Bible Quotation for today/A Request for Onesimus
Hebrews 04/01-12: " Now, God has offered us the promise that we may receive that rest he spoke about. Let us take care, then, that none of you will be found to have failed to receive that promised rest. For we have heard the Good News, just as they did. They heard the message, but it did them no good, because when they heard it, they did not accept it with faith.  We who believe, then, do receive that rest which God promised. It is just as he said, “I was angry and made a solemn promise:‘They will never enter the land where I would have given them rest!’”He said this even though his work had been finished from the time he created the world. For somewhere in the Scriptures this is said about the seventh day: “God rested on the seventh day from all his work.”  This same matter is spoken of again: “They will never enter that land where I would have given them rest.”  Those who first heard the Good News did not receive that rest, because they did not believe. There are, then, others who are allowed to receive it.  This is shown by the fact that God sets another day, which is called “Today.” Many years later he spoke of it through David in the scripture already quoted: “If you hear God's voice today, do not be stubborn.” If Joshua had given the people the rest that God had promised, God would not have spoken later about another day.  As it is, however, there still remains for God's people a rest like God's resting on the seventh day.  For those who receive that rest which God promised will rest from their own work, just as God rested from his. 11 Let us, then, do our best to receive that rest, so that no one of us will fail as they did because of their lack of faith. The word of God is alive and active, sharper than any double-edged sword. It cuts all the way through, to where soul and spirit meet, to where joints and marrow come together. It judges the desires and thoughts of the heart. 13 There is nothing that can be hid from God; everything in all creation is exposed and lies open before his eyes. And it is to him that we must all give an account of ourselves.
 

 Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Assad and Saddam’s Final Days/By: Tariq Alhomayed /Asharq Alawsat/April 22/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for April 22/13

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel: U.S.-Israel Arms Deal Sends 'Clear Signal' to Iran
Hezbollah MP: It is natural that Lebanese defend themselves against Syria
Nasrallah Meets Khamenei in Iran, to Make Televised Address in May
Hizbullah Dubs as 'Waste of Time' Any Attempt to Form Technocrat Cabinet
U.S. Official: 'Hizbullah Operatives are here in the U.S.'
Cabinet Formation In Lebanon Process Gathers Pace as Salam Meets Jumblat
Miqati: Formation of new cabinet will take time
Rockets target town of Hermel for first time
Shells from Syria violence crash in Lebanon
Another Shell from Syrian Violence Lands in Hermel
Lebanese Families of Islamists Protest Near Roumieh, Army Blocks Media Coverage
Two Syrian shepherds kidnapped from Lebanon
Families reject Israeli-Turkish compensation talks
Turkish expats express sympathy with hostages’ families
The Lebanese Forces Communication Department Responds to Michael Young’s
Iran dismisses concerns of nuclear-armed states
US Secretary of State John Kerry to push US peace efforts at Abbas meeting
Russia "out of step" with history, Syrian opposition says
152 dead, thousands injured in China quake
Saudi king replaces deputy defense minister
The Tsarnaev brothers were double agents who decoyed US into terror trap
Pakistani Judge Orders Musharraf Held for 2 Weeks
US seeks answers from accused Boston bomber
Boston Rejoices as Second Bombing Suspect Captured
Opinion: Has the US Fulfilled its Promise to the Iraqi People?
Opinion: Echoes of the Arab Spring
Kerry Pushes Mideast Peace, Turkey-Israel Ties in Istanbul
U.S. Doubles Aid to Syria Opposition  

Hezbollah MP: It is natural that Lebanese defend themselves against Syria
Now Lebanon/Hezbollah’s Loyalty to the Resistance bloc MP Walid Succariyeh said that if the Lebanese state does not deal with the issue of the Syrian shelling of border Lebanese towns, it is natural that the region’s residents defend themselves. “If the Lebanese state does not deal with this issue, it is natural for the area’s residents to defend themselves and those who belong to Hezbollah, which means the party will take part in the battle,” Succariyeh said in an interview with Al-Mayadeen television on Saturday. He also said that “the states that support the Syrian opposition which targeted the Lebanese Hermel area must take responsibility for what is happening.”Succariyeh stressed that “what is required of the state is dealing with this issue without leaving any room for strife,” adding that “even though this incident happened minutes ago, the state should take action.”
On Saturday evening, fierce battles raged on Saturday in flashpoint areas of Syria's central province of Homs near the Lebanese border which resulted in six shells falling across the border in Lebanon. Last Sunday, two people were killed and at least four others injured in northeastern Lebanon in rocket attacks purportedly perpetrated by Syrian rebels. Syrian shells have frequently landed on Lebanese towns and villages near the Lebanese-Syrian border during the course of the past months, causing casualties as well as material damage. Tension along the Lebanese northern and eastern borders has generated fears of a spillover of the violence gripping Syria where an armed anti-regime uprising has been raging since March 2011.

Hizbullah Dubs as 'Waste of Time' Any Attempt to Form Technocrat Cabinet
Naharnet /Hizbullah MP Mohammed Raad reiterated on Sunday that the new government would not be able to run Lebanon's affairs if its members were not political figures, hinting that a technocrat cabinet was a “waste of time.”“The cabinet will not be able to govern Lebanon if it was not political,” Raad said. “It doesn’t only have the mission of supervising the parliamentary elections.”
“It faces other issues such as the Syrian refugees in Lebanon which is a bigger mission than holding the polls,” he said. “So how could a non-political government deal with this situation?” the Hizbullah official wondered.
The cabinet formation is deadlocked over conflicting demands by the country's two main camps. The Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance wants a cabinet of political figures to be able to address security concerns while the March 14 coalition is after members who are not running in the parliamentary elections. Premier-designate Tammam Salam has said he would form a “government of national interest” to supervise the elections. He has ruled out provocative political figures to avoid dragging differences between the rival parties to the executive authority. But Raad reiterated that Lebanon needs an all-embracing political cabinet, saying that technocrats would fail in governing the country. The lawmaker hinted that Salam “would be wasting his time” if he sought to form a government of technocrats.

Nasrallah Meets Khamenei in Iran, to Make Televised Address in May
Naharnet /A meeting was held recently between Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Central News Agency reported on Saturday. According to the news agency, Nasrallah held talks with senior Iranian officials during his visit to Tehran, where he met with Khamenei. It pointed out that the “secret” visit was held two weeks ago. Sources rejected in comments to the news agency to reveal the nature of the meetings held by Nasrallah or the details of his visit. The news agency also reported that Nasrallah will have a televised appearance on May 9 on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of Hizbullah's al-Nour radio station.Nasrallah's last televised speech was on February 27 to deny rumors that he had been transferred to Iran for treatment after falling ill. Iran, Syria and their ally Hizullah are considered as the “axis of resistance” in the region.Media reports said that Iran and Hizbullah have played a role in supporting President Bashar Assad's regime against the rebels since the outbreak of the revolt in March 2011.

U.S. Official: 'Hizbullah Operatives are here in the U.S.'
Naharnet /http://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/80245-u-s-official-hizbullah-operatives-are-here-in-the-u-s The chairman of the U.S. House Homeland Security Committee has expressed concern over the alleged infiltration of Hizbullah operatives along the U.S. border from San Diego to Texas. Rep. Michael McCaul told Team 10 website that the Hizbullah members are getting help from Mexican drug cartels."Hizbullah operatives are here in the United States," said McCaul. "Hizbullah has a large presence in Latin America."  His comment came after his committee released a report titled "Line if the Sand" that details how Hizbullah is allegedly getting onto U.S. soil. Team 10 said that the relationship between Hizbullah and countries south of the U.S. described in the report has become stronger since it first reported on the issue two years ago. "While before they had a relationship about money, finance, the fact they could become operational is very much a national security concern," McCaul said.  The report states that Hizbullah continues having a strong relationship with Venezuela, despite the recent death of President Hugo Chavez. Direct flights between Tehran and Caracas provides easy access for operatives into the Americas, it said. The cartels then help the Hizbullah fighters by providing safe passage along their drug and human trafficking routes into and out of the U.S., the report added.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel: U.S.-Israel Arms Deal Sends 'Clear Signal' to Iran
Naharnet /A major U.S. arms deal with Israel sends a "very clear signal" to Tehran that military action remains an option to stop it from going nuclear, U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters on Sunday.
Asked if a multi-billion dollar arms package with Israel was designed to convey a message that a military strike remains an option, he said: "I don't think there's any question that's another very clear signal to Iran."
Hagel was speaking just before his plane touched down in Tel Aviv at the start of a six-day tour of the region focused on plans to sell $10 billion worth of advanced missiles and aircraft to Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia in a bid to counter the threat posed by Iran. The deal will see Israel obtaining anti-radiation missiles designed to take out enemy air defenses, radar for fighter jets, aerial refueling tankers and Osprey V-22 tilt-rotor transport aircraft. It will also see the sale of U.S. F-16 fighter jets to the United Arab Emirates and sophisticated missiles to Saudi Arabia.
Details were unveiled on the eve of Hagel's departure on a trip which will focus heavily on tensions over Iran's nuclear program and the civil war raging in Syria.
American and Israeli leaders have been at odds over Iran, with President Barack Obama's administration arguing that tough sanctions and diplomacy need to be given more time to work.
But Israel, believed to be the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear power, has repeatedly warned that time is running out and has refused to rule out a pre-emptive military strike to prevent Iran from obtaining an atomic weapons capability. Hagel plans to discuss with his counterparts in the region the final details of the arms deal, and U.S. officials have said it would be months or more for the new weapons and aircraft to be delivered.
Last week, Israel's Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz said the Israel Defense Forces was capable of attacking Iran on its own without U.S. support.
Hagel declined to be drawn on suggestions the Jewish state could act alone, only saying Israel was a sovereign nation which had "the right to defend itself, to protect itself.”
And he said more time was needed to see if sanctions and diplomacy would convince Iran to change its course. "I think our policy is the correct policy. Israel has every right to make its own assessments," he said, adding the two allies were "working very closely.”During the visit, Hagel will hold talks with his Israeli counterpart Moshe Yaalon, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres before leaving for Jordan on Tuesday afternoon. He will also visit Egypt, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia where he will discuss the final details of the arms deal, although U.S. officials say it could be months or more for the new weapons and aircraft to be delivered.Source/Agence France Presse.

Cabinet Formation In Lebanon Process Gathers Pace as Salam Meets Jumblat
Naharnet /The cabinet formation process, which had been slow in the past weeks, began witnessing some developments after Prime Minister-designate Tammam Salam held talks with centrist Progressive Socialist Party chief Walid Jumblat and officials from the March 8 alliance. Reports said that Salam met on Thursday night with Jumblat, who returned to Beirut following a visit to the UK.  Caretaker Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, who is loyal to Jumblat, told Asharq al-Awsat newspaper published Sunday that the cabinet formation process will start moving forward. Abu Faour believed that all political parties could be represented in the new government, but stressed that Salam would not allow them to choose their portfolios. “The logic of fighting on the division of portfolios is no longer applicable,” he said.
Salam's meeting with the PSP chief away from the media spotlight on Thursday night was followed by similar talks with a representative of Speaker Nabih Berri, caretaker Minister Ali Hassan Khalil.
Syrian Social National Party Caretaker Minister Ali Qanso, who made an announced visit to the PM-designate on Saturday, reiterated the call for the formation of a purely political cabinet.
But officials who visited Salam told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat that the PM-designate reiterated his principles of having neutral or non provocative figures who are not running in the parliamentary elections given that the government's main mission will be the supervision of the polls. Salam wants to avoid dragging political differences into the cabinet, the officials, who were not identified, said.
They said however that Salam hadn't thought about the formation of a fait accompli cabinet despite reports that he had proposed to President Michel Suleiman a short 14-member government.
Salam was tasked by Suleiman with forming the new cabinet after he received the support of 124 out of 128 MPs during binding consultations at Baabda palace.
But conflicting demands have so far prevented the formation of the government. The Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance wants a cabinet of political figures to be able to address security concerns while the March 14 coalition is after cabinet members who are not running in the parliamentary elections.

Another Shell from Syrian Violence Lands in Hermel
Naharnet /A shell landed from the Syrian side of the border in the town of al-Qasr in eastern Lebanon's Hermel district on Sunday, causing material damage only, the state-run National News Agency reported. NNA did not provide details on who fired the shell. Most shells in the past two years were launched from regime-held areas, but anti-Assad rebels last week claimed firing into Hermel's countryside, threatening further attacks if Hizbullah did not stop fighting the insurgency.  Several shells landed in al-Qasr and neighboring villages on Saturday. They triggered panic and residents rushed to take cover indoors as shops in Hermel closed.
Last week, two Lebanese were killed in similar attacks.

The Lebanese Forces Communication Department Responds to Michael Young’s
GEORGES MELHEM April 20, 2013 article
Dear Michael,
For years now, we have been used to reading your articles with great anticipation, knowing that your point(s) of view, objective argumentation, and solid, information-based reporting would constitute added value insights to our knowledge base. As such, we were dismayed by your last piece, “played for fools” which appeared in Now on Friday April 19, 2013. While we would never question your motivations or any underlying intent, the article was so lacking in literally all of the above mentioned (and customary) superlatives that we feel compelled to clarify some critical issues.
The LFP submitted its own electoral law project, based on a 50 electoral districts distribution, which would inherently better reflect voters’ choices. Said law would emphasize March 14’s advantages in general, its Christian constituents in particular. This is the only law that would yield a March 14 victory without depending on the tilting and swiveling support of the ‘central’ players. We wonder why it was rejected. Don’t you?
The proceedings in the last two parliamentary sessions, the meeting in Bkerke, as well as all our political efforts, and those of our allies in the Kataeb party, all show that our original intent was to reach a consensus law. And no, Mr. Young, we, and the Kataeb party, were not led into a trap by Aoun and Hezbollah, although that would be a nice “anti-March 14” tag you seem keen on making stick. It is actually Aoun who built his entire strategy on the Orthodox law, putting him today in serious dissonance with his support base. Yes, the orthodox law would give the LFP more parliamentary seats, but then again, any truly representative law would, and some may even yield better results.
Regarding the 1960 law, a return to which seems to be the core intent of your article, let’s settle the issue once and for all. It will not give March 14 a parliamentary majority, not after some former allies are conditioning (back and forth) their stance. The 1960 law will serve the interest of part of March 14, at the expense of the significant rest. As such, it cannot be considered a “March 14 friendly’ law. Actually, the resulting and enduring grievances will certainly fracture and divide the otherwise standing alliance. Yet you accuse the LFP of playing a ‘dirty game’ with that law… a law which the near totality of Shiites and Christians in Lebanon reject. Regarding the 1960 law, we can’t think of a ‘cleaner’ and more transparent stance than ours, and wished the same for all.
You accuse the LFP of having been dishonest with their allies and public opinion. Yet we were better than honest. We were utterly transparent. It cannot have escaped your knowledge that multiple meetings took place in Meerab, gathering a diverse array of opinion leaders and media personalities, to specifically debate not just the electoral law in general, but the orthodox proposal in particular. Incidentally, many of the prominent guests who came out with a final and positive opinion of it somehow had a later, and sudden, change of heart.
You seem to be greatly concerned about Christians in mixed areas. We are glad you share our concern. For the last 30 years, they have not been able to express themselves, or bring forth any true representative of their political ambitions, unless you consider MPs Emile Rahme and Asaad Herdan as their districts’ (resp. Baalbeck-Hermel and Marjeyoun) most popular choice. The 1960 law (or any non-representative one) is one sure way of disrupting democracy where it’s most needed, in the often forgotten and neglected areas of Lebanon.
We hope that our grievances with your baseless allegations, intently superficial, and inherently flawed assessment of the situation are now clear. We look forward to your next article, and if need be, on making our posture clear before the writing, to avoid unneeded retorts. What we wish above all is to avoid for anyone, and particularly the unaware reader, to be played for fool. You can only agree to that intent, you wrote it.
Thank you,
*Georges Melhem is part of the Lebanese Forces communication department.

Shells from Syria violence crash in Lebanon
AFP/Fierce battles raged on Saturday in flashpoint areas of Syria's central province of Homs near the Lebanese border, a watchdog said, adding that six shells fell across the border in Lebanon.
One of the shells hit the Hermel in eastern Lebanon -- a stronghold of the Hezbollah -- the first time violence from Syria spilled over into the town, a Lebanese security source told AFP.
Earlier troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad's regime seized Radwaniyeh village near the rebel-held town of Qusayr in Homs province and hours later fresh fighting raged in nearby Tal al-Nabi Mando, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported. Tal is important because it is located on a hilltop, giving whoever controls it a strategic advantage.
The Britain-based Observatory said those fighting insurgents were regime troops, pro-regime militiamen and fighters loyal to powerful Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah, which supports Assad's regime. "The situation here is very bad. They are trying to take control of the countryside surrounding Qusayr, in order to then attack us in the city," Qusayr-based activist Hadi al-Abdallah told AFP via the Internet.
The Lebanese security source said the six shells were fired from Syria and hit the town of Hermel and its countryside. No one was hurt, the source said.
One shell fell in the Dawra neighborhood of Hermel while two hit the Sahlet al-May area on the outskirts and three others fell in and around the nearby town of Qasr, the security source said.
The shells triggered panic and residents rushed to take cover indoors as shops in Hermel closed. "The situation is unbearable. The [Lebanese] army should respond to the sources of fire. People are frightened," said Ali Shamas, a 50-year-old school principal from the town. Cross-border shellfire from the Syrian war has regularly hit Lebanon, on occasion killing Lebanese.
Lebanon is sharply divided over the Syria conflict, with Hezbollah and its allies backing the regime of Assad while the Sunni-led March 14 movement supporting the uprising.
Until 2005, Damascus dominated Lebanon politically and militarily for 30 years. Elsewhere, battles raged near Damascus, where at least 69 people, many of them rebels, were killed in four days of fighting against government forces in Jdaidet al-Fadl, said the Observatory. "Regime troops are trying to seize total control of the town of Jdaidet al-Fadl" southwest of Damascus, a statement said.
"Sixty-nine people were killed in violence raging there over the past four days," added the watchdog, citing activists on the ground, who said many were killed in shelling and also in summary executions by the army.
Violence also raged in Sunni areas of the nearby majority Christian town of Jdaidet Artuz, and in rebel stronghold Daraya, scene of fierce fighting for several months.
The opposition Syrian National Council accused the army of staging a "fierce attack" in areas south and west of Damascus. Jdaidet al-Fadel and other flashpoints are "subjected to a siege and they are deprived of all basic needs for human life", said the SNC. Since last year, the army has tried to root out rebels positioned southwest and east of Damascus, in a bid to secure the capital. Saturday's violence comes a day after at least 157 people were killed across Syria, according to the Observatory.

Turkish expats express sympathy with hostages’ families
Now Lebanon/Turkish expatriates to Lebanon expressed deep sympathy with the suffering of the Lebanese families whose relatives have been kidnapped in the northern Syrian town of Aazaz for two years but also condemned their actions against Turkish nationals. Turkish expats sent an open letter to Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman, Speaker Nabih Berri, and caretaker Premier Najib Mikati saying that while they feel with the families concerned, they “condemn their anti-Turkish actions deemed harmful and irresponsible towards brotherly relations between both peoples and the deplorable kidnapping itself.”
They appealed to the three leaders to protect vital Turkish interests in Lebanon by sparing expatriate Turks the price exacted for kidnappings deplored by them and which they have nothing to do with. Eleven Shiite pilgrims were abducted in Syria’s Aleppo in May while returning from a pilgrimage in Iran. Later in the month, a previously unknown armed group calling itself the "Syrian Revolutionaries—Aleppo Province" said that it was holding the group, while the Free Syrian Army had repeatedly denied its involvement in the abduction. Two of the kidnapped pilgrims – Awad Ibrahim and Hussein Ali Omar – were later released.
Their families accuse Ankara of sponsoring the kidnapping and the Lebanese government of inaptness in this regard. Last Friday, they held a demonstration in Beirut’s Martyrs Square in front of the Turkish Airline offices where they announced they would be calling for a boycott of all Turkish products in Lebanon, local media reported. They have also prevented Turkish trucks from offloading shipments at Lebanese docks.

US Secretary of State John Kerry to push US peace efforts at Abbas meeting
AFP /US Secretary of State John Kerry will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Istanbul on Sunday, the State Department said, as a US-led peace push focusing on the Palestinian economy steps up. Kerry and Abbas, who have met several times recently, will "continue the conversation that they've been having for several weeks now about how to get both sides back to the table," a State Department official said.
Kerry warned Wednesday that time was slipping away to reach a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians, stressing for the first time that there may only be a year or two left.
The top US diplomat is working on a plan to try to boost the Palestinian economy as part of efforts to restore trust between the two sides. The plan will be discussed in the talks with Abbas, the State Department official said.
Abbas was visiting Turkey on Saturday and Sunday for talks with top officials including Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has sparked concern by announcing his intention to visit the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip next month, after a trip to the United States. Abbas's West Bank-based nationalist Fatah movement, a long-time rival to the Islamist Hamas, has criticized Erdogan's Gaza trip as fostering intra-Palestinian divisions.
Kerry, in Istanbul on Saturday for a meeting of core members of the "Friends of Syria" group backing the Syrian opposition, was also due to meet Erdogan on Sunday.

Assad and Saddam’s Final Days
By: Tariq Alhomayed /Asharq Alawsat
Anybody who reads the interview given by Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad with Britain’s Guardian newspaper will immediately recall Saddam Hussein’s final days in power and the approach taken by the Baghdad regime’s officials. You will also uncover and realize that the stories and analysis put forward over the past decade propagating the lie of the “resistance” and distorting the reputation of moderate Arab States, was cooked up by none other than the Assad regime itself.  In this press interview, Miqdad speaks about colonialism, and Britain and France aiding Al-Qaeda in Syria, while he concluded the interview by insulting certain Arab States. This was an approach that the Iraqi officials relied on in the regime’s final days, from Ezzat Al-Douri to Taha Yassin Ramadan, and, of course, Mohamed Said Al-Sahhaf. While today, the Syrian deputy foreign minister is using precisely the same approach to insult some Arab governments. There is nothing surprising about this, of course, particularly as Miqdad is representing a Ba’athist regime, and this, unfortunately, is the typical Ba’athist discourse. It is striking is that this discourse—the discourse of insults—is evidence of the extent of the regime’s emotionalism, particularly when this is coming from a deputy foreign minister, not another official. This is something that Saddam Hussein’s own foreign minister, Tariq Aziz, never fell prey to. Miqdad’s emotionalism did not stop at insults, but he went further than this to claim that Britain and France are directly and indirectly assisting Al-Qaeda and that European countries are sending Al-Qaeda affiliates to Syria in order to get rid of them. He even claimed that Mossad agents are present on Syrian territory, so just how confused is he? Therefore, the sole thing that Miqdad’s interview tells us, not to mention his insults against Arab states, is that the Assad regime is under extreme pressure. So at the same time that the Assad regime is talking about an “amnesty”, which is nothing more than a new trick, its deputy foreign minister is talking about some kind of cosmic conspiracy involving Europe, the Arab states, Al-Qaeda, and even the Israeli Mossad. More than this, Miqdad even claimed that if Assad leaves then “Syria will no longer be on the map.” The reality, which everybody is now convinced of, even those skeptical of the Syrian revolution, is that allowing the doomed Assad regime to extend its life represents a genuine threat to the Syrian state, not to mention its social components. This also represents a threat to the entire region as a whole. Therefore the best guarantee to save the Syrian state is to deliver the coup de grâce to the Assad regime, and not listen to weak delusions and justifications, or allow the tyrant to attempt more tricks and distractions. One year ago, there was no Jabhat Al-Nusra, and there was no talk about an Al-Qaeda presence in Iraq, as we hear today. The international community allowing Assad to prolong the conflict is what brought Syria to where it is today. Therefore, the more we delay burying the worst regime in our region’s history, the greater the price that we will pay.

The Tsarnaev brothers were double agents who decoyed US into terror trap
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis April 20, 2013/The big questions buzzing over Boston Bombers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev have a single answer: It emerged in the 102 tense hours between the twin Boston Marathon bombings Monday, April 15 – which left three dead, 180 injured and a police officer killed at MIT - and Dzohkhar’s capture Friday, April 19 in Watertown.
The conclusion reached by debkafile’s counterterrorism and intelligence sources is that the brothers were double agents, hired by US and Saudi intelligence to penetrate the Wahhabi jihadist networks which, helped by Saudi financial institutions, had spread across the restive Russian Caucasian.
Instead, the two former Chechens betrayed their mission and went secretly over to the radical Islamist networks.
By this tortuous path, the brothers earned the dubious distinction of being the first terrorist operatives to import al Qaeda terror to the United States through a winding route outside the Middle East – the Caucasus.
This broad region encompasses the autonomous or semi-autonomous Muslim republics of Dagestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria, Chechnya, North Ossetia and Karachyevo-Cherkesiya, most of which the West has never heard of.
Moscow however keeps these republics on a tight military and intelligence leash, constantly putting down violent resistance by the Wahhabist cells, which draw support from certain Saudi sources and funds from the Riyadh government for building Wahhabist mosques and schools to disseminate the state religion of Saudi Arabia.
The Saudis feared that their convoluted involvement in the Caucasus would come embarrassingly to light when a Saudi student was questioned about his involvement in the bombng attacks while in a Boston hospital with badly burned hands.
They were concerned to enough to send Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi al-Faisal to Washington Wednesday, April 17, in the middle of the Boston Marathon bombing crisis, for a private conversation with President Barack Obama and his national security adviser Tom Donilon on how to handle the Saudi angle of the bombing attack.
That day too, official Saudi domestic media launched an extraordinary three-day campaign. National and religious figures stood up and maintained that authentic Saudi Wahhabism does not espouse any form of terrorism or suicide jihadism and the national Saudi religion had nothing to do with the violence in Boston. “No matter what the nationality and religious of the perpetrators, they are terrorists and deviants who represent no one but themselves.”
Prince Saud was on a mission to clear the 30,000 Saudi students in America of suspicion of engaging in terrorism for their country or religion, a taint which still lingers twelve years after 9/11. He was concerned that exposure of the Tsarnaev brothers’ connections with Wahhabist groups in the Caucasus would revive the stigma.
The Tsarnaevs' recruitment by US intelligence as penetration agents against terrorist networks in southern Russia explains some otherwise baffling features of the event:
1. An elite American college in Cambridge admitted younger brother Dzhokhar and granted him a $2,500 scholarship, without subjecting him to the exceptionally stiff standard conditions of admission. This may be explained by his older brother Tamerlan demanding this privilege for his kid brother in part payment for recruitment.
2. When in 2011, a “foreign government” (Russian intelligence) asked the FBI to screen Tamerlan for suspected ties to Caucasian Wahhabist cells during a period in which they had begun pledging allegiance to al Qaeda, the agency, it was officially revealed, found nothing incriminating against him and let him go after a short interview.
He was not placed under surveillance. Neither was there any attempt to hide the fact that he paid a long visit to Russia last year and on his return began promoting radical Islam on social media.
Yet even after the Boston marathon bombings, when law enforcement agencies, heavily reinforced by federal and state personnel, desperately hunted the perpetrators, Tamerlan Tsarnaev was never mentioned as a possible suspect
3. Friday, four days after the twin explosions at the marathon finishing line, the FBI released footage of Suspect No. 1 in a black hat and Suspect No. 2 in a white hat walking briskly away from the crime scene, and appealed to the public to help the authorities identify the pair.
We now know this was a charade. The authorities knew exactly who they were. Suddenly, during the police pursuit of their getaway car from the MIT campus on Friday, they were fully identified. The brother who was killed in the chase was named Tamerlan, aged 26, and the one who escaped, only to be hunted down Saturday night hiding in a boat, was 19-year old Dzhokhar.
Our intelligence sources say that we may never know more than we do today about the Boston terrorist outrage which shook America – and most strikingly, Washington - this week. We may not have the full story of when and how the Chechen brothers were recruited by US intelligence as penetration agents – any more than we have got to the bottom of tales of other American double agents who turned coat and bit their recruiters.
Here is just a short list of some of the Chechen brothers’ two-faced predecessors:
In the 1980s, an Egyptian called Ali Abdul Saoud Mohamed offered his services as a spy to the CIA residence in Cairo. He was hired, even though he was at the time the official interpreter of Ayman al-Zuwahiri, then Osama bin Laden’s senior lieutenant and currently his successor.
He accounted for this by posing as a defector. But then, he turned out to be feeding al Qaeda US military secrets. Later, he was charged with Al Qaeda’s 1998 bombings of US embassies in Nairobi and Dar es-Salaam.
On Dec. 30, 2009, the Jordanian physician Humam Khalil al-Balawi, having gained the trust of US intelligence in Afghanistan as an agent capable of penetrating al Qaeda’s top ranks, detonated a bomb at a prearranged rendezvous in Kost, killing the four top CIA agents in the country.
Then, there was the French Muslim Mohamed Merah. He was recruited by French intelligence to penetrate Islamist terror cells in at least eight countries, including the Caucasus. At the end of last year, he revealed his true spots in deadly attacks on a Jewish school in Toulouse and a group of French military commandoes.
The debate has begun over the interrogation of the captured Boston bomber Dzhokhar Tsarmayev when he is fit for questioning after surgery for two bullet wounds and loss of blood. The first was inflicted during the police chase in which his brother Tamerlan was killed.
An ordinary suspect would be read his rights (Miranda) and be permitted a lawyer. In his case, the “public safety exemption” option may be invoked, permitting him to be questioned without those rights, provided the interrogation is restricted to immediate public safety concerns. President Barack Obama is also entitled to rule him an “enemy combatant” and so refer him to a military tribunal and unrestricted grilling.
According to debkafile’s counter terror sources, four questions should top the interrogators' agenda:
a) At what date did the Tsarnaev brothers turn coat and decide to work for Caucasian Wahhabi networks?
b) Did they round up recruits for those networks in the United States - particularly, among the Caucasian and Saudi communities?
c) What was the exact purpose of the Boston Marathon bombings and their aftermath at MIT in Watertown?
d) Are any more terrorist attacks in the works in other American cities?