in the presence of a joint military commission," Hale said, referring to the Monday meeting between Defense Minister Elias Murr and US Assistant Secretary of Defense for International Security Affairs Mary Beth Long. "It is the first time that Lebanon and the US agree on this kind of cooperation," he said. "It is a new kind of long-term cooperation which includes a form of military partnership aimed at facing mutual challenges in fighting terrorism, which is undermining stability in Lebanon."
"We also assured the president that US policy toward Lebanon has not changed ... The US supports a free, sovereign and independent Lebanon which stays away from any form of foreign intervention," the US official added. Separately, the LAF's commander, General Jean Kahwaji, said that the "latest explosion in Tripoli is a flagrant attempt to strike a blow against the security and stability of the nation."
The Tripoli bus bombing last Monday claimed the lives of four soldiers and three civilians.
In a speech for veterans at the LAF headquarters in Yarze on Wednesday, Kahwaji said that the "attack was intended to undermine internal unity, confuse the army and weaken its domestic role."However, he added that "the army that succeeded, shoulder to shoulder with the people and the resistance, against Israeli attacks in the summer 2006 war, uprooted terrorism at Nahr al-Bared, and safeguarded peace in the nation's darkest moments will not retreat in the face of sporadic disturbances that are taking place here and there." - The Daily Star

Why should three men keep 4 million Lebanese in limbo?
By Marc J. Sirois /Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 09, 2008
First person by Marc J. Sirois
The year is 2008, Lebanon is perched precariously between cautious "reconciliations" and a host of threats to its very existence, and the biggest political obstacle to domestic accord is a three-way feud that has been under way, on some levels, since the 1970s. The rest of the world has changed a lot since that time. The Soviet Union collapsed, and now a resurgent Russia is reclaiming some of its former vigor. China had a brush with its own counter-communist revolution at Tiananmen Square, then remodeled itself as a capitalist economy without all those troublesome personal freedoms. Iran has seen a revolution, a long war with Iraq, a two-term presidency that failed to deliver on promised reforms, and now the possible return of the man who made those promises, Mohammad Khatami.
The rest of the world changes, but not Lebanon. This country is still held hostage to the ambitions and egos of three men: Michel Aoun, Samir Geagea and Suleiman Franjieh. The merits (or lack thereof) of their respective political "philosophies" are not relevant here (if they are anywhere). All that matters is that the relationships among them largely define the condition of Lebanon's Maronite community, and therefore that of all the country's Christian sects. Keeping in mind that basically half of everything in this land is reserved for Christians, this means that the fate of Lebanon as a whole is inextricably tied to a struggle for power and influence among three men of highly questionable credentials.
In the short term, this cannot help but to have a disruptive effect on national stability. Lebanon's leading Druze, Shia and Sunni parties have made good progress on settling (or at least papering over) their differences - even to the extent of having already determined, for all intents and purposes, the outcomes in their respective communities of the parliamentary elections scheduled to be held in 2009. Not so the parties of Messrs. Aoun, Geagea and Franjieh, and not because the Christian community is more diverse politically than any of the Muslim sects (it might well be, but few of those ideas have filtered up to the folks with real power yet). No, the Christians are divided because of the personal enmities among these three.
Incidentally, former President Amin Gemayel should not feel slighted at being left off such lists; quite the contrary, he should take it as a salute to the wisdom and moderation with which he has comported himself since the assassination of his son, Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, in November 2006. Others in his position (or even a younger version of the former president himself) might have dived right back into the fray. He has not, and while that might cost his clan some of its stature in the traditional sense, it will do wonders for his legacy - and perhaps for his country - if he sticks to his proverbial guns by not returning to the actual variety.
The immediate impact of the Aoun-Geagea-Franjieh round-robin is to prevent a comprehensive thaw between the March 8 and March 14 camps now sharing most of the power in what is described as a "government of national unity." Left unresolved in the coming months, it might also lead to the 2009 elections' being postponed, to an irrevocable split between Geagea's Lebanese Forces and the rest of March 14, and/or to political violence between two or more parties (some of which, this being Lebanon, might never be identified). And even if the elections are held in a timely fashion, it is a virtual certainty that the losers among the Maronites will contend that their loss is that of all Lebanese Christians because the successful candidates will have been elected primarily because of Muslim votes, denying Christians "genuine" representation in Parliament.
Hogwash. Perhaps the most important contribution of the Butros Commission that drafted a new electoral law for Lebanon (which the current MPs have gutted to preserve the status quo) was a call to have more ballots cast across sectarian lines, not less. The nation's collective procession - from where Lebanon is now to where it must get to be called a "democracy" without eliciting both polite smiles and pained grimaces - has to start somewhere. Why not a mechanism that gets more voters into the habit of examining candidates on criteria other than those relating to sectarian affiliations?
It is easy to see why politicians who currently hold elected office - and those who hold the deeds to their political viability - want nothing to do with changes that would threaten the makeup and practices of the status quo. There is a self-perpetuating function of the existing system that even works to prevent the emergence of new political forces centered on ideas and principles rather than feudal identities and cults of personality. This explains a large part of the Lebanese public's failure thus far to abandon the perennial standard-bearers of their respective clans, faiths, and/or tribes.
What will shake a critical mass of private citizens - in this case Christians, but the Muslims could well be next - out of their torpor? If it has to be an election that is decided primarily by fratricide, one in which competing versions of the same tired slogans cancel each other out and open a lane for someone determined to bring about real change, why not? If the result is the turning out of a large portion of Lebanon's political class, so much the better: They could use a strong dose of the disillusionment that the great majority of their compatriots face each and every day.
*Marc J. Sirois is managing editor of THE DAILY STAR. His email address is marc.sirois@dailystar.com.lb.

The ultimate caretaker of Lebanese democracy is still flat on its back
By The Daily Star
Thursday, October 09, 2008
Editorial
Much effort has gone into ending the power struggle that brought the Lebanese state to a virtual standstill between November 2006 and this past May. Only now, however, is Lebanon's political class even thinking about getting to grips with an even bigger problem, one that has contributed to both the aforementioned crisis and a host of smaller (albeit collectively just as damaging) logjams: the complete paralysis of the Constitutional Council since 2005.
The council's basic purpose (notwithstanding the limitations imposed on it by amendments to the Constitution as part of the Taif Accord that ended the 1975-1990 Civil War) is to adjudicate in disputes like those over the constitutionality of legislation and the respective powers of different branches of the state. Such functions are essential to the smooth running of any system of governance, but their purpose is especially necessary for a flawed model like Lebanon's - and particularly so when the country is passing through a period of prolonged instability.
Sadly, it is not just poor statecraft that has left Lebanon without a Constitutional Council for three years. The fact of the matter is that most of this country's politicians have no desire to see the body up and running because it threatens to impose the one thing that threatens most to weaken their grip on power, or at least narrow the prerogatives that allow them to use their positions for personal gain and various other illegitimate activities: the rule of law.
There are viable arguments for and against various hallmarks of liberal democracy, but not when it comes to the need for independent courts - at all levels - designed to ensure that the humblest citizen has at least one avenue of recourse if and when he or she comes into conflict with wealthier and/or better-connected individuals or groups thereof, including the state itself. Nonetheless, some current and former Lebanese MPs are actually on record as denying the desirability of an independent judiciary. And whatever their public positions, the continuing prostration of the Constitutional Council, the ultimate symbol of judicial independence, signals quite clearly where members of the political class stand in reality.
From minor daily issues to historic questions of national import, no body is more important to Lebanon's democratic aspirations than the Constitutional Council. So long as it remains inactive, the nuts and bolts of day-to-day interaction between the citizens and the state will remain at the mercy of those who abuse their positions, the hoped-for establishment of an independent commission to oversee elections will remain a fantasy, and the Constitution itself will remain a dead letter. And make no mistake: Whatever his or her individual leaning, no politician who does not call for the reactivation of the council can rightly be said to be acting in the interests of his or her constituents

Lebanon's smell of victory, next time
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, October 09, 2008
So, Israel's strategy the next time it enters into a war with Hizbullah is to destroy much more of Lebanon than it destroyed in 2006. The plan is deeply cynical, its justification thoroughly dishonest, but Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Hizbullah's secretary general, will not be able to reply that he didn't expect what happened, before apologizing to us afterward.
In an interview with the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot last week, the head of Israel's Northern Command, Major General Gadi Eisenkot, had this to say: "What happened in the [southern suburbs] of Beirut in 2006 will happen in every village from which Israel is fired on." What Eisenkot meant was that if Hizbullah fired off its rockets from villages, instead of trying to prevent the launches Israel would simply flatten these villages. This strategy of "disproportionate" force could well be accompanied by a widening of the scope of Israeli retaliation against Lebanon, targeting the country's infrastructure. A former head of Israel's National Security Council, Giora Eiland, has argued in favor of this, and wrote recently: "A legitimate government runs Lebanon, supported by the West, but it is in fact entirely subordinate to the will of the Shiite organization."
It poses problems to argue that Eiland doesn't know what he's talking about, that Hizbullah, while powerful, must contend with a majority in Lebanon that deeply mistrusts it, therefore that the Lebanese government is not "entirely subordinated" to Hizbullah's will. Why? This might imply that Israel is free to ravage Hizbullah and the Shiite community at will, but should not extend this to other Lebanese. That is, of course, not what a rebuttal of Eiland necessarily implies. However, beyond the humanitarian argument, indiscriminate Israeli retaliation against both Hizbullah and its enemies could unite the Lebanese momentarily against Israel, or more worryingly, and more likely, could spark a new civil war. This, Israel would not particularly mind, as it would occupy Hizbullah in a bestial internal conflict that could ultimately grind the party down, as the previous Lebanese Civil War did the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Eiland made his case in the context of a domestic Israeli debate, so his ideas might or might not be implemented by the government in case of any new confrontation. Much would depend on what the United States says and does. But Eisenkot's massive retaliation plan - and he underlined it was a plan, not a proposal - is belated recognition that Israel's only effective weapon against Hizbullah is to poison the well of Shiite support for the party. By imposing a balance of terror in their favor, the Israelis calculate they will be able to deter Hizbullah, but also justify before the international community harsh reprisals if the party fires first.
Still, Eisenkot's statements left several things vague. What happens if Hizbullah fires longer-range missiles at Tel Aviv and beyond? In whose favor would the balance of terror be then? What would the Israelis destroy in response? An effective policy of deterrence implies leaving oneself a range of escalating options, so that for example if Israel were to react with massive destruction of Lebanon early on in a war, it might risk leaving itself with few viable options to hit even harder at later stages if Hizbullah itself decided to escalate. And since the party's longer-range missiles are in every way Iranian missiles, and would probably be fired far from the front lines in the South, meaning near the Syrian border, would that mean that Israel transforms the conflict into a regional one?
And what about Syria in Israel's plan? In their fervor to hold the Lebanese government responsible for whatever Hizbullah does, many Israelis never mention that the party in the past two years has been able to rearm thanks to weapons transiting through Syria. They never mention, in justifying their negotiations with Syria, that Hizbullah became a powerful military force during the years when Syria controlled Lebanon. They never mention that President Bashar Assad has time and again made it clear that he has no intention of breaking with Iran over Hizbullah (or anything else), and that such a step would be inexplicable anyway as it would deny Syria the military leverage the party provides it over Israel.
As Israel's armed forces destroy Lebanon's towns and villages, as well as quite possibly its electricity, road, and water infrastructure, what will they do against a regime in Damascus far more responsible for allowing Hizbullah to be what it is than the Lebanese state, which Eiland implicitly points out is too weak to contain the party? If the answer is "nothing," and Syria is to be left alone, then we get the message: For the umpteenth time Lebanese blood will serve as currency in Syrian-Israeli bargaining.
News reports on Wednesday suggested that Hizbullah is still very much eager to avenge the assassination of Imad Mughniyeh, and that Nasrallah had said as much at a party meeting, before this was leaked to the daily Al-Akhbar. The news item came only days after the Hizbullah commander in the South, Sheikh Nabil Qaouq, called Israel "a cardboard state that will be destroyed by the resistance fighters." Earlier, Qaouq had promised to liberate the Shebaa Farms by force, because diplomacy had failed. That this coincided with signs that diplomacy appeared to be on the verge of liberating occupied Ghajar was hardly fortuitous.
Even hundreds of tons of Israeli cardboard landing on Lebanese heads could cause quite a bit of damage, so Qaouq's bravado smelled like hubris. Neither Israel nor Hizbullah must relish a new round of fighting just yet, which is perhaps why the rhetoric on each side has escalated. But allow a doubt. In the destruction game Israel is capable of much more than the brash Hizbullah, and this time far more capable of confirming that whatever victory the party might subsequently declare, it would look vain indeed while we all stand in the midst of a smoldering wasteland.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.