LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

Bible Of the Day
John 21:13 Then Jesus came and took the bread, gave it to them, and the fish likewise. 21:14 This is now the third time that Jesus was revealed to his disciples, after he had risen from the dead. 21:15 So when they had eaten their breakfast, Jesus said to Simon Peter, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these?”
He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Feed my lambs.” 21:16 He said to him again a second time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?” He said to him, “Yes, Lord; you know that I have affection for you.” He said to him, “Tend my sheep.” 21:17 He said to him the third time, “Simon, son of Jonah, do you have affection for me?” Peter was grieved because he asked him the third time, “Do you have affection for me?” He said to him, “Lord, you know everything. You know that I have affection for you.” Jesus said to him, “Feed my sheep. 21:18 Most certainly I tell you, when you were young, you dressed yourself, and walked where you wanted to. But when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you, and carry you where you don’t want to go.”
21:19 Now he said this, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. When he had said this, he said to him, “Follow me.”

Geagea says real threat to Lebanon is Hezbollah’s links to Iran
May 3, 2010 /In an interview published in Monday’s edition of Qatari newspaper Al-Watan, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said the current threat to Lebanon is not Israel, but rather Hezbollah’s links to Iran in light of the regional escalation of tension between the west and the Islamic Republic.
He commented on Israel’s accusation that Syria transferred Scud missiles to Hezbollah in Lebanon, saying there is no proof behind such allegations.
However, he added that Lebanon can only avoid danger by placing strategic decisions about defense in the hands of the government. Over the past year, all political parties except Hezbollah had submitted working papers on the matter, said Geagea. He also said the US-Internal Security Forces cooperation agreement is merely about training the security forces and does not undermine Lebanon’s security. He touched on Syrian-Lebanese relations, saying, “We are in a new stage of relations with Syria.” He said there could be no return to Syrian authority in the country as in the past, but that he was among the first to call for relations with Damascus on the basis of mutual respect. According to Geagea, Hariri’s efforts to normalize relations between the two countries are positive, but the results are discouraging, particularly the lack of progress on the issue of detainees and the missing in Syrian prisons. “There is no need for me to visit Syria,” he said, adding he waits for conditions between the countries to be normal. He also said the Lebanese Forces share common ground with the Free Patriotic Movement, namely linking a change in the voting age to allowing Lebanese living abroad to vote in their countries of residence and refusing the establishment of a committee to abolish political sectarianism. However, he said the LF disagrees with FPM leader MP Michel Aoun over his strategic position with Hezbollah and Syria that, he added, does not favor Christians or Lebanon.-NOW Lebanon

Mirza approves handing over Mislim’s body to Egyptian Embassy
May 3, 2010 /The National News Agency (NNA) reported Monday that State Prosecutor Judge Said Mirza approved handing over Mohammad Salim Mislim’s body to the Egyptian Embassy in Lebanon. Mislim, an Egyptian national who was the main suspect in Wednesday’s murder of four Ketermaya residents, was attacked and killed by the town residents on Thursday while reenacting the initial crime to security forces. -NOW Lebanon

Ziad Baroud
May 3, 2010
On May 2, the Lebanese National News Agency carried the following report:
Minister of Interior and Municipalities Attorney Ziad Baroud held a press conference at the media center affiliated with the Center for the Management of the Elections next to the Interior Ministry, and addressed the issue of the municipal and Mukhtar Council elections which were held in the Mount Lebanon district today in the presence of a media crowd. Minister Baroud started by thanking the journalists who provided coverage for this long day, adding: “This electoral day has not yet ended. It will end when the votes are counted and the results announced. What was seen so far is the closing of the boxes at 7 p.m., except for the ones which were surrounded by voters. We have respected the deadlines and the schedule and all those in the vicinity of the polling centers were able to vote. Once again, the Lebanese people have proven their ability to participate in the elections - although they were heated ones - conscientiously and responsibly, despite the law on the basis of which these elections were held.
“No one is pleased with the current law and especially not me. We would have preferred to see a better legislative status,” hoping that a comprehensive basket will be secured for the parliamentary elections law which the government pledged to complete within eighteen months, as well as for the administrative decentralization law and the municipal elections law. Regarding the first stage of the elections which started today in Mount Lebanon, he said: “There are 313 municipalities in all of Mount Lebanon, 57 of which were won by acclamation, i.e. 18 percent of them. Out of 735 Mukhtars, 199 won by acclamation. On the other hand, out of 790,000 registered voters on the electoral lists in Mount Lebanon, the percentage of participation amounted to 59 percent. This is a non-final figure but it is quite high and we did not expect it in the early hours of the morning. In some municipalities, the level of participation was of 20 percent while in some others it was 75percent. In the districts, the level of participation reached 46 percent. It was of 61percent in Metn, 65 percent in Jbeil and Kesrouan, 55 percent in Aley, 51 percent in Chouf. It therefore ranged between 46 percent at the least and 65 percent at the most.”
Regarding what happened in the operations room, he announced it received 1,200 phone calls on the 1970 number, including 950 calls featuring administrative and personal status inquiries and 250 featuring complaints. He said: “These figures are modest and acceptable in comparison with the previous ones. The complaints ranged between ones related to the simple exchange of insults, medical incidents (fainting, nausea and others), violations committed by the employees in the centers and a security incident.” The interior minister then stated that the observers affiliated with the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections and the Lebanese Alliance for Elections Monitoring were “our partners and one of them was in continuous contact with the operations room. They counted 73 cases of electoral promotion [illegal electioneering], six cases of violence, fifteen cases of pressures exerted on the voters and four cases of intervention by the security forces.”
In regard to bribes “which were featured in the complaints,” he stated, “The bribers and the bribed are in it together. Therefore, the uncovering of this process is not easy due to the collaboration between the two sides. Nonetheless, we should stop treating bribery as a misdemeanor and begin treating it as a crime. We must therefore amend the legal legislation. Only two cases of bribery were reported to the Ministry, since no confirmed bribery complaints were delivered to us before seven o’clock and ten past seven by the members of the observers' association. They wrote a report in which they described the violations they saw, and recorded the names of people and their phone numbers. The report was sent to the operations room then immediately transferred to the Court of Appeals in Mount Lebanon.” He then pointed out that the counting process was ongoing, that no one will interfere in it, that the security forces were standing outside the rooms and were instructed not to let anyone in... After he summarized what happened today and what will follow, he stated: “This was a long day and marked the beginning. We still have three stages.”
He then thanked President of the Republic General Michel Sleiman “who visited the Ministry today as the head of the hierarchy of the Lebanese state and the person in charge of seeing to the good implementation of the laws for everyone. We also thank all those who helped us, whether the judges, the unknown administrators, the security forces, the army, the general security forces, the state security forces, the operations room which was similar to a beehive, the journalists and the observers...” On the other hand, he expressed his dissatisfaction with the percentage of female candidates and stated that the presence of 570 female candidates out of 10,138 candidates, i.e. 5.6percent, was not a good thing... He then concluded by saying: “Today, we are facing elections that were already held and the state is firstly required to ensure the best performance of the elected municipal councils. It must help them improve the quality of the services offered to the citizens through better laws.”

New Opinion: Shame on us all
May 3, 2010 /Now Lebanon
Now Lebanon/Lebanon’s law enforcement shortcomings were painfully exposed on one day of madness in the sleepy Chouf village of Ketermaya, where a lynch mob exacted its own brutal justice on an alleged quadruple murderer while the state stood by and watched.
The Ktermaya incident clearly demonstrates what happens when legal standards fall short of expectations and mob rule steps in to take its place.
The broad facts are clear: Last Wednesday, Mohammad Msallem, an Egyptian self-confessed rapist, who had lived in Ketermaya for a year, was arrested on suspicion of murdering Youssef Abu Merhi, 75, his wife Kawthar, 70, and their two grandchildren, Amneh, 9, and Zeina, 7.
The next day, during the victims’ funeral, he was taken to the scene of the crime to reenact the murders for the authorities. It was then that he was grabbed and beaten by a crowd of angry villagers. The police regained control and took the injured suspect to hospital only for the villagers to once again abduct him and finish what they started, dragging him back to Ketermaya and hanging his naked and bloody body from a telegraph pole, while cheering men and ululating women captured the moment on their mobile phones.
No one doubts the grief and sense of anger that must have gripped what is clearly a tight community. Any violent death is traumatic to those close to the victims, but when they are as young as Zeina and Amneh, the tragedy resonates so much more. That Msallem had been freed without charge after admitting to raping a 14-year-old girl three months earlier can only have fuelled the rage.
It is clear that procedural shortcomings on behalf of the local police led to this horrific incident. Msallem was not charged with rape and neither was he given suitable protection when he reenacted the later crime. The officers responsible must be accountable. It is all very well to argue that he got what he deserved, but nations are not run by the law of the jungle, and Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar must be lauded for the swift arrest of 10 Ketermaya residents. Justice will take its course, even though we can expect mitigating considerations if they are found guilty.
Now it is up to Interior Minister Ziad Baroud to launch an investigation as to why Msallem, who was by all accounts a danger to society, was allowed to walk free. If he had been charged and detained it is likely that the four people who were so brutally murdered would be alive today and the world would not have witnessed Thursday’s shaming events.
He should also undertake to find out why the police asked Msallem to reenact his crime in full view of a grieving community on the day of the funerals, a move that was clearly inflammatory, as well as why Msallem was allowed to fall into the mob’s hands so easily.
For if the people who exacted their revenge on Mohammad Msallem will have to pay for their rashness, then surely the authorities must also shoulder their part of the blame.
As a post script, the incident was reminiscent – if not by its gruesomeness, then by its demonstration of impotence by the security services – of the February 2009 abduction of Joseph Sader, the MEA engineer who was taken in full view of an airport army checkpoint as he went to work.
In the year since Sader went missing, little has been done to determine his fate or secure his release, even though the human rights group Amnesty International said in a statement released one year after his disappearance that it had sufficient information to indicate that Sader is being “held against his will and at an unknown location by members of a non-state armed group.”
It was rumored that Sader had connections with Israel, although to this day there has not been a shred of evidence to back this up. If there were, Sader should be charged and promptly brought to trial by the state authorities in proceedings that, as Amnesty says, “are in line with international fair standards.”
Minister Baroud apparently responded to Amnesty International in January, saying that “the Lebanese authorities were conducting ongoing investigations into the abduction in co-ordination with the Lebanese army and intelligence services, that the case had been entrusted to the competent judicial authorities and that his family had been given assurances that the authorities attached the highest importance to resolving the matter.”Sader’s family must have felt very reassured.

Mount Lebanon Municipal Election: Aoun Defeated in Jbeil, Comes First in Hadath, Murr Biggest Winner in Metn
Naharnet/Municipal election in Mount Lebanon has ended peacefully despite fierce battles in Hadath and Jbeil, and Lebanon on Monday braced for official results.
Results were expected to start trickling in midday Monday. The voting which kicked off at 7am Sunday was generally peaceful and no major instances of unrest or fraud allegations were reported. Sunday's vote was the first of a four-stage municipal election that ends late May. Tens of thousands of Lebanese headed to the polls across Mount Lebanon Sunday amid heavy security. Some 20,000 security personnel have been mobilized for the polling, Lebanon's first local elections since 2004. Polling stations closed at 7pm, with Jbeil district recording the highest voting percentage of 65. Interior Minister Ziad Baroud said 59 percent of eligible voters took part in the election. Jbeil and Hadath witnessed brutal electoral battles between Michel Aoun's Free Patriotic Movement and the majority March 14 coalition. Aoun suffered a severe blow in Jbeil. But in Baabda, the FPM dealt a severe blow to March 14 when the list headed by "Hadath Youth Solidary" won. Unofficial results on Monday showed that the coalition list headed by Antoine Efram was leading in Jounieh while the list headed by Nohad Naufal won in Zouk Mikael. Advanced results also showed that the Phalange party gained victory in Sin el-Fil while the FPM appeared to be in the lead in Damour.
Results determined that MP Michel Murr was the biggest winner in the Metn region. In the Shouf mountains, a battle emerged in Deir el-Qamar after efforts for consensus failed. The list supported by Dori Chamoun's National Liberal Party and the Lebanese Forces of Samir Geagea came in first place. In Aley, consensus prevailed on the results and so in the various Druze Shouf towns where in Baakline the list backed by Walid Jumblat's Progressive Socialist Party and MP Marwan Hamadeh won. In Borj al-Barajneh and Ghobeiri districts of Beirut's southern suburb, the lists supported by Hizbullah and AMAL came first. Beirut, 03 May 10, 07:35

Geagea: Hizbullah Main Reason Behind Dangers Facing Lebanon
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said Monday that any danger threatening Lebanon was the result of Hizbullah and its ties with Iran. He told the Qatari al-Watan newspaper that putting the strategic decision of defending Lebanon in the hand of the government was the only way to keep the country away from dangers. "Not a single state in the world that respects itself would accept" the transfer of arms to a certain party without the knowledge of the government, Geagea said. Asked if he would visit Damascus, the LF leader said such a trip was "unnecessary." He again criticized Lebanese-Syrian rapprochement, saying there were several pending issues that needed solutions. However, Geagea reiterated that he supported Prime Minister Saad Hariri's efforts to normalize relations between Lebanon and Syria. Beirut, 03 May 10, 09:36

France tells Syria to step up border security with Lebanon
By Agence France Presse (AFP) and The Daily Star
Monday, May 03, 2010
PARIS: France wants Syria to guarantee security on its border with Lebanon, Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said Sunday after Israel accused Damascus of supplying missiles to Hizbullah. “The situation is serious, dangerous,” Kouchner told Europe 1 radio. “There is a stockpile of weapons, short-range, medium-range and perhaps even long-range missiles and we are concerned.” A US anti-terror assessment team visited the main Lebanon-Syria border crossing last week amid charges that Damascus had allowed deliveries of Scud missiles to its ally Hizbullah. “We are asking the Syrians to guarantee the security of that border,” Kouchner said. “I am not saying that it’s a sieve because a certain number of facts have not been established.
“But this is dangerous and reinforces extremism,” the French official added. Last month, Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of providing Scud missiles to Hizbullah. Damascus has denied the charges. Perez reiterated his accusations Sunday and told visiting Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen that Israel had “clear-cut proof” Syria had transferred Scud missiles to Hizbullah. “Israel has clear proof that long-range, accurate Scud missiles have been transferred from Syria to Hizbullah, and there is no doubt about it,” he said.
Israel maintains that Hizbullah has a stockpile of more than 40,000 rockets, some of which have a range of more than 300 kilometers (186 miles) that would allow the Shiite militant group to hit major cities in Israel. US Defense Secretary Robert Gates last week accused Iran and Syria of arming Hizbullah with increasingly sophisticated rockets and missiles, saying the arsenal undermined stability in the region. But Gates did not say whether Syria was supplying Hizbullah with Scud missiles as Israel has alleged. France has been spearheading moves to bring Syria out of diplomatic isolation since President Nicolas Sarkozy took office in 2007. Hizbullah is the only Lebanese group that did not disarm after Lebanon’s 1975-90 Civil War, arguing that its weapons were necessary to fight Israel which it later faced off in a devastating conflict in 2006. – AFP, with The Daily Star

Nasrallah: Hizbullah has 'legal' right to own any weapon
By Agence France Presse (AFP) /Monday, May 03, 2010
BEIRUT: The leader of Lebanon’s Hizbullah movement said Saturday it had a “legal” right to own any weapon it wishes, but would not confirm or deny Israeli allegations it was stockpiling Scud missiles. “The Scud [issue] emerged a while ago … and it created a lot of fuss,” Hassan Nasrallah said in his first public reaction to the controversy, according to a statement from Hizbullah’s press office. “We neither not confirm nor deny that we have received weapons, so we do not comment and we will not comment,” he told a committee in charge of security, financial and logistical backing for Hizbullah, adding: “This is our position.” Hizbullah has a “legal and humanitarian right to own any weapon it wants to protect people oppressed and threatened by Israel’s cancerous presence.” The controversy erupted in April when Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of supplying its Lebanese ally Hizbullah with the missiles, a charge Damascus denied. Washington, which has sought a rapprochement with Damascus, further fed the controversy as Defense Secretary Robert Gates accused Iran and Syria of arming Hizbullah with sophisticated weaponry, without specifying they were Scuds. Gates warned at a joint news conference Tuesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak that Hizbullah has “far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world.” On Saturday Nasrallah dismissed talk that the controversy about Hizbullah’s arms was a prelude to a new armed conflict. “When the US Defense Minister Gates says that Hizbullah has more weapons than most governments in the world … whether this is right or wrong, I will not comment,” he said.
“I don’t believe all this fuss about the missiles is a prelude to a war, and God willing I am right. It is not a climate of war.” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Syrian President Bashar Assad Thursday about the risks of sparking a regional war if he supplied Scud missiles to Hizbullah. Hizbullah is the only Lebanese group that did not disarm after Lebanon’s Civil War, arguing that its weapons were necessary to fight Israel which it later faced off in a devastating conflict in 2006. – AFP

Containing a nuclear Iran is the priority
By Bruce Riedel
Daily Star/Monday, May 03, 2010
For those of us who closely followed the Iranian revolution in 1978 and 1979 – which I did as a young officer in the CIA – the green movement this past summer in Iran always seemed a pale imitation.
That is not to be critical of the enthusiasm of the demonstrators in the streets and their commitment to the cause of a better Iran. They have been stalwart in their fight. But in 1978 and 1979, virtually the entire nation was in revolt against the Shah. The revolution’s leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was one of the most charismatic and determined leaders of the 20th century. Khomeini was never intimidated or irresolute.
Now the green movement seems stalled. The prospect of a quick and easy change of regime in Tehran seems remote. The nation is divided, but only one side has arms and it is likely to stay in power. This has enormous significance for American and Israeli policy toward the dangerous regime that has survived the greens’ challenge so far.
President Barack Obama wisely tried to engage the regime; that effort has failed to attract Iran to talk seriously. Now we are looking at sanctions. Few expect those to change the regime in the foreseeable future or to persuade it to give up its pursuit of a nuclear weapons capability. For years, the US has kept the option of a possible military strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities “on the table.” As an option however, it should not become a self-fulfilling prophecy. We need instead to develop a long-range strategy for dealing with a nuclear Iran and not box ourselves into war.
Retaining the threat of a military strike is seen as increasing American bargaining leverage. Not only does it supposedly intimidate Iran, but it may help Washington persuade other countries to tighten and enforce official sanctions. The US can argue that sanctions are preferable to military force, but that sanctions will only work if all cooperate.
The strike option, however, lacks credibility. The US is already engaged in two massive and unpopular military campaigns in the region, with almost a quarter of a million troops deployed. Given Iran’s ability to retaliate for a strike against it by making the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan much worse for us, it is simply not credible that the US would use force in the foreseeable future. A third war in the region between the US and Iran, with a spillover into Lebanon and maybe Gaza, would be a disaster for US interests.
And the technical reality remains: neither Israel nor the US can slow Iran very long from its pursuit of a bomb, even with a massive strike. We do not know where all existing Iranian uranium enrichment facilities might be located – as the revelation of yet another previously unknown site near Qom last year reminded us. Even if the US does strike most or all existing facilities, Iran can rebuild fairly fast, and will surely kick out inspectors and also burrow even further underground when building its next batch of facilities. We will be even harder pressed to find, and strike, those assets.
If there were any real chance of major political reform within Iran within a couple of years, buying that much time might be worth the cost. But given the regime’s control of the military, the unrest in Iran since last year’s stolen election is unlikely to bring about regime change. As Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has observed, Iran is becoming a military dictatorship of the Revolutionary Guards. A military strike by an outside power would be unlikely to help the cause of Iranian reformists, especially if it does not have international legitimacy. And the United Nations is not going to sanction a strike under almost any conceivable scenario.
Moreover, a strike on Iran in those circumstances could lead to generations of Iranian enmity toward America.
There are dangers to an open-ended threat of force approach. Saying we will not tolerate a nuclear Iran and will use force to prevent it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy and box in decisions. There is a better way: sanctions, deterrence and containment. Another nuclear armed state in the region, especially one touting the extremist views of the current Iranian regime, will be very bad for regional security. But it would hardly embolden Iran to take suicidal actions like attacking an American ally in the region, especially one like Israel that has a formidable nuclear arsenal of its own.
What’s more, Iran has already proven its willingness to wage proxy and terror wars against the US and Israel prior to having nuclear arms; it is doubtful a small nuclear arsenal would offer it many more options than it has already employed.
The US should now structure a sanctions regime designed to evolve into containment of an Iranian regime with a nuclear arsenal. High technology goods and arms transfers should be the focus of this policy. We should also declare our intent to provide a nuclear umbrella over Israel and other threatened states. In other words, we would use Cold War techniques of containing the Soviet Union to handle this newer, serious yet smaller threat. In time, like Moscow, Tehran’s internal dynamics will change in our favor.
**Bruce Riedel is a senior fellow at the Saban Center for Middle East Policy in the Brookings Institution. He advised the last four US presidents on the Middle East and South Asia at the National Security Council of the White House. He is also the author of “The Search for Al Qaeda: Its Leadership, Ideology and Future”. This commentary first appeared at bitterlemons-international.org, an online newsletter.

We’re Engaged In a Terror War—And New York Is the Prime Target
http://canadafreepress.com/index.php/article/22715
By Dr. Walid Phares
Sunday, May 2, 2010
“Once again, we’re talking about another “terror act” taking place on U.S. soil. “
New York’s Governor David Patterson labeled Saturday night’s foiled car bomb attack in Times Square an “act of terror.” Janet Napolitano, our secretary of Homeland Security is treating it as “potential act of terror.” Fair enough.
If the three propane tanks, fireworks, two filled 5-gallon gasoline containers, and two clocks with batteries, electrical wire and other components found in the back of the Nissan Pathfinder, had they exploded would have –in the words of Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly “caused a significant ball of fire.” New York’s Mayor Bloomberg said the explosion could have caused “huge damage on a block of Broadway theaters and restaurants teeming with tourists.” In short, federal and local officials understand clearly that the SUV-bomb was aimed at killing a large group of New Yorkers and visitors, causing severe damage to the area and a shock to the public (who would be traumatized by the sight of such pictures), had, God forbid, the “act of terror” been successful.
Bravo to the watchful citizen who alerted authorities: he emerges as the hero in this counter- terrorism act. And also a high-five to the men and women of New York law enforcement who rushed to secure the area and disable the device. In that sense it was a success story for New York, one of the cities targeted most by terrorists in the Western world.
What follow will be intense investigations and many questions on two tracks: Technical inquiries and identity reconstruction. On the one hand officials will have to figure out why didn’t the bomb explode and how was it assembled and where? This line of investigation will tell us more about the capacity of terrorists to copycat this attempt, to move material of the same sort across city limits, or worse, build such a weapon inside Manhattan or any other U.S. city. There’s no doubt that the findings will be sobering. The capacity of potential terrorists to build urban-laden bombs, move them through cities, and choose their strategic targets easily would mean that such “acts of terror” can be repeated and launched again in the same city or in other locations across the nation. If the perpetrators did it in New York City, they could do it anywhere.
On the other hand authorities will have to determine the identity of the terrorists. And we’re not just talking about any social security or other identification numbers belonging to the terrorist(s) but their affiliation, their motives and their organization. The public has already received several confusing messages in the past year and a half regarding government’s quick reactions to previous terror attempts. In the most recent cases of the deadly attack at Ft. Hood and the unsuccessful Christmas Day “underwear bombing” attempt, administration officials rushed to call these acts “isolated extremists” only to discover there was more to the attacks in terms of links to a greater circle of terror. That’s why it is important to be cautious and move from evidence to evidence. “Amateurish” or not, as Bloomberg described the attempted terrorist attack, it was designed to have devastating effects. It was indeed an “act of terror.” Now comes the next part. We’ll need to know more about the minds behind it Saturday night’s fatal plan. Was it designed by a domestic extremist(s), homegrown jihadist(s) or was internationally coordinated? These are the questions as we search for answers in the days ahead.
The following day a one minute (and one second) video was posted on several Jihadist web site claiming the Pakistani Taliban’s responsibility for the failed attack which according to the video “is revenge for the death of its leader, Baitullah Mehsud, and the recent slayings of the top leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq—Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayyub al-Masri—who were killed by U.S. and Iraqi troops last month north of Baghdad.” There no specific reference to the attack on the tape and it does not mention that it was a car bomb or that it took place in New York City. At first analysis, a Jihadi war room online decided to own the attempt and use it as propaganda. Go convince the hundreds of thousands of indoctrinated militants around the world that it isn’t a victory by the Taliban international. That’s what counts in this war of ideas. The Taliban and other al Qaeda propagandists threatened months ago that the American homeland will be targeted. Now someone parked a car bomb in the heart of Manhattan. Found on time or not, disabled or not, the “story” is that some Jihadist was able to build a weapon and acquire a target on the busiest square and most famous in the world. The investigation won’t matter much for people who have been made to believe that it was the CIA that was behind 9/11.
US authorities will thoroughly go by the book to investigate every lead possible but the propaganda machine of the Jihadists is already investing in the event: One short video to be seen by millions of people and scores of debates and incitements on the region’s airwaves. We in the US will be subscribing to the legal codes of criminal procedures and they out there are applying the code of psychological intoxication.
But if we discover that it was indeed an act of Jihadism, Taliban or not, homegrown or hybrid, this would mean significantly: The days of the strategically designed “amateurish Terror” are just ahead of us. For in al Qaeda’s manual of tactics, if you can’t administer a perfect strike let the “brothers” strike with whatever they have.
In any of these scenarios, domestic extremist or its alternative, we are talking about another “terror act” taking place on U.S. soil, it’s about the fifteenth since the beginning of 2009. By empirical methods multiple terror acts are a “terror war” waged against this country – and New York City is its prime target.

Resistance declares right to defend itself
By Dalila Mahdawi
Daily Star staff
Thursday, April 29, 2010

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BEIRUT: Hizbullah Wednesday reacted to US claims it was stockpiling Scud missiles by saying it had a right to defend itself, as a senior UN official said tensions were expected to “dissipate” soon.

“The resistance has the right to use all legitimate means to build its capacity to defend Lebanon,” Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah told AFP. He added that US arms were “annihilating” civilians in Palestine, Afghanistan, Iraq and Lebanon, and were the chief “cause of all suffering in the region.”

Last week, Israeli President Shimon Peres accused Syria of furnishing Hizbullah with Scud missiles. The charges were repeated late on Tuesday by US Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who said the military capabilities of the Shiite group undermined stability in the region. “Syria and Iran are providing Hizbullah with rockets and missiles of ever-increasing capability,” Gates said at a press conference with his Israeli counterpart Ehud Barak. “We’re at a point now where Hizbullah has far more rockets and missiles than most governments in the world,” Gates said, adding that Washington was monitoring the situation “very carefully.”

Gates did not, however, explicitly accuse Syria of supplying Hizbullah with Scud missiles. Barak also voiced concern over Syrian support for Hizbullah but did not repeat the claim that Damascus was supplying the group with Scuds. “We do not intend to provoke any kind of a major collision in Lebanon or vis-a-vis Syria,” he said.

The Scud charges have been denied by Syria, which says Tel Aviv fabricated the story to justify a possible military strike in the future. Lebanese Armed Forces chief General Jean Kahwaji has also dismissed the claims, noting the outdated 30-meter Scuds would be too hard for Hizbullah to conceal and too cumbersome to launch.

The charges showed the US was “waging a diplomatic and political battle” to help its ally Israel maintain superior military capabilities, Fadlallah said. “The US is asking us to accept Israel’s alleged superiority to ensure Israel remains capable of launching attacks at its will, while we are stripped of the ability to face these aggressions,” he told AFP. “We have no interest in acceding to these attempts to concretize Israeli superiority.” The US, rather than Hizbullah, was “the principle factor destabilizing the region, undermining its security and preventing development,” Fadlallah added.

At a meeting with Lebanese Premier Saad Hariri Wednesday, UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michal Williams said he expected regional tensions over the Scud controversy to subside.

“The last thing this region wants and needs is further conflict. It has had enough of that over the years,” he said. Williams added he didn’t believe another war was likely, saying there was “too much at stake to lose for all the parties.” “I expect all parties will do their part to maintain the stability in the south and across the Blue Line and that tensions will dissipate,” he added.

In comments published Wednesday by the Qatari Al-Watan daily, Hariri reiterated comments that by claiming Hizbullah had Scud missiles. Israel was trying to justify new war against Lebanon that it could launch whenever it wants.”

He asked whether there was any proof that Hizbullah possessed Scuds, adding that Israel possessed nuclear weapons.

He said he would refuse to ask the Shiite group to deny possessing the missiles. “Why put ourselves in the position of being accused, and why give Israel the right to make such accusations?”

Heightened tensions over the Scud missiles have prompted EU officials to urge Israel, Lebanon and Syria to avoid provocative acts. “The European Union is concerned by the public statements that have been exchanged recently between various parties to the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East,” EU Foreign Affairs chief Catherine Ashton said in a statement Tuesday.

In July 2006, Israel launched a devastating 34-day war on Lebanon. Over 1,200 Lebanese, mostly civilians, and 160 Israelis, mostly soldiers, were killed during the conflict.

UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the conflict, called for Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanese territory and for the disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon outside the control of the government.

Read more: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=1&categ_id=2&article_id=114343#ixzz0mREaHOD4
(The Daily Star :: Lebanon News :: http://www.dailystar.com.lb)