LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 18/08

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint John 12,1-11. Six days before Passover Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. They gave a dinner for him there, and Martha served, while Lazarus was one of those reclining at table with him. Mary took a liter of costly perfumed oil made from genuine aromatic nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and dried them with her hair; the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. Then Judas the Iscariot, one (of) his disciples, and the one who would betray him, said, Why was this oil not sold for three hundred days' wages and given to the poor? He said this not because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief and held the money bag and used to steal the contributions. So Jesus said, "Leave her alone. Let her keep this for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me." (The) large crowd of the Jews found out that he was there and came, not only because of Jesus, but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. And the chief priests plotted to kill Lazarus too,
because many of the Jews were turning away and believing in Jesus because of him.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Geagea: US guarantees Lebanon independence 100%-Ya Libnan - 17/03/08
Lebanon's ruling coalition has yet to say how it would like to rule-The Daily Star- 17/03/08
United States Ambassador to Baghdad Tells Al-Hayat about her ...Dar Al-Hayat 17/03/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 17/08
Moussa Says Lebanon Chooses Summit Representative as Saniora awaits 24 of March-Naharnet
Israel Test-fires Missile to Intercept Gaza, Hizbullah Rockets-Naharnet
Arab MPs in Beirut in Attempt to Solve Ongoing Crisis-Naharnet
Jumblat for Wider Arab Initiative-Naharnet
Hizbullah Attacks March 14, Says Declaration is Tantamount to U.S. Membership I.D.-Naharnet
Lebanon to Attend Conference on Iraqi Refugees-Naharnet
Rocket Fire Disrupts Hizbullah Ceremony in Minya-Naharnet
Solana Urges Pressure on Syria ahead of Arab Summit-Naharnet
Welch: Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon should Live Inside Palestinian State-Naharnet
Iran to Attend Damascus Summit-Naharnet
Israel on Higher Alert as Mughniyeh Mourning Period Draws to a Close-Naharnet
Giant Sea Turtle Found Dead on Lebanese Shore-Naharnet
Nations working to ban cluster bombs-San Francisco Chronicle
Netanyahu to search for 'conspirators'-Jerusalem Post
Qatar, Oman Move to Help End Lebanon Crisis-Naharnet
House Panel Debates Iraq Refugee Quandary-Washington Post
Olmert's Office Denies Planned Meeting Between Israel, Syria-Naharnet
EU: Iran Election was 'Neither Free Nor Fair'-Naharnet
Israel: Middle East Negotiators to Meet this Week-Naharnet
Solana calls for more pressure on Syria-Daily Star
RPGs interrupt speech by Hizbullah MP at ceremony for missing Fatah fighter-AFP
Archbishop urges unity in Palm Sunday address-Daily Star
Kuwaiti ambassador pays visit to Tripoli-Daily Star
US official: Return of Palestinian refugees will 'help' Lebanon-Daily Star
Aoun mocks March 14 as 'slaves of yesteryear-Daily Star
Anti-drug pact with Brazil comes into effect-Daily Star
Indonesia to dispatch 90 military police to join countrymen in UNIFIL-Daily Star
Cafe in Saifi Village offers visitors an outlet to express their creativity-Daily Star
Syrian laborers face tough times amid Lebanon's political divide-AFP
Beirut Stock Exchange breaks downward streak on rumors of Bank Audi merger-Daily Star  
Merrill Lynch advises investors to steer clear of Beirut's Eurobonds-Daily Star
Rocket fire disrupts ceremony for missing Lebanon militant-AFP
Arab MPs in Beirut to break presidential deadlock-AFP
EU's Solana urges pressure on Syria over Lebanon-Reuters
Lebanon to Attend Conference on Iraqi Refugees-Naharnet
McCain makes unexpected visit to Iraq-AP

Israel on Higher Alert as Mughniyeh Mourning Period Draws to a Close
Naharnet/Israel has placed its security forces on higher alert, beefed up security at diplomatic missions abroad and advised Israeli travelers to put off trips to Muslim states for fear Lebanese militants will carry out a revenge attack at the upcoming end of the mourning period for Imad Mughniyeh, security officials say.
Hizbullah blames Israel for the Feb. 12 car bombing that killed Mughniyeh, a top commander. The Israeli government has denied the charge.
Immediately after Mughniyeh's killing, Israel briefly put its military and embassies on alert, and advised Jewish institutions worldwide to do the same, fearing a large-scale revenge attack. Although Israel has no information about specific planned attacks, a heightened alert has been ordered now, too, with the customary 40-day mourning period for Mughniyeh ending Saturday, security officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not at liberty to disclose security plans. Inside Israel, security forces have been instructed to be especially vigilant against possible attacks by Hizbullah cells in Palestinian territories, officials said.
Immediately after the Mughniyeh assassination, Israeli patrols were reinforced along the northern border with Lebanon, for fear of cross-border raids or kidnappings. That alert was later eased, and the border area is not a focus of the current alert because the assumption is that Hizbullah already would have tried to carry out a revenge cross-border raid if it wanted to, security officials said. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah vowed at Mughniyeh's funeral to retaliate against Israeli targets anywhere in the world, and Israeli precautions have been extended across the globe. With the mourning period drawing to a close, Israeli missions abroad have been ordered to beef up patrols and carry out even more rigorous inspections. The Shin Bet internal security agency has sent reinforcements to particularly sensitive targets, like embassies and representative offices, security officials said. They would not release any further information about the security measures. Israelis traveling abroad on private business have been asked not to travel in large groups, particularly to Muslim states. Security services have advised a delegation of architects bound for Indonesia this week to put off their trip, and a travel advisory counseling Israelis to avoid Muslim states and spots abroad frequented by Israelis has remained in effect since the assassination.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 17 Mar 08, 08:11

Moussa Says Lebanon Chooses Summit Representative as Saniora Awaits March 25
Naharnet/Arab League Chief Amr Moussa said it was up to Lebanon to decide the level of participation in the upcoming Arab summit in Damascus as Premier Fouad Saniora believed there was still time to decide whether or not to attend the conference. "The invitation to attend the Arab summit in Damascus has been delivered to Lebanon the same way it (Lebanon) was invited to attend the Islamic summit in Dakar," Moussa said in an interview with Kuwait's al-Rai daily on Monday. "As far as the level of participation is concerned, the Lebanese government will be the one to choose its representative and its delegation chief," Moussa added. Saniora took part in the summit of the Organization of the Islamic Conference as "the legitimate representative of his country," Moussa told the newspaper.
The Lebanese government has still not decided whether to attend or to boycott the March 29-30 summit in the Syrian capital. "There is plenty of time. It would be wise to see what will come out from the parliamentary session" scheduled for March 25 to elect a president, Saniora told Future News television Sunday. Al Mustaqbal newspaper quoted Saniora's visitors as saying resigned Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh hasn't yet contacted the prime minister to deliver him the invitation. Last week, a Syrian delegation handed over the initiation to Salloukh as Saniora was participating in the OIC summit in the Senegalese capital. About Lebanon's presidential crisis, Moussa said: All Lebanese parties have agreed on the name of their next president, "but procedures" are preventing the election process to move forward. Beirut, 17 Mar 08, 08:11

Qatar, Oman Move to Help End Lebanon Crisis
Naharnet/Qatar and Oman have reportedly stepped in to try to make one last-ditch effort to salvage an Arab initiative aimed at ending the ongoing political crisis in Lebanon, only nine days ahead of a vote to elect a new president. The daily An Nahar on Monday said Omani Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Youssef Bin Alawi Bin Abdallah has informed Prime Minister Fouad Saniora of his country's desire to help achieve a breakthrough in the deadlock between the government and the Hizbullah-led opposition. It said the Omani official had already brought up the subject at a meeting in Damascus recently, where Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told bin Abdallah that he "does not mind" demarcating the borderline between Lebanon and Syria. Assad also reportedly informed bin Abdallah of his desire to restore diplomatic ties with Lebanon. House Speaker Nabih Berri has postponed a parliament session to elect a new president to March 25, the 16th delay of a vote just four days ahead of an Arab summit scheduled for March 29-30 in Damascus. Gas-rich Qatar, in turn, has also expressed its desire to launch a new bid to end the stalemate. An Nahar said Qatar was likely to dispatch its Minister of Energy and Industry Abdullah al Attiyah to Beirut soon to "study the possibility of such a move."Meanwhile, there were signs that Saudi King Abdullah, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak as well as King Abdullah II of Jordan were inclined to boycott the Damascus Summit. The pan-Arab Al Hayat newspaper, however, said Assad has renewed a proposal calling for "implementation" of the Arab initiative "based on an agreement of a full basket that includes electing (army commander Gen. Michel) Suleiman president, formation of a national unity government whereas the cabinet, the opposition and the presidency would each get ten ministers."Assad's proposal also calls for granting the opposition one of these two alternatives -- guarantees or veto power. The Syrian president also wants parliamentary elections to be held according to the electoral law that dates back to 1960. Beirut, 17 Mar 08, 08:23

Rocket Fire Disrupts Hizbullah Ceremony in Minya
Naharnet/Two rocket-propelled grenades were fired on Sunday over a ceremony for a missing Lebanese militant being attended by a Hizbullah lawmaker, a security official said. Hizbullah MP Hussein al-Haj Hassan was addressing the event in Minya, north of the city of Tripoli, to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the suspected abduction by Israel of militant Yehya Skaff, when the incident occurred. The ceremony continued despite the rockets and no casualties were reported, the security official told AFP. There was no immediate comment from Hizbullah. Extensive security measures had been taken for the event after threats from the area's residents to sabotage the ceremony if Hizbullah attended. Minya is considered a stronghold of supporters of Lebanon's Western-backed government which is mired in a major political crisis with the Hizbullah-led opposition, backed by Syria and Iran. Skaff was a militant who fought alongside the main Palestinian Liberation Organization faction Fatah and is thought to have taken part in a bus hijacking in northern Israel that left at least 35 Israelis dead in the late 1970s. Hizbullah claims that Skaff has been jailed in Israel since for the past 30 years but Israel has denied the charge. Hizbullah has announced that one of its goals in its fight against Israel is to free all Lebanese prisoners held in Israel -- including Samir Qantar, the longest-held prisoner in Israel who has been detained by Israel since 1980. Beirut, 16 Mar 08, 17:56

Arab MPs in Beirut in Attempt to Solve Ongoing Crisis
Naharnet/A delegation of Arab MPs mandated by the Arab League arrived on Sunday in Beirut in a fresh bid to break a deep political impasse blocking the election of a president. "We in the Arab world are concerned with the great rift in Lebanon as well as the fragile security situation," Mohammed Jassem al-Saqr, head of the Arab Parliament, an arm of the Arab League, told reporters in Beirut. "We will do all we can for national reconciliation in Lebanon," said Saqr at the start of a visit due to last several days. The delegation is due to meet Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and parliament speaker Nabih Berri, a key member of the Hizbullah-led opposition backed by Syria and Iran. "If the situation requires that we go to Syria, we will," Saqr said. Damascus hosts an Arab summit on March 29-30 and several Arab countries have linked the level of their participation at the summit to the election of a president in Beirut. Regional heavyweights Egypt and Saudi Arabia blame Syria -- which had a military presence in Lebanon for decades -- for obstructing the vote. Parliament is scheduled to meet on March 25 to elect a new president after 16 previous attempts have been postponed amid a deadlock between the majority and the opposition on the make-up of a future government. The visit also comes on the heels of three failed attempts by Arab League chief Amr Mussa to break the deadlock and secure the election of army commander General Michel Suleiman as the country's next president. Lebanon has been without a president since November 24, after pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stepped down at the end of his term.(AFP) Beirut, 16 Mar 08, 18:10

Solana to Pressure Syria Ahead of Arab Summit
Naharnet/EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana called Sunday for international pressure on Syria so that it allows Lebanon to elect a new president before an Arab summit on March 29-30. "The pressure on Syria has to grow in order to solve at least the situation in Lebanon," he said at the Brussels Forum conference in the Belgian capital. "All the pressure has to be placed now, to see if the president of Lebanon can be elected before this summit. If that's not the case I'd be very pessimistic about the coming period of time," he said. Lebanon has been without a head of state since November 24, when pro-Syrian Emile Lahoud stood down, and presidential powers have been transferred to the cabinet, which will decide whether Lebanon attends the summit in Damascus. Parliament is scheduled to convene on March 25 for a vote. However 16 previous attempts have been postponed because of the deadlock between the majority, and the Hizbullah-led opposition. The Arab summit has been mired in controversy, with some Arab states saying they will not attend if the Lebanese parliament does not elect a president by then. "The summit will not be attended at the level it was supposed to be if that is not done," Solana said. Regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt have blamed Syria -- which was the dominant political and military force in Lebanon for decades -- for obstructing the election.(AFP) Beirut, 16 Mar 08, 17:52

McCain makes unexpected visit to Iraq
By BRADLEY BROOKS, Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD - Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presumptive nominee for president who has linked his political future to U.S. success in Iraq, was in Baghdad on Sunday for meetings with Iraqi and U.S. diplomatic and military officials, a U.S. government official said.
Details of McCain's visit were not being released for security reasons, the U.S. embassy said.
McCain's visit was not announced and he was believed to have been in the country for several hours before reporters were able to confirm his arrival. It was unclear who he met with and no media opportunities or news conferences were planned.
McCain, a strong supporter of the U.S. military mission in Iraq, is believed to be staying in the country for about 24 hours.
"Senator McCain is in Iraq and will be meeting with Iraqi and U.S. officials," said Mirembe Nantongo, spokesperson for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.
This is his eighth visit to Iraq. He's accompanied by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C. Before leaving McCain said his trip to the Middle East and Europe was a fact-finding venture, not a campaign photo opportunity. The senator last met with Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki last November during the Thanksgiving holiday. McCain was to meet Sunday with Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Barham Saleh. Later in the day, he and Gen. David Petraeus, the top commander in Iraq, were planning to talk. It was also thought McCain would meet with al-Maliki. "We were informed that John McCain landed in Iraq Sunday morning. A meeting will take place with the Iraqi government," said Ali al-Moussawi, an official in the Iraqi prime minister's office.
There were no details immediately available about McCain's meetings and his schedule for the day apparently remained in flux, a U.S. official said on condition of anonymity as the official was not authorized to release the information.
McCain's weeklong trip also includes stops in Israel, Jordan, Britain and France.
McCain is expected to meet with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown for the first time, and French President Nicolas Sarkozy for the third time. He met and corresponded with Sarkozy both before and after the French president was elected. The two last saw each other last summer. McCain has relationships with every leader in Israel he plans to see, including Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and hawkish opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Ahead of the trip, McCain expressed worries that insurgents might try to influence the November presidential election with increased attacks in Iraq. "Yes, I worry about it," he said Friday in Springfield, Pennsylvania. "And I know they pay attention, because of the intercepts we have of their communications." McCain told reporters later that al-Qaida remains smart and adaptable despite an increase of U.S. troops in Iraq. A defiant supporter of the 2003 invasion and President Bush's troop increase last year, McCain is likely to focus in Iraq on the drop in sectarian violence and U.S. and civilian casualties since last summer.

Geagea: U.S. guarantees Lebanon independence 100%
Monday, 17 March, 2008
Sources: metimes.com
Beirut / Washington- Lebanon's independence and sovereignty is guaranteed "100 percent" by the Bush administration, according to the leader of the Lebanese Forces who met with top U.S. government officials in Washington last week.
After a series of meetings with representatives from the House and Senate, top officials from the Bush administration which included U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Steven Hadley, President George W. Bush's national security adviser and Elliott Abrams, deputy national security adviser, Samir Geagea told the Middle East Times in an exclusive interview last Saturday that he felt more confident regarding the future of Lebanon.
Asked if he had received guarantees from the Bush administration, Geagea replied: "Concerning independence and sovereignty of Lebanon 100 percent, clearly enough. Guarantees concerning the Lebanese state as a state; guarantees concerning their [the U.S. government's] attitude toward the Palestinians in Lebanon. They [the Bush administration] are against the Palestinian refugees remaining in Lebanon; and guarantees that they will endeavor to get the Israelis out of the Shebaa farms [in south Lebanon] and place it under U.N. auspices."
Political scientists, politicians and diplomats are worried by the way the crisis in Lebanon is crystallizing, widening the gap between the pro-government March 14 Movement, which enjoys the backing of the United States and France on the one side, and the opposition March 8 group, backed by Syria and Iran on the other.
The March 14 Movement comprises the political heirs to assassinated Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (representing the country's Sunni Muslims), the Lebanese Forces led by Geagea (representing one side of the country's Christians), and the majority of the Druze community, lead by Walid Jumblatt.
The March 8 group is made up mostly by the Shiite Hezbollah, a minority Druze clan, and General Michel Aoun who speaks on behalf of another Christian faction.
The Middle East Times asked Geagea if he could explain the shift in Lebanese politics, the difference between 1975 when the civil war had greater sectarian overtones, and now when the divide is more political.
"This is really a very deep question that has to do more with the dynamics of the social and political evolution in Lebanon rather than politics; nevertheless, it is an interesting one for me," said Geagea.
"First, because there was a shift in the position and attitude of the different Lebanese communities, and because of the Taif Agreement," [the city in Saudi Arabia where the end of the Lebanese civil war was negotiated].
"In 1975 in addition to the Palestinian problem inside Lebanon we had an acute output, what they called at the time, a participation problem. And this acute participation problem overshadowed the sovereignty problem and the problem of armed Palestinians. But after 1990 the problem of participation was one way or another solved and we were left only with the sovereignty dimension of the Lebanese problem.
"Second, I think some of these Lebanese communities had illusions concerning the nature of the Syrian regime. With time and experience they got to know exactly what was the nature and the real aim and ideology of this regime."
When asked what he thought Syria wanted from Lebanon, Geagea replied: "Syria doesn't want anything from Lebanon. Syria wants Lebanon.
"Ideologically, historically, political thought-wise, strategically, economically; Syria wants Lebanon because of all these considerations. Unfortunately, not only the Syrian regime, but many intellectual people still think of Lebanon as part of Syria," said Geagea.
"Ideologically they think this way. Strategically, Lebanon is extremely important for them because they think of it as their backyard and Lebanon has a strategic geographic position, especially having frontiers with Israel.
"And economically over the last 15 or 20 years Syria made billions and billions [of dollars] out of Lebanon."
So what is the solution?
"The solution is to stand up to the Syrian plan for Lebanon, stand up to Syrian wishes concerning Lebanon and to tell them many times, as Prime Minister Siniora tried to tell them many times, but in his own way; 'You, friends, Syrians, you should start realizing that there is here, near you, an independent free and sovereign country. You should start realizing this and start behaving accordingly,'" said Geagea.
As for the future, what is Geagea's vision?
"I have faith in Lebanon, I am optimistic even though I know this may take a long time; don't get me wrong, I am not talking about next month or even next year, but overall I am optimistic and I have faith in Lebanon."
At the end of the civil war Geagea was jailed in a military prison in solitary confinement where he spent 11 years, three months and five days. During this time he was only allowed visits from his lawyers and his family.
Does he begrudge those who put him in jail?
"No. I have my own philosophy of life. I have nothing to do with those who put me in jail. My whole interest was to make all the necessary efforts to survive the jail period."
Sources: metimes.com

United States Ambassador to Baghdad Tells Al-Hayat about her Memories with The Syrian and Iraqi Baathist Leaders
Randa Takieddine Al-Hayat - 16/03/08//
Al-Hayat: Who reprimanded you?
A.G: My boss, I truly believe that if there is only one key to get things going positively in the Middle East remains Palestine because it affects the whole area. Again some people in the west do not understand how profoundly it affects the whole area , not only neighbors but the very fact this extreme Islam is a new kind of colonialism that wants to impose upon the Arab world an idea which does not leave free to the Arab people the ability to find their own way with tolerance and respect of everybody else . So, if something could get going on the Israeli Arab side, people like Oussama Ben Laden would be unable simply to snap their fingers and say we must go blow Arab civilians in the name of Palestine because the Palestinians would not want it anymore, to say nothing of the stability that would creep north to your country and in the Arab world. I think we need a very courageous diplomacy, we need people to lead, we need the kind of meeting that the Baker Hamilton committee suggested, but not one meeting, you need to go meet for example one senior Iranian and talk to him, we need everybody drawn in not excluding the Turks to deal with this issue of Iraq not excluding the Israeli Arab problem. I have been impressed by very courageous knowledgeable voices amongst the Palestinians and certainly among the Israelis, we need these people to step forward. During my whole world in the Arab world wherever I went slogans "Wouhda Hurriya Ishtirakiya" and to me even more now that then it is the Hurriya that seems to me in every sense of the word was and should me the most important. After Suez the Egyptians rejoiced not just because the colonialists were defeated but they felt they have gained the freedom to develop themselves, their State. After Suez the Americans were heroes because anti colonialists but also because this thirst for Hurriya the most important for them, of course not the way Oussama Ben Laden wishes us to develop because there has to be tolerance and respect or you'll never have political settlement and no stability for future generation.

Al Hayat: Going back to Iraq and Kuwait how big was the issue of oil in Saddam's war?

A.G: I can only speculate, I do not think it was oil per say, the importance of oil wells as much as finance. His thinking was we Iraqis bleed for you, we had hundreds and hundreds and thousand s of casualties with the war on Iran and you did not fight with us, we did this for you, for the whole world, you must help us we need more money .

Al Hayat: There is still a question that you did not answer clearly, why did the state department blame you?

A.G: The President did not, the press spokesman did not blame me, my colleagues did not blame me, and so if one man blamed me you have to ask him. Perhaps if I were to blame he was not to be blamed I suppose.

Al Hayat: But James Baker's blame on you was so unfair that people ask the questions?

A.G: President Kennedy told us life is unfair. I do not know the man, I have never even met him before the war, I have never met Baker in my life before the war, the first time I ever talked to him is when President Bush asked me to go over and see him and Baker was at that meeting, that was the first time I ever met him.

AL Hayat: When you met him how was it?

A.G: I don t know I was talking to the President. It was the President's meeting. I saw him a few times later. The meeting with the President was very satisfactory.

Al Hayat: Baker did not make any comment during meeting?

A.G: I cannot remember, during this meeting Colin Powel was there, the Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff that was before the American attack to get him out of Kuwait.

Al Hayat: Why did you see the President?

A.G: The President wanted to discuss what to do in Iraq; he invited his staff and asked me also to be in.

Al Hayat: The President then did not invite you to the meeting to reprimand you.

A.G: Absolutely not, he said now what we do.

Al Hayat: So he did not reprimand you?

A.G: Quite the contrary.

Al Hayat: Did he read your cables on Iraq?

A.G: I assume he read summaries of them, in our government cables from overseas are summarized every morning for the president.

Al Hayat: When President Bush was discussing what to do now in Kuwait,
Were you an encouraging voice for him to attack and get Saddam out of Kuwait?

A.G: I am not going to discuss what I said to the President but obviously we all thought the Iraqis must get out of Kuwait immediately. We talked about what could be done.

Al Hayat: You knew President Hafez Assad, what about his personality compared to that of Saddam whom he hated?

A.G: I served in Bagdad as of 1988, from 85 to 88 I was in Washington; I was responsible in the State Department for Syria, Lebanon and Jordan. I left Damascus in 1985 where I was number two in the US embassy with Bill Eagleton and before it was Ambassador Paganelli. I used to work with a lot of Lebanese in Damascus. I spent my whole time looking across the border at the chaos that was in Lebanon. That is how I know Walid Joumblat and Marwan Hamade, I was living in Damascus and I used to see them there.

Al Hayat: When did you start your mission in Iraq?

A.G: In 1988 I Left Washington to Bagdad.

Al Hayat: Between 85 and 88 you were doing a mission in Lebanon?

A.G: Between 85 and 88 I was shuttling between Abdel Halim Khaddam and Beirut where Amin Gemayel was President.

Al Hayat: How did you find Khaddam when negotiating with him?

A.G: He was a very difficult man to know, he had quite a mask, I could only judge him by what we knew about his history. Do you remember when he pushed the Maronites so hard that we had an Intifada. I was going back and forth trying to do what our Algerian friend Lakhdar Ibrahimi, wonderful diplomat achieved in Taef, but people were asking me to do things that I thought were impossible. Khaddam was a very tough negotiator, getting him to compromise on any issue took a very long time. We started from a very difficult position such as suggestion that I write a constitution for Lebanon and my answer was I could not write a Constitution for my own country, I am not going to write a Constitution for Lebanon, I have never heard something as ridiculous in my life and said that what the Lebanese must do if they wished to have a written Constitution. So you started from very strong positions and of course what we ended up doing trying to put heads of agreement, general ideas that could be negotiated and I remember at some point Khaddam telling me: You sell that to Amin Gemayel. I said to him, look, Amin Gemayel has to be the judge of whether or not he can sell that to his own people and said to him I think you made that mistake once, Khaddam said yes, occasionally he could be quite amusing. So it was a classic negotiation what Kofi Anan is doing in Nairobi, trying to get two parties profoundly distrusting each other to compromise.

Al Hayat: What did you think of Amin Gemayel at the time?

A.G: I think he was a serious negotiator; he was concerned about his country, absolutely. I never felt he was promoting himself, he had advisors whose judgment I assumed he trusted or they would not have been his advisors like Ghassan Tueini, useful to be listened to. Amin Gemayel was trying to do the very best he could for his country knowing that any serious change in the Constitution for example the commander of the army was going to be very difficult to sell to the community or if you were going to change the powers of Prime Minister and give him more of the powers of the President these principles were very difficult at the time for the community concerned to give up.

Al Hayat: Had you met then Michel Aoun?

A.G: I had never met him, I had no desire to meet him, I did not think Michel Aoun was the person for me to be speaking to, people in Lebanon were represented by their Prime Minister and their President and those were the two people I met with.

Al Hayat: But Amin Gemayel appointed him prime minister.

A.G: I left not long before Taef Lakhdar Ibrahimi took over, he did extremely well, he got them all to come to Taef with the great assistance of the Saudis and he got it done.

AL Hayat: Were you aware at that time of Rafic Hariri's Role?

A.G: Rafic Hariri was of course in and out of Damascus very often and he always called on my ambassador, and I was always there. He was behind the scenes, he wanted to help, it was his country too, I am sure he felt that he had obvious assets he could bring, his connections around the Arab world, but the trick was to find some kind of a political concept which was acceptable to all the Lebanese and which all of us thought could do the job. We were working towards Taef without knowing that we were going towards Taef. And a lot of work was done.

Al Hayat: Did you feel that the Syrian leadership hated Hariri then?

A.G: I have no idea, he came in and out to Damascus and never asked him who he was seeing and he never volunteered it. One of the reasons also he would come there was also to talk to the Lebanese.

Al Hayat: Have you ever met Samir Geagea?

A.G: No, I never met him, of course when I was in Lebanon I met people but when I was in Damascus and left to Washington and asked to help and I was shuttling between Damascus and Beirut; it was proper only to meet with the President and Prime Minister.

Al Hayat: Everybody thought at that time that the US administration handed over Lebanon to Syria.

A.G: Quite the opposite, the Americans had stepped aside for a very long time; we had done nothing during the long civil war.

Al Hayat: When Syria invaded again Lebanon?

A.G: I don t know, you asked me about the time I was there, we got permission to see what we could do, to see if there is some kind of arrangement that could be made between Syria and Lebanon that would help. Sitting in Damascus, I thought that we'd better hurry up. Let me tell you an interesting story, one of my pals in Damascus was called up for his reserve duty in the military, for his sixth or eighth week of duty he was sent to the Bekaa (He was Christian) and when he came back I saw him at a dinner party he told me can we speak alone a bit? He told me you people better do something, he said what is happening in the Bekaa is frightening to me and my friends who were there. We did not realize that the Iranians were basically setting up a department of social services in the Bekaa as of 1984, if you were sick or old they took care of the people in the Bekaa, from that time. The Iranian embassy was next to the British embassy in Damascus, suddenly the Iranians sent the ambassador who was crippled and minister of dirty tricks in Teheran, the joke was that he'd opened his own letter bomb by mistake, and after he arrived we used to see all these cars with Lebanese plates like Nasrallah and others, he was really creating Hezbollah out there under our noses, we could see it. I remember at a State dinner that President Hafez Assad had for Greek Prime Minister, the Pakistani ambassador was very amusing, he came up to me and said there is somebody I'd like you to meet, he took me by the arm and turned me round and I am face to face with the Iranian ambassador who stepped back and turned around and backed away, he felt I was unclean.

Al Hayat: Did President Hafez Assad talk to you about Lebanon?

A.G: President Assad did not talk to me; I was number two in the embassy. I met him so many times I was with my ambassador or with a Senator or Secretary of State.

Al Hayat: How was his thinking about Lebanon was it that Lebanon is a province of Syria?

A.G: Hafez Assad was so smart in many ways I remember him once saying: "Do no think I am foolish enough to believe that I can create an air force (I think he chose air force because it would be the part of military he knew most since he came from it) that can compete with the Israelis within a generation. Why? Because it is not sophisticated fast planes that made good air forces, it is pilots who had the advantage of having a splendid education from the time they were children. Not just brief technical education, he was right wasn't he? But I wish I could have asked him a question I never understood by doing the Iranians the favor of allowing them to export their revolution to Lebanon from the Iranian embassy in Damascus, it seemed to me and to anybody who was watching that what was going on in the Bekaa and in the South the weaponry that must have been going in, the independence of a group of people that in the end would be very difficult to control and which you could not control by cutting off their grenade because they had already so many buried that they could fight for years, seemed to me a very dangerous thing for Syria , it was an Islamic revolution and remember what happened to Syria when the "Ikhwan" tried to take over in the North . I could never understand why he could be so certain that this could not turn around and bite Syria on the heel because he cannot control Hezbollah.

Al Hayat: Was he convinced that Lebanon is part of Syria or he needed Lebanon for his agenda in the region?

A.G: He was much too clever to give us such an insight. He would never say this. It would be the kind of thing Saddam and Iraqis would say about Kuwait that it was part of Iraq historically. Assad was much too subtle to say or imply anything like that.

AL Hayat; But he refused embassies between both countries?

A.G: Absolutely, but I just don't know what he thought. If you were very old fashioned you could argue about whether or not he believed in Baas ideology, if he did there should not be any Syrian embassy anywhere.

Al Hayat: How would you compare Saddam and his people and aides to Hafez Assad and his aides?

A.G: Completely different, everybody around President Assad respected his power. Assad was much too subtle and smart to want people to say yes to him all the time.

Al Hayat: What about the "Moukhabarat" system in both countries? How do you compare?

A.G: A little more subtle in Damascus. For example my life as a diplomat in Syria was as free as it would have been in Beirut, no doubt people were watching us and knew where we were but no Syrian would think twice about inviting me to their house; I was surrounded by people who had been to AUB.In Bagdad, no Iraqi was allowed to invite a foreign diplomat to his house. And if a foreign including Arab diplomat wanted to invite any Iraqi, any, to their house you had to make a formal request to the Foreign Ministry including the invitation card and the Foreign Ministry would decide any invitation card would be sent. I never entered an Iraqi house except once and that was for a cultural event.

Al Hayat: You attended meetings as number two with Assad and with Saddam two Baas leaders who hated each other what would you say of both?

A.G: Assad was the Eastern Mediterranean, a Levantine; he could be extremely charming which is interesting coming from a very disadvantaged background as he was in every way. He had a great deal of self confidence, he was charming, he could have been a Beirut hostess, he could be genuinely amusing, he always spoke Arabic although I knew from his pilot training he must know some English. We once had Senator Tower visiting him in his office. There was President Assad and Senator Tower and me only in his office; Senator Tower smoked, there was a big bowl of cigarettes and the Senator ran out of cigarettes. Assad pushed the bowl towards him and they were all Syrian cigarettes and of course the Senator did not know, so Assad said suddenly in English a very complex sentence with lots of subordinate clauses: "I am sorry I do not have any American or English cigarettes which I know you would have preferred". Had I known you smoke I certainly would have, and my jaw dropped so surprised I was although I was supposed to keep a straight face, he looked at me and laughed out loud and said in Arabic: "Senator she dropped her pencil so I shocked her". He really laughed and we did as well. Saddam when you were with him there was this huge tension in the air because everybody in the room from his own staff was afraid of him and I never heard him make a joke but if he would have, everybody would have laughed. It was a completely different aura. In Iraq, it was much more frightening for example: It never occurred to me for example if I were in the North of Syria that I should avoid getting out of my car to buy some plums. The Syrians could not care less. I did that in Kurdistan once, it was very foolish of me because we all knew that you could not talk to any Iraqi, they got taken away and interrogated but I was in a little Kurdish village.
I put my head out of the window of my car and asked if there was any honey because Kurds are very famous for their white honey. He said no there isn't, I drove away and I looked back. They were following me with a car.

Al Hayat: After Irak what did you do?

A.G: I went to University of California to teach one year and then ambassador Ed Perkins to the UN in New York asked for me; which was very nice of him. There was a big conference on the environment. Then Madeleine Albright became Secretary of State and she asked that I be replaced. I never met her before I don t know the reason, she never told me. She was the new ambassador in New York and I went back to Washington and I was asked by the African Bureau if I would work with them because they were concerned about Sudan at the time. I must say that was very interesting that was long before Darfur. We were trying to put north and south together. So I did some work on that between Washington and New York. Then I was asked to run the office of Southern African Affairs a year before elections that brought Mandela in South Africa, the year before first democratic in Mozambique and a year before peace treaty in Angola , so there was three big issues to deal with. They were all done. I went briefly to Somalia, it was really awful, the UN sent a Turkish general to run the military and an American to run the civilian side, I went for two to three months to help him. It was a very sad scene.

Al Hayat: And now what are you doing?

A.G: Completely retired.

Al Hayat: I heard rumors about an American publisher who asked you to write a book on Iraq and you refused and they blackmailed you and they paid you money for a book and you refused.

A.G: No publisher has ever spoken to me about a book whatsoever or asked me to write a book or advanced money or never had I asked a publisher if he would publish a book.

Al Hayat: Nobody asked you to speak about your experience with Saddam even in the press?

A.G: Nobody asked me to write a book, nobody asked me to write an article of any kind about anything in the United States. You are the only person I have talked to; in the US they were writing books, they wanted to interview me for their books.