LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 23/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 10,26-33. Therefore do not be afraid of them. Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed, nor secret that will not be known. What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light; what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops. And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.  Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin? Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father's knowledge. Even all the hairs of your head are counted. So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows. Everyone who acknowledges me before others I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father. But whoever denies me before others, I will deny before my heavenly Father.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
'Greater Albania' is no model. By: STELLA L. JATRAS. Washington Times 22/06/08
Syria: Yet to Pay the Price.By Tariq Alhomayed 22/06/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for June 22/08
Fadlallah Hammers Governments, Armies that Cooperate with Americans-Naharnet
Lebanon's top Shiite cleric says Iraqis should reject long-term ...International Herald Tribune
Iraqi, U.S. Forces Take Over Al-Mahdi Stronghold Without Firing a Shot- London Times
Two dead, 25 wounded in north Lebanon clashes-Reuters
Sarkozy arrives in Israel for first visit since becoming president-Jerusalem Post
Israel remains mum on Iran strike drill-Jerusalem Post
Saniora rejects calls to step down-AP
Kabouchi Venerated-Naharnet
Soeid Accuses Aoun-Hizbullah of seeking to Pressure the President-Naharnet
Clashes Rage in Tripoli Causing Casualties and Damage-Naharnet
The World Israel in the Season of Dread-New York Times
Berri Denies Setting Deadline to Saniora
One dead, 24 wounded in north Lebanon clashes-AFP
Syria, NKorea helped Iran develop nuclear programme: German report-AFP
Olmert to ask Sarkozy to aid Lebanon talks-Ynetnews
Just when we were tying our shoes-Ha'aretz
France cooling to Syria, Sarkozy will tell Olmert in Jerusalem ...Ha'aretz  

Kabouchi Venerated
Naharnet/Cardinal Jose Sarajeva Martinez, declared in the name of Pope Benedictus XVI father Jacob Haddad Kabouchi a venerated. Kabouchi's Beatification ceremony was held in downtown Beirut an attended by President Michel Suleiman, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Premier-Designate Fouad Saniora. Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir also attended the ceremony, regarded a national event in Lebanon being the first of its kind. Beirut, 22 Jun 08, 12:15

Soeid Accuses Aoun-Hizbullah of seeking to Pressure the President
Naharnet/March 14 alliance general coordinator Fares Soeid charged Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun and Hizbullah of trying to exert pressure on President Michel Suleiman. "This pressure is aimed at burdening the new presidential mandate with conditions," ex-MP Soeid said in a radio interview.
He also accused Hizbullah of seeking to be the only side that appoints commanders of public security agencies. "We have heard a Hizbullah official saying he would be the one to appoint security officials," he added. Soeid was referring to fiery remarks made Saturday by Hizbullah Foreign Relations official Nawaf Moussawi. Hizbullah's agenda, according to the March 14 official, would not be applied to Lebanon as it puts the party on a collision course with the Nation's Sunni community, as a start. Beirut, 22 Jun 08, 10:23

Fadlallah Hammers Governments, Armies that Cooperate with Americans
Naharnet/Shiite spiritual authority Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah on Sunday said any government or authority that facilitates the American agenda in the region would lose its legitimacy. Fadlallah also warned the Iraqis against concluding any agreement that allows U.S. President George Bush's administration to persist with its "occupation of Iraq under new titles."He accused the United States of "seeking to influence Arab armies … after American armies failed to achieve their targets."
Fadlallah cautioned that cooperation with the Americans in such issues would be tantamount to "treason." Beirut, 22 Jun 08, 13:45

Clashes Rage in Tripoli Causing Casualties and Damage
Naharnet/At least one person was killed and 24 people were wounded in fierce clashes that raged between the Hizbullah-led opposition and majority partisans in the northern town of Tripoli. The fatality was identified as Ahmed Hassan al-Sayed a citizen of Tripoli's Tabbaneh district. Police said he was hit by a sniper bullet that penetrated his heart. The clashes raged as of 6 a.m., two hours after unidentified assailants in the pro-opposition stronghold of Baal Mohsen hurled hand grenades at Tabbaneh, a predominantly Sunni Muslim district backing Saad Hariri's Mustaqbal Movement. A police source said most of the wounded were Tripoli citizens hit by sniper fire from rooftop nests in Baal Mohsen. Mortars, Rocket-Propelled Grenade launchers and automatic rifles were used in the confrontation, police reported.
Local reporters in Tripoli told Naharnet the thuds of exploding RPGs and mortar rounds echoed across the city early in the morning accompanied by staccato bursts of machine gun fire. Ambulances, sirens wailing, evacuated victims to Tripoli's hospital as scores of families evacuated their apartments in Tabbaneh, the faces Baal Mohsen. Mortar rounds and RPGs scored hits in residential apartment, setting some of them ablaze.
Sniper fire targeted Tripoli's main streets and reached as far as the Mina suburb. Police blocked traffic across such exposed streets in an effort to avert exposing civilians. Beirut, 22 Jun 08, 08:22

Syria: Yet to Pay the Price
By Tariq Alhomayed
21/06/2008
 An interview with a well-informed Syrian source on the secret negotiations between Israel and Syria that was published recently in Asharq Al-Awsat was both interesting and perplexing to a large degree. The interview was full of contradictions and demonstrated that Damascus has a strong desire to reactivate its semi-suspended ties with Washington.
The contradictions in the interview with the Syrian source began with the issue of the Shebaa Farms, ownership of this land and Israeli withdrawal from it. The source’s comments implied that the Shebaa Farms belong to Syria and whenever this issue arises it quickly fades away; however, American comments on Israeli withdrawal from the Shebaa farms have pushed the Syrians to now break their silence on the topic.
The question is: if the Shebaa Farms really do belong to Syria then why did Lebanon have to bear the consequences of Hezbollah and Hassan Nasrallah’s actions? Why isn’t Hezbollah in Syria and why doesn’t Damascus bear the consequences of Hezbollah’s wars since they would be in defense of Syrian land especially that the Shebaa Farms are tiny in comparison to the Golan Heights, as I have previously stated.
If the Shebaa Farms, however, belong to Lebanon then why are the Syrians even discussing the issue and rejecting the demarcation of borders; what would Syria “gain in return,” asked the Syrian source. In the case that Israel does withdraw from the Shebaa Farms then wouldn’t that be interference in Lebanese affairs and continuation of disrupting Lebanon in contrast to Syria’s claims that it does not interfere in Lebanese matters?
It is odd that the Syrians considered Condoleezza Rice’s statements on Israeli withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms a disruption to the course of negotiations “and the inciting of some parties against others,” in the words of the Syrian source. But the question here is: Isn’t Syrian-Israeli negotiation a blow to talks on establishing a Palestinian state? Has it forced Palestinians into a vicious circle despite that Israel and Hamas have reached a truce which would not have been accomplished without Damascus’ blessing?
Syrian-Israeli negotiations can only be described as a life saver to Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert who has been rescued from American pressure for the establishment of a Palestinian state.
The other puzzling point is that all of Syria’s allies and affiliates, whether in Damascus or Lebanon, continuously distract us with their attacks on America describing anyone who disagrees with them as Zionist/American agents. This is the case with Iranian-affiliated Hezbollah and its supporters, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Tehran. The Arabs are divided into friends of Syria or Arab traitors who collaborate with America whilst Damascus, at the same time, appears to be activating its ties with Washington on all levels as it says that negotiations cannot take place without the United States.
Syria, Hezbollah and Hamas are negotiating with Israel with or without a mediator just as Iran is negotiating with the United States, either covertly or overtly, and Damascus is begging America to restore normal communication; all of that is taking place amidst the clamor of accusations of treachery in the region.
The problem with Damascus is that is has not paid the price for everything that it has done, whether in secret or in public, and has never faced the consequences of its actions. It has never been burnt since Damascus, in the words of the Syrian source, loves to “cook over a low fire”.

'Greater Albania' is no model
By: STELLA L. JATRAS
Sunday, June 22, 2008
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2008/jun/22/greater-albania-is-no-model/
It is interesting to note that the United States could see Kosovo as a model for Iraq and Afghanistan ("U.S. sees model for nation building," Page 1, June 13). If "success" means the destruction of 300 Serbian Orthodox churches and monasteries; if "success" means ethnic cleansing of over 250,000 Serbs from their ancestral homes, all under the noses of the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR); if it means the final eradication of Serbia's culture, language and religion in Kosovo; if it means handing Kosovo's government over to war criminals such as former Kosovo Liberation Army political leader Hashim Thaci, then, indeed, Kosovo is a huge success and should be used as a "template," as suggested by U.S. Brig. Gen. John E. Davoren.
According to the German Bundesnachrichtendienst (Federal Intelligence Service), Mr. Thaci is one of three KLA kingpins who run the Albanian Mafia rackets in Kosovo. Mr. Thaci is also known for eliminating anyone who crosses his ambitions. During a trip to Kosovo, former Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright gave Mr. Thaci a kiss on the cheek right after he had just executed six of his top officers. Let's call a spade a spade. Mr. Thaci - nicknamed "the Snake" by his admiring comrades when he was the commander of the KLA, once listed as a terrorist organization by the State Department - should be called what he really is, a terrorist who has taken over the baton as prime minister from another terrorist, the KLA leader Agim Ceku, who, according to Jane's Defence Weekly, was linked to two of the grisliest episodes of brutality against Serbian civilians in the Yugoslav war.
In her book "The Hunt: Me and War Criminals," Carla Del Ponte, former chief prosecutor at The Hague, reveals the gruesome details of the hundreds of Serb prisoners whose bodies were stripped of their organsduring the Kosovo war. According to her sources, senior figures in the KLA were aware of the scheme, in which hundreds of young Serbs were reportedly taken by truck from Kosovo to northern Albania, where their organs were removed.
Miss Del Ponte provides grim details of the reported organ harvesting and of how some prisoners were sewn up after having kidneys removed. Miss Del Ponte also wrote that the claims were made by several sources, one of whom "personally made an organ delivery" to an Albanian airport for transport abroad, and "confirmed information directly gathered by the tribunal." Miss del Ponte further writes, "The victims, deprived of a kidney, were then locked up again, inside the barracks, until the moment they were killed for other vital organs. In this way, the other prisoners were aware of the fate that awaited them, and according to the source, pleaded, terrified, to be killed immediately." Mr. Thaci is accused of benefiting from the trade when he was Kosovo's prime minister.
Not surprisingly, Miss Del Ponte has been forbidden by the Swiss government to promote her book,saying the book does not befit her new role as an ambassador.
What is impossible tobelieve is that our administrations, past and present, have jumped into bed with the KLA terrorists in support of an "independent" Albanian Kosovo. Not a pretty picture.
Kosovo is to the Serbs what the Wailing Wall is to the Jews, what the Vatican is to the Roman Catholics and what Mecca is to the Muslims. As though 500 years were not enough, when Serbs suffered under the Ottoman yoke, the West has doomed them once again to liveunder the heel of theiroppressors. Instead of a "Greater Serbia," we now have a "Greater Albania," complete with a newly created jihadist country in the heart of Europe.
Finally, the question that should seriously be asked is this: If the Serbs ethnically cleansed Kosovo Albanians, as has been claimed, then why are the Kosovo Albanians over 90 percent of the population and the Serbs, who were once the majority in their Jerusalem, fewer than 10 percent? Kosovo Albanians became the majority by crossing illegally from Albania into Christian Kosovo. Kosovo Albanians already have a country, and that country is Albania.
STELLA L. JATRAS
Camp Hill, Pa.
Page 1

Al-Mahdi Army militias routed without a shot fired
Iraqi police moved from house to house searching for weapons and militants in al-Amarah
James Hider in al-Amarah -Times on Line
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article4175393.ece
They came at dawn, thousands of Iraqi troops and US special forces on a mission to reclaim a lawless city from the militias who ran it.
By the end of the day, al-Amarah was under Iraqi Government control - without a shot being fired.
The city had been taken over by the Shia al-Mahdi Army two years ago after British troops handed it to an ill-prepared Iraqi Army. “We can't say al-Amarah was entirely bad, there are good people here, poor people. But the city was controlled by the al-Mahdi Army, and these people are all backed by Iran,” said Captain Hussein Ali of the Scorpion police brigade, one of the Iraqi units drafted in to take part in Operation Omen of Peace.
Yesterday the city's streets - unpaved, dirt tracks between grubby, low brick houses - were crawling with Iraqi security forces. Soldiers searched houses as police manned checkpoints and Soviet-era tanks guarded bridges over the Tigris River.
The flood of troops, who had moved into position outside the city a week ago, had encountered no resistance as they moved in yesterday. The leaders of the Shia militias that once ruled as crime bosses and warlords were either gone or in hiding. Even the police chief fled a week ago, fearing arrest for his affiliation to al-Mahdi Army, while the mayor, a member of the Sadrist movement, was arrested.
Outside one of the long-neglected police bases built by the British Army, scores crowded to sign up as police officers, the only regular job in a city whose main industry is weapons smuggling from nearby Iran, but a profession that until now was closed to most.
“In the past, you needed contacts with the tribal sheikhs or to pay three million dinars in bribes to get a job as a policeman,” said Raed Mijbil, 30. “All the Iraqi security forces were corrupt.”
Nouri al-Maliki, the Shia Prime Minister, has insisted that his large-scale operations in the south are not targeting the Sadrist movement, which has been increasingly weakened by internal divisions, its brutal reputation for murder and extortion, and a more confident Iraqi military. Hojatoleslam Moqtada al-Sadr, the fundamentalist Shia cleric who heads the al-Mahdi Army and the Sadrist political movement, ordered his men not to resist the government forces, and a senior member of his parliamentary block expressed grudging support.
“We stand with the Government on imposing the law and we are showing goodwill,” said Bahaa al-Araji, a member of the Sadrist parliamentary bloc. “But law must be imposed on everybody. We hope the target of the plan is not our movement.”
Locals said that militiamen had been spotted throwing their weapons into the Tigris or trying to hide them along the lush river banks. One man said that he saw two women digging up a stash hidden by a fighter and taking them into a weapons collection point in the hope of a reward.
The ease with which Iraqi forces retook al-Amarah, for long a no-go zone, was in marked contrast to the battle for Basra launched by Mr al-Maliki in March. That conflict ended only when the Government cut a deal with Hojatoleslam al-Sadr, a ceasefire brokered by Iran.
“This way is better,” said Captain Ali, noting that an army battalion would stay in al-Amarah once the operation is finished clearing out the militias. “We don't want to lose people, and in urban warfare women and children can get killed.”
While the Prime Minister had personally to lead his shaky forces on the offensive in Basra, he and his army have gained in confidence since establishing control of the southern port city, even flooding the Sadr City stronghold in Baghdad with thousands of soldiers. For the first time in years the young cleric looks unsure of himself. Last week he announced that the main wing of al-Mahdi Army would devote itself to civilian projects, while a streamlined, smaller group would carry on attacking the US military, whom the demagogue deems a legitimate target for resistance.
Nabil Ibrahim, 20, an al-Amarah resident, was pleased to see the influx of government troops but upset that the men who had turned his city into a lawless no man's land had escaped. “The leaders who escaped aren't all al-Mahdi Army, they are Iranian intelligence agents. We are sad because they got away and they'll be back.”
Captain Ali denied that the criminal leaders had been allowed to get away. “We didn't just let them escape, this was a kind of amnesty. This was a last chance for those who were misled by the militias and regretted it,” he said. He said that the local population was co-operating with the security sweep, and that the army had found more than 900 roadside bombs in weapons stashes.

Israel remains mum on Iran strike drill
By YAAKOV KATZ --Jerusalem Post
Amid reports that the Israel Air Force recently conducted a massive drill as a "dress rehearsal" for an attack against Iran, The Jerusalem Post has learned that the IAF significantly increased the number of overseas drills it has participated in over the past two years.
Slideshow: Pictures of the week The long-range flight exercises, many of which have included mid-air refueling, have taken place in the United States, Canada, Europe and Sardinia, as well as throughout the Mediterranean Sea.
On Friday, The New York Times reported that Israel carried out a major military drill over the eastern Mediterranean and Greece in the first week of June that US sources say was apparently a rehearsal for a potential attack on Iran's nuclear sites. According to the report, more than 100 IAF F-16 and F-15 fighter jets took part in the exercise. The drill also included IAF rescue helicopters and refueling tankers that flew around 1,500 km., according to the report, which is approximately the distance between Israel and Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. The IDF would neither confirm nor deny the reports and in recent briefings with the press, air force brass have refrained from any mention of preparations for such an attack, other than saying that the "IAF was prepared for all the threats Israel faces." In response to the report in The New York Times, the IDF Spokesman's Office issued a statement saying the IDF "regularly trains for various missions in order to confront and meet the challenges posed by the threats facing Israel."
The increase in training outside of Israel is mainly to prepare pilots for long-range flights and to allow them to test various munitions intended for long-range air strikes. US officials confirmed the reports on the exercise and said it was "impossible to miss" and may have been meant as a show of force as well as practice with the skills needed to execute a long-range strike. "They have been conducting some large-scale exercises - they live in a tough neighborhood," one US official said, though he offered no other recent examples. Israel is increasingly concerned by reports that Iranian soldiers are training with the advanced S-300 air defense missile system in Russia, although the defense establishment believes that Teheran has not yet obtained the system. Israel has been working diplomatically to prevent the sale and delivery of the system.
The S-300 is one of the best multi-target anti-aircraft missile systems in the world and has a reported ability to track up to 100 targets simultaneously while engaging up to 12 at the same time.
"We need to do everything to stop the S-300 from reaching the region," a top defense official said.
The timing of the IAF exercise fits into Israeli assessments that the United States will not take military action against Iran before the end of President George W. Bush's term in January. On June 6, Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz said in a newspaper interview that if Iran continued its nuclear program, Israel "will attack it." The week before Mofaz made his comments, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Israel had a viable military option, and last Sunday former deputy defense minister Ephraim Sneh said he believed that Israel would, in the end, need to attack Iran.
Last month the Post revealed that the IDF had moved up its forecasts on Teheran reaching nuclear capability by almost a full year - from 2009 to the end of 2008. According to the new timeline, Iran will master centrifuge enrichment technology by the end of the current year and could have a nuclear weapon by the middle of next year.
It has been reported that Iran currently has 6,000 centrifuges at its Natanz enrichment facility and there is room for some tens of thousands. If everything goes as planned, Iran will have enough enriched uranium for a bomb by mid-2009.
This new timeline leaves Israeli government and military leaders in a major predicament concerning the "point of no return" for Teheran's nuclear weapons program and for a potential military strike against Iranian nuclear facilities.
The UN nuclear watchdog chief warned in comments aired Saturday that any attack on Iran could turn the Middle East into a "ball of fire" and lead Teheran to a more aggressive stance on its nuclear program.
"In my opinion, a military strike will be the worst... it will turn the Middle East into a ball of fire," Mohamed ElBaradei, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said on Al-Arabiya television. It also might prompt Iran to press even harder to seek a nuclear program, and force him to resign, he said.
Iran on Saturday also criticized the IDF drill. The official IRNA news agency quoted a government spokesman as saying that the exercises demonstrate that Israel "jeopardizes global peace and security."
AP contributed to this report