LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
February 26/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 4,24-30. And he said, "Amen, I say to you, no prophet is accepted in his own native place.
Indeed, I tell you, there were many widows in Israel in the days of Elijah when the sky was closed for three and a half years and a severe famine spread over the entire land. It was to none of these that Elijah was sent, but only to a widow in Zarephath in the land of Sidon. Again, there were many lepers in Israel during the time of Elisha the prophet; yet not one of them was cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian." When the people in the synagogue heard this, they were all filled with fury. They rose up, drove him out of the town, and led him to the brow of the hill on which their town had been built, to hurl him down headlong. But he passed through the midst of them and went away.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Don't credit Al-Qaeda by assuming it offers Muslims hope-By Aysha Chowdhry and Andrew Masloski. 25/02/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for February 25/08
Quartet Meeting on Presidential Crisis Ends … Solution Appears Distant-Naharnet
Bahrain's Foreign Ministry cautioned its citizens against travel ...Naharnet
Police Re-arrest 6 Inmates, Manhunt Underway for 4 Others-Naharnet
Mubarak Discusses Lebanon Crisis with Saudi King-Naharnet
Sfeir condemns use of 'fiery' political rhetoric-Daily Star
Moussa mediates 'decisive' talks in Beirut-Daily Star
Lebanese Forces, SSNP trade blame for clashes that wounded six in Koura-Daily Star
US diplomat visits USAID projects-Daily Star
Authorities recapture six prisoners-Daily Star
Khalilzad: UN may intervene in election-Daily Star
The beginner's guide to Lebanon: local definitions for everyday words-Daily Star
Siniora asks for details on investigation into Mughniyeh killing-Daily Star
PREVIEW: Egypt and Saudi unite against Syria ahead of Arab summit-Earthtimes
Mubarak holds talks in Saudi on Lebanon crisis-AFP
'Hizbullah's response to any Israeli attack will be worse than before'-Jerusalem Post
Snowmobile outing ends in death, nine injuries-Daily Star
AUB provost to take helm at university in Sharjah-Daily Star
Mother battles for 26 years to know truth on missing son-AFP
UN-HABITAT wraps up two projects that helped thousands recover from 2006 war-Daily Star
Residents of Ras An-Nabaa put on brave face following clashes-Daily Star
Sectarian political system costs each Lebanese citizen nearly $24,000 per year-Daily Star
Beirut Stock Exchange rises, then falls, on political news-Daily Star
Lebanon set to receive natural gas from Egypt by mid-2008-Daily Star
Iranian conservatives split camps ahead of elections-Daily Star
Iran warns of reprisals if new sanctions imposed-AFP
Iran turns to citizens to fill national soccer coach post-AFP
Olmert orders deportation of illegal migrants-AFP

Sfeir condemns use of 'fiery' political rhetoric
'Tongues have alienated themselves from brains'
By Maroun Khoury
Daily Star correspondent
Monday, February 25, 2008
BKIRKI: Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir expressed hope on Sunday that Lebanon would be able to avoid the "kind of catastrophes we all fear." "There are no signs of anything good to come in what we see and hear" he said during his weekly Sunday sermon at the Notre Dame Church in Bkirki.
He also condemned the "fiery" political rhetoric and insults traded by feuding political groups. "The political rhetoric being used these days only demonstrates that the tongues seem to have alienated themselves from the brains." According to the prelate, the only way to avoid an "apocalyptic scenario" in Lebanon is for the Lebanese to reunite in "sympathy, solidarity and love." Following the mass, the Patriarch received a delegation from the French Navy and various social and political figures. Meanwhile, the vice president of Higher Shiite Islamic Council, Sheikh Abdel-Amir Qabalan, urged the Lebanese on Sunday to find a settlement for the election of a president in order to save the country from the continuing political deadlock. He asked all the Lebanese to work together, combine forces and stay away from all kind of agitation, "especially since Lebanon is going through a delicate transitional period."
"We really hope that Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa's initiative will turn out to be a pleasant surprise leading to a solution wanted by the people," he said. The three-point initiative calls for the election of the commander of the Lebanese Armed Forces, General Michel Suleiman, as head of state, the formation of a national unity government, and the drafting of a new electoral law.
Qabalan also urged Arab leaders to restart dialogue in view of the Arab League summit scheduled to be held in Damascus in March. He reminded them that "Lebanon needs, more than any other time, the support of his Arab brothers against all those who conspire against the country's institutions and people."
Muslim clerics on Thursday urged calm in Lebanon, alarmed by violence between followers of Sunni and Shiite leaders whose political disputes have triggered the worst internal strife since the 1975-1990 Civil War. Clashes between Sunni and Shiite Muslim youths in Beirut last week showed how quickly the bitter political conflict can spill into the streets of a city which still bears the scars of its last civil war.
At least 14 people were wounded and several cars and shops were smashed in the clashes in mixed Sunni-Shiite areas of the capital.
"To our people in Beirut and everywhere, we tell them: Fighting is forbidden," Qabalan said in a speech after a meeting with influential Sunni and Druze clerics.
The power struggle pits a governing coalition led by Sunni politician Saad HaririSaad-Hariri-Profile Sep-07 - son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri - against an opposition led by the Shiite group Hizbullah. "We say to the politicians: 'Have mercy on this people. We are not against you, but against your charged, tense and quarrelsome discourse,'" Qabalan said, appealing for calm in the restive capital. "Religious men from the Islamic and Christian sects must move to extinguish the flames of strife," he added. "We reject the carrying of weapons, confrontation and preparations for what is not necessary," he added.

Quartet Meeting on Presidential Crisis Ends … Solution Appears Distant
Naharnet/Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa has hosted a lengthy meeting between rival Lebanese political parties amid no signs of a breakthrough in the three-month presidential crisis. The quartet talks at parliament building in downtown Beirut came after a series of separate meetings the Arab League chief held with the warring leaders upon arrival in Beirut Sunday afternoon. The meeting between former President Amin Gemayel and MP Saad Hariri from the ruling majority and Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun representing the Hizbullah-led opposition got underway at 8 pm Sunday and ended around midnight.
Sources said there were indications that a solution for the presidential impasse was still remote as the gap between the pro-government ruling majority and the opposition remained wide. They said the only breakthrough was that all parties agreed to resume talks on Monday.
Discussions, nevertheless, were constructive, one source told the daily An Nahar. "But this does not mean that a breakthrough was achieved."
The source said Moussa proposed an "advanced document" that covered a summary of statements made by the rival leaders. The document was supported by the opposition's latest proposal that was presented to Moussa's assistant Hisham Youssef last week. Moussa has reportedly met privately with Hariri at the end of the quartet talks. Moussa arrived in Beirut at 2:35 pm and went straight into a meeting with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri. No statements were made after the hour-long talks in Ain al-Tineh. He then met with Hariri in Qoreitem before going to the Grand Serail where he met with Premier Fouad Saniora.
Moussa also held private talks with Aoun at parliament building ahead of the quartet meeting.
His talks with the various political leaders focused on efforts to implement a three-point Arab plan to solve Lebanon's deepening political crisis, only two days before parliament is due to meet to elect a new president for Lebanon. Lebanon has been without a president since late November and so far 14 attempts to hold a parliament session to pick a new president have been postponed. Moussa has made several missions to Beirut to push for the Arab League initiative calling for the election of army commander Gen. Michel Suleiman as a compromise candidate for president. The plan also calls for the formation of a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and adoption of a new electoral law. So far his shuttles have been unsuccessful and the political tensions have on occasion boiled over into street clashes in Beirut, amid ominous warnings by some of renewed civil strife. Beirut, 25 Feb 08, 07:57

Police Re-arrest 6 Inmates, Manhunt Underway for 4 Others
Naharnet/Police were by Monday morning still searching for four of 10 inmates who had escaped from a jail in the city of Zahle in eastern Lebanon, security sources said.They said policemen re-arrested six prisoners soon after their escape Sunday afternoon. The four still at large were identified as Hussein al-Mawla, Ali Arweh, Hasan Fayyad Zoeiter and Hameed Jaafar. Initial reports said a tall inmate managed to seize a Kalashnikov from a prison guard as the prisoners walked to a garbage truck waiting just outside the compound. Security sources said the prisoners habitually take part in garbage collection and delivery to trucks.
No other information was given as to the escape plan. Security sources said the four still at large stole a Mercedes from a woman at gunpoint and fled away. Beirut, 25 Feb 08, 11:52

Bahrain Cautions against Travel to Lebanon
Naharnet/Bahrain's foreign ministry has cautioned its citizens against travel to Lebanon.
"Bahrain has no diplomatic missions in Lebanon. Therefore it will be difficult to avoid a speedy evacuation of Bahraini citizens if any form of violence erupts," said a statement issued by Bahrain's foreign ministry Sunday. The move followed similar measures taken by Saudi Arabia and Kuwait last week for security reasons.
On Thursday, the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut was evacuated after an anonymous caller threatened to rocket the compound, prompting the Kuwaiti foreign ministry to advise its citizens to reconsider traveling to Lebanon. The threat came a day after four Kuwaiti lawyers filed a lawsuit against two Shiite MPs for holding a rally to mourn top Hizbullah commander Imad Mughniyeh, blamed for hijacking a Kuwaiti jetliner. It also came amid escalated tension in Lebanon and amid threats of attacks against Israel by Hizbullah after Mughniyeh's killing in Damascus. The edgy situation has also prompted the French embassy to order its cultural centers in Sidon and Tripoli to shut down for security concerns. Beirut, 25 Feb 08, 08:42

Mubarak Discusses Lebanon Crisis with Saudi King
Naharnet/Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks with Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah on Sunday on ways to solve Lebanon's deep political crisis, state media reported.
They held talks in Riyadh on "the current crisis in Lebanon and the Arab efforts to solve it," the official SPA news agency said. SPA added the pair also discussed the "continuing Israeli attacks" on the Palestinian people and the need to preserve the security and territorial integrity of Iraq. An Arab diplomat in Riyadh told AFP that Jordan's King Abdullah II would also visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for talks on the Arab summit which is due to take place in Syria next month. Oil powerhouse Saudi Arabia, which hosted the annual summit in 2007, has not yet received a formal invitation from Syria to attend the March 29-30 forum amid tensions between the two countries over Lebanon's presidential crisis. Lebanon has been without a president since November amid feuding between the ruling majority and the Hizbullah-led opposition supported by Syria and Iran. "There is a crisis in ties with the Syrian government, with Lebanon the main reason," a Saudi official told AFP, asking not to be named. "Damascus has not joined in efforts, including the Arab initiative, to elect a consensus president," the official said.
The Arab League plan calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as consensus president, the formation of a national unity government in which no single party has veto power, and a new electoral law. Despite agreement on Suleiman, feuding Lebanese politicians have failed to agree on power-sharing in a future government. Arab analysts and media reports have suggested that Saudi Arabia and other Gulf Arab countries may boycott the Damascus summit or send low-level delegates.(AFP) Beirut, 24 Feb 08, 23:16

Don't credit Al-Qaeda by assuming it offers Muslims hope
By Aysha Chowdhry and Andrew Masloski
Commentary by
Monday, February 25, 2008
Notably absent from the presidential primary campaign in the United States is serious discussion on how to implement an effective long-term strategy for protecting the US from future terrorist acts. Many political leaders in the past have embraced winning "the battle of ideas" against Muslim extremists as the most important component of any strategy, yet this ubiquitous catchphrase stems from an erroneous, counterproductive framework for understanding extremists like Osama bin Laden.
The framework assumes that groups like Al-Qaeda possess a coherent and compelling interpretation of Islam that the US must counter to prevent Muslims from adopting it. This flawed understanding should be replaced by a more nuanced approach based on the true nature of the terrorist threat.
The "battle of ideas" approach is counterproductive for two important reasons: first, it encourages the concept of a Manichean struggle raging between two equally powerful and opposing world views, in effect legitimizing the extremists' understanding of the struggle; and second, it overstates the extent to which Bin Laden's worldview constitutes a viable theological alternative for the world's 1.3 billion Muslims. His zealous religious views are not only alien to most Muslims living today, but have also earned a place on the fringes of Islamic intellectual thought.
For an effective strategy, the United States needs to take three important steps. The first is de-coupling Islam and terrorism. The 9/11 Commission report states that "the enemy is not just 'terrorism' ... it is the threat posed by Islamist terrorism." While it is true that America faces a significant threat from people who identify themselves as Muslims and dress their grievances in religious terms, this does not mean that such people are perpetrators of "Islamist terrorism." The phrase implies that Islam sanctions terrorism and that Muslims are more likely to commit terrorist acts. "Terrorism in the name of Islam" is more accurate.
The second step requires recognition that most grievances expressed by extremists like Bin Laden are secular and political in nature. They are angry about what they perceive as the exploitation of Muslims at the hands of the US. They enjoy sympathy from Muslims who perceive the US - and the West in general - as perpetuators of an unjust global political-economic system. As many have already noted, the attacks of 9/11 targeted American financial and military complexes and not Western religious symbols. Though Washington should not accept at face value the legitimacy of Al-Qaeda grievances, we cannot effectively prevent terrorist acts from taking place without a better understanding of their ultimately profane roots.
The third step involves ensuring the US actively works for the promotion of human dignity. American policy makers should make a concerted effort to understand the circumstances of the countries of the Muslim world that cause a sense of deprivation and humiliation among their populations, as these factors contribute to sympathy for Al-Qaeda's political aims. US conventional wisdom states that Muslims need to believe in an alternative vision for their economic and political future, though the vast majority of Muslims need no convincing that economic prosperity and political freedom are good things.
Muslims share the same vision held by humanity everywhere - a secure future for their children and a life defined by dignity and liberty. Thus, policymakers should approach Muslims as partners on the path toward bettering livelihoods in Muslim societies. If the US continues to be implicated in the social, political and economic underdevelopment of much of the Muslim world, Al-Qaeda will continue to gain followers who are blind to everything but the perceived destructive effects of American hegemony.
In the end, focusing on winning the "battle of ideas" obscures our view of what must be done to prevent future terrorist attacks. The US should recognize the true nature of the terrorist threat, identify its root causes, and partner with Muslims to eliminate them.
**Aysha Chowdhry and Andrew Masloski work for the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution. Chowdhry is a research assistant with the Project on US Relations with the Islamic World, and Masloski is a senior research assistant with the Middle East Democracy and Development Project. THE DAILY STAR publishes this commentary in collaboration with Common Ground News Service.