LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 29/2010
Bible Of the
Day
Luke17/6-10: " The Lord said, “If
you had faith like a grain of mustard seed, you would tell this sycamore tree,
‘Be uprooted, and be planted in the sea,’ and it would obey you. 17:7 But who is
there among you, having a servant plowing or keeping sheep, that will say, when
he comes in from the field, ‘Come immediately and sit down at the table,’ 17:8
and will not rather tell him, ‘Prepare my supper, clothe yourself properly, and
serve me, while I eat and drink. Afterward you shall eat and drink’? 17:9 Does
he thank that servant because he did the things that were commanded? I think
not. 17:10 Even so you also, when you have done all the things that are
commanded you, say, ‘We are unworthy servants. We have done our duty.’”
Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special
Reports
UN Security Council Resolution 1559 and the
Sovereignty of the Lebanese State/Randa Takieddine/Dar Al-Hayat/January 28/10
Analysis: Lebanon: Conflict circle widens to
include Syria/By JONATHAN SPYER/Jerusalem Post/January 28/10
The lost Imam/Ana Maria Luca/ Now
Lebanon/January 28, 2010
Why
doesn't merit matter?/The
Daily Star/January 28/10
The
Ali Hassan al-Majid anticlimax/By
Michael Young/January 28/10
Ft Hood's Terror: The US failed by
its own experts/Dr. Walid Phares/January 28/10
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for January 28/10
Sabotage or No Sabotage in Ethiopian Plane crash!/Naharnet
Army: 'Ocean Alert' Trying to
Retrieve Black Boxes after Signals Detected/Naharnet
Hariri
from Cairo: Hizbullah Cell is Egyptian Issue/Naharnet
More
Body Parts Transported to State Hospital/Naharnet
Aoun-Berri: End of Dispute/Naharnet
Kidnapped Sheikh
Reportedly in Dispute with Radical Groups/Naharnet
Grenades Found Near Home
of Arab Democratic Party Leader/Naharnet
Sison: Area South of
Litani Should be Free from Illegitimate Arms/Naharnet
Suspicious Bag Causes
Panic in Shiyyah/Naharnet
Ethiopian Airlines Defends
Pilot of Flight 409/Naharnet
Egypt's Abul Gheit
Stresses Cooperation with Hariri, Warns Israel against Attacking Lebanon/Naharnet
Hizbullah Lashes Out at
Al-Liwaa Newspaper over Plane Crash Scenario/Naharnet
4 Lebanese Bodies Handed
Over to Families/Naharnet
Aridi: Control Tower
Instructed Pilot to Follow Certain Direction, But He Suddenly Changed It/Naharnet
Williams Expresses
Condolences to Victims' Families, Hails 'Unified Image' of Lebanese/Naharnet
Lebanon’s UN ambassador: we are
committed to 1701, Israel violating our territories/Future News
Lebanon's LAF in hunt for abducted Bekaa imam/Daily Star
Search
efforts continue for remains of doomed plane/Daily Star
Hariri in Egypt to strengthen
ties/Daily Star
Global expressions of sympathy continue
to pour in/Daily
Star
Prestigious American science
society elects
AUB's dean Hajj as fellow/Daily
Star
Harb, Majdalani discuss Palestinian
labor rights/Daily
Star
Samir Kassir Foundation launches
fifth press awards/Daily
Star
Celebrations for St Maroun anniversary
announced/Daily
Star
Thieves take $20,000 in jewelry
from Marjayoun shop/Daily
Star
Sand quarries must stop illegal
activity: Rahhal/Daily
Star
Abboud mulls ways to promote tours
of Lebanon/Daily
Star
Study debunks justification for
maintaining nationality law/Daily
Star
UN
Security Council Resolution 1559 and the Sovereignty of the Lebanese State
Thu, 07 January 2010
Randa Takieddine/Al Hayat
There has been much talk recently about United Nations Security Council
Resolution 1559, amid statements – that are surprising and should be rejected –
to abolish the resolution. Can a Lebanese who is determined to protect his
country’s sovereignty and institute a state based on laws call for canceling
UNSCR 1559, as some officials tell diplomats that the resolution “is dead”?! We
should recall the conditions under which UNSCR 1559 was issued, when the
international community felt the violation of Lebanon’s Constitution and laws
had taken place with the extension of then-President Emile Lahoud’s mandate,
even though the international community rejected the move. This included the
countries closes to Syria, such as Iran, under then President Mohammad Khatami,
who urged his Syrian ally to not extend Lahoud’s term.
But events took place anyway, and Lahoud’s term was extended, as imposed on the
Lebanese Parliament, and despite the rejection of this move. UNSCR 1559 was
issued, to halt the violation of the rule of law, acknowledge the sovereignty of
Lebanese decisions and remove foreign influence, which has always covered every
single issue, from appointing the president of the Republic to appointing any
low-level state official.
This resolution, with American and French sponsorship, by the Security Council,
was aimed at protecting the sovereignty of Lebanon and the state of laws; it
called for turning relations between Lebanon and Syria into a relationship
between two fraternal states, exchanging embassies. This diplomatic relationship
was an embodiment of Lebanon’s sovereignty. So why do some call for abolishing
this resolution? Because it protects Lebanese sovereignty and acknowledges the
establishment of a state of law, in which the Lebanese state wields security
authority. This is natural in an independent and sovereign state that wants to
build a safe future for its people.
However, there are those, in Lebanon and abroad, beginning with Iran and some of
the Palestinian factions, who do not have an interest in safeguarding Lebanon’s
sovereignty. The proof lies in recent security incidents, such as explosions in
the southern suburbs, and clashes in Ain al-Hilweh refugee camp. It is in
Lebanon’s interest, sooner or later, to implement the provisions of UNSCR 1559,
namely establish a state based on law, with the highest security power in the
hands of the Lebanese authorities. The proof that it is Lebanon’s interest for
the state to be strong and control the security situation is that despite the
improvement in political conditions, it is still forbidden for Middle East
Airlines planes to fly directly to the United States, and for the national
carrier to land in American airports.
Now, the US has put Lebanon on a list of 17 countries of special interest, which
subjects their citizens arriving in the US to exceptional searches, in order to
prevent terrorist attacks.
Certainly, the state’s lack of total control over the country’s security weakens
the trust of Lebanese and the international community, and prevents the country
from becoming a state based on laws. Therefore, UNSCR 1559 must remain in place,
because it protects these principles, as do other resolutions, on Israel’s
withdrawal from territories it occupies. It is necessary, to recall that Israel
violates international law. UNSCR 1559, despite all of the attacks by some in
Lebanon, is an international resolution that will not be struck down, because
international resolutions are there to be implemented. No one in Lebanon today
doubts the need to combat Israel and its daily violations. However, all Lebanese
hope that influence on the security front is under the control of state
authorities, in partnership with the Lebanese resistance. The strength of the
Lebanese state should materialize today, because it is the sole authority to
supervise security in the country, so that there are no “security islands” here
and there, outside the control of the state of laws. UNSCR 1559 is a guarantee
for the principles that safeguard a sovereign state of laws.
Analysis: Lebanon: Conflict widens to Syria
By JONATHAN SPYER
28/01/2010 01:29
http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=167033
Any future strike at Hizbullah that does not take into account its status as a
client of Syria, is unlikely to land a decisive blow.
In the last week, senior Israeli policymakers made statements of an
uncharacteristically bellicose nature regarding Syria.
It is unlikely that these statements were made because of sudden random
irritation toward Israel's hostile northeastern neighbor. Rather, the statements
probably constituted part of a message of deterrence to Damascus. The need to
project deterrence itself derives from a series of significant changes currently
under way on the ground in Lebanon - reflecting Syria's ever tighter alignment
with Hizbullah and the pro-Iranian regional bloc of which it is a part. These
changes take place against the backdrop of awareness that the tactics likely to
be adopted by Israel in a future war with Hizbullah carry with them the very
real possibility that Syria could, on one level or another, be drawn in.
On Saturday night, Minister-without-Portfolio Yossi Peled said that another
conflict on the northern border was a "matter of time." Peled noted that in the
event of such a conflict breaking out, Israel would hold "Syria and Lebanon
alike responsible." Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon, meeting with Michael
Williams, the UN special coordinator for Lebanon earlier this week, expressed
his concern that Hizbullah fighters have been training on surface-to-surface
missile systems in Syria.
Then, on Tuesday, Defense Minister Ehud Barak noted in a speech that if Israel
was forced to fight Syria, "we won't fear and we'll defeat them." Why the sudden
ministerial loquaciousness?
It may with some justification be asserted that to assume any coordination
behind the statements of Israeli ministers is to betray a touching naivete. All
the same, the near-simultaneous ministerial recollection of the Syrian threat
should be considered in conjunction with the following facts:
Hizbullah has in the last weeks deployed advanced Syrian-made surface-to-surface
M-600 missiles on the territory of Lebanon. The missiles, which according to
Jane's Defence Weekly are copies of the Iranian Fateh-110 system, have a range
of 250 kilometers and carry a 500-kg warhead.
They bring the entirety of central Israel within Hizbullah's range. The missiles
are precision-guided, meaning that in the event of renewed conflict, Hizbullah
would be able to use them to target military facilities or heavily populated
areas.
According to Jane's, the deployment of the M-600s adds to concerns already
expressed by Israel at Syrian supplying of the (relatively unsophisticated) SA-2
air defense system and the SS-N-26 surface-to-sea missile to Hizbullah.
Syria's undaunted and increased support for Hizbullah appears to reflect a clear
strategic turn taken by Damascus. Lebanese analyst Tony Badran this week drew
attention to a recent and relevant report in the Qatari daily al-Watan which
quoted Syrian sources who claimed that "a strategic decision has been taken not
to allow Israel to defeat the resistance movements."
Such statements, if genuine, indicate that the Syrian regime is aware of the
potential price to be paid for its current orientation, but feels that the risk
is worth taking.
The Syrians have not, according to available evidence, yet passed the point of
no return - which, as Badran notes, would be the provision of sophisticated
anti-aircraft systems to Hizbullah. The SA-2, if deployed, could constitute a
danger to IAF helicopters, but not aircraft.
Israel has made clear that the deployment of systems capable of threatening
Israeli aircraft by Hizbullah would constitute a casus belli.
But beyond the specific issue of weapons systems, the logic of confrontation in
Lebanon suggests that Syria may find it hard to avoid direct engagement in a
future Israel-Hizbullah clash.
Since 2006, Lebanon's eastern border with Syria has formed the key conduit for
weapons supplies to Hizbullah. And Hizbullah is reported to have relocated its
main military infrastructure north of the Litani River, in the Bekaa Valley, in
areas close to the Syrian border.
Which suggests that if Israel wants in a future conflict to strike a real blow
against Hizbullah, this implies an Israeli ground incursion into the Bekaa.
Should such an incursion take place, the Syrians would be intimately involved in
supplying Hizbullah just across the border, and the possibility of Syrian
casualties at Israeli hands would become very real. It is again worth
remembering that on August 4, 2006, 34 Syrians were killed when the IAF bombed a
packing house on the Syrian side of the border thought to contain weapons for
Hizbullah. The Syrians did not respond at that time.
But an Israeli incursion into the Bekaa would logically raise the question of
either the Syrians ceasing their real-time supplying of Hizbullah (very
unlikely), or Israel acting to prevent this.
Of course, the point of deterrence is to deter. The ominous statements from
Israeli officials are not meant to signal an imminent war. Rather, they are
intended to convey to the Syrians that they should not think their alliance with
Hizbullah is cost free, and that they would be advised to adhere to red lines.
The developing logic of the situation in Lebanon is nevertheless widening the
circle of future conflict.
The bottom line is that any future strike at Hizbullah that does not take into
account its status as a client of Iran and Syria, is unlikely to be able to land
the kind of decisive blow to the organization which alone would justify such a
strike.
The writer is senior researcher at the Global Research in International Affairs
Center, IDC, Herzliya.
Egyptian Christian Framed in Sexual Assault Case
GMT 1-28-2010 4:3:21
Assyrian International News Agency
(AINA) -- The drive-in shooting of Coptic Christians by extremist Muslims after
celebrating the Orthodox Christmas Eve midnight Mass in the southern town of
Nagaa Hammadi on January 6, causing the killing of 6 and wounding of 9, (AINA
1-7-2010) was condemned by public opinion worldwide.
To contain the damage of tarnishing the "image" of Egypt and to minimize the
repercussions of the massacre, government spin doctors tried to condition public
opinion into believing and accepting the scenario set out by State Security that
the killing was "criminal and individual" rather than a "sectarian" affair.
Egypt's Interior Ministry said the Nag Hammadi attack was a retaliation for the
sexual assault of a Muslim girl by the Christian man Girgis Baroumi Girgis in
the town of Farshout last November. This alleged rape crime was used by security
officials, politicians, and the media to justify attacks against Copts in
Farshout last November and in Nag Hammadi .
Surprisingly, Prosecutor-general Adbel Meguid Mahmoud, also came out linking the
killing to the rape.
Egyptian police arrested three suspects responsible for the Christmas Eve
shootings, Mohamed el-Kamony, Korshy Aly and Hendawy Hassan, who are registered
criminals. Habib el-Adly, Minister of Interior, said on January 24, in an
interview on the Egyptian TV programme "City Talk" that el-Kamony is a hired
killer, but "he got so upset about the rape and the videos of nude Muslim girls
with Christian men, that it triggered the shooting urge in him."
Mustafaal-Sayyed, professor of political science at Cairo, University believes
that the theory of a revenge killing does not hold because the three men charged
with the killings are not relatives of the raped girl. "Why would they choose to
shoot at Cots on their Christmas eve?" he asked.
Renowned activist Fathi Farid told Coptic News in an aired interview on January
19 the authorities are trying to make a scapegoat out of Baroumi to justify the
violations against the Copts in Egypt. "If they can prove that Girgis is guilty
then they can say that what happened on Christmas Eve is a reaction to what he
did."
On November 18, 2009, the 21-year-old Girgis Baroumi Girgis, a poultry vendor
from Kom al-Ahmar village, near Farshout, was accused by the 12-year-old Muslim
girl Yusra Abdelwahab from the neighboring village of al-Shukeifi , of sexually
assaulting her. Claims of the assault led to several days of unrest in the area
caused by hundreds of Muslim protesters looting and burning Christian property.
State Securiy also forced the eviction of 160 Christians from Baroumi's village
(AINA 11-22-2009, 11-23-2009).
Girgis has been detained since last November but not charged and the forensic
report of the assault was never published, which some observers say means no
evidence could be found against him.
At very short notice Girgis Baroumi's trial began on January 17, at the Qena
Criminal Court, nearly 600 kilometers (370 miles) south of Cairo. Shocked and
crying incessantly during the whole session, Girgis kept on pleading "Sir, I
need a lawyer." He denied committing the crime. His Muslim defense lawyer had to
withdraw at the very last minute, and no other lawyer agreed to defend him, when
the presiding judge asked the lawyers present. The case had to be postponed
until January 19 to find a lawyer.
As a result, the Egyptian Organization for Anti- Discrimination and Defense of
Children's Rights (EGHR) issued a statement that together with the American
Coptic Friendship Association, it will be taking over the defense of Girgis
Baroumi Girgis to counteract the "interference of State Security in the role of
the judiciary and their efforts to influence it." It also condemned the biased
media and the intervention of some security heads to pressure any lawyer
considering defending Baroumi.
Two of the EGHR members, Ashraf Edward and Saeed Abdelmassih, volunteered to
defend Baroumi and attended the court session on January 19.
Ashraf Edward said they traveled from Cairo "under great secrecy for safety
reasons and because they feared that State Security might delay them from
appearing in court."
"The Lawyers' Syndicate in Qena refused to assign a lawyer, and Coptic lawyers
are under great pressure and are terrorized by the State Security," said Saeed
Abdelmassih. "If Ashraf Edward had not volunteered to defend him, the situation
would have been critical."
The judge adjourned the trial until 17 February.
"The State Security is telling us lawyers that whatever your religion or
inclinations are, you are not able to defend one defendant, to the extent that
not one lawyer had the courage to attend, so we had to get a lawyer from Cairo,"
commented Abdelmassih bitterly.
News media reported that a defense team of 25 lawyers, headed by Islamist lawyer
Mohamed el Wahsh, have volunteered to defend the killer el-Kamony.
Talaat Sadat, MP and a vehement critic of the government said on the Cairo Today
talk show that the allegedly raped Yousra was never a virgin, but was previously
"used". He was voicing rumors that Yusra has previously been raped by one of her
relatives, and that is the reason behind the case remaining unresolved since
November. Many activists believe that State Security manufactured evidence
against Baroumi to make their case against him stick to justify their
interpretation of the massacre of Nag Hammadi.
According to Abdelmassih forensics only examined the girl and said she was not
virgin, but said nothing of when she had lost her virginity. They omitted
examining Baroumi altogether. A difference existed between the police and the
prosecution reports. In the preliminary police report the girl and her father
said there was 'an attempt' on the part of Girgis to take her clothes off. "All
this changed went it went to the prosecution; instead of the matter being
'taking off clothes' it changed to sexual intercourse."
He said that what was more surprising was that the investigating officer
validated the incident based on what a 12-year-old said, without even one
witness.
Girgis Baroumi's lawyers requested a forensic specialist to examine 12-year-old
girl Yusra and conduct a new interview with the officer who filed the police
report.
"We have Inconsistencies in statements, not one single evidence, and no lawyer
was present during investigations of the prosecution, because lawyers were
afraid to attend to defend a citizen," said Abdelmassih.
Public opinion in Egypt became so conditioned that Baroumi is guilty before
being tried, and the majority are calling for the death penalty to be applied in
his case, said most of those interviewed.
EGHR called upon the Egyptian Lawyers' Syndicate to form a committee to monitor
the conduct of the investigations in the Baroumi case, as it did previously
during the case of the Veil Martyr Marwa El-Sherbini.
"Girgis Baroumi is a victim of circumstances which has led him to stand trial
before the court and the community at the same time," said his defense attorney
Ashraf Edward.
By Mary Abdelmassih
Copyright (C) 2010, Assyrian International News Agency. All Rights Reserved.
Terms of Use.
LAF: Vessel dispatched to retrieve black boxes of Flight 409
January 28, 2010
The Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) issued a statement on Thursday that the American
vessel USS Ramage picked up signals on Wednesday night from the black boxes of
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, which plunged into the Mediterranean Sea Monday
morning off Lebanon’s coast. The statement added that a civilian vessel was
dispatched to the site where the devices are believed to be to retrieve
them.-NOW Lebanon
Army: 'Ocean Alert' Trying to Retrieve Black Boxes after Signals Detected
Naharnet/Hunt for the black boxes of an Ethiopian plane that crashed off the
Lebanese coast with 90 people on board feared dead began Thursday after a search
team found the flight recorders and detected signals emitted by them.
"The boxes were found approximately 10 kilometers (six miles) west of the
airport, 1,300 meters (4,265 feet) below the surface of the sea," an army
spokesman told AFP.
The Lebanese army said in a statement issued before midday Thursday that the
Ocean Alert, a civilan vessel, was trying to find the Ethiopian plane's flight
recorders after the U.S. navy destroyer the USS Ramage detected new signals from
the black boxes.
Ocean Alert is equipped to access objects 2000 meters (6,561 feet) below sea
level.
Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi has earlier said: "We expect to have them
sometime today."
He told AFP that the body of the Boeing 737-800 had yet to be located four days
after the tragedy.
Aridi said that while search teams had picked up the flight data recorder
signals, it remained unclear whether the boxes were still inside the body of the
Boeing 737-800, which plunged into the Mediterranean on Monday with 90 people on
board.
"If the black boxes are not in the body of the plane, it is easier to access
them," Aridi said. "But if they are still inside the plane, this will
necessitate another procedure completely."
The boxes were located in a seafloor trench and their recovery may take time, a
defense ministry official told AFP.
Ethiopian Airlines Flight 409, bound for Addis Ababa, crashed into the
Mediterranean minutes after takeoff from Beirut at 2:37 am during a raging
thunderstorm on Monday.
All passengers and crew of the Boeing 737-800 are presumed dead, but only 14
bodies and some body parts have been recovered so far.
An international search operation since Monday had combed a 35-square-kilometer
(13.5-square-mile) area around the crash site just south of Beirut.
The black boxes should shed light on why the Ethiopian pilot did not respond to
instructions to change direction even though he acknowledged the control tower's
instructions.
Aridi said the aircraft made a "sharp and fast turn" before disappearing off the
radar.
He said, however, the pilot, who had 20 years of experience and was familiar
with the Boeing 737-800, acknowledged commands from the Beirut airport control
tower to avoid the storm.
Officials have cautioned against blaming the pilot without sufficient evidence
and pinned their hopes on the black boxes to answer the question of what had
happened on flight ET 409.
Ethiopian Airlines spokesperson Wogayehu Tefere said the pilot was senior, "with
a lot of experience" and had been "working for the company for 20 years".
"He had been a co-pilot on this aircraft before and he flew this route on a
regular basis as well as other routes."
There were conflicting reports as to whether the jet exploded while still
airbound or after it had hit the water, and officials have said there will be no
answers until the data from the black boxes is retrieved and analyzed.
Experts have also been saying that extreme turbulence or wind shear may have
caused the pilot to lose control of the plane.
The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and the French body for civil
aviation security Bureau D'Enquetes et D'Analyses (BEA) have sent experts to
join a team investigating the tragedy. The search operation has been led by
Lebanese navy troops, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) as
well as US navy destroyer the USS Ramage and a civilian boat from Cyprus with
sonar equipment. Five Ethiopians and six Lebanese have been identified among the
14 bodies at Rafik Hariri state hospital, including those of two toddlers,
Lebanese Health Minister Mohammed Jawad Khalife said Wednesday. Rescue officials
have said a number of the bodies may still be strapped to their seats and hope
to recover them once they find the wreckage. Around 200 schoolchildren on
Thursday held a moment of silence on the beachfront near the airport in
remembrance of the victims and dropped flowers into the sea.
Khalife said authorities in Addis Ababa were sending DNA samples from families
of the Ethiopian passengers to assist in identifying the victims.
Ethiopian Airlines suffered two other deadly accidents over the past 25 years,
one of which was a hijacking which ended in a crash when the plane ran out of
fuel.(Naharnet-AFP)
Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 07:29
Sabotage or No Sabotage in Ethiopian Plane crash!
Naharnet/The black boxes which are expected to be retrieved Thursday should
solve the mystery of the Ethiopian plane that crashed off the Lebanese coast
earlier this week with all 90 passengers and crew on board presumed dead. It
should also shed light on why the Ethiopian pilot did not respond to
instructions to change direction even though he acknowledged instructions from
the Beirut airport control tower. Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi said the
aircraft made a "sharp and fast turn" before disappearing off the radar.
"To say there was pilot error is pure speculation," Aridi told Agence France
Presse, echoing similar comments by the defense ministry. "No one knows what
happened in the plane and the black boxes will provide the answers," he said.
Aridi said the pilot, who had 20 years of experience and was familiar with the
Boeing 737-800, began to follow instructions by the Beirut airport control tower
to go in one direction and then suddenly took a turn the other way and flew into
a violent storm. "The control tower attempted to redirect him but lost contact,"
he added. "What happened on board the plane is anyone's guess." Lebanese
officials have ruled out sabotage and said bad weather was likely to blame.
While Pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said Thursday preliminary investigation indicated
no sabotage act in the plane crash, a number of media reports said sabotage was
likely. Al-Liwaa newspaper on Wednesday said the crash was likely a "deliberate"
attack.Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat, in turn, quoted navigation sources as saying
that "all possibilities are open."OTV, which is close to Hizbullah and is
reputed to have strong ties with Hizbullah circles, cited official circles as
saying that the Ethiopian plane was likely hit by a rocket. Beirut, 28 Jan 10,
08:33
More Body Parts Transported to State Hospital
Naharnet/More body parts from the ill-fated Ethiopian aircraft were transported
Thursday to Rafik Hariri state hospital where DNA testing would be conducted.
Four of five identified Lebanese bodies were handed over to their families on
Wednesday. They included three-year-old Julia al-Hajj, Haidar Marji, Tony al-Zakhem
and Anees Safa.
The family of Mohammed Kreik, 4, refused to receive his body, pending recovery
of his father's corpse from the sea. Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 13:08
Hizbullah Lashes Out at Al-Liwaa Newspaper over Plane Crash Scenario
Naharnet/A communique issued by Hizbullah's Media Relations Department denied
the media report published Wednesday by Al-Liwaa Lebanese daily mentioning that
a high ranking Hizbullah delegation was scheduled to be on board of the
Ethiopian crashed plane. "The news article is totally unbased," said Hizbullah's
communique. "The newspaper used some atmospheres related to the trip of MP
Nawwar al-Sahili to publish a totally unbased scenario," added Hizbullah's
communique. Hizbullah admonished the newspaper for publishing fake scenarios
which "insult the victims' families and Hizbullah." The party called Al-Liwaa to
"spare itself from the embarrassment of shame and falsification by following the
simplest rules of professionalism through questioning the authenticity of
information before publishing." Al-Liwaa based its hypothesis on Hizbullah's
heightened concern about the catastrophe and the fact that a Hizbullah
delegation, including Hashem Safieddine and MP Nawar al-Sahili, was supposed to
be on the plane. It said the trip was cancelled at the last minute upon
instructions by Speaker Nabih Berri to allow Sahili to attend a parliamentary
session scheduled for Monday. Berri, however, called off the meeting after the
plane crash disaster. Al-Liwaa also pointed to Hizbullah's noteworthy presence
in the funeral of one of the plane victims identified as Hassan Tajeddine in the
southern town of Hanaway. It said Tajeddine had close ties with Hizbullah.
Beirut, 27 Jan 10, 18:53
Sison: Area South of Litani Should be Free from Illegitimate Arms
Naharnet/U.S. Ambassador Michele Sison has expressed her country's concern over
alleged arms smuggling to Lebanon and the discovery of Hizbullah weapons caches
south of the Litani river. Sison told pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in an
interview published Thursday that the area south of the river should be free
from "illegitimate arms."
While refusing to answer a question on the possibilities of an Israeli military
strike on Lebanon, the diplomat said such incidents are a "clear threat to
security and stability."
The ambassador also stressed that she would boycott Hizbullah cabinet ministers
in compliance with U.S. law. She hinted that Washington will not carry out
agricultural cooperation projects with Lebanon because the agriculture ministry
is headed by a Hizbullah member. Asked why the Obama administration wasn't
providing enough equipment to the Lebanese army to impose its sovereignty over
all Lebanese territories and confront Israeli threats, Sison said that U.S.
assistance to the Lebanese Armed Forces since 2006 has reached $456 million.
She unveiled that the program would expand in 2010. Sison reiterated the U.S.
will not make an agreement with any country that would come at the expense of
Lebanon.
Asked about reports that there was a new U.S. policy on Lebanon, Sison said
there was a policy to support Lebanon, its sovereignty and prosperity. On Middle
East peace, Sison told Asharq al-Awsat that Lebanon plays a fundamental role in
the process like the rest of the countries in the region. Meanwhile, Sison met
with Environment Minister Mohammed Rahhal on Thursday and expressed her
country's readiness to help in several environmental projects in Lebanon. She
invited Rahhal to Washington to meet with U.S. environmental officials and
experts pending the signature of a Memorandum of Understanding between the two
countries. Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 08:34
Hariri from Cairo: Hizbullah Cell is Egyptian Issue
Naharnet/Prime Minister Saad Hariri will meet Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
on Thursday to discuss current developments in Lebanon and the region. On
Wednesday, Hariri held a round of talks with his Egyptian counterpart and other
officials. At a news conference in Cairo, Hariri said the so-called Hizbullah
cell is an Egyptian issue. "Hizbullah is part of the political forces that
emerged as a result of parliamentary elections," Hariri said. Hizbullah "is a
partner in the government of national unity." "The issue of the (Hizbullah) cell
is an Egyptian judiciary matter, and we reject foreign intervention in Egyptian
affairs," he stressed. Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 10:40
Aoun-Berri: End of Dispute
Naharnet/Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has reportedly stepped in to
put an end to the dispute between Speaker Nabih Berri and Free Patriotic
Movement leader Michel Aoun.
The Central News Agency said a meeting between representatives of Hizbullah,
AMAL and the FPM resulted in an agreement to stop unhelpful rhetoric between
Berri and Aoun.
CAN said the dispute emerged over Berri's proposal to set up a committee to
abolish political sectarianism as well as over administrative appointments and
lowering the voting age to 18.
Al-Liwaa daily, however, said parliamentary sources played down the significance
of the meeting. Aoun, according to Ad-Diyar newspaper, had told Berri that he
should discuss controversial issues with him first, "particularly since you know
I have my own opinion on them." "Putting proposals forward without prior
discussion or examination is not proper," Ad-Diyar quoted Aoun as telling Berri.
It said Berri replied, saying that each time he comes up with a proposal, Aoun
and others would reject it. Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 12:08
Kidnapped Sheikh Reportedly in Dispute with Radical Groups
Naharnet/Efforts continued Thursday to try to find the Imam of the Lebanese town
of Majdal Anjar, two days after he was kidnapped by unknown assailants.
Sheik Mohammed Abdel Fatah al-Majzoub was kidnapped from outside the mosque
overnight Tuesday. His whereabouts were not known since 10:55pm Tuesday after he
made a "please help!" phone call from his cell to his father. "'Dad, I ...,'
then I heard a noise and the voice of someone telling him to close his mobile,"
Majzaoub's father said.
Search was immediately launched only to find his white Mercedes with the engine
still running at the side of a road leading to a sugar factory in Majdel Anjar.
His white turban was also found on the floor. Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on
Thursday said Majzoub has been in dispute with radical groups in the nearby
village of Kamid el-Loz since he was the imam of that town which made him
leaveto settle in his hometown of Majel Anjar. Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 10:23
Grenades Found Near Home of Arab Democratic Party Leader
Naharnet/Two grenades were found near the home of Arab Democratic Party leader
Ali Eid in Tripoli's Jabal Mohsen district on Thursday, the National News Agency
reported.
NNA said the grenades were found inside a white gallon filled with fuel. The
agency added that a military expert was inspecting the explosive devices.
Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 11:44
Suspicious Bag Causes Panic in Shiyyah
Naharnet/A suspicious bag in Beirut's Shiyyah district on Thursday turned out to
be empty after causing panic among residents in the area, the National News
Agency reported.
NNA said that a man discovered the bag under a vehicle in Maroun Misk street on
Thursday morning. However, a military expert, who was immediately dispatched to
the area, discovered that the bag was empty and contained no explosive
materials. The news agency said residents panicked because the bag was placed
under the vehicle in a suspicious way.
Beirut, 28 Jan 10, 09:30
Lebanon’s UN ambassador: we are committed to 1701, Israel violating our
territories
Date: January 27th, 2010
Source: NNA
Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN Security Council said the Lebanese government is
committed to the international resolution 1701, however noted that Israel is
still defying the resolution through violating Lebanon’s land, sea, and air as
well as its occupation to the Northern part of the Ghajar village, Shebaa Farms,
and Kfarshuba hills.
“Israel refuses to implement UNSCR 497 urging its full withdrawal from Syria’s
Golan Heights back to the borders of July 4, 1967, furthermore, it is always
trying to change the legal and practical status of Golan, especially through
building and expanding settlements in the area,” Ambassador Nawaf Salam said.
Addressing the Security Council’s assembly during the one-year anniversary of
the Israeli war on Gaza, at the UN New York head office, the Lebanese delegate
accused Israel of “trying to convince the world that it is ready to return to
peace negotiations without preconditions.”According to Salam, the Jewish state
“attempts to distract the international community from its ongoing settlement
policy in the West Bank, especially in occupied East Jerusalem and around it
through what it calls the ‘cessation of settlement activities’ for ten months.”
He stressed that Israel's policy “does not only constitute a flagrant violation
of the provisions of UNSCR 1860 – which called for a cessation of hostilities on
the Gaza Strip - but also is defiant to the principles and provisions of the
international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention and
the Hague Regulations.”Calling Israel’s practices in occupied Palestinian
territories an “impudent and blatant defiance to the international law, the UN’s
charter and the SC’s resolutions,” Ambassador Salam notified that such practices
by the Jewish state threaten any prospect of resolving the Arab-Israeli
conflict.
The lost Imam
Ana Maria Luca, January 28, 2010
Now Lebanon/The narrow streets of the eastern Bekaa village of Majed al-Aanjar
are empty and quiet. Only a few women sit on the veranda of a house behind the
village mosque drinking sweet white tea and enjoying the day’s last moments of
sunlight. “Which media are you from?” they shout at this journalist and start
giggling. “We knew some journalists would come at some point, because the sheikh
disappeared last night,” explains an older woman sitting among them with a baby
on her lap.
The woman was referring to Sheikh Mohammed Abdel Fatah al-Majzoub, the
23-year-old Imam of Majed al-Aanjar, who disappeared on Tuesday night at around
11:30. The villagers could find no trace of him except his white turban lying on
the ground in front of the mosque and his car, which sat abandoned on the
highway to Damascus with the engine running.
Police immediately suspected that Majzoub was kidnapped and launched an
investigation in cooperation with the Lebanese army. But they have no leads to
follow, one police officer in town tells NOW. “Nobody heard anything,” the women
gathered behind the mosque say in unison as if they rehearsed it.
Other villagers, now wandering out from their houses and shops, express their
ignorance of what happened. “I heard he was taken,” a man shouts from his white
Mercedes parked on the road. “Who did it?” “I am his aunt,” says one of the
women from the veranda. “He’s just gone. They are searching for him.”The Imam’s
aunt, Amal al-Majzoub, shrugs and says she has no idea why somebody would kidnap
her young nephew. But after a pause she says, “He was almost killed once before,
during the elections. They threw a grenade at his car while he was leaving the
mosque.”“It was the March 8 people, we saw them doing it,” says a man in his 30s
who appears seemingly out of nowhere to join the gathering crowd. The man,
Hassan al-Majzoub, says he is the Imam’s uncle and helps him with his duties
around the mosque. They were together almost all the time, he says, but
unfortunately, he was not with Majzoub on the night of his disappearance.
“I don’t remember him receiving any new threats lately. But during the elections
the opposition people were always after him because they didn’t like what he
used to say in the mosque. So that day they threw the grenade at his car. He was
inside, but wasn’t hurt, praise God. Only the windows of the car broke.”
The Imam reported the incident to the police, but another one of his uncles, who
asked that his name not be mentioned for fear of reprisals, says the Imam
“didn’t need the protection of the state.”“The people of the village protected
him all the time. He is our Imam,” Majzoub’s uncle says. “Even now all the
sheikhs in the village and the president of the municipality are in Beirut to
talk to the General Security and the politicians to find him.”
Among the delegation is another of the Imam’s uncles, who is in the local police
and has launched a private investigation, a police officer tells NOW.
It is clear Majzoub is well liked in his village from the concern expressed by
his neighbors. He is somewhat of a prodigy, his aunt says. He left his small
village to study in Damascus as a teenager, and when he returned to the country
he continued his studies in Beirut. He has been the Imam of his village for five
years, since the age of 18.
“He was always close to the Koran. When he came from school he used to run to
the mosque and pray,” Amal al-Majzoub says.
But Majzoub’s record was not clean. He was questioned by the Lebanese
intelligence services in December 2009 for his relationship with four men from
the village who were arrested on suspicion of being members of militant Islamist
group Fatah al-Islam and of planning terrorist attacks on UNIFIL. One of them
was his cousin, but he Imam knew all four very well, “as they always came to the
mosque to pray,” his uncle says. “He was also threatened after the arrests by
the military intelligence. He went to ask questions about the arrest and they
warned him to watch what he’s doing.” A group of around 15 men had gathered on
the terrace of a neighboring building by the time the Imam’s uncle finished
speaking. “They are preparing to burn tires,” a young boy tells him. “Why burn
tires? That’s not going to bring the Imam back, is it? What do they want with
this now?” the Imam’s uncle says as he walks toward the group of men, while the
women stay back on the veranda and sip their tea in the encroaching dark.
Celebrations for St Maroun anniversary announced
/Daily Star staff
Thursday, January 28, 2010
BEIRUT: The celebrations program for the 1,600th anniversary of the passing away
of Saint Maroun was announced on Wednesday. Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros
Sfeir organized the celebrations, which will stretch from February 9, 2010 until
March 2, 2011 and will be attended by President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister
Saad Hariri, Speaker Nabih Berri and an array of political figures. The
celebrations will include an opening and a closing mass, publishing Saint
Maroun’s biography, distributing pictures of the saint, and organizing cultural
activities. – The Daily Star
World Bank sees Lebanon's 2010 growth at 7 percent
Daily Star staff
Thursday, January 28, 2010
BEIRUT: A report released by the World Bank indicated that real GDP growth in
Lebanon in 2010 should be equal to that witnessed in 2009, reaching 7 percent.
The report, entitled Global Economic Prospects in 2010, was published by Bank
Audi’s Weekly Monitor. “The 7 percent real growth witnessed in Lebanon is deemed
especially significant, as it was the second the second highest growth rate
regionally, following Qatar, and the fact that the World Bank expects the same
growth rate to persist bodes well for the country, as a high growth is
forecasted from a relatively high base,” Audi said. The World Bank attributes
its forecast for Lebanon to several factors. First, Lebanon’s external linkages
during 2009, one of the toughest economic years globally, did not suffer as much
as was anticipated when the crisis first erupted in late-2008. Indeed, the
decline in exports was a mere 3.3 percent in 2009.
Meanwhile, remittances almost remained steady and most importantly, capital
inflows and FDI saw double digit growth rates. “One should also not forget the
booming tourism sector that saw a continuous growth throughout the year,” the
report said. As for domestic economic drivers, they were also all on the rise
during the year 2009. Construction and real estate activities flourished,
imports were on the uprise, indicating strong domestic demand, and most
importantly the financial sector, and precisely the banking system, bustled with
activity, thereby stirring a cycle of economic activity in the country. The
World Bank based its 2010 growth forecasts on the assumption that if economic
activity prospered in times of crisis as it did in 2009, then the aforementioned
economic indicators should continue along the same growing trend in 2010,
especially that during the year, repercussions of the crisis should begin to
gradually dissipate. – The Daily Star
The Ali
Hassan al-Majid anticlimax
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, January 28, 2010
When a mass murderer dies, it is usually an anticlimax. At his hanging this
week, Ali Hassan al-Majid, the cousin of Saddam Hussein, had only ambient
impassiveness to serenade him into the pit. A photograph was released by the
Iraqiyah television station showing Majid dressed in an orange jumpsuit, minutes
before death. Otherwise, there was an evasiveness and expediency to the
execution that, for all the rules of due process it violated, was paradoxically
fitting for so brutal a man.
I first heard the name Ali Hassan al-Majid in 1991. As I recall, a video filmed
by the Iraqi Army was obtained, then distributed, by the Iraqi opposition. It
showed Majid leading the suppression of Shiites in the aftermath of the Gulf
war, when Saddam, having been expelled by President George H. W. Bush from
Kuwait, was allowed to slaughter his own people. The video showed Majid ordering
soldiers to be merciless, then walking through a field to be shown bound Shiite
prisoners. One began to shout the fatiha, prompting an officer to pull out a gun
as if preparing to shoot him. The prisoners were later executed nearby.
The unrelenting grimness of the scene, the certitude the prisoners surely had
that their time was up, since they had become a trade fair exhibition for a man
whose commerce was death, was difficult to shake off. And yet within no time
Arab publicists had done precisely that, as their outrage was turned against the
sanctions regime imposed on Iraq by the United Nations. And when Saddam
transformed that regime into an instrument to reinforce his authority and
wealth, the publicists’ amnesia returned, their outrage displaced to condemn
America’s invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Displacement has been a useful aspect of the Arab mindset when the region has
considered Iraq. Take Majid’s orange jumpsuit. How appropriate that this was
Al-Qaeda’s fashion of choice for the hostages it once decapitated. And yet how
many people in the Arab world allowed their outrage with America to displace
what should have been their disgust with Al-Qaeda, still rewarded with the
designation of “resistance,” despite its ongoing deployment of suicide bombers
to murder civilians and deny Iraqis a normal life.
On the same day that Majid was hanged, he was sent off with a drum roll of
devastating attacks against three Iraqi hotels. The carnage continued on
Tuesday, and a convergence of factors has pushed the Arab world and the United
States to take a relatively low-key approach to these crimes. Vice President Joe
Biden flew from Washington to Baghdad to encourage Iraqi leaders to avoid a rift
over the 511 mostly Sunni candidates barred from the upcoming parliamentary
elections. However, when it comes to the suicide bombings, all American
officials can seem to say, with studied detachment, is that these were expected
in the pre-election period.
The only thing in Iraq that truly interests the Obama administration these days
is the American military withdrawal. Washington’s haste is creating a vacuum
that Iraq’s neighbors are seeking to fill to their own advantage. That’s why
American aloofness is shameful: The attacks are directly linked to the US
pullout, and the suicide bombers are either transiting through Syria, or are
Iraqis financed by Baathist networks there. This is well known, and has been
confirmed by Iraqi and US officials. However, both the US and the Arab states
have no interest in highlighting that fact: the Americans because they don’t
want to complicate their departure; the Arabs because there is a consensus among
Middle Eastern regimes that a Shiite-dominated order in Baghdad ultimately
threatens their power.
We’re back full circle to the ambiguous American relationship with the Arab
world’s Sunnis, and those of Iraq particularly. That’s not to say that the Obama
administration has decided to entirely disregard Sunni violence directed against
Shiites. Things are more subtle than that. Given the growing fear in Washington
of Iranian predominance in the Gulf, and the reality that the American exit from
Iraq could very well facilitate this, the US has fallen back on an old instinct:
a reluctance to challenge the Sunni-dominated regimes opposing Tehran, and that
includes in Iraq.
The Americans have also been apathetic toward Syria’s actions directed against
its eastern neighbor. The Obama administration knows the only way of bringing
about “behavior change” in Syria is to take the Assad regime on politically and
militarily. Given the Arab mood and new US priorities, not least Barack Obama’s
Afghanistan campaign, Washington has neither the regional support nor the
wherewithal to do this. So, the administration calls for “dialogue” between
Baghdad and Damascus, which in Syrian parlance means intensifying Iraq’s
destabilization.
That explains the dispatch with which the government of Iraqi Prime Minister
Nouri al-Maliki hanged Ali Hassan al-Majid, even though President Jalal Talabani
refused to sign off on the execution order. There was much symbolism in that
discord. Majid was condemned for several crimes, including the Anfal campaigns
of 1988 against the Kurds, which included the chemical weapons attack against
Halabja, as well as the crushing of the Shiites in 1991. That Talabani, a Kurd,
disagreed with Maliki, a Shiite, over the death sentence was interesting and in
a way disconcerting. But it also said much about where both men are today.
Talabani and the Kurds have come a long way since Anfal, winning considerable
autonomy and influence in an Iraq they often appear to have the option of taking
or leaving. But Maliki suffers from two sets of insecurities: he is facing an
electoral challenge from within his own Shiite community, and Shiites in general
know that the Arab world is not close to accepting their takeover of power in
Baghdad. That Majid should have been used as a ball to be kicked around in this
developing game of affirmation was apt, even if the legal form was wanting. It
was another knife in Saddam’s legacy.
**Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.
Why
doesn't merit matter?
By The Daily Star
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Editorial
Those optimistic Lebanese among us will say that the country is now better off
than it was a few years ago – now that a working government is in office and now
that the guns are, for the most part, stored in their holsters. But no opinion
survey is needed to gauge our persistent dissatisfaction at the unrelenting
malpractices of the Lebanese political class.
The logjam over administrative appointments, in particular, stands out as a
concrete measure that despite recent improvements, the Lebanese political system
remains as comatose as ever.
There are hundreds of available jobs in the government that need to be filled –
they range from the top diplomatic positions to the most mundane municipal ones.
And there are literally thousands of eligible and willing candidates in the
country.
But while our universities teach our future leaders that the best bureaucracies
make rational decisions, Lebanon is certainly not the textbook example. Our
leaders still prefer to divide the spoils of government along a regressive
sectarian grid in which merit is not the foremost criteria.
Although, on occasion, some competent men and women will be selected and their
talent put to good use for our country, most times, those bright young people
who desire to contribute to Lebanon’s institutions will be stymied by their
sectarian credentials. This practice not only contributes to an obvious loss of
human capital, but it also creates an unforgivable incentive for the young
generation to pack their suitcases and head for a place that does not consider
their creed as a factor in their employment.
A more insidious result of this calamity is the unhealthy corruption it
encourages. The civil servant that has benefited from his zaim’s
‘string-pulling’ will naturally not show loyalty to his country, but rather to
his benefactor. This is only natural; who would dare bite the hand that feeds
him?
The absence of a real system of accountability also encourages those among us
who benefit from this sectarian roulette game to remain quiet accomplices.
Over the past years, political actors from all stripes have trumpeted, always
with a dose of self-congratulations, that the time had come to launch a crusade
against the sad practice of undeserved appointments. But the same politicians
have missed countless opportunities to back their words with action.
Until our leaders show us deeds to substantiate their claims, we feel warranted
to say to them: spare us your political posturing. As it stands, the harm caused
by the inaction of our politicians on this issue is equal to that of their
occasional quarrels with each other.
Ft Hood's
Terror: The US failed by its own experts
Dr. Walid Phares
27 Jan 2010
The Pentagon's review of the act of Terrorism committed at Fort Hood by Major
Nidal Hasan deserves national attention not only regarding its important
conclusions but also what it missed in terms of analysis. In this piece, I'll
address major points made public in the media and raise issues about the bigger
picture regarding the terror threat America is facing today.
Jihadi Penetration: Part of a War
As announced by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates, the report "reveals serious
'shortcomings' in the military's ability to stop foreign extremists from trying
to use America's own soldiers against the United States." The Pentagon's review
of the Fort Hood massacre stated that "serious shortcomings" were found in "the
military's ability to stop foreign extremists from trying to use its own
soldiers against the United States." The first question that comes to mind is to
know if the issue is about "shortcomings," as described by the Pentagon, or is
it about "systemic failures" as announced by President Obama in his evaluation
of the Christmas Day terror act? For as underlined by the Department of Defense
in the case of Major Hasan, these failures were about the military's ability to
"stop foreign terrorists from using American soldiers against the United
States." Such a statement is extremely important as it finally informs the
public that US personnel is indeed being infiltrated and recruited by foreign
Jihadists, which are described politically by the Administration as
"extremists." Hence, the first logical conclusion from that finding is that
Jihadi networks are performing acts of War (and thus of Terrorism) against US
defense assets and personnel in the homeland. Thus this warrants the
reevaluation of the conflict and re-upgrading it to a state of war, even though
it would still need to be determined "with whom."
Self radicalization
Secretary Gates said "military supervisors are not properly focused on the
threat posed by self-radicalization and need to better understand the behavioral
warning signs." He added that "extremists are changing their tactics in an
attempt to hit the United States." Concluding that the Fort Hood massacre
"reveals shortcomings in the way the department is prepared to defend against
threats posed by external influences operating on members of our military
community," he said. "We have not done enough to adapt to the evolving domestic
internal security threat to American troops and military facilities."
The bottom line of the Department of Defense report is, as I relentlessly argued
before and since Hasan's shootings, that the US military and intelligence lack
the capability of detecting radicalization, should it be "self" developed or
activated from overseas. American analysts are not able to "detect"
radicalization from where it is generated. In my last three books and dozens of
briefings and testimonies to legislative and executive forums, I underlined the
crucial importance of identifying the ideology behind radicalization. For the
latter is produced by a set of ideas assembled in a doctrinal package.
Unfortunately the Bush and Obama Administrations were both poorly advised by
their experts. They were told, wrongly, that if they try to identify a
"doctrine" they will be meddling with a religion. Academic and cultural advisors
of the various US agencies and offices (the majority of them at least) failed
their government by triggering a fear of theological entanglement. To the
surprise of our Arab and Muslim allies in the region, who know how to detect the
Jihadist narrative, Washington disarmed its own analysts when bureaucrats of the
last two years banned the reference to the very ideological indicators that
could enable our analysts in detecting the radicalization threat. And it is not
about "extreme religious views" inasmuch as it is about an ideology. If Arabs
and Muslims can identify it in the Middle East, why can't Americans do this
also? Simply because Jihadi propaganda already penetrated our advising body and
fooled many of our decision makers into dropping the ideological parameters.
Hence stunningly Major Hasan, who amazingly displayed all the narrative of
Jihadism, was not spotted as a Jihadist. The report tried to blame his
colleagues and other superiors for failing to find him "suspicious enough" and
thus for causing a shortcoming. I disagree: what allowed Hasan to move
undetected was a bureaucratic memo issued under both Administrations and made
into policy last summer, ordering the members of the public service to not look
at ideology or refer to words that can detect it. We did it to ourselves.
The strategic threat ahead
The report raises "serious questions" about whether the military is prepared for
similar attacks, particularly "multiple, simultaneous incidents." In my book,
Future Jihad: Terrorist Strategies against America published half a decade ago,
I sternly warned about the strategic determination of Jihadists, al Qaeda and
beyond, to target the US homeland, not just in terms of terrorizing the public,
but in the framework of a chain of strikes widening gradually until it would
evolve to coordinated, simultaneous attacks. In 2006-2007, I served on the then
Task Force on Future Terrorism of the Department of Homeland Security and
developed an analysis clearly showing the path to come. My briefings to several
entities and agencies in the Defense sector clearly argued that implanting,
growing, and triggering homegrown Jihadists to strike at US national security is
at the heart of the enemy's strategy. I even projected the existence of a "war
room" that directs these operations; Imam al Awlaki's example of multiple
operatives' coordination is only a small fragment of what it would be like. In
facing this mushrooming threat, not only do we not have a detection capacity to
counter it, but we have been induced in error to adopt the opposite policies
suitable to our national defense. The misleading advice that the US Government
relied on is deeply responsible for the failure to counter, stop and reverse
radicalization. The report, although a step in the right direction, has
troubling shortcomings:
a. It claims "fixation on religion" is a missing indicator. Meaning if Muslims
insist on praying or Catholics refrain from eating meat on Fridays during Lent
this could be a lead to radicalization. Obviously it is a dead end; for the
indicator is the substance of the fixation, not the mere fact of religiosity.
One statement of commitment to Jihad is by far more important than fasting
during the whole month of Ramadan. It is not theology it is ideology, even
though many writers in town insist on merging both based on their readings of
text. I offer our government an easier way to detect the threat, without
venturing in inextricable religious debates or unnecessarily apologizing for one
or other particular faith.
b. The report describes Hasan as "an odd duck and a loner who was passed along
from office to office and job to job despite professional failings that included
missed or failed exams and physical fitness requirements." Nice shot, but it
leads nowhere. For the other potential Hasans amongst us aren't all necessarily
odd, failed students and physically unfit. The next Jihadists could be sharp,
are professionals and extremely social. It all depends on what the "War Room" is
going to surprise us with. Medical doctors in Britain, rich young men from
Nigeria or converted farmers from North Carolina aren't all in one profile
basket. So let's stop looking for framing "profiles" and start detecting
ideology.
c. The report calls on the Defense Department "to fully staff those teams of
investigators, analysts, linguists and others so the Pentagon can quickly see
information collected across government agencies about potential links between
troops and terrorist or extremist groups." This is a long awaited initiative
short of creating further catastrophes by staffing our bureaucracies with more
cultural advisors, who would mislead our leaders further and worsen the already
fledgling counter ideology sectors already in place. I am making the bold
statement that our problem is precisely that the expertise we sought over the
past eight years is the reason for our inability to detect radicalization. Hence
I would recommend an additional inquiry into our own specialization body before
we re-contract it to lead the war of ideas.
The beef is there. Everything else is dressing.
— Dr. Walid Phares is Director of the Future Terrorism Project at the Foundation
for the Defense of Democracies (FDD) in Washington, D.C., and a visiting scholar
at the European Foundation for Democracy in Brussels. He is the author of the
recently released book, The Confrontation: Winning the War against Future Jihad