LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِAugust 08/2011

Bible Quotation for today
Romans 8/31-39: " What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who didn’t spare his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how would he not also with him freely give us all things? Who could bring a charge against God’s chosen ones? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, yes rather, who was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  Even as it is written, “For your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (Psalm 44:22) No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,  nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Reading the Al-Qaeda files and seeing what they can teach/By Walid Phares/August 07/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for August 07/11
Pope Benedict XVI calls for respect of Syrians' “legitimate aspirations”
Ban Tells Assad to End Military Onslaught in Syria
Turkey revives military threat as Syrian tanks storm Deir al-Zour
STL Indictment to Be Released between August 18 and 20
Arab League Urges Syria to Stop violence 'Immediately'
Activists: At Least 57 Killed Today in Syria, Including 38 in Deir Ezzor
Syrian Tanks Attack Deir al-Zour

Lebanon against interference in Syria, Mansour tells Assad
Assad to Mansour: State is Obligated to Confront Outlaws who are Terrorizing the People
Syria Hits Back, Asks GCC to Condemn 'Armed Groups Acts'
Erdogan on Syrian Violence: We Have Reached the End of our Patience
Shaaban: Turkey Will Hear Stronger Statements from us When its FM Visits Damascus
Navy SEALs unit which killed Bin Laden loses 22 men in Afghan helicopter crash
US Senator calls on Syria’s Assad to step down
Prominent Syrian opposition figure arrested, activist says
Prominent Syrian Opposition Figure Arrested, as Protests Kick Off in Several Areas
One Killed, 8 Wounded as Palestinians Clash at Ain al-Hilweh
Future bloc MP Riad Rahhal : Lebanon’s UN stance contradicted Human Rights Charter
Sleiman discusses latest developments with Rai
Al-Rahi to Suleiman: Dialogue Must be Resumed in Order to Reach Agreement on Defense Strategy
Jumblat May Meet Hariri before Returning to Lebanon from Turkey Visit
Aoun: We are Not Spiteful, But Just
Baroud in Tunisia to Oversee its Parliamentary Elections
Al-Lino: We Can No Longer Remain Lenient with Criminals Targeting Ain al-Hilweh
Lebanon: Prisoner dies in Roumieh

Families of detained Islamists hold protest in Tripoli

Pope Benedict XVI calls for respect of Syrians' “legitimate aspirations”
August 7, 2011 /Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for an adequate response to the "legitimate aspirations" of the Syrian people and a return to peaceful coexistence in the conflict-torn nation. "I am following with deep concern the dramatic and increasing episodes of violence in Syria that have led to numerous victims and grave suffering," the pontiff said in a weekly address to pilgrims at his summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, just outside Rome. Already in June the pope expressed his concern over events in Syria in a meeting with the new Syrian ambassador to the Holy See, Hussan Edin Aala. The pontiff said at the time that mass demonstrations against the government in Damascus showed "the urgent need for real reforms", calling for "respect for truth and human rights". Benedict has said that Syria was traditionally "an example of tolerance, of conviviality and of harmonious relations between Christians and Muslims".In May, the pontiff made an appeal for an end to bloodshed in Syria and called on authorities to "recognize legitimate aspirations for a future of peace and stability."-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Syrian official responds to GCC’s call on Syria to “end bloodshed”
August 7, 2011 /An unnamed Syrian official said on Sunday that Syria received the Gulf Cooperation Council’s statement “with regret,” the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.
The GCC on Saturday urged an end to "bloodshed" in Syria and called for major reforms. “The statement completely ignored the information and the facts that the Syrian state mentioned regarding murders and actions of sabotage carried out by armed groups targeting [Syria’s] security and sovereignty and the [Syrian people’s] future.”The source added that the statement also ignored the reforms Syrian President Bashar al-Assad announced, as well as “Assad’s confirmation” of the importance of national dialogue that is the only means to resolving the current crisis. The political leadership was not prevented from working to carry out reforms despite the Syrian opposition’s “negative” stance and despite the “armed groups’ continuity of actions of murder and sabotage.”“[To end] the current violence…[our] Arab brothers in the GCC need to demand the end of sabotage and to condemn armed violence performed by groups that do not want [to positively] serve Syria.”“We hope that our brothers in the gulf reconsider their stance taking into consideration what the Syrian political leadership is doing to overcome the current crisis, achieve security and stability, and fulfill the Syrian people’s demands.”Anti-regime protests erupted in Syria in mid-March. At least 1,583 civilians and 369 members of the army and security forces have been killed, according to a Syrian Observatory toll.-NOW Lebanon

Turkey revives military threat as Syrian tanks storm Deir al-Zour
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report August 7, 2011,
After capturing the northern town of Hama in a bloody military assault, Syrian President Bashar Assad Sunday, Aug. 7, sent a whole division of 200 tanks and dozens of armored vehicles to blast their way into another rebellious city, Syria's oil center of Deir el-Zour in the Euphrates Valley, a town of half a million inhabitants. At least 60 people were reported dead in one day.
debkafile's military sources report that while Hama is a Muslim Brotherhood stronghold, Deir el-Zour is the urban center of some 2.1 million members of assorted nomadic Bedouin tribes. They too are Sunni Muslims though of different sects. The Baqqara tribal federation is the largest, numbering 1.2 million, followed by the Fadan Walad and the Fadan Kharsa of the Euphrates Valley and the al Shammar Karsah of Deir al Zour and its environs.
Unlike the protesters of Hama, these tribesmen lack anti-tank weapons for battling Syrian armor and so their town may not hold out against the Syrian onslaught beyond two or three days. The tribesmen have meanwhile run for cover to the dense papyrus groves of the river bank and the narrow wadis of the Iraqi al Anbar province just across the border. From these hiding places, our military sources expect them refugees to organize protracted guerrilla warfare against the Assad regime and Syrian army.
debkafile recalls that these are the very tribes which from 2003 to 2006 joined al Qaeda in bloody warfare on US forces in central Iraq, preventing Anbar and the central Iraqi towns of Falujja and Ramadi ever being completely subdued and constantly convulsed by suicide attacks.
It was only when President George W. Bush agreed to implement the Awakening Councils plan put forward by Gen. David Petraeus, the current CIA Director, which involved substantial monthly payments to the tribal chiefs for warfare against al Qaeda that, Al Anbar was pacified.
Aware of the menace posed by these tribes, Syrian security services last week – ahead of the Deir el-Zour offensive – captured the Baqqara tribal chief Sheikh Nawaf al-Bashir as hostage against the tribes joining the uprising against the regime. Syrian military intelligence will find him a tough nut to crack – even for a heavy bribe.
The upshot may well be that although the Syrian army finally subjugates Deir al-Zour and Abu Kemal on the Iraqi border its forces will be cornered by Sunni tribes which control the road networks around the two eastern towns and prey to their raids.
Assad's offensive against the two towns also places at risk Syria's small oil fields and pipeline system. Their daily product of $8-10 million is his primary source of revenue for sustaining his war on the uprising and they will certainly become a prime strategic target for the resistance.
Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan decided to send his foreign minister Ahmed Davutoglu to Damascus Tuesday, Aug. 9, after declaring Saturday that Turkey's patience with its neighbor "was running thin and his country could not remain a bystander to the violence… but must do what is necessary."
Davutoglu will "deliver our message in a more determined way," said Erdogan. "…a new process will take shape according to their response and actions."
"We do not see Syria as a foreign problem, Syria is our domestic problem because we have a 850-kilometer border with this country, we have historical and cultural ties, we have kinship," Erdogan said. This was the last warning from Ankara – and therefore NATO – that Turkey was about to intervene militarily in Syria, after maintain army units on the Syrian border for weeks. Friday, Aug. 5, Russia's NATO ambassador Dmitry Rogozin accused NATO, of which Turkey is a member, of planning a military campaign against Syria to help overthrow the Assad regime "with the long-reaching goal of preparing a beachhead for an attack on Iran." Click here for debkafile report


Future bloc MP Riad Rahhal : Lebanon’s UN stance contradicted Human Rights Charter
August 7, 2011 /Future bloc MP Riad Rahhal said on Sunday that “Lebanon’s stance in the UN regarding the presidential statement on Syria does not comply with the UN Human Rights Charter that was signed by Lebanon.”“The stance also contradicts with the ministerial statement regarding the special relations with Lebanon and Syria,” the National News Agency also quoted him as saying.  “What stance will the Lebanese government take if the Syrian people topple their regime? With whom will the government stand? Will it leave with [Syrian] Bashar al-Assad or will it stand by the Syrian people?”Rahhal called on the cabinet to “take an honorable stance approved by all the Lebanese people and to stand by the Syrian people before it is too late.”The UN Security Council Wednesday condemned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's deadly crackdown on protests and called for those responsible for violence to be held "accountable."Lebanon did not block the adoption, but disavowed the document.-NOW Lebanon

Prisoner dies in Roumieh
August 7, 2011
The National News Agency reported on Sunday that four prisoners in Roumieh Prision set their beds on fire.One of the detainees, identified as Mohammad Zouieter, died shortly afterward from his injuries. A number of riots have broken out in the facility in the past months, with prisoners demanding a series of rights. -NOW Lebanon

Ban Tells Assad to End Military Onslaught in Syria
Naharnet/U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon told Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday to immediately end his deadly military campaign against opponents, the United Nations said.
Ban also said the use of mass arrests must also be halted in Syria in the first contacts between the two since April. Assad had been refusing to take calls from the U.N. secretary general as he stepped up his crackdown on opposition protests. But a U.N. Security Council statement this week has increased international pressure on the Syrian leader whose government announced Saturday that "free" elections would be held this year. "In a phone conversation with President Assad of Syria today, the secretary general expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days," said U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky.
Ban "reflected to the Syrian president the clear message sent by the Security Council and urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," Nesirky said.
The Security Council ordered the U.N. leader to make a report on events in Syria by Wednesday and Ban had promised to make a new effort to contact Assad.
Assad again made his defense that "a large number" of Syrian security forces had been killed in the protests, and Ban said he condemned violence against civilians and security forces, said his spokesman. "The president also referred to his recently announced reform measures. The secretary general underscored that for these measures to gain credibility, the use of force and mass arrests must stop immediately," the U.N. added. "He reminded President Assad of the Syrian authorities’ obligations under international human rights law."
The U.N. leader also repeated calls for the Syrian government to receive missions from the international humanitarian agencies and the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
These longstanding demands will be discussed Syria's foreign minister this week, the spokesman said. "The secretary general also underlined the responsibility of the Syrian authorities to ensure the security of the U.N. staff and premises inside the country," added the spokesman. Protests against Assad started in mid-March. The Syrian government has since then sought to crush the democracy movement with brutal force, killing around 1,650 civilians and arresting thousands of dissenters, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Source Agence France Presse


Assad to Mansour: State is Obligated to Confront Outlaws who are Terrorizing the People

Naharnet /Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour stressed on Sunday Lebanon’s rejection of all attempts to meddle in Syria’s internal affairs. He said after holding talks in Damascus with Syrian President Bashar Assad: “Lebanon’s stability is linked to Syria’s stability.” “The two countries are not only bound together because they are neighbors, but they are bound by historic, cultural, and fraternal ties,” he added. For his part, Assad stated that Syria is steadily implementing reform. Furthermore, he said: “The state is obligated to protect the lives and security of its citizens against outlaws who are blocking roads, closing down cities, and terrorizing the people.” The meeting was attended by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid a-Muallem, Assad’s advisor Buthaina Shaaban, Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul Karim Ali, and Lebanese Ambassador to Syria Michel Khoury.

Activists: At Least 57 Killed Today in Syria, Including 38 in Deir Ezzor
Naharnet /Syrian forces backed by tanks killed at least 57 people on Sunday in the regions of Deir Ezzor, Homs and Idlib, activists said, as President Bashar al-Assad defended what he termed the state's duty to crack down on "outlaws" despite mounting condemnation. Security forces killed at least 38 civilians in the city of Deir Ezzor alone, activists said, and at least seven more died in Hula, a town in Homs province, in a separate assault with tanks. "The operations are focused on al-Joura district where the army and security forces opened fire, killing at least 20 and wounding dozens of others," Syrian League for the Defense of Human Rights head Abdul Karim Rihawi told Agence France Presse. While the pope joined an international chorus of concern over the bloodshed, Assad defended his security forces' deadly crackdown on anti-regime protests as the "duty of the state" to confront "outlaws." "Syria is on the path to reforms," he said, quoted by state news agency SANA. "To deal with outlaws who cut off roads, seal towns and terrorize residents is a duty of the state which must defend security and protect the lives of civilians," he said.
His statement came a day after a personal appeal by U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon for Assad to halt the bloodshed. Ban in a telephone call "expressed his strong concern and that of the international community at the mounting violence and death toll in Syria over the past days," U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said late Saturday. The secretary general "reflected to the Syrian president the clear message sent by the (U.N.) Security Council and urged the president to stop the use of military force against civilians immediately," Nesirky said. Ban's call followed a pledge by the U.S., French and German leaders to consider new steps to punish Syria after security forces killed more than 30 people on the first Friday of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting.
In contrast to Assad's reference to outlaws, Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for an adequate response to the "legitimate aspirations" of the Syrian people. "I am following with deep concern the dramatic and increasing episodes of violence in Syria that have led to numerous victims and grave suffering," the pontiff said in a weekly address to pilgrims outside Rome. Hundreds of tanks and armored cars have been deployed in Deir Ezzor, said Rami Abdul Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, adding many residents had fled in fear of the assault on the largest city in east Syria.
Syria's government has sought to crush the democracy movement with brutal force, leaving at least 2,059 people dead, including 391 members of the security forces, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory. On Saturday, security forces in Damascus arrested prominent opposition figure and former political prisoner Walid al-Bunni and his two sons, said Abdul Rahman. Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said earlier the same day that "free and transparent" elections to a new parliament would be held by the end of 2011, as he met with ambassadors posted to Damascus. Muallem stressed "the commitment of the Syrian leadership to the continued reform process and implementation of measures announced by President Assad."
The embattled president issued a decree on Thursday allowing opposition political parties.
In April, he ordered an end to five decades of draconian emergency rule and abolished the feared state security courts, while in June he said talks could lead to a new constitution and end his Baath party's monopoly on power. But the concessions have been largely dismissed by the opposition as a ploy to stave off world condemnation.
The Syrian protesters have been calling for greater freedoms since mid-March, inspired by Arab uprisings that ousted the autocratic leaders of Tunisia and Egypt at the start of the year.
Assad's regime has become increasingly isolated, with allies like Turkey and Russia calling for an end to the bloody crackdown.
Turkey's Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu is to visit Syria on Tuesday with the message that Ankara "has run out of patience" with the ongoing violence, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Assad's adviser Buthaina Shaaban said Davutoglu would himself "receive a firm message" in Damascus.
Turkey had failed to condemn "the brutal murders carried out by armed terrorist groups against civilians and soldiers" in Syria, she said, adding that Damascus had always "opposed interference in internal affairs" of other states. The foreign ministry, meanwhile, rejected criticism from the Arab monarchies of the Gulf and called for them to instead condemn "the violence of armed groups ... to allow time for the reforms" proposed by the authorities.
**Source Agence France Presse

Al-Rahi to Suleiman: Dialogue Must be Resumed in Order to Reach Agreement on Defense Strategy
Naharnet /Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi hoped on Sunday that national dialogue would be resumed in Lebanon in order for all the concerned sides to reach an agreement on a national defense strategy. He said while addressing President Michel Suleiman during his Sunday sermon: “We hope you will be able to fulfill your pledge of resuming dialogue.”
He gave the sermon from the Deir al-Qamar town in the Chouf, as part of his tour of the region. Al-Rahi added: “This dialogue is aimed at protecting Lebanon and fortifying it against various dangers.”“We hope that the talks would develop into a comprehensive national conference that would pave the way for a document of coexistence that would be able to follow up the challenges of our Arab world,” he stated. Earlier on Sunday, the patriarch and the president held a closed-door meeting at the latter’s summer residence at the Beiteddine palace in the Chouf.The talks focused on Lebanese and regional developments.

Indictment to Be Released between August 18 and 20
Naharnet /The indictment in the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is expected to be released between August 18 and 20, reported the Kuwaiti al-Rai newspaper on Sunday. It said that published indictment will be a 40-page summary of the original, which is comprised of 9,700 pages. The summary will include testimonies, documents, and files on various aspects of the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. They include information on the car that carried the explosives used in the murder, where it was bought, and how it entered Lebanon. The indictment will also reveal information on the nature of the bomb that targeted Hariri and the investigations that followed the crime. The first phase of the indictment was released in late June and it was accompanied by arrest warrants against four Hizbullah members.

Arab League Urges Syria to Stop violence 'Immediately'

Naharnet/The Arab League on Sunday called on the Syrian authorities to "immediately" stop the violence that has rocked the country since mid-March, in the pan-Arab body's first official statement on the unrest. League Secretary General Nabil al-Arabi "calls on the Syrian authorities to bring an end immediately to acts of violence and campaigns by the security forces against civilians," the statement said. It said Arabi expressed his "increasing concern" because of "the deterioration of the security situation in Syria following the rise in violence and military operations in Hama, Deir Ezzor and several regions."The Arab League chief met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in Damascus on July 13 on "developments in Syria," Syrian state television said. Arabi at the time told reporters the league "rejects any interference in the internal affairs of Arab countries and nobody can withdraw the legitimacy of a leader because it is up to the people to decide." He also underlined that Syria's stability was essential for other Arab countries.*Source Agence France Presse

Jumblat May Meet Hariri before Returning to Lebanon from Turkey Visit
Naharnet /Progressive Socialist Party leader MP Walid Jumblat may meet with former Prime Minister Saad Hariri in Paris, revealed a March 14 source to the Kuwaiti al-Anbaa newspaper on Sunday. It said that he may hold the talks with the former premier in the upcoming hours before returning to Lebanon. The MP had visited Turkey on Saturday where he met with Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. According to diplomatic sources, the talks focused on the political situation in Lebanon, as well the developments in the Arab world. Turkey reasserted its position on these developments, stressing the importance it places on stability in Lebanon, revealed the sources.

Aoun: We are Not Spiteful, But Just

Naharnet/Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun stressed on Saturday that corruption should not be the norm in forming a new government in Lebanon. He said during an FPM dinner in the Chouf region: “The state cannot be built without security, a fair judiciary, and adequate finances.”“The state treasury cannot be guarded by someone who steals the people’s taxes,” he noted. “We vow that we will complete the plan of change and reform and those who deserve it will be appointed to their rightful positions,” the MP added. “We want a fair state and all who have robbed the country and led us to this poor condition will be held accountable,” Aoun declared. “No one can label us as spiteful. We are not spiteful, but just,” stressed the FPM leader.

US Senator calls on Syria’s Assad to step down
August 6, 2011
US Senator Robert P. Casey, the chair of the Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee on Near Eastern and South and Central Asian affairs, called on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to step down, adding that the Syrian people “should not have to bear the brutality” of Assad’s regime. “The horror taking place in Syria has led me and others in the Senate to conclude that this regime is not capable of real reform. It has lost all legitimacy,” Casey said in an article published on Saturday with The Washington Post newspaper. He added that “the Syrians outside their country should [no longer] suffer from the terrible reach of this regime [as well].”
“Amid Assad’s campaign of terror, we cannot forget his support for terrorism abroad. Assad’s fall could have significant ramifications across the region: It would weaken Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, which would no longer have a foothold in Damascus. It would reduce the strength of Hezbollah in Lebanon, which continues to stockpile weapons that it receives from Syria. And it would limit Hamas’s ability to conduct terrorist operations in Gaza.” Casey also said that Washington’s “allies in the Arab League and in Turkey could play a critical role in pressuring Assad.” The Senator called on the US Congress and administration to make efforts “to leverage” relations with Damascus for a comprehensive regional approach to the crisis in Syria. “We must also continue to pursue efforts that constrict the regime’s ability to conduct business abroad,” he said. Syrian activists say at least 1,600 civilians have been killed since the regime launched its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators mid-March.-NOW Lebanon

Prominent Syrian opposition figure arrested, activist says

August 6, 2011 ظSecurity forces on Saturday arrested prominent opposition figure and former political prisoner Walid al-Bunni and his two sons, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman said. The arrests came after Syria vowed on Saturday to hold "free and transparent" elections by the end of 2011 as Arab states in the Gulf joined a chorus of Western pressure over its deadly suppression of anti-regime protests."The Syrian security services on Saturday evening arrested opposition figure and ex-political prisoner Walid al-Bunni" and his sons Moayed and Ayad, the Britain-based Abdel Rahman told AFP in Cyprus by telephone. Syrian activists say at least 1,600 civilians have been killed since the regime launched its crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators mid-March.-NOW Lebanon

Navy SEALs unit which killed Bin Laden loses 22 men in Afghan helicopter crash

DEBKAfile Special Report /August 6, 2011,
In a signal strategic achievement, the Afghan Taliban shot down a US Chinook helicopter killing 31 US troops and 7 Afghan commandos in the rugged Wardak province east of Kabul early Saturday, Aug. 5./  Among them were 22 members of the elite Navy SEAL Six, the same unit which killed Osama bin Laden in May. This was the single largest US loss of life in the Afghan war. US military sources say it is unlikely that any of those who took part in that operation were aboard the helicopter. Even so, the Taliban who downed the Chinook apparently with a rocket-propelled grenade will be able to claim they made good on their vow to avenge the al Qaeda leader's death.
Downing a helicopter apparently by a rocket-propelled grenade, which is not a standard anti-aircraft weapon, indicates that the Taliban has perfected methods for shooting down low-flying American helicopters with the basic weapons in their possession.
As the investigation begins on the incident, there are conflicting reports about the mission performed by the men aboard.
According to a US military source, they we returning from an operation in which eight insurgents were believed to have been killed. A Taliban insurgent present at the crash scene told Western correspondents the helicopter was not leaving but arriving: "What we saw was that when we were having our pre-dawn (Ramadan) meal, Americans landed some soldiers for an early raid. The other helicopter also came for the raid," Mohammad Walil Wardag said. "We were outside our rooms on a veranda and saw this helicopter flying very low, it was hit by a rocket and it was on fire. It started coming down and crashed just away form our home close to the river."
So far this year, 365 coalition troops have died in Afghanistan, 42 in July.
The news of the helicopter crash and fatalities reached Washington as the Obama administration was still reeling from the Stand & Poor's downgrade of America's credit rating for the first time ever from AAA to AA+. It piled a military calamity on top of a body blow to the American economy.
It also placed in doubt President Barack Obama's claim in recent weeks that the US-led coalition had been able to halt Taliban's "military momentum." Indeed in the very areas that NATO combat forces have begun to hand over security control to local forces, Taliban are redoubling their attacks. The 140,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan – about 100,000 of them American, are due to all leave Afghanistan by the end of 2014 and some withdrawals have already taken place. debkafile's military sources report that despite the hints from the White House that the US is in direct talks with the Taliban for ending the war, what these contacts amount to is field commanders interacting with insurgents on a local level - not so far talks with the Taliban high command and its leader Mullah Omar. A negotiated end to the Afghan war is therefore not in sight.

Reading the Al-Qaeda files and seeing what they can teach
Saturday, August 06, 2011
By Walid Phares/Spero News
The free world has waited patiently for 10 to 20 years to learn the master plan of international jihadism’s “al-Za’im,” (English: “the leader”) Osama bin Laden.
Because Seal Team Six dropped in on the al-Qaida leader’s Abbottabad domicile unannounced, he was unable to marshal a defense or dispose of the stockpile of strategic documentation he had preserved on digital storage media and in paper files.
It is safe to assume that the information he had accumulated over a period of years is in the U.S. being thoroughly scrutinized by members of the intelligence community.
U.S. officials characterized the files seized from bin Laden’s vault as a veritable cornucopia of actionable intelligence that should keep analysts and Arab language translators busy for a very long time.
Analysts, who have monitored Osama’s activities since the mid-1990s, have had to rely on sometimes-obfuscated statements he has made in his speeches in their intelligence estimates. Now they have a mountain of hard data to excavate.
Because bin Laden’s his domicile hasn’t changed much since his December 2001 flight from Tora Bora, one would assume that his Afghan archives accompanied or were reunited with him at his Pakistani safe house.
More importantly, we now know that bin Laden’s compound was the command center from which he continued to direct al-Qaida’s strategic operations.
We have also learned that bin Laden always communicated via courier to avoid detection and he was punctilious about keeping digital copies of his communiqués on local hard drives. So what is in the mountain of intelligence we now possess?
Almost immediately after bin Laden’s elimination, bits and pieces of the intelligence taken from his compound were gradually released for public consumption and, to some degree, satisfaction.
Debates quickly ensued over the appropriateness of publishing images of the deceased al-Qaida leader’s corpse and its burial at sea. Media pundits and the public dove into the debate with both feet.
When that debate was winding down another wave of photographs and video were released showing bin Laden watching a TV show about himself and the terrorist’s narcissism fueled the next heated debate. Additional material has been gradually released, most of it suitable for tabloid publication and less so for tactical purposes.
Doubtless, the material released to date has been interesting and in some ways, placating. But the “beefy” strategic information that experts, intelligence analysts, lawmakers, military strategists and the public really need is yet to be produced.
For instance, it is essential that individuals in these and similar roles understand the ideology that inspires and guides jihadists and jihadist movements globally.
How does al-Qaida see its role in the global jihad and how do they relate to other jihadist movements? What anticipated final event must occur before Islamists’ vision of a restored, global caliphate is fulfilled?
If the global jihad was World War II and the jihadists, Nazis, Allied Intelligence would search beyond the psychological profile of Nazi leaders to learn everything there is to know about the enemy.
We would expect a mountain of intelligence such as the following:
1. Bin Laden's views of his potential relationship with his protectors inside Pakistan, particularly those connected to or part of the Directorate for Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI). We know the latter has ties to the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terror group because of the situation with India, at least in the past.
2. For years, bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri were able to get their video messages rushed to the front of the programming queue on Qatari-funded al Jazeera TV as exclusive news stories.
That bin Laden and al-Zawahiri relied on couriers to ferry their messages to the Arab TV network boasting the most powerful broadcast antenna in the Arab world raises an obvious question: What group prompted the premier television network in the Arab World, to facilitate world wide distribution of the views of the world’s most-wanted terror fugitive?
Intelligence mining should be able to skim all we need to know about bin Laden's symbiotic relationship with propaganda operatives.
3. Numerous journalists and media pundits in the Arab world claimed on air and in print to know better than anyone what bin Laden wanted and what he was thinking.
4. Harsh disagreement between the two organizations over the mechanics of jihad notwithstanding, the Ikhwan have turned out many of al-Qaida’s senior leaders.
The two camps were birthed out of the same Salafi womb and their sibling rivalry has gone on for years. This raises another interesting question: How did bin Laden perceive the Muslim Brotherhood? What was the basis of his criticism of them? In his view, how did they fail and, more importantly, who within the Ikhwan did bin Laden like?
5. While the two are at odds ideologically and both consider the other to be an enemy, reported numerous contacts between the Iranian regime, or parts of it, and al-Qaida are not out of the question since they share common enemies in the West, the United States, and some Arab regimes. Therefore, it is logical to assume that mediated and perhaps direct exchanges took place between them.
6. Mining bin Laden’s files to discover the degree to which al-Qaida has penetrated Islamist networks in the US and elsewhere in the West would be of immeasurable value to their intelligence, law enforcement, military, and Homeland Security efforts.
What pressures and influence has al-Qaida brought to bear on those groups. We already know of cases where al-Qaida-linked jihadists have embedded themselves in Islamist political networks in America and the West. Obviously, bin Laden knew much more about this infiltration than we did. This is a critically important issue with dramatic implications for Homeland Security that needs to be a top priority in the mining of bin Laden’s files.
Bin Laden’s mountain of archives should be a gift that keeps on giving high-value intelligence to U.S. and international security agencies. Bin Laden watching himself on TV may have been entertaining, but locating the pillars of his war on the West is a top priority.
Walid Phares is the author of The Coming Revolution: Struggle for Freedom in the Middle East, teaches Global Strategies in Washington, D.C., and advises members of the U.S. Congress and the European parliament.