LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 15/2010

Bible Of the Day
Nahum 1-14/1:1 An oracle about Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite. 1:2 Yahweh is a jealous God and avenges. Yahweh avenges and is full of wrath. Yahweh takes vengeance on his adversaries, and he maintains wrath against his enemies. 1:3 Yahweh is slow to anger, and great in power, and will by no means leave the guilty unpunished. Yahweh has his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. 1:4 He rebukes the sea, and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan languishes, and Carmel; and the flower of Lebanon languishes. 1:5 The mountains quake before him, and the hills melt away. The earth trembles at his presence, yes, the world, and all who dwell in it. 1:6 Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him. 1:7 Yahweh is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and he knows those who take refuge in him. 1:8 But with an overflowing flood, he will make a full end of her place, and will pursue his enemies into darkness. 1:9 What do you plot against Yahweh? He will make a full end. Affliction won’t rise up the second time. 1:10 For entangled like thorns, and drunken as with their drink, they are consumed utterly like dry stubble. 1:11 There is one gone forth out of you, who devises evil against Yahweh, who counsels wickedness. 1:12 Thus says Yahweh: “Though they be in full strength, and likewise many, even so they will be cut down, and he shall pass away. Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. 1:13 Now will I break his yoke from off you, and will burst your bonds apart.” 1:14 Yahweh has commanded concerning you: “No more descendants will bear your name. Out of the house of your gods, will I cut off the engraved image and the molten image. I will make your grave, for you are vile.”  straighten things righteously. He rewards the oppressed and punishes the oppressor.

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Don’t resurrect Lebanon’s death penalty/By Nadim Houry & Sirine Shebaya/August 14/10
A sign of the times,Lebanon’s billboards reflect deeper troubles/Farrah Zughni/August 14/10
Oppose the Ground Zero Mosque?/by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi/American Thinker/August 14/10
Et tu, Brute (Even you, Brutus)?/By: Ana Maria Luca/August 14/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 14/10
U.S.-French Agreement to Renew UNIFIL Mandate with Emphasis on Respecting Blue Line/Naharnet
Suleiman Launches Talks to Arrange Meetings with Obama and Sarkozy/Naharnet
Otari: Syria Has Returned to Lebanon Stronger Than Before, Conflict with Israel Will Always Exist/Naharnet
Government to Study Trying False Witnesses Wednesday and Send Israeli Agents File to U.N. on Monday/Naharnet
Bellemare: Indictment to be Issued on Time, Report/Naharnet
Issawi: Bellemare Only Power Authorized to Conduct Investigations and Indict Individuals /Naharnet
Mirza: We Didn't Receive Documents Nasrallah Presented in his Conference /Naharnet
Jumblat Reportedly Discussed with Feltman Possibility of Postponing Indictment/Naharnet
Hizbullah Ready to Provide Data to Lebanese Authorities: 'And The Rest is Their Business/Naharnet
Hizbullah Delegation Visits Aoun in Support for 'Key, Essential Ally/Naharnet
General Security Denies Halting 'The Christ' al-Manar and NBN: Keen on Respecting Sensitivities/Naharnet
Murr Announces Establishment of Fund, Bank Account to Support Army's Armament/Naharnet

General Security Denies Halting 'The Christ'… al-Manar and NBN: Keen on Respecting Sensitivities
Naharnet/The General Directorate of General Security stressed Friday that no decision was taken by the General Security to halt the broadcast of "The Christ" television series.
It said that it had consulted with al-Manar and NBN television channels that are airing the show, along with concerned religious and political authorities to find a consensual solution to take it off the air. The TV series, which stirred a row among Lebanon's Christians, began airing at the beginning of Ramadan Aug. 11. Pastor of the Maronite Catholic Church in Byblos, Bishop Beshara Raii has said the film series is based on the Gospel of Barnabas, a Gospel "not recognized at all by our church." He thanked during a press conference, which included Information Minister Tareq Mitri, Defense Minister Elias Murr, Interior Minister Ziad Baroud, and al-Manar and NBN, for their understanding in halting the series. Raii said that all the events in the television series contained "distortion to the Christian ideology."Meanwhile, al-Manar and NBN announced that "The Christ" will stop airing out of respect to some individuals' sensitivities and "preventing the matter from being exploited." Beirut, 13 Aug 10,

Otari: Syria Has Returned to Lebanon Stronger Than Before, Conflict with Israel Will Always Exist
Naharnet/Syrian Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari has noted that "Lebanon is the weak flank in Syria's back," adding that Lebanon's welfare, security and stability were important to his country."That concerns us because it is related to our national security," Otari added in an interview with a Syrian news portal. The Syrian premier said that his country was accused "for five years" of assassinating former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri as part of a "conspiracy" against Lebanon. "Who was behind these accusations and (U.N. Security Council) Resolution 1559? Nowadays, the Lebanese leaders, who were during that period with such arguments, have started to openly announce that they had been compelled and deceived and that they have returned to the right track." "Before the year 2005, we were present in Lebanon according to an Arab decision, and the Syrian forces managed to set up a political system (for Lebanon) and to build the state and the Lebanese army. Despite all these considerations, the Syrian army pulled out from Lebanon, but now, as you can deduce from the news: Syria has returned to Lebanon stronger than before, because the facts unfolded before the Lebanese people and it has started to recognize the aspects of the conspiracy that was being plotted against it in this regard," Otari added. On the other hand, the Syrian premier noted that the recent tripartite summit in Beirut -- that gathered Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and Saudi King Abdullah to Lebanese President Michel Suleiman – had aimed at "neutralizing the fuse of civil strife that was being planned for Lebanon." Otari said that the supposed civil strife was planned in a bid "to mainly target the resistance movements.""This is Israel's goal, because by finishing off the resistance, Israel can impose its will on the region." The Syrian premier said that "the conflict with Israel will always exist," adding that the strong response of the Lebanese army during Adeisseh's clashes with the Israeli forces resembled "a total failure" for the Israeli schemes "that were being plotted against Lebanon." Beirut, 13 Aug 10,

Bellemare: Indictment to be Issued on Time, Report
Naharnet/Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare has reportedly said that the indictment in the killing of former Premier Rafik Hariri will be issued in a timely manner.
As-Safir newspaper, which carried the report, said Friday that Bellemare's remarks came during a meeting with Legal Counsel at the U.S. Embassy in The Hague earlier this week.
It said Bellemare had informed the embassy official that he was not contacted by any Lebanese official with regard to postponing issuance of the indictment. The daily Al-Balad, however, quoted well-informed diplomatic sources in Beirut as saying that in view of Hizbullah's revelations, the STL will postpone the indictment until the beginning of 2011.
Beirut, 13 Aug 10, 08:11

Issawi: Bellemare Only Power Authorized to Conduct Investigations and Indict Individuals
Naharnet/Special Tribunal for Lebanon Spokesperson Fatima al-Issawi stressed Friday that General Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare "is the only authority entitled to conduct investigations and indict individuals."She told al-Arabiya that she does not speak on Bellemare's behalf because "he is independent from the tribunal, which is an affirmation of his autonomy.""The STL does not comment on media and political reports in Lebanon as it is a legal power that does not deal in politics, but it conducts its work on a higher level of seriousness with information based on definite facts," she added. Beirut, 13 Aug 10,

Mirza: We Didn't Receive Documents Nasrallah Presented in his Conference
Naharnet/Prosecutor General Saeed Mirza stated Friday that the Lebanese judiciary has not yet received the documents that Hizbuallah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah presented in his press conference on Monday. "The Attorney General's office had verbally informed Hizbullah officials of what is needed of them, but we haven't received anything yet," he told the Central News Agency. Beirut, 13 Aug 10,

Hizbullah Ready to Provide Data to Lebanese Authorities: 'And The Rest is Their Business'
Naharnet/Hizbullah announced readiness to hand over to Lebanese authorities footage allegedly intercepted from Israeli surveillance planes of the site of the murder of ex-PM Rafik Hariri prior to his 2005 assassination. "Data and evidence in Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah's possession has been made public … Hizbullah, however, doesn't trust the International Tribunal or the international investigation," Hizbullah MP Nawaf Mousawi said in remarks published Friday by Ad-Diyar newspaper. He said Hizbullah was ready to provide such the information to the Lebanese judiciary. In response to a question about Lebanese authorities giving the data to Special Tribunal for Lebanon Prosecutor Daniel Bellemare, Mousawi said: "So what, it's their business." Bellemare has demanded Lebanese authorities to provide all the information in possession of Hizbullah. A well-informed political source, however, expressed concern that Bellemare's request was "merely an attempt to enhance the credibility of the International Tribunal." "We hope that they (tribunal) will take this issue seriously," the source told Ad-Diyar. "We will wait and see." Beirut, 13 Aug 10,

Iran Sending Weapons to Hizbullah … And Turkey, Too
Naharnet/Turkey and Iran are said to be helping Hizbullah obtain new weapons, Italian daily Corriere Della Sera said.
It said Turkish intelligence chief Hakan Fidan reportedly met with his Iranian counterpart Hossein Taeb to discuss relations between the two countries. Sources told Corriere Della Sera that Turkey will "send sophisticated weapons, rockets and guns to Syria, that will end up in Lebanon," where the Iranian Army will ensure the weapons are transferred to Hizbullah. The Iranian Revolutionary Guards "will facilitate the transition, ensure safety, watch loads on the routes, and provide support to the border," the sources said. They said Iranians reportedly want to build a weapons network similar to that in Sudan, and hope to help Hamas, as well. Della Sera said Western intelligence sources "view the Turkish-Iranian plot with concern, as they are obvious risks to safety." "The (intelligence) services in Ankara are among the best in the region," one source said. "They have great knowledge of the Middle East, and know how to move on the routes of illegal trafficking." Beirut, 13 Aug 10,

A sign of the times,Lebanon’s billboards reflect deeper troubles
Now Lebanon/Farrah Zughni, August 13, 2010
Looking from the window of his downtown office at the 20-odd billboards in view, Ali Nassar, an outdoor sales manager at media company Group Plus, hit the proverbial nail on the head. “There are too many billboards [in Lebanon] and [at the same time] not enough,” he said. “Give me 500 and I’ll book them all in minutes.”
The contradiction is indeed a barefaced one: Lebanon’s outdoor advertising sector, which encompasses some 10,000 to 15,000 signs on highways, buildings and underground lots, is often described as an oversaturated, under-regulated burden on the public. At the same time, however, it constitutes what An-Nahar newspaper says is a half billion-dollar industry and is intricately bound to the nation’s economy, politics and culture. According to critics, the nation’s billboards exemplify so much of what is wrong with the country, including aesthetic bombardment, health hazards and corruption. Rachid Chamoun, a professor of urban studies at Lebanese American University, is just one of the detractors of what he has dubbed “poster wars.” Chamoun said modern Lebanon is in “an era of great visceral disorder.” “We are taking our attention off our roads and killing our eyes – it’s too much all the time,” he told NOW Lebanon. Among the most recent appeals for regulating outdoor advertizing appeared in An-Nahar on July 29. Portraying this sector of “chaos, no supervision and no control,” author Manal Saqr targeted the government’s failure to enforce and update relevant laws as a major source of the disorder. In fact, the latest law addressing billboards is from 1996 – and others date back to 1977 and 1956. The article also argued that municipalities turn a blind eye to violations in return for the fees they make off the ads.
Still, the current state of affairs has its sympathizers and even fans. “Beirut Drive-by” a popular Lebanese blog that just marked its one-year anniversary, feeds off the bizarre and often hilarious posters that dot the country. “While many cities have beautification and restoration committees,” states the blog, “Beirut counts on the creativity of advertisers to add a bit of color and at least temporarily add beauty to crumbling buildings.”
Robert Saliba, a professor for urban planning at the American University of Beirut, says the issue is a complex one. On the one hand, he stressed the need to regulate billboards for safety and to reduce “visual chaos,” but Saliba also said that their style and abundance are simply part of Lebanese culture.
“Sometimes…. billboards [can] become part of the landscape and an art form,” said Saliba. “It’s also an alternative way of looking at the city. Here, the billboards are interesting because you can read the different cultures, the different textures of the city because you cannot just put any billboards anywhere.”
A marketing specialist at one of Lebanon’s leading outdoor ad agencies, who wished to remain anonymous because of the professional implications of her criticisms, agreed that the problem is not that the current system isn’t regulated, but rather that it is regulated in a manner that serves only partisan interests.
Echoing some of the sentiments from the An-Nahar piece, the anonymous professional, who’s worked in Lebanon’s marketing sector for well over a decade, said municipalities blatantly favored companies from their own sect and political leanings. Further, key spaces were often reserved for local groups’ own campaigns or were relegated to companies owned by politicians’ kin.
She said that many advertisements – from those for alcoholic beverages displaying scantily-clad models to others for political parties and even religious charities – are only allowed in certain zones because of the political influences that dominate particular neighborhoods. She also said that signs for this month’s Ramadan festivities were not allowed in Christian or mixed districts of the country.
But, she conceded, “If you want to work in this domain, you need powerful people... [They] will open and close doors for you.”
Another professional, who also chose to remain anonymous as his criticisms would affect his business, told a story of a priest who had complained to a number of marketing companies about an ad just outside of his window depicting a semi-nude woman. “The sign was taken down [immediately],” he said.
Despite several attempts to reach them, Beirut’s municipality was not available for comment. However, Nadim Kosta, a spokesman for the municipality, said that they would release a comprehensive plan geared to address many of these problems in the upcoming weeks.
The market, for its part, appears immune to public outcry and continues to demand more and more ad space – select locales can go for tens of thousands of dollars each month. Nassar of Group Plus said that his slots are already fully booked for the month, and that 90 percent are filled for September, 50 percent for October and November, and 75 percent for December. In 2006, just days before

Don’t resurrect Lebanon’s death penalty
By Nadim Houry and Sirine Shebaya
Daily Star/Friday, August 13, 2010
Last month, Lebanon’s Military Tribunal sentenced two Lebanese men to death for providing Israel’s intelligence services with information about Hizbullah. We may see more death sentences in the coming months, given that an estimated 100 suspects await trial in military court on charges of spying for Israel.
President Michel Sleiman said that he will sign off on any death penalties the Military Tribunal issues (the president and prime minister must sign all execution orders). Hizbullah’s leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, called for the speedy implementation of death sentences against anyone convicted of collaborating with Israel. Other Lebanese political figures support this. Dozens of members of Fatah al-Islam, an armed Salafist group that fought the Lebanese Army in 2007, still await trial before the military court or the Justice Council on terrorism-related charges that also carry the death penalty.
It would be a grave error to execute these men – however heinous their crimes. Lebanon has not executed
anyone since 2004, and to resume executions now would be a step in the wrong direction.
This is not a popular position to hold these days. With the almost daily discovery of alleged spies, anyone criticizing the death penalty incurs scorn for being “soft” on those conspiring against the country, or its efforts to combat espionage. This is precisely what makes it important to bring the issue into focus once again – before political expediency undermines the advances Lebanon has made in recent years toward abolishing capital punishment.
There are many compelling reasons for objecting to the death penalty – the value of every human life, the wrongness of countering killing with killing, and the inhumane methods used to execute people.
Perhaps most important, there is a very real possibility that the state will execute innocent men. The possibility of wrongful conviction exists in even the fairest trials – hence the need for a robust appeals process – but it is particularly worrisome in countries where the authorities often violate due process rights for security suspects. Unfortunately, Lebanon is one such country.
Human Rights Watch has gathered testimony from numerous detainees held by Military Intelligence and the Information Branch of the Internal Security Forces – the two main security agencies investigating cases of espionage and the actions of the armed Salafists. Many told us security officers beat and tortured them during interrogation to extract confessions.
Local human rights groups have raised concerns that Mahmoud Rafeh, a retired member of the security forces sentenced to death on February 18 for spying for Israel and assisting in the assassination of two members of Islamic Jihad, was tortured before he confessed. Rafeh spent two years and nine months in detention in isolation in the basement of the Defense Ministry. The Lebanese authorities deny all allegations of torture, but they never opened an investigation, so we have no assurance that torture did not occur.
The fact that these trials are taking place in a military court – or in the case of many Fatah al-Islam members, in the Justice Council, a special criminal court examining crimes against state security referred by the Cabinet – is also cause for concern. In such trials, military judges often fail to order investigations into credible allegations of torture, beating, and ill-treatment, and rely on confessions extracted under duress.
There is also no civilian oversight of the Military Tribunal, and while its trials are theoretically open to the public, in practice access is very limited, with family members and independent observers regularly denied entry. Cases before the Justice Council are even more problematic, as there is no right to appeal.
Death penalty supporters argue that it acts as a deterrent. Many have said that if Lebanon had responded more harshly against those who allegedly collaborated with Israel during its two-decade occupation, Israel would have fewer spies in the country today.
However, the facts don’t support this argument. Many studies conducted in other death penalty countries have shown that it is not an effective crime deterrent. What works best is good law enforcement. Potential spies – like other potential criminals – are more deterred by the fear of being caught, and facing other serious punishments, than by the death penalty. After all, a long prison sentence is not an attractive proposition. And issuing death sentences in highly charged contexts where emotions run high and public opinion is united against the convicted individuals risks turning what should be a rational, judicial process into a national mob lynching.
The sad part is that the death penalty is making a comeback in Lebanon at a time when it seemed to be fizzling out. Since the 1998 public hanging of two men convicted of murder, Lebanon has largely maintained a de facto moratorium on judicial executions. Authorities broke the moratorium only once, in 2004, to appease sectarian tensions after a Shiite man killed eight people in his office, most of them Christians. The day he was hanged, the authorities also executed by firing squad two men convicted of unrelated murders, one Christian and one Sunni, in a morbid exercise in sectarian balancing.
Lebanon seemed ready to move beyond the de facto moratorium in 2009, when Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar, with the backing of seven other ministers, proposed abolishing the death penalty. Parliament never acted on this proposal, and the climate surrounding the current spy cases makes its passage unlikely at this stage.
Yet this is not the time for those who support abolishing the death penalty to be silent. A commitment to human rights cannot depend on the good character or popularity of those whose rights are being violated. The guilt of those sentenced to die does not diminish the wrongness of the death penalty. And wrong it is – especially when the justice system that convicted them is rife with due process violations.
**Nadim Houry is director of the Beirut office of Human Rights Watch. Sirine Shebaya is a law student at Yale University. They wrote this commentary for THE DAILY STAR.


Oppose the Ground Zero Mosque?
by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
American Thinker
August 3, 2010
http://www.meforum.org/2718/oppose-the-ground-zero-mosque
News that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has come out in opposition to the planned construction of a 13-storey 'Córdoba House' or 'Park51' mosque, two blocks away from 'Ground Zero', should prompt us to ask whether it is truly right to oppose the building of this particular mosque.
To begin with, it should be noted that there is no basis for opposing its construction on legal grounds. That said, a distinction needs to be made between legality and morality. The key question therefore is: would the mosque fulfill the apparent, declared intention of fostering outreach and mutual respect between people of various faiths?
The answer, however, should be a clear 'No'. To be fair, some of the opposition from the Tea Party movement to the 'Ground Zero' mosque is undoubtedly rooted in anti-Muslim bigotry: for instance, radio talk-show host Mark Williams, who resigned from 'Tea Party Express' over a month ago, described Allah as a 'monkey god' and characterized all Muslims as 'animals'.
Nonetheless, it is evident that there is also considerable popular opposition from New Yorkers themselves. For example, according to a poll by Quinnipiac University, on average 52% of New York voters oppose the construction of the Ground Zero mosque. Moreover, even in Manhattan, where there is most support for the project, only 46% are in favor of building the mosque. Amongst Americans in general, a majority oppose the planned construction, as the New York Times notes. Of course, resistance is particularly strong amongst families of the victims of 9/11, whose anguish ought to be taken into account here.
Such opposition is not at all surprising. Even supposing good intentions on the part of those behind the project, one could ask why they did not simply choose a site in Manhattan somewhat further away from Ground Zero. A suitable analogy would be as follows: how would Bosnian Muslims feel about proposing the construction of a Serbian Orthodox church at Srebrenica? Indeed, there are many parallels between the Srebrenica Massacre of 1995 and 9/11. The former was the killing of over 8000 Bosnian Muslims by Serb militias who justified their aggression on the pretext of defending their faith. In reality, however, the goal was to create a Greater Serbia by ethnically cleansing or exterminating Bosniaks and Croats from regions of the former Yugoslavia with mixed populations.
Similarly, the jihadists who perpetrate atrocities such as 9/11 purport to act in self-defense, but actually seek the eventual subjugation of the world under Shari'a. This is apparent from the declarations and writings of the leaders of jihadist groups. A case in point is Osama Bin Laden himself. When addressing Westerners, he normally justifies his actions by naming the usual grievances (e.g. the presence of Western troops in the Arabian Peninsula, U.S. support for Israel etc.), but when appealing to Muslims, he frequently invokes the idea of jihad, whether offensive or defensive, as a religious obligation.
For instance, in response to Saudi intellectuals who called for dialogue with the West in the immediate aftermath of 9/11, Bin Laden wrote: "There are only three choices in Islam: either submit [i.e., convert to Islam], or live under the suzerainty of Islam, or die. Such, then, is the basis and foundation of the relationship between the infidel and Muslim. Battle, animosity, and hatred-directed from the Muslim to the infidel-is the foundation of our religion." Similar sentiments were echoed by Faisal Shahzad, who attempted to bomb Times Square, when he stated in a tape released by Al-Arabiya that 'you'll see that the Muslim war has just started...until Islam is spread throughout the whole world.'
Nevertheless, the evidence suggests that Imam Abdul Rauf, the chief proponent of the mosque project, would do nothing effective to counter the broad elements in classical fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) that justify the doctrines of jihad as explained by Osama Bin Laden and Faisal Shahzad above. Indeed, in a 2000 treatise on Shari'a, and a 2004 book entitled 'What's Right With Islam', he has praise for figures such as the Sufi jurist Al-Ghazali, Ibn Taymiyyah and Al-Wahhab, all of whom formulated rationales for the notion of jihad as warfare to expand the realm of 'Dar Al-Islam'.
He furthermore hails the implementation of Shari'a in society, including in America itself. Thus, he is no better than the evasive Tariq Ramadan, who is wrongly lionized as a genuine moderate. After all, praising uncritically thinkers who justified noxious doctrines of warfare and subjugation of non-Muslims in writings intended for Muslims is no way to counter Islamism in any form, as it is their works that have been made so readily available by Saudi petrodollars.
In conclusion, the mosque is an unnecessary act of provocation at best and a project with a dubious agenda at worst, something that will certainly not achieve the supposed goal of improving interfaith relations. It is therefore morally right to stand with groups like the ADL in opposition to the construction of this mosque, whilst at the same time 'condemning unequivocally individuals like Mark Williams who are largely motivated by religious bigotry.
**Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Oxford University, and an intern at the Middle East Forum.

Et tu, Brute?
Ana Maria Luca, August 14, 2010
Now Lebanon/General Fayez Karam was a key member in Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement. Karam – a former army counter-espionage and anti-terror chief – was tortured by the Syrian intelligence during the Lebanese civil war, spent years in exile with Aoun, came back to Lebanon in 2005 on the same plane as the FPM leader and handled the party’s offices in North Lebanon ever since.
His August 5 arrest on allegations of spying for Israel shook the Free Patriotic Movement to its core.
Lebanese Judge Sakr Sakr officially accused Karam of dealing with “the enemy’s intelligence and meeting their officers abroad, and giving them information by phone.” According to the charge sheet released by the Military Tribunal, Karam provided Israel with information on the Free Patriotic Movement, its political ally Hezbollah and other Lebanese parties. His reports mainly focused on what happened at closed meetings between political leaders, and he allegedly received money and weapons in return.
For many FPM supporters this scandal is one of the toughest blows the party has ever received and might affect its political alliance with Hezbollah. The key politicians in the party tried to keep the media under control.
“We are not a party with information and intelligence apparatuses. We are not a state… Therefore, it is not our duty to follow our partisans and see who they are talking to and with whom ‘they are going,’” FPM leader Michel Aoun said in reaction to Karam’s arrest on Tuesday.
Some FPM politicians blamed the media directly for the leaked information. MP Ibrahim Kanaan even threatened a lawsuit against the outlets disseminating confidential information leaked from the investigation. “The matter is sensitive, and it should not be politically manipulated,” he told OTV this week.
Other FPM MPs, such as Salim Salhab were more reserved on the matter. "We will declare our position after the investigation announces its results," he said. The MP also said that information leaked by media on the matter was not valid, and quoted Interior Minister Ziad Baroud’s statement on Sunday that the Internal Security Forces (ISF) Information Branch had nothing to do with these leaks.
Many FPM supporters refused to discuss the matter with the press, fearing what they said might further damage their party. “Let’s just wait and see the results of the trial,” one supporter in Jal al-Dib told NOW Lebanon before rushing away. The same happened with other supporters in Achrafieh and Dekwaneh.
Even if in real life they choose not to talk about it, “General Fayaz Karam’s arrest” became the most popular topic on the public forum of the FMP’s Tayyar website, one of the most-read Lebanese political sites. More than 1,000 opinions have been posted so far in the discussion.
Anonymous FPMers who posted on the forum say they are still stunned. While some believe Karam has to be tried for what he allegedly did and pay the price if found guilty, others insist that his arrest was a political move to ruin the FPM’s credibility.
“A spy is a spy, and spies are generally implanted in high places and in positions where they can access information. Let's wait and see the results of the investigations, and if it turns out he is a spy, he should be tried as a spy,” one party supporter wrote on the Tayyar forum. “He happens to be an FPMer, he could've been a Hezbollah member, a PSP member, a Syrian officer, an LFer, a Kataeb member, an Army official, or an ex-Guardian of the Cedar.”
“Why is everyone surprised, it’s obvious the Mossad will plant a mole in the Tayyar body,” someone wrote on the Tayyar forum. “They need to know each and every move General Aoun makes. Besides every party that is aligned to the Resistance will be a target, this makes us all vulnerable and exposed.”
It is the lack of solid facts – the charge sheet provided by the Military Tribunal is the only official information coming from any institution involved in the case – and the reliance by the media on anonymous sources who give impossible-to-verify details, that have made much of the Lebanese public, and especially FPM supporters, question the legitimacy of the investigation.
“I will just wait and see what happens at the trial. We don’t have enough information about the case right now. They accused him of spying, but that doesn’t mean he is actually guilty,” one FPM supporter who wished to remain anonymous told NOW Lebanon.
For others, proof of Karam’s guilt came when Michel Aoun came out to say that “Even Jesus had three apostles who betrayed him.” Aoun referencing Biblical traitors made some of his supporters think the FPM chief knows more than they do, that there is actually proof that Karam was dealing with the Mossad.
“You don't exactly know what info GMA [General Michel Aoun] had got about GFK [General Fayez Karam],” one party supporter posted on the forum.
““Fer3 el ma3loomet [ISF Intelligence office] or army intelligence won't go and capture someone like Fayez Karam without being politically covered, [i.e.] GMA himself,” another party supporter wrote.
Others note that even though Karam was still a high-ranking politician in the FPM, he was not close to Michel Aoun anymore. The relationship between the two had cooled off since June 2009, when Karam gave up running for an MP position on the Zgharta list at the request of Marada leader Sleiman Franjieh.
At any rate, according to Aoun, the investigation should have stayed secret, and it was a mistake that the information of the arrest reached the media. “No official, whether a minister or otherwise, is allowed to leak confidential information about the investigations to the press. This was a grave mistake,” he said during his address on Tuesday.