LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 08/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18,15-20. If your brother sins (against you), go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he listens to you, you have won over your brother. If he does not listen, take one or two others along with you, so that 'every fact may be established on the testimony of two or three witnesses.' If he refuses to listen to them, tell the church. If he refuses to listen even to the church, then treat him as you would a Gentile or a tax collector. Amen, I say to you, whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again, (amen,) I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything for which they are to pray, it shall be granted to them by my heavenly Father. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them."

Saint John Chrysostom (c.345-407), Bishop of Antioch then of Constantinople, Doctor of the Church
Homily 8 on the Epistle to the Romans, 8; PG 60, 464-466/"There am I in the midst of them."
If I tell you to imitate the apostle Paul, this is not to tell you: Raise the dead or cure lepers. Go further: have charity. Have the same love that animated Saint Paul since this virtue is far superior to the power to work miracles. Where there is charity, there God the Son reigns together with his Father and the Holy Spirit. It was he who said: «Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.» Loving to meet together is the nature of a love that is as strong as it is genuine.
Are there people so wretched, you will say, as not to desire to have Christ in their midst? Yes, we ourselves, my children. We cast him away from us when we are at enmity with one another. You will say to me: What are you talking about? Can't you see that we have assembled in his name, all together under the same roof, within the walls of the same church, paying heed to the voice of our pastor? There is not the least dissension among us in the unity of our songs and prayers, listening together to our pastor. Where is the discord? Yes, I know we are within the same fold, under the same pastor. I weep all the more bitterly about it... For if you are peaceful and untroubled at the moment yet, when you leave the church, this one is criticizing that one; one publicly insults another; one is consumed by envy, jealousy or avarice; another ponders revenge; yet another sensuality, duplicity or fraud... Show respect, then, show respect to this holy table where we all receive communion together; show respect for Christ immolated on our behalf; show respect for the sacrifice offered on this altar in our midst.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
The Rehabilitation of Bashar Assad. By: P. David Hornik 07/09/08
Manuela Paraipan: My Interview with Lebanese MP. Walid Jumblat 07/09/08
Qaeda, Hezbollah working together in Africa / Iranian Special Forces in Beirut. By: W. Thomas Smith Jr 07/09/08
Appeasing Canada’s Islamists. By Kathy Shaidle 07/09/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 07/08-Naharnet
Sfeir Calls for Solidarity to Safeguard Lebanon against Catastrophes -Naharnet
Najjar: Assad's Style Targeted the dignity of Lebanon's leaders-Naharnet
Dissecting the media coverage of the "Sujud incident"-Menassat
Hariri Meets Eid in Sunni-Alawite Reconciliation Initiative -Naharnet
Jouzou: Making Peace with Israel Rescues Syria form Hariri Tribunal -Naharnet
Hizbullah Reportedly Scrutinizing Facebook to Learn About Israeli Soldiers -Naharnet
Sfeir Calls for Solidarity to Safeguard Lebanon against Catastrophes -Naharnet
Israel Seizes Heroin Near Lebanon border-Naharnet
Hariri to Alawites: We Will Not Allow Anyone to Damage Your Security-Naharnet
Geagea to Supporters: 'Be Ready at All Times ... Government is Not Yet Stable-Naharnet
Shahhal Pays Tribute to Army Command, Criticizes Assad, Hizbullah-Naharnet
Jumblat Warns Against Sunni-Shiite Conflict-Naharnet
Miqati: Reconciliation Efforts Underway in Tripoli-Naharnet
Israeli police seize 55 kilograms of heroin smuggled from Lebanon-The Canadian Press
Al-Jazeera Celebrates Al-Kuntar's Release.By: MEMRI
Syria Floats Israel Talks. CNN

Sfeir Calls for Solidarity to Safeguard Lebanon against Catastrophes
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir on Sunday called for solidarity among the various factions to safeguard Lebanon against catastrophes that could happen."The speeches and stances we hear are not assuring," he said during his Sunday sermon.

Russia Supplies Weapons To Hezbollah
Sunday, September 07, 2008 on IsraCast.com
Hezbollah Terrorists
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney says that Russia is selling advanced weapons to the regimes in Syria and Iran knowing well that some of the Russian weapons are being channeled to terrorist fighters in Lebanon and Iraq. Cheney states that Russian arms-dealing endangers the possibility for peace and freedom in the Middle East. Speaking at global conference of political and business leaders in Cernobbio, Italy, Cheney said that 'Russian arms dealing in the Middle East has endangered the prospects for peace and freedom in the region.'
He also faulted Russia for invading the former Soviet republic, killing civilians and displacing thousands of Georgians.
Cheney went on to say: 'This chain of aggressive moves and diplomatic reversals has only intensified the concern that many have about Russia's larger objectives. For brutality against a neighbor is simply the latest in a succession of troublesome and unhelpful actions by the Russian government.''The United States and many in Europe have made clear that Russia's actions are an affront to civilized standards and are completely unacceptable. Differing views on the status of these two areas, within the sovereign borders of the Georgian democracy, cannot justify a sudden and violent incursion by Russia, this much, at a minimum, should be understood by all people of good will in the year 2008.'
- IsraCast, Jerusalem

Hizbullah Reportedly Scrutinizing Facebook to Learn About Israeli Soldiers
Naharnet/Hizbullah has reportedly begun using Facebook to learn more about Israeli soldiers, who are potential targets for kidnapping.
The report by Yeshiva World News said Israeli intelligence officials fear that soldiers may "unintentionally arrange to meet an internet companion, but in essence, may be rendezvousing with a terrorist." It said Israeli Defense Forces have undertaken an aggressive awareness campaign for soldiers, instructing them to be careful regarding what information they may reveal. The website quoted a military intelligence official as explaining that Facebook has "become a major resource for terrorists, seeking to gather information on soldiers and IDF units."Other concerns, according to Yeshiva World News, include meetings arranged via Facebook in which Israeli soldiers remain unaware of the true identity of Hizbullah fighters, becoming friends and then slowly revealing classified information that will be used to harm soldiers in the future.It said that one soldier serving with an intelligence unit was sentenced to 19 days in a military jail for posting a photo of his base on Facebook. Beirut, 07 Sep 08, 07:09

Jouzou: Making Peace with Israel Rescues Syria form Hariri Tribunal
Naharnet/Mount Lebanon Mufti sheikh Mohammed Ali Jouzou on Sunday attacked Syrian President Bashar Assad for saying that the Lebanon situation remains fragile because certain states back fundamentalism. "It's not Presidenet Bashar al-Assad's right to talk about terrorism in Tripoli and the north when he is the prime exporter of terrorism and still takes part in killing and assassinations and attacks against Lebanese civilians via his supporters in the south and the north and in Beirut and the mountains and the Bekaa," Jouzou said in a statement issued Sunday. "The Syrian president has forgotten that he left Lebanon due to the assassination of Premier Rafik Hariri … and that the era of (Syrian) tutelage was full of blood, destruction, killings, assassinations, turmoil and terrorism," Jouzou added.
"There is a long history of acts of terrorism on our territory during the (Lebanese) civil war; and Tripoli witnessed black days behind which Syrian intelligence stand.
He accused Assad of trying to get away with the tribunal to try suspects in the Feb. 2005 assassination of Hariri that was blamed on Syria. Syria has denied involvement in the killing. "Syria today wants to get away with accusations by any means. This is why it is throwing itself into Israel's arms … thinking that it would save its head from the tribunal by making peace with Israel," Jouzou said. Beirut, 07 Sep 08, 13:21

Hariri Meets Eid in Sunni-Alawite Reconciliation Initiative
Naharnet/Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, on a mission to reconcile between Sunnis and Alawites in north Lebanon's city of Tripoli, met early Sunday head of the Arab Democratic Party Ali Eid. The daily An Nahar on Sunday said the meeting took place under the auspices of Tripoli Mufti sheikh Malik al-Shaar.
Al-Shaar said an agreement has been reached in principle on consolidation of peace, elimination of armed presence in the north and the return of displaced people.
He told An Nahar that the final reconciliatory deal, which is to be sponsored by Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, will be presented to the various sides on Sunday.
The early morning meeting followed a day of talks between Hariri and Tripoli officials. Hariri on Saturday stretched a hand to the Alawites in north Lebanon and vowed not to let anyone damage their security. Addressing the Alawite community, Hariri said: "We are both Lebanese and we will not allow anyone to tamper with us." "I will do everything I can in order not the let anyone damage the Alawites' security in Tripoli and to foil any external plot to tamper with the security of the Alawites or the security of Tripoli," Hariri told an Iftar dinner in Tripoli. He pledged to be the primary "backup" force of the Lebanese army in their effort to "protect Tripoli." "Tripoli is targeted and we will stand beside it to confront the evil," Hariri vowed. Tripoli has been the scene of a spate of deadly clashes since May between Sunnis and rivals from the Alawite community who support Hizbullah. In June and July, 23 people were killed in battles between the two sides.
There has been tension between the two communities ever since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam and straddle the border into Syria whose President Bashar al-Assad is a follower of the faith. Beirut, 07 Sep 08, 08:11

Hariri to Alawites: We Will Not Allow Anyone to Damage Your Security
Naharnet/Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri on Saturday stretched a hand to the Alawites in north Lebanon and vowed not to let anyone damage their security. Addressing the Alawite community, Hariri said: "We are both Lebanese and we will not allow anyone to tamper with us."
"I will do everything I can in order not the let anyone damage the Alawites' security in Tripoli and to foil any external plot to tamper with the security of the Alawites or the security of Tripoli," Hariri told an Iftar dinner in the port city of Tripoli. He pledged to be the primary "backup" force of the Lebanese army in their effort to "protect Tripoli." "Tripoli is targeted and we will stand beside it to confront the evil," Hariri vowed. Tripoli has been the scene of a spate of deadly clashes since May between Sunnis and rivals from the Alawite community who support Hizbullah. In June and July, 23 people were killed in battles between the two sides.
There has been tension between the two communities ever since Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war. Alawites are an offshoot of Shiite Islam and straddle the border into Syria whose President Bashar al-Assad is a follower of the faith.
Hariri arrived in Tripoli Saturday morning for talks with leaders of north Lebanon aimed at launching development projects and facilitating stability.
Hariri met representatives of Tripoli and the provinces of Dinniyeh, Minyeh and Akkar in an effort to tackle challenges facing north Lebanon.
The visit came a few hours after Hariri hit back at Syrian President Bashar Assad saying the side that "exports terror to north Lebanon has no right to fear the spread of fundamentalism in Lebanon."He urged the Lebanese people, the Arab League and the international community to guard against attempts by Syria to make a comeback to Lebanon. Hariri made the remark in an Iftar banquet at his Beirut residence.
"Lebanon faces a variety of threats. We have lately heard someone saying the situation in Lebanon remains fragile and no settlement is available for Lebanon before solving the crisis of fundamentalism," Hariri said in reference to a statement made by Assad. "We say the side that exports terror to north Lebanon has no right to fear the spread of fundamentalism in Lebanon," Hariri added. The Lebanese people, Hariri said, "realize who exported Fatah al-Islam to Nahr al-Bared and north Lebanon and know very well who organizes and finances terrorist activities." "Lebanon is a sovereign and independent Arab state and no one has the right … to treat Lebanon as a non mature state," Hariri said. Beirut, 06 Sep 08, 20:20

Israel Seizes Heroin Near Lebanon border
Naharnet/Israeli security forces have seized a large shipment of heroin and cash near the Lebanese border in an overnight raid on Saturday.
In a joint operation targeting a local smuggling network, army and police forces seized around 55 kilos (120 pounds) of heroin and 650,000 dollars (450,000 euros) in cash, Israeli police spokesman Eran Shaked told AFP. Three Bedouin from southern Israel were arrested in the raid, which took place near the town of Biranit along the Lebanon border. The rugged frontier between the two longtime foes has long been a conduit for drug smuggling despite the heavy Israeli military presence there. On August 18 Israeli police found some 22 kilos (more than 48 pounds) of heroin and cocaine in a raid near the town of Sasa, also near the border.(AFP)
Beirut, 07 Sep 08, 11:01

Geagea to Supporters: 'Be Ready at All Times ... Government is Not Yet Stable
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Saturday called on his supporters to "be ready at all times" because the Lebanese government "is not yet stable." "Do not rest because our march as Lebanese Forces has just begun," Geagea addressed his supporters during a meeting of cadres from his party in the northern town of Bshari. He said that following the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon in 2005, the Lebanese Forces "came out of the bunkers."
"Yet, this does not mean that we have reached our desired goal," Geagea stressed. "Our road is clear and wide, but it requires a lot of effort and hard work and we have to be ready at all times," Geagea said. "Our march is still at the beginning and we need to do our utmost because the Lebanese government is not yet stable," he added. "All our efforts at the time being are focused on building the Lebanese state," Geagea concluded. Beirut, 06 Sep 08, 15:39

Shahhal Pays Tribute to Army Command, Criticizes Assad, Hizbullah
Naharnet/The highest Salaphi cleric in Lebanon, Dai al-Islam al-Shahhal, on Saturday paid tribute to the Army command and reiterated a call to "avoid falling into the trap of conflict with the military establishment." Shahhal made the announcement during a press conference at his office in the northern city of Tripoli,, text of which was distributed by the state-run National News Agency (NNA). "We highly value the communiqué released by the army command, which outlined the army's neutrality," Shahhal said. "We call on the army to maintain this role of total neutrality … in line with decisions of the legitimate authorities to safeguard security," he added. "We support whatever achieves stability and security," he declared. Shahhal criticized Syrian President Bashar Assad for accusing the Salaphis of fundamentalism and terrorism in the north. "They speak of fundamentalism and chaos to cover up their ambition in returning to Lebanon," Shahhal said of the Syrian regime. He also criticized the self-styled "resistance fighters in Lebanon" in reference to Hizbullah and allies for avoiding comment on Syria's indirect talks with Israel.
"Our history is clean and bright. We've never been involved in politics or competition on powers and we've never been involved with militias," the bearded clergy said. "Defending our country remains on top of our agenda," he declared. Beirut, 06 Sep 08, 14:35

Jumblat Warns Against Sunni-Shiite Conflict
Naharnet/Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat warned that breaking out of a Sunni-Shiite conflict would provide Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime with a "pretext to intervene in Lebanon." Jumblat, in an interview with the Saudi newspaper Okaz, criticized Damascus for refusing to provide Lebanon with a document recognizing Lebanese sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms region. He also rejected proposals for Lebanese-Israeli peace talks saying the "relations between the state of Lebanon and the state of Israel are governed by the 1949 armistice accord."He said Lebanon should not go into talks with Israel before the creation of a "viable" Palestinian state and "until Israel accepts the right of the Palestinian refugees to return" to their pre-Israel Palestine in line with U.N. General Assembly resolution 194 of 1948. Jumblat voiced "concern" because of the delay in launching the international tribunal that would try suspects in the 2005 assassination of ex-Premier Rafik Hariri and related crimes. He called for "reconciliation in the north," emphasizing on "importance of assigning the army to crack down on all troublemakers." Beirut, 06 Sep 08, 14:07

Miqati: Reconciliation Efforts Underway in Tripoli
Naharnet/Ex-Premier Najib Miqati said Saturday serious efforts were underway to work out reconciliation between the various factions in the northern city of Tripoli. Miqati's remarks coincided with the arrival in Tripoli of Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri for talks with leaders of north Lebanon.
"Today, field measures are being implemented," Miqati said. He did not disclose the nature of such steps, however. "We have no other resort but the state. The state has to provide protection for its citizens and provide them with their basic needs," he noted. Beirut, 06 Sep 08, 13:49

MP Nicola: Aoun is Lebanon's Safety Pin
Naharnet/MP Nabil Nicola on Saturday said his leader Michel Aoun is the "safety pin … that prevents the partitioning of Lebanon." Nicola, a member of Aoun's Change and Reform Bloc, made the remark in a television interview. In answering a question about his comment on Syrian President Bashar Assad's remarks on Lebanon, Nicola said: "I am not committed by words coming from the outside (across the border), even if they were the words of the Syrian president."
"Assad's statement could be an advice, and advices are accepted by brothers," Nicola added. He declared support for the ongoing visit to Tripoli by Mustaqbal Movement leader Saad Hariri, expressing "hope it would lead to calm and thorough reconciliation." Beirut, 06 Sep 08, 12:13

Hezbollah exhibit hails 'martyr'
By Alexandra Sandels in Nabatiyeh, South Lebanon
Moughniyah's rifle on display with a Hezbollah flag reading "the Islamic resistance in Lebanon" in the background [SANDELS]
In a large car park in Lebanon's southern city of Nabatiyeh, schoolchildren are spending the first days of Ramadan examining the remains of a captured Israeli Merkava tank. A plume of artificial smoke surrounds it every few minutes, mimicking battlefield explosions.
Surrounding the tank are the personal belongings of Imad Moughniyah, a Hezbollah military commander killed in a car bombing in Damascus in February.
Hezbollah blamed his death on an Israeli operation.
"These are the clothes he was wearing when he was murdered. There are still blood stains on them if you look closely. They have not been washed," Ali Yasseen, the curator at the Al-Imad: The Leader of the Two Victories exhibit, tells a group of curious onlookers.
Once nicknamed 'the Fox' or 'Abu-Dokhan' (the smoke-bearer) by some for his ability to elude capture, Moughniyah was included on the most wanted lists in the United States and Israel for allegedly spearheading a series of attacks in the 1980s and 1990s, including the abduction of Western hostages in Lebanon and a plane hijacking.
"It personalises Hajj Imad (Moughniyah) and gives a pure picture of the destroyed (Israeli) army in South Lebanon. His strengths and abilities are shown in the different parts to the exhibition. It is an artistic way of showing how he defended our country," Emad Awada, the manager of the exhibition, told Al Jazeera.
The exhibition, inaugurated in July, commemorates the two-year anniversary of the 2006 summer war with Israel and is a special tribute to the group's military chief.
Crossing the 'victory bridge'
A fake skeleton at the exhibit is a haunting reminder of the war [SANDELS]
At the entrance of the exhibit, visitors are greeted by a row of Hezbollah's green and yellow flags and a giant olive cap of the type worn by Moughniyah in battles. Visitors then cross the 'victory bridge' decorated with captured Israeli battle equipment and artillery shells painted in gold.
"This is called the 'Square of the Defeat'," says Yasseen, as loudspeakers carry revolutionary anthems intermixed with recorded gunfire.
Charred remains of Israeli tanks, artillery equipment, and scattered military boots, helmets and army badges line the route visitors take. A fake skeleton in Israeli army uniform glares out of its coffin at visitors.
It lies in the shadow of the remains of an Israeli helicopter that was shot down in 2006.
"Look at the letters engraved here. It says it is from the Israeli army," continues the curator and points towards a piece of artillery with Hebrew letters written on it.
At the 'Era of Victory' exhibit, several glass monitors house the wills of the 'martyred' combatants and one monitor is filled with cameras and video taping equipment belonging to combat photographers who died in battle.
Next to a sprinkling fountain and inside a glass bunker lie the black pants, the brown leather shoes, raincoat, and chequered scarf Moughniyah wore when he was assassinated in Syria.
At the end of the exhibit, visitors are greeted by a well-stocked souvenir shop where Moughniyah memorabilia such as posters, caps, and key rings are available for purchase.
The crowds
Whether it is viewed as a symbolic venue or a kitschy war-like theme park to others, the exhibit has managed to attract the crowds.
Awada says that between 10,000 to 15,000 people visits the exhibition every day.
"On the first day of Ramadan alone we had 25,000 visitors," he added.
One of them is 19-year-old Esra'a who said she wanted to visit the exhibition to learn more about Moughniyah's role in "defending her country".
"I came here to see what has happened. To see what Israel has done to my country. Martyr Imad Moughniyah has taught us many beautiful things. He is the right person. He has led us to live in freedom," she told Al Jazeera.
Dani El-Ali, a Lebanese woman living in Saudi Arabia, toured the exhibition with her three children.
"I never knew much about Moughniyah, but when he died I realised how important he was. He is the leader who protected my land and made me come back to it," she said
House of the spider
In the summer of 2007, Hezbollah hosted the commemorative museum exhibit of the 2006 war; 'The House of the Spider' (Beit Al-Ankabut) exhibit was held in the south Beirut district of Dahiye, one of the hardest-hit during the conflict.
A year later, the same team of architects and engineers behind ‘The Spider’s House’ came together for the ‘Al-Imad’ exposition.
“A team of 290 people worked on the project. We planned it all in one day only and it took 20 days to put the exhibit together. They worked from early morning to late night. This time required more preparations and more work," Awada said.
"We use this exhibition as a portrayal of the victory to the rest of the world."

Appeasing Canada’s Islamists
By Kathy Shaidle
FrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, September 05, 2008
With a Canadian federal election rumored for next month, the nation’s myriad ethnic voting blocks are preparing to wield their well-known power. Politicians of all parties pander shamelessly to these groups in the name of “multiculturalism,” and Canada’s self-appointed Muslim representatives know this all too well.
For now, they make up less than 3% of Canada’s population, but since 9/11, Muslims have leveraged political correctness and imaginary “Islamophobia” to position themselves as a victim group worth courting – or else.
One Canadian political blog uncovered an article in a recent newsletter for the Canadian Islamic Congress (CIC), the same group suing author Mark Steyn for “flagrant Islamophobia” and which supported the abortive attempt to introduce Sharia law to Canada.
The article advised Muslim voters that the “proper approach to selecting the best candidate is through conducting an ‘issue-based evaluation’ rooted in Muslim values” like peace and tolerance.
However, the blog found the rest of the article troubling, explaining:
...they don't care about the ordinary Canadian or what is best for the country, they only care about increasing their power in the name of Islam.
Prior to the 2004 elections the Canadian Islamic Congress issued a report to their members telling them how to vote. They had compiled census data from Statistics Canada and realized that they could influence 101 ridings. They created a scorecard for every Federal MP based upon things like their attitudes on terrorism and Islam. Mark Steyn wrote at that time that "the very same plaintiffs suing over my analysis of the political consequences of Muslim demographics in the west themselves make explicit use of Muslim demographics to further their political goals" and here they are doing it again.
If this seems harsh, this blog may have reason to be concerned. Recently, one of its regular contributors went “undercover” to a meeting about “fighting Islamophobia” at a British Columbia mosque that brought together CIC President Mohammed Elmasry (who famously opined on national television that all Israeli citizens over age 18 were legitimate targets for terrorism), his protégé (and chief Mark Steyn persecutor) Khurram Awan, plus an author notorious for his anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
The speakers detailed their plans to intimidate Canada’s supposedly “Jewish” owned and operated media, using, among other tools, the country’s broken and corrupt Human Rights Commissions.
By now, people around the world have heard about how radical Muslims are already using these Human Rights Commissions to harass the likes of Mark Steyn and Ezra Levant (who reprinted the so-called Danish Mohammed cartoons and spent over $100,000 defending himself in these “kangaroo courts.”)
Other similar stories don’t get the same attention, however. One in particular has passed completely below the radar, and that’s unfortunate because it demonstrates admirable anti-dhimmitude by, of all people, the administration at a left wing Quebec university.
According to a little-known Christian news blog:
A group of Muslim students at McGill University in Montreal has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission, because they don’t have a designated “prayer space” on the university campus. McGill’s Deputy Provost for Student Life and Learning, Morton Mendelson, says religious groups are welcome to use unoccupied classrooms or set up in buildings adjacent to campus, but because it is a secular institution, the University will not provide permanent rooms for something like this.
Despite growing awareness and outrage about radical Islam’s use and abuse of the Human Rights Commissions, this story has been ignored by the mainstream media, except for a few lines in a recent CanWest wire story celebrating Canada’s increasingly “diverse” campuses.
Likewise, news of Halifax, Nova Scotia Muslims’ demands for “reasonable accommodation” in the construction of a new public swimming pool was reported by U.S. and European outlets, but in Canada, it only garnered a single story in a local paper.
(Perhaps radical Muslims will have to cancel their campaign to intimidate the nation’s “Jewish” owned media. It’s possible that the media has already gotten the message, loud and clear.)
The new Mainland Common Center’s pool area is set to feature large windows, but Muslim women object on the grounds that the design offends Islamic rules about modesty.
A city councilor talked to Islamist Watch about the proposed solutions to the “problem”:
"To cover the pool windows with this type of automatic blind will be costly, probably in the thousands of dollars. I have asked for an estimate and [I'm] hoping we will be able to get a sponsor who will consider providing funds for these blinds, in lieu of an acknowledgment of their contribution."
Otherwise, taxpayers will likely end up footing the bill for expensive work-arounds and re-designs. Should that occur, one wonders what other demands will be tabled next, and where.
Some Canadian Muslims, like conservative columnist Salim Mansur and liberal writer Tarek Fatah, are belatedly (and bravely) speaking out against this strategy of bullying and blackmail, and receiving threats from some of their fellow Muslims for their efforts.
Only a few days before three more Canadian soldiers were killed in Afghanistan, author Raheel Raza condemned the Taliban’s new threats to target Canadian soldiers and aid workers. She also chastised domestic extremists who “have found a home in Canada because they know they can get away with it.”
“Canadian institutions seem unwilling and unable to take action,” she added, “bungling so often that it has become a bad joke.
For example, why do we allow an Imam in Scarborough to openly flout Canadian law by performing polygamous marriages? He's also known to recruit youth to fight a jihad in Afghanistan against our Canadian soldiers.
In Mississauga, an ultra-orthodox schoolteacher is encouraging young Muslim girls not to work, cover themselves till their eyeballs and accept polygamy. It seems that the very ideology we're battling in Afghanistan has taken root in our back yard.
Why, others ask, are hundreds of Muslim men in Toronto allowed to collect welfare to support their polygamous “harems”? What about the sharia-approved “Dial-a-Marriages” used to get around Canadian immigration sponsorship regulations?
Why do so many Canadian Muslims feel emboldened to harass newspaper columnists, magazine publishers and, most recently, editorial cartoonists?
Part of the answer seems absurd, yet provides a perfect illustration of the law of unintended consequences. For decades, leaders in Canada’s Jewish communities used Human Rights Commissions to silence neo-Nazi groups. Now, however, the commissions are being used to intimidate Canadian Jews like Ezra Levant – whose recent criticisms of the nation’s “Professional Jews” as obsessed with the last Holocaust while ignoring the next one, must have struck a nerve.
Now even one of these groups, and one of the HRC’s most rigorous defenders, B’nai Brith Canada, is taking note. In a scathing submission to a special commission reviewing the nation’s increasingly bizarre “hate speech” prosecutions, B’nai Brith declared that these Commissions are now vulnerable abuse by “political Islam, the same ideology that has hijacked the United Nations human rights council.”
“When it comes to this particular threat to human rights, human rights commissions just don't get it,” the B’nai Brith report reads. "Human rights commissions, like generals, are fighting the last war.”
Tarek Fatah agreed, and explained the current Islamist strategy to the National Post. Non-Muslim critics of Islam are duly condemned as “Islamophobes,” while Muslims like himself are labeled “apostates,” which he calls a “hidden death threat.”
Fatah added:
"Neither the Conservatives nor the Liberals have any interest in this. Their effort is to appease these Islamist groups. They don't wish to offend, and therefore the Islamists can walk over and literally blackmail politicians and the liberal intelligentsia into not saying a word about it.”
With an election looming, and Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party desperate to finally win a majority government, Fatah’s observation is timely, accurate – and ultimately, depressing.
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A blogger since 2000, Kathy Shaidle runs FiveFeetOfFury.com. Her new e-book Acoustic Ladyland has been called a "must read" by Mark Steyn.

Hezbollah chief says to keep arms to defend from Israel's attack
www.chinaview.cn 2008-09-05 19:55:20 Print
Special report: Palestine-Israel Relations
BEIRUT, Sep. 5 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah Chief Hasan Nasrallah declared in a televised speech Thursday that his Shiite group will keep its arms even if Shebaa farms were liberated, As-Safir daily reported Friday. "Shebaa farms are not the reason to keep our weapons; if the farms were liberated, the weapons will stay," Nasrallah said. Hezbollah leaders had repeatedly said in the past that the party's arms are aimed at liberating Lebanese occupied lands, mainly the remaining Shebaa farms in south Lebanon. Nasrallah, however, said Hezbollah will not give up its weapons "as long as Israeli threat persists," threatening that his group will destroy Israel if it launches an attack on Lebanon. "The five brigades (which Israel said it will use) will be destroyed," he added. He also acknowledged a member from his party was responsible for shooting down a Lebanese army Helicopter last week, during which the helicopter came under fire, killing an army officer and wounding seven crew members. "It was an accident that was understandable in the framework of high level of alert maintained by Hezbollah fighters in south Lebanon in facing Israeli repeated attacks over the years." He said that the member was "honorable" and acted "naturally and initiatively." Press reports said that the shooting was a mistake, and the shooter thought it was an Israeli helicopter.

Qaeda, Hezbollah working together in Africa / Iranian Special Forces in Beirut
By: W. Thomas Smith Jr.
06 Sep 2008
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
Sunni Al Qaeda and Shiia Hezbollah are increasingly working together on the African continent, particularly in unstable countries like Sudan and across the remote, lawless regions of North Africa and the Sahel belt.
For instance, in February we learned of a 35-man Jihadi terrorist cell in Morocco, which was quickly shut down. As I’ve written on several occasions since, the size and international scope of that cell and the professional backgrounds of the cell members (businessmen, politicians, a television journalist, and a police official) were disturbing to say the least. But the worst part was that the cell members were found to have been trained by Al Qaeda in Pakistan and Afghanistan and funded by Hezbollah in Lebanon. And we know Hezbollah is funded and trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
In March, Dr. J. Peter Pham, an Africa expert and a senior fellow at the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, told me during an interview for Human Events, “Different groups will coalesce and align against conventional wisdom. What most analysts view as the Shiia-Sunni divide is papered over as militants and extremists will take money from anyone, and build alliances of convenience against their common enemy.”
It’s the adage, “I against my brother, I and my brother against our cousin, my brother and our cousin against the neighbors, all of us against the foreigner.” We have seen increasing evidence of this dynamic in Iraq and Afghanistan. We certainly picked up – from chatter and publicly released statements – information indicating Sunni and Shiia alike were mourning the February assassination of Hezbollah terrorist-mastermind Imad Mughniyeh, and calling for revenge killings worldwide. But nowhere are we seeing greater evidence of this cooperation and coordination of effort (the goal of establishing launching bases for which to strike American and Western interests in the Eastern Hemisphere and beyond) than on the Dark Continent.
Yesterday, an intelligence community source informed us, “That [Moroccan] cell we uncovered in February is just the tip of the iceberg.”
The source added, Sunni and Shiia extremists in Africa “are certainly cooperating with one another.”
IN OTHER NEWS: The Reform Party of Syria has just published the following report:
“A secret delegation of al-Qods Force arrived Beirut last week for high level meetings with Hezbollah’s top brass for the purpose of coordinating collective activities in Lebanon in light of Hezbollah’s de facto take-over of Lebanon. The secret delegation intentionally arrived Beirut as Sarkozy landed in Damascus and while the Syrians were distracted with Sarkozy.”
The Qods (Quds or Jerusalem) force is the extranational special-operations arm of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Quds commandos are Iran’s most committed fighters, trained to conduct terrorist operations worldwide.
Our sources have confirmed that Quds fighters were in Lebanon, operating with Hezbollah forces during the fighting in May.
Additional information will follow.
— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. online at uswriter.com.

Mouawad: Lebanon and Hezbollah cannot coexist W. Thomas Smith Jr.
03 Sep 2008
By W. Thomas Smith Jr.
The state of Lebanon and Hezbollah cannot coexist, says Lebanese parliamentarian Nayla Mouawad: A courageous declaration on the part of Mrs. Mouawad considering Hezbollah’s increasing, unchecked political/strategic military power in Lebanon and the threats faced by parliamentarians and government officials who take public stands against the Shiia terrorist group.
Earlier today after meeting with Michele Sison, the newly appointed U.S. Ambassador to Lebanon; Mouawad, a Maronite Christian, said:
“It is obvious that we are facing two options: Either the democratic state of Lebanon or the Hezbollah state. … We would not accept the placing of red lines beyond which the Lebanese Army is not permitted, be they at the [Beirut] suburb, Nahr al-Bared, Sujud or in any other location on Lebanese territory.”
The Beirut suburb – al Dahiyeh – Mouawad is referring to is an armed Hezbollah stronghold, off-limits to Lebanese authorities. (Non-Hezbollah Lebanese and Westerners travel there at their own peril unless they are covertly schmoozing with Hezbollah.) Nahr al-Bared, near the northern city of Tripoli, is the site of the Lebanese Army’s bloody three-month battle in 2007 with Sunni Al Qaeda-affiliate Fatah al Islam. And Sujud is where Hezbollah killed a Lebanese Army officer last week.
According to Naharnet:
“Mouawad also rejected a proposal by Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to form a joint committee grouping the Lebanese Army and Hezbollah.”
Gutsy to say the least.
Mouawad added that the “only solution” is to restrict any decision to go to war to the state of Lebanon, which should also be the only entity that possesses military weapons and the only entity managing Lebanon’s defense policy.
“There should be no two armies … and two states in Lebanon,” she said.
Hezbollah — heavily funded (at least $1-billion, annually), trained, and operationally supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps with additional backing from Syria – literally exists as a Shiia kingdom within the state of Lebanon. The group – essentially a Talibanesque army – is listed among the U.S. State Department’s designated terrorist organizations. Hezbollah’s operational reach extends far beyond Lebanon’s shores. And in May – following Hezbollah’s armed attacks against the Lebanese government and citizens – U.S. Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff warned that Hezbollah “makes Al Qaeda look like a minor league team.”

The Rehabilitation of Bashar Assad
A real transformation or deceptive new packaging?
September 7, 2008 -
by P. David Hornik
Syrian President Bashar Assad is getting showered with honors these days. The question is what he’s done to deserve them.
True, Assad has been meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Qatari Emir Hamad ibn Khalifa. The talks are variously billed as promoting Israeli-Syrian peace, smoothing Assad’s path out of his Iranian alliance into the Western camp, and helping Assad mediate the Western-Iranian standoff over Iran’s nuclear program.
Sarkozy, who just arrived in Damascus to continue the talks, is the first Western head of state to visit Syria since the 2005 assassination in Beirut of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Assad was widely blamed for the killing — a car bombing that took the lives of 22 others along with Hariri — and his regime is to be investigated by an international tribunal in The Hague. The regime is also thought responsible for a subsequent series of murders of Lebanese nationalists.
Yet, before any results are in, and despite the possibility that Assad will eventually be found guilty, Sarkozy is already treating him as a force for peace and has reportedly made progress in persuading an initially-skeptical Washington to join the talks with him.
Sarkozy’s trail, in turn, was blazed by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who announced last April that Israel and Syria had been holding indirect peace talks mediated by Turkey. Although a fifth round of those talks was supposed to be held this coming Sunday, more recent reports say those talks-with Assad cognizant that Olmert’s days as prime minister are numbered-have been postponed.
Since April, in any case, Assad has played a deft double game of continuing in his old ways while making gestures that keep Olmert and Sarkozy earnestly averring that he’s changed. Syria is continuing to host Hamas and other Palestinian terrorist organizations, funnel Iranian weapons to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and pursue its own intensive military buildup that includes chemical and biological warfare programs. Only a year ago Israeli planes destroyed an almost-operational, North Korean-supplied Syrian nuclear reactor.
That didn’t, of course, stop Assad, while visiting Iran last August, from declaring his strong backing for that country’s nuclear program, regarded in Israel as an existential threat. And when Russia invaded Georgia a few days later, Assad was one of very few world leaders to come out in favor, stating that “On this issue we fully support Russia.” Just two weeks after the invasion Assad made an arms-buying visit to Moscow, reportedly seeking Iksandar missiles and the SS-300 air defense system, both of which Israel sees as liable to gravely affect its military balance with Syria.
So what, aside from talking-in Israel’s case, not even directly-has Assad done to turn Olmert and Sarkozy into his advocates? Not much. He’s said some honeyed words in public — not even so honeyed, telling France-3 television this week that the talks with Israel have brought “the possibility of peace. … Today, we can only say that we have opened the door to peace.”
Assad has also announced his intention to open a Syrian embassy in Beirut after decades in which Syria regarded Lebanon as an artificial, colonial creation and its own province. But this gesture comes at a time when Lebanon is more firmly than ever in the anti-Western, Iranian-Syrian-Hezbollah camp.
That’s where Qatari Emir Hamad ibn Khalifa comes in. It was he who, in Qatar’s capital Doha, hosted the conference last May that granted that camp its long-sought veto power in the Lebanese cabinet and, in effect, ratified the anti-Hezbollah side’s military defeat by Hezbollah in skirmishes earlier that month. So the Emir’s presence at Thursday’s talks in Damascus is hardly a harbinger of moderation.
In other words, Assad’s opening of the Beirut embassy is an empty gesture that comes just when Lebanon has lost its status as an independent state and its national unity cabinet has declared its solidarity with Hezbollah in fighting Israel. Such a gesture costs Assad nothing but gains him the accolades of gullible Westerners.
Assad’s fear of the Hariri tribunal is intense and offers a ready explanation for his transparent pretenses of conciliatory behavior. He has a record of reverting to talk of peace with Israel when he finds himself in trouble-having done so in 2004, after the UN passed Security Council Resolution 1559 demanding a Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon, and in 2005, after the U.S., France, and other countries severed ties with him in the wake of the Hariri assassination.
Considering that Sarkozy’s predecessor Jacques Chirac was viewed as an opportunistic appeaser whereas Sarkozy was billed as a pro-American, hawkish conservative, it’s ironic that Chirac was the French president who cut off Assad after the Hariri killing while Sarkozy has been going all-out to rehabilitate him. The lesson is that the belief in “soft power,” and denial of the intense hostility to the West in parts of the world, runs very deep in Western Europe and no leader there should realistically be seen as much different.
As for Olmert, his persistent talk of bribing Assad out of the Iranian-led axis with the strategic Golan Heights is sad testament to how deeply the appeasement mentality has taken hold in Israel, too, and how much Israel-to its ongoing peril-has become more typically Western and less its old defiant self in this regard. But with most of the Israeli parliament and public currently opposing a Golan giveaway and Olmert on his way out, it can be hoped that the ensuing political changes will yield a more clear-sighted government and this episode will pass.
Meanwhile Nicolas Sarkozy and Ehud Olmert are doing a disservice both to truth and geopolitical rationality by packaging unrepentant malevolent dictator Bashar Assad as a smiling friend.
P. David Hornik is a freelance writer and translator living in Tel Aviv. He blogs at http://pdavidhornik.typepad.com/