LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 21/07

Bible Reading of the day
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 7,36-50.
A Pharisee invited him to dine with him, and he entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at table. Now there was a sinful woman in the city who learned that he was at table in the house of the Pharisee. Bringing an alabaster flask of ointment, she stood behind him at his feet weeping and began to bathe his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them, and anointed them with the ointment. When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner." Jesus said to him in reply, "Simon, I have something to say to you." "Tell me, teacher," he said. Two people were in debt to a certain creditor; one owed five hundred days' wages and the other owed fifty. Since they were unable to repay the debt, he forgave it for both. Which of them will love him more?" Simon said in reply, "The one, I suppose, whose larger debt was forgiven." He said to him, "You have judged rightly." Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? When I entered your house, you did not give me water for my feet, but she has bathed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but she has not ceased kissing my feet since the time I entered.
You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with ointment. So I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven; hence, she has shown great love. But the one to whom little is forgiven, loves little."He said to her, "Your sins are forgiven." The others at table said to themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?" But he said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."

Opinions
Murdering the Land of Cedars. Elias Bejjani. FrontPage magazine.com, CA. September 20/07
Turning 'consensus' into a mortal threat.By Michael Young. September 20/07
Lebanese MP's assassination unsurprising. By: Roee Nahmias. September 20/07
Hezbollah is back to its old tricks.By Amir Taheri,.Gulf News. September 20/07
The Black Quarter-Century.By: Hazem Saghieh Dar Al-Hayat. September 20/07

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for September 20/07
Berri Warns of 'Big Conspiracy' Against Lebanon.Naharnet
Lebanon Reacts to Yet Another Political Assassination.Voice of America
March 14 for Arab League and U.N. Arrangements to Protect Presidential Elections-Naharnet
Statement by Secretary Rice on the Assassination of Lebanese ...US Department of State
Canada condemns murder of Lebanese lawmaker.News Agencies
Lebanese Leaders Pledge to Hold Election.The Associated Press 
Lebanon Observes Day of Mourning for Car Bombing Victims-Naharnet
Lebanese Leaders Vow to Hold Presidential Elections despite Bomb Attack-Naharnet
Berri Warns of 'Big Conspiracy' Against Lebanon-Naharnet
Ghanem's Killing Designed to Scuttle Presidential Poll-Naharnet
Saniora Asks that Ghanem Murder Be Part of U.N. Probe-Naharnet
U.S. Leads Global Anger at Ghanem Killing-Naharnet
Ghanem's Assassination Blamed on Syria's Assad-Naharnet
Bush Says Assassination in Lebanon Aimed at Silencing Democracy.Bloomberg
Syria blamed for assassination in Lebanon.Boston Herald
Lebanon mourns slain anti-Syria MP, crisis deepens.Reuters
Anger at new Lebanon MP killing.BBC News
Lebanon in turmoil after MP's slaying.AFP
Another Assassination in Lebanon.American Thinker
Iran: Lebanon blast 'a Zionist plot'.Independent Online
US asks Israel to limit actions in Lebanon.Ha'aretz
'Claim the Lebanon you deserve'.Ynetnews
Netanyahu under fire for Syria strike comments.AFP
King Abdullah condemns assassinating Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem.Petra
Israelis impose news blackout over Syria airstrike.Telegraph.co.uk
Hizbullah Condemns Ghanem Killing.Naharnet
Brammertz to Step Down in December.Naharnet
Maronite Bishops urge feuding MPs to attend electoral session-Daily Star
MP Antoine Ghanem assassinated-Daily Star
Tempers run high as Phalangists react to blast-Daily Star
Hopes for solution rest on expected Berri-Hariri talks-Daily Star
International community deplores 'contemptible act-Daily Star
Israelis step up airspace violations-Daily Star
Terror leader escaped notice for over two years-Daily Star
Lebanese seek fortunes abroad amid political crisis, violence-Daily Star
Jordan closes door to Fatah al-Islam families-Daily Star
Aid agencies gain access to Nahr al-Bared-Daily Star
Word on the street: Achrafieh residents expect more political trouble ahead-Daily Star
Desperate Enemies Continue to Assassinate Democracy in Lebanon.Ya Libnan

Canada condemns murder of Lebanese lawmaker
Thursday, September 20, 2007
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada Wednesday decried the assassination of an anti-Syrian Lebanese lawmaker in Beirut, calling the slaying an attack on Lebanon's independence and stability days before its presidential election. Foreign Minister Maxime Bernier said Canada stood "firmly" by Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora and his government after a car bombing in a Beirut suburb killed lawmaker Antoine Ghanem and five other people. "Canada condemns in the strongest terms this attack on Lebanon's independence, stability and democracy, especially in view of the upcoming elections" on September 25, Bernier said in a statement.
"I urge the people of Lebanon to continue to resist those who seek to destabilize their country and to pursue their efforts to find a political solution to the current crisis," he said.

Press Statement
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
September 19, 2007
Statement by Secretary Rice on the Assassination of Lebanese Parliamentarian Antoine Ghanem
I was saddened to learn hours ago of the murder of Antoine Ghanem and at least four others in an act of terrorism. The thoughts and prayers of America are with the Ghanem family, with those who lost a loved one, and with the Lebanese people. The bombing that claimed these lives was another act in a campaign of terror by those who want to turn back the clock on Lebanon's hard won democratic gains. Enemies of peace and freedom want to gain through violence, threat, and intimidation what they cannot win in free and fair elections. The world should speak with one voice in calling for an end to violence in Lebanon intended to subvert democratic processes in that country. Lebanese elections, scheduled to begin in just days, must proceed, in accordance with the Constitution, without threats of foreign interference and the violence that accompanies such obstruction. We stand with the Lebanese patriots who want these elections to take place on time in a free and fair manner.
2007/779/Released on September 19, 2007

March 14 for Arab League and U.N. Arrangements to Protect Presidential Elections
The March 14 majority alliance on Thursday called on the Arab League and the United Nations to protect Lebanon's forthcoming presidential elections from alleged Syrian attempts to block it, including the slaying of MP Antoine Ghanem. The alliance also pleaded with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to "shoulder your responsibilities" in shepherding the presidential elections by working to dismantle the tent city opposition protest, which is a few meters from parliament headquarters. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Fouad Saniora presided over a ministerial meeting which stressed that the "terrorist" slaying of MP Antoine Ghanem would only reinforce its demand that a parliamentary vote to choose a new president goes ahead on time. "We do not fear terrorism and this will not break our will. It will only reinforce our determination to prevent the terrorists from succeeding," said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi. "This is a terrorist act similar to the terrorist acts against the lives of members of the majority" over the past three years, Aridi told reporters after a ministerial meeting chaired by Saniora. "It cannot be separated from the presidential election... or from attempts to plunge the country into chaos," he said. "But we are determined to hold the election on time," he said, confirming that Berri had said the September 25 date still holds for a parliamentary session to choose a successor to President Emile Lahoud. Aridi said the ruling majority "keeps its hand extended to everybody," in an apparent reference to the country's opposition. "We have to save Lebanon." The March 14 alliance also urged the Hizbullah-led opposition to adopt a "moral stand by supporting the victim … and refraining from covering the Syrian regime with justifications."Parliament is due to convene next Tuesday for the first time in nearly a year amid an almost total deadlock between the pro-Damascus opposition and the Western-backed ruling majority which has accused Syria of Ghanem's murder. The majority alliance said it was the MPs "duty" to take part in the parliamentary session to elect a new head of state. It called on the Arab League, the United Nations and the U.N. Security Council to "take all the resolutions and adopt all arrangements in all spheres to guarantee the holding of presidential elections and protecting the republic."It also urged foreign nations to adopt a "decisive stand" regarding the Syrian regime. Ghanem, killed along with four others in a car bombing on Wednesday in a Beirut suburb, was the eighth member of the anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the 2005 murder of former billionaire premier Rafiq Hariri. The majority accused Syria of "physically eliminating the deputies in order to prevent the presidential vote. "The Syrian regime has taken the decision to destroy Lebanon by blocking government actions, preventing the presidential election, creating chaos and resuming its hegemony over Lebanon," the majority statement said. It called for "massive participation" in Ghanem's funeral on Friday, a day of national mourning. Beirut, 20 Sep 07, 15:37

King condemns assassinating Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem
Amman, Sept. 19 (Petra)—His Majesty King Abdullah II on Wednesday condemned the assassinating of Lebanese MP Antoine Ghanem who was killed in a blast that went off in Beirut where a number of innocent people died and many others were injured.In a cable sent to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, His Majesty expressed heart-felt condolences in this ordeal. King Abdullah said assassination is a hideous crime that targets the security and stability in Lebanon, expressing Jordan's solidarity with Lebanon and its people in these hard conditions. //Petra// Ashkar

Maronite Bishops urge feuding MPs to attend electoral session
By The Daily Star
Daily Star staff
Thursday, September 20, 2007
BEIRUT: The influential Council of Maronite Bishops urged feuding MPs Wednesday to attend a Parliament session next week to elect a new president, deeming it a national duty. The statement, likely to embarrass the Christian opposition MPs of Michel Aoun's Reform and Change bloc, is expected to have little effect on the ground. Politicians from both the majority and the opposition have already ruled out an agreement on the next president by September 25.
"It is the duty of the honorable MPs to attend the election session in order to shoulder their responsibilities toward their country and its citizens," said Bishop Youssef Taouk, reading from the statement at the end of the meeting headed by Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir. "Refraining in this domain is tantamount to boycotting the homeland." The Maronite Church issues its statements after a bishops meeting held on the first Wednesday of each month. This month's meeting was postponed because Sfeir was on a visit to the Vatican, during which he met with Pope Benedict XVI and other officials and discussed the presidential issue.
The Church voiced fears among many Lebanese that a failure to elect a successor to President Emile Lahoud would push Lebanon toward civil unrest.
"If the presidential elections were hindered, the country's fate would be grim," it said. The bishops said this "pessimistic look" at Lebanon has pushed as many as 1 million from different religious backgrounds to leave the country seeking safety or work.
Lebanon has witnessed a string of assassinations and explosions over the last couple of years that claimed the lives of many politicians and civilians. Most of these explosions, including the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February 2005 in a massive bomb, were blamed on Syria. Damascus denies involvement. The deterioration in security, a 10-month-old political crisis and a demonstration in the city's commercial center have crippled the economy and forced many businesses to shut down. The bishops hoped that the elections would bring in a president who can unite Lebanon, which is deeply divided between the Western-backed majority and the opposition. "It is hoped that the elections would bring a president who can unite the Lebanese from different groups," the statement said. "And who is experienced in solving political issues and can take his decisions by himself and would work to spread state authority on all citizens." The statement added that the future president should know that he was elected to serve his country and people's aspirations and not "certain persons" or "that state" without naming the persons or the state. They warned that "if each Lebanese group thought of setting up an independent homeland ... we would cease to have a homeland." The bishops devoted a large portion of their statement to the issue of massive emigration due to the prevailing deadlock in Lebanon.
"Several legislators" had recently sought safety in other countries, though temporarily, to avoid assassination," the statement said. - The Daily Star

Bush Says Assassination in Lebanon Aimed at Silencing Democracy
By Paul Tighe and Camilla Hall
Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush condemned the killing of an anti-Syrian lawmaker in Lebanon as an attempt to ``silence'' people working for democracy as he blamed Syria and Iran for trying to destabilize the country. The killing of Antoine Ghanem, a member of the Lebanese Phalange Party, in an attack in Beirut yesterday, is part of a ``tragic pattern of political assassinations,'' Bush said in an e-mailed statement issued late yesterday in Washington.
The ``cowardly attack comes days before the Lebanese Parliament is scheduled to convene to elect a new president,'' Bush said. The U.S. stands with the Lebanese people as ``they resist attempts by the Syrian and Iranian regimes and their allies to destabilize Lebanon and undermine its sovereignty.''
Lebanese lawmakers will choose a successor to President Emile Lahoud on Sept. 25. Lahoud supported Syria's occupation of parts of Lebanon, which ended in 2005 after international condemnation of the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri. The U.S. and the Lebanese government blamed Syria for his killing and the deaths of 14 other politicians and activists, allegations Syria denied. ``The United States opposes any attempts to intimidate the Lebanese people as they seek to exercise their democratic right to select a president,'' Bush said in his statement. Syria's official SANA news agency condemned the assassination in remarks attributed to an unidentified person. ``This criminal act targets the efforts and endeavors exerted by Syria and others to achieve the Lebanese national accord,'' the news agency's statement said.
Beirut Suburb
Yesterday's blast occurred in a Christian suburb of east Beirut and killed at least four other people.
At least six Lebanese anti-Syrian politicians and one journalist are among those killed since February 2005. Former President Amin Gemayel's son, pro-Western industry minister Pierre Gemayel, was gunned down on Nov. 21, 2006. The U.S. State Department suggested Syria or its sympathizers were responsible for the blast.
``It's unfortunate that you can see a pattern here of political assassinations, of political assassinations specifically directed against those who have opposed Syrian interference and Syrian domination of Lebanon,'' State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington. ``And it's hard to see it as a coincidence.''
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, currently visiting Israel and the West Bank, urged that elections proceed ``without threats of foreign interference.''
``The world should speak with one voice in calling for an end to violence in Lebanon intended to subvert democratic processes in that country,'' Rice said in a statement. United Nations officials called for calm in the aftermath of the attack. ``The Security Council has condemned this new bombing, as every attempt to destabilize Lebanon in this very crucial period,'' French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert, president of the UN Security Council this month, told reporters in New York. To contact the reporters on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net ; Camilla Hall in London at chall24@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: September 19, 2007 20:59 EDT

Lebanon blast 'a Zionist plot'
September 20 2007
AFP: Iran has condemned the murder of another anti-Syrian lawmaker and five others in a Lebanon car bombing, saying the blast was aimed at causing instability ahead of a crucial presidential vote."This terrorist act aimed to cause instability in Lebanon in the current sensitive situation, when the initiative of Lebanon parliament speaker is taking shape," foreign ministry spokesperson Mohammad Ali Hosseini said. He was referring to an offer by Lebanon's parliament speaker Nabih Berri, an opposition chief, to drop a demand for a unity government if the country's feuding political parties agree on a consensus candidate for the presidency.
Hosseini blamed Israel, Iran's arch regional enemy, for Wednesday's murder of MP Antoine Ghanem in a mainly Christian neighbourhood of Beirut.
"It comes from ominous plots of the Zionist regime, which has always been threatening Lebanese sovereignty, independence, security and people's solidarity," he said in a statement. Parliament has from September 25 to November 24 to elect a president to replace Emile Lahoud, whose term in office was controversially extended by three years under a Syrian-inspired constitutional amendment in 2004. Iran's closest regional ally Syria has been accused by the United States and pro-Western Lebanese politicians of being behind the continued unrest in Lebanon but Damascus vehemently denies the charges.

Lebanese MP's assassination unsurprising
As anti-Syrian lawmaker Ghanem's death brings his bloc's control of parliament to possible end, factional tensions in Lebanon expected to increase
Roee Nahmias
Published: 09.20.07, 05:16 /
Israel News
Despite heavy security measures, Lebanese Parliament member Antoine Ghanem was assassinated Wednesday by a bomb that targeted his car in Beirut’s suburb of Sin el-Fil. Ghanem, like other anti-Syrian MPs, tended to switch his car, home location and even spend time abroad. In the end, it was to no avail. He could not escape the reality in Lebanon. June 2005 shook the country so much that reverberations are still felt today. That month, after four rounds of elections, an anti-Syrian political bloc came to power in a definitive popular victory - 72 out of 128 seats in parliament.
The assassination
Antoine Ghanem of Christian Phalange party killed by blast in Christian district of Lebanese capital; at least six other people dead, 19 others wounded. Syria rushes to condemn incident, deny its involvement The win came in the wake of a string of political assassinations: On October 1, 2004, a car bomb exploded next to the motorcade of Druze MP Marwan Hamadeh. He was severely injured and his driver was killed. A massive explosion on February 14, 2005, killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut. This last assassination was considered to be the driving force behind the anti-Syrian camp's victory. It was followed by assassination attempts on several anti-Syrian journalists.
Such assassination attempts have now become expected because of the geopolitical reality, or rather, geopolitical crisis in Lebanon: It's time to elect a new president. According to Article 49 of the Lebanese constitution, the president needs to be elected by a majority of at least 65 parliament members.
Up until Wednesday afternoon, the anti-Syrian camp had 65 MPs solidly affiliated with them, meaning they could determine the next president without consulting other political groups. Now, since they only have 64 assured votes, they will need to negotiate with rival parties, among them, Hizbullah.
According to Lebanese law, an MP who passes away or leaves parliament before his term is up does not cede his seat to another member in his party. Rather, he is replaced by the winner of new elections in his district, creating the possibility for a party change. Clearly, assassinations of anti-Syrian politicians
have the potential to erode the bloc's population gradually.
Indeed, assassination attempts have continued since the anti-Syrians' mid-2005 election. In December of that year, Gebran Tueni, a prominent anti-Syrian journalist and MP, was killed by a car bomb. Industry minister and Christian Maronite leader Pierre Gemayel was killed on November 21, 2006. MP Walid Eido, an anti-Syrian Sunni, was killed in a blast on June 13, 2006.
As a result of these three assassinations, the leading party lost one parliament seat to Michele Aoun's party.
Anti-Syrian bloc dwindling
But the anti-Syrian camp has been weakened in other ways. MP Mustafa Ali Hussein, originally affiliated with the camp, later declared himself an independent. In January 2006, Edmond Naim, member of the Lebanese Forces bloc of Samir Geagea in the parliament died of natural causes. He was replaced by Pierre Daccache, who is not a member of the anti-Syrian camp. Five parliament members within the anti-Syrian coalition, including Robert Ghanem who is poised to announce his candidacy for president and a group of four MPs from Tripoli, have threatened to leave the bloc. Their departure would bring the number of anti-Syrian votes to 64.
Unsurprisingly, given the dwindling number of anti-Syrian MPs, there is no leading contender at the current time strongly affiliated with any party. Lebanon’s army commander, General Michel Suleiman, appears to be a top choice as a compromise. The implications of the current situation are clear – until mid-November when President Emile Lahoud's successor is determined, tensions can be expected to rise.

Lebanese assassinations threaten decision-making process for presidential successor
By MIRET EL NAGGAR
McClatchy Newspapers
CAIRO, Egypt | A car bomb killed an anti-Syrian Christian lawmaker and seven other people Wednesday in a Christian neighborhood of Beirut, Lebanon.
The assassination threatened to raise tensions in Lebanon just days before political factions there are scheduled to meet to decide who will succeed the pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud. Several anti-Syrian politicians who support Prime Minister Fuad Saniora have recently taken refuge in Cairo, fearful that assassinations such as Wednesday’s of Phalangist Antoine Ghanem would undercut their majority in the crucial parliamentary vote.
Ghanem’s death reduced the anti-Syrian faction to 68 seats in the 128-seat Parliament, which is to convene Tuesday to select Lahoud’s successor.
“We’ve all received death threats,” said Ammar Houry, a member of the majority bloc in Parliament. “Our group came to Cairo in an attempt to decrease the dangers in the period preceding the presidential elections.”Houry has been living in Cairo with his wife since June, when another anti-Syrian legislator, Walid Eido, was killed.
Ghanem, 64, was the eighth anti-Syrian legislator to die in a bombing since the 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Footage on Lebanese television Wednesday showed car wrecks and bloodstained bodies being carried away by hospital workers.
Saniora’s U.S-backed government and the opposition, which is allied with Iran and Syria and led by the Shiite Muslim militant group Hezbollah, have been locked in a struggle over how to choose Lahoud’s successor. Saniora’s group, known as the March 14 coalition, insists that the president be selected by majority vote if there is no consensus candidate. The opposition has called for the selection to be by two-thirds majority.
Lahoud, whose term ends Nov. 25, has threatened to hand over power to army chief Michel Suleiman if the political factions fail to reach an agreement. The president in Lebanon ratifies treaties and has the authority to veto legislation. “Things could get very ugly here,” political analyst and Hezbollah expert Amal Saad Ghorayeb said in a telephone interview. “If March 14 insists on shoving one of their candidates into the opposition’s face, the opposition won’t attend. They’ll boycott the elections.”
**Zeina Karam of The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Anger at new Lebanon MP killing
BBC: World leaders and Lebanese politicians have condemned the bomb attack that killed an anti-Syrian Lebanese MP in a mainly Christian suburb of Beirut.
Antoine Ghanim, of the Maronite Phalange party, died with at least six others in the Sin al-Fil district.
US President George W Bush said the killing was "horrific", while a host of Lebanese politicians blamed Syria for the bomb.
Lebanon is poised to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.
LEBANESE ASSASSINATIONS
Feb 2005: Ex-PM Rafik Hariri
June 2005: Anti-Syria journalist Samir Kassir
June 2005: Ex-Communist leader George Hawi
Dec 2005: Anti-Syria MP Gebran Tueni
Nov 2006: Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel
June 2007: Anti-Syria MP Walid Eido
Sep 2007: Anti-Syria MP Antoine Ghanim
But the country has been mired in an ongoing political crisis, with a deadlock between pro- and anti-Syrian factions in parliament.
Syria denied any involvement with Wednesday's attack, issuing a statement calling it a "criminal act", adding that it undermined hopes for Lebanese national reconciliation.
In Lebanon, many politicians described the attack against Mr Ghanim as a direct attack on the process of choosing a new president.
'Silencing freedom'
Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora called for a UN investigation into the assassination of Mr Ghanim, who had returned to Beirut just a few days before his death to take part in the vote.
ANTOINE GHANIM
Anti-Syrian member of Lebanese parliament
64-year-old lawyer
Member of Lebanon's Maronite Christian Phalange party
Elected deputy in 2000
Re-elected in 2005
The killing was "a clear message to silence to voices of freedom and independence", he told the AFP news agency.
Other Lebanese politicians were quick to blame Damascus.
Saad Hariri, son of Rafik Hariri, a former prime minister who was killed in a bomb in 2005, said responsibility lay with Syria.
"I have never seen a more cowardly regime than that of [Syrian President] Bashar Assad's," he told the Associated Press news agency.
Even Mr Lahoud, a pro-Syrian figure, suggested the killing was linked to the upcoming election, saying it was no coincidence someone was killed whenever there were positive developments in Lebanon.
The latest attack has also been criticised by the US, the UK, the EU, France and Italy.
Mr Bush denounced what he described as attempts by Syria and Lebanon to destabilise Lebanon.
"I strongly condemn today's horrific assassination of Lebanese member of parliament Antoine Ghanim," he was quoted as saying by AFP, adding it was part of a "tragic pattern" of attacks. The bombing was the latest attack on leading figures in Lebanon's anti-Syrian movement, with five others killed since Rafik Hariri's assassination in 2005. Pierre Gemayel, son of the Phalange leader Amin Gemayel, was shot dead by gunmen in November 2006.
In July 2007, a Muslim member of the movement, Walid Eido, was among at least 10 people killed in an explosion in Beirut's Manara neighbourhood.
Syria has denied any involvement in any of the killings.

Lebanese lawmaker killed
He was part of anti-Syria movement
By Liz Sly | Tribune foreign correspondent
September 20, 2007
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Digg Del.icio.us Facebook Furl Google Newsvine Reddit Spurl Yahoo Print Single page view Reprints Reader feedback Text size: BEIRUT - In what has become worryingly familiar in Lebanon, a massive car bomb killed an anti-Syrian member of parliament Wednesday, just days before parliament was due to meet to elect a new president
Antoine Ghanem, 64, died along with his driver, another passenger in his car and at least six bystanders in the rush-hour blast, which ignited several vehicles and damaged apartments for blocks around in the Christian Sin el Fil neighborhood of Beirut.
The blast came six days before a special session of parliament for the election of a new president, prompting allegations from supporters of the pro-Western government that Syria is systematically seeking to eliminate anti-Syrian legislators to deny the government a majority.
Ghanem's death reduced the number of pro-government parliamentarians to 68, a majority of just four in Lebanon's 128-seat National Assembly.
"The only way to reduce our majority ... is through assassinations," Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, a leading member of the parliamentary majority, told Al Jazeera television. He accused Syrian President Bashar Assad of complicity.
"He still has to kill four more of us in order to say to the Lebanese people: You won't vote for an independent president," Jumblatt said.
Ghanem was the third member of parliament assassinated in the past 10 months and the eighth member of the anti-Syrian March 14 movement killed since the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri split Lebanon into pro- and anti-Syrian camps.
Fearing for his life, Ghanem reportedly had spent the summer abroad, returning to Lebanon just two days earlier. He was a member of the same Christian Phalange party as Pierre Gemayel, who was assassinated last November. In the most recent killing in June, Sunni parliamentarian Walid Eido died in a similar bombing.
In Washington, the White House indirectly accused Syria of involvement.
"Since October 2004, there has been a pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to intimidate those working courageously toward a sovereign and democratic Lebanon," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "The victims of these cowardly attacks have consistently been those who publicly sought to end Syria's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs."
Syria denied having anything to do with the bombing.
"This criminal act aims at undermining efforts made by Syria and others to achieve a Lebanese national accord," Syria's state-run news agency SANA said.
The attack sent tensions soaring between the two sides and seemed certain to diminish prospects that the divisions could be healed in time to elect a president in the near future. With the country bitterly divided between the rival pro-Western government and the opposition, supported by Iran and Syria, it was already in doubt that Tuesday's planned session would be held. Parliament hasn't met since October, shortly before a walkout by Hezbollah and Shiite Amal ministers paralyzed the government. The term of the current, pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud expires Nov. 24. The March 14 movement, which groups some Christians, Sunnis and Druze, had so far refused to accept an offer by the Shiite speaker of parliament, Nabih Berri, to agree to elect a president by a two-thirds majority, in return for the opposition dropping demands for a new government. Though there are two more months for the two sides to try to bridge their differences, this latest bombing is likely only to further deepen the divide. If no replacement is chosen by Nov. 24, Lahoud has said he will appoint a new administration, raising the specter that Lebanon would have two rival governments and perhaps slide closer toward civil war.lsly@tribune.com

Hizbullah Condemns Ghanem Killing
Hizbullah on Thursday condemned the slaying of an anti-Syrian MP Antoine Ghanem.
The assassination of Antoine Ghanem in a car bombing on Wednesday was "a blow to the country's security and stability as well as any attempt at reconciliation and hope toward reaching a political consensus," it said. Hizbullah called on the country's feuding political parties to respond to the killing by showing "unity," according to a statement issued by the group. The bombing, which also killed four other people, came just days before Lebanon's deeply divided parliament is due to meet with the task of choosing a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud.(AFP) Beirut, 20 Sep 07, 12:01

Turning 'consensus' into a mortal threat
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Slowly but surely, the idea of a consensus president to succeed Emile Lahoud is gaining ground. Slowly but surely the speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, in the name of his "strategic alliance" with Syria, is helping Damascus revive its supremacy over Lebanese affairs. And slowly but surely, as Antoine Ghanem's assassination yesterday showed, preparations for that moment are coming with a grizzly price tag.
The hard-liners in the March 14 coalition, most prominently Walid Jumblatt, but also the Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, are unhappy with the idea of a consensus president. This is putting considerable stress on the coalition, since Saad Hariri appears to be more amenable to Berri's project. Divided, March 14 will be much less able to defend against a presidential plan favored by Syria, therefore by the opposition. A consensus presidency appears to be precisely that, and, worse, has the merit of being appealing domestically, regionally, and internationally. After all, it is difficult to fault the idea of "compromise."
But what does compromise, or rather consensus, mean in the case of the Lebanese presidency? Jumblatt is not wrong in warning that a consensus candidate is bound to be a weak president. Why? Because the opposition will not sign off on someone who consolidates the gains of 2005 and enforces the agenda of March 14; but it also cannot impose a candidate of its own; therefore it will give a green light only to someone unable to harm its interests. If March 14 is so keen to avoid a vacuum imposed by Syria and enters into the logic of compromise, then the coalition, too, will be compelled to approve someone who does not threaten its interests. What will emerge is a president without teeth; water rather than wine.
As Berri hinted when he was interviewed by Marcel Ghanem on the "Kalam al-Nass" program last week, the next battle will be over the government. After a nonentity is elected, the opposition will have much leeway to work on strengthening its hand elsewhere. It will demand veto power in a new government (which is why Hizbullah will not abandon its alliance with Michel Aoun), and is likely to succeed in this because the spirit of conciliation will sweep everything before it. Once March 14 agrees to compromise over the election of a president, it will have no choice but to do the same for the Cabinet. And if it is true that Saad Hariri will be named prime minister, then expect the next government to be political rather than technocratic. That means it will be polarized and utterly unable to pursue a systematic agenda.
This will have alarming consequences. If the opposition is given veto power over government decisions and controls Parliament through Berri, then the majority will have lost the vital advantage it enjoyed through its hold over the Cabinet. March 14 would have sacrificed executive authority in order to gain a weak president. That's a trade the Syrians and their allies can happily live with. All in the name of arriving at a consensus.
Jumblatt has already indicated that he would not vote in favor of a consensus candidate. But Jumblatt's margin of maneuver is largely determined by two things: where the United States stands and where Saudi Arabia stands. The
Saudi-Syrian rift has allowed the Druze leader to raise the ante in recent weeks. According to unconfirmed reports, the Saudis recently asked Syria to endorse Nassib Lahoud as president. The Syrian refusal allegedly led to the last-minute Saudi cancellation of a visit to the
kingdom by Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem.
However, will the Saudis stand tough? Ultimately, they may conclude that a consensus candidate is better than a political vacuum, which would only escalate Sunni-Shiite tensions. The kingdom's ambassador in Beirut, Abdul Aziz Khoja, has been especially sympathetic to Berri's endeavors. The Saudis, sensing the wind turning, may conceivably favor compromise.
What of the US? The Bush administration is still taking a tough line on the presidency: The new tenant of Baabda should not be someone who turns the clock back to where it was before 2005, when Syria ruled in Beirut. For the Americans, a Syrian return would also bolster Iran and Hizbullah. What it really would do, however, and one doesn't need the Americans to deduce this, is undermine United Nations Security Council resolutions on Lebanon, which have created a de facto international trusteeship over the country. What future would there be for Resolution 1701 in a country where the majority is paralyzed and Syria regains the upper hand? Or for Resolution 1559, which aims to prevent this?
Indeed, what would happen to the Hariri tribunal? The notion that the tribunal is a fait accompli must be seriously qualified. If March 14 falls into the opposition's headlock, the work of the tribunal can be impeded. Everything from its financing to the behavior of Lebanese judges would be affected. Worse, what is to prevent the leaking of judicial information to the Syrians on the prosecution's case? If it is true that Hariri seeks to head a new Cabinet, achieving this will severely hamper his ability to push the tribunal forward, because his job as prime minister will demand accepting myriad compromises merely to hold his unwieldy team together.
It's too early to assume that this scenario will play itself out. Hariri has no interest in alienating Jumblatt and Geagea on behalf of Nabih Berri. Nor are the forces working against such a project negligible. Someone like Michel Aoun, for example, sees few advantages in agreeing to a consensus candidate, since this would terminate his presidential bid. Indeed, convincing Aoun may prove a major obstacle for Hizbullah and Berri. Jumblatt and Geagea find themselves on the same wavelength as Aoun in resisting a presidential compromise, albeit for diametrically opposing reasons. As odd as it might seem, this might create an alliance of circumstance down the road if the consensus plan gains momentum.
The wild cards in this presidential ballet are the Europeans. Their fear of a void in Beirut is understandable, given the UNIFIL commitments. The Europeans seem to be heading toward backing a consensus candidate, regardless of whether Syria respects Lebanese sovereignty. Both the Saudis and the Americans, whatever their better instincts, might find themselves forced to follow the European lead if the alternative (one encouraged by the Syrian regime) is a dangerous split in Lebanon.
If a weak president is elected and the opposition gains veto power in the Cabinet, the Lebanese should start worrying. It would only be a matter of time before Lebanon finds itself where it was before Rafik Hariri's assassination. An axe would have been taken to the Cedar Revolution, much as it was yesterday to Antoine Ghanem.
***Michael Young is opinion editor of

turning point for Lebanon
Elie Mikhael Nasrallah, Citizen Special
Published: Thursday, September 20, 2007
What is wrong with Lebanon? Why is this tiny country -- the only mini- democracy in the Arab world -- so restless, unstable and violent? Is it a nation-state in the full sense of the word, or is it a collection of city-states similar to Italy's 600 years ago?
The international community these days is trying to help Lebanon as much as possible. The sixty-thousand-dollar question, however, is: Can Lebanon help itself? The present explosive political stalemate over the election of a successor to outgoing President Emile Lahoud could determine the future of Lebanon and its long-suffering, but eternally optimistic populace.
Lebanon's historic demonstrations in 2005 and 2006, and the subsequent Syrian withdrawal, were a dream come true for liberals, patriots, and the educated classes.
However, liberalism and good intentions are no recipe for sure success in that part of the world. Tradition, religion, tribalism, fanaticism and external loyalties are ancient diseases that destroyed empires, and thwart dreams of modernization. Witness the bomb yesterday that killed anti-Syrian member of parliament Antoine Ghanem and four others, and wounded dozens.
What ought to change in order for a decent chance of success in this new Lebanon?
Lebanon has got to be first: If Lebanon is viewed merely as a means to an end, then the cycle of misery and war shall not cease.
The looming presidential election is the ultimate test: Can the Lebanese agree, after months of parliamentary squabbling, on a president to unify the country and rebuild its institutions?
The election scheduled for next Tuesday is the first opportunity since 1975 for the Lebanese to elect their president themselves instead of being dictated one by their masters. Failing to elect a president within the framework of the constitution, however, could plunge the country further into turmoil and eventual partition along sectarian lines.
The political and religious elites must be tamed: Lebanon's establishment is guilty of abandoning its responsibilities and constantly bickering for private dominance, thus depriving the populace of decent, responsible and authentic leadership.
If secularism is impossible, use religion wisely: The concept of the "separation of church and state" is still an alien idea in the greater Middle East. Fine. Let us use religion as a positive force rather than a destructive one.
That requires an enlightened elite with vision and honesty, precisely what Lebanon has been lacking for a long time. The future depends to a great measure on finding a formula to accommodate religious tradition with modernity.
Never again depend on foreign powers to save Lebanon: Dependency breeds foreign loyalty. Loyalty breeds servitude. And servitude results in treason.
The Shiite community should have a greater stake in the system: History hasn't been kind to the Shiites of Lebanon. They've been impoverished and politically irrelevant since independence in 1943.
But Hezbollah's ascendancy has changed that equation. It is therefore imperative that political compensation should be given in exchange for disarmament and dissolution of its status as a "state within a state."
Find an accommodation with Syria: Geography and history are the twin brothers of politics. No country can escape that reality. Lebanon must find a way to satisfy Syrian interests, and those demands that are reasonable. Mutual interests must be the guide.
Egypt should be brought back to balance Syrian hegemony: Egypt is an important counter-weight to Syria in Lebanese affairs. Perhaps Egypt and Saudi Arabia could combine efforts to balance the regional political power equation.
However, thus far this balancing act has failed despite all the mediation efforts by the Arab League, France, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. In fact, recent relations between Saudi Arabia and Syria took an unprecedented turn to the worse publicly because of the Lebanese crisis.
The sum of its dispersed parts is greater than its whole, but it is still an open question whether Lebanon will remain in one piece.
Elie Nasrallah, who spent 20 years in Lebanon, is an immigration consultant practising in Ottawa, and a political writer published widely in the Middle East, including the Beirut Daily Star.
© The Ottawa Citizen 2007

Lebanese seek fortunes abroad amid political crisis, violence
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Thursday, September 20, 2007
BEIRUT: The crowd outside the Canadian Embassy in the Lebanese capital is mainly young men and women seeing the foreign flag, and those flying at other diplomatic missions, as a gateway to a future. "I have two degrees and no job, so I decided to leave even though it saddens me," said Rania Helou, as she stood in the long queue at the embassy. Like Helou, thousands of young men and women have either already packed or left, or are trying to do so.
Lebanon was badly shaken by the devastating summer 2006 war which destroyed more than 25,000 houses and 50,000 other buildings, leaving much of the country's infrastructure and industry in ruins. And afterward, Lebanon has witnessed its most serious political crisis since the end of the 1975-90 Civil War.
A 10-month-old opposition sit-in in Downtown Beirut paralyzed business in the area, forcing hundreds of traders and restaurants to close, causing massive lay-offs.
Until then, that area of the capital had been seen as the symbol of Lebanon's revival after 15 years of civil war. "I looked for a job for three months without any success, and then I gave up because I was constantly being rejected or offered low salaries," said Roni Badr, who earned a Masters degree in Business Administration from Nottingham University in Britain. "I will try my luck again in Britain. I will try to find a job over the next two months with my meager means, or else ..." said Badr, who had just received an entry visa to Britain for 60 days.
Unemployment, which was officially put at 9 percent before the July 12 outbreak of last year's 34-day war, has more than doubled to 20 percent, according to several economic experts. Rami Boulos, 32, has decided to go to Saudi Arabia "where salaries are interesting, even if living conditions are difficult." "I have already come 10 times to the embassy, under the blazing sun, and I still have documents missing for the visa," he said, while queuing at the Saudi Embassy in Beirut. "Two years of work in Saudi Arabia and I will return to Lebanon to open a small business."
Last year's bloody war with the Jewish state, and the volatile political situation, has driven tourists to seek other destinations away from Lebanon. Hotels have been badly hit and many have laid off staff or forced them to take unpaid leave - some for two weeks every month. "I don't have the choice. All my friends are gone, so I will do the same. I will try to find a job in Europe or the Gulf," said Salwa Razzouk, 27, who works at the financial department of a prominent hotel in Beirut.
"Every week, we organize farewell parties for young men and women who are leaving the hotel, with most of them going to the Gulf where they will be paid better and where the industry is booming," she said. Carole Contavelis, manager of the recruiting agency Hunter International, said: "All the people with university degrees have left, some people without even having secured any job." "But the rising cost of living in places like Dubai and Qatar is forcing some young people to return," she said, adding: "It is surely not a sign of a regained confidence in the country."
Contavelis said the shortage of qualified people was now such that local firms needing certain staff were attempting to contact Lebanese expatriates abroad "to motivate them to return by offering them decent salaries." But Lebanon's political instability - with a presidential election looming this month - does nothing to calm the nerves.
"I'm leaving because in Lebanon you never know when things can degenerate," Nada Stephan, 35, a bank employee. She has chosen to go to work in Abu Dhabi, like her sister who is already there. "No one expected war last summer, and with the shooting as the presidential poll approaches, anything can happen. The Lebanese have learned nothing from their past suffering," she said, pessimistically. - AFP

Hezbollah is back to its old tricks
By Amir Taheri,- Special to Gulf News
Published: September 19, 2007, 23:21
Ever since it was driven out of southern Lebanon in last year's mini-war, the Hezbollah has pursued a strategy aimed at replacing the government of Prime Minister Fouad Siniora with one in accord with the regional ambitions of Syria and Iran. The strategy started with the withdrawal of Hezbollah ministers from Siniora's coalition Cabinet in the hope that this would force the prime minister either to adopt policies that Iran and Syria wanted or face the collapse of his government.
When that did not work, Hezbollah allied itself with a faction of Maronite Christians led by ex-General Michel Aoun to form a pincer with which to crack the Siniora government.  When the addition of Aoun to the anti-government plot failed to produce the desired result, Hezbollah went for direct action. It deployed tens of thousands of professional protesters in the streets of Beirut to besiege government offices and paralyse the administration.
Almost a year later, however, that tactic, too, has failed. Then came a direct bid to provoke a civil war by unleashing the so-called Fatah Al Islam (Victory of Islam), a radical armed group linked to Al Qaida, near the Sunni heartland of Tripoli.
However, the revived Lebanese army remained loyal and proved that it was willing and able to defend the democratically elected government.
All those events weakened the Lebanese economy by keeping the tourists and foreign investors away. However, the economic collapse desired by Hezbollah and Aoun did not materialise.
Throughout this year a long tug of war, Hezbollah and Aoun had one key card to play: President Emile Lahoud. Owing the extension of his presidency to Syria, Lahoud has done all in his power to help Tehran and Damascus win in Lebanon. Nevertheless, Lahoud's efforts to derail the government have also failed. Lahoud's term of office, including the three-year bit added to it under Syrian pressure, ends in November.
Under the Constitution, the process of choosing a new president starts on September 23 and should be completed within two months. Under an unwritten convention, the president must belong to the Maronite community but cannot be elected without the support of a majority of the members of the parliament.
Two points are already clear. First, Aoun, who abandoned his life-long opposition to Syrian domination in the hope of getting the presidency, is unlikely to achieve his goal. His Iranian and Syrian allies have already decided to betray him by offering a compromise on what they term "a consensual candidate".
The second point is the fact that the national coalition that backs the Siniora government has the majority required to choose the next president with or without the Hezbollah-Aoun axis. However, the simple majority rule becomes operational after the parliament has failed to agree on a candidate of consensus. This is why Tehran and Damascus have started manoeuvres aimed at imposing a consensus candidate, that is to say someone not committed to the democratic coalition's political agenda.
Lahoud has suggested that the army chief of staff General Michel Suleiman be chosen interim president for three years. Such a move would keep Lebanon in a state of uncertainty well into the year 2010, the date that Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has fixed as one marking the "total defeat" of the United States' strategy to bring democracy to the Middle East. There is, however, no chance that Lahoud's idea would fly if only because it violates the constitution.
This is why Lahoud has flown a second kite by suggesting that he should stay in place until after a new general election chooses a new parliament.
Lebanon's anti-democratic forces have other tricks up their sleeve. One is the idea that the parliament should name its oldest member as president. Another is to choose a technocrat, someone like the Central Bank governor Riad Salamah.
Sadly, some in the State Department in Washington appear to be tempted by such ideas and have even tried to persuade the Europeans, especially the resurgent French, to consider a compromise. There is, however, no logical, constitutional or political reason to allow the Hezbollah-Aoun axis and its allies in Tehran and Damascus to escape the consequences of their defeat. They must not be allowed even a half-victory.
Planned putsch
To dress its planned putsch in some legal garb, the anti-democratic axis claims that no president could be elected outside the parliament building and that a simple majority would not be sufficient.
Both claims are false. Three previous presidents, Suleiman Frangieh, Bashir Gemayel and Rene Mouaouad were elected outside the parliament building. And Frangieh won the presidency with a simple majority of the parliamentarians present. Under the constitution, the present parliament has the duty of choosing a new president thus ensuring the continuity of the state before a new general election is called. The democratic majority should agree on a list of two or three candidates for the presidency and submit it to the parliament. Whoever secures a simple majority should be declared president. The Western democracies and the Arab states interested in an independent Lebanon should support whoever wins. Any attempt at helping the putschist minority escape the consequences of its miscalculations would be a betrayal of Lebanon's democratic aspirations.
***Amir Taheri is an Iranian writer based in Europe.

The Black Quarter-Century
Hazem Saghieh - Al-Hayat - 18/09/07//
Lebanon's various sects and groups recently "celebrated" three occasions marking the passing of 25 years.
Assassinated in a dreadful terrorist act was the just-elected president of the Republic, Bashir Gemayel, whose rise to power represented the militia-based and nativist response to the capture of the Lebanese state, beginning with the 1969 Cairo Agreement. The transfer of Christian political leadership to Bashir was a clear expression of the collapse of traditional politics, after and because of years of strife. It also expressed the decision by a frightened minority, living next to Palestinian armed force that enjoyed support from Muslims, to resort to intimidation as a response to this fear.
However, Bashir reached the presidency in harmony with the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, signaling that the Lebanese divisions had reached the breaking-point. Significantly, the killing of Bashir and the presidency of his brother Amin revealed the end of an era described as one of Maronite hegemony. Under the impact of transformations, most importantly demographic ones, the sect that had established Lebanon's political entity lost its ability to exert unified leadership. This was the beginning of Syria's gradual re-asserting of control over its neighbor, through the wars in the southern suburbs in Beirut, the capital, and Mount Lebanon.
The dust from the explosion that took the lives of Bashir and his comrades had barely settled before a horrific massacre took place in Sabra and Shatila; the mass killing went farther than Israeli-sponsored Christian vengeance against the Palestinians, and marked the political end of the Palestinian refugee camp, its revolution and its arms. This is because the Syrians were fated to triumph and complete what was begun in Sabra and Shatila with two wars in Tripoli and the refugee camps, followed by preventing any PLO presence in Lebanon, under the pretext of (guarding against) "Arafatism."
Thus, the Palestinians were struck from the equation after the Christians met this fate, as if the war had ended with the defeat of the two parties that began it in 1975. The country went on to be divided between a large Syrian portion in the north and center, and a smaller Israeli portion in the south and some of the Bekaa Valley.
This latter part of the country has also reached a quarter-century mark, after the birth of its "Lebanese, national" resistance, led by the Communist Party and its allies. In fact, the LCP's mere attempt to protect the resistance indicated the condition of Lebanon's sects and their positions vis-à-vis the Israeli invasion, contrary to later explanations. The sects were either exhausted, such as the Sunnis, or comfortable with the new situation that they had "saved" from the Palestinian "enemy," such as the Christians and the Shiites.
However, the national resistance, due to the complete collapse of "nationalist" groups, was like a group of officers without soldiers, or leaders without followers. Thus, it was possible to erase this resistance with relative ease, and this took place at the hands of a sectarian project that was firmly linked to the regional project of Syria and Iran. As for the other "erased" groups, they chose to eliminate themselves and join their killers, not bothering to answer any of the blows sustained.
In the end, each group was marginalized in turn. Whoever escaped this fate was tasked with death, which became known as martyrdom. This is how the last quarter-century began, with no room for a victor

Desperate Enemies Continue to Assassinate Democracy in Lebanon
Wednesday, 19 September, 2007 @ 11:26 PM
Beirut - Anti Syrian MP Antoine Ghanem was murdered on Wednesday, just days away from the parliamentary elections to appoint Lebanon's next president. 5 others were killed, and over 50 wounded.
A powerful blast that ripped through Ghanem's car in the east Beirut Sin el-Fil suburb, in what appears to be a bloody scheme to strip the Anti Syrian March 14 coalition of its parliamentary majority just six days before a scheduled session to elect a new president.
Antoine Ghanem (pictured right) was the eighth member of the anti-Syrian majority to be assassinated since the 2005 murder of former billionaire premier Rafiq Hariri.
World powers condemned the attack as a blatant bid to destabilize Lebanon ahead of Tuesday's parliamentary session to choose a successor to pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud, saying it exacerbated a months-long political crisis. A 40-kilogram strong car bomb explosion shattered Ghanem's black Chevrolet Sedan as it drove in the plush suburb, killing him and eight other people, including his driver and an unidentified person who was sitting next to the slain MP on the back seat of the vehicle. Two of the deputy's bodyguards were among the dead, according to Ghanem's daughter, Mounia. Tongues of flame shot up from the wreckage of Ghanem's car and at least eight other vehicles as fire fighters combated the blaze and ambulances evacuated at least 47 wounded people to nearby hospitals.
The powerful explosion, which echoed across the Lebanese capital, shattered glass windows in Sin el-Fil and the plush suburb of Horsh Tabet.
People wailed and screamed at hospitals where some of the injured were transported and pleaded with staff for information about the fate of loved ones.
"Tony is gone, Tony is gone. My tall blond son is gone," wailed a woman, as she pulled her hair and raised her hands to the sky outside the Lebanese Canadian Hospital.
She said her son, Tony Daou, 23, was a bodyguard of Ghanem.
The crime was committed three months after a similar car bomb explosion on June 14 which claimed the life of MP Walid Eido.
Ghanem, 64, returned to Beirut from safe haven in Abu Dhabi two days ago. Fellow Christian MP Antoine Andraos said Ghanem had called him "earlier in the afternoon to ask me where he could get a bullet-proof car.""He felt threatened, just like all the other members of the majority are threatened by the regime of (Syrian President) Bashar al-Assad," he said in tears. MP Saad Hariri blamed the assassination on the "cowardly regime" of Syrian President Bashar Assad. Druze leader Walid Jublatt also said Assad's regime is behind Ghanem's assassination, pledging that "we will not succumb to Bashar Assad's threat."A Friend of the victim, speaking on condition of anonymity, quoted Ghanem as telling him Tuesday evening: "I face the threat of assassination. They want to kill me to open the door for by-elections to choose a new MP from (Michel Aoun's) Free Patriotic Movement."Ghanem had represented the Baabda-Aley constituency in parliament since the year 2000.
Ghanem's constituency houses Hizbullah's stronghold in the southern suburbs of Beirut, where the party that is opposed to the March 14 alliance carries a sizeable influence. Hizbullah that is also backed by Iran is allied with Aoun's FPM in the attempt to topple Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's government and prevent the election of a new president who is not controlled by the Damascus regime of President Bashar Assad. In addition to Ghanem and Eido, MP and Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, a prominent member of the Phalange Party and the March 14 alliance, was gunned down by unidentified assailants on Nov. 21.
By-elections held on Aug. 5 in Gemayel's Metn constituency were won by FPM candidate Camille Khoury, thus stripping the March 14 alliance of a vote in the presidential elections to choose a successor to Syrian-Backed President Emile Lahoud.
Pro Syrian Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri had summoned Parliament to elect a head of state on Sept. 25.
Lahoud's extended term expires on Nov. 24.

Anti-Syrian Lawmaker Killed in Lebanon
By SCHEHEREZADE FARAMARZI and ZEINA KARAM – 1 hour ago
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AP) — An anti-Syrian lawmaker who had just returned to Lebanon two days ago from refuge abroad was killed Wednesday along with six other people by a bomb that rocked a Christian neighborhood of the capital, security officials said.
Antoine Ghanem is the eighth prominent anti-Syrian figure to be assassinated since 2005.
The bombing, which the security officials said also wounded 22 people, heightened tensions ahead of a presidential vote that already threatened to throw the country into turmoil. Many Lebanese fear divisions over the presidency could lead to the creation of two rival governments, a grim reminder of the last two years of the 1975-90 civil war when army units loyal to competing administrations battled it out.
Ghanem, 64, a member of the right-wing Christian Phalange Party, was the target of the bomb, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to talk to the media.
The Voice of Lebanon radio station, which is owned by the Phalange party, confirmed Ghanem's death. The identities of the others killed were not immediately known.
The bombing on a main street in the Sin el-Fil district severely damaged nearby buildings and set several cars on fire. Blood and debris covered nearby streets.
The attack came six days before parliament was scheduled to meet to elect a new president in a vote expected to be deeply divisive. Four of the slain lawmakers have been from the U.S.-backed majority coalition, reducing its margin in parliament.
"It is clear lawmakers from the (anti-Syrian) majority are being liquidated," Cabinet Minister Ahmed Fatfat told The Associated Press.
He blamed the Syrian regime for the assassination, adding: "It is the only regime that does not want presidential elections in Lebanon to be held."
White House press secretary Dana Perino said it was "no coincidence" that the attack came as Lebanon prepared to elect a new president.
"Since October 2004, there has been a pattern of political assassinations and attempted assassinations designed to intimidate those working courageously toward a sovereign and democratic Lebanon," said White House press secretary Dana Perino.
"The victims of these cowardly attacks have consistently been those who publicly sought to end Syria's interference in Lebanon's internal affairs," she said.
When pressed, Perino said she was not directly blaming Syria, but added, "As I've said, there's been a pattern, and this would seem to fit into the pattern."
Syria condemned the attack, which it said was meant to sabotage efforts by the Lebanese people to reach agreement.
"This criminal act aims at undermining efforts made by Syria and others to achieve a Lebanese national accord," Syria's state-run news agency SANA quoted an anonymous Syrian official as saying.
Former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel, who heads the Phalange Party, said Lebanon's democracy was at stake.
"It's not anymore a question of presidential elections. It's a question of the survival of this country and democracy in the country that's at stake for the time being," Gemayel told CNN. The former president's son, Cabinet minister and lawmaker Pierre Gemayel, was slain in November.
The assassinations of anti-Syrian figures began with former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a massive car bombing in February 2005. Syria's opponents in Lebanon have accused Damascus of being behind the killings, a claim Syria denies.
His death sparked massive protests that helped bring an end to Syria's nearly 30-year domination of Lebanon. Damascus was forced to withdraw its troops from Lebanon in 2005, and a government led by anti-Syrian politicians was elected.
Since then, the government of U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fuad Saniora has been locked in a power struggle with the opposition, led by Syria's ally Hezbollah. Government supporters have accused Syria of seeking to end Saniora's slim majority in parliament by killing off lawmakers in his coalition.
After the assassination of Parliament member Walid Eido in June, many majority legislators spent the summer abroad for security reasons. Others who stayed took extra precautions.
Explosives experts examined the engine of Ghanem's car, which was hurled at least 50 yards away by the blast. Bystanders, looking shocked, watched as ambulances and civil defense workers searched for more victims.
Ghanem was traveling Wednesday in a car with regular license plates, his blue plate hidden in the trunk, apparently as a security measure. Fatfat told AP that Ghanem returned Monday from abroad where he had been taking refuge for the past two months.
According to local newspapers, a landmark hotel near the parliament building in downtown Beirut has been rented for majority members to protect them during the 60-day presidential election process, which begins Sept. 25.
Pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud is due to step down by Nov. 23, and government supporters see the vote as the opportunity to put one of their own in the post. Hezbollah and its allies have vowed to block any candidate they don't approve of — and they can do so by boycotting the vote, preventing the necessary two-thirds quota. If there is no agreement on a candidate by the time Lahoud steps down, Saniora and his Cabinet would automatically take on executive powers. If that happens, opposition supporters have said Lahoud might appoint a second government, a step many fear would break up the country.
With Ghanem's death, Saniora supporters hold 68 of parliament's 128 seats, compared with the opposition's 59