LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
NOVEMBER 8/06
Biblical Reading For today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 12,8-12.
I tell you, everyone who acknowledges me before others the Son of Man will acknowledge before the angels of God. But whoever denies me before others will be denied before the angels of God. Everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but the one who blasphemes against the holy Spirit will not be forgiven. When they take you before synagogues and before rulers and authorities, do not worry about how or what your defense will be or about what you are to say. For the holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say
Free Opinions & Studies
One Thousand and One Saddams. By: Ghassan Charbel 08.11.06Iran: Are You Trying to Fool Haman, Oh Pharaoh? By: Jamil Ziabi 08.11.06
An Authority that Reflects Societal Balance-By: Hazem Saghieh-Dar Al-Hayat 08.11.06
Latest New from the daily Star for November 08/06
The latest in European footwear: Just don't call them used shoes
Prominent Lebanese politicians to go globe-trottingIsraeli troops leave areas near Ghajar
Lebanese leaders get down to details, discuss possible reshuffle of Cabinet
UN confirms Israel's use of white phosphorous shells in South
Annan calls for freeze on use of cluster bombs
Fatfat: Court has to order demolitions
Norway warns outsiders to leave Lebanon aloneGeneral public shows little faith in consultation talks
Heavy rainfall makes mess of roads in ChoufThe art of pain - and suffering
Mother Nature flattens a city in Iran and occupation crushes a people in Palestine
Bush's latest critics are the very people who led him to war
Security Council set to receive Iran sanctions proposal
Latest New from miscellaneous sources for November 08/06
Talks Adjourned for Thursday, Berri Not for Toppling Saniora-Naharnet
Israel Begins Pullout from Around Ghajar-Naharnet
U.N. Urges Immediate Freeze on Use of Cluster Bombs After Lebanon War-Naharnet
German Navy Equipped Against Suicide Attacks in Lebanon
Talks Adjourned for Thursday, Berri Not for Toppling Saniora
U.N. Urges Immediate Freeze on Use of Cluster Bombs After Lebanon War
Saniora Denies Reports of Plans to Meet with Olmert
Norwegian FM in Lebanon to Support Peacekeepers, Reconstruction Efforts
Siniora: No plans to meet with Olmert-Ya LibnanIsrael gearing up for war against Hezbollah, Syria-Aljazeera.com
Lebanon's political leaders resume all-party talks in bid to avert ...International Herald Tribune
Hez Power Grab - Moving To Topple Lebanon's Gov't-Family Security Matters
Political Leaders Return to Talks Following 'Ice Breaking' Session-Naharnet
Israeli military assessment warns Syria, Hezbollah -WorldNetDailyShiites Against Hezbollah-Counterterrorism Blog
Hezbollah Militancy Impedes the Road Back to Normality-World Press Review
The assassination of Rafik Hariri: Lebanon's Shakespearean tragedy-Christian Science Monitor
Talks Adjourned for Thursday, Berri Not for Toppling Saniora
Naharnet: Speaker Nabih Berri said Tuesday he was not for the toppling of Premier Fouad Saniora's government, but rather for expanding it.
"I have personally not proposed to change Saniora … but an expansion (of the current cabinet) is possible" with Saniora's consent, Berri said at the end of the second round of consultations in parliament. Berri said the talks were adjourned for Thursday to allow participants to study "various proposals" presented during the talks aimed at ending Lebanon's political stalemate.
"Everyone is keen to reach solutions that would be in the interest of Lebanon," Berri told reporters, without elaborating on the proposals.
He said Tuesday's talks among Lebanon's rival leaders focused on the thorny government issue, describing the session as "rich and honest." However, the Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International said "tension" prevailed over the cabinet topic.
Asked about Hizbullah demands to give the opposition one-third of the 24-member cabinet, Berri said: "I'd rather call it (one-third) participation." Last week, Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah caused a stir when he announced that his group wanted the cabinet to be reshuffled so as to give Hizbullah and its allies a third of the ministerial positions -- effectively veto-power.
Under tight security measures, roundtable talks began at 11:00 a.m. at parliament building after Monday's meeting served to "break the ice" by allowing participants to air their demands.
An Nahar daily headlined Tuesday: "Proceedings of the first round of consultations … Warnings of Failure and Street (protests); Strong disagreement between the two camps." It its front page story, An Nahar said that the pro-government March 14 coalition has informed Hizbullah representatives and their allies that they refuse to negotiate the issue of a new government before settling that of the presidency.
The anti-Syrian March 14 Forces want this week's talks to include the future of President Emile Lahoud, a staunch pro-Syrian whom they have been trying to oust for more than a year. Lahoud has rejected repeated calls for him to step down.
An Nahar also said that the parliamentary majority has ruled out any accord that would give the opposition an upper hand in the cabinet.
Nasrallah said that if Saniora did not grant a new government by Nov. 13, Hizbullah supporters would resort to the streets to bring down the government. An Nahar said that the opposition, in contrast, has refused "to keep the authority in the hands of the parliamentary majority."
Hizbullah and its ally, General Michel Aoun, have also stood rock-solid in their demand for the formation of a national unity government, the paper reported. Lebanon has in recent weeks seen bombings and threats to bring down the government through demonstrations, something that would further destabilize the country less than three months after a destructive war between Israel and Hizbullah.(Naharnet-AP-AFP) Beirut, 07 Nov 06, 10:28
Prominent Lebanese politicians to go globe-trotting
By Leila Hatoum -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
BEIRUT: Three prominent Lebanese political leaders will be visiting world capitals in the coming days in an attempt to achieve stability in their small country, which is currently facing political upheaval. Speaker Nabih Berri will be flying to the Iranian capital, Tehran, this Saturday, while Premier Fouad Siniora will be visiting Seoul, South Korea, and Tokyo, Japan next week. Free Patriotic Movement leader MP Michel Aoun will also be traveling to Saudi Arabia next week, but no specific date has been set.
Berri's trip will be to "take part in the Asian Parliamentary Speakers' convention to be held in Iran," a source close to Berri told The Daily Star on Tuesday. The source, who wished to remain anonymous, said: "When Speaker Berri is conducting such visits, it is normal that he also holds meetings with the officials of the countries he visits." "It is most likely that Speaker Berri will be meeting with Iranian President [Mahmoud]Ahmadinejad, [Ayatollah Ali] Khamenei and other high-ranking Iranian officials," the source added.
"The meeting will discuss the situation in Lebanon and the region and the possible means to protect Lebanon and the like," the source said, adding: "This is due to the fact that Iran "is a major player in the region and on the Lebanese arena." Berri had visited the Saudi Arabia last month, where he held talks with the Saudi king and top Saudi officials. After his visit, Berri came back with the suggestion of initiating national consultations among prominent Lebanese political leaders in an attempt to break the political impasse the country witnessed after the national dialogue came to a halt due to this past summer's war with Israel.
Meanwhile, Aoun's media office said the timetable for the MP's trip to Saudi Arabia "has not been finalized yet."The office confirmed to The Daily Star that Aoun will be meeting with high-ranking Saudi officials, and added that a "statement will be issued later to clarify the schedule and timeframe of [Aoun's] visit."Saudi Arabia had extended an invitation to Aoun earlier this month after relations between the two sides soured over the former army general's support of Hizbullah during the July-August war. Meanwhile, Siniora will be meeting, "by mid-November, with South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki-Moon, who is also the newly appointed UN secretary general," a source from Siniora's office told The Daily Star Tuesday.
The source added: "The trip to Japan, where the premier will be meeting with high ranking Japanese officials, will come afterward."
The nature of both meetings is to "gather more international support for Lebanon," said the source, adding: "The meetings with the Japanese officials will also discuss the preparations for [the] Paris III [donor conference]" expected in January. The meeting with Ban is also expected to deal with the Shebaa Farms and a possible Israeli withdrawal from the area.
Lebanese leaders get down to details, discuss possible reshuffle of Cabinet
Compiled by Daily Star staff -Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Consultations day 2
Rival Lebanese leaders will meet again on Thursday in an attempt to agree on a government reshuffle following two days of talks aimed at defusing a political crisis that has threatened to spill into the streets. The talks, which began on Monday with a pledge by Lebanon's politicians to refrain from verbally attacking each other in the media, focused on Tuesday on Hizbullah's demand that its allies get a bigger say in the running of the country.
The head of the Amal Movement, Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri, who convened the talks, described the session as "frank, deep and rich" and said the leaders would use the break to consider various proposed compromises such as expanding the government to include more opposition members.
"Bringing down the government is not an option. Personally, I am not proposing a new prime minister or a new ministerial statement or a vote of confidence in the government," Berri said after the session.
"The government could expand or contract. In this case, participation cannot be except with more than a third."
He set Thursday as the date for the next meeting.
A government source who is close to the March 14 Forces and who is attending the consultations told The Daily Star Tuesday that Monday's consultations were more decisive than those of Tuesday.
The source said "MP Michel Aoun asked that he be given four ministers in the current government so that the Cabinet can be expanded to 24 ministers.
"This demand was not accepted and MP Michel Murr suggested that Aoun get three ministers and that the current defense minister, Elias Murr, [Michel Murr's son] be counted as the fourth minister."
A March 14 Forces MP participating in the talks told The Daily Star the members discussed the presidential issue, but failed to reach any new decisions on the matter.
He said that Aoun suggested that early parliamentary elections be held before asking for a presidential change.
The source said that participants agreed to delegate MP Michel Murr to conduct a series of talks with political parties about the issue.
According to the source, Thursday's consultation meeting will be the last held this week before resuming on Monday, November 20, as three of the participants - Berri, Aoun and Premier Fouad Siniora - have meetings outside Lebanon.
The Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation quoted sources describing the consultations as "very tense, requiring a 15-minute break because the participants were lashing out at each other, after which participants decided to resume the talks on Thursday."
LBC said the March 14 Forces rejected the demands of Hizbullah and its allies, prompting Aoun to suggest early parliamentary elections.
At that point, Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea reportedly suggested that each participant express his concerns and fears and allow the others to try to offer guarantees.
But Hizbullah representative MP Mohammad Raad said that would not solve the situation and insisted on having veto power in Siniora's Cabinet, prompting parliamentary majority leader Saad Hariri to say that "clearly this is an Iranian decision, to either quit or take to the street. Take to the street then and take responsibility for that."
Raad responded by saying that "if that were true, we would not have waited until now."
Druze leader Walid Jumblatt responded by saying, "you have orders from Iran and you have to execute them on time."
Berri then suggested a 15-minute break, after which talks were postponed until Thursday.
During the meeting, Berri reproached participants for leaking information to the media about Monday's meeting, which was supposed to remain secret.
After the session, Berri sarcastically said he would like to "thank the press for not publishing everything you were told."
A political source told Reuters news agency that the leaders had not made major progress and divisions remained deep, but that Thursday's session could be decisive.
Hizbullah, which has led calls for a change in the government, accuses the coalition led by Siniora of failing to back it during the war and supporting US-Israeli demands for its disarmament. The party has threatened to stage mass demonstrations demanding new elections unless more of its allies are admitted to the Cabinet by mid-November.
Anti-Syrian politicians say they are willing to expand the government to include more opposition members but will not give them the crucial one-third of ministerial posts which would be enough to block motions in Cabinet and automatically bring down the government if they resigned.
Hizbullah and its main ally Amal have five ministers in a Cabinet of 24. Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud has one ally in the Cabinet with the rest controlled by opponents of Syria.
Hizbullah wants its main Christian ally, Aoun, who made a strong showing in last year's polls, to join the Cabinet. - Agencies, with additional reporting by Nafez Qawas, Leila Hatoum and Nada Bakri
General public shows little faith in consultation talks
'You know the muppet show? they are like that'
By Paige Austin -Special to The Daily Star
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
BEIRUT: The consultation meetings under way in Downtown Beirut have done little to raise people's hopes for reconciliation among the country's feuding political factions, according to a series of interviews conducted on Tuesday by The Daily Star. The people interviewed offered a range of takes on the meetings and the only thing that united them, it seemed, was serious doubt about the likelihood of political detente.
A medical student, who - like many of the people interviewed for this article - declined to give her name, said the first day of consultations elicited frequent jokes from her classmates.
"We would be sitting around and someone would say: 'So do you think they've gotten anything done yet?' And everyone would laugh," she recalled.
Leila Khalat, a Gemmayzeh business owner, had even sharper words for the politicians meeting in Nijmeh Square, a few blocks to the west. "You know the Muppet Show? They are like that. They should stay in there ... talking to each other. Then they might leave us alone."
But not all Lebanese out and about on the streets of Beirut on Tuesday dismissed their politicians' maneuverings so readily. More often, people's views of the talks under way at Parliament reflected their broader political affiliation: The people interviewed usually said the negotiations' utility would pivot on whether one side - namely the one opposing those they supported - could overcome its shortsightedness and hunger for power long enough to do what was right for the country.
"The March 14 Forces want to control the whole regime," said Amal Sukariah, a supporter of MP Michel Aoun. "They won't share with anyone." The coalition's leaders, he added, seemed to be taking orders from Western powers.
"I hope God will give them the brains to think of Lebanon," he said. His friend, seated next to him outside the Cafe Younes coffee shop in Hamra, interjected teasingly: "You sound like Bush now, talking about God."
Sukariah waved off his friend's attack. "No, they need to make concessions! There is an Israeli project to destroy Lebanon ... [The Israelis] don't want a liberated Lebanon, a united Lebanon." By refusing calls by Free Patriotic Movement and Hizbullah for a unity government, he said, the March 14 Forces' leaders were playing into Israel's hands.
"Nonsense," countered Said, a taxi driver and self-declared "Jumblatti:" The March 8 Forces, in his opinion, were engaged in a simple power grab. "The president of the republic is with them! What else do they want?" he said. "This is the best possible government: No better government can come of these talks."As for Hizbullah and its allies, Said agreed with several of the group's opponents that it had doomed the latest efforts at dialogue when it laid down its conditions for success at the outset. "That is no way to negotiate. You have to be ready to make concessions," he said. A moment later, he clucked his tongue and sped away from a man asking for a service to Shiah, in Beirut's southern suburbs.
"I never go there!" he explained to his remaining passengers. "I don't like that area ... This country has some excellent people but it also has some very bad ones."Many others shared his ire for Hizbullah. If the consultations failed, they said, it would certainly be the resistance's fault.
"They established these pre-conditions," said Tony Gemayel, a university student mixing with friends in Gemmayzeh. Besides, he added, "It's not right: There was an election. The government was established; the majority was established."
Yet even with all the nay-saying, several people said they appreciated any attempt to avert the outbreak of fighting. One Hizbullah supporter said he expected the dialogue to yield results in two or three days, but declined to elaborate.
"Hizbullah is good to everyone," he said, "but the entire world is against Hizbullah."
Downtown, the talks cast a ghostlike pall over the sidewalks of Solidere. Hundreds of troops lined the streets, turning back cars and searching pedestrians. Within their cordon, many shops were closed, and restaurants had only smatterings of patrons, if any. Their owners were conducting a demonstration near Parliament - as close as they could get - protesting the renewed halt in business. One employee near Parliament said soldiers had searched him four times on his way to work.
"Every dialogue is like this," he added ruefully as several black Mercedes sedans sped past outside, whizzing party leaders home after their second day of talks. "No customers, no sales. No salary at the end of the month ... This is supposed to be a tourist area. Who would want to come, when they see all these soldiers?"
Israel Begins Pullout from Around Ghajar
Naharnet: Israeli troops began withdrawing Tuesday from around Ghajar, the last piece of Lebanese territory still occupied following the July-August offensive on Lebanon, the U.N. and Israeli sources said.
Troops "have begun to withdraw" from an area on the edge of the village, said Andrea Tenenti, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). He did not give any further details.
In Jerusalem, a military official confirmed that "at 1500 hours (1300 GMT) we withdrew forces from open areas north of the village of Ghajar. But at the moment, we are not changing our deployment inside the village itself."Earlier, UNIFIL's commander, French General Alain Pellegrini, said the pullout was about to begin. "I welcome the IDF (Israeli army) withdrawal from the area around Ghajar," he said in a statement. "I hope that we will reach an agreement very soon for full IDF withdrawal from Lebanese territory, in accordance with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701, including the northern part of Ghajar village," he said. The U.N. statement said Pellegrini met with senior officers from the Lebanese army and the Israeli military at the U.N. position at the border crossing at Ras Al-Naqoura.
"It was agreed that the (IDF) will withdraw their forces from most of the surrounding area of Ghajar village today," it said.
"UNIFIL will carry out intensive patrolling and set up temporary checkpoints in the specified area to confirm that the IDF were no longer present there."The statement, which gave no further details on the timing and areas of the withdrawal, said the Israeli army "is still present inside the northern part of the village of Ghajar and the immediate vicinity, inside Lebanese territory."
On October 26, UNIFIL said "minor administrative issues" continued to delay the pullout of Israeli forces from Lebanese parts of Ghajar.
Israeli troops continued to occupy the Lebanese parts of the village after their October 1 withdrawal from southern Lebanon. That came almost seven weeks after a U.N.-brokered truce took effect on August 14, ending 34 days of fighting between Israel and Hizbullah
Ghajar lies at the foot of Mount Hermon and straddles the Lebanese-Syrian border. It is inhabited by Alawites, most of whom have obtained Israeli citizenship even though they consider themselves Syrian.
The village is an extension of the Syrian Golan Heights plateau, which Israel occupied during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and then annexed in 1981. According to a U.N.-drawn "blue line" marking the border between Israel and Lebanon following a May 2000 Israeli troop pullout, one-third of the village is on Lebanese soil, while the other two thirds are part of occupied Syrian territory.(AFP)
Beirut, 07 Nov 06, 18:28
German Navy Equipped Against Suicide Attacks in Lebanon
Naharnet: The German military, which commands the marine component of the United Nations force in Lebanon, is prepared to defend itself against suicide attacks, a defense ministry spokesman in Berlin has said. Citing German military and intelligence sources, the top-selling Bild newspaper had reported that the navy feared attacks mounted by Hizbullah using speed boats loaded with explosives. It said that small craft were difficult to trace on radar and that the navy was now equipping its command bridges with heavy machine guns to repel potential attackers. Defense ministry spokesman Thomas Raabe told a regular government news conference on Monday that the navy was prepared for attacks and confirmed that frigates such as the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, stationed off the Lebanese coast, had such firearms. German vessels are patrolling the Lebanese coast to prevent arms being smuggled to Hizbullah by sea, in Berlin's first military foray in the Middle East since World War II.(AFP) Beirut, 07 Nov 06, 09:07
U.N. Urges Immediate Freeze on Use of Cluster Bombs After Lebanon War
Naharnet: United Nations humanitarian chief Jan Egeland called Tuesday for an immediate global freeze on cluster bombs following their intensive use during the Israel-Hizbullah war. The U.N. said in a statement that hundreds of thousands of Lebanese were at risk due to unexploded cluster munitions, marking only the most recent example of the "devastating" and lingering impact of such weaponry. "As a matter of urgency, I call on all states to implement an immediate freeze on the use of cluster munitions," Egeland, the U.N. undersecretary general for humanitarian affairs, said in a statement. "This freeze is essential until the international community puts in place effective legal instruments to address urgent humanitarian concerns about their use," he added. The appeal came at the beginning of a review conference in Geneva on a global arms treaty that restricts some types of conventional munitions, which has been ratified by more than 87 countries."Ultimately, as long as there is no effective ban, these weapons will continue to disproportionately affect civilians, maiming and killing women, children and other vulnerable groups," Egeland said.
"The states gathered for the Review Conference should commit to immediately freeze the use of cluster munitions and strengthen existing international humanitarian law." The Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons bans or restricts the use of chosen types of weapons that cause "unnecessary or unjustifiable suffering to combatants" or that indiscriminately affect civilians. The countries involved have so far failed to agree on including cluster munitions. The U.N. said the density of unexploded cluster munitions in Lebanon was higher than those found after conflicts in Kosovo and Iraq -- which had already caused alarm among humanitarian agencies. Unexploded cluster munitions are a "constant threat" to 200,000 refugees and internally displaced people in Lebanon as well as for hundreds of thousands of people returning to their homes and for humanitarian and reconstruction workers, it added.
Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are still suffering from the burden of unexploded cluster munitions some 30 years after the end of conflicts there, hampering farming and key building projects. "While some progress has been made in the intervening years, these weapons have continued to be used with devastating effect, most recently in Lebanon and Israel by both sides to the conflict," the U.N. added.(AFP) (AFP photo is of U.N. humanitarian chief Jan Egeland) Beirut, 07 Nov 06, 11:43
Can the Lebanese People Hold their Impotent Politicians Accountable?
If the objective of the politicians from their sharp divisions and heated arguments is to push the country to another cycle of violence, they have indeed succeeded in achieving this goal since the political scene looks very bleak, tensions are high, and everyone fears a return of trouble and an explosive deterioration of security as the creation of the international court nears.
As for the call by the Speaker of Parliament to a roundtable of consultations to contain the tension, it is in the opinion of everyone a call to a new distraction to add to the preceding distraction of the National Dialogue. It is in fact an admission of the failure of the latter whose decisions were never implemented. It would be foolish to believe that a mere substitution of the word “consultation” for the word “dialogue” will disentangle the intractable disagreements between the opponents, and that is why the Lebanese people are looking at the coming months with fear and anxiety, particularly when they do not trust the State’s ability to protect them in their lives and their livelihoods.
The question on everyone’s mind in Lebanon is: If the power establishment people are able to protect themselves by increasing the security detail around them and using armored cars, who will protect the ordinary citizens from road side bombs and booby-trapped cars planted by terrorists? How can the citizen trust a State that no only is impotent at protecting him, but is impotent at uncovering the criminals that attack him? And so he asks: What happened to the investigation into the assassination of Gibran Tueni, George Haoui, Samir Kassir and others? And is it acceptable that crimes of such magnitude and files of such crucial nature be relegated to hush up and suppression? Doesn’t this cowardly behavior encourage the criminals to persisting in their crimes? And what about the rest of the criminals who have sowed death and destruction in the capital and frivolously gambled with people’s lives and livelihoods? Where is the wisdom in keeping their names under cover?
And how can the Lebanese citizen trust a State that has delivered nothing yet on what it promised in its ministerial statement, not in security, not in services, not in improving the administration and fighting corruption. How can he trust a State that does not have the decision of war and peace, but instead acts like an ostrich or like a cheated husband who is the last one to know about vital decisions that determine the future of the country and its people? A State that is impotent at subjugating the outlaw security zones under its own authority, and that shows its muscles in applying the law only against harmless citizens while yielding to the more powerful citizens?
We hope that this difficult phase will go by in peace, but the regime has to realize that it should stop playing the victim and begin assuming its full constitutional responsibilities, which means it has to choose between two things: Either it resigns if it is impotent, or it should stand in a court of law if it is negligent. There is no third option before it. It is simply no longer acceptable to fool around with people’s lives without accountability.
N.B: Arabic version was issued on October 27, 2006
One Thousand and One Saddams
Ghassan Charbel Al-Hayat - 07/11/06//
Baghdad's records say that the scene in Baghdad is very normal: cold, no excitement, desolated, mean and strange. The new rulers are so weak that they lean on the law. This is Baghdad, so make no miscalculations. The rulers here are not weaned on a Constitution. Here, the palace has the gateway to the tomb. There is no difference between them. The ruler never tires and does not resign. He does not have time to embellish his memoirs. He takes hold of the palace through violence and cunning. Then, through violence and cunning, he loses it. There are no partners at the banquet of power, and it is either stab, or be stabbed.
Saddam Hussein was smiling when the judge pronounced sentence: death by hanging. The death penalty is not something strange and terrifying in itself. It may be said that executions were like a vocation to him, and the language he spoke with his enemies. It may also be said that in his clothes, he always used to hide a rope and a gun, that Mr. 'death penalty' had become the doorkeeper of Saddam's office, and that this practical man was not open-minded enough to consider trials and appeals, or to allow his victims to provide alibis, evidence, or for him to make presumptions. The death penalty was his partner, his friend, and the director of his office. It was also a member of the national and armed forces leadership. Through this oppressive punishment, he purged the army, the party, and the population.
Saddam was smiling when the judge pronounced sentence. 'The death sentence has come late', he must have said to himself. He always expected to be executed without being previously informed of the legal reasons behind the sentence. He used to see the ghost of conspiracy in his enemies' eyes and sometimes also in his friends'. Only through the death sentence could you address somebody who was getting ready to execute you.
Yesterday's scene could have taken on another dimension. It would have been beautiful if the despot had been tried for his actions while Iraq was living in a real democracy. It would have been a positive thing to see the dictator being brought to justice and questioned about what he had committed. However, there was something that disturbed the celebrations. Perhaps it was the feeling that the death sentence was being carried out on Iraq, before being applied to Saddam. Some of those who danced and exulted at Saddam's deposition have committed, and are committing, many more crimes than he did. Their responsibility for the assassination of Iraq is greater than the occupation's responsibility, despite the major crimes that the invaders have perpetrated.
What Saddam has committed justifies the sentence. He left pain in every home, village and city. Those who ran his 'killing machine' fell victim to it, too. It is impossible to find something that would reduce the enormity of his guilt, and a US president's hostility does not cleanse him of his crimes. To consider Bush's invectives on Saddam as an excuse to exonerate the latter would be like having worked for him when he was at the height of power and decked with medals, with his posters shown everywhere. Linking a nation's dignity to a criminal's is hardly fair or moral.
The crimes Saddam perpetrated inside and outside Iraq justify his being hung to death. However, those who love Iraq feel that what has been committed by some of the parties that appeared the day after the fall of both the despot and his statue is even worse than Saddam's crimes. These parties have caused sectarian divisions and the extinguished Iraq's identity. They have allowed Iraq to be expropriated by the occupation, on the one hand, and by those who arrived there under the pretext of resisting the invaders, on the other. The Iraqi fabric has been torn apart, and a feeling of separation has emerged. National unity has been broken, and regional forces, above all, Iran, have been allowed to penetrate the Iraqi equation. And using the resistance to the occupation - a legitimate resistance - as an excuse to cover sectarian policies is equivalent to participating in the execution of Iraq.
There is no reason to celebrate. The death penalty on Iraq has preceded the one on Saddam Hussein, and the world is now witnessing the disintegration of a country that it was betting would be a model for other States, thanks to its natural and human resources. There is no reason to celebrate. Post-Saddam Iraq seems more dangerous, to itself and its neighbors, than Saddam's Iraq, which was an extreme menace. There is no reason to celebrate, because people are afraid that in every Iraqi suburb, a small Saddam is being born, who is an expert on handing out the death penalty. They are afraid to wake up one day in an Iraq overcrowded with one thousand and one Saddams in a Middle East immersed in civil wars, darkness, despotism, unknown corpses and arsenals
Iran: 'Are You Trying to Fool Haman, Oh Pharaoh?'
Jamil Ziabi Al-Hayat - 06/11/06//
I think that we have to strategically and cautiously read what the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Iranian Revolution, Ayatollah Khameni, said in the speech he delivered on the Holy Lesser Bairam (Eid el-Fitr). He talked about the Iranian stance regarding the sea military maneuvers that had been decided by the countries belonging to the Anti-Nuclear Proliferation Security Initiative, and then carried out last week under US leadership, and with the participation of 25 countries, among which are Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait and Iraq. In his sermon, he said that the region has turned a new page in its history, thanks to what he called 'Hezbollah's victory over Israel in the last war'. This is an indication that this Movement's victory is a call upon every group that is out of people and countries' control to lead the region into new wars and disasters. Is this the new page that Iran wants the region to turn? By spurring parties or militias to move without recognizing the will of governments and peoples, as it has been doing by nurturing its loyal militias in Iraq? Would it not be better for this country to turn a new page by giving back the Emirate islands to their owners, by co-operating with its neighbors in order to achieve security and stability in the region, and by chasing away the ghost of continuous wars and conflicts that Iran is considered inseparable from, and a major partner in, because of its policies?
There is no doubt that the Iranian policy in the region is a source of danger for all the countries there which are striving to achieve stability, development and peace. In fact, this policy is still governed by the 'conspiracy theory', since it considers itself a peaceful Islamic State that knows the interests of the region. And who other than it interferes in the Middle East's affairs, and 'has ambitions and will leave this area to Israel', so that the next generations will inherit years of misfortune, turmoil and instability.
Iran is arousing religious and sectarian feelings, just as fundamentalist 'radical' groups in some countries of the region are doing. Moreover, it is trying to take advantage of these emotions in order to expand the Shiite influence there (which this country would be the first to benefit from). This is what is being done in Bahrain, where Iran is paying Shiites in dollars so that they can buy land. The objective is to enable them in al-Mahraq and al-Riqaa, as suggested by Abd el-Rahman al-Naimi in the Bahraini newspaper 'al-Waqt' in the article: 'Naturalization and Its Place in the Political Struggle'. Something similar may also be seen in Lebanon through Hezbollah or in Iran's attempts to make gains in the Iraqi Southern governorates.
Iran opposed to the maneuvers and described them as 'dangerous' and 'suspicious'. Its Foreign Ministry also said that they are not in line with what the region needs in order to achieve security and stability. However, the truth is that what is not in line with the region's necessity is Iranian policy, which is still practiced to destabilize this area, to achieve Iranian interests and goals at the expense of other countries and people, and to obtain nuclear weapons at the expense of the security and stability of the Middle East.
Iran, which doubts the intentions of these maneuvers, had previously carried out similar ones along its Southern Gulf coasts with the participation of different units of its armed forces. Lately, this country has announced the success of its missile test during the second stage of its maneuvers called 'al-Rasul al-Aadam', when it launched tens of developed ballistic missiles, among which the 'Shehab', the 'Dhu al-Faqar', the 'Scud B', the 'Fatih 110' and the 'Zilzal', which are capable of carrying hundreds of fission warheads. Now, why does Iran doubt the maneuvers that are being conducted in the Gulf? In other words, it is opposing the operations carried out by its Gulf neighbors, with US help, while announcing that it has launched new missiles and torpedoes, which travel at a speed of 100 meters per second. Is it not logical that Iran apply the same criteria to itself and others? Bearing in mind that these countries have the right to develop the capabilities of their military units, and to train them with the help of countries which they believe can provide military training and habilitation?
If Iran is looking forward to turning a new page in history, as its Revolution Leader has said, it must restore rights to those it has deprived them of, and must give up interfering in others' affairs. Additionally, it has to take advantage of its missiles and torpedoes to achieve peace and stability in co-operation with the countries of the region, and not at the expense of their security and stability. If it insists to claim that its military maneuvers have no goal, whereas others' are targeting the Islamic Republic, then it must be said: Are you trying to fool Haman, oh Pharaoh'
An Authority that Reflects Societal Balance
Hazem Saghieh Al-Hayat - 07/11/06//
The demand for a national unity government hides deceit that can not be covered easily. When the presidency of the republic, the presidency of the Chamber of Deputies, the army command and less than one third of the government belong to one political alliance, the demand for more than one third of the government becomes a total seizure of power. Seizing power consequently implies, as a minimum, possessing the ability to create a total vacuum that would prevent any power from taking place. In its maximum, it leads to declaring the State of Hezbollah, even if its president was Michel Aoun.
We can recall many examples and reflect on their experiences as facades or transitional figures. These include the Russian Kerensky, the Iranian Bani Sadr and Shukri al-Quwatli, who posed as a civil front for the Baathist and Arab nationalist officers during the late 1950s. This last example has a significant implication. Officers were able to drag Syria into nothing less than unity with Egypt, a unity that led to erasing Syria's name. Al-Quwatli was called "the first Arab citizen" and stayed at home until he died.
The picture must be slightly corrected. The message of Hezbollah and Aoun, backed by Damascus and Tehran, indicates that there is a Lebanese bloc that has become a majority through rigging. This rigging was reflected in a despotic government that does not represent the Lebanese people.
Actually, the above mentioned elections have resulted in a vague and complex situation: on one hand, there is a numerical majority, and on the other, it cannot act as a majority. This is reflected in the current governmental structure and in the position espoused by the ministerial statement of the Resistance.
In other words, the elections did not lead to a harmonious authority - let alone leading to a tyranny practiced by the March 14 Forces. The elections have shaken only one of the elements of authority that existed under the Syrian Mandate. The events which followed revealed that the presidency still possesses great power for disruption. If its alliances in the government and parliament were added, it would become an absolute power of disruption.
In short, the situation which resulted from the recent elections and which still continues today is similar to the balance in Lebanese society now. It seems 'logical' to retain both the president and the cabinet together or to find a way to change both.
It is quite correct to say that the forces of the Second Independence are not sufficient to bring about independence, especially after the drift of Michel Aoun toward the Iranian-Syrian axis and its agents. This clarifies the picture of the difficulties that still stand in the way of full independence, and the challenges that the leaders of March 14 are expected to be up to, particularly concerning the development of a language to address the Shiite community. However, that, in turn, indicates another fact: the power of the opposition is not sufficient to bring about the desired change. To assume the contrary and consequently to press for a coup, means dragging the Lebanese into disaster even before the consequences of last summer's war, the 'divine victory', are eradicated