LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
March 30/2010

Bible Of the Day
Matthew 21/17-27: "He left them, and went out of the city to Bethany, and lodged there. 21:18 Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 21:19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it, and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away. 21:20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?” 21:21 Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith, and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done. 21:22 All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” 21:23 When he had come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority do you do these things? Who gave you this authority?” 21:24 Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, which if you tell me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things. 21:25 The baptism of John, where was it from? From heaven or from men?” They reasoned with themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask us, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’ 21:26 But if we say, ‘From men,’ we fear the multitude, for all hold John as a prophet.” 21:27 They answered Jesus, and said, “We don’t know.” He also said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Hobby or Necessity/By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN/New York Times/March 29/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for March 29/10
Jumblat: Arab Summit Emphasized the Continuous Course of Deterioration and Regression /Naharnet
Hariri Vows to Deal with Security Violators with Iron Fist /Naharnet
Phalange Party: Refrain of 'Politicizing STL' Has Returned as if Some Sides Fear Justice /Naharnet
Suleiman: Arab Summit Outcome Shows Willingness to Achieve Peace /Naharnet
Different Sources Give Different Dates for Jumblat's Damascus Visit/Naharnet
Israel to focus on key Iran nuclear targets in any strike/Reuters
Marouni to Aoun: Enough Imposing Conditions, We are More Reformists than You /Naharnet
Geagea: We Visit Syria through Hariri/Naharnet
Harb Suggests Holding Municipal Elections after Partial Amendment/Naharnet
Hezbollah Expanding Forces In Lebanon, Recruiting Palestinian Fighters/By DAVID BEDEIN/The Bulletin
Arabs close ranks on Jerusalem/Middle East On Line
Arab Summit: No Peace Talks until Jerusalem Settlement Halt/Naharnet
Assad: I'd Visit Mubarak to Congratulate on Surgery Success if They Wanted That, Dispute with Egypt Must Be Solved/Naharnet
Qassem Snaps Back at Rumors over STL: We're Not Impotent and We're Not Ashamed to Voice Our Opinion/Naharnet
Baabda MPs hold conference on development of district/Daily Star
Hizbullah chief vows to address allegations of STL interrogation/Daily Star
Siniora stresses importance of Arab relations, unity/Daily Star
Geagea stresses new slogan not meant to alienate/Daily Star
Authorities arrest nine robbery suspects in Bekaa/Daily Star
Jumblatt congratulates Obama on health-reform win/Daily Star
Muslim clerics in south condemn Israeli policies/Daily Star
First lady honors winners of children's music contest/Daily Star
Lebanese kicks off bid to scale Mount Everest/Daily Star
Italian performers enthrall downtown audience/Daily Star
Forum explores electronic assessment in education/Daily Star
Orthodox and Catholics unite for Palm Sunday/Daily Star
Last of Jiyyeh oil spill from 2006 summer war removed/Daily Star
Rights watchdog urges Tripoli to disclose information on missing/Daily Star

How the Next Middle East War Could Start
The three most plausible scenarios all involve Iran..
.By RONEN BERGMAN /Wall Street Journal
OPINION MARCH 29, 2010.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703312504575142181649202588.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
This May, Israel will celebrate its 62nd Independence Day. And barring the unexpected, the country will have good reason to celebrate. This will have been the safest year in a decade and a half for Israeli civilians—the year with the fewest fatalities in acts of war or terror.
Ironically, Israel's most bitter foes are responsible for this achievement. The leadership of both Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza have imposed a temporary policy of non confrontation on their respective followers, as well as on other armed groups operating within the territories they control. They are now part of the administration and don't want to be blamed for igniting another war in the region. As a result, the once almost daily rocket attacks on civilian targets in the north and south of Israel have been reduced to a trickle.
This is as good as it gets in this part of the world. But the truth is that the Middle East remains as ever on the brink of war. One careless move by any party, and the now dormant volcano could erupt once again.
Israel is certainly aware of this volatility, and it is preparing for the worst. In late February the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) conducted a secret war game, code-named Firestone 12, which simulated a general conflict in the region. Under the scenario used in the exercise, Iran instructs its Hezbollah proxies to initiate military action against Israel in order to divert attention from the Iranian nuclear project. Israel responds with massive force against Hezbollah in Lebanon, which draws Syria and Hamas into the conflict.
The exercise was supposed to conclude with the mobilization of a large number of reserves. But because military and political tensions were running high, the army decided not to call up the additional units.
Until recently, the most plausible scenario for the outbreak of the next war would have begun with an Israeli aerial assault on Iranian nuclear installations. This would lead to a response by members of the group that the Israeli intelligence community refers to as the "radical front": Iran, Syria, Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad. But for now, this scenario is regarded as somewhat less likely, since it appears that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will go along with the U.S. demand that Israel allow time for sanctions to achieve their purpose.
Yet there are other scenarios that create a very real danger of war breaking out.
Scenario I: Hamas attacks in order to break the impasse. These are hard times for Hamas. It sustained a military defeat at the hands of Israel in late 2008 and is now engaged in a bitter confrontation with Egypt over a barrier Egypt is constructing to prevent smuggling from the Sinai Peninsula into Gaza. Various sources, including IDF Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi, who briefed parliament on Tuesday, have suggested that Hamas may try to break the impasse by instigating a military operation to upset the balance of forces in the region. In addition, the organization's desire to avenge the assassination of senior commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh last January in Dubai has only increased its motivation to act.
Scenario II: Hezbollah avenges Imad Mughniyeh's assassination. Hezbollah believes that the Mossad was behind the assassination of the organization's military commander two years ago. Mughniyeh was the most wanted terrorist on the FBI's list before Sept. 11, 2001, and he was in charge of the suicide attacks on the American Embassy and Marine barracks in Beirut in 1982/1983. Mossad and the CIA tried to catch or kill him numerous times in the past.
In order to avenge Mughniyeh's death, Hezbollah attempted to blow up the Israeli Embassy in Azerbaijan, attack Israeli tourists in the Sinai, and abduct Israeli businessmen in Africa. Yet these failures have not blunted its resolve. Any successful act of revenge—especially if it is a spectacular operation such as killing a large number of Israelis or Jews outside Israel, or assassinating a prominent figure inside Israel—would lead to considerable public pressure on the Israeli government to take action against Hezbollah inside Lebanon.
Scenario III: Syria supplies Hezbollah with "equilibrium-breaking" weapons. Today Syria is Hezbollah's chief supplier of arms. Many Iranian-developed weapons are manufactured in Syria and transported to Lebanon where they are delivered to the Shiite organization. Syria possesses a number of weapons systems, mainly various types of long-range missiles and anti-aircraft and antinaval missiles, that Israel regards as "equilibrium-breaking" (i.e., systems that in the hands of Hezbollah would threaten Israel's ability to operate with impunity in Lebanon's airspace and along its coastline).
The Syrian ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, was recently summoned to the State Department, where he was informed that the U.S. expects Syria to cease arming Hezbollah because of the very real risk of war. This meeting took place after Israel came close to attacking a Syrian arms convoy, deciding not to at the last moment.
This final scenario is perhaps the most dangerous. Syrian President Bashar Assad has taken significant risks in the past, most recently when he embarked on the joint Syrian-Iranian-North Korean nuclear project knowing full well that Israel would not be able to allow it to reach completion. If Mr. Netanyahu shows less restraint than he has so far and orders an attack on a Syrian military convoy, the high number of Syrian casualties that would likely ensue could force Mr. Assad's hand.
What these three scenarios all have in common is the centrality of Iran: It is arming Hamas, it effectively controls Hezbollah, and it is doing its best to involve Syria in open confrontation with Israel. To date, these attempts have been unsuccessful. But only the U.S. has the ability to take decisive steps to prevent a general conflagration in the region.
**Mr. Bergman, senior military and intelligence analyst for Yedioth Ahronoth, an Israeli daily, is the author of "The Secret War With Iran" (Free Press, 2008).

Hobby or Necessity?
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: March 27, 2010
If you think this latest Israeli-American flap was just the same-old-same-old tiff over settlements, then you’re clearly not paying attention — which is how I’d describe a lot of Israelis, Arabs and American Jews today. This tiff actually reflects a tectonic shift that has taken place beneath the surface of Israel-U.S. relations. I’d summarize it like this: In the last decade, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process — for Israel — has gone from being a necessity to a hobby. And in the last decade, the Israeli-Palestinian peace process — for America — has gone from being a hobby to a necessity. Therein lies the problem.
The collapse of the Oslo peace process, combined with the unilateral Israeli pullouts from Lebanon and Gaza — which were followed not by peace but by rocket attacks by Hezbollah and Hamas on Israel — decimated Israel’s peace camp and the political parties aligned with it.
At the same time, Israel’s erecting of a wall around the West Bank to prevent Palestinian suicide bombers from entering Israel (there have been no successful attacks since 2006), along with the rise of the high-tech industry in Israel — which does a great deal of business digitally and over the Internet and is largely impervious to the day-to-day conflict — has meant that even without peace, Israel can enjoy a very peaceful existence and a rising standard of living. To put it another way, the collapse of the peace process, combined with the rise of the wall, combined with the rise of the Web, has made peacemaking with Palestinians much less of a necessity for Israel and much more of a hobby. Consciously or unconsciously, a lot more Israelis seem to believe they really can have it all: a Jewish state, a democratic state and a state in all of the Land of Israel, including the West Bank — and peace.
Why not? Newsweek’s Dan Ephron wrote in the Jan. 11, 2010, issue: “An improved security situation, a feeling that acceptance by Arabs no longer matters much, and a growing disaffection from politics generally have, for many Israelis, called into question the basic calculus that has driven the peace process. Instead of pining for peace, they’re now asking: who needs it? ... Tourism hit a 10-year high in 2008. Astonishingly, the I.M.F. projected recently that Israel’s G.D.P. will grow faster in 2010 than that of most other developed countries. In short, Israelis are enjoying a peace dividend without a peace agreement.”
Now, in the same time period, America went from having only a small symbolic number of soldiers in the Middle East to running two wars there — in Iraq and Afghanistan — as well as a global struggle against violent Muslim extremists. With U.S. soldiers literally walking the Arab street — and, therefore, more in need than ever of Muslim good will to protect themselves and defeat Muslim extremists — Israeli-Palestinian peace has gone from being a post-cold-war hobby of U.S. diplomats to being a necessity.
Both Vice President Joe Biden and Gen. David Petraeus have been quoted recently as saying that the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict foments anti-U.S. sentiments, because of the perception that America usually sides with Israel, and these sentiments are exploited by Al Qaeda, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran to generate anti-Americanism that complicates life for our soldiers in the region. I wouldn’t exaggerate this, but I would not dismiss it either. The issue that should make peacemaking a necessity rather than a hobby for both the U.S. and Israel is confronting a nuclear Iran. Unfortunately, Israel sees the question of preventing Iran from going nuclear as overriding and separate from the Palestinian issue, while the U.S. sees them as integrated. At a time when the U.S. is trying to galvanize a global coalition to confront Iran, at a time when Iran uses the ongoing Palestinian-Israeli conflict to embarrass pro-U.S. Arabs and extend its influence across the Muslim world, peace would be a strategic asset for America and Israel.
Ari Shavit, a columnist for the Israeli daily Haaretz, last week argued that Israel should adopt a more integrated view — which he calls a “Palestine-Iran-Palestine” strategy: Israel should take the initiative with an overture to the Palestinians, which would make progress on that front easier, which would strengthen the U.S. coalition against Iran, which could ultimately weaken Tehran and its allies, Hamas and Hezbollah, which would open the way for more progress on the Palestine-Israel front. He suggests that Israel reach an interim agreement with Palestinians on the West Bank or even consider a partial, unilateral withdrawal there. “One way or another,” said Shavit, “Netanyahu should have made a genuine move on the Palestinian front that would have made genuine moves on the Iranian front possible, that would have made dealing with the core of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute possible at a later stage.”
Indeed, Jerusalem, settlements, peace, Iran — they’re all connected and pretending you can treat some as a hobby and one as a necessity is an illusion.
Sign in to RecommendNext Article in Opinion (12 of 32) » A version of this article appeared in print on March 28, 2010, on page WK10 of the New York edition.

Hezbollah Expanding Forces In Lebanon, Recruiting Palestinian Fighters
By DAVID BEDEIN, Middle East Correspondent/The Bulletin
Sunday, March 28, 2010
http://thebulletin.us/articles/2010/03/28/news/world/doc4bafdb9bec99c472863044.txt
Israel’s military has determined that the Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah has been expanding its force in southern Lebanon.
Israeli military intelligence has detected an increase in Hezbollah deployment and activity in the area south of Beirut. Hezbollah has been reportedly bolstered by new recruitment, including Palestinians. “Hezbollah is deploying more forces north of the Litani River,” Israeli Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi said. In Tuesday’s briefing of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Gen. Ashkenazi said Hezbollah was refraining from attacks along the Lebanese border with Israel. “But that could change,” Gen. Ashkenazi said.
Hezbollah has been recruiting cadets to form special operations units in southern Lebanon. They said these forces were being trained by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to conduct missions in northern Israel. Hezbollah was also said to have received a boost of some 2,000 fighters, who defected from the Fatah militia. Former Fatah military chief Col. Munir Maqdah, who was dismissed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in February, has been leading the fighters. “There is a real danger that Hezbollah would use the Palestinians for rocket attacks that would not be attributed to Hezbollah,” an official said. “We are watching the situation carefully.” Hezbollah has amassed up to 50,000 missiles and rockets, most of them in southern Lebanon.They said the weapons could reach most of Israel.
David Bedein can be reached at bedein@thebulletin.us.

Arabs close ranks on Jerusalem
Arab leaders discuss proposal to engage in dialogue with Israel’s arch-foe Iran at Libya summit.
By Hala Boncompagni - SIRTE
28/3/10/Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas on Saturday ruled out US-brokered indirect peace talks with Israel unless it halts settlements, as Arab leaders closed ranks over Jerusalem at a summit in Libya. The summit in the Mediterranean city of Sirte also tackled relations with Israel's regional arch-foe Iran, with leaders discussing a proposal to engage in a dialogue with the Islamic republic. In a speech at the opening of the two-day gathering, Abbas echoed widespread concern that the Middle East peace process was in peril and urged his Arab peers to "rescue" Jerusalem. "We cannot resume indirect negotiations as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy and the status quo," he said after UN chief Ban Ki-moon had addressed the summit seeking Arab support for the talks. Abbas accused Israel of seeking to wipe out the Arab identity of Jerusalem through "ethnic cleansing" and insisted that Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem must be the capital of any future Palestinian state. "We have always said that Jerusalem is the jewel in the crown and the gate to peace," he said.
Ban urged Arab leaders to facilitate Israeli-Palestinian "proximity" talks, saying "our common goal should be to resolve all final-status issues within 24 months." He also reiterated that Israel's settlement activity in mainly Arab east Jerusalem was "illegal" and stressed Jerusalem must emerge "as the capital of two states." Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, another guest speaker, blasted Israel's policy of dealing with the whole of Jerusalem as its united capital as "madness." "Jerusalem is the apple of the eye of each and every Muslim... and we cannot at all accept any Israeli violation in Jerusalem or in Muslim sites," Erdogan said. Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was likewise invited by Libyan leader Moamer Gathafi to address the summit, said "now is the time to give peace a chance."
"We have the possibility, we have the responsibility and we feel the urgency," he said. Fresh US efforts to broker indirect Israeli-Palestinian peace talks earlier this month were still-born when Israel announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in east Jerusalem. The timing of the announcement during a visit to Israel by US Vice President Joe Biden enraged Washington and the Palestinians, who just days earlier had agreed to give peace talks another chance after a year-long hiatus. Arab leaders from both the pro-Western and radical camps have also been angered by the opening of a restored 17th-century synagogue near east Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound, the third-holiest site in Islam. The 13 Arab leaders attending the summit along with Gathafi are due to adopt a resolution to raise 500 million dollars in aid to improve living conditions for Jerusalem Palestinians.
After a plenary session for speeches, the leaders broke for lunch and returned for talks behind closed doors before wrapping up the first day of meetings. Arab League chief Amr Mussa, who said before the summit that peace talks with Israel had become "pointless," asked the leaders on Saturday to examine "the chances of failure of the peace process" due to Israel's policies.He also said the Arabs should open a dialogue with Iran, which is locked in a dispute with the West over its controversial nuclear programme, and set up an "Arab Neighbourhood Zone" that would include the Islamic republic and Turkey.
"I understand that some of us have concerns about Iranian positions. This does not rule out but maybe confirms the need for a dialogue in order to define our future relations with Iran, with whom we differ on many issues," he said. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit told reporters that the afternoon session discussed Mussa's proposal on Iran "but most of the Arab countries don't welcome this for now." He did not elaborate. The Arab summit follows the worst violence in the blockaded Gaza Strip in 14 months, and comes after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected anew on Friday international calls to stop settlement building in east Jerusalem. Israeli tanks carried out an incursion into southern Gaza and killed a Palestinian militant on Saturday after the army lost two soldiers in clashes the previous day along the border with the coastal strip.The Sirte gathering is the first annual summit to be hosted by the maverick Gathafi, who considers Israel an implacable "enemy" of the Arabs

Arab Summit: No Peace Talks until Jerusalem Settlement Halt
Naharnet/Arab leaders on Sunday ruled out a return to Israeli-Palestinian peace talks unless Israel stops building new Jewish settler homes in the West Bank, including annexed east Jerusalem. "The resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations demands that Israel implements its legal commitments by stopping all settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories, including east Jerusalem," they said in a final resolution after a two-day summit in Libya. The statement insisted "on the need to have a timeframe for these negotiations and that they resume from where they left off and on the basis of what has been agreed upon in the peace process." The Arab leaders meeting in the coastal city of Sirte also urged U.S. President Barack Obama to keep up "his initial and key position" to work to halt Israeli settlement building on Palestinian land. At the end of the summit, Arab League chief Amr Moussa announced that an extraordinary Arab summit will be held by the end of the year to mull the two projects of launching the Arab Neighborhood League and the advancement of the Arab League.
Delegates said they discussed the stalled Middle East peace process and how to confront Israeli policies in annexed east Jerusalem amid warnings that failure to kick-start Israeli-Palestinian peace talks could lead to new wars. "There are new channels which the leaders will take," if Israel does not halt its settlement policy, Kuwaiti foreign ministry under-secretary Khaled Jarrallah told reporters on the sidelines of the summit in the Libyan coastal city of Sirte. "If there is an Arab unified position, Israel will have to submit to it," he added without elaborating.
Another delegate said Arab leaders could turn to the United Nations for help if U.S. efforts to revive the peace process collapse. The meeting was given added urgency after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed no let-up in plans to build new homes for settlers in annexed east Jerusalem, Sunday blamed the Palestinians for blocking peace efforts.
"We continue to see that the Palestinians are hardening their positions. They do not show any sign of moderation," Netanyahu said at the start of a weekly cabinet meeting in Jerusalem.
Netanyahu also said he did not expect the Arab summit to support U.S.-led efforts to revive negotiations suspended over a year ago.
Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas ruled out on Saturday any peace talks with the Jewish state until it halts settlements, despite agreeing earlier this month to U.S. calls to enter into indirect "proximity" negotiations with Israel. "We cannot resume indirect negotiations as long as Israel maintains its settlement policy and the status quo," Abbas told the summit's opening session. Arab League chief Moussa, who said ahead of the summit that talks with Israel has become "pointless", echoed him and urged the leaders to consider "the chance of failure of the peace process," due to Israeli policies. Abbas also warned on Saturday that "wars can erupt if Israeli violations continue" and urged Arab nations to "rescue" Jerusalem -- the city which is home to Al-Aqsa mosque, Islam's third holiest site. Efforts by the United States to broker indirect Palestinian-Israeli talks were still born when Israel earlier this month announced plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jewish settlers in annexed east Jerusalem. The plan has angered Washington and enraged the Palestinians who see the mostly Arab part of the Holy City as the capital of their future state. The international community which has never recognized Israel's annexation of east Jerusalem in 1967, considers all settlements illegal.
U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon reiterated that position on Saturday when he addressed the opening session of the summit, seeking Arab support for the U.S.-brokered indirect talks and saying Jerusalem must emerge as the "capital of two states."(Naharnet-AFP) Beirut, 28 Mar 10, 18:14

Qassem Snaps Back at Rumors over STL: We're Not Impotent and We're Not Ashamed to Voice Our Opinion
Naharnet/Hizbullah Deputy Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem on Sunday snapped back at the circulated media reports about Hizbullah members being summoned for questioning over the 2005 assassination of ex-PM Rafik Hariri. Several media outlets had said that STL Prosecutor's Office has ordered to summon six Hizbullah members to hearing in the Hariri case.
"Some are speaking of information leaked by the STL, but we're not impotent and we're not ashamed to talk about our stance or to voice our opinion," Qassem said at a ceremony in Bekaa, stressing that "others do not speak in Hizbullah's name and if we wanted to say a certain thing, we'd speak and reveal the facts because we're used to being honest with people."
On the other hand, Qassem stressed that "the results of the municipal elections will not change the political status quo or scene in Lebanon," noting that "the party is with holding elections on time and under any law." "But if political stability in the country implies postponing these elections -- in order to incorporate some reforms – then we prefer the delay," he added.
Qassem said that Hizbullah has decided to coordinate with its ally, AMAL Movement, in all Lebanese regions in municipal elections. "Therefore, we'll seek, along with all families and existing political forces, for the elections to take place with the least possible tension," he added. As to Israel's latest crossing of the technical fence in the South, Qassem stressed that Israel crossed the fence for the sake of al-Wazzani's water," wondering "what has the U.N., the Security Council and the international community done" in this regard."Doesn't this crossing represent a hostile violation against Lebanon?" Beirut, 28 Mar 10, 20:20

Assad: I'd Visit Mubarak to Congratulate on Surgery Success if They Wanted That, Dispute with Egypt Must Be Solved
Naharnet/Syrian President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday stressed that "the dispute with Egypt must be solved."
Answering the questions of reporters after the end of Libya's Arab summit in Sirte, on whether he intends to pay a visit to Egypt to congratulate President Hosni Mubarak on the success of the gall bladder surgery he underwent in Germany, Assad said: "If they want that."Egyptian-Syrian relations have been tense since the 2006 Israeli war on Lebanon, when Syria stood by Hizbullah, while Egypt and other Arab countries, among them Saudi Arabia and Jordan, considered that Hizbullah should bear the responsibility of the war because of the party's policy, which these countries described as "reckless." An Arab diplomat told Agence France Presse that a reconciliatory meeting between Assad and Mubarak was expected to take place at the summit before Mubarak was advised by doctors to extend convalescence period for two extra weeks. Beirut, 28 Mar 10, 21:20

Can People-Power Defuse Iran's Nuclear Threat?
A briefing by Raymond Tanter
March 10, 2010
http://www.meforum.org/2611/people-power-iran-nuclear-threat
Raymond Tanter is president of the Iran Policy Committee and teaches courses on terrorism and weapons proliferation at Georgetown University. From 1981 to 1982, he served at the White House as a senior member of the National Security Council. On March 10, 2010, Mr. Tanter addressed the Middle East Forum at a Philadelphia conference on how U.S. policy can promote regime change in Iran.
Mr. Tanter began by emphasizing that, since June 12, 2009, Iran has changed more than President Obama's Iran policy. He added that, if U.S. policy led rather than followed the Iranian street, the situation in Iran could be comparable to 1979: As in the revolution of 1979, Iranians again want regime change and today's opposition is inclusive, whereas the 1999 and 2003 protests lacked the broad coalition present in 1979. Today's street protests need to hear more from the United States to broaden the coalition.
Mr. Tanter next addressed the split within Iran's Islamist regime, between a "loyal opposition" (i.e., Mousavi, Karroubi, Rafsanjani, and Khatami) and the clerical/military ruling elite of Ahmadinejad and Khameini. A similar split exists within the opposition: there is the "loyal opposition" and the "disloyal opposition," which seeks regime change. Of the latter, the Mujahedeen e-Khalq (MEK) and the National Council of the Resistance of Iran (NCRI) are the most powerful organizations, increasingly gaining popularity as their regime change agenda is being adopted by the Iranian street. According to Mr. Tanter, the more organized the Iranian street, the greater the chances of a revolution like that of 1979 against the current regime.
Mr. Tanter next discussed various proposals for U.S. policy vis-à-vis the Iranian regime. At present, there are four main approaches being advocated: 1) More engagement and further concessions to the regime; 2) Engagement and containment of a nuclear-armed Iran; 3) Regime change (considering that there is a better chance for such change than for Tehran to abandon its nuclear program); 4) Direct military strikes to eliminate the nuclear threat and signal resolve to America's friends and enemies.
According to Mr. Tanter, President Obama stands somewhere between a policy of engagement and containment (2) and a policy of regime change (3). Even as the administration believes that tough sanctions could bring about regime change, it downplays the organized opposition in favor of talks with the regime.
Mr. Tanter concluded by delineating an alternative approach: Research indicates that it would be in the U.S.'s interest for Washington to remove restrictions on the Iranian opposition (e.g., by removing the MEK and NCRI from the list of terrorist organizations), while imposing tough, comprehensive, and targeted sanctions. As for America's part, Mr. Tanter affirmed that Washington can play a vital role in helping the Iranian people to depose the regime by providing rhetorical and covert support to the Iranian opposition movement without having to resort to external regime change as in the takedown on Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
Summary written by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi.
Related Topics: Iran | Raymond Tanter This text may be reposted or forwarded so long as it is presented as an integral whole with complete information provided about its author, date, place of publication, and original U

http://www.detnews.com/article/20100329/METRO01/3290365/1410/METRO01/Ex-FBI-agent-denies-betrayal
Ex-FBI agent denies betrayal
Former Taylor resident speaks out after pleading guilty to fraud, other charges
Mark Hicks / The Detroit News
A former FBI agent and undercover CIA officer who pleaded guilty to immigration fraud and unauthorized use of a federal computer is fighting to clear her name and regain her U.S. citizenship. "I put my life on the line for my country," Nada Prouty told CBS's "60 Minutes" in a segment that aired Sunday. "And I've been in horrible situations. I've been shot at ... and they take away from me the most precious thing ... I feel like I've been stabbed in the heart."
Prouty, 40, formerly of Taylor and now living in Virginia, is a sister-in-law of fugitive LaShish Restaurants owner Talal Chahine. She pleaded guilty in 2007 to conspiracy, citizenship fraud and unlawfully accessing FBI files. The Lebanon native lied on her applications in order to join the FBI in 1999 and the CIA as an operations officer in 2003, according to court records.
Prouty said she entered into a sham marriage at 19 to remain in the United States. According to court records, Prouty gained U.S. citizenship in 1994 through the fraudulent marriage.
In the "60 Minutes" interview, Prouty denied betraying the government.
"I've made that mistake when I was a 19-year-old teenager ... and I own up to it," she said. "But I did not ... mismanage or mishandle any classified information."
Investigators learned of the marriage while probing ties to Chahine, a fugitive believed to be in Lebanon who was indicted on charges of tax evasion in 2005. Chahine was accused by federal agents of supporting Hezbollah, though he was not charged with supporting terrorism.
Prouty admitted that while she was an FBI agent, she went into a computer system without authorization in 2003 and obtained information about the Detroit FBI's investigation of Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. She also did name searches of FBI files for Chahine, herself and other family members.
When U.S. District Judge Avern Cohn revoked her citizenship in 2008 and fined her $750, Cohn said there was no evidence she shared that information or was involved in espionage.
Prouty lost her CIA job and does not have another, said her Washington, D.C., attorney, Mark Zaid on Sunday. She is awaiting word on her citizenship and travel restrictions.
She has not been deported over fears she would be targeted by Hezbollah once in Lebanon, Zaid said.
Zaid said his client still does not understand the significance of the FBI documents that she viewed, and said she was not a threat to national security.
"If she had gone to trial, it would have cost her over seven figures for defense," he said. "It would have put tremendous pressure on her family ... The choice was to fight or plead guilty."
Zaid added that the Arabic-speaking Prouty, who investigated the deadly bombing of the USS Cole in Yemen and gathered intelligence while pregnant, was an asset.
Responding to Prouty's claims, the U.S. Justice Department officials issued a statement: "The Justice Department makes no apologies for the prosecution of Nada Prouty. ... On Nov. 13, 2007, Prouty admitted her crimes under oath before a federal judge. ...
"Unfortunately, it appears that Prouty today seeks to cast herself as a victim of the U.S. government and the subject of an overzealous prosecution. The actions taken by the government to address her crimes were measured, appropriate and consistent with obligations to uphold the law without fear or favor."
Prouty fears the damage the situation has done to her reputation, and how it'll affect her family.
"My family was destroyed. Neighbors wouldn't talk to us ... When my daughter would go out in the neighborhood, her friends would scatter away. They told her, 'We don't want to talk to you because your mommy is bad.' "