LCCC ENGLISH NEWS BULLETIN
October 11/06
Biblical Reading For today
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 10,38-42.
As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me." The Lord said to her in reply, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her."
Latest New from The Daily Star for October 11/06
A message to all Lebanese from Italian Prime Minister Romani Prodi
Siniora visits Berri in bid to defuse internal tensions
Murr confirms Lebanese Army confiscated Hizbullah weapons
World Health Organization prioritizes fixing health facilities in wide aid effort
Prosecutors probe clashes in southern suburbs
MPs screen Constitutional Council hopefuls
Lebanon's internal struggles outlive foreign interventionsFrench tour group visits Lebanon to support ailing tourism sector
Beirut 'has to help itself' to encourage donor countries
On route to North, a telltale sign of war: gridlock
'How I spent my summer vacation:' Children return to school after war
Hizbullah paraphernalia tops sales during Ramadan nights
Chouf nature reserve struggles to cope with side-effects of war
Taamir weighs prospect of army deployment in area
Don't let the spat between Turkey and France get out of control
How Arab security states breed insecurity -By Rami G. Khouri
Latest New from miscellaneous sources for October 11/06
Hezbollah divides Lebanese as they rise from rubble-The Age - Melbourne,Victoria,Australia
Call for Israel to leave Shebaa-Guardian Unlimited
Cabinet Agrees Unanimously to Complete Investigation into Airport Road Shootout-Naharnet
Defense Minister Elias Murr: Army Confiscated Hizbullah Arms-Naharnet
IMF: Lebanon Safe From Monetary Collapse Despite Israeli War-Naharnet
Lahoud Emphasizes Need for National Unity Government-NaharnetIndonesia Inks Deal to Purchase 32 Lebanon-Bound Military Vehicles-Naharnet
Fugitive U.S. Doctor Fleeing Lebanon Arrested in Cyprus-Naharnet
Nasrallah Comes Out for Ramadan Nights in Beirut's Southern Suburbs-NaharnetLebanon Receives Maps of Minefields in South Lebanon-Naharnet
First Turkish Ground Forces Arrive to Take Part in Peacekeeping-NaharnetIndonesia Delays Deployment of Peacekeepers for Logistical Reasons-Naharnet
Arms confiscated in south Lebanon-United Press InternationalUN urges Israel's complete, quick pullout from Lebanon-People's Daily Online
First Turkish ground forces arrive in Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
Israel: No Syria talks unless it shuns militants-Reuters
Indonesia delays deployment of peacekeeping troops to Lebanon-International Herald Tribune
Moderate Sunnis in Lebanon fear rise of extremist groups-San Jose Mercury News
Turkey to send engineer company to Lebanon-Jerusalem Post
Assad Says Syria and Israel Can Live in Peace, Accepting Each other-Men's News Daily
Bush says North Korea giving missile technology to Iran, Syria-Iran Focus
Giant camel fossil found in Syria-BBC News
US calls for UN sanctions against North Korea after nuclear test-JURIST
A New Player in the Nuclear Club (4 Letters)-New York Times
Sheridan and MSPs to visit Lebanon-ic Renfrewshire.co.uk
HORRORS OF WAR LINGER IN LEBANON-Newark Star Ledger
Lessons from Lebanon-Stanford Progressive
Arms confiscated in south Lebanon
BEIRUT, Lebanon, Oct. 10 (UPI) -- The Lebanese army has confiscated weapons in south Lebanon where it is being assisted by international troops to extend exclusive government control. Defense Minister Elias Murr said Tuesday the confiscation of illegitimate arms south of the Litani River was in line with Security Council Resolution 1701, which ended the 34-day war between Lebanon's Hezbollah and Israel on Aug. 14. The area south of the Litani River is an 18-mile-deep area stretching between the Blue Line, which divides Lebanon and Israel, and the river. "Arms have been confiscated by Lebanese troops in the south," Murr said without elaborating or identifying the party whose weapons were seized. He stressed, however, that the Hezbollah organization was responding well to the army's mission and refraining from any armed manifestation. The Iranian-backed Shiite group has said it supports the government's decision to arrest any of its gunmen and confiscate his weapons if they are displayed. Murr said the United States and several European countries will supply the Lebanese army with equipment and arms. In a related development, seven Turkish army officers arrived in Lebanon ahead of the Turkish battalion taking part in the U.N. peacekeeping force in south Lebanon, UNIFIL, whose number was increased to 15,000 in line with resolution 1701. Turkey decided to contribute troops to UNIFIL despite protests by Lebanon's Armenian community, which objects to Turkey's military participation due the Turkish genocide of Armenians in 1915.
Murr confirms Lebanese Army confiscated Hizbullah weapons
Circumstances of seizure in south remain unclear
Compiled by Daily Star staff -Wednesday, October 11, 2006
The Lebanese Army has confiscated weapons belonging to Hizbullah in South Lebanon, Lebanese Defense Minister Elias Murr said on Tuesday. Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in Bkirki, Murr said: "There were reports in the media about the confiscation of weapons ... Those reports were true."Murr declined to give details about how many weapons had been confiscated and was vague when describing the army's role in disarming the resistance."We are carrying out our role as we should. It is our duty to confiscate any apparent weapons," he told reporters. "The army has two roles: defending the borders and depriving the enemy from any justification to return to South Lebanon," he said. "What we can confirm is that the resistance is cooperating by preventing any armed presence." Hizbullah has agreed that the Lebanese Army can take possession of any arms "found" in the area. The resistance group's leader, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, said last month that his fighters would keep their arms, to be used only in the event of another war with Israel.
"In three or six months the army will be fully equipped," Murr said, adding that the number of soldiers had increased to 60,000 after the latest crisis.
Hizbullah has repeatedly said that the army is more than welcome to any weapons it finds in the South. Murr's announcement came as UN peacekeeping spokesman Alexander Ivanko said Tuesday that a meeting between officers from the Lebanese and Israeli armies would take place in Ras Naqoura by the end of this week. According to Ivanko, the meeting will focus on proposals made by the UN to settle the issue of Israel's occupation of the border village of Ghajar. The Israeli Army withdrew from all other South Lebanese towns early this month, but has kept troops in Ghajar, refusing to hand the village over to the Lebanese Army or UNIFIL."UNIFIL hopes the Israelis pull out from the area as soon as possible," Ivanko said.
Meanwhile, as international troops continue to flow into the South, a contingent of Turkish peacekeepers - the first Muslim troops to take part in UNIFIL - arrived in Lebanon Monday. A Turkish military plane arrived at Beirut's airport with two vehicles and seven officers on board, part of a 270-man engineering corps to be deployed near the Southern port city of Tyre to help rebuild bridges and roads damaged in the war.
Turkish government spokesman Cemil Cicek said Tuesday that the total number of Turkish personnel would eventually reach around 700, including sailors as well as members of the engineering company. Turkey has already sent a frigate to help an international naval force monitor the Lebanese coast and plans to send other ships in the future.
Turkey is a predominantly Muslim country with close ties with Israel and Arab states. Its contribution to the peacekeeping force was met with opposition in the Turkish Parliament for fear of Turkish troops being drawn into fighting with fellow Muslims to protect Israel.
Lebanon's Armenian community also has protested the presence of Turkish troops, who are said to invoke Ottoman rule of Arab countries and the 1915 mass deaths that Armenians contend was genocide by Turkey. Indonesia will delay its deployment of peacekeeping troops to Lebanon by one week for logistical reasons, a military spokesman said Tuesday. In a related development, the Indonesian government on Tuesday inked a deal worth around $31 million with Renault Trucks of France to purchase 32 French-made armored personnel carriers and ambulances to be used in Lebanon.
The decision to buy the vehicles angered some lawmakers at a time of rising poverty and unemployment and with crucial infrastructure projects stalled due to lack of funding.
The delay in the dispatch of Indonesia's 850-strong force was the second since Indonesia's participation in the mission was confirmed.
"The postponement was due to technical problems faced by the UN Interim Force in Lebanon," said military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki.
"The Indonesian contingent was supposed to leave on October 28 but now the new schedule is slated for November 3 or 4," Basuki told AFP.
He said an advance team of around 125 personnel would now leave on October 17, with most of the force leaving in the first week of November. Indonesia had earlier said it expected its team to be on the ground by the beginning of October. Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation and was quick to offer troops to the mission to enforce a cease-fire in the fighting between Israel and Hizbullah, which was put into effect on August 14. Israel initially objected such deployment because Indonesia does not have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state. UNIFIL troops on the ground currently number about 5,200. - Additional reporting by Mohammed Zaatari
A message to all Lebanese from Italian Prime Minister Romani Prodi
Daily Stat: Wednesday, October 11, 2006
I have come here to Beirut today to confirm Italy's staunch support for Lebanon and for the government of Prime Minister Siniora. Three months ago, your country plunged into a deadly conflict which called to mind the tragic years of civil war and strife in the 1980s.
Italy's primary aim is to help Lebanon rebuild and consolidate its democratic institutions. This is a commitment that I have taken upon myself, and which I wish to carry forward jointly with Prime Minister Siniora - with whom we have very close ties of cooperation, shored up by the deep friendship that has always existed between our two great countries, Lebanon and Italy.
The Italian government recently appropriated a further 30 million euros ($37 million) in assistance. Italian companies will be dedicating their efforts to rebuilding Lebanon's roads and bridges, and our experts are already working side-by-side with their Lebanese colleagues on the environmental reclamation of the Lebanese coast. Other forms of cooperation will help revive agriculture and assist the Lebanese security forces in taking on their new responsibilities across the whole country.
Italy is committed to Lebanon by deploying the largest military contingent to the UNIFIL mission. Italian troops are working with dedication, courage and professionalism alongside those of many different countries and creeds, all committed to pursuing the same end, and all reassured by the enthusiastic welcome they have received from the Lebanese people. Our aim is to guarantee the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701 and help the Lebanese Army take control of the Southern part of the country. It is crucially important that the resolution be implemented without hesitation or ambiguity, to guarantee stability and improve relations with Lebanon's neighbors, and thereby achieve lasting peace.
I trust that the events in Lebanon have a lesson for us, and can help lay the foundations for re-launching multilateralism and the United Nations. The UNIFIL mission - which Italy has robustly and proudly worked to strengthen - stands as evidence that with the support of the international community and its leading players, the United Nations can make all the difference, and can operate effectively to foster peace and development.
At a time like this, when fanaticism and extremism are trying to divide us, we must give pride of place to the forces that unite us: We must respond to political, religious and cultural bullying with dialogue, mutual understanding, multiculturalism and respect for different religious faiths and creeds. The history of Lebanon is full of examples which demonstrate that these objectives are within our grasp.
Reconstructing the country, strengthening the institutions, rebuilding the infrastructure and the social and economic fabric means restoring the hope of peace, enabling Lebanon to become once again the example of coexistence between different communities and faiths which it has been for decades, and to demonstrate that peace, democracy, reconciliation and development are also possible in the Middle East.
Thirty years ago, the Lebanese model collapsed, triggering civil war, having fallen prey to the all-too many unresolved issues that have divided the Middle East for so long, beginning with Palestinian problem.
This is why we have to redouble our efforts today, setting aside hatred and prejudice, and committing ourselves to the peace process. And this we must do in the sure knowledge that peace can only come about by agreement, without excluding anyone, and by ceaselessly striving to establish dialogue with all. And this has to be done in the knowledge, above all, that there can never be peace in the region until the Palestinian people are living in a sovereign, vibrant and geographically complete state of their own, side by side with the state of Israel free from the threat of terrorism, and with both states living within secure and internationally recognized borders.
It is my hope that with the help of Italy, the European Union, the United Nations and the international community, Lebanon will now rapidly embark on her reconstruction, and rediscover the values and benefits of dialogue, understanding and coexistence. And once again stand as a model of peace, democracy, freedom and development for all. Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi was expected to arrive in Lebanon at 11 p.m. Tuesday. He will
be meeting this morning with Premier Fouad Siniora. The Italian premier will also meet with Speaker Nabih Berri before heading to the South to visit Italian peacekeepers.
Siniora visits Berri in bid to defuse internal tensions
By Therese Sfeir -Daily Star staff
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
BEIRUT: Lebanon's prime minister met Tuesday with the Parliament speaker and the Saudi ambassador to Lebanon in an effort to ease tension among Lebanese politicians. Premier Fouad Siniora visited Speaker Nabih Berri Tuesday at his residence in Ain al-Tineh to discuss the outcome of the latter's visit to Saudi Arabia, as well as other national issues, according to Berri's spokesperson.
Berri returned Monday from a three-day visit to Saudi Arabia, where he met with Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz and Deputy Prime Minister Prince Sultan bin Abdel-Aziz.While Siniora's office declined to give an official statement on the 45-minute meeting with Berri, Siniora's spokesperson said that a "positive atmosphere" prevailed during their talks.Siniora also met Tuesday with Saudi Ambassador Abdel-Aziz Khoja, with whom he discussed the outcome of Berri's visit to the kingdom.A statement issued by the premier's office said that the talks focused on means to "resolve local pending problems through constructive dialogue," among other issues. Siniora held separate talks Tuesday with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan's representative to Lebanon, Geir Pedersen, before meeting with the new Italian ambassador, Gabriele Checchia.
In another development, President Emile Lahoud criticized the current government, alleging that it "does not represent major Lebanese factions and is hence unable to make national consensus decisions and face political and economic challenges ahead." Lahoud made the remarks during an interview with the Kuwaiti-based Al-Anbaa newspaper published on Tuesday, After meeting Tuesday with Beirut Archbishop Elias Aoude, March 14 Forces MP Akram Chehayeb welcomed Saudi mediation, saying the kingdom "has always supported Lebanon and has not offered anything but good to the country."
"Berri was playing an efficient role in resolving pending problems and easing political tension," he added.
Chehayeb said resolving the issue of Hizbullah's weapons "would pave the way for building a strong state."
Chehayeb, who is a member of MP Walid Jumblatt's parliamentary bloc, has repeatedly called for the disarmament of Hizbullah, which the bloc accuses of supporting Syrian and Iranian interests.Separately, pro-Syrian former Premier Omar Karami made a surprise visit Tuesday to Damascus, where he met Syrian President Bashar Assad and Vice President Farouk Sharaa.
Following his meetings, Karami repeated his call for a national unity Cabinet, saying "this government cannot deal with the challenges" and must resign. On Monday, Karami had said that Berri's visit was aimed at forcing Saudi officials to live up to what he called their responsibilities toward Lebanon.
Labor Minister Tarrad Hamadeh, a Hizbullah ally, said Tuesday that Berri's visit to Saudi Arabia "was necessary to encourage the divided Lebanese parties to return to dialogue." As for the state of relations between Hizbullah and the Future Movement, which drastically deteriorated during the recent 34-day war with Israel, Hamadeh said: "Like any relation between political parties, the relationship between Hizbullah and the Future Movement has its ups and downs.""But now we should try to agree with each other and return to peaceful dialogue," added Hamadeh.
Former President Amin Gemayel reiterated his calls for early presidential elections during an interview Tuesday with Al-Anbaa magazine.
He also accused Free Patriotic leader MP Michel Aoun of "forging a quartet with Hizbullah, Damascus and Tehran."
Also Tuesday, Gemayel received former Prime Minister Salim Hoss, who stressed afterward the "need to find quick solutions to overcome the difficulties" that resulted from the war with Israel. A delegation from the Lebanese Forces paid a visit Tuesday to Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir in Bkirki.
A statement issued afterward by the LF delegation praised the prelate's "national stands and his efforts to consolidate Lebanon's freedom and independence." The Council of Maronite Bishops issued a statement last month criticizing calls made by Hizbullah and the Free Patriotic Movement to create a national unity Cabinet. Sfeir has been accused by several pro-Syrian figures of siding with parliamentary majority leader MP Saad Hariri.
Tourism Minister Joe Sarkis, who is also an LF member, said Tuesday during a television interview with TeleLiban that a Cabinet change "cannot take place at this time because the current government has many responsibilities to assume, including the creation of an international tribunal to try former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's assassins."
HORRORS OF WAR LINGER IN LEBANON
Resentment rises after Hezbollah's 'Divine Victory'
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
BY CHRISTOPHER ALLBRITTON
For the Star-Ledger
MAROUAHINE, Lebanon -- For 34 days this summer, the Israeli and Hezbollah rockets and mortars whistled through the little villages like this one all across Southern Lebanon. More than 1,000 people, including many Lebanese women and children, were killed. Farther north, concrete cities were flattened. And then, the war ended on Aug. 14.
Or did it? Nearly two months after a fragile cease-fire was announced and nine days after Israeli promised it had withdrawn the last of its troops from Lebanon, citizens in these southern villages are skeptical. And angry. They complain about continued Israeli incursions, unexploded cluster bombs, the slow pace of reconstruction, and an uncertain future. Some are raising doubts about what Hezbollah calls its "Divine Victory" in the war, which left about 1,200 Lebanese dead and 4,400 wounded, according to the Beirut's Higher Relief Council, the government body in charge of relief work.
"People are still shocked and trying to adapt," said Afif Hijzai, a tobacco farmer in the town of Haddata, a village a few miles northwest of Bint Jbail, which saw some of the heaviest fighting in the war. "They are trying to get back to normal life."
For Majdia Ghanem of Marouahine, however, there is no returning to normalcy.
Her village, which is only a few hundred yards from the Israeli border, was on the front line and saw heavy fighting and extensive shelling. She lost six members of her family when Israeli jets bombed an evacuation convoy organized by the United Nations in the first week of the war, killing a total of 23 people. Now, she and the surviving family members hope to salvage what is left of the tobacco crop.
She and her daughters returned to the village just two days after the cease-fire to find their house one of the few structures standing. "But we paid a very heavy price because we lost so many members of the family," she said, as she pressed tobacco leaves together for sale in the market where she'll get about $1.50 a pound. The Israelis, she said, didn't leave her village until Sunday. According to the spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, a small contingent of engineers remains in the village of Ghajar, which straddles the U.N.-demarcated "blue line" between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Lebanon. Israeli engineering troops continue to occupy the Lebanese side of the village, citing security reasons, and have erected a large berm to deny access from Lebanon to the town. In addition to occupying Ghajar, Israel also continues to violate Lebanese air space with daily overflights, said Alexander Ivanko, the UNIFIL spokesman. There were three violations last Wednesday and four more on Thursday, he said. "There are more than a dozen a week," he said, and added the air space violations have increased since Israel's official Oct. 1 withdrawal. But more serious are the munitions -- unexploded bombs, rockets and the dreaded cluster bomblets -- the Israeli forces left behind.
The United Nations Mine Action Coordination Center in Southern Lebanon estimates there may be up to 1 million unexploded cluster bomblets in the area, many American made.
BOMBS KEEP KILLING
Ali Herz, 26, is a typical, if lucky, victim of the weapon.
He went to check his neighbor's house in the southern town of Majd es-Slim two days after the cease-fire. But as he pushed open the heavy black iron gate to enter the garden, a sharp explosion threw him backward and shrapnel peppered his legs, face and chest.
"I thought that my legs might have been cut off, and I felt something had been knocked out of my mouth," he said recently, recuperating in his parents' home. He suffered a wound to his head, and he couldn't open his eyes, "because of the blood." Herz now walks with a permanent limp and can't work as a mechanic As of earlier this month, the Mine Action Coordination Center said cluster bombs had killed 21 and wounded another 102.
"I've never seen so much like this," said Magnus Bengtsson, the supervisor on an emergency ordnance disposal team clearing cluster bomblets from a neighborhood in the small town of Hanaouay, five and half a miles southeast of Tyre and eight miles from the Israeli border. "It's more than I expected."
Bengtsson and his team are with the Swedish Rescue Services Agency. The group was contracted by the U.N. contracted for mine clearing but now helps with the immediate dangers. As he walked through an empty field the size of a soccer pitch, Bengtsson pointed to a small, D-battery-sized object on the ground. It's an American-made m77, he said, which is designed to take out both people and armored vehicles, including tanks. The shaped charge can penetrate up to 5 inches of armor, and the casing is scored so it sends out deadly shrapnel to a radius of about 20 feet.
A spokesman for the Israeli Defense Forces said, "All the weapons and munitions used by the IDF are legal under international law, and their use conforms with international standards." The cluster bomblets are preventing up to 200,000 people from returning to their homes, according to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, although it is unclear how many of those people still have homes. The Higher Relief Council estimates 30,000 homes were destroyed in the war, and travels through many of the villages south of the Litani River show the damage has been extensive, although mainly confined to Muslim -- and especially Shi'a -- villages.
In addition to the housing crisis, the economy remains bruised, and there is little progress while the country focuses on the basics. Most people are getting their drinking water from large tanks that have been donated, and many of the water systems are back up and running. Electricity is more reliable now, too. In Tyre, the power is staying on 18 hours a day, its pre-war levels. Hospitals are open -- some are fully functioning; others struggling.
Many schools tried to reopen yesterday. In Aynata, students took entrance exams under tents on the playground because their school building was damaged.
THE RUBBLE REMAINS
Bint Jbail's roads are clear of debris these days, but entire neighborhoods of the town are still little more than piles of concrete. Out of 2,200 houses in Bint Jbail, 700 to 800 were destroyed, said Kazim Shrara, 48, a mukhtar, or town official, coordinating with relief agencies. Another 900 were damaged, he said, and 400 more slightly damaged. Almost every house in town was affected, he added. And out of 450 stores, 360 were destroyed. In other towns throughout the south, such as Srifa, Marouahine and Ait al-Chaab, the damage is just as bad. Entire villages have been effectively obliterated.
Shrara said assessment teams from the Lebanese government and Hezbollah's construction arm, Jihad al-Bina', have visited but reconstruction has yet to begin. Hezbollah has paid up to $12,000 for a year's rent and given new furniture to families who have lost their homes, but the Lebanese government, which promised each family up to $30,000, has yet to agree on a disbursement mechanism.
"The government has taken no practical steps," said Abdul Amir Nassir, 60, the mukhtar for the town of Haddata, up the road from Bint Jbail. "There has been nothing from the government."
As he spoke, a French lieutenant, part of a patrol checking on the locals, waited for Amir Nassir to show him where an unexploded bomb lay near a palatial home in Haddata. Lt. Edouard de Catalogne, 30, of Paris, is part of the Regimen de Marche Du Chad, what the French consider to be their version of U.S. Marines, he said. He listened with good humor as Amir Nassir criticized UNIFIL for doing nothing to stop the Israeli overflights.
"They don't trust us yet," he said later after the mukhtar was out of earshot. "They are trying to see which side we are on."
Throughout the south, there is a wait-and-see attitude toward the international troops and the Lebanese Army, which has been deployed along the southern border for the first time in decades as part of the U.N. cease-fire resolution 1701. Some villages, such as Haddata and Rmeiche, a Christian village, see nearly constant patrols, but towns with many Hezbollah supporters, such as Bint Jbail, have no peacekeepers or Lebanese troops in them.
"Sure, they're welcome," said Shrara, the Bint Jbail mukhtar, of the UNIFIL troops. "On the condition that they fulfill their obligations."
He mentioned the Israeli overflights and the troops in Ghajar, as well as reports Israeli ships had fired on fishermen's boats near the port city of Tyre.
"UNIFIL is doing nothing," he said. "Its role is not just to write things down but to stop these kinds of things."
It promises to be a tough job for de Catalogne and his men. "Israel wants us to fight Hezbollah, and Hezbollah wants us to fight Israel," he said. "But we don't fight anybody. We're not here for that." Back in Marouahine, the Ghanem family continues to eke out a living from what is left of the tobacco crop.
The leftover cluster bombs make harvesting the leaves dangerous, and the olive harvest will likely be lost for the same reason. The Israelis have finally left, and the UNIFIL troops are just up the road. The border is just a few hundred meters to the south. With so much devastation around her, Majdia Ghanem can't see Hezbollah's victory. "We are a small town, but we suffered a lot," she said. "We didn't achieve anything. We lost and our houses were destroyed." Some interviews for this story were conducted with a translator. Christopher Allbritton is a freelance journalist working in Lebanon. He may be reached at callbritton@mac.com.
Lessons from Lebanon
by Vilas Rao
Editorial: A New Year, A New Progressive America
It is hard not to consider the war in Lebanon a categorical tragedy. Not only were over 1,000 civilians killed and thousands wounded, there are few if any positive political developments from the conflict. Lebanon, who just a year ago celebrated as Syria finally left, is once again ravaged by war; Hezbollah, though pushed back from south Lebanon and perhaps militarily weakened, is leading the reconstruction and is at the height of its popularity in Lebanon and respect across the region; and Israel's movement towards ceding the occupied West Bank is at a standstill. The verdict is out: Hezbollah won and the region did another backslide - hardly the "New Middle East" we thought we might be seeing.
With so many dead and so much wrong in the region, perhaps we can learn some redeeming lesson or point out some folly committed and never to be repeated. Surely we can name some party responsible who acted so outrageously as to bring us this heartbreaking chain of events?
Perhaps Israel went to war with Hezbollah for the wrong reason: to legitimize an inexperienced prime minister and his controversial West Bank withdrawal plan instead of to seriously drive Hezbollah out of south Lebanon, for which it would have needed ground forces from the outset along with its air strikes. Perhaps Israel should have cut its losses and ended the war when it realized that Hezbollah would not be defeated.
But Israel's response to Hezbollah's violation of Resolution 1559 and then the kidnapping and killing of its soldiers was certainly not outrageous. They can't be to blame. Our own handling of the crisis might be partially to blame. Perhaps we shouldn't have held out hope so long for Israel's victory. Maybe we should have called for a cease-fire sooner.
But no one will dispute the need to weaken Hezbollah, or the legitimacy of our support for Israel in the face of both a legal violation and military assault by Hezbollah. We can't be to blame. This has left many people, even at the top of the policy-making world, scratching their heads wondering what should have been done. Should Israel not have retaliated and instead suffered further assaults on a border mandated to be secure by the UN? Should we not have supported Israel in that venture? It is hard to answer yes to either of those questions, and very frustrating to concede that despite good intentions and choosing a reasonable general course of action, things could turn out so tragic and to the detriment of all who hope for progress in the Middle East.
And so during the month of fighting, we heard from many pundits and officials who speculated possible ways for the forces of freedom to come out on top during this affair, by setting even higher, nobler intentions.
Some suggested using this moment to separate the "marriage of convenience' between a Shiite Iran and largely secular or Sunni Syria. In order to do that, however, we would have to make such an alliance decidedly inconvenient for Syria, which we currently cannot.
Others suggested getting real about the arming of Hezbollah by Iran and Syria in the future. But although the cease-fire resolution called for no further arms arriving in Lebanon that do not go to the Lebanese Army, no one is willing to enforce that. Most, instead, dwelt on the past, and suggested ways we should not have let the Middle East drift into the mess it currently is in. Such dreaming is easy and tempting, but not at all constructive.
All these half-hearted questions and proposals, speculating about new and better intentions for the United States in the region, are left unfulfilled because they are impractical.
Our strategy with Iran will be our next test. Whether or not Hezbollah acted on orders from Tehran to deflect attention from Iran's defiance over its nuclear program, Hezbollah's assault and subsequent victory in the war once again underscored Iran's regional prominence and America's primary foreign policy challenge. A worrying influence on Iraq, an aspiring nuclear power that seeks to establish itself as the permanent regional power, and the primary military and ideological influence on what we just saw was Israel's latest foe, Iran's star has risen quickly, and with oil prices as high as they are, no one is particularly excited to sanction them. Indeed soon after the cease-fire was signed, Ayatollah Khamenei rejected the incentive package offered it to stop nuclear enrichment and sought to divide the world by instead offering to participate in talks on the matter.
In dealing with Iran we must remember the lessons of Lebanon. Good intentions alone do not dictate a good foreign policy. This war in Lebanon reminded us that despite the best intentions of the United States and Israel, to uncompromisingly support our friends and fight our enemies, we still came out on the losing end. We must fight with persistence and pragmatism as well, and we must remember that with Iran. A policy of disengagement from enemies is noble but self-defeating. Accordingly, we should remember that in the Middle East, as anywhere, there are certain events and forces that are beyond our control, so we focus and grapple with the forces that we can contend with. We cannot realistically prevent Iran and Syria from arming Hezbollah right now; nor can we prevent Islamist parties from being elected in the region during the rare elections in the region.
What we can do is work slowly, and steadily, towards three goals: a more secure Iraq (though even our influence there is waning), the opportune moment to restart peace talks towards a two-state solution in Palestine, and energy alternatives that will diminish the influence of oil in our ability to keep the peace.
Good intentions alone will not win wars, and when it comes to the Middle East they can lose them.
What On Earth Are the Syrians Talking About?
09/10/2006
By: Tariq Alhomayed
The Syrian report regarding the recent attack on the US embassy in Damascus has been on my mind for a while now. In a nutshell, the report claims that the ideological instigator behind the incident was a Saudi national, and that the weapons used during the attack were supplied by Lebanon. So basically, what Syria is trying to say is that it is the victim of Saudi terrorism and Lebanese security anarchism.
Does this make any sense whatsoever? It seems the Syrians are living in a fantasyland, playing the same old broken record that constantly tries to link Saudi Arabia to terrorism. Many world events have been forced on us but it seems Syria is still unaware of them. remember that last October, the US consulate in Jeddah was targeted in a terrorist attack, something we follow up with, not through official Saudi security forces, as was the case in Damascus, but through updates on over two Saudi satellite channels – live! Not through screened opinions.
Today, we are witnessing abundant criticism in Saudi Arabia over the social, religious, and economic issues – all on Saudi satellite channels.
Only a few days ago, we published the debate, or rather the argument that took place in the Saudi Shura Council’s corridors (Consultative Council) over charity organizations, the nature of their work, and the ways to monitor them.
This is a fraction from what is published in Saudi media of argumentative debates of a sensitive nature – so I honestly ask: Does that cover everything?
Of course not! We still hope for more activity and reform. This is all contrary to what is going on in Damascus in terms of stagnation, regression and the persistence in misinterpreting matters. The Syrian report does not take heed of the fact that the debate around Saudi is no longer one about the terrorist circle or its inciters inasmuch as it is about the speed of the reform wheel. The Syrian aberration could have been useful immediately after September 11th, but not now in 2006. As for implicating Lebanon’s name; it is enough to say that the battle in Lebanon today is centered around a number of issues, mainly avoiding delays in the formation the al-Hariri’s assassination trial (which is also tied to other assassinations and assassinations attempts) and not interfering in Lebanon’s affairs, as well as safeguarding its borders. Naturally, the situation is more particular to the Syrians than it is to anyone else in terms of stopping support for Hezbollah and quelling the deepening Iranian influence in Beirut.
The Syrian report, which resembles Abou Ads’s tape, can also fall under the famous Arabic proverb: He accuses me of what he’s guilty of.
Experts want to rename schizophrenia By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Mental health experts called on Monday for the term schizophrenia to be dropped, saying it has no scientific validity, is imprecise and "It is a harmful concept," said Professor Marius Romme, a visiting professor of social psychiatry at the University of Central England in Birmingham.
He added that symptoms such as delusions, hearing voices and hallucinations are not the results of the illness but may be reactions to traumatic and troubling events in life.Speaking at a news conference, Richard Bentall, a professor of clinical psychology at the University of Manchester, said the concept of schizophrenia is scientifically meaningless. "It groups together a whole range of different problems under one label -- the assumption is that all of these people with all of these different problems have the same brain disease," he added.
Schizophrenia affects about 1 percent of people in the United States and Britain. Treatments such as atypical antipsychotic drugs focus on eliminating the symptoms. But the drugs can cause side effects such as weight gain, an increased risk of diabetes and sexual dysfunction.
Paul Hammersley of the University of Manchester who recently helped launch The Campaign for the Abolition of the Schizophrenia Label (CASL), said there is no agreement on the cause of the illness or its treatment. CASL argues that the term schizophrenia is extremely damaging to those to whom it is applied and implies unpredictability, being dangerous, unable to cope and someone in need of life-long treatment.
"It is like cancelling someone's life," said Hammersley. "We generally believe this word has to go."Other psychiatrists agree that schizophrenia is an unsatisfactory term that conveys bizarreness but they are concerned that discarding the term could lead to problems classifying patients with psychosis.
"If we don't have some way of distinguishing between patients, then those with bipolar disorder or obsessional disorder would be mixed up with those currently diagnosed as having schizophrenia and might receive treatments wholly inappropriate for them," said Robin Murray, a professor of psychiatry at the Institute of Psychiatry in London.He suggested replacing the term schizophrenia with the label dopamine dysregulation disorder, which he said more accurately reflects what is happening in the brain of someone who is psychotic.