LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 21/2013

Bible Quotation for today/Gifts from the Holy Spirit
1Corinthians 12/01-11: "Now, concerning what you wrote about the gifts from the Holy Spirit. I want you to know the truth about them, my friends.  You know that while you were still heathen, you were led astray in many ways to the worship of lifeless idols.  I want you to know that no one who is led by God's Spirit can say “A curse on Jesus!” and no one can confess “Jesus is Lord,” without being guided by the Holy Spirit. There are different kinds of spiritual gifts, but the same Spirit gives them.  There are different ways of serving, but the same Lord is served.  There are different abilities to perform service, but the same God gives ability to all for their particular service.  The Spirit's presence is shown in some way in each person for the good of all.  The Spirit gives one person a message full of wisdom, while to another person the same Spirit gives a message full of knowledge.  One and the same Spirit gives faith to one person, while to another person he gives the power to heal.  The Spirit gives one person the power to work miracles; to another, the gift of speaking God's message; and to yet another, the ability to tell the difference between gifts that come from the Spirit and those that do not. To one person he gives the ability to speak in strange tongues, and to another he gives the ability to explain what is said.  But it is one and the same Spirit who does all this; as he wishes, he gives a different gift to each person.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
 Syria: Utilizing Al Qaeda/By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat/January 21/13

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 21/13
Official: Iran won't stop uranium enrichment
Obama's Troika: Long road to Tehran
American isolationism: Obama’s unfolding signature policy

Mali army retakes town, Islamists flee French air raids
Profile: Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar
 Canada Condemns Terror Attacks in Algeria
 Syria troops, rebels fight near bases in northeast
Lebanese Army uncovers drug lab in east Lebanon raid
Anti-France protest in s. Lebanon over jailed Abdallah
Egypt drops hundreds of charges over post-Mubarak violence

US calls on Iran to release American-Iranian pastor
http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=300153
By BENJAMIN WEINTHAL, JERUSALEM POST CORRESPONDENT 01/20/2013
Washington urges Tehran to free Abedini from prison; 32-year-old is believed to have been arrested due to Christian beliefs.
BERLIN – The US government on Friday urged Iran to release American-Iranian pastor Saeed Abedini from Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
The 32-year-old father of two young children is believed to have been arrested because of his Christian beliefs, and may face the death penalty. His trial begins in Tehran on Monday before Judge Pir-Abassi, the so-called “hanging judge.”We remain troubled by the case of US citizen Saeed Abedini, who was arrested by Iranian officials more than three months ago on charges relating to his religious beliefs. We call upon Iranian authorities to release him immediately,” National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said.
In a telephone interview with The Jerusalem Post on Friday, Rep. Frank Wolf (RVirginia) said, “The president and secretary of state need to speak out over and over” to draw attention to the dire situation of persecuted Christians in Iran and in the Middle East.Abedini was arrested on September 26, while visiting Iran. He was also arrested in 2006 and 2009 and told that he is not permitted to open house churches.
Wolf co-sponsored a bill last week with Rep. Anna Eshoo (D-California) from the Caucus on Religious Minorities in the Middle East to create a special envoy position within the US State Department to advocate on behalf of vulnerable religious minorities in the Middle East and South Central Asia. Though the House of Representatives passed the bill by a vote of 402-20, it was blocked in the Senate.
Abedeni’s case’s is being heard in an Islamic Revolutionary Court, which makes a quick and harsh sentence likely, and “that is why intense public pressure is an important deterrent, to prevent imprisonment and convictions,” Bashir said. Jordan Sekulow, executive director of the the Washington- based American Center for Law and Justice, wrote to the Post on Friday, “While the Obama administration’s National Security Council has called for the immediate release of Pastor Saeed, it is disappointing that the State Department and Secretary Clinton remain silent – failing to condemn Iran’s actions and call for Pastor Saeed’s immediate release.
This is an American citizen – facing trial and an uncertain future, which could very well include a death sentence, because of his religious beliefs.”
Dr. Wahied Wahdat-Hagh, a senior fellow with the Brussels-based European Foundation for Democracy and an expert on Iran, told the Post on Saturday that Abedini is in danger because of his work in the house church community in Iran. When Muslims convert to Christianity, Iran’s regime considers them “apostates,” he said. Iran’s authorities accuse Abedini of “activities against the security of the state.”How can a pastor who is unarmed and has no access to state secrets be a danger for the state? Wahdat-Hagh asked. “It is clear that the dictator [Iran’s regime] fears the growth of another religion that is not Islam. “We can only pray that he will not be hanged,” Wahdat- Hagh said.

Canada Condemns Terror Attacks in Algeria
January 19, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada condemns the deplorable and cowardly attacks by terrorists in Ain Amenas, Algeria.
“While the full scale and exact details of the situation remain unclear, Canadian officials remain in close contact with Algerian authorities to seek further information.
“The thoughts and prayers of our entire country are with the families and friends of the innocent lives lost.
“Canada remains a committed partner in the global struggle against terrorism in all its forms.”
We do not believe that Canadians or dual nationals are among the hostages. We are aware of one permanent resident of Canada who was reported to be on-site, and have confirmed that this person has left Algeria and is safe.


American isolationism: Obama’s unfolding signature policy
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis January 19, 2013/
Whereas in his first term as president, Barack Obama opted for “leading from behind,” in international military operations, he enters his second term - even before being sworn in this week - by expanding this step-back precept into American isolationism proper – even when it comes to countering Islamist terrorism.
debkafile’s analysts note that this stance was heralded in December 2012 by his abrupt order to the USS Eisenhower strike group and the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group to withdraw from stations opposite Syria.
Washington had already then decided to ignore the Syrian chemical war threat, and brush aside the report from the US consul in Istanbul that the Syrian ruler Bashad Assad had already fired chemical bombs against rebels.
And so French military intervention in Mali on Jan. 12 and Al Qaeda’s massive attack on an international Algerian gas field four days later found the United States without a single carrier, landing vessel or marine force anywhere in the vicinity, to be available for aiding in the rescue of scores of Western hostages from ten countries, including the United States.
The USS John Stennis carrier is the only vessel left at a Middle East battle station. It is tied down at the Strait of Hormuz to secure the flow of Gulf oil to the West.
It is therefore hardly surprising to find Pentagon and top US military experts leveling sharp criticism at the White House’s policy of non-intervention in the Mali conflict, where France is fighting alone, or in Algeria’s In Amenas gas field, where Algerian forces are battling a multinational al Qaeda assault and multiple hostage-taking raid for the third day.
The Los Angeles Times reported Saturday, Jan. 20 that the sharp debate between the Pentagon and White House is over the “danger posed by a mix of Islamist militant groups, some with murky ties to Al Qaeda that are creating havoc in West Africa” and whether they present enough of a risk to US allies and interests to warrant a military response.
Many of Obama's top aides say “it is unclear whether the Mali insurgents, who include members of the group Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, threaten the US.”
As to the question, “What threat do they pose to the US homeland? The answer so far has been none.”
Some top Pentagon officials and military officers warn that without more aggressive US action, Mali could become a haven for extremists, akin to Afghanistan before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
debkafile’s counterterrorism sources report that these assertions are misleading.
Whereas the US homeland may not be in immediate peril from the Mali and Algeria episodes, it is important to remember the far-reaching interconnectivity of al Qaeda’s operations. Seven years ago, the suicidal jihads who on July 7, blew up London trains and a bus, used explosives provided by the same Al Qaeda cells of Sahel Desert which are now threatening Mali and which struck the Algerian gas field.
No US official can guarantee that such explosives from the same source won’t be used in 2013 against American targets in Europe or be smuggled into the American homeland by al Qaeda cells in Europe.
The Algerian gas field hostage siege was carried out after all by a multinational group that included Algerians, Egyptians, Tunisians, Libyans, a Frenchman and a Malian.
It is true that Al Qaeda terrorists are engaged in vast smuggling rackets – especially of drugs and cigarettes – across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, as well arms trafficking through networks covering Egypt, Sinai, Arabia, the Gulf, Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Sudan – all of which are direct threats of US national security. But to write them off as criminals and smugglers is simplistic: “… some are diehard terrorists with more grandiose visions,” as Pentagon officials point out.
The way the Al Qaeda menace is being handled by Washington has a ripple effect in the wider context. Tehran and Damascus are avidly watching the Obama administration’s stand-aside stance on military involvement in external crises – even emergencies posed by the Al Qaeda terrorist threat encroaching on continental Europe and Africa and the Middle East up to and including the Persian Gulf.
Washington should therefore not be surprised when its diplomatic efforts – overt and secret – to rein in Iran’s military nuclear ambitions run into the sand. The Iranians know they have nothing to fear from the Obama administration. The next surprise, our Middle East sources are now reporting, will come from Damascus where, according to a hint President Bashar Assad threw out this week to his intimates.

Army uncovers drug lab in east Lebanon raid
January 19, 2013/The Daily Star /The conflict in Syrian is driving local violence on Lebanon's northeastern border. The Syrian town of Qusayr is in the back and Lebanese land in the foreground.
BEIRUT: The Lebanese Army discovered a makeshift drug lab and seized over 50 kilograms of marijuana and heroin during a raid earlier this week on the house of a wanted man in east Lebanon, the military said in a statement Saturday. “Army units arrested during a raid on Jan. 17, 2013 Mohammad Wajih al-Dinaoui and seized a drug laboratory at his home in Al-Mrah, Hermel, along with 52 kilograms of marijuana, heroin, some arms and ammunition,” the statement said. Dinaoui has several arrest warrants against him along with a number of indictments issued in absentia from the judiciary in the north, the south, Beirut and Mount Lebanon, the military added.
He has been accused of murder, trading in narcotics, theft and illegal possession of weapons. The statement also said that the Army arrested in the same region Ali Imad Nasereddine, who is accused of firing shots in the direction of an Army unit and threatening to throw a hand grenade at soldiers.

Syria: Utilizing Al Qaeda
By Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed/Asharq Alawsat
This must have been one of the few instances in which Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has been able to laugh; namely after watching members of a Syrian extremist group on an Arab television channel pledging, or rather threatening, to establish a radical Islamist regime to replace his own. This interview was more than enough to frighten the already hesitant and anxious countries, confirming the stories put forward by the Assad regime. These stories, in turn, were backed by Russian politicians, who have said that the West will regret overthrowing the Damascus regime as this represents a repeat of the same mistake made in Afghanistan and will ultimately result in a new war being waged, but this time to fight Al Qaeda in Syria. Simultaneously, we see the French today waging one of their largest African military campaigns in northern Mali to fight extremist groups there.
There can be no doubt that the West, in addition to some Arabs, are afraid that the Syrian revolution will turn into another Afghanistan especially in light of the flow of jihadists into the country to take part in the combat. Therefore, instead of supporting the Syrian rebels and putting an end to the Assad regime’s crimes, they are merely watching the fighting and monitoring these extremist groups.
The Syrian regime wants the West to accept the idea that the Assad regime is a guarantor for stability and a safety valve against the threat of these terrorist groups. Unfortunately, these terrorist groups do exist; some of them were formed by the Assad regime itself for this specific purpose, whilst Damascus is also publicizing and propagating the actions and threat represented by other groups to create fear regarding the possibility of another Afghanistan. The regime previously used precisely the same tactic when facing intense international pressure following its crimes in Lebanon. In November 2008, Syria claimed—via the official state news agency SANA—that the extremist Fatah al-Islam organization detonated a car-bomb in Damascus. The SANA report also claimed that Lebanon’s anti-Syrian Future Movement was behind this terrorist organization and that the suicide bomber who carried out this operation was a Saudi national!
Of course, nobody believed this Syrian lie because the Lebanese Future Movement—represented at the time by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora—had led the war against Fatah al-Islam at the Nahr al-Bared camp.
You can be sure that some members of extremist groups in Syria were specifically released from Assad’s prisons to swell their movement’s ranks and take part in the fighting. The presence of these groups is meant to serve as proof that the revolution is led by terrorist groups, some of whom in reality are affiliate to Al Qaeda and want to raise the terrorist organization’s black flag over Syria. However, the vast majority of Syria’s rebels belong to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), and the al-Assad regime wants to defame their reputation and use them to intimidate Arab and Western countries. Therefore it is in the regime’s interests to circulate images, videos and stories of these extremist groups, hiding the fact that they only began participating in the uprising approximately ten months ago and that they only represent a tiny minority of the Syrian revolution.

Profile: Algerian jihadist Mokhtar Belmokhtar
By Asharq Al-Awsat
London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Mokhtar Belmokhtar has become internationally notorious following this week’s siege on Algeria’s In Amenas gas processing plant. As the siege entered its fourth day, the standoff between the Algerian army and Al Qaeda linked gunmen remains ongoing with the fate of an unknown number of hostages hanging in the balance. Whatever happens in the coming hours and days, there can be no doubt that this represents one of the biggest international hostage crises in recent decades and will signal the beginning of a huge international manhunt for its reported mastermind; Belmokhtar.
Mokhtar Belmokhtar was born in the eastern Algerian desert city of Ghardana, 350 miles south of the capital Algiers. According to interviews posted on Islamist websites, Belmokhtar was attracted to waging jihad as a schoolboy. At age 19, he traveled to Afghanistan and reportedly received training from Al Qaeda. He was prompted to join the Afghan jihad following the 1989 killing in Pakistan of Palestinian Islamist ideologue and “father of global jihad” Abdullah Yusuf Azzam. Azzam had also been a mentor to Osama Bin Laden.
According to a Jamestown Foundation report, which dubs him “the Algerian Jihad’s Southern Amir”, Belmokhtar claims to have made contact with jihadists from around the world, including “luminaries” such as Abu Qatada, Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, and Abu Talal al-Masri. Belmokhtar also claims to have fought in battlefronts “from Qardiz to Jalabad to Kabul.”
On his return to Algeria in 1993, Belmokhtar found his homeland in the throes of political turmoil following the Algerian military’s annulment of elections that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) has been poised to win. Belmokhtar played an active role in the conflict that followed and which ultimately claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, becoming a key figure in the Armed Islamist Group (GIA) and later the breakaway Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC).
Belmokhtar is known by a number of names, including “Laaouar”, or the One-Eyed, after he lost an eye to shrapnel, although it is has not been confirmed whether this was in Afghanistan or Algeria. The Algerian jihadist is also known as “Mr. Marlboro” for the cigarette-smuggling monopoly he oversaw across the Sahel region to finance his jihad. Whilst French intelligence officials reportedly call him “the Uncatchable” for his shadowy role in a series of kidnappings in 2003, an undertaking that is believed to have earned him millions of dollars in ransom.
During this period, Belmokhtar and those under his command— known as the Mulathameen Brigade (The Masked Ones)—became a dependable supplier of weapons and materials to GSPC elements in northern Algeria, whilst simultaneously carrying out periodic attacks against the Algerian security services. The Jamestown Foundation asserted that Belmokhtar and his supporters had “significant influence on the Sahara and Sahel regions.”
The report also describes a “turning point” for Belmokhtar and his role in the Algerian jihad, namely the replacement in 2003 of Hassan Hattab as the leader of the GSPC. Following this, Belmokhtar reportedly turned his attention towards “consolidating his powerbase in the southern regions and strengthening his connections with local networks.” Belmokhtar is also known to have strong links with Tuareg rebels in the south Sahara from Mali to Niger to Mauritania.
In addition to this, Belmokhtar served as a key conduit between Al Qaeda and the Algerian jihadists. In a 2005 interview, Belmokhtar himself claims to have initiated contact with Al Qaeda when the nascent terrorist organization was based in Sudan in the early 1990s.
In 2009, GSPC merged with Al Qaeda, renaming itself Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). Belmokhtar was appointed to head an AQIM battalion in the desert between Algeria and Mali. However AQIM soon stripped Belmokhtar of his title of “emir of the Sahel”, reportedly following disputes over his return to smuggling and trafficking.
Following this, Belmokhtar launched a new group last year, known variously as the Signed-in-Blood Battalion and the Mulathameen Brigade. This group is reportedly allied with the Movement for Oneness and Jihad in West Africa, another Islamist group that has broken off from Al Qaeda.
The attack on the In Amenas gas processing plant is the group’s first big operation and demonstrates that Belmokhtar remains influential despite his marginalization within AQIM.
As for what the future holds, Belmokhtar and his group have thrown down the gauntlet, forcefully announcing their presence on the scene. Belmokhtar has become internationally notorious in the wake of this operation, particularly as his movement now poses a strategic threat to European energy supplies. There is a reported $100,000 bounty on Belmokhtar’s head, however this is expected to be put up to $1 million following recent events. Whilst David Cameron held talks with US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in Downing Street on Friday to coordinate intelligence efforts to locate the Algerian jihadist.
The Jamestown Foundation report on “the Algerian Jihad’s Southern Amir” – published in 2009 – ends by emphasizing that “as his Tuareg tribal connections appear to remain warm and he reportedly maintains allies in the Malian government, Belmokhtar appears to have successfully woven himself into the fabric of the region.” As for whether this will be sufficient to hide him from the international manhunt that has been launched in the wake of this attack, only time will tell.