LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 19/08

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2,13-17. Once again he went out along the sea. All the crowd came to him and he taught them. As he passed by, he saw Levi, son of Alphaeus, sitting at the customs post. He said to him, "Follow me." And he got up and followed him. While he was at table in his house, many tax collectors and sinners sat with Jesus and his disciples; for there were many who followed him. Some scribes who were Pharisees saw that he was eating with sinners and tax collectors and said to his disciples, "Why does he eat with tax collectors and sinners?" Jesus heard this and said to them (that), "Those who are well do not need a physician, but the sick do. I did not come to call the righteous but sinners."

Releases, Editorials, and reports
Syria a servant under instruction-By Ahmed Al-Jarallah. January 19/08
Vigorous argument is one thing, empty mudslinging quite another- Daily Star- January 19/08
Lebanon in limbo-Khaleej Times-January 19/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 19/08
Nasrallah in 1st Public Appearance since 2006: Hizbullah has 'Heads' of Israeli Soldiers-Naharnet
Hariri, Aoun Brawl over Naturalization of Palestinians-Naharnet
U.N.-Lebanese Army in Joint Naval Exercises-Naharnet
Cabinet Debates Reports of Plots to Topple it, Launch Civil Disobedience Movement-Naharnet
Moussa from Damascus: We haven't Found a Solution but We Are Making Progress-Naharnet
Israel Releases Lebanese Shepherd near Border-Naharnet
Mediterranean EU Members Call for Firm Stance towards Syria-Naharnet
Opposition Sets New Condition: Formation of a Non-Voting Cabinet-Naharnet
Moussa Heads to Syria with Encouraging Signs toward Ending Lebanon ...Naharnet
Hezbollah chief in public for first time in more than year-AFP
Lebanese, US ships stage landing exercise-The Australian
Israeli troops detain another Lebanese shepherd-AFP
Lebanese lack 'will' to reconcile - Moussa-Daily Star  
Italian deputy foreign minister to visit Beirut-Daily Star  
German envoy presents South with $140,000 in service vehicles-Daily Star
Rhetoric aside, both camps in Lebanese crisis may be content to leave presidency empty-Daily Star  
Berlin acknowledges criticism from Beirut, Washington over Moallem visit-AFP
Cairo has few cards in Lebanon - analysts-Daily Star
From free-thinkers to sheep: the making of Lebanon's sectarian followers-Daily Star
Siniora speaks out against 'unethical' assault on Maronite patriarch-Daily Star
AUB lecture examines dialogue between West, Islamists-Daily Star
Tyre seashell exhibit was years in the making - and the taking-Daily Star  
Security Council Condemns Beirut Attack-Naharnet
Carlos Edde: Syria would Foil The Arab Initiative and the Only Solution is Peaceful confrontation-Naharnet
Mediterranean EU Members Call for Firm Stance towards Syria-Naharnet
Moussa Heads to Syria with Encouraging Signs toward Ending Lebanon Crisis-Naharnet
Israeli Forces Seize Lebanese Shepherd near Border-Naharnet
Lebanon, U.S. Complain over Muallem's Visit-Naharnet
Moussa from Damascus: We haven't Found a Solution but We Are Making Progress-Naharnet
Head of Arab League arrives in Syria for talks over Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
Palestinian protesters in Syria slam Israeli ‘massacres’-Khaleej Times

Security Council Condemns Beirut Attack
The U.N. Security Council on Friday sharply condemned the bomb attack which killed three civilians and targeted a U.S. embassy car in a northern suburb of Beirut earlier this week.In a statement read by Libya's U.N. envoy Giadalla Ettalhi, who chairs the 15-member body this month, the 15 council members "strongly condemn" the attack and stressed the need to bring the perpetrators, organizers and organizers to justice. They reaffirmed that terrorism "in all its forms and manifestations constitutes one of the most serious threats" to international peace and security and was "criminal and unjustifiable" under any circumstances. Three people were killed in Tuesday's bombing, the latest in a string of attacks in the troubled country. The bombing on a seafront road on the northern edge of the Lebanese capital came amid a deep political crisis in Lebanon with ruling majority and the Syrian-backed opposition deadlocked over efforts to find a successor for Emile Lahoud who stood down as president in November.(AFP) Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 21:01

Open Letter to the Secretary General of the UN To the Honorable Ban Ki-moon
January 18, 2008
UN Secretary General
New York
Dear Secretary General Ki-moon:
Any attempt to resolve the presidential election stalemate in Lebanon outside the framework of a comprehensive solution for the Lebanese crisis as a whole will not meet with success because of the organic connection between the two. Similarly, any solution to the Lebanese crisis that does not include the full implementation of UN Security Council resolutions is an illusion at best.
In turn, the implementation of UNSC resolutions is not possible without the dismantling and disarming of the independent mini-states and security zones that exist on Lebanese soil. The dereliction of the international community in deterring the Syrian regime – in deeds and not in words – and preventing it from interfering in Lebanese affairs, exporting terrorism to Lebanon, providing aid and support to the mini-states and security zones, and supplying them with weapons and fighters, constitute the primary factor in the persistence of the crisis and the undermining of Lebanese security.
Therefore, whereas Lebanon is unable on its own means to implement UNSC resolutions, dismantle the mini-states and curb the Syrian regime;
Whereas all local, regional and international efforts and good offices have failed to achieve a solution to the presidential crisis in particular, and the Lebanese crisis in general;
Whereas the State’s institutions are paralyzed, and the country reduced to a disjointed headless republic;
Whereas the Lebanese people have lost their trust in their leaders, and dialogue between the two sides in the conflict has become a dialogue of the deaf;
Whereas security is unprotected and the series of assassinations and bombings hunts the Lebanese down and kills them in their streets;
Now that the crisis has reached its paroxysm and the potential for an explosion is high;
Now that the Lebanese political system is on the verge of collapsing, with dangerous repercussions on the security of the entire region;
We ask you on behalf of the frustrated, impoverished and destitute Lebanese who make up the vast majority of the people, to act to hand over the Lebanese file to the Security Council in order to internationalize the Lebanese crisis and place Lebanon in the full custody of the United Nations, as was done with the province of Kosovo.
I thank you for your strong interest in Lebanon and your sincere concern for its cause, and wish you all success in your efforts.
Sincerely,
Signed:
Etienne Sacre – Abu Arz
President
Guardians of the Cedars Party – Lebanese National Movement

Nasrallah in 1st Public Appearance since 2006: Hizbullah has 'Heads' of Israeli Soldiers
Hizbullah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, one of Israel's most wanted men, on Saturday appeared in public for the time in more than a year, announcing that Hizbullah has the "heads" and "body parts" of soldiers that the Israeli army had abandoned.
"We have the heads, the hands, the feet and even a nearly intact corpse from the head down to the pelvis," he said in a fiery speech in Beirut's southern suburbs in commemoration of Ashoura, Shiite Islam's holiest day. "The Israeli army left behind the remains of the bodies of a large number of soldiers," said Nasrallah.
Hizbulla's capture of two Israeli soldiers in July 2006 led to a 34-day war with the Jewish state that left more than 1,200 civilians dead in Lebanon, a third of them children, as well as 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers. The Jewish state failed in both its stated aims for launching the war: to stop rocket fire on northern Israel and to recover the two soldiers. Nasrallah has been Israel's top public enemy since Hizbullah, which is backed by Iran and Syria, fought the deadly 2006 war.
Amid heavy security, Nasrallah took part in Ashoura in the southern suburbs of Beirut, a Hizbullah stronghold, heading a procession of tens of thousands of Shiite faithful. "God, protect Nasrallah," chanted the crowd, carrying portraits of the Hizbullah chief. Nasrallah's last public appearance was at a massive "victory" rally in Dahiyeh, or Beirut's southern suburbs, in September 2006 in the wake of the war against Israel during which he went into hiding.(AFP-Naharnet)
Beirut, 19 Jan 08, 14:35

Hariri, Aoun Brawl over Naturalization of Palestinians
MP Saad Hariri hit back at accusations by Free Patriotic Movement leader Gen. Michel Aoun that former Premier Rafik Hariri had supported the naturalization of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon. Aoun, in an interview with Iran's Press TV, backed his claim by presenting a document allegedly signed by Hariri and dating back to the year 2000. The document charged that Hariri backed a plan to naturalize Palestinian refugees in Lebanon as a choice to be taken in return for calling off Lebanon's international debts. A statement by Hariri's office attacked Aoun, saying his claim is "false" and that the document "is fabricated by Syrian intelligence."
Aoun quickly responded to Hariri's statement, saying he did not "fabricate" news about the document "which is from the archives of the Securite Generale."
Beirut, 19 Jan 08, 10:43

U.N.-Lebanese Army in Joint Naval Exercises
U.N. naval forces deployed after the 2006 war between Israel and Hizbullah held joint exercises with the Lebanese military off the coast of south Lebanon on Saturday. The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon said the manoeuvres in which French and Italian units are taking part started off the town of Naqoura where UNIFIL is based, close to the border with Israel. The three-day exercises are to focus on the landing of military equipment and personnel by sea.
"The aim of this exercise is to improve cooperation and establish coordination mechanisms between the different naval and land forces," said the UNIFIL commander, Major General Claudio Graziano. It said two ships from the French and Italian navies, the Siroco which can transport several hundred vehicles and the San Giorgio, an Italian amphibious vessel with a flight deck for helicopters, were taking part. Lebanese naval units were providing logistical support and security.
UNIFIL was boosted -- and a naval contingent added -- under a U.N. Security Council ceasefire resolution which halted the July-August 2006 war between Israel and Lebanon's Shiite militant group Hezbollah. It now number about 13,000 troops, deployed to monitor the Israel-Lebanon border region and also tasked with preventing arms smuggling to Hizbullah.(AFP) Beirut, 19 Jan 08, 12:26

Cabinet Debates Reports of Plots to Topple it, Launch Civil Disobedience Movement
Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's cabinet has discussed reports of plans to launch a civil disobedience movement in a bid to topple the government.
Ministerial sources said the cabinet held two consecutive sessions on Friday. They said the security situation and reports to sow instability as well as plots to topple the government through a civil disobedience movement were discussed at the second meeting. The first meeting focused on domestic issues, the sources said. Beirut, 19 Jan 08, 09:14

Moussa from Damascus: We haven't Found a Solution but We Are Making Progress
Arab League chief Amr Moussa reported Friday progress in negotiations between feuding Lebanese factions over the deadlock to elect a new Lebanese president.
"We cannot say that we have found a solution to the Lebanese crisis but we have started to make progress," Moussa told reporters after landing in Damascus. "We have taken measures that I hope will result in defusing the crisis."
He left Beirut after holding a series of meetings since Wednesday with rival political leaders on ending a standoff that has left the presidency vacant for almost two months. He said there were encouraging signs toward ending the crisis and described as "positive" a meeting on Thursday between parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and key opposition leader Michel Aoun. Moussa is due to meet President Bashar al-Assad and Vice President Faruq al-Shara'a in Damascus on Saturday before returning to Lebanon on Sunday. Syria, which held sway in Lebanon until it was forced to withdraw its troops from the country in 2005, has been accused by Washington and its allies of standing in the way of a solution to the current political crisis. Damascus has leveled similar charges against the United States. The three-point Arab League plan being touted by Moussa calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law. Although the ruling coalition has given the Arab plan its full backing, Hezbollah insists that the opposition be granted a third of the seats in a new government so it can have veto power. Lebanese lawmakers are scheduled to meet again on Monday to try to elect a president, but there are fears that parliamentary session will meet the same fate as the 12 previous ones and be postponed. (AFP) Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 21:30

Israeli Forces Seize Lebanese Shepherd near Border
Israeli forces on Friday seized a Lebanese man in the border area of Ghajar after he crossed the Blue Line separating the two countries, a U.N. spokeswoman and security officials told AFP."Early afternoon, the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon was informed by the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) that they detained one person in the general area of Ghajar village on the Israeli side of the Blue Line," U.N. spokeswoman Yasmina Bouziane said. "According to the IDF, the individual had crossed over from the Lebanese side," she added. A Lebanese security official identified the man as shepherd Mohammed al-Ahmed.
His detention was the second such incident this month. Israeli troops detained another shepherd on January 7 whom they said had crossed the Blue Line. He was held for 24 hours before being released. The government branded the arrest a clear violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a provocation. Bouziane said an investigation had been launched into Friday's incident.(AFP) Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 19:43

Edde: Syria would Foil The Arab Initiative and the Only Solution is Peaceful confrontation
By Dalia Nehme - Naharnet
National Bloc Party (NBP) leader Carlos Edde said The Arab Initiative is likely to fail because "Syria rejects it and has instructed its Lebanon allies " to foil it.
Edde, speaking to Naharnet, said an agreement on a settlement failed "because Gen. Michel Aoun is not authorized to negotiate, regardless of claims by his Lebanese allies that it was assigned to negotiate on behalf of them."
"Eventually," Edde said of the Hizbullah-led opposition, "they all are not capable to take a decision because decision-making takes place in Syria."
Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime is "to maintain void in Lebanon, their interest lies in preventing the presidential election."
Edde reiterated his voiced reservation on amending the constitution, threatening that if the March 14 forces "made any concessions regarding electing a president without constitutional amendment or over stepped the constitutional procedure set to amend the constitution, then I will resign from the alliance."
He expressed regret for failing to elect a president by simple majority "at any cost, the election should be held. Eventually, you will find out that a capable president can only be elected by simple majority."
Edde noted that verbal attacks on Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir are "totally rejected … We chose not to organize public protests against such insults because this is the Patriarch's wish."
He said ex-minister Suleiman Franjieh "attacked Bkirki upon a request from Syria in this regard aimed at breaking the backbone of the Lebanese Republic."
The whole campaign targeting the patriarch is based on a "Syrian-Iranian decision," Edde added.
He denied press reports about a concession by the majority to facilitate the presidential election by accepting a constitutional amendment that does not go through Premier Fouad Saniora's government.
He called for "negotiating with a new style."
In answering a question about such proposed new style, Edde said "When you negotiate someone who is ready to kill, you should be ready to … pay the price it takes to defend your rights".
He concluded by stressing: "There is no solution to this crisis except through a confrontation, a peaceful confrontation."
"Unfortunately some of our allies and our authorities do not look at the issue from this perspective and they do not realize that the more we back off the more we get cornered." Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 20:40

Mediterranean EU Members Call for Firm Stance towards Syria
Mediterranean EU foreign ministers on Friday urged the European Union to "define a consistent policy towards" Lebanon's neighbor Syria, which has been accused by opponents in Beirut and Western governments of blocking the vote.
The ministers from 10 nations voiced support for Arab League efforts to help rival Lebanese leaders overcome their differences and elect a president, to fill a seat vacant for nearly two months. "On Lebanon, we pledged our full support to the Arab League initiative to resolve the current political impasse," a statement said.
"We also acknowledge the importance of the role played by Syria. Consequently the EU should define a consistent policy towards Syria," it added.
Lebanon has been without a president since November 24, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term and parliament has failed to hold an election 12 times since September. A new session is due on Monday. The Arab plan calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.
The majority has endorsed the plan but the Hizbullah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran, insists that it be granted a third of the seats in a new government so it can have veto power. The Paphos meeting brought together the so-called Olive Group, representing the foreign ministers of France, Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Slovania, Spain, Malta and Cyprus.(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 21:41

Moussa from Damascus: We haven't Found a Solution but We Are Making Progress
Arab League chief Amr Moussa reported Friday progress in negotiations between feuding Lebanese factions over the deadlock to elect a new Lebanese president.
"We cannot say that we have found a solution to the Lebanese crisis but we have started to make progress," Moussa told reporters after landing in Damascus. "We have taken measures that I hope will result in defusing the crisis." He left Beirut after holding a series of meetings since Wednesday with rival political leaders on ending a standoff that has left the presidency vacant for almost two months. He said there were encouraging signs toward ending the crisis and described as "positive" a meeting on Thursday between parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri and key opposition leader Michel Aoun. Moussa is due to meet President Bashar al-Assad and Vice President Faruq al-Shara'a in Damascus on Saturday before returning to Lebanon on Sunday. Syria, which held sway in Lebanon until it was forced to withdraw its troops from the country in 2005, has been accused by Washington and its allies of standing in the way of a solution to the current political crisis. Damascus has leveled similar charges against the United States. The three-point Arab League plan being touted by Moussa calls for the election of army chief General Michel Suleiman as president, a national unity government in which no one party has veto power and the adoption of a new electoral law.
Although the ruling coalition has given the Arab plan its full backing, Hezbollah insists that the opposition be granted a third of the seats in a new government so it can have veto power. Lebanese lawmakers are scheduled to meet again on Monday to try to elect a president, but there are fears that parliamentary session will meet the same fate as the 12 previous ones and be postponed. (AFP) Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 21:30

Lebanon, U.S. Complain over Muallem's Visit
Germany confirmed Friday that Lebanon and the United States had complained about this week's visit of Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem to Berlin but denied it had "rolled out the red carpet" for him. Deputy government spokesman Thomas Steg said Chancellor Angela Merkel's office had received criticism about the invitation extended to Muallem for talks with his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier and members of parliament.
Steg said it was "not unusual for allies" to raise questions or objections after diplomatic meetings are announced, when asked about a press report on the complaints from Washington and Beirut. "The chancellery forwarded these declarations on to the foreign ministry," he said.
Spokesman Martin Jaeger of the foreign ministry, which invited Muallem to the meetings on Thursday, said only that Berlin had "made note of this position."
Steg added it was unclear why the United States and Lebanon had sent the letters to the chancellery and not the foreign ministry.
The conservative daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported Friday that the United States and Lebanon had complained that Steinmeier's invitation to Muallem was a premature reward before Syria had proved it was ready to play a "constructive role" in resolving conflicts in the Middle East. Several newspapers also reported criticism from Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats over the invitation made by Steinmeier, a Social Democrat, noting that the chancellor had not received Muallem. Muallem offered assurances after his talks with Steinmeier Thursday that Damascus would work toward progress the Middle East peace process and Lebanon, as the German foreign minister held out the prospect of stronger European ties if Syria made "visible, constructive" efforts. Jaeger indicated that the talks between Muallem and Steinmeier behind closed doors had been open and frank and sharply rejected the conservatives' criticism. "We did not roll out the red carpet," he said. Jaeger added that Merkel had said publicly this week that she expected Syria to help foster the peace process between Israelis and the Palestinians and an end to the Lebanese political crisis. He added that Steinmeier was actively courting Syria as a key potential partner for peace following Washington's own invitation to Damascus to a conference in November in Annapolis, Maryland. At that meeting, Palestinian President Mahmpud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed to set the end of 2008 as a target date for a comprehensive Middle East peace agreement.(AFP) Beirut, 18 Jan 08, 18:59

Terrorist gets life in embassy plot
By DAVID B. CARUSO, Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK - A Canadian terrorist who briefly became an informant against top al-Qaida leaders was sentenced to life in prison Friday for plotting to blow up American embassies in Singapore and the Philippines.
A federal judge in Manhattan imposed the sentence after listening to a 20-minute speech from admitted terrorist Mohammed Mansour Jabarah, in which he repudiated violence and asked to be allowed to go home to his family.
"I am not a ruthless, infamous and notorious terrorist," Jabarah said. "I do not believe in terrorism, violence and killing."
U.S. District Judge Barbara S. Jones said she gave Jabarah credit for his repudiation of violence, but said she couldn't overlook what he had done.
"Actions speak louder than words," she said.
Jabarah was captured in Oman after his bombing plot collapsed. He has been in U.S. custody since 2002, when he was turned over to the FBI by Canada's intelligence service and secretly pleaded guilty to terrorism charges as part of a short-lived plea bargain.
For a time, he was a valuable resource in the hunt for al-Qaida leaders.
During the few months of his cooperation with the FBI, Jabarah gave investigators information about Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammad, described his personal meetings with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and detailed his interactions with several other high ranking al-Qaida lieutenants.
He also described his own involvement in a terrorist plot. After graduating from high school in Canada, where he had lived since a move from Kuwait at age 12, Jabarah slipped into Afghanistan and trained at al-Qaida camps in 2001. Prosecutors said he became a protege of Mohammad and was preparing for the planned embassy attacks.
"This is far from a half-baked plot," said Assistant U.S. Attorney Jennifer Rodgers, noting that tons of explosives had already been purchased and a suicide bomber selected when the scheme was foiled by a round of arrests.
"Mr. Jabarah is the real deal," Rodgers said.
After his capture by Oman's intelligence service, Jabarah was brought to Canada where he was interrogated and told he had two choices: Go to the U.S. military prison in Guantanamo, or switch sides and inform on his terrorist mentors.
Jabarah chose the later, and by July 2002 he had pleaded guilty in a closed court session and moved into a series of FBI safe houses in the United States.
His work as an informant, however, ended after just a few months, when FBI agents searching his quarters discovered jihadist writings, a knife and rope hidden in his luggage, and instructions on how to make explosives. They also found a list bearing the initials of U.S. agents and prosecutors. Investigators believed it was a list of people Jabarah intended to murder.
Jabarah was immediately transferred to the Metropolitan Correctional Center in Manhattan, where he lived in solitary confinement for four years.
In court on Friday, his lawyer, Kenneth Paul, told the judge that it was all a misunderstanding. The knife, he said, was for personal protection due to death threats received by his family. The extremist writings were notes taken on terrorist videos that he had been asked to watch as part of the investigation.
"It's just ridiculous," Paul said of the allegation that Jabarah was compiling a death list. He didn't comment in detail on the other writings in which his client appeared to express disgust with America and muse on how he might return to terrorism if he were ever freed.
An attempt to re-enlist Jabarah as an informant failed in 2006.
Both sides agreed that, by then, he had soured on American law enforcement and was unwilling to cut a new deal.
"He could have been a great cooperating witness," Assistant U.S. Attorney David Raskin lamented during the court hearing Friday. He said Jabarah knew enough to build indictments against several terrorist leaders, but instead chose to remain loyal to bin Laden. "He was not interested in saving lives."
Sitting before the judge Friday, Jabarah told the judge he was a changed man. He asked that he be released from prison immediately so he could go to college, become an ophthalmologist and spend the rest of his life with his family.
He said he was "brainwashed" by people he thought were liberators of an oppressed people. "They were nothing more than terrorists," he said, and he deplored their killings as "absolutely disgusting, sickening and perverted."
Jones told Jabarah she would have found his statements more compelling if he had agreed to resume his cooperation with the government.

Syria … a servant under instruction
By Ahmed Al-Jarallah
Editor-in-Chief, the Arab Times
ARAB leaders and their representatives are heading for Syria although Damascus is sick and has been confined to the intensive care unit in Tehran... and put on life-saving support, although the Arabs have been trying in vain to bring the Syrian regime to their fold. The Syrian regime might have listened to advice if it was alive, but the problem is that the restless regime in Iran is feeding Syria with its expansionist intensions and those who have agreed to abandon their group and surrender their decisions, their blood and their future to Tehran. Therefore, the Arabs will return from Damascus with a bag of high quality lies, part of the deceit which surrounds Damascus because it submits to the dictates of Tehran. To save its face, the regime in Damascus always blames others and accuses them of not cooperating with it. These excuses are worse than the sin itself.
But, what does the public opinion say to the sing-song chorus of Farouq Al-Shara’a’s bawdiness, Waleed Al-Mualim’s speculations, Hassan Nasrallah’s day-dreaming and the insanity of General Michel Oun, etc...? The plain truth is the Syrian regime is a servant and receives instructions from elsewhere, nothing else. This is how it has been since the Cold War days. Damascus has agreed to play the role of the wage-worker to execute the plans of its guardian who changes its color like a chameleon.
The violations and shedding of innocent blood in Lebanon is the work of the Iranians who have begun to burn down this Arab country so that it can engage the world to put out the fire and allow Tehran to buy time to complete its nuclear project, in addition to prolonging the political life of its supporters in Lebanon. It also has this illusion that having its grip on an Arab country is a vital front to fight Israel. The role of Syria, the so-called Arab nation’s palpating heart, is to hand over Lebanon to the Iranian butchers, because Syria is more concerned about evading the international court and global pressure, even if this comes at the expense of losing a country which has been a spotlight in the Arab world - a country which has been the epitome of free society, democracy and positive liberal thinking free from fanaticism and discrimination.
Today, they want to turn Lebanon into a center of terrorism to trumpet the slogans for Palestinians, Arab and Islamic liberation as if millions of Arabs and Muslims have strayed away from their duty and gathered in Lebanon with their 19 factions suffering under the mercy of Hezbollah’s Iranian-made missiles and rockets. The Arab leaders are aware of this melancholic picture but they are trying to cure the ‘tail’ although they are fully aware the problem is with the ‘head’ and needs to be treated. Hopefully, it will be treated very soon, because whatever goes up, must come down. Syria will get the lion’s share of this treatment because playing with forbidden tools brings grave consequences. e-mail: ahmedjarallah@hotmail.com

Lebanon in limbo
19 January 2008
A GROWING Saudi-Syrian rift is not what was needed at this crucial stage of resolving the Lebanese presidential deadlock, especially since the reason for the falling out had more to do with the implied role of the other in the troubled country, rather than ways of hammering out a viable solution.
But rising tempers and growing irritation is an apt reflection on exactly what is happening on ground. Despite having put the entire weight of the Arab League behind the issue, stakeholders have not been successful in filling Lebanon’s presidential void that has been in search of a fitting occupier since pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud called it quits on Nov 23, ’07.
Short lived Press jubilation notwithstanding, propping up pro-Syrian army commander Michel Suleiman was bound to run into trouble. Lebanon’s major political problems owe to its continued status as proxy battlefield for the region’s many bickering forces. And since that is on top of its complicated constitutional makeup requiring representation from the many ethnicities and sects that make for its population, political uncertainty is no stranger to Beirut.
But the more troubling point is that there is not much beyond the Suleiman gambit that the League can help with, especially since the first meet between opposition and majority leaders has also proved unsuccessful in breaking the logjam. The president’s seat will have to be filled nonetheless, and it increasingly seems the final adjustment would require greater compromise than thought even one week ago. That, of course, entails problems of its own, especially with Hezbollah waiting on the sides, watching events as they unfold before throwing its weight around.
Each time trouble brews in Lebanon, headlines dub it the worst since the 15-year civil war that ended in ’90. That, of course, means each time it is of greater magnitude. It is indeed a sorry reflection on events of the last decade and a half that promises and hopes of reconstruction and rebuilding that followed the war have instead made way for greater divisions, signifying how little the Lebanese political mix has learned from the sacrifices of so many. It has also destroyed the country’s mythical status as the Levant’s Switzerland, rubbishing its trump card that attracted visitors from far and wide forever.
It ought to need little reminding that Lebanon’s neighbours’ active roles inside its (political and geographic) boundaries is a reflection of the country’s regional importance.
But with their own interference now threatening breaking it apart, there will be little left to salvage for any player involved, particularly the Lebanese themselves. Until this realisation is followed with concrete, constructive action, there will be little to be optimistic about.