LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 22/08

Bible Reading of the day.
John19:31-37 /Therefore the Jews, because it was the Preparation Day, so that the bodies wouldn’t remain on the cross on the Sabbath (for that Sabbath was a special one), asked of Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken away. Therefore the soldiers came, and broke the legs of the first, and of the other who was crucified with him; but when they came to Jesus, and saw that he was already dead, they didn’t break his legs. However one of the soldiers pierced his side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. He who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true. He knows that he tells the truth, that you may believe. For these things happened, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, “A bone of him will not be broken.” Again another Scripture says, “They will look on him whom they pierced.”*

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
As Tensions Rise in Lebanon, Residents Again Fear the Worst.By Alia Ibrahim, Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service 21/03/08
Disarming Hezbollah and American-Iranian Rapprochement.Huda al Husseini 21/03/08
Lebanon according to Dehqan-Hassan Haidar -Al-Hayat -21/03/07
U.S. Troops Should Protect Iraqi Christians.By Cliff Kincaid. Canada Free Press 21/03/08
Lebanon contains multitudes .The dizzying list of answers to Syria’s summit invitation. By:Benjamin Ryan. 21/03/08
Better now than never.Is March 14 coalition truly ready to unite around a common platform?By: Hanin Ghaddar 21/03/08
International Christian Concern:Muslim Radicals Attack During Church Service Murder, Amputate Christians in Ethiopian 21/03/08

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 21/08
Report: Ban Will Not Attend Arab Summit in Damascus-Naharnet
March 14 Protests Against Berri's Refusal to Open Parliament Doors-Naharnet
Sfeir: Lebanon Almost Like Palestine-Naharnet
Bin Laden Urges People of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Fight in 'Iraqi Field'-Naharnet
Annan Says Lebanon Crisis 'Very Worrying,' Warns Mideast Could Explode-Naharnet
Aide: Cheney Discussed with Sultan Qaboos Iran's Rising Influence in Lebanon-Naharnet
Lebanon's Banderas Finds Arab Translators for U.S. Army-Naharnet
Russian FM Urges Lebanese Compromise as Soon as Possible-Naharnet
Aide: Cheney Discussed with Sultan Qaboos Iran's Rising Influence ...Naharnet
Success measured by attendance-Media Monitors Network
RCS reaches out to needy in Lebanon-Khaleej Times
Israel, Germany plan int'l summit to stop Iran nuke program-Ha'aretz
Dreams of reaching Europe grind to a halt in Beirut ghetto-Guardian
Hezbollah and Lebanon - The final straw-Ya Libnan
Russian FM in Syria: Golan on agenda at Moscow summit-Ha'aretz
McCain Committed to Mideast Peace Process-Voice of America
From Lebanon with Hate: Brigitte Gabriel, speaking at John Hagee`s ...Israel e News
Russian FM Urges Lebanese Compromise as Soon as Possible-Naharnet
Gemayel for Lebanon's Attendance at Damascus Summit-Naharnet

What is After Arab Summit?
Naharnet/"What awaits Lebanon after the Arab Summit?" asked Wassef Awada, columnist for the pro-Opposition daily As Safir.
There are no real indications that a coup will take place following the Arab summit scheduled in Damascus March 29-30, Awada wrote. He said that except for "some small details" that are likely to happen which could lead to limited political tension, there won't be any change in the nature of the Lebanon crisis. A government "renovation" to fill two vacant Christian cabinet seats is likely to take place to "avoid a quorum crisis," Awada said, adding that even Speaker Nabih Berri, who vowed to take a "certain action" following the summit, has no intention deep inside to carry out any act. Berri, however, Awada said, feared that "more killer germs could slowly enter the Lebanese human body and destroy it." "For this reason, he (Berri) will seek to prevent the situation from aggravating," he added, pending a settlement to the ongoing political crisis between the government and the Hizbullah-led opposition. Awada said it is no secret that the Lebanese crisis has two faces. "It is not clever to make one face beat the other," he warned. "He who believes that a sign from Syria or Iran or even from Saudi Arabia could wipe out the crisis is wrong" Awada stressed. It is incorrect to believe that the key to the crisis is in the hands of Syria or Iran just as the U.S., its Arab allies and the pro-government camp in Lebanon are trying to suggest, he concluded. Beirut, 20 Mar 08, 13:27

Report: Ban Will Not Attend Arab Summit in Damascus
Naharnet/U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will not attend the Arab Summit in Damascus later this month, a U.N. official said on Thursday. "He (Ban) just met the leaders during the OIC summit in Dakar, Senegal," the official told Kuwait News Agency, KUNA. The invitation was extended to Ban during his meetings with Arab ambassadors, including the Syrian, to raise "concerns over recent reports and statements on the Middle East," the official said. The crisis in Lebanon -- where Syria was the dominant political and military force for decades -- is set to dominate the Arab summit in Damascus on March 29-30 although it is not clear how many Arab states will attend. Lebanon has been gripped by its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war with rival political factions unable to agree on a successor to former president Emile Lahoud who stepped down in November. The Lebanese parliament is scheduled to meet on March 25 to elect a new head of state after 16 previous attempts have been postponed. Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 09:42

Sfeir: Lebanon Almost Like Palestine
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir has expressed concern over the deteriorating situation in Lebanon, likening it to the worsening conditions in the Palestinian territories. "Lebanon has become almost like Palestine," Sfeir said Thursday after holding talks with Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) representative in Lebanon Abbas Zaki. "We don't envy each other," Sfeir said in Bkirki but stressed that the Lebanese have faith in God and each other. "The Palestinian people have been suffering for more than half a century," he said. Sfeir also hoped "for an end to the tragic" situation in the Palestinian territories, which he said "has spread to the entire Middle East." More than 130 Palestinians have been killed since February 27 when Israel launched a military campaign on the Gaza Strip in response to rocket fire on southern Israel. Five Israelis, including four soldiers, were killed during the same period. Israel has also been battling Hamas since the group seized control of Gaza last June. In addition to its military activity, the Jewish state has imposed a tough economic blockade on the strip. Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 08:33

March 14 Protests Against Berri's Refusal to Open Parliament Doors
Naharnet/The March 14 Alliance has protested against what it called Speaker Nabih Berri's refusal to open parliament doors, accusing him of practicing "personal monopoly."Continuous efforts to keep "parliament doors shut clearly and openly violate the constitution," and aim at "toppling the democratic system and hindering its institutions," the general secretariat of the bloc said in a statement Thursday. Such efforts, the coalition said, also "contribute to the political and constitutional destruction plan" that serves the interests of the regimes in Damascus and Tehran at the expense of "the Lebanese interest and the path for independence."
The statement expressed the alliance's "determination to restore authority of the parliament secretariat" and curb Berri's attempts "to sum the powers of the parliament in himself." The alliance will press ahead with its efforts "to re-launch parliamentary work" and "will take all necessary constitutional and political steps in this direction," March 14 pledged. The statement came after Berri met two March 14 MPs Ayman Shuqair and Serge Torsarkissian to tackle the issue of reopening parliament doors which should have started its ordinary sessions mid March but failed to reach an agreement. Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 09:06

Annan Says Lebanon Crisis 'Very Worrying,' Warns Mideast Could Explode
Naharnet/Former U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan has said Lebanon's ongoing political crisis was "very worrying" and the Middle East could explode if the international community doesn't handle the many conflicts in the region very carefully. Calling the broader Middle East "a very dangerous region," Annan said Thursday at a wide-ranging round-table with journalists in New York that "many conflicts have converged and are feeding off each other, and the international community has to handle that situation very carefully because any miscalculation can lead to very serious explosions."
He said Lebanon's political crisis and inability to elect a new president was "very worrying," adding that it was a bit like the infighting among the Palestinians, which pits the Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas against the Islamic militants of Hamas. He also warned that military action against Iran would be "a real disaster." Annan said he didn't have enough information to comment on the justification for the U.N. Security Council's demand that Iran suspend uranium enrichment until it allays suspicions its nuclear program is trying to produce weapons. Tehran insists the program is peaceful, aimed only at using nuclear power to generate electricity. Annan said he had told Iranian leaders that "if indeed you have nothing to hide and you are not making a bomb and your intentions are pacific, open your doors, let the inspectors come, let them go anywhere — find a way of reassuring the world, not just the U.S."
Asked how the international community should deal with Iran, he said dialogue was the only way. "We cannot, I'm sure, take on another military action in Iran, and I hope no one is contemplating it. It would be a real disaster," he told journalists.Annan also cited the dangers of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the Sunni-Shiite divide in Iraq and other Mideast countries, and unrest in Afghanistan and Pakistan. On Darfur, he criticized wealthy nations with well-equipped militaries for refusing to provide essential helicopters for the joint U.N.-African Union force that took over peacekeeping there early this year. Annan was in New York to receive the first MacArthur Award for International Justice from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 04:11

Bin Laden Urges People of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to Fight in 'Iraqi Field'
Naharnet/Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden has lashed out at Palestinian peace negotiations with Israel and urged the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to support Iraq's insurgents. A day after a bin Laden audio on a militant Web site threatened Europeans, Al-Jazeera TV broadcast on Thursday audio excerpts attributed to the terror network's leader that urge Palestinians to ignore political parties "mired in trickery of the blasphemous democracy" and to rely on armed might. "Palestine cannot be retaken by negotiations and dialogue, but with fire and iron," he said.
It was the first time bin Laden spoke of the Palestinian question at length since the deteriorating situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip, where the Israeli military has been fighting with militants who fire rockets into southern Israel. Bin Laden added that Palestinians who are unable to fight in the "land of Al-Quds" — a Muslim reference to Jerusalem — should join the al-Qaida fight in Iraq."The nearest field of jihad today to support our people in Palestine is the Iraqi field," he said.
He also called on the people of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia to "help in support of their mujahedeen brothers in Iraq, which is the greatest opportunity and the biggest task." Al-Jazeera did not say how it obtained the recording, which was broadcast with an old photograph of bin Laden in a white headscarf and traditional Arab dress. There was no indication how recently the recording was made, or if it was an unreleased part of the audio posted late Wednesday on an extremist Web site that has carried al-Qaida statements in the past. The two messages were bin Laden's first this year.
In the first recording, bin Laden accused Pope Benedict XVI of helping in a "new Crusade" against Muslims and warned of a "severe" reaction for Europeans' publication of the Prophet Mohammed cartoons. In the audio on Al-Jazeera, bin Laden said the sufferings of Palestinians in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip began when Arab leaders supported the U.S.-hosted Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., and the "Zionist entity."
The mention of the Annapolis summit in November was the only time reference given in the audio. "By their support, they are considered partners to this horrible crime," bin Laden said of Arab leaders who are backing the Mideast peace talks. He appeared to be seeking to merge the Palestinian cause into the wider al-Qaida struggle. There have been concerns al-Qaida would try to increase its influence in Palestinian territories, with supporters of the terror network calling for such action on Web sites.(AP-Naharnet) Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 03:45

Lebanon's Banderas Finds Arab Translators for U.S. Army
Naharnet/The billboard displays a phone number and only two English words: "Call Mona." The rest is in Arabic. But if you can read it, the U.S. Army wants you.
The sign, erected to help recruit translators from Detroit's large Middle Eastern population, urges Arabic speakers to consider joining the military.
"In the land of different opportunities," it says, "this is one you might not have heard before: job opportunities with the U.S. Army."
Five years after the invasion of Iraq, the Army says it is meeting or exceeding its goals for recruiting Arabic translators. But despite growing acceptance of the military among Arab immigrants, recruiters acknowledge that much of the immigrant community remains deeply suspicious of the Army.
"At first, it was more hostile from the community. It was at the peak of the invasion," said Mona Makki, a community liaison and language specialist with a company that helps the Army with recruitment. "They perceive us now in a positive way."Hassan Jaber, executive director of the Dearborn-based Arab Community Center for Economic and Social Services, said the Army has built some credibility in the community, but it is not fully embraced.
"To my knowledge, people who are volunteering and taking these jobs are doing it in secret," he said. "It might be a factor of shame, and that they go in there ... because of the money offered, not necessarily because they feel the war is justified."Sgt. Mario Banderas, a 39-year-old native of Lebanon, joined the Army in Detroit and served a tour of duty in 2005 as translator in Iraq. He returned as a recruiter. "I had the idea in my mind that I can go talk to this community and probably get at least two or three people a day to join the Army. This is not the case," said Banderas, whose name is an alias because the Army does not release translators' real names to protect their safety.
"The idea that people have here, as soon as they see me in uniform is: 'Oh, you're in the U.S. Army? You're in Iraq killing your own people?'"
He said such comments upset him, but he doesn't blame the critics "because they don't know what's going on in the Army."
Banderas, a former architect who speaks six languages, works with civilian recruiters of Arab descent to find new translators in the Detroit area, which is home to 300,000 people who trace their roots to the Middle East.
They hold recruitment fairs, sponsor community events and advertise in print, on the radio and billboards.
Applicants must be between 17 and 42, have documents proving U.S. residency, speak fluent Arabic and decent English.
The military has met recruitment goals for its translator program since 2006 after falling short in the first three years of the war. In 2006, it recruited 277 translators and the following year got 250.
Community leaders and some potential recruits say interest in the jobs is driven in large part by the offer of a steady salary.
Many would-be recruits expect to make $180,000 a year, a maximum figure touted by civilian contractors hiring translators. But Banderas puts the military's salary for a translator of his rank and tenure in the $35,000-to-40,000 range, which includes nontaxed compensation for housing, separation from family and other incentives. "With this economic problem we have, they're thinking more about money, about their paycheck at the end of the month and nothing else," he said.
At a recent recruitment event, some potential translators declined to speak publicly out of concern for their safety. But a few acknowledged that money would be a key factor in their decision. "You've got no choice," said Salim Alamiri, 24, who said he was recently laid off from a military contractor. "There's hardly jobs out here ... I've got a high school diploma, and started in college, but I need the money." Banderas says recruiters succeed when they can move beyond the money and misgivings about the mission to show what translators really do. He tells them about being on patrol in Iraq when a woman holding a baby ran toward his convoy. Soldiers raised their guns, thinking she had a bomb, but he listened to her screams and told them to stop. "I was the only one to understand the language ... She needed help," he said. "At the end ... we saved her life and her baby's life."(AP) Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 06:05

Aide: Cheney Discussed with Sultan Qaboos Iran's Rising Influence in Lebanon
U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney discussed in Oman Iran's rising influence in Lebanon, a senior aide said Thursday, adding that Cheney's trip to the Middle East was not aimed at preparing a military strike on the Islamic Republic. Cheney and Sultan Qaboos discussed how "through Hizbullah, Iran has been allowed to become the dominant power in Lebanon," the aide told reporters. "That's not what these discussions are about," the aide said about reports that Cheney's nine-day trip to the Middle East and Turkey aimed to set the stage for a U.S. military strike on Iran. The aide said the talks in Oman before Cheney's trip to Afghanistan on Thursday focused extensively on Iran, which has defied international criticism of its nuclear program. "The vice president talked about the concerns we have about the full range of their activities," said the official, underlining what the United States sees as "an increase in the Iranian relationship with Hamas."(AFP-Naharnet) Beirut, 21 Mar 08, 04:50

Russian FM Urges Lebanese Compromise as Soon as Possible
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed with Syrian officials on Thursday the political deadlock in Lebanon and plans for a peace conference in Moscow to further Israeli and Palestinian talks kick started in November at a U.S. conference after a seven-year hiatus. The crisis in Lebanon -- where Syria was the dominant political and military force for decades -- is set to dominate the Arab summit in Damascus on March 29-30 although it is not clear how many Arab states will attend. Lavrov said Arab countries should "not miss an opportunity to come together to discuss all the issues and find solutions to the problems" adding he hoped the summit would "further Arab unity." He added it was necessary to "find a compromise as soon as possible for Lebanon. Inter-Lebanese dialogue is the key. That is in the interests of the Lebanese people, Syria and Russia." Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said the summit in Damascus had displeased the United States because it would reinforce solidarity among Arab countries. Lebanon has been gripped by its worst political crisis since the 1975-1990 civil war with rival political factions unable to agree a successor to former president Emile Lahoud who stepped down in November.
Regional heavyweights Saudi Arabia and Egypt have accused Damascus -- which pulled its forces out of Lebanon in 2005 in the wake of the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri -- of obstructing the election. The Lebanese 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.
Lavrov noted that Palestinian reconciliation is key to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a new bid to reach a Hamas-Fatah truce broke down.
"Palestinian unity must be restored. It is necessary in order to continue negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians," Lavrov said at a press conference in Damascus after meeting Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. His comments came as the Palestinian Authority said a Yemeni-sponsored attempt to reconcile the rival parties had failed after Hamas refused talks with the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO). Delegations from Hamas and the PLO were in Sanaa this week to hold separate talks on the Yemeni initiative to heal the rift between them. Lavrov said he met officials from Hamas, the Islamist group which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June after routing forces loyal to Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas in a week of bloody street battles. Abbas suspended talks with Hamas and has refused to reopen negotiations until the Islamists relinquish control of Gaza. Lavrov called for a "global solution" to the Arab-Israeli conflict and said talks should be restarted with Israel on the Syrian and Lebanese peace tracks. His visit comes as relations are strengthened between Russia and Syria after Moscow started delivery of air defense weapons to Damascus amid speculation some of them could be secretly forwarded to Israel's arch foe Iran.
Lavrov later traveled to Israel. "We are negotiating with the different parties to organize a meeting in Moscow," Lavrov told reporters after a meeting with Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni. Earlier, Lavrov had met with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Shimon Peres.(AFP) Beirut, 20 Mar 08, 16:45

Hezbollah and Lebanon - The final straw
Wednesday, 19 March, 2008 @ 8:29 PM
By Elie Fawaz
Beirut - America is always looking for ways to weaken Hezbollah and end its violent operations. The good news is that Hezbollah may now finally be undermining itself from within. Trapped between Israel's wrath and the disillusionment of the Lebanese people, the "Party of God" is bringing about its own destruction and damaging its credibility by openly taking on the world. Last month, Hezbollah announced that its top military commander, Imad Mughniyeh, had been assassinated in Damascus. Mughniyeh had been on the most-wanted lists of 42 countries for his involvement in several high-profile bombings, including attacks that killed more than 200 Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s. After Mughniyeh's death was announced, Hezbollah's leader, Hassan Nasrallah, quickly accused Israel, and vowed vengeance: "You have killed Hajj Imad outside the recognized battle zone," he declared, speaking in front of party militants. "If you want an open war, then let it be an open war."
An open war will leave Hezbollah in shambles and destroy its infrastructure and influence. Any operation from Hezbollah in response to Mugniyeh's assassination will surely be met with a massive Israeli retaliation, with consequences harsher than even the last war. This will not be accepted by the majority of Lebanese who are still struggling to regain their livelihood, and will inevitably lead to a civil war. Nasrallah, in effect, is caught between two wars: one of Israeli retribution, and the other initiated against him by the outraged Lebanese people.
Rather than serving as a fearsome threat, Nasrallah's proclamation has trapped Hezbollah. In any future confrontation, Israel will not refrain from bombing economic infrastructure and civilians, whose villages Hezbollah guerrilla fighters use as a launching pad for their attacks. As Nasrallah is well aware, this will inflict on Lebanon a price it cannot pay. The balance of fear, which Hezbollah has claimed is tilted in their favor, has been nullified
Hezbollah operates on the theory of intimidation: Coerce people and they do what you want. Inspire enough fear and you get a response. Carry out a violent action and you get a reaction. But there is also a law of unintended consequences.
Following the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri three years ago, and the end of the 30-year Syrian occupation of Lebanon, the issue of Hezbollah's arms became a hot debate. In the midst of voices calling for the disarmament of Hezbollah and its integration into the Lebanese Army, Nasrallah ordered the abduction of Israeli soldiers along the Lebanon-Israel border.
No one anticipated the severity of Israel's reaction and, by his own admission, Nasrallah confessed that he would never have given the order had he known the consequences.
For more than 33 days in the summer of 2006, the Israeli Army struck military and civilian targets indiscriminately. The outcome was disastrous for Lebanon: More than 900,000 Lebanese were displaced, 1,200 civilians were killed and the economy was paralyzed. Nevertheless, a massive public-relations campaign proclaimed Hezbollah's "divine victory" in the war. Iran offset Shiite rage with enormous infusions of funds into South Lebanon and Beirut's southern suburbs.
This war consummated the divorce between Hezbollah and the majority of Lebanese. Since then, domestic tensions in Lebanon have gradually risen to the brink of an explosion. Violence has erupted in the streets of Beirut between Hezbollah's opponents and its supporters. As a result, the image and aura of Nasrallah, which he tried to forge for himself and his party along inter-communal lines, has become a thing of the past.
Today the Party of God is out of options. By trying to avenge the murder of the party's military commander, Nasrallah would bring disaster upon Lebanon and the Shiite community. He cannot deliver on his vow to wage an open war and will have to backtrack on his threats.
What the international community needs to do now is to capitalize on Hezbollah's troubles by strengthening Lebanon's moderate, democratic forces and the authority of their central government. America should seize this opportunity to undercut the influence of an organization that has the blood of many people on its hands. Time is of the essence.
Source: International Herald Tribune

As Tensions Rise in Lebanon, Residents Again Fear the Worst
By Alia Ibrahim, Robin Wright and Ellen Knickmeyer
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, March 21, 2008; Page A14
BEIRUT -- Posters slapped up on the walls of Beirut's Shiite Muslim southern suburbs show the face of a slain Hezbollah leader and declare that his death is a "sign of the coming victory."
Just out of sight from Beirut's shores, U.S. warships ply the waters. Their presence, the Bush administration says, is the United States' own warning, directed at Syria, Iran and their local ally, the Shiite armed movement Hezbollah: The Americans are watching troubled Lebanon.
Lebanon's people, survivors of a 1975-90 civil war and persistent sectarian strife thereafter, are used to rumors of war sweeping the country. Now tensions are rising again among many Lebanese, as well as the regional and international powers that claim a strategic interest in the country's internal affairs.
The sharpest fears here center on the possibility of renewed clashes between Hezbollah and Israel, which fought for 33 days in 2006 after Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. The war killed more than 1,000 Lebanese, most of them civilians, and more than 150 Israeli soldiers and civilians.
Today, normally sleepy towns in the country's south are abuzz with stories of Hezbollah fighters getting ready for a new war. Some Lebanese are renting second apartments in neighborhoods far from possible areas of conflict. Barbers offer up chatter to their customers about when and where trouble might start.
Saudi Arabia, France and the United States in recent weeks have issued warnings to their citizens in Lebanon or scaled back some embassy operations, citing security. Applications for Lebanese passports have increased 30 percent in recent weeks, according to local media reports.
"I don't know where I would go -- I have nephews in different countries. If the war breaks out, I will go to them," Khadija Hamadeh, a 47-year-old Lebanese woman, said at a passport office in the southern district of Beirut. Hamadeh clutched a paper ticket, waiting for the number on it -- 97 -- to be called for her first-ever passport application.
"I'm tired," she said. "And I really couldn't stand another war."
This week, followers of a senior Hezbollah figure, Imad Mughniyah, who was killed in a bombing in Syria's capital, Damascus, will end the traditional 40 days of mourning.
Hezbollah blamed Israel for Mughniyah's killing and pledged "open war" to avenge him. Israel has placed its armed forces on high alert.
Because of the ambiguous outcome of Israel's 2006 battle with Hezbollah, many regional analysts say Israel's response in any renewed fighting would reach beyond Hezbollah's southern stronghold and hit targets all over Lebanon, and in Syria, which supports the movement.
"This is a very risky time, and people's worries, unfortunately, are justified," said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Center in Beirut.
Lebanon has been in internal political crisis since the Feb. 14, 2005, assassination of a former prime minister, Rafiq al-Hariri.
The country has been without a president since November, owing to rivalries between the U.S.-allied government and the Syrian-backed opposition, led by Hezbollah.
U.S. officials accuse Syria of prolonging Lebanon's political stalemate in part to try to stave off an international tribunal in Hariri's bombing death. Opposition leaders, in turn, accuse the United States of wanting the deadlock to continue to prevent a less sympathetic figure from becoming president.
In recent weeks, Saudi Arabia and the United States have pushed other governments in the region to isolate Syria as punishment for Lebanon's continuing political crisis. Hariri was a close friend of the Saudi royal family, which granted him Saudi citizenship.
When President Bush toured the Middle East in January, Saudi King Abdullah won U.S. agreement to dispatch the USS Cole and two other ships to the Lebanese coast. Senior Pentagon and State Department officials said the Cole will stay just off the coast, except for brief missions elsewhere, until Lebanon elects a president.
Abdullah, once considered Syria's closest ally among the Saudis, dispatched Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal in February to Washington, Paris, London, Berlin and Moscow to ask for a united stand on Lebanon and continued pressure against Syria, said U.S. and Saudi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity.
The Saudi intelligence chief, meanwhile, went to Beijing and Persian Gulf countries to seek cooperation, the officials said. The United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Jordan and even Russia -- an ally and arms supplier to Syria -- all have informed Syria that the world holds it responsible for ending Lebanon's internal crisis, officials said.
Saudi Arabia has also organized a high-level boycott of a March 29-30 Arab League summit in Damascus. Abdullah and several other Arab kings and presidents are slated to send foreign ministers and other representatives to the summit, rather than attend themselves. Iran, Syria's ally, said this week that it, too, would send only its foreign minister.
Abdullah sent his foreign minister to Syria last month to warn of the summit boycott and urge Syria to avert it by using its influence in Lebanon to ease the crisis there. Syrian officials indicated that they might help, officials said -- but only if the international tribunal was reined in. Its investigators want to question senior Syrian officials in Hariri's killing.
The tribunal tentatively is scheduled to begin proceedings this summer. The United States has increased its financial pledge for the court from $7 million to $14 million.
Syria last week formally invited the Lebanese government to attend the summit, a conciliatory gesture that eased feelings slightly. But many analysts see strong tensions continuing. The polarization is now "extreme," said Ahmed Youssef, director of the Institute for Arab Research and Studies, a Cairo-based center affiliated with the Arab League. "I don't have the impression any of these actors in Lebanon are willing to end action until their interests" in the country are addressed.
On the Corniche, Beirut's famous waterfront road, 69-year-old retiree Samir Eid stared out at the Mediterranean last week. Eid's son was due to leave Lebanon in a few days, following the lead of Eid's three other children, who found it impossible to make a living in Lebanon's conflict-blighted economy. But Eid looked dreamy, and pleased.
"We really have no choice -- what can we do?" Eid asked. "We wait, we live day by day, we try to steal some moments of peace, like now. Today is perfect, but what tomorrow brings could be a living hell."
**Wright reported from Washington and Knickmeyer from Cairo. Correspondents Anthony Shadid in southern Lebanon and Faiza Saleh Ambah in Jiddah, Saudi Arabia, contributed to this report.

Lebanon according to Dehqan
Hassan Haidar
Al-Hayat - 20/03/08//
In a few days, the Arab Summit will be held in Damascus, with Lebanon and its open crisis prominent on its agenda. The participants, of different levels of representation, may be obliged to court the host country even if it is held responsible for the ongoing presidential vacuum and institutional paralysis in Lebanon. As usual, diplomacy will prevail over honesty. A general statement of solidarity will be issued asserting the "support" of all states for the Arab initiative, with a focus on the "full package" and a reiteration of demands to liberate the Chebaa farms. Ever since Syria and Iran's "geographers" discovered that this piece of land was Lebanese, all other issues had to be "put on hold" until it was reclaimed, and endless "open wars" had to be fought for its sake. This regardless of the fact that the people of Chebaa probably do not care much about, and may in fact even reject, the ongoing efforts in Beirut's southern suburb to liberate them and return their land to Lebanese sovereignty.
But the story of Tehran and Damascus with Lebanon is an old one, one which predates the "invention" of Chebaa and its implications. In a statement a few days ago, Hussein Dehqan, an aide to the Iranian president, declared that "Lebanon, which three decades ago was described as the Bride of the Middle East, has today become the Pride of Islam." Dehqan simply does not want Lebanon to be a "bride," but a "battlefield." He added, "Muslims, and in particular the Shiites, are willing to struggle against domineering powers through their loyalty to the rule of Ahl Bayt Al-Nubuwwa (the Household of Prophet Muhammad) and their commitment to the culture of Ashura," in an unequivocal disregard of the plurality and diversity that are fundamental to Lebanon's existence.
The three decades that he mentions nearly coincide with the period that has passed since the establishment of the Islamic Republic in Iran in 1979, and with the three decades between the deployment of Syrian troops in Lebanon in 1976 and their withdrawal in 2005. This means that plans were made to export the Islamic Revolution to Lebanon as soon as it was victorious in Tehran. It also certifies that the slogan - "every land is Karbala and every day is Ashura" - held up by Hezbollah in Beirut was neither absurd nor improvised, but was rather the result of careful planning, with clear goals and deliberate means.
By the standards of Dehqan and his masters, a "bride" could never be a source of pride. She must be stripped of all attributes of beauty and turned into a carcass, precisely as his allies did in July 2006 and are still doing in downtown Beirut. For in his view, people cannot be "happy," but must remain doomed to a life of suffering in the continuous struggle against their enemies. A struggle with no limits or political framework; an open battle, whose true nature is known only to religious scholars. All the people must do is obey, sacrifice, and rise above their demands for a normal life. As for "the culture of Ashura" we are invited to embrace, it has led us only to regret that we did not die earlier. Surely we must compensate for such shortcomings by sacrificing ourselves, our children and our homes, in hopes of obtaining what was not given to us by our mortal "bride."
Syria and Iran were successful in turning Lebanon into a "widow," weeping over her martyrs and her desecrated land. Will Lebanon's children, with the help of some Arabs and the world, be able to reclaim their "bride"? Surely they will

Walid Phares: "Not electing a President is a serious miscalculation by March 14"
Written by Walid Phares
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Addressing a Breakfast chaired by MEP Mihal Brejc at the invitation of the European Parliament, Professor Walid Phares underlined the necessity for legislators, intellectuals and researchers on both sides of the Atlantic to develop a common strategy in confronting the threat of terrorism, which "is growing global, lethal and showing all signs of a long term planning." Dr Phares, senior fellow with the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies was the guest speaker of a major European think tank. The meeting, which took place at the European Parliament, was attended by a number of experts and members in addition to MEPs Mihael Brejc, Maria Martenes, Angelika Niebler, Jan Olbrycht, John Purvis and Peter Stastny.
Phares, who was introduced by European Ideas Network director Guillermo Martinez Casan, referred to his latest book The War of Ideas and announced his forthcoming newest book The Confrontation. Answering a question about the Lebanese crisis Phares said: " The Syrian-Iranian axis has been successful in delaying almost all international initiatives aimed at implementing UN resolutions 1559 and 1701. Tehran and Damascus regimes have relayed on multiple means including Terrorism and wars. Between Jukly 2005 and February 2008, a number of legislators, journalists, officers and civilians have been assassinated by Terrorists and a regional war waged by Hezbollah to obstruct the implementation of the UN resolutions. Unfortunately, added Phares, the Lebanese Government and its parliamentary majority could have moved faster to counter the strategies of the Syro-Iranian axis. As of 2005, the Lebanese Government should have called for the control of the Syrian-Lebanese borders, an open space for supplying Terror networks in Lebanon. For three years the Government could have called for the implementation of chapter 7 to receive additional international support. That didn't happen."
Phares said that the main miscalculation by the parliamentary majority of Lebanon, which has the full support of the international community, was not to elect a President for the Republic. "We've heard the arguments from many politicians that electing a President without the consent of Hezbollah will lead to catastrophe but we aren't convinced. Electing a new President for Lebanon needs a simple majority and has the backing of the international community once it is performed. Not electing a President because of a Hezbollah so-called threat is playing into the hands of the Syro-Iranian axis, and that is the catastrophe." Phares said there is still time for the Lebanese legislators to fill the gap of the Presidency but not too long.

Muslim Radicals Attack During Church Service Murder, Amputate Christians
International Christian Concern
(March 14, 2008) The Washington-DC based human rights group, International Christian Concern (ICC) www.persecution.org has investigated an attack on Christians that we first reported on March 7, 2008 (“Muslim Radicals Kill Three Christians and Wound Dozens in Southern Ethiopia”). Upon further investigation, we have learned that the attack occurred on March 2, 2008, during a Sunday morning church service, and resulted in the death of only one Christian, while 17 more were injured.
Christians in this remote village had seen three people lying in pools of blood after the attack and assumed that they had all died. Our sources contacted us before verifying that all three of the seriously wounded had died. The name of one murdered victim was Tulu Mosessa, who was a father of eight children.
Christians from the area told ICC that Muslim radicals simultaneously attacked Kale Hiwot church in Chebbi Nensebo village and Birhane Kirstos church in the nearby Tirsu Nensebo village.
The Kale Hiwot Church was the scene of most of the violence on the day of the attack. There were about 200 people attending the service, when a group of Muslim radicals surrounded the church and barricaded the doors shut. They then proceeded to break in through the windows and started hacking at the churchgoers with machetes. It is clear that these attacks were well planned and carefully executed to cause as much bloodshed as possible.
Muslim radicals had attacked the church before and burned it down, which the Christians in the village rebuilt. During the most recent attack, someone was able to raise the alarm and the local police quickly arrived at the scene, averting further bloodshed. One policeman who was wounded while trying to quell the violence was taken to a hospital in Addis Ababa. Eight of the seriously wounded Christians were taken to a hospital in Awassa. ICC was able to speak to one of the eight who had been wounded, Ahmed Jamal [not his real name], who is a Muslim convert to Christianity. The Muslim radicals cut off his left hand with their machetes during the attack. When ICC asked him if he knew his attackers, he said, “Our attackers are our neighbors, with whom we ate and drank.”
Asked what motivated the Muslims to attack, he said, “They were taught [about] Jihad.” Though he is lying on a hospital bed, Ahmed Jamal is worried about further attacks by Muslim radicals. He said, “We fear for our families [who remain in the village].”
Others with wounds from the machete attack who are currently in the hospital in Awassa include (names intentionally withheld) a 28-year-old man who lost his left hand, a 32-year-old man whose head was slashed, a 20-year-old man whose right and left hands were slashed, a 31-year-old man whose lung was pierced, an 18-year-old man whose backbone was slashed, a 19-year-old man whose backbone was also injured, and a 5-year-old girl whose right hand was badly injured.
Another eight Christians with minor injuries are currently receiving medical treatment in the town of Worka, which is near the villages where the attacks took place.
ICC has also learned that nine of the attackers have been imprisoned by Ethiopian authorities. One of the imprisoned is a local government official, Hussein Berriso. ICC sources said that 150 machetes were discovered in his house after the attacks.
In related development, on March 10, 2008, radical Muslims burned down the house of a local evangelist. The radicals were enraged because the evangelist had helped to transport the eight wounded Christians to Awassa hospital.
ICC’s president in a statement said, This is not an isolated incident in Ethiopia but rather part of a trend of radical Muslims attacking Christians. Ethiopian officials must get serious about protecting Christians. They must target radical Muslim leaders and centers or the Ethiopia could be in danger of becoming another Nigeria with an intractable religious split.
# # #
ICC is a Washington-DC based human rights organization that exists to help persecuted Christians worldwide. ICC delivers humanitarian aid, trains and supports persecuted pastors, raises awareness in the US regarding the problem of persecution, and is an advocate for the persecuted on Capitol Hill and the State Department. For additional information or for an interview, contact ICC at 800-422-5441.

Lebanon contains multitudes
The dizzying list of answers to Syria’s summit invitation
Benjamin Ryan, NOW Staff , March 20, 2008
Syria's invitation, like the Greek goddess Eris's golden apple, has brought discord to all the houses of Lebanon. (AFP/Ramzi Haidar)
In the early hours of Wednesday morning, the cabinet agreed to postpone its final decision on Lebanon’s attendance at the Arab League summit until March 25, the date of the next scheduled presidential elections. Syria finally sent Lebanon an invitation to attend the summit, which will be held in Damascus from March 29-30, only last week, handing the invitation to resigned Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh while Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was out of the country. This roundabout invitation let Damascus avoid having to deal directly with Siniora’s government, which Syria and its allies consider illegitimate.
What Lebanon’s ultimate response will be is anyone’s guess. The subject of Lebanon’s attendance at the Arab Summit in Damascus this month has produced more splits within the March 8 and March 14 camps than between them. If a president were to be elected next Tuesday, there is broad agreement that he would represent Lebanon at the summit. But in the very likely event that the election is postponed for an 17th time, a decision will have to be made – and today, parties on both sides of the divide are all over the map on whether or not to attend.
The Kataeb, a key party within March 14's Christian contingent, has taken a seemingly pragmatic approach to the Arab Summit. Former President Amin Gemayel said on Monday that “the Arab Summit is not the property of Syria” and advocated Lebanon’s attendance to represent its interests and press its own case before the Arab League, though he said he would abide by the cabinet’s decision in this regard. Kataeb Vice President Selim Sayegh told NOW Lebanon in a recent interview that the prime minister normally should go in the absence of a president. Sayegh maintained that, if Siniora did not attend, a Christian representative should be sent in his place.
Qornet Shehwan MP Boutros Harb was not keen on the manner of Lebanon’s invitation, but in an interview with Voice of Lebanon radio this past weekend, he also stood by his previous stance that Lebanon should attend the summit. Harb said earlier this month, “It is wrong to say that it is better for Lebanon to be absent than to be represented by the government.”
Not all March 14 Christians agree, however. On Monday, Lebanese Forces head Samir Geagea reiterated his rejection of Lebanon’s attendance at the Arab Summit. Geagea said, “We cannot accept that Lebanon goes to this summit given the role that Syria is playing in Lebanon.”
Social Affairs Minister Nayla Mouawad also broke with her fellow Qornet Shehwan member Boutros Harb last week, saying, “Lebanon will either be represented by a Maronite president, or we will not attend the Arab Summit.” Minister of State for Administrative Development Jean Ogassapian also rejected attending the summit, saying, “If a president is not elected, Lebanon must not participate in the summit, and this is the attitude of most of the ministers.”
Walid Jumblatt’s Democratic Gathering Bloc has likewise rejected Lebanon’s attending the Arab Summit. Jumblatt told Future TV on Monday, “Even if Arab leaders participate, Lebanon must abstain from going.”
He also insisted that the three cabinet ministers from his bloc – Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, Information Minister Ghazi Aridi, and Minister of the Displaced Nehme Tohmeh – will vote to boycott the summit. Hamadeh has been doubly outspoken on the topic, saying that “Lebanon's presence at a table chaired by Bashar al-Assad amounts to treason itself.”
Future Movement figures have been divided over the summit. Early last week, Mustapha Hashem told Al-Sharq al-Awsat that “the Future Movement wishes not to link the convening of the Arab Summit to the election of the Lebanese president.” MP Mustapha Allouch, however, claimed last Thursday that Lebanon’s participation in the summit “depends on the facilitation of presidential elections,” while MP Ammar Houry said on Sunday that attending the summit would be an “acquittal” of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
On Tuesday of this week, Youth and Sports Minister Ahmed Fatfat told Voice of Lebanon radio that “Options vary from a total boycott to full participation, and somewhere in between, because completely avoiding it might not be a wise decision.”
While Future leader Saad Hariri has so far remained quiet on the topic, Siniora has said that the cabinet will choose Lebanon's representative to the summit if there is still no president by the end of the month. Mohammed Chattah, a senior advisor to Siniora, told NOW Lebanon, “I'm assuming that if there's no president, it's possible that some Arab countries would have lower representatives – lower than prime minister – and that has to be looked at when deciding who will go from Lebanon.”
Many elements within the Christian opposition have been quite clear in their rejection of Lebanon’s attendance at the Arab Summit. MP Michel al-Murr of the Metn Bloc said on Monday, “If a president was not elected before the summit, then Lebanon's seat must remain vacant.” FPM leader Michel Aoun agreed, saying last week that Lebanon should not attend the summit without a new president, as the country would then be represented by an “illegitimate government.”
MP Ghassan Mokheiber was similarly strident last week, arguing to NOW Lebanon, “Refraining from attending the summit meeting should be a warning to all Lebanese groups to the unacceptable situation of the vacancy of the Lebanese presidency.”
Yet FPM official Issam Abou Jamra declared earlier this month, “The presence of Lebanon at the summit is very important, and if a president is not elected, the Council of Ministers must commission someone to represent Lebanon at the summit.” Senior FPM official Alain Aoun said that the government could commission Minister Tarek Mitri to represent Lebanon at the summit, or have Syria invite Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri as a “guest of honor.”
Berri’s political bloc has been united in its support of Lebanon’s attendance at the Damascus Summit. Resigned Amal Minister of Health Mohammed Khalifeh said last week, “Berri is supporting PM Fouad Siniora’s invitation to the summit, as it will help reduce tension.” This week, Berri himself proposed that Siniora attend along with one of the Maronite ministers, Minister of Finance Jihad Azour.
Hezbollah for its part has been completely supportive of the summit. Hezbollah’s Deputy Secretary General Sheikh Naim Qassem said last Friday, “The summit will be successful and it will be held normally. Those who cried aloud before the summit will attend this summit, and Syria will preside over this summit, normally and naturally.”
Qassem also accused the majority of being “in disarray,” saying, “You should first agree on what you will do because people can see that you are disagreeing on how to treat this very same issue.” That’s probably good advice for everyone these days.

Better now than never
Is March 14 coalition truly ready to unite around a common platform?
Hanin Ghaddar, NOW Staff , March 19, 2008
Lebanese politicians and supporters of the March 14 coalition attend a ceremony marking the third anniversary of the "Cedar Revolution" at the BIEL centre in Beirut on March 14, 2008
Three years on, the March 14 coalition has finally decided to be born. At the “2008 Beirut Spring Conference” last Friday, leaders of the collation showed that they recognize that, in order to deserve the moment of the 2005 independence intifada, and in order to face the current crisis, they need to unite around a common message, as one political movement.
The coalition has often been criticized for not having a shared program uniting the disparate groups that comprise it. Last Friday, however, the bloc presented a draft memorandum that could just be the building blocks for a genuine political program. Although it only discussed the major issues in Lebanon and the Arab world in general terms, the memorandum offers a fresh perspective – an all too rare commodity in the world of Lebanese politics.
Better than never
Former MP and coordinator of the March 14 General Secretariat Fares Soueid told NOW Lebanon that the reason the coalition waited until now to launch the conference and draft a unified platform is that circumstances have matured. “The March 14 politicians did not see the necessity of a sustainable and vast political movement before,” he said.
“We realize now that this movement must continue, now that we are aware that the clash is cultural, not political. It is a clash between the culture of peace and the culture of violence,” he added.
Fares stressed that the program is not a political manifesto, because it does not limit dialogue. “This is the product of a number of discussions since the 1992 Lebanese Dialogue Conference, the Qornet Shehwan gathering, the 2004 Beirut Declaration, the Bristol Conference and other meetings,” Soueid said.
The conference is being presented as a platform for anyone who wants to be part of the discussion. Although it might seem overly ambitious and unrealistic to many, especially those who have been disillusioned by the political practices of the last three years, the dual emphasis on increasing participation and building a strong platform at least shows that the March 14 coalition is acknowledging both the existence and importance of differences and the need to articulate a mutual objective.
It too often seems that channels of communication between March 14 politicians and their audience only open up during demonstrations – where politicians speak and people listen and applaud.
Although the March 14 coalition has acknowledged the widening gap between its leaders and its supporters – which the conference aims to narrow – it has yet to find a mechanism to bridge the gap between March 14 and the Shia community. The final draft of the memorandum is expected to address this critical problem.
Mayla Bakhash, a civil society activist, suggested to NOW Lebanon that a good strategy for March 14 would be to make greater efforts to engage and forge ties with local actors from different communities.
“They already have contacts in the communities where they have popular support, like Akkar and the North,” Bakhash said. “Therefore, particular energy must be devoted to the Shia communities.”
Bakhash, who attended the conference last Friday, was also critical of the draft memorandum’s conspicuous silence on the subject of women’s rights, although it did broadly mention the importance of equality among all Lebanese citizens. “They can’t ignore half of the Lebanese society, and they are obliged to acknowledge this issue,” she stressed. Fortunately, the new, participatory approach March 14 is taking in the preparation of its final platform means that such concerns are more likely than ever to be heard – and addressed.
A participatory approach
There is a shift in the language of the memorandum away from the traditional, sectarian rhetoric of most March 14 leaders, to a more modern vocabulary that stresses the need for a civil state. (For obvious reasons, though, there was no mention of a “secular” state.) The leaders of the coalition were clearly holding themselves accountable at the conference Friday, in front of their audience and the public opinion.
They called on the public to participate in other conferences and workshops and in developing the goals and objectives of March 14. This call for participation from independent actors is significant. Lebanese civil society has been very active since the 2005 independence intifada, and the involvement of civil actors in shaping the final memorandum could potentially spark a much-needed practice of self-criticism and a more dynamic strategy for the formulation of new ideas.
The conference could prove to be a turning point for March 14. It opened up new ideas and energies, but these concepts must still be translated into a practical plan of action. The pledge to engage in a partnership with civil society actors is a big responsibility to bear, but perhaps the greatest responsibility that March 14 has taken on is that of actually acting as the majority. To meet the people’s expectations and aspirations, March 14 needs to govern, to make decisions and to face the current crisis with decisiveness.

Plight of Iraqi Christians and their possible extinction
U.S. Troops Should Protect Iraqi Christians
By Cliff Kincaid Thursday, March 20, 2008
You don’t have to be a member of the far-left to question what has happened in Iraq since the U.S. invasion in 2003. During Holy Week, we should all consider the plight of Iraqi Christians and their possible extinction.
This is something we can do something about. We should demand that the White House immediately order U.S. troops in Iraq to protect the remnants of the Christian community.
There were nearly a million Christians in Iraq before the war and about half of them have left the country. Dozens of Christian churches have been attacked, bombed or destroyed and some Christian children have reportedly been crucified by Islamic terrorists. The Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was recently kidnapped and murdered. Some Christians left in Iraq don’t go to church for fear of being targeted for death. Some priests don’t wear clerical garb for the same reason. Pope Benedict XVI has pleaded with Bush to do something about the plight of Iraqi Christians.
In another notorious incident, on October 11, 2006, Fr. Paulos Eskandar, a Syrian Orthodox priest, was abducted in Iraq and beheaded. His arms and legs were also hacked off.
Bush should immediately pick up the phone and tell David Petraeus, Commanding General of the Multi-National Forces in Iraq, to use the “surge” of U.S. forces to defend the Christians left in that war-torn country. If they cannot for some reason be defended, then let the Christians be escorted by our troops out of Iraq to a place, like Crawford, Texas, where they can begin new lives.
Does Bush want to go down in history as the U.S. President who launched a war that resulted in the destruction of the Christian community in Iraq?
We know, of course that we can’t count on the liberal media to cover this unfolding catastrophe. They are interested in the war as a political issue that can usher the Democrats into power in the White House.
So let’s call on conservative commentators and bloggers to stop their knee-jerk cheerleading for the Iraq War policy long enough to seriously examine how the new and “democratic” Iraq has become a hellhole for Christians.
In a statement about the death of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho, Bush sounded tough, saying, “I send my condolences to the Chaldean community and the people of Iraq. I deplore the despicable act of violence committed against the Archbishop. The terrorists will continue to lose in Iraq because they are savage and cruel. Their utter disregard for human life, demonstrated by this murder and by recent suicide attacks against innocent Iraqis in Baghdad and innocent pilgrims celebrating a religious holiday, is turning the Iraqi people against them.
We will continue to work with the Iraqi government to protect and support civilians, irrespective of religious affiliation.”
But what exactly is being done to protect Christians in Iraq?
Rosie Malek-Yonan, an Assyrian Christian who has testified before Congress on this issue, says the Bush Administration has become a “silent accomplice” to an “incipient genocide.” She asks, “Will President Bush have the courage to take off his blinders or will he continue to stumble in the dark until his final day in office?” She suggests that the Bush Administration is failing to deal with this embarrassing disaster because it is afraid of having the United States, a perceived “Christian country,” being accused as “helping one of its own” in a Muslim country.
Is it not tragic that U.S. troops, many of them Christian, are not being specifically deployed to help their fellow believers in Iraq?
In his speech on Wednesday, Bush said that the U.S. is “helping the people of Iraq establish a democracy in the heart of the Middle East.” But no matter what has been accomplished in Iraq, it is not a democracy that benefits Christians and other religious minorities.
Earlier this year, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom drew attention to a coordinated series of bomb attacks against churches and monasteries in Iraq. It reported, “At least six people were reportedly wounded in seven separate attacks in Baghdad and Mosul as Christians were celebrating Christmas and the Epiphany on Jan. 6; three days later, bombs targeted three churches in Kirkuk. The attacks were the latest to target Iraq’s shrinking non-Muslim population, many of whose members have fled the country in the wake of violence directed against their communities.”
The Commission says that Christians and other non-Muslims in Iraq face “grave conditions” in Iraq in the form of violence from terrorists and “pervasive discrimination and marginalization” at the hands of the national and regional governments and Muslim militia groups.
Bush calls Iraq a democracy, but its Constitution, crafted with U.S. help, says no law should be contrary to Islam. In Afghanistan, where U.S. and NATO troops are desperately propping up another Muslim government, a 23-year-old Afghan journalism student by the name of Sayed Parwez Kambakhsh has been sentenced to death for allegedly distributing literature violating the tenets of Islam. The material had to do with human rights for women.
In Iraq, according to the State Department’s 2007 International Religious Freedom Report, many Muslim holy days have been declared national holidays. However, Christmas and Easter are not recognized as national holidays.
The report says, “There were allegations that the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) engaged in discriminatory behavior against religious minorities. Christians living north of Mosul claimed that the KRG confiscated their property without compensation and began building settlements on their land. During the reporting period, Assyrian Christians alleged that the Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP)-dominated judiciary continued to discriminate routinely against non-Muslims and failed to enforce judgments in their favor. Despite such allegations, many non-Muslims fled to Northern Iraq from the more volatile areas in the middle and southern parts of the country, where pressures to conform publicly to narrow interpretations of Islamic teaching were greater. However, migration statistics were not available.”
Under the category of forced religious conversion, the report says, “Christians also reported that Islamic extremists warned Christians living in Baghdad’s Dora district to convert, leave, or be killed.”
Islamic extremists in Iraq have also been kidnapping Christians, including at least nine priests, for ransom. The report adds, “Christian leaders inside and outside of the country reported that members of their Baghdad community, especially in the district of Dora, received threat letters demanding that Christians leave or be killed.” As a result, more Christian families are fleeing.
In other incidents, the report says, “Chaldean clergyman reported in April 2007 that ‘in the last 2 months many Churches have been forced to remove their crosses from their domes.’ For example, Muslim extremists climbed onto the roof and removed the cross of the Church of Saint George in Baghdad. In the Chaldean Church of Saint John, in the Dora district of Baghdad, the parishioners decided to move the cross to a safer place after repeated threats. The Chaldean Patriarchate in January 2007 officially transferred Babel College, the major Chaldean seminary and the only Christian theological university in the country, from the Dora district in Baghdad to Ankawa near Irbil after months of closure following kidnappings and threats against Christians. Between September and December 2006, the rector and vice rector of the seminary were kidnapped in Baghdad; both were released after a week.”
The report says, “Non-Muslims, particularly Christians, complained of being isolated by the Muslim majority because of their religious differences. Despite their statistically proportional representation in the National Assembly, many non-Muslims stated they were disenfranchised and their interests not adequately represented. The combination of discriminatory hiring practices by members of the majority Muslim population, attacks against non-Muslim businesses, and the overall lack of rule of law, have also had a detrimental economic impact on the non-Muslim community and contributed to the departure of significant numbers of non-Muslims from the country.”
“The battle in Iraq is noble, it is necessary, and it is just,” Bush said in his speech on the anniversary of the start of the Iraq War. But how can this be if it leads to the destruction of the Christian community in Iraq? It is an absolute outrage for this to be occurring under the auspices of a conservative Republican President who claims to be a born-again Christian.
Pope Benedict XVI can be expected to raise this issue with Bush when he comes to the U.S. for a visit in April. We can raise it with the President now.
You can contact the White House here.
Please, Mr. President, do something immediately before more Iraqi Christians are targeted on Good Friday and Easter for practicing their faith. Order our troops into the field in order to protect Christian churches and believers before more lives are lost.
Posted 03/20 at 07:07 AM Email (Permalink)

Disarming Hezbollah and American-Iranian Rapprochement
http://aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=12137
18/03/2008
Huda al Husseini
It is the first marathon of its kind in which the finishing line is undefined. Speaker of the Lebanese parliament Nabih Berri is gaining ground and may continue to do so with no end in sight.
Berri still has energy to continue this long marathon – if only just to hinder the election of a Lebanese president so that he may arrive at the Iranian parliament (Majlis-e-Shuray-e Islami). Perhaps Berri is unaware that since the day he suspended the activities of the parliament there have been parliamentary and presidential elections held in Syria and that Iran just held its parliamentary elections last Friday, while the presidential elections are expected to be held in June 2009. The Lebanese parliament is not functioning thanks to its head whose only task may be summed up as calling for a session then cancelling it and then calling for another only to cancel it again – all of which is taking place without obstruction.
The hope of electing a Lebanese president is very small. The Iranians, Syrians and Americans are waiting for 2009 to begin and the former two are enjoying taking Lebanon hostage. However, we must not exaggerate the magnitude of Iran's power; the Iranian economy is weak and the society is divided on a political and sectarian basis. There is also a lack of confidence since the Iranian people are fed up with the repercussions of the Islamic revolution and today one may witness the prevalence of articles and gatherings that glorify pre-Islamic Persian history. Additionally, unemployment and drug addiction are on the rise, with the latter particularly soaring.
Iran can take advantage of the Arab-Israeli issue to the utmost since it is not going to Annapolis, which is a good thing from its point of view since it allows it to accuse others of hypocrisy. Those who bet on Iranian support should be aware that what will weaken Iran will be the internal challenges and problems that afflict it.
As for the Syrian leadership, its hindrance of the Lebanese elections and the activities of [Lebanese] institutions makes it believe that it is achieving victory. Yet at the same time, Syria addresses the world saying: If we do not accomplish our objectives in Lebanon, we will destroy it. This is the Syrian leadership's game and it has mastered it. However, despite everything, there is evidence that the Lebanese people do not want Syria back and they do not want to go back to the 1990s. Soon enough, the Syrians will realize that they are trespassing many boundaries.
Emile el-Hokayem, expert and research fellow at the Henry L. Stimson Center, a defense think tank stated, "Hezbollah does not want Syria back. Hezbollah is more comfortable with the strategic alliance with Damascus and it is ready to assist it if it seeks to thwart the international tribunal; however Hezbollah knows that it cannot fight with the aim of facilitating Syria's return."
I asked that there is a lot of talk about Iran waiting for the American policy to change with the next American administration, but how will this policy succeed if there is no change in Syrian and Iranian policies?
He said, "People believe that if Washington followed a sound policy that everything will fall into place but the problem lies in the absence of the will to change on both the Syrian and Iranian levels."
El-Hokayem believes that American foreign policy will witness change if Democratic candidate Barack Obama wins the elections. He added, "There will be no change for the first six months of his term in office. The Americans are waiting for change on the Iranian level. Obama will not support the Iranian conservatives at the expense of the reformists and moderates. He will not meet with Ahmadinejad given that the Iranian Presidential elections will be held in June 2009. Obama said that he will meet the leaders of South Korea, Iran, Cuba and Syria but he will make no concessions."
As for Lebanon and Syria, American foreign policy will remain as it is in terms of content but the priorities dedicated to them will diminish. And yet, if the incumbent US administration prioritizes Lebanon now, why hasn't it achieved anything?
"The United States has limited means," el-Hokayem said, "whereas parties that have an external influence on Lebanon are different. Whilst Iran and Syria provide the groups affiliated to them with weapons and carry out assassination operations; the United States does not adopt such actions. It cannot resort to violence and terrorism or use them to threaten others so that it may support its project – that is the chief difference."
El-Hokayem explained that the US policy towards Lebanon is the opposite of the policy it adopted towards Iraq and said that the former is multi-dimensional and reconciliatory. It is an international policy that depends on United Nations mechanisms, including the UN international tribunal and coordination with Arab and European allies.
He said: "The Americans exert pressure from time to time but they go back to working with their allies. Washington confiscated Rami Makhlouf's (Syrian President Bashar Assad's cousin) money and this is a serious warning – but can the US make its Arab allies commit to this message? The French tried to mediate with the Syrians but failed and now they have turned their back on the Syrians, but how can you convince Germany to turn its back on it too? All it would take is a visit by a European foreign minister to Damascus for the Syrian officials to say that they are not [internationally] isolated."
El-Hokayem said that it was unlikely that US President George W. Bush would launch a war on Iran because the Americans do not want another war and added that, "the situation is somewhat stable in Iraq and Bush does not want to disrupt that."
In all cases, stability in Iraq deprives Syria from one of its bargaining cards with the United States. Moreover, Syria is the weakest of all Iraq's neighbors: Iran has a political, economic and religious influence in Iraq; Saudi Arabia has money, tribal presence and it also occupies both Arab and Islamic stature. Kuwait has money in Iraq, Jordan has old and established relations with Sunni groups and Turkey has the Kurdish card. As for Syria, its role does not exceed facilitating means for the arrival of extremist combatants into Iraq and is thus the weakest.
According to el-Hokayem, "If it weren't for Israel, the whole situation would have changed since the last thing that Israel wants is for the Syrian regime to collapse. Israel knows quite well that the Syrian regime will not launch a conventional war against it and that even if it did, Israel can easily crush it – however, it cannot do the same with Hezbollah. The Syrian regime relies on weak support; if the Muhajireen Palace is bombarded it [the operation] would be nearly finished.
But where does Syria derive its strength? El-Hokayem says, "Syria enjoys a good geographic location. Besides, the Syrians are very good at waiting. Since 2005 they have been waiting for the advent of 2009; furthermore, there are divisions on the Arab and international levels. Syria is a disruptive power that is capable of stirring up trouble everywhere. It mobilizes its groups to launch missile attacks on Israel or start up the fires of war in Lebanon. It also facilitates the arrival of combatants to Iraq. It is a negative power but still a power."
All the countries that enjoy the might of the "Islamic revolution" and the power of "Arabism" and seek rapprochement with the leaders of the Islamic revolution/republic and mediation with the "[pseudo] Arab patriotism" have deliberately kidnapped Lebanon. Nabih Berri's call for Arabs to reconcile so that it could "facilitate a solution for Lebanon" is much the same as Syria and Iran's demand that there be reconciliation between all the Lebanese parties. There has never been a case of full conciliation between all Arabs, and the Lebanese agree to disagree.
Iran has its own agenda; Syria has its own objectives and the US is holding its breath. Lebanon is losing Gulf investment opportunities and its youth are departing. Expatriates living in Lebanon are aware that the state is paralyzed. The only positive thing in the Lebanese conflict is that it is not taking place between Christians and Muslims. This is why all sects are compelled to not become embroiled in war.
According to sources, a secret pact has been established between Al-Mustaqbal movement (led by Saad Hariri), Hezbollah and Amal movements so as to avoid skirmishes on the street. Notwithstanding, the spirit of civil war lingers although no war has erupted. Additionally, despite all parties upholding that that they are against the American project, they still need the US.
It is common knowledge that Hezbollah cannot be disarmed by force, however the Lebanese must demand firm commitment from the party and furthermore demand that it should not resort to arms except for self-defense. The July 2006 war was not in defense of Lebanon, rather it was for the sake of attacking Israel at a time when no one really wanted this attack. This is why, the Lebanese's confidence in Hezbollah was shaken to the extent that General Michel Aoun's group felt embarrassed. It may not be Hezbollah's goal to govern Lebanon in its entirety; rather it could pursue its resistance at the expense of the future of Lebanon and the Lebanese people. This is why the issue remains delicate and in need of American-Iranian rapprochement.
In the end, there is no war in hijacked Lebanon and no war in the region; only the fear that any accident could lead to either of these options. The abduction and slaying of two Zaidi sect followers last year was executed with the intention of starting a war. Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt knew how to diffuse this spark well. Besides, an unanticipated problem between Iran and the US could spark a regional war.