LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِNovember 03/2010

Bible Of The Day
Prayers & Patience
James 5/7-20: "Be patient therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious fruit of the earth, being patient over it, until it receives the early and late rain. 5:8 You also be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand. 5:9 Don’t grumble, brothers, against one another, so that you won’t be judged. Behold, the judge stands at the door. 5:10 Take, brothers, for an example of suffering and of patience, the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. 5:11 Behold, we call them blessed who endured. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the Lord in the outcome, and how the Lord is full of compassion and mercy. 5:12 But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear, neither by heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes,” and your “no,” “no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy. 5:13 Is any among you suffering? Let him pray. Is any cheerful? Let him sing praises. 5:14 Is any among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the assembly, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord, 5:15 and the prayer of faith will heal him who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. If he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. 5:16 Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. 5:17 Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months. 5:18 He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth brought forth its fruit. 5:19 Brothers, if any among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, 5:20 let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death, and will cover a multitude of sins".

Free Opinions, Releases, letters, Interviews & Special Reports
Assyrians in Iraq Must Be Protected By Iraqis and Americans/AINA/November 02/10
The Region: Hello, America, are you there?/By BARRY RUBIN/November 02/10  
Interview with Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey D. Feltman/washingtonpost.com/November 02/10
Hostage rescue bid in Iraq church leaves 52 dead/Reuters/November 02/10 
Oil and gas discoveries produce potential Israel-Lebanon flash points/By Nicholas Blanford/November 02/10
Middle East efforts take the toll if Obama sinks/By: Hussain Abdul-Hussain/November 02/10
Iraqi Christians' long history/BBC/November 02/10
Canada Condemns Attack in Baghdad Church/November 02/10

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 02/10
Syrian-Saudi-Iranian Ambassadors Meet ahead of Cabinet Session /Naharnet
Opposition Plans to Seize Control of Beirut Once Indictment is Issued /Naharnet
Tight Security around Police HQ in Anticipation of Opposition Attack /Naharnet
Aoun: Rafik Hariri is Not Responsible for Ongoing Errors, But Those Who Followed him in Rule /Naharnet
Security Council only body that can scrap UN-backed court - Egypt/Daily Star
Lebanon's religious and political leaders condemn hostage violence in Iraq/Daily Star
Hizbullah 'intimidation' will not work - Ahmad Hariri/Daily Star
Hariri stands by commitment to Tribunal despite call for boycott/Daily Star
Republicans poised to win House and gain in Senate/AFP
Ban to Hariri: Interfering in STL probe is unacceptable/Now Lebanon
Ghanem: Lebanon cannot abandon STL/Now Lebanon
Fatah and Hamas to meet in Damascus November 9/Now Lebanon
Jumblat: Had STL Been Independent, Some Countries Wouldn't be Able to Delay and Speed up Indictment /Naharnet
Opposition Ministers to Meet to Coordinate Position on False Witnesses File during Cabinet /Naharnet
Abboud: False Witnesses is Part of the Tribunal and it's Time to Tackle it /Naharnet
British FM Voices Support for Hariri against 'Bids to Derail STL Course' /Naharnet
Syria-Saudi Meeting Yielded 'Positive Results' /Naharnet
Kataeb: Hizbullah's New Priority is to Develop Defense Strategy against STL /Naharnet
Jumblat Sarcastically: Civil Strife Disappeared Due to Excessive Political Awareness Exercised by All Sides /Naharnet
Russian Foreign Ministry: For Avoiding Acts that May Destabilize Lebanon, Such as Indictment Speculations /Naharnet
Gemayel: Nasrallah's Speech is a New Step in Process of Obstructing Constitutional Institutions /Naharnet
Report: Aoun Won't Participate in National Dialogue /Naharnet
Berri's Optimism Stems From 'Data I Cannot Disclose' /Naharnet
Hizbullah Simulation Aims to Hold Grip on Lebanon, Besiege Hariri in Less than 2 Hours /Naharnet
Hackers Shut Down Saudi Education Ministry Website, Post Nasrallah Photo /Naharnet
Japan Helps Equip Palestinian Health Center /Naharnet
In Beirut, a Crash Course in Arabic and a Bonus Too: Class Trips to Hizbullah, Hamas Offices /Naharnet

Canada Condemns Attack in Baghdad Church
http://www.international.gc.ca/media/aff/news-communiques/2010/349.aspx
(No. 349 - November 1, 2010 - 4:15 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement condemning the October 31 terrorist attack in Baghdad:
“Canada condemns Sunday’s terrorist attack on worshippers at Baghdad’s Church of Our Lady of Salvation. On behalf of all Canadians, I offer my deepest sympathy to the families and friends of those killed, and wish a full and rapid recovery to the injured.
“We condemn in the strongest terms those who would conduct such a cowardly, vicious and senseless attack on innocent civilians in a place of worship.
“We have received no reports to date of Canadian deaths or injuries in this attack. Canadian officials in Ottawa and Baghdad are in close contact with Iraqi authorities and are monitoring the situation.
“We invite Canadian citizens in Baghdad, even if they have not been affected by the attack, to call home and reassure their loved ones.”
Canadians in Iraq who require emergency consular assistance should contact the Canadian embassy in Amman at +962 (6) 520 3300. Alternatively, they may call Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada’s Emergency Operations Centre collect at 613-996-8885 or send an email to sos@international.gc.ca.
Friends and relatives in Canada seeking information on Canadian citizens believed to be in the affected area should contact the Emergency Operations Centre by calling 1-800-387-3124 or 613-943-1055 or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.
- 30 -
For further information, media representatives may contact:
Jacques Labrie
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874

Assyrians in Iraq Must Be Protected By Iraqis and Americans
11-2-2010/(AINA) -- Probably there is no coincidence. It was just two weeks ago, on October 24th, the special synod for the Middle East ended in Rome in an attempt to shed some light on the precarious situation of the Christians in the region (AINA 10-19-2010). For two weeks, patriarchs, metropolitans, archbishops and bishops of different oriental churches -- Chaldean, Coptic, Syriac, Greek-Melkite, Maronite and Armenian -- discussed the challenges facing Christianity with their Latin-rite brothers under the leadership of Pope Benedict XVI.
One dramatic development discussed in Rome though was the exodus of Christians from the Middle East over the last two decades where some observers see it as Christians disappearing from some parts of the cradle of Christianity.
In Iraq 66 churches have been attacked since 2004 (report) and seminary and bible colleges were urged to close. In Iraq, almost every Christian is able to name someone who has been kidnapped or killed (report). More than half of the 1,500,000 Assyrian (also known as Chaldean and Syriac) Christians living in Iraq before 2003 have fled abroad.
Thomas Meram, Assyrian Chaldean archbishop of Urmia and delegate to the synod in Rome, has been quoted citing the psalm of David, referring to the situation of the Christians in the region, "For you we are massacred every day." He continued: "Every day Christians hear it said, from the loudspeakers, from the television, from the newspapers, that they are infidels and for this reason they are treated as second-class citizens."
In his concluding preach to the synod, Pope Benedict formulated a strong appeal for peace and greater religious freedom in the region and that "it was important that Christians lead a dialogue with Muslims".
Almost as a reply to the message from Rome and as a demonstration how such a 'peaceful dialog' emerges with militant Islam became deadly visible for more than 120 visitors of the Our Lady of Deliverance Chaldean Catholic Church in Baghdad (AINA 11-2-2010, 11-1-2010)) over the weekend.
People were attacked on Sunday evening during a church service and taken hostages by Al-Qaida terrorists. When police raided the church the terrorists set fire to their explosives, ultimately killing 46 parishioners, including two priests (AINA 11-2-2010).
Despite the massacre, Iraq's defense minister, Abdel Kader al-Obeidi's, called the bloody rescue effort a "successful operation" with a "limited number of victims." Yonadem Khanna, an Assyrian member of the Iraqi Parliament, criticized the operation, calling the rescue attempt "unprofessional." It was a hasty action, he explained to Karim El-Gawahry of the Austrian paper, DiePresse. "We have no accurate picture of whether the believers were killed in the church by the bullets of security forces or by terrorists. The only thing we know is that most were killed in the rescue operation."
Western countries have for a long time ignored the situation of the Middle East Christians. Earlier targeted attacks on Christian in Iraq were labeled as sectarian and seen as almost normal in the overall violence scene, though fully ignoring their systematic planning and selective targeting, and did not consider the small population of the Christians. Also, Western countries, especially U.S. and U.K., as leaders in the invasion of Iraq in 2003, have closed eyes to violence targeting Christians so as not to harm the "greater goal" of the so-called democratization they tried to propagate. In fact, Christians in Iraq are persecuted and killed in a "proxy war" for the West, because common people in Islamic countries see them as loyal to Western Christian countries and hence it becomes almost legitimate to attack and kill them.

52 Worshippers Killed in Baghdad Church Drama
Naharnet/Iraqi security forces stormed a Baghdad church where militants had taken an entire congregation hostage for four hours, leaving at least 52 people dead, including a priest, Iraqi officials said Monday. It was not immediately clear whether the hostages died at the hands of the attackers or during the rescue late on Sunday night in an affluent neighborhood of the capital.
The incident began when militants wearing suicide vests and armed with grenades attacked the Iraqi stock exchange at dusk Sunday before turning their attention to the nearby Our Lady of Deliverance church — one of Baghdad's main Catholic places of worship — taking about 120 Christians hostage.
Maj. Gen. Hussein Ali Kamal, the deputy interior minister, said 52 people were killed and 67 wounded, in the bloodbath. Officials said at least one priest and 10 policemen were among the dead. Many of the wounded were women.
A Christian member of parliament on Monday described the Iraqi rescue operation as "not professional," saying "it was a hasty action that prompted the terrorists to kill the worshippers."
"We have no clear picture yet whether the worshippers were killed by the security forces bullets or by terrorists, but what we know is that most of them were killed when the security forces started to storm the church," Younadem Kana said.
Video footage from an American drone that was overhead during the attack showed a black plume of smoke followed by flashes from inside the building before what appears to be soldiers going in. U.S. forces often supply air support to Iraqi forces conducting operations on the ground, feeding them video footage of what American drones see from the air. The casualty information was confirmed by police and officials at hospitals where the dead and wounded were taken.
There were conflicting accounts about the number of attackers involved in the assault, with Baghdad military spokesman Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi saying Sunday night that security forces killed eight, while the U.S. military said between five and seven died.
Two police officers on the scene, however, say only three attackers were killed and another seven arrested afterward.
Outside the Syrian Catholic church Monday morning, Raed Hadi leaned against his car on top of which rested a casket holding the body of his cousin, who was killed in the siege. Hadi was waiting for the police to let him onto the church grounds to bury his relative. He railed against Iraqi authorities.
"It was a massacre in there and now they are cleaning it up," said Raed. "We Christians don't have enough protection. ... What shall I do now? Leave and ask for asylum?"
Police pushed back onlookers from around the church by erecting a barbed wire fence but residents and people from the Christian community claimed that it was too little, too late.
A cryptically worded statement posted late Sunday on a militant website allegedly by the Islamic State of Iraq appeared to claim responsibility for the attack. The group, which is linked to al-Qaida in Iraq, said it would "exterminate Iraqi Christians" if Muslim women in Egypt were not freed.
It specifically mentioned two women in Egypt that extremists maintain have converted to Islam and are being held against their will in Egypt. The two are wives of priests and are believed to have converted to Islam to leave their husbands since divorce is banned by Egypt's Coptic Church. One woman disappeared in 2004 and another in July.
Egypt's Christians had maintained they were kidnapped and staged rallies for their release. Both were later recovered by police, denied any conversions and were then spirited away to distant monasteries. In the message, the militants claim the two are still Muslim and called upon the Vatican, which held a meeting earlier in October to discuss the fate of Christians in the Middle East, to release the women. "We direct our speech to the Vatican and say that as you met with Christians of the Mideast a few days ago to support them and back them, now you have to pressure them to release our sisters, otherwise death will reach you all," the message said. Iraqi Christians, who have been frequent targets for Sunni insurgents, have left in droves since the 2003 U.S.-led war. Catholics used to represent 2.89 percent of the population in 1980; by 2008 they were just 0.89 percent. One Iraqi man who identified himself only as Abu Sami for security reasons, said his wife was inside the church during the attack. Although she was unharmed, he said he feared that the church siege signaled a new round of violence by militants against Iraq's Christian community.
"I expect the coming attacks will be worse in the future since the government is doing nothing to protect us. We are peaceful people and never harmed any of our fellow countrymen, so we do not understand the reasons behind such evil attacks," he said. "Many Christians now believe that they do not have any hope in Iraq and the best thing to survive is to seek another country to live in," he said.(AP) Beirut, 01 Nov 10, 06:37

Statement of truth
Of the world body to defend the indigenous population of Mesopotamia and fides
To / of the Iraqi people's eternal and decision-makers in the new Iraq
White House
Secretary-General of the United Nations
Indigenous organization / UN
Human Rights Organization / United Nations
Organizations and T Personally Iraqi human rights and regional and global
M / truth of what happened in the Church of Our Lady of Deliverance
As of 31/10/2010 militia battled Iraqi police with the gunmen holding hostages inside the Church of Our Lady of Deliverance Assyrian Catholic - Baghdad, while the values of our body positions of denunciation and condemnation and solidarity with the families of the martyrs, the wounded and the hostages released and Christians in general by human rights organizations, civil society and personalities Iraq and the world, with demonstrations of disapproval and condemnation of the process, but we see that this is not enough at all, because the logic of events rings the alarm bell the fate of Iraq's Christians do not even Christians leave the east, they are exposed to systematic persecution and genocide / stages to empty Iraq and the Middle East of its original inhabitants, Here indeed we must uncover the truth as it is, especially that of the martyrs, not priests, young and secular pure, but there are a newborn baby aged 4 months only was his throat in front of his parents before he invoked and in front of everyone, we call upon the name of which (the child Jesus) Here we put the owners of resolution at the White House and the United Nations and international organizations by the Iraqi government and the governments of regional countries that were still the main reason for not forming a new Iraqi government, we put in front of President Barack Obama, Ban Ki-moon and senates and parliaments of European countries and the international, Arab and Muslim blood (Child Jesus) screaming delayed, and says: What if one of your children? Is this how the die our children and our children in front of our eyes and on the stages (the number of martyrs to 1000 martyrs almost) without sin only because they are the owner of the land and the message and messengers / they are indigenous people, principals, ladies and gentlemen walking out, too, and you sitting protesting and the sons and daughters of the population fides killing with reason , we need to position practical and effective to save what can be saved from your people inherent in Iraq, and we demand the world body with those who have shown solidarity with us that they were human rights organizations and civil society and the Iraqi figures, universal and private preparatory committee for the Washington call for full protection to the Christians of Iraq and its people fides and uncover the truth of what happened in the Church of Our Lady of Deliverance / Baghdad , storming the church because this format and the hostage has connotations of security and ethical and human rights, he put before you the following facts
First: that what happened in the Church of Our Lady of Deliverance / Baghdad - Iraq was a storm as a result of a reaction to the statement issued by the terrorist group and their requests (This statement explains why the massacre against Iraqi Christians - the Mujahedeen in the Islamic State of Iraq wait around for the Church of Egypt Christian warrior and the head of kufr (for forty eight hours), to indicate if the sisters in religion,,, for more on the link http://icrim1.com/forum/showthread.php?619- this - statement - shows - why - this - the massacre - against - Christians - Iraq)
II: The storming the Church of the gunmen and hostages so quickly and the way he signs affecting the human rights of the Iraqi and the value of human, there is a similar situation occurred in the world and the authorities raided the place at risk the lives of innocent people at risk and so quickly, and as an example but not limited to the terrorist group that stormed the house of the Japanese ambassador and presented to channel Arabic a few days ago did not push, but after negotiations lasted 65 days!!! Short film Our Lady of Deliverance Church of negotiations 65 minutes! Therefore we demand an immediate investigation to uncover the truth of what happened
Third: our body is fully prepared in cooperation with similar organizations at home and abroad to adopt the defense of the rights of our martyrs and our people's inherent that we're getting live testimonies of the reality of the situation, with a private agency, even from one of the relatives of our martyrs of the first class for us to move the proceedings on a local scale and international
Fourth: We call on the heads of our churches and our parties and our organizations inside and outside Iraq to sit on the table and decide Union and understanding, but all of those Enough bloodshed? The blood of the Child Jesus calling you that you have an iota of love remain in your hearts, Come to the Union, not to unity
Samir Steefo Shabilla
President of the International Committee For the rights of indigenous Mesopotamians
Contact:
Lawyer, Slam alyasiry
alyasirylawoffice@yahoo.com
Icrim.icrim1indigenous @ gmail.com
shabasamir@yahoo.com
www.icrim1.com
702-266-5583

Hostage rescue bid in Iraq church leaves 52 dead
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Muhanad Mohammed/Reuters
BAGHDAD: Fifty-two hostages and police were killed when an attempt by Iraqi security forces to free more than 100 Catholics held in a Baghdad church by Al-Qaeda-linked gunmen turned into a bloodbath, officials said Monday.
Church officials described the attack, which began when gunmen seized the Our Lady of Salvation Church during Sunday Mass, as the bloodiest against Iraq’s Christians in the seven years of sectarian war that followed the 2003 US-led invasion.
The Islamic State of Iraq, the Al-Qaeda affiliated group which claimed responsibility, also threatened the Christian church in Egypt over its treatment of women the group said it was holding after they had converted to Islam.
Egypt condemned the threat to its Christian community, which makes up about a 10 percent of the North African country’s 78 million people. It beefed up security around churches.
Iraqi Human Rights Minister Wijdan Michael, a Christian, said at the scene of the Baghdad attack: “What happened was more than a catastrophic and tragic event. In my opinion, it is an attempt to force Iraqi Christians to leave Iraq and to empty Iraq of Christians.”
Lieutenant General Hussein Kamal, a deputy interior minister, said 52 hostages and police were killed and 67 wounded in the incident, which ended with police storming the Assyrian Catholic church to free more than 100 hostages. The death toll was many times higher than that given overnight in the hours after the raid.
At least one bomb exploded at the start of the siege. Sporadic gunfire rang out for several hours over the Karrada neighborhood near the heavily fortified Green Zone district where many embassies and government offices are located.
“The attackers were among children, armed with weapons,” a federal police source who declined to be identified said of Sunday’s rescue effort. “Most of the casualties were killed or wounded when the security forces raided the place.”
Officials say some of the attackers blew up explosives vests or threw grenades during the raid. Security sources said many of the victims died in gunfights between police and rebels.
Iraq’s Christians, who once numbered 1.5 million out of a total Iraqi population of about 30 million, have frequently been targeted by militants since the invasion, with churches bombed and priests assassinated. Many have fled.
The Islamic State of Iraq said in a statement posted on Islamist websites the attack was on “the dirty den of idolatry” and gave the “church of Egypt, the head of infidels, 48 hours to make clear the condition of our sisters in Islam detained in the monasteries … and announce their release in the media.”
Islamist protesters in Egypt have accused the church of detaining two women, Camilia Shehata and Wafa Constantine, wives of Coptic priests, who reportedly converted to Islam.
Father Abdel-Maseeh Baseet of the Coptic Orthodox Church said the two had not converted and were staying in monasteries for their safety. Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hossam Zaki denounced the Baghdad attack and the threat to Egypt.
The threat could aggravate communal tensions in Egypt that are usually held in check but sometimes erupt into violence over land disputes, cross-faith relationships and conversions.
Egyptian security sources said extra forces were sent near churches in the capital and elsewhere. A witness in Nagaa Hamady, south of Cairo, said after the threat six security trucks were moved near the church where six Christians and one Muslim policeman were killed in a drive-by shooting in January.
Pope Benedict XVI condemned Sunday’s attack on the Baghdad church, which was one of five in the Iraqi capital and city of Mosul hit in attacks in August 2004 that killed 12 people.
“I pray for the victims of this senseless violence, made even more ferocious because it struck defenseless people who were gathered in the house of God, which is a house of love and reconciliation,” the pope told pilgrims in St Peter’s Square.

Attack on the Assyrian Parishioners in Baghdad
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 1, 2010
http://www.aua.net/News/releases/2010/AUA_condemns_barbari_aggression.pdf
The Assyrian Universal Alliance (AUA) condemns the barbaric attack on the Our Lady of Salvation Syriac Catholic Church in Baghdad. The attack happened during worship services on October 31, 2010 and claimed the lives of numerous innocent Assyrian parishioners, priests, and Iraqi security forces.
These criminal acts are targeted against the Assyrian people in an attempt to force them to flee their homeland. We are confident that these criminals will not achieve their goals and that the indigenous people of Iraq will remain in their homeland . The Assyrian nation has over 7,000 years of history rooted in Iraq, and while the nation is shaken, it will pull itself out of the ashes and carry on with its mission of bringing peace and harmony amongst all citizens of Iraq.
The Assyrian Universal Alliance extends its deepest sympathy to the families who have lost their loved ones in this attack, and wishes a speedy recovery to all those who were injured. Bearing in mind both past and present heinous and unrestrained atrocities leveled against our people, we urge our collective national institutions to unilaterally and unequivocally demand justice for Assyrians in Iraq.
We call upon the Iraqi government to take swift and definitive action to stop the vicious attacks against our people, instituting immediate measures to address the humanitarian crisis threatening our future in our homeland. As Iraq's indigenous people, the Assyrian nation demands the establishment of an Assyrian autonomous region on our ancestral lands as an integral part of the Federal Republic of Iraq and administrated by Assyrians under the jurisdiction of Iraq's central government, in which we will provide the security forces necessary to safeguard our people.
We appeal to all democratic governments and human rights organizations around the world to take action against what is happening to the Assyrians of Iraq. By fulfilling the Assyrian demand for the aforementioned autonomous region, the government of Iraq will be protecting a peace-loving people and establishing a country in which Iraqis of all religions can live together in harmony.
Assyrian Universal Alliance
Executive Committee

Iraqi Christians' long history
BBC
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3526386.stm
Christians have inhabited what is modern day Iraq
for about 2,000 years, tracing their ancestry to ancient Mesopotamia and surrounding lands.
Theirs is a long and complex history.
Before the Gulf War in 1991, they numbered about one million. By the time of the US-led invasion in 2003 that figure fell to about 800,000.
Since then the numbers are thought to have fallen dramatically.
Under Saddam Hussein, in overwhelmingly Muslim Iraq, some Christians rose to the top, notably Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, and the Baathist regime kept a lid on anti-Christian violence.
But this started to change after the removal of Saddam Hussein and the US-led occupation of Iraq.
Attacks
A spate of attacks on Christian targets in Mosul, Baghdad and elsewhere in 2004 and 2005 accompanied a more general breakdown in security in Iraq. It is thought that proportionally more Christians - who were sometimes accused by extremists of collaborating with the "crusading" US forces - left.
Clerics and members of their congregations who have stayed have continued to face the threat of kidnapping by some extremist Muslim groups as well as targeted attacks.
In March 2010, hundreds of Iraqi Christians demonstrated in a town near Mosul and in Baghdad, calling for government action after a spate of killings.
The killings of eight Christians also prompted an appeal by Pope Benedict for Iraqi authorities to protect vulnerable religious minorities.
Two years earlier, the Chaldean Catholic Archbishop of Mosul, Paulos Faraj Rahho, was kidnapped and murdered.
Biblical city
In the wake of the 1991 Gulf War and the imposition of sanctions, many Iraqi Christians, who had lived in relative harmony with their Muslim neighbours for decades, left to join family in the West.
The secular government of Saddam Hussein did not persecute Christians in the way it did the Kurds and some Shia areas, but it did subject some Christian communities to its "relocation programmes".
For Christians, this was particularly marked in the oil-rich areas, where the authorities tried to create Sunni Arab majorities near the strategic oilfields.
Christians live in the capital, Baghdad, and are also concentrated in the northern cities of Kirkuk, Irbil and Mosul - once a major Mesopotamian trading hub known as Nineveh in the Bible.
Most Iraqi Christians are Chaldeans, Eastern-rite Catholics who are autonomous from Rome but who recognise the Pope's authority.
Chaldeans are an ancient people, some of whom still speak Aramaic, the language of Jesus.
Monasteries
The other significant community are Assyrians, the descendants of the ancient empires of Assyria and Babylonia.
After their empires collapsed in the 6th and 7th Centuries BC, the Assyrians scattered across the Middle East.
They embraced Christianity in the 1st Century AD, with their Ancient Church of the East believed to be the oldest in Iraq.
Assyrians also belong to the Syrian Orthodox Church, the Chaldean Church, and various Protestant denominations.
When Iraq became independent in 1932, the Iraqi military carried out large-scale massacres of Assyrians in retaliation for their collaboration with Britain, the former colonial power.
Villages were destroyed, and churches and monasteries torn down.
In recent years, however, some places of worship were rebuilt.
Other ancient Churches include Syrian Catholics, Armenian Orthodox and Armenian Catholic Christians, who fled from massacres in Turkey in the early 20th Century.
There are also small Greek Orthodox and Greek Catholic communities, as well as Anglicans and Evangelicals.

Security Council only body that can scrap UN-backed court - Egypt
Lebanon's religious and political leaders condemn hostage violence in Iraq
By The Daily Star
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
Listen to the Article - Powered by
BEIRUT: Lebanese Muslim and Christian figures condemned Monday the killing of hostage parishioners at the Karada church in Iraq the previous day.
Clerics and political parties slammed the deadly violence during a hostage rescue mission in Karada in Baghdad Sunday, when at least 52 people were killed as US and Iraqi forces stormed a Catholic church to free dozens of hostages.
A group of gunmen from the Al-Qaeda-linked militant group, the Islamic State of Iraq, besieged the Church of Our Lady of Salvation, one of Baghdad’s biggest churches, during Sunday Mass.
Hizbullah issued a statement in which it described the attack as a “terrorist crime” and said the region never witnessed such crimes “before the American occupation of Iraq, which instigated strife and sectarian divide.”
“The fingerprints of Zionism are all over this crime because the Zionist project aims at dividing the region into disputing factions in order to conquer it,” it added.
The Future movement issued a statement condemning the attack and described it as a means to uproot Christians from the Orient.
Lebanon’s leading Muslim clerics also denounced the Baghdad attack.
Grand Mufti Sheikh Mohammad Rashid Qabbani slammed the attack, saying it was condemned by both Islam and Christianity and could only be the act of “a faction that supports the pursuit of terrorism and destruction in Iraq, the instigation of sectarianism and redefining the Arab map.”
The gunmen were demanding the release of Al-Qaeda prisoners and two women said to be held captive by the Coptic Church in Egypt for converting to Islam. The armed militants set off their suicide vests after negotiations with security forces failed.
Qabbani also denounced Israel’s burning of a church in occupied Jerusalem, saying it was a sign of racism and criminality. “The Zionist entity in Palestine doesn’t differentiate between Muslim and Christian or between a church and a mosque. It is fooling Muslims and Christians alike,” he said.
Sheikh Abdel Amir Qabalan, the vice president of the Higher Shiite Islamic Council, said the attack on the church in Iraq was “a barbaric act that has absolutely no justification.”
He stressed that Islam rejected such violence and called for mutual respect between Christians and Muslims, especially because Iraq was a neighboring country where the two religions coexisted. Qabalan then asked Iraqi Christians to “hang on to their land and to their places of worship” and not to surrender to terrorism.
“These terrorist acts affect Muslims and Christians and we must combat them,” he said.
“This barbaric act is a product of colonization and aims at instigating strife and tension and at creating obstacles,” he added.
Lebanese Christian figures also slammed the bloodshed and called on authorities to protect Iraq’s minority. The Syriac Catholic Council called the incident a “massacre” against Christians of the east, and noted that the attack came shortly after the conclusion of the Middle East synod in the Vatican.
The attack and its timing raised questions about “a conspiracy theory aiming at emptying the east of its Christians,” and about the role of Iraqi authorities in guaranteeing its own people’s security, the council said.
The council then criticized US forces for trying to hasten an end the hostage situation, saying their rush led to the murder of innocent people.
The Higher Catholic Council regretted that innocent Christians “always” paid the price of brutal crimes and urged the international community to mobilize. “We ask the Iraqi government to assume its responsibility in protecting its citizens,” the council said. “Enough killing and displacing Iraq’s Christians.”
An American delegation of Iraqi origins condemned the murders during a meeting with Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir in Bkirki. The delegation was visiting Iraq’s neighboring countries and was headed by American-Iraqi bishop Ibrahim Ibrahim.
Christians of the East Central Committee also rejected the attack, and called on Iraqi authorities to protect minorities in Iraq. They asked human-rights organizations to take serious measures toward protecting places of worship in the Arab Levant. – The Daily Star

Hizbullah 'intimidation' will not work - Ahmad Hariri
By Wassim Mroueh and Hassan Lakiss
Daily Star staff
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
BEIRUT: Future Movement Secretary General Ahmad Hariri said Monday that Hizbullah was launching a “war of elimination” against the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) and said intimidation would not force the movement to compromise.
“Neither the arousal of interests nor threats, yelling or intimidation will drive us to compromise on the blood of Rafik Hariri because to us the blood of Rafik Hariri is so precious,” he said.
Hariri was addressing students at the Rafik Hariri High School in Sidon during a dialogue session to mark the 66th anniversary of the birth of the late prime minister.
Hariri said that at the peak of the “war of elimination” launched by Hizbullah against the STL and against justice and “martyrs,” Prime Minister Saad Hariri could have taken “the shortest road” and resorted to escalation and faced “the instigation of sectarian instincts by the same manner.”
“But he comes from a family known for its moderation in politics and which strongly believes that no interest outweighs the national interest,” Ahmad added.
In July, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah dismissed the STL as an “Israeli project” targeting the resistance and said an impending indictment by the body would indict Hizbullah members.
Last week, Nasrallah called upon Lebanese citizens and officials to boycott the STL probes.
Analysts fear that the indictment would spark an acute political crisis or civil strife.
Ahmad Hariri said the STL represented a chance to uncover the parties behind political assassinations in Lebanon, stressing that “the blood of Rafik Hariri” would not cause sectarian strife.
Asked whether the Future Movement had any plans to confront the threat of the use of arms by the other side, Hariri said, the “alternative plan is to adhere to the project of a state,” stressing the Future Movement’s commitment to dialogue.
Meanwhile, a Cabinet session is due to convene Wednesday with the unsettled issue of “false witnesses” topping its agenda.
A senior source from the March 8 coalition told The Daily Star that the outcome of talks between Syrian President Bashar Assad and Saudi Prince Abdel-Aziz Ibn Abdullah – who paid a short visit to Syria Sunday – was “very positive,” but gave few details.
The source said the positive atmosphere would be reflected in Wednesday’s session. Another source said President Michel Sleiman was contemplating tasking a ministerial committee with examining the issue of “false witnesses.”
Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Osseiri and his Iranian counterpart Ghazanfar Roknabadi will attend Tuesday a luncheon at the Syrian Embassy upon the invitation of Syrian Ambassador Ali Abdel-Karim Ali.
Rival Lebanese factions are deadlocked over how to deal with the issue of “false witnesses” in investigations into the assassination of Rafik Hariri.
A report prepared by Justice Minister Ibrahim Najjar said the matter did not meet conditions to justify referring it to the Justice Council, and should be dealt with by the Lebanese judiciary.
March 14 forces headed by Prime Minister Saad Hariri supported Najjar’s view, while the rival March 8 coalition insisted the matter should be referred to the Justice Council. Once referred to the Justice Council, any verdict could not be appealed.
Political sources close to Hizbullah told The Daily Star that ministers from the March 8 coalition would urge the Cabinet to ask ministers concerned with the probes not to comply with demands made by the investigators, in line with Nasrallah’s call.
According to the same sources, Telecommunications Minister Charbel Nahhas is expected to raise the issue of how he should deal with continuous requests by STL investigators to access the data of Lebanese subscribers to the telecommunications network.
The Cabinet session, unlikely to be conclusive regarding the issue of “false witnesses,” will convene on the eve of a dialogue session to be held in Baabda Palace Thursday, when top Lebanese leaders will resume talks on a national defense strategy.
The Central News Agency (CNA) reported that the head of the Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun, a Hizbullah ally, was not expected to take part in the session.
Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan, also a Hizbullah official, said the attitude of the international investigation and the STL contributed to putting their credibility into doubt.
“We were not the cause of their loss of credibility, but they lost their credibility by their own hands,” he told a gathering of farmers in the village of Shmestar in Bekaa.
“Accordingly, the Lebanese who want to safeguard and strengthen their country have the right to take the suitable position to prevent passing information through the investigation commission or international intelligence agencies to the Zionist enemy,” said Hajj Hassan, lashing out at Lebanese sides opposing this view. The head of the Phalange Party Amin Gemayel said “uncovering truth and justice is related to the survival of the nation.”

Abu al-Gheit says Hariri murder different from Civil War assassinations
By The Daily Star
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BEIRUT: Egypt’s foreign minister said in comments Monday the UN Security Council was the only authority capable of putting an end to the operations of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), probing the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
“Egypt supports the tribunal because crimes should not go unpunished,” Ahmad Abu al-Gheit told Epypt’s Al-Osbou newspaper. He said the truth about the killing of the former Lebanese prime minister and the assassination of politicians ought to be revealed. “Killing should never be a means to settle political differences,” he said. “We supported the work of the international tribunal after the Lebanese government expressed its wish to have such a body established.” The foreign minister said Egypt’s interest in the STL case stemmed from Cairo’s firm belief that it should play an active role on regional and international levels. Abu al-Gheit refused to compare the Hariri murder to dozens of other assassinations that took place in Lebanon and went unpunished. “What happened during the Civil War is very different from what is happening currently,” he said. “Killing a person as a result of a disagreement is impermissible and should not go unpunished.”
Tensions have mounted in Lebanon in the past months over the indictments to be pronounced by the STL. Hizbullah announced that the court was moving toward indicting “rogue” members of the party and slammed the STL as an Israeli project.
Last week, the party’s leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on the Lebanese to boycott the tribunal, adding that anyone who cooperated with the STL would be considered an agent.
Abu al-Gheit said Hizbullah was part of the Lebanese government when it endorsed the establishment of the UN-backed court and refused to comment on the issue of the so-called “false witnesses.” Hizbullah and its allies in the March 8 alliance accuse the “false witnesses” of misleading probes into the Hariri killing in a bid to implicate the party.
“I will not comment on the issue of false witnesses … this is a strictly Lebanese political issue,” said the Egyptian foreign minister. Many fear that if the tribunal issues a verdict against Hizbullah street clashes would erupt between the court’s supporters and detractors.
Al-Akhbar newspaper reported in its Monday issue that the STL would issue its indictment before the year’s end.
The newspaper cited “secret documents” of correspondence between the STL and the Swedish Justice and Foreign Ministries and the Swedish Embassy at The Hague regarding the appointment of two Swedish police officers who are experts in forensics and evidence investigation. According to Al-Akhbar, the embassy had issued a letter to the Swedish Foreign and Justice ministries stating that the “tribunal plans on issuing the indictment before the end of the year” and that the “investigation requires additional expertise as soon as possible.” A legal source in the tribunal also told Al-Akhbar that the indictment would be issued in the second or third week of November. – The Daily Star

Opposition Plans to Seize Control of Beirut Once Indictment is Issued
Naharnet/The Syrian-backed Opposition reportedly plans to take control of Beirut in the event an indictment by the international Tribunal was issued.
Pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat newspaper on Tuesday quoted a well-informed Lebanese source as saying reports were being circulated among Lebanese security authorities that Hizbullah and AMAL Movement as well as other forces allied with Syria have been holding extensive, periodic meetings to discuss "coordination" in the presumed battle for the control of Beirut.
It said the meetings discussed "zoning" of the areas such as each group will have its own confrontation zero hour map. Beirut, 02 Nov 10, 09:21

Tight Security around Police HQ in Anticipation of Opposition Attack
Naharnet/Security has been tightened around the police headquarters in Beirut's Ashrafiyeh neighborhood following reports that the Opposition is likely to carry out a "swift operation" to shake up the Lebanon situation and convey a message about what Opposition forces can do if an indictment was issued. Information obtained by Internal Security Forces (ISF) said one of the main goals behind the "operation" was to seize control of the police headquarters and the intelligence bureau, Ad-Diyar newspaper reported on Tuesday. It said the Hizbullah-led March 8 forces had previously leaked reports to a Jordanian newspaper about the Opposition's intention to target ISF headquarters. Ad-Diyar quoted well-informed security sources as saying that the attackers are likely to wear police uniforms as a disguise to storm the headquarters. Beirut, 02 Nov 10, 10:06

The Region: Hello, America, are you there?
By BARRY RUBIN
11/01/2010 01:12
The US government’s strange, belated reactions to recent negative developments in the Middle East seem to indicate that the administration is just not paying enough attention.
If you’ve lost faith in the abilities of the current US administration and mass media to respond to Middle East developments, here’s more evidence. Consider how hidden, obscure stories are being dug out by policymakers and top media. The New York Times recently reported that the US government is “increasingly alarmed by unrest in Lebanon, whose own fragile peace is being threatened by militant opponents of a politically charged investigation into the killing in 2005 of a former Lebanese leader.”
Ya think? Lebanon has been taken over (or recaptured, if you wish) by the Iran-Syria anti-American, revolutionary Islamist, terrorist-sponsoring axis, operating largely – though by no means completely – through its client, Hizbullah. Might this be of some concern for US policy-makers?
Four years ago, Lebanon was run by an independent-minded, pro-Western government that would have preferred peace with Israel (though it knew domestic pressures made any such action impossible), opposed Iran and saw radical Islamism as an antagonist.
Today, Lebanon has been “lost” in large part due to Western weakness and inaction.
Even on this latest point the administration is wrong. There isn’t going to be any big conflict over any report that the Syrians murdered former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri. Everybody in Lebanon knows that Syria did it, possibly (though this is far less certain) with Hizbullah’s help.
But there won’t be any problem if the UN-backed investigation publicly states this because everyone in Lebanon has also been intimidated into silence. Even Hariri’s son, the most important Sunni leader and head of the Sunni-Christian-Druse (well, no longer Druse since they have joined the pro-Syrian side for all practical purposes) has surrendered to Damascus.
And of course there remains the question of what, if anything, this administration will do about Lebanon. Answer: nothing, except continue to aid the army which, at best, is neutral and, at worst, is a Hizbullah ally .
SPEAKING OF Syria and great discoveries, The Washington Post reported that Syria just doesn’t seem to be responding to administration efforts to engage, moderate and pull that country out of Iran’s orbit.
Over the past two years, there has been example after example of Syria opposing all aspects of US policy; sponsoring terrorism to kill Americans in Iraq and against Israel; sabotaging the Israel-Palestinian peace process; dominating Lebanon; helping Hamas and Hizbullah; and building an ever-tighter alliance with Iran.
And now people in Washington are starting to notice?
Should I mention the blindness toward the Turkish regime’s entrance into the Iran-Syria-Hamas- Hizbullah bloc, its recent listing of Israel as a “central threat” in its National Security Council threat assessment document and the need for US opposition to that government to help ensure its defeat in next year’s election? Hint: In an interview Republican People’s Party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu states, “Washington is just beginning to wake up to the true nature” of the current regime. If that government ever does, it will understand that victory for Kilicdaroglu is a vital US interest.
Should I mention that nothing could be more obvious than that the Israel-Palestinian negotiating process is going nowhere because the Palestinian Authority doesn’t want to make a deal? And then add that this problem is being exacerbated by US policy making the PA believe this strategy can succeed by getting recognition for a unilateral declaration of independence? Should I mention the disastrous new US policy of engaging the Taliban which may result in the movement that partnered the September 11 attacks against America returning to power? The New York Times published an anthropologist's op-ed explaining how the US can co-opt the Taliban and turn it against al-Qaida.
But don’t take my word for it. Ask the would-be Times Square bomber who worked with that group, or a teenager who describes how the Taliban tried to recruit him as a suicide bomber (something it will be able to do to lots more youth if it can operate legally.)
And here’s what New York Times reporter David Rhode wrote after spending several months as a Taliban prisoner in 2009: “Before the kidnapping, I viewed the organization as a form of ‘al-Qaida lite’...
primarily focused on controlling Afghanistan. Living side by side with the[m], I learned that the goal [was]... to create a fundamentalist Islamic emirate with al-Qaida that spanned the Muslim world.”
WHAT ABOUT the total reversal of US policy on Hamas from trying to undermine its rule in the Gaza Strip to believing it will fall if Gaza becomes prosperous? From the time Hamas seized power until last summer, the US government supported a strategy of trying to bring it down by both political isolation and supporting embargoes to minimize Gaza’s imports and exports. The idea was that weakening Gaza’s economy would weaken Hamas’s rule.
At the same time, by lavishing aid on the PA-ruled West Bank, the US and its allies would show that West Bankers were much better off because they were ruled by peace-oriented moderates.
After the Gaza flotilla incident, however, President Barack Obama declared a new policy – though he never identified it explicitly. Now, the US would provide a lot of aid to Gaza in the belief that if it became more prosperous the citizens – apparently a strengthened middle class and businessmen –would bring down the regime.
The aid is to go to carefully designated and monitored projects. Whether or not that goal is achieved, however, the infusion of $400 million in US aid directly through the PA for supporting civil servants in Gaza will have the effect of strengthening the Hamas regime.
Aid will reduce popular discontent against Hamas while letting it divert some of this aid and a lot of funds that would otherwise have been needed to do some of these projects (and buy popular support) for terrorist/military purposes.
Thus, however well-intentioned the new policy may seem to Washington decision-makers, its practical effect is to strengthen Hamas, undermine any hope for peace and help establish a stable, long-term terrorist, Islamist, anti-Western and genocidally minded Iranian client state on the Mediterranean coast.
AND WHAT about the fact that most Arab governments are shocked at US expressions of weakness and want a strong American policy to protect them from Iran and revolutionary Islamists?
Should I mention that despite the praiseworthy (but overdue) increase in anti-Iran sanctions there’s no doubt that Teheran will get nuclear weapons, transforming the strategic balance in the region?
Should I mention that the administration doesn’t react to its own intelligence which shows Iran is helping kill Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan through training terrorists and supplying advisers and military equipment in both countries?
Anybody in the US government noticing these things and perhaps getting prepared to do something about them? Ya think?
The writer is director of the Global Research in International Affairs Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International Affairs Journal. www.rubinreports.blogspot.com

Ban to Hariri: Interfering in STL probe is unacceptable
November 2, 2010 /UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told Prime Minister Saad Hariri that interfering in the work of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) is unacceptable, As-Safir newspaper reported on Tuesday. According to the daily, Ban and Hariri spoke over the phone on Monday, during which the UN chief expressed his concern over the latest developments in Lebanon, including last week’s incident in the southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh. Attempts of terror cannot be accepted, and all parties must stop interfering in the STL’s probe, Ban told the Lebanese PM, according to As-Safir. Two STL investigators were attacked by a group of around 30 women at a gynecology clinic on Wednesday, snatching a briefcase but causing no injuries. The investigators had scheduled a meeting with Dr. Iman Charara, the physician who runs the clinic.-NOW Lebanon

Ghanem: Lebanon cannot abandon STL
November 2, 2010 /Lebanon cannot renounce its commitment to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), MP Robert Ghanem said on Tuesday after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, according to the National News Agency (NNA). Tension is high in Lebanon after unconfirmed reports that the STL will soon issue its indictment for former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri’s 2005 assassination. There are fears that should the court indict Hezbollah members, it could lead to clashes similar to those of the 2008 May Events – in which gunmen led by the party took over half of Beirut. On Thursday, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah called on all Lebanese to boycott the STL and to end cooperation with its investigators.-NOW Lebanon

Fatah and Hamas to meet in Damascus November 9
November 2, 2010 /Rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas will hold another meeting in Damascus on November 9 in a bid to strike a unity deal, officials from both movements said Tuesday. Senior Hamas official Ismail Radwan told AFP he hoped the meeting would "achieve reconciliation and restore national unity on the basis of national principles and political participation." Azzam al-Ahmad, the pointman for the talks in Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's secular Fatah, confirmed the meeting in remarks carried by the official Wafa news agency. The two sides had originally planned to hold the meeting on October 20 but postponed it following a spat between Abbas and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad which led Fatah to demand a change of venue. Hamas's exiled leadership is based in Damascus, and Syria has long backed the Islamist movement in its opposition to peace talks with Israel. Egypt, which supports the peace process, had hosted several previous meetings, but those efforts collapsed a year ago when Hamas refused to sign a unity deal endorsed by Fatah and Cairo.
-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Middle East efforts take the toll if Obama sinks
Hussain Abdul-Hussain, November 2, 2010
US President Barak Obama speaks at a rally for Democratic Governor Deval Patrick of Massachusetts in Boston, Massachusetts last month. (AFP/Saul Loeb)
The US midterm elections are expected to tip in favor of the Republicans, and some speculate US foreign policy will also shift. Several think that Obama’s Middle East efforts will not only take the backseat, but that US strategy in the region will take a new and aggressive turn.
With the House and Speaker in the hands of the Republican Party and the Democratic majority significantly shrinking in the Senate, President Barak Obama will find it increasingly hard to rule from the “left,” and will inadvertently find himself inching closer to the center of American politics.
One of the favorite parallels pundits have been drawing over the past few months has been between Obama and former President Bill Clinton, another Democrat who swept his way to power in 1992, only to crumble facing a Republican midterm tsunami in 1994. If the parallel stands, Obama’s re-election in 2012 should be a done deal.
However, history does not repeat itself every time. Republicans have been trying to highlight their 1994 Congressional victory, along with their 1980 presidential upset, when Republican Ronald Reagan defeated sitting Democratic President Jimmy Carter.
It remains too early to predict whether Obama will pull a Clinton or a Carter in 2012. What is certain is that the Democratic defeat will force Obama to offer Republicans more concessions on a number of issues: America’s foreign policy being one of them.
During his 2008 electoral campaign, Barak Obama gave voters big promises, including some that were seen as unrealistic, such as initiating dialogue with Tehran, engaging Syria, or forcing a peace treaty on the Palestinians and Israelis.
Since his inauguration, many foreign policy experts have said Obama’s foreign policy has been too ambitious and naïve. And they were right. Iraq remains a mess, and although a complete withdrawal of US forces is scheduled for the end of 2011, it is pending another security agreement between Washington and Baghdad, which could be challenging in light of the instability on the ground.
On Palestinian-Israeli peace, Obama has been soft, rolling back his harsh words against Israeli settlements in Palestinian territories, and telling The New York Times that peace talks were ‘harder than he had anticipated.’
Obama has been wrong. His vision for Middle East peace has been disconnected from reality.
For all of his foreign policy mistakes, nothing compares to Obama’s failure to engage diplomatically with Iran and Syria. He extended his hand to the Iranians, who – with a regional status quo in their favor – saw no reason to negotiate, and left it dangling in the air, while cracking down on the Green Movement activists in the aftermath of the forged presidential re-election in 2009. Obama has sent one secret emissary after another to Tehran, but the Iranian regime still stands defiant.
In Syria, Obama’s foreign policy fared slightly better. At least American envoys were able to land in Damascus and meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad and his associates. Yet unfortunately for Obama, Syria calculated that with Iran on the rise and America on the decline, there was no reason to concede anything to the United States.
The Syrian lobby in Washington – consisting mainly of senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Arlen Specter (D-PA)—had Obama’s ear for a while, propelling America’s “engagement with Syria” program, which included reappointing a US ambassador in Damascus. The last US ambassador there, Margret Scobey, was recalled in February 2005 after the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Despite being in the minority, Republicans mustered enough power to block Syria’s reconciliation with Obama. GOP senators threw a hold on Robert Ford’s appointment as ambassador to Syria. Obama rightly guessed that overriding such a hold – during Congressional recess in August – would be politically costly and not worth the trouble, given Syria’s general unresponsiveness and inability to deliver amidst Iran’s dominance throughout region.
Obstruction by the Republican minority is now history. The GOP will now be the majority in Congress. This does not mean Republicans will be able to dictate foreign policy over the Commander-in-Chief, it means Obama will have to pick his battles, lest his chances for re-election in 2012 be compromised.
Obama and his aides have already rehearsed a Democratic defeat in the midterm elections, and have decided to reorganize their priorities. With 2012 in the back of their minds, Democrats are expected to focus on domestic issues, avoiding battles on foreign policy.
This means Obama’s zeal for the peace process will recede. Washington’s mood on engagement of hostile regimes, such as Iran and Syria, will likely sour. More aircraft carriers are expected to sail from US ports to the Gulf, in order to turn the heat on Iran and other adversaries.
With the House of Representatives in Republican hands, Obama will either have to turn into a hawk like Clinton, gritting America’s teeth to the world, or risk appearing weak like Carter, and exit the White House without a second term.
Obama’s attempts to settle disputes through diplomacy in the Middle East have proven disastrous. As such, America’s foreign policy has shifted from engagement to more confrontation. A Republican victory will bring a more assertive American superpower to the world stage.
**Hussain Abdul-Hussain is the Washington Correspondent of Kuwaiti daily Al Rai.

Hariri stands by commitment to Tribunal despite call for boycott
Prime minister vows to prevent rifts from destablizing country
By Patrick Galey /Daily Star staff
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
LONDON: Prime Minister Saad Hariri reaffirmed Monday the Lebanese government’s intention to honor its commitments toward the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) as he issued his strongest absolution yet of Syria’s involvement in his father’s killing.
Hariri also vowed to prevent political rifts from destabilizing the country
Speaking with reporters in his London hotel suite before commencing an official two-day visit to the United Kingdom, Hariri stressed the need for consensus over divisive and potentially destructive issues such as the United Nations’ probe into former Prime Minister’s Rafik Hariri’s assassination.
“It is my duty to bring closer the various points of view of the Lebanese people through dialogue, because strong disagreements don’t benefit anyone and don’t lead to solutions that are for the benefit of Lebanon and the Lebanese people,” Hariri said.
He confirmed that the fate of the STL would be discussed in talks with senior British officials.
The prime minister met with the Duke of York Prince Andrew, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Foreign Minister William Hague, who voiced his country’s support for the embattled UN-backed court.
“We believe that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon should be able to complete its work.
“That is an important process and we have supported Prime Minister Hariri in resisting attempts to derail that process,” Hague told reporters before holding a closed-door meeting with Hariri.
“The UK is a firm friend of Lebanon, of its independence and of the right of its people to govern their own affairs. We strongly support what its leaders have done, what its prime minister has done, to advance its peace and prosperity in recent times,” he added.
Hague, who next week commences an official trip to the Middle East, said the peace process and “peace between Israel and Israel’s other neighbors” were touched upon during talks.
The state visit is aimed at boosting bilateral ties between Beirut and London and Hariri confirmed that potential British investment in Lebanon’s oil and gas infrastructure was discussed.
Hariri, in an interview with The Times of London, offered his most specific support for Syrian President Bashar Assad regarding his father’s murder.
“I do not think that President Assad had anything to do with that,” the paper quoted Hariri Monday.
When asked who was responsible for the truck bomb which killed Rafik Hariri and 22 others on Valentine’s Day 2005, Hariri said: “I’m the prime minister. I do not have the luxury of speculating these days.” The STL has been the focus of fierce debate in recent months, with Hizbullah and its allies calling for it to be halted.
There are fears that civil strife could follow any future indictments issued by the court, especially if anticipated arrest warrants against Hizbullah members materialize. Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah last week urged the Lebanese to boycott the probe.
The Lebanese prime minister stressed that relations between Damascus and Beirut were insoluble, in spite of dissenting voices warning against a renewal of Syrian tutelage in Lebanon.
“I believe a relationship with a country is simply bound by the interests of two countries and not by personal issues that have to do with me,” the prime minister said. “The relationship with Syria is geographically and historically important, and I should act as prime minister, not as Saad Hariri.”
“I do not believe that the blood of Rafik Hariri will or should cause strife in the country,” he added.
A source close to Hariri told The Daily Star that the prime minister would visit Moscow this month as part of his ongoing efforts to boost international support for Lebanon’s sovereignty, as well as the STL. “This is an important visit, given the political situation in Lebanon,” the source said of Hariri’s London visit. The source added that issues such as the peace process, UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and the situation in south Lebanon were all being discussed with British counterparts.
Hariri – who later met with young members of the Lebanese British expatriate community and business heads at the Lebanese Embassy in London – confirmed that the issue of STL “false witnesses” was set to be debated by Cabinet upon his return to Beirut.
“Everyone has his own point of view on this subject, and we will discuss in the Council of Ministers the proposed solutions,” Hariri said.
The prime minister will meet with David Cameron, his British counterpart, Tuesday, before returning to Lebanon Wednesday.

Republicans poised to win House and gain in Senate
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama’s Democrats braced Monday for an elections rout, as a wave of 11th-hour polls showed Republicans on course for big gains in Congress amid deep voter anger at the sour economy.
In a final push Monday, Obama gave radio interviews to several syndicated radio programs, mostly for broadcast on Election Day, and planned to make calls to Democratic volunteers and activists in Florida, New Hampshire, New Mexico and Hawaii, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said.
Feeding Democratic worries, the respected Gallup polling organization’s final pre-vote survey of likely voters nationwide found Republicans held the most commanding mid-term lead either US party has held in a generation.
Republicans led Democrats by a 55-40 percent margin, the widest such gap since the 1974 contest, when Democrats romped to victory amid public outrage at the Watergate scandal that forced disgraced President Richard Nixon from office.
The poll lent weight to analysts’ predictions that Republicans would retake the House of Representatives and slice deep into the Democratic’ Senate majority, though experts forecast the upper chamber would not change hands.
“We just can’t afford another two years like the past two,” Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner, who would all but certainly replace Democrat Nancy Pelosi as House speaker, said in an op-ed in USA Today Monday.
In a sign of Democratic angst, party chairman Tim Kaine told ABC television that Obama would set about making “some adjustments and corrections” over the next few weeks in the face of a re-energized Republican opposition. – AFP

Facebook group rejects Lebanese civil strife
community highlights common nature of country’s nationals, their desire for peace
By Olivia Alabaster /Daily Star staff
Tuesday, November 02, 2010
BEIRUT: With the results of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) imminent, which Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah has said will indict members of his Hizbullah group, world leaders are stressing the need for a peaceful response to political tensions.
But as history has shown, differences between Lebanon’s diverse array of religious sects and political groups can too-often lead to civil strife.
Many young people, however, have not directly experienced the country’s 1975-1990 Civil War.
A new Facebook group aims to remind the country’s youth of the horrors of this period, in the hope of creating a vocal opposition movement against anything similar erupting again.
Established less than a month ago, on October 6, the social networking site group, “We Are Against Civil War in Lebanon,” already has over 3,500 members.
The first post sums up the group’s message succinctly.
“We do not want civil war in Lebanon. We have no reason to kill each other. We want to live in peace and build up our future instead of burying our children killed by their Lebanese brothers,” it reads.
Raya Hilal, 26, a musician from Lebanon, created the group. She told The Daily Star that she wanted to provide a space where everyone could share their thoughts on the best methods to maintain peace.
“The fear of a new civil war is growing each day … I feel that a very large majority of the Lebanese are against the very idea of living [through] civil war again, regardless of their political opinion. I created this group to give each and every one of us the opportunity to express our strong opposition to the civil war.”
It was not a particular event or political utterance that inspired Hilal to create the group, but rather “the very bad level of the political configuration in our country which is leading us, despite all the Lebanese people’s will, to a precipice.”
The group’s wall is full of impassioned posts, stressing the common nature of all Lebanese, and their desire for peace.
As Hussein Hoteit writes on the group wall, “[18 sects] in Lebanon but we all have one God so let us live in peace and freedom brothers and sisters!”
Kimberly Bishop el-Turk adds: “I’ve been in Lebanon for about three months and I love it. This country is amazing. It’s full of warm and compassionate people … I have children who I hope can grow up in this country and feel safe and secure.”
Alongside the positive messages of pacifism and unity among all Lebanese people, regardless of sect or political persuasion, there is also a focus on the horrors and atrocities of the Civil War, lest it be forgotten.
Eddy Naim thinks the media has a part to play. “All media in Lebanon should start broadcasting images and footage of the civil war, [to] remind everyone what it was like and show those who were too young what it will be like.”
In this vein, the group also features harrowing images from Lebanon’s Civil War.
While Hilal was very young during the conflict, she has vivid memories of it. “I can never forget the pain people I knew were feeling, all the tears I’ve seen, and all the destruction.”
Stressing the lessons to be learned from the past, Ghassan Jenainaty wrote in one post: “It is time for Lebanese to learn from their mistakes or the history will never forgive them. Enough is enough!”
But what exactly can a Facebook group achieve? Hilal explains. “My aim is to reach members that share this point of view, which will allow us to express ourselves, but mostly to be heard shouting high and loud our opposition to war, and eventually organize any pacifistic action against this threat.”
Only then will politicians sit up and listen, Hilal says. “In all the countries of the world, true politicians listen to the opinion of the people and work for the people, for the country, for a better future and not the contrary.”

Oil and gas discoveries produce potential Israel-Lebanon flash points
By Nicholas Blanford, Correspondent / November 1, 2010
Beirut, Lebanon
The recent discoveries of massive gas fields off the coast of northern Israel, tantalizingly close to Lebanese coastal waters, has stirred cash-strapped Lebanon to accelerate efforts to begin its own oil and gas exploration.
Because the Israeli/Lebanese maritime border remains in dispute, efforts to exploit huge natural gas fields in the Mediterranean could spark a conflict that reaches far beyond the two nations' contested boundaries.
. On Israel's doorstep, Ahmadinejad hurls taunts across the Lebanese border
Israel-Lebanon clash: Could it spark another war?
Hummus wars: Israelis respond to Lebanon's world record dish
.But the prospect of previously undiscovered fossil fuel riches off the coasts of Lebanon and Israel risks becoming a new source of conflict as well as an economic windfall for the two warring neighbors.
"This is something big and potentially landscape-changing economically, financially, and politically," says Nassib Ghobril, head of economic research and analysis at Byblos Bank in Beirut.
Last year, a US-Israeli consortium discovered the Tamar gas field 55 miles off the coast of northern Israel, which contains an estimated 8.4 trillion cubic feet of recoverable gas – the largest natural-gas find in the world in 2009. Earlier this year, a field called Leviathan was discovered in the same area with an initial estimate of 16 trillion cubic feet of gas.
But there are likely more untapped fields; the US Geological Survey (USGS) said in March that the Levantine Basin, which includes the territorial waters of Lebanon, Israel, Syria, and Cyprus, could hold as much as 122 trillion cubic feet of gas – and 1.7 billion barrels of oil.
Indebted Lebanon
Israel, which could become energy self-sufficient if results meet expectations, began test drilling the Leviathan deposit Oct. 18. The same week, Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri said that Lebanon was close to marking its maritime boundaries with neighbors Syria and Cyprus, which should allow oil and gas exploration licenses to be issued by early 2012.
The prospect of oil and gas beneath Lebanon's coastal waters could have immense benefits for a country short on natural resources and encumbered with one of the highest debt rates in the world, around $52 billion or 147 percent of gross domestic product.
But Mr. Ghobril, the economic analyst, cautions that it is too early to anticipate an oil and gas boom for Lebanon.
A draft bill on energy exploration passed by the Lebanese parliament in August deferred politically sensitive aspects such as deciding on the regulatory body and how to handle any revenues. Lebanon's notoriously turgid bureaucracy and political infighting could also delay the process.
"All of this precedes any positive tangibles in that regard," he says. "The key point is to see how much of [the gas and oil] is economically recoverable. We might all be disappointed but we might also be pleasantly surprised."
The maritime border between the two countries has never been delineated because they have officially been at war since Israel declared independence in 1948.
Why It Matters
Because the Israeli/Lebanese maritime border remains in dispute, efforts to exploit huge natural gas fields in the Mediterranean could spark a conflict that reaches far beyond the two nations' contested boundaries.
On Israel's doorstep, Ahmadinejad hurls taunts across the Lebanese border
Israel-Lebanon clash: Could it spark another war?
Hummus wars: Israelis respond to Lebanon's world record dish
.Israel says its gas concessions lie within Israeli waters, but it remains unknown whether the gas field extends to beneath Lebanon's territorial waters. The Lebanese government recently handed to the UN documents marking what it believes is the correct path of Lebanon's maritime border with Israel.
In the absence of a mutual agreement on the border and division of resources, Israel could follow the "right of capture" rule, which allows a nation to extract oil or gas from its side of the border, even if the reserves stretch into another country's territory.
Some Lebanese politicians have accused Israel of attempting to steal Lebanon's oil and gas resources, and militant Shiite Hezbollah has sworn to use its weapons to defend them. Israeli officials have warned of retaliation for attacks on its oil and gas facilities.
The United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea offers specific guidelines for maritime borders, but Israel is not a signatory to the convention. "It requires mutual recognition of those borders," says Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security in Washington. "So this will require the two sides to sit down and agree on this, which I don't see happening."
UN unlikely to wade in
The UN has been here before. In 2000, when Israeli troops in south Lebanon were supposed to withdraw to satisfy UN resolutions, the UN created a "Blue Line" conforming to the Lebanese/Israeli border. The UN insisted that the Blue Line had no legal standing but was simply a measure for Israel's troop pullout. However, the delineation process took longer than planned because neither side was willing to concede an inch of territory.
Israel has placed buoys where it believes the sea border lies, and routinely defends it with armed force. The UN does not recognize the line as legally binding, but the naval component of the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon observes a 1.25-mile buffer north of the line to avoid potential confrontations with the Israeli navy.
While the UN's International Court of Justice has ruled on maritime borders in the past, analysts doubt that the UN will risk becoming embroiled in another boundary dispute between Lebanon and Israel – especially with potentially billions of dollars of oil and gas revenue at stake.
"It's an extremely complicated process to delineate a maritime border, and I don't think the UN will become involved in that," says Timur Goksel, a former senior official with the UN peacekeeping force in south Lebanon. "They haven't even finished marking the Blue Line on the

Interview with Assistant Secretary of State Jeffrey D. Feltman
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/checkpoint-washington/2010/11/interview_with_assistant_secre.html
Jeffrey D. Feltman, the assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs, recently spoke to The Washington Post about relations with Syria and the situation in Lebanon.
Question: The administration has issued many warnings about Lebanon, but what are the United States and its allies actually doing about Lebanon?
Feltman: Lebanon is divided right now. There is deep political division and it is clear what side of that division Syria and Iran support. So I think it is important for us, for Lebanon's other friends, to show there is not a vacuum on the other side. I am talking about the state, not just March 14 supporters [political parties that are opposed to Syrian interference]. The United States, the U.N, other countries are able to show this work for the state.
The message I delivered from President Obama to President [Michel] Suleiman, Secretary Clinton's call to President Suleiman, the consultations we have been having with our regional and international friends, the statements made in N.Y. yesterday [Oct. 28] by Ambassador [Susan] Rice -- these are all examples of the United States showing that Syria and Iran are not the only countries that are interested in what's happening in Lebanon.
There have been a number of consultations, phone calls and discussions between senior levels of this government, senior levels of Lebanese government, and senior levels of a lot of other governments. There have been some common themes. One is this recognition that the special tribunal for Lebanon is not going away. And I think it is a message the special tribunal and the secretary general have delivered quite effectively. No matter how much Hezbollah huffs and puffs, the special tribunal for Lebanon's work continues. Part of what we have tried to do is reinforce that message, which is that the work is going to continue. Part of what we have tried to do is to demonstrate that if a country or an individual is truly interested in Lebanon's stability, you don't present a choice between justice and stability. This is an artificial choice. Lebanon, like any country, needs both.
Question: Are there consequences to Iran's and Syria's behavior?
Feltman: Syria has said it wants a better bilateral relationship with us. We would like to have a better bilateral relationship with Syria. Syria and the United States have taken some modest steps to see if we can improve the bilateral relationship. But this cannot go very far as long as Syria's friends are undermining stability in Lebanon. We have made that absolutely clear to the Syrians. There is a cost to the potential in our bilateral relationship to what Syria's friends are doing in Lebanon.
Syria has said that it wishes to have its territorial expectations met through a peace agreement with Israel and that Syria recognizes the essential role that we can play in achieving that. It is in the U.S. national interest that we have a comprehensive peace in the Middle East. So this suggests to me that Syria is in fact interested in a better relationship with us. But our interests in a comprehensive peace doesn't mean that we are going to start trading our other interests in Iraq or Lebanon in order to get Damascus to like us better.
We have attempted to test the proposition that Syria can play a constructive role in the region. But what Syria's friends are doing in Lebanon undercuts the Syrian argument that Syria has itself has a strong interest in Lebanon's stability.
Question: Some believe Iran is gaining in the region, and that is the reason for Syria's lack of interest in improving the relationship. After all, the Obama administration can't even convince Israel to halt settlement construction.
Feltman: Do they [the Syrians] think the Iranians are able to get the Golan back for them? I find that improbable. I don't discount the difficulties of Middle East peace. Clearly we have encountered obstacles in trying to achieve forward momentum in the negotiating process.
But if I look at the Iran question you posed, let's take one country that you didn't mention, which comes up a lot in the Iran context, which is Iraq. I heard people say that Iran is winning, but I look and don't see it. Iran tried to have a unified Shia front for the elections. They failed. Iran summoned Iraqi politicians after the elections to form a government. They failed. Iran tried to unify all the Shia behind one prime minister candidate. They failed. Going back earlier, Iran tried to prevent the Iraqis from approving the security agreement as well the strategic framework agreement. So I hear these tales that Iran is winning in Iraq but I don't see any examples of the facts supporting that argument.
There has been a lot of analysis of the Ahmadinejad visit to Lebanon. But I guess in part he is also practicing the age-old custom of leaders of when they have troubles at home, tend to try to dabble in foreign policy and stage some sort of triumphant foreign tour that broadcasts back home, where he might not have the same sort of support that he appears to be getting in the foreign place. I think that trip to Lebanon has as much to do with domestic politics in Tehran as it did with any kind of proxy politics inside Lebanon.
Question: So you don't think Lebanon is about to fall into Iran's hands?
Feltman: We are deeply concerned about Lebanon, without question we are concerned. You can't help but be concerned when you see the kind of rhetoric that is appearing in columns, on the mouths of what are called politicians, when you hear [Hezbollah leader] Hassan Nasrallah basically asking for an end to cooperation to a tribunal that was set up under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Security Council, you can't help but be concerned. The divisions that are inside Lebanon, that are apparent to everyone inside Lebanon, I don't think lend themselves to anyone party inside or outside Lebanon being in a position to control everything.
By Glenn Kessler | November 1, 2010;

Engaging Damascus: A Bad Idea
A briefing by David Schenker
October 14, 2010
http://www.meforum.org/2770/engaging-damascus
Audio Recording
David Schenker, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, previously served as the Pentagon's top policy aide on the Arab countries of the Levant. He has authored Dancing with Saddam: the Strategic Tango of Jordanian-Iraqi Relations; more recently, he published a chapter on U.S.-Lebanese relations in Lebanon: Liberation, Conflict, and Crisis. On October 14, Mr. Schenker addressed the Middle East Forum in New York on the Obama administration's questionable policy of pursuing engagement with Syria.
Mr. Schenker began his remarks by arguing that the Obama administration's engagement policy with Syria has been even less effective than with Iran. He listed a litany of Syrian crimes against U.S. interests in the region, including Damascus's unwavering support for Hezbollah and other terrorists, its ongoing meddling in Lebanon, and its refusal to seal the border with Iraq against insurgents.
Mr. Schenker identified three key misconceptions that prohibit the administration from developing a sound policy toward Syria. The first is the notion that Damascus welcomes a closer relationship to Washington than Tehran—an assumption that overlooks a thirty-year strategic relationship with the Islamic Republic. Second, Washington policymakers maintain that Syria can play a positive role in Lebanon, despite evidence of continued interference in Lebanese affairs, even following the Cedar Revolution. Finally, the Obama administration believes that Syria can play a central role for U.S. policy in the region—despite Damascus' use of "resistance" groups to strengthen its hand in the region and its blatant disregard for IAEA and UN resolutions.
During a lively question-and-answer session, Mr. Schenker was asked what it would take for Damascus to respect the U.S. He argued for "a robust military strategy in addition to a diplomatic strategy" that would demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the regime cannot continue its current policies without consequences. Regarding opposition groups inside Syria, Mr. Schenker suggested that effective opposition is likely non-existent, noting for example that membership in the Muslim Brotherhood is punishable by death. On the topic of regime change, Mr. Schenker argued that it would be rash for the U.S. to consider that as an option with the fallout from Iraq still playing out, beyond which there is no guarantee that a replacement would be any more amenable to the West.
Mr. Schenker concludes that "we're chasing after Syria and they're having no part of it," suggesting that President Obama's policy of engagement with Syria is not only ineffective, but probably counterproductive as well.
Summary written by MEF intern Sean Alexander
 

Canada Condemns Istanbul Bombing
(No. 350 - November – 5:30 p.m. ET) The Honourable Lawrence Cannon, Minister of Foreign Affairs, today issued the following statement condemning the terrorist attack carried out in Istanbul on October 31, 2010:
“Canada deplores the suicide attack against Turkish police carried out in Istanbul’s Taksim Square on October 31. The injured, their families and friends are in our thoughts, and we wish them a quick recovery.
“The attack, which injured civilians as well as police officers, showed a callous disregard for human life on the part of both the bomber and those who directed him. Canada supports its G-20 partner and NATO ally Turkey in its fight against terrorism.
“We have received no reports to date of Canadians injured in this attack. Canadian officials in Ottawa and Istanbul are in close contact with Turkish authorities and are monitoring the situation.
“We invite Canadian citizens in Istanbul to call home and reassure their loved ones, even if they have not been affected by the attack.”
Canadians in Turkey who require emergency consular assistance should contact the Canadian consulate in Istanbul at +90 (212) 251-9838, or the Canadian embassy in Ankara at +90 (312) 409-2700. Alternatively, they may call Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada’s Emergency Operations Centre toll-free at 00800-14-220-0149 or collect at 613-996-8885 or send an email to sos@international.gc.ca.
Friends and relatives in Canada seeking information on Canadian citizens believed to be in the affected area should contact the Emergency Operations Centre by calling 1-800-387-3124 or 613-943-1055 or by sending an email to sos@international.gc.ca.
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For further information, media representatives may contact:
Jacques Labrie
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs
613-995-1851
Foreign Affairs Media Relations Office
Foreign Affairs and International Trade Canada
613-995-1874