A Most Valuable Whistleblower by Beirut spring
Abdelhalim Khaddam might go down in history as the man who killed the Syrian Baath.Here’s my favorite new hobby: Watching Syrian “experts” comment on what their previous vice president has just said. Somewhere between their mumbling and their bumbling, you could relish in their impotence to produce arguments against a man who, until yesterday, was considered one of the people you can’t criticize.But rest assured. Their tongues won’t be tied forever. They are just waiting to take their cue from the regime’s lousy spin master who will eventually design an elaborate Khaddam-is-one-of-the-bad-guys story. Something along the lines of being brainwashed in Paris by a Chirac who is too eager to destroy the last bastion of Arabism.Khaddam’s closeness to the Hariris is an established fact; nevertheless, his testimony remains very significant not least because it was the first to come from a Syrian high official. His defection might encourage others to follow suite and might embolden hesitant Lebanese pro-Syrians (like Nabih Berri) to make up their minds. (In a way, Khaddam gave Berri an opening when he said that Ghazaleh Threatened Hariri, Jumblat and Berri).The repercussions remain to be seen, but I estimate that this is indeed a very significant turning point.

Khaddam's Bombshell: Assad Threatened to "Crush" Hariri Many Times Abdel-Halim Khaddam, Syria's former vice president and long-time point man in Lebanon, confirmed Friday that Syrian President Bashar Assad and his intelligence officers had openly and repeatedly threatened to "crush" ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri well before the latter's assassination Feb. 14.In a bombshell television interview on the Al Arabiya satellite channel, Khaddam stopped short of openly accusing Syria of the murder, but said President Lahoud and his top aide, Maj. Gen. Jamil Sayyed, had turned Assad against Hariri.Khaddam disclosed that he advised Hariri in August 2004, days before the extension of Lahoud's presidential term, that the mood in Damascus was unfavorable and he should quit as premier and leave Lebanon. "But it never occurred to me that Syria would assassinate Premier Hariri," he added – the closest he came to implicating Syria.He repeatedly said he did not wish to preempt the international investigation into Hariri's murder, but signaled he believed the actual perpetrators were Lahoud's "inner circle," a reference to Sayyed and other officers that formed the backbone of the Lebanese president's reign. Sayyed, Maj. Gen. Mustapha Hamdan, commander of the presidential guard, Maj. Gen. Ali Hajj, commander of the Internal Security Forces and Brig. Raymond Azar have been in jail for more than three months, since an international investigation implicated them in Hariri's assassination.Khaddam dismissed as "imbeciles" the authors of the tale that a Muslim extremist named Ahmad Abu Adas had killed Hariri in a suicide bombing. He questioned how Abu Adas, who never was a prominent figure on any political or security scene, could possess 1,000 kilograms of sophisticated explosives and not be detected by Syrian and Lebanese intelligence operatives, who effectively ruled the country."Yes, many threats were directed against the late Premier Hariri," said Khaddam. During one encounter, he recalled, Assad told Hariri "I will crush you, if you defy our wishes." The late Gen. Maj. Ghazi Kenaan, then Syrian interior minister, and Maj. Gen Rustom Ghazaleh, who had succeeded Kenaan as Syria's military intelligence in Lebanon, attended the meeting, and Khaddam said he heard the same version of the threat from "three sources," including Assad himself.After the confrontation, Hariri developed hypertension and began to bleed from the nose. Kenaan took him to his office to call him down.Asked if he thought a Syrian security unit could have been behind the assassination without Assad's knowledge, Khaddam said this was not possible in Syria, because the Syrian president is an "absolute authoritarian."

A blistering attack on Bashar Assad was delivered by one of his closest aides, ex-vice president Khalim Haddam, over al Arabia TV Friday, Dec. 30
December 30, 2005, 9:08 PM (GMT+02:00)
He denounced the Syrian president for spurning his advice to sack General Rustoum Ghazaleh, the former Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon, immediately after the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri last February.
DEBKAfile’s Middle East sources note that Haddam insinuated in the interview that Assad had had pre-knowledge of the murder and could have prevented it. He clearly laid the crime at Ghazaleh’s door and made it clear that the general would not have acted without Assad’s authority. This veteran Syrian politician’s diatribe against Assad is unprecedented and shocked opinion in Damascus and the Arab world.

http://www.maya-mroue.fr.tc/check it out

Why the Syria hates so much Lebanon? They are willing to sacifice and do everything not to let lebanon to be free. Why ? why?
The Syrian Terror Blames everything on Israel ? They massacre and assasinate thousands of innocents lebanese while the Egyptians and Saudis the Israelis and the Americans the French... and the whole world kept silent and watch lebanese mothers crying to protect their children for the past 30 years and still going on until when? September 11 , London bombings, French riotings, the Australian unrest it is nothing comparing what is going to happen on western city in USA or other western country.
The Syrian Terror?

Wake the free world Merry christmas and happy hannukah may 2006 bring joy, peace, healh prosperity to all human beings.
Nicholas

Talking about A un Homme qui aimait le Liban ...
http://www.maya-mroue.fr.tc/
cool site

My good friend Marie-Jose, grief stricken, picked up her pen and wrote this.
To my French-speaking readers... enjoy!
To my English-speaking readers, I'm sorry I don't want to ruin it by making a lame attempt at translation...

Quote
A un Homme qui aimait le Liban ...

Aujourd'hui je suis lente à réagir
Parce que je ne sais plus quoi dire
Parce que je n'arrive plus à saisir
Parce qu'on a assez de voir périr
Des hommes de valeurs, des martyrs
On va crier, on va louer, on va maudir
On va incriminer, on va produire
Des laïus prolixes à n'en plus finir
Parce que je ne saurai point écrire
Je me contente uniquement de redire
Avec regret, avec une larme, un soupir
Ce que tout Libanais doit retenir :
« Au nom de Dieu le Tout-puissant Nous faisons le serment Chrétiens et MusulmansDe démeurer unis éternellementPour défendre notre majestueux LIBAN »*
* Paroles de Gebran Tueni lors du rassemblement historique des libanais le 14/03/2005, au nom du Liban.

Gebran, R.I.P.
http://www.maya-mroue.fr.tc/

To Lebanese Bloggers in the blogosphere. We need your help!
Moghtarebeen.com is the voice of Lebanese scholars, businessmen and professionals living abroad. Their mission is to promote the powerful presence of the Lebanese abroad by carrying on social activities that will improve standards of living, and economical activities that will create job opportunities in Lebanon.
Moghtarebeen.com is organizing a gathering down town Beirut next summer. We need to spread the word! If you could post this article on your blogs, it would be a HUGE help! I have it attached to this email in English, French, and Arabic! You can also post our logo to your site (attached).

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A tout les Bloggeurs Libanais! Nous avons besoin de votre aide!

Moghtarebeen.com est la voix des Libanais de l'étranger. Leur mission est de promouvoir la présence des Libanais à l'étranger en organisant des activités qui stimuleront l'économie Libanaise. Nous sommes en train d'organiser un rassemblement à Beyrouth l'été prochain. On a besoin de votre aide pour que tout le monde le sache et pour réunir un maximum d'expatries. J'ai un article attache en Français et notre logo, si vous pouvez les mettre sur vos blogs et partager cette information avec vos amis.

Si vous êtes intéresses, vous pouvez également faire partie de moghtarebeen.com, visitez notre site pour plus d'infos. Vous pouvez aussi m'envoyer un email et je pourrais essayer de répondre à vos questions. Merci!Maya Mroue
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Chancellor Merkel Shakes up German Intelligence, Bids for Middle East Foothold
Ernst Uhrlau, Angela Merkel’s new head of the BND, Germany’s foreign intelligence service, is revealed by DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources as the man behind Berlin’s secret decision to trade German archeologist Susanne Osthoff kidnapped in Iraq on Nov. 25 for the jailed Hizballah terrorist wanted in America, Mohammad Ali Hammadi.
Uhrlau attained international prominence as broker in the Hizballah-Israel prisoner swap and the failed effort to track down the missing Israeli navigator Ron Arad.
Hammadi was serving a life sentence without parole for hijacking a TWA airliner to Beirut in 1985 and killing a Navy SEAL diver, Robert Dean Stethem, whom he threw out of the window. A US extradition warrant was on file in Berlin with a promise it would take effect if the hijacker were ever released. A few days after the terrorist was flown to Beirut, Osthoff was freed by her Iraqi insurgent captors.
This hostage-for-terrorist swap will no doubt raise storms of protest in Washington and Jerusalem and cast a shadow on relations with the Bush administration which Schroeder was at pains to mend.
1. It is the first time since al Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks in America that a senior European ally in America’s global war on terror has succumbed to enemy pressure and bought a hostage’s release by freeing a convicted terrorist.
2. DEBKAfile’s counter-terror experts recall that Hammadi was assigned to hijack the TWA airliner by the notorious Imad Mughniyeh, veteran head of the Hizballah’s “security operations” and current organizer of al Qaeda’s infrastructure in Beirut. In the 1980s he specialized in hostage-taking, assassination, hijacking and bombing massacres against Americans and Israelis. Mughniyeh and Osama bin Laden have the same $25 m price on their heads. Hizballah repeatedly attacks Israel and its agents are planted deep inside Palestinian terrorist groups.
3. Hammadi’s repatriation to Lebanon shows that this country is still a haven and hub of operations for terrorists notwithstanding American clean-up efforts since the February assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri.
4. The swap of a hostage kidnapped by Iraqi guerrillas for a Lebanese Hizballah terrorist exposes for the first time the clandestine operational links between the Hizballah and Iraqi guerrillas and fellow-terrorists. It elevates the Lebanese Shiite group’s standing in Europe to a higher league in a way detrimental to American and Israeli security interests.
5. The shakeup of German intelligence, according to DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s intelligence sources, is the off-the-record motive behind the resignation of Detlev Mehlis as head of the UN team on the Hariri case.
He made the decision shortly after Merkel reshuffled Germany’s security and intelligence services, a step she took two days after sitting down in the chancellor’s office in Berlin on Nov. 30.
She made Uhrlau, who was the secret service coordinator in ex-chancellor Gerhard Schroeder’s office, head of the BND. The other key appointment was her transfer of Klaus-Dieter Fritsche from the top post at Germany’s domestic intelligence agency, the Verfassungsschutz, to secret services coordinator in the new chancellery.
Chancellor Merkel is clearly eager to bring into play the close and complex web of ties Uhrlau has cultivated over the years with top Iranian officials and intelligence chiefs, key members of the Syrian regime, Hizballah chiefs, and operatives of Islamist radical groups ideologically close to al Qaeda.
Uhrlau came to international prominence as broker of the Hizballah prisoner exchange last year. The new German chancellor, by promoting him to director of the BND, shows she expects Iranian issues, the war on al Qaeda and the radicalized Middle East to stay at the center of international affairs during her five-year tenure.
Mehlis, an expert in his own right in the labyrinthine intelligence-cum-terror organizations of the Middle East, does not argue with this perception. But in the eight months he has led the Hariri inquiry, he concluded that the majority of the Syrian and Lebanese officials involved in the assassination of the Lebanese leader belong to intelligence or terror establishments with which Uhrlau boasts excellent connections. By pressing ahead with his probe, Mehlis feared he would prejudice the new BND’s connections at the very moment that they might be of use to the new chancellor for promoting German influence in the Middle East. The German investigative prosecutor therefore decided to bow out rather than step into this minefield.

Syria slams Kuwaiti press for 'instigation
'Compiled by Daily Star staff Tuesday, December 20, 2005
BEIRUT: Syria slammed the Kuwaiti press on Monday for "language of instigation and insults" used in articles accusing Damascus of being behind the series of assassinations carried out in Lebanon.
In a statement, the Syrian Embassy in Kuwait expressed "deep regrets at articles and news carried by the Kuwaiti press, which undermine Syria's reputation and accuse it of all the disturbances in Lebanon."
The statement added: "Articles are written on an almost daily basis against Syria, hurling accusations without objective justification ... and using the language of instigation and insults."
Kuwait's press has been highly critical of Damascus, especially after the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri in February.
Kuwaiti Arabic daily As-Siyassah, which has been leading the anti-Syrian campaign, carries almost daily articles attacking the Syrian regime, and holding it responsible for Hariri's assassination.
On Monday, As-Siyassah published an article based on "British parliamentary sources" there is a possibility the Syrian intelligence apparatus and its agents in Lebanon may assa-ssinate Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.
According to As-Siyassah's British source, a few hours after UN Security Council Resolution 1644 was issued "the Syrian military intelligence command in Damascus sent out orders to its agents in Lebanon saying 'deliver us from Siniora.'"
The newspaper further alleged the name of Druze leader and opposition MP Walid Jumblatt "is ranked high on the hit list," which also carries the name of recently assassinated journalist and MP Gebran Tueni.
However, it is not only the Kuwaiti press that continues to slam Damascus for allegedly having a hand in Hariri's assassination and a possible link to the string of assassination that continue to target prominent Lebanese.
Lebanon's media have launched a similar campaign in which most opposition politicians have accused Syria of creating havoc in Lebanon.

Several Lebanese papers published Jumblatt's repeated accusations on Monday that "the Syrian military intelligence" is responsible for the string of brutal assassinations in Lebanon.
Jumblatt, who spoke in a televised interview late Sunday, said Syrian intelligence "has lots of money to send to their agents in Lebanon ... because we said we want the truth, they assassinate us one after the other."
Meanwhile, the Lebanese investigations into the Tueni assassination continued Monday with the Internal Security Forces questioning more than 20 people whose features resembled a police sketch of the suspected perpetrator of Tueni's murder.
Investigating Magistrate Rashid Mizher also received a report from a French exp-losives expert regarding an investigation of the remains of Tueni car to determine the type of explosives used in
the crime.
Investigating Magistrate Elias Eid also questioned several witnesses in the Hariri case.
The international investigation into Hariri's assassination is also ongoing, as acting chief investigator Detlev Mehlis, who said Saturday he believed Syria was "definitely" behind the assassination, was expected to reach Beirut "within the next 72 hours," according to Daily Star sources.
It is widely believed Mehlis will be succeeded by 42-year-old Belgian Magistrate Serge Brammertz, who is currently the Deputy Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court.
However, the Security Council has yet to be informed of a final decision, according to the Council's President U.K. Ambassador to the UN Emyr Parry.

The Times
December 16, 2005
Gebran TueniSeptember 15, 1957 - December 12, 2005Lebanese editor and politician who campaigned courageously to end the Syrian occupation of his country
THE assassination in Beirut of Gebran Tueni can, without risk of exaggeration, be described as a national disaster for Lebanon and, in particular, for its dwindling Christian community.
The sole heir of a line of journalists and politicians who had, since the end of the Ottoman Empire, struggled to preserve the unique character of Lebanon in the region, Tueni had recently established himself as a fearless, intelligent and persistent champion of his country’s independence as a tiny but democratic state conscious of its roots in the Crusader kingdoms of the Levant in the 12th century, and an even older history in ancient Phoenicia.
He and his family also championed communal tolerance in a tragically fractious society. His father, Ghassan, a Greek Orthodox Christian, married a Druze, the late poet Nadia Hamadeh, when such unions were rare, and his grandfather, also Gebran, had founded the liberal newspaper An-Nahar in 1933 under the French mandate to inspire the emerging nation with the ideals of the European Enlightenment.
Under their care, the paper has become what many observers regard as perhaps the only credible daily journal published on Arab soil. Tueni himself managed and edited it for the past decade, but he had previously been shaped by it as much as it had been shaped by his family.
Gebran Ghassan Tueni was born in 1957 when his father was both An-Nahar’s publisher and a member of parliament, at times in government and at other times in prison.
But amid the risks and the excitement, young Gebran’s life as the elder son of the family was both comfortable and inspiring. He spent time in France and, from 1977 to 1980, obtained two degrees at the Ecole Supérieure de Journalisme and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes Internationales. But previously, at the start of the Lebanese civil war in 1976, he had come close to dying. He was shot in the legs by Palestinian gunmen and, a year later, abducted for 36 hours by right-wing Christian militiamen.
In 1987 the death of his sole surviving sibling, his younger brother Makram, in a car accident in France made him the only heir to the publishing house, as well as the only custodian of the family’s political future.
In 1990, when Syrian forces occupied Beirut and ended Prime Minister Michel Aoun’s attempt to expel them from the country, Tueni fled to France and established a political weekly, An-Nahar Arab and International. He also took another degree, this time in management, from CEDEP-INSEAD in Fontainebleau. In 1993 he returned and joined An-Nahar as a journalist.
This coexistence with the Syrian occupation continued until March 2000, in the dying weeks of the former President, Hafez al-Assad, when Tueni published an editorial calling on Syria to withdraw its forces from Lebanon after 24 years, in the name of keeping its peace. The daring outburst brought him to international prominence, for at the time any such act of defiance usually ended in abduction, torture or even assassination. But Tueni had judged the mood of most of his countrymen well. The movement gathered pace steadily after Bashar Assad succeeded his father as president in Damascus and came under sustained pressure from the United States for the policy of helping the government of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad to bypass UN sanctions. This continued after the overthrow of the regime in Baghdad when Damascus allowed Islamist extremists to use its territory to reach the new Iraq to fight the US-led coalition there.
In the wake of the assassination in February in Beirut of the former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, Tueni played a central part in mobilising the public’s demonstration of grief and anger, which was crucial subsequently in forcing Syria to withdraw its uniformed forces from the country. In May he was elected to parliament for the Greek Orthodox constituency in Beirut in alliance with Saad Hariri, the late Prime Minister’s son, and Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader.
However, while the new coalition succeeded in forming a government, opposition to its central strategy of making Lebanon completely free of Syrian influence continued in the form of the incumbent President Emille Lahoud and the two Shia militias, Hezbollah and Amal.
In August Tueni fled to France once more. His name had been found heading a list of more Lebanese figures to be eliminated, and in his evidence to the UN commission investigating the Hariri murder, he testified that the late Prime Minister had told him he had been directly threatened in Damascus by the new President Assad.
Tueni returned to Beirut once more on December 11 determined to take strenuous security measures to protect his life. But the next day, as his armoured limousine took him to his office in the city, a large explosion proved more than a match for it. The car was thrown into a ravine, killing him, his driver and a passer-by. Just before his death, he had urged the UN to set up another commission of inquiry to look into the mass graves found near a former Syrian base in eastern Lebanon. The remains are thought to be of former Lebanese army soldiers abducted by the Syrians.
Though deeply attached to Arab culture, Tueni was not popular outside Lebanon. In particular, he was not forgiven for his high-profile celebration of the fall of the genocidal regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq in 2003, saying in a television report from Basra that the regime could not have been overthrown except by a Western force.
Tueni took risks with his life even outside politics. His hobbies included flying.
He is survived by his wife, Siham Ossaili, and their four young daughters.
Gebran Tueni, journalist and politician, was born on September 15, 1957. He was assassinated on December 12, 2005, aged 48.

In an apparent gesture of support, two Israeli Air Force F-16 fighter-bombers performed low passes over the mass funeral in Beirut of publisher-lawmaker Gebran Tueini Wednesday
Angry crowds hurled abuse at Syrian leaders whom they held responsible for the car bombing-murder of the outspoken anti-Syrian Tueini in E. Beirut Tuesday. DEBKAfile’s Lebanese sources also reveal that Wednesday three big roadside bombs were found planted on the road to the Druze leader Walid Jumblatt’s headquarters in the Chouf mountains, raising fears for his life. Jumblatt, who was the first to bluntly accuse Syria of assassinating Tueini and several other Lebanese politicians, was forced to appeal to the Hizballah for protection against Syrian reprisals.

انسوا دم الحريري..وإلا
الى ان يتوقف سعد الحريري وأخوته وعائلته عن المطالبة بكشف حقيقة من قتل الرئيس الشهيد الوالد والرجل والشقيق رفيق الحريري، فإن النظام السوري سيظل شاهراً سلاح التخويف والتهديد والتفجير والاغتيالات في لبنان ضد كل من يشير من قريب أو بعيد لدور أجهزة هذا النظام الأمنية خاصة في الجريمة الارهابية التي أودت بحياة رئيس وزراء لبنان ورفاقه والمواطنين الـ22 معه.
وهكذا
وضع النظام السوري عائلة الحريري أمام المعادلة التالية:
اذا أردتم كشف من أمر ومن خطط ومن نفذ ومن ضلل في هذه الجريمة الإرهابية، فعليكم أن تتحملوا كل ما حصل ويحصل في لبنان، وهو الترجمة الحرفية لكلام رئيس النظام السوري بشار الأسد في خطابه التهديدي يوم 10/11/2005 أي الفوضى أو المواجهة.
انسوا رفيق الحريري.. اقرأوا عليه الفاتحة. ترحّموا عليه، زوروا ضريحه، لكن إيّاكم ان تطالبوا بكشف حقيقة من أمر ومن دبّر ومن نفذ جريمة قتله، فهذا يعني انكم مهددون بمصير كمصير الحريري نفسه، وهل هو من باب الترف ألا يستطيع زعيم الأغلبية النيابية في لبنان ان يحضر ولو جلسة واحدة لمجلس النواب منذ انتخابه في نهاية ربيع 2005، بعد أن تلقى تحذيرات محلية وعربية ودولية صديقة صادقة بأنه مهدد بالقتل بسبب اصراره على كشف حقيقة من قتل والده؟.
لقد طالب رئيس دولة عربية سعد الحريري بأن يفعل تجاه جريمة قتل والده مثلما فعل وليد جنبلاط حين زار دمشق بعد 40 يوماً فقط من جريمة قتل والده القائد الشهيد كمال جنبلاط يوم 16/3/1977 وبعد ان أشارت الدنيا كلها الى ان قرار قتله وتنفيذه من صنع الاستخبارات السورية نفسها.
قالوا لسعد الحريري ((الحي أبقى من الميت))، والحريري الابن يسمع في الكواليس تساؤلات مريبة.. لماذا تسمح باستغلال قضية مقتل والدك في هذا الظرف العصيب الذي يمرّ به النظام في سوريا فينعكس توتراً وتهديداً في لبنان؟.
يطلبون من سعد الحريري نسيان دم والده..وإلا فهو سيتحمل مسؤولية ما يجري وسيجري في لبنان من تنفيذ تهديدات الفوضى أو المواجهة، أي المزيد من القتل والتفجيرات..واللااستقرار..
بل ان هناك من بات يتجرأ على اخراج تساؤلاته من الكواليس للجهر: وهل رفيق الحريري وحده هو الذي قتل خلال هذه السنوات الثلاثين؟.. قتل رئيس وزراء آخر (رشيد كرامي) واستهدف بالقتل رئيس وزراء أيضاً هو سليم الحص.. ولم تقم الدنيا كما هي هذه الأيام!.
انه مسار تفتيت وحدة المشاعر اللبنانية إنسانياً ووطنياً وأخلاقياً في قضية أجمع اللبنانيون (والعالم كله) على استنكارها ووصفها بجريمة ضد الوطن والمواطنين حتى لو قال عنها إميل لحود انها ((رذالة)).
وليس مصادفة أن يجيء التفتيت أولاً ودائماً من أجهزة النظام الأمني السوري الإعلامية مرة كتابة في إحدى صحفه بالقول ان سعد الحريري وأخوته هم المستفيدون من مقتل الحريري، ومرة عبر مخبر حلاق بأن سعد الحريري هو الذي قتل والده!!
وما الحملة السورية على لجنة التحقيق الدولية في جريمة قتل رفيق الحريري إلا جزء من هذا المسار حتى ((أفرزت)) انقساماً مؤلماً داخل المجتمع اللبناني نفسه وصل إلى الشذوذ النفسي اللاأخلاقي في بعض الأحيان.
ماذا يعني هذا؟
*يطلب النظام السوري من زوج الشهيد وشقيقته وشقيقه وابنائه حصر الحزن على رفيق الحريري داخل جدران منازلهم ونسيان المطالبة بكشف القتلة وإلا فكلهم مهددون بالقتل أو التهجير أو تحميل مسؤولية تخريب الوطن.
*يطلب النظام السوري من الشعب اللبناني بعد ((إنجاز)) الانقسام الوطني حول كشف حقيقة من أمر ومن دبر ومن نفذ الجريمة، ان ينقسم حول كل تداعيات الجريمة في مشروع فتنة داخلية ينفث فيها سموم أجهزته وأتباعها.
*يطلب النظام السوري من الشعب اللبناني أن ينسى المطالبة بكشف الحقيقة حول كل الجرائم السياسية التي نفذت في لبنان طيلة مدة خضوعه لنظام الوصاية السورية على الوطن منذ العام 1975 حتى اليوم.. وها هي بعض ((تباشيره)) بالمقابر الجماعية تهل بلا تردد وبلا جفن يرفّ أو لسان يستنكر.
يطلب النظام السوري ان يصمت الشعب اللبناني عن كل الجرائم التي يمكن أن ترتكب في لبنان تنفيذاً لخطاب بشار الأسد التهديدي ضد لبنان تحت عنوان الفوضى أو المواجهة.
يطلب النظام السوري أن يصمت المجتمع الدولي والأشقاء العرب عن كل ما يمس بلبنان سواء بقتل الحريري والشهداء الآخرين سابقاً وما يمكن أن يحصل في لبنان الآن ولاحقاً.
إلى متى؟
الوقت بالنسبة للنظام السوري مسألة مصيرية، فهو يراهن عليه كي ينجح في الإفلات من دفع نتائج سلوكياته خاصة في لبنان خلال 30 سنة، اعتماداً على فشل أميركي في العراق وفشل جورج بوش داخل أميركا وانهيار صمود لبنان الحر المستقل، وهو أي النظام السوري في الوقت نفسه، في سباق مع الوقت.. والملحوق بالوقت يتصرف بأعصاب مشدودة، ولعل هذا التوتر العصبي هو الذي يفسر هذا الرخص في مُعاركة لجنة التحقيق الدولية في تبني اسفافات مهرج سخيف اصطنعته الاستخبارات السورية بسذاجة لافتة وتريد من الدنيا كلها أن تصدقه.
الإصرار على نسيان دم الحريري ليس فقط إخفاء للجرائم التي ارتكبت ضد كبار قادة الوطن سياسيين ورجال دين وإعلاميين.. بل تحريض على قتل كل من يريد لبنان وطناً حراً عربياً مستقلاً من سياسيين ورجال دين وإعلاميين.
حسن صبرا

Defeat them with the truth
By Michael Young

It seems only yesterday that I watched as a stunned Gibran Tueni looked down at the crumbled body of journalist Samir Kassir, shortly after the latter's assassination in his car on an Achrafieh street. Perhaps it was his own death that Tueni saw foretold; or more likely he was trying to come to grips with what was then the still-novel happening of seeing journalists and politicians butchered at the start of their working day.
An-Nahar has paid too high a price for its criticism of the Syrian regime. Tueni himself only recently returned from a spell in Paris, well aware of the dangers to his life. It is to his considerable credit that he accepted the risk of an uncertain homecoming, though how desirable, in hindsight, it would have been for him to spend his days working out of his home - isolated, but safe from the death squads dispatched to liquidate him.
That Tueni's death was linked to the Mehlis inquiry, and reports that the German investigator would name Syrian suspects in his latest report, cannot be doubted. At the least this murder must be dealt with in a different way by the international community, because the United Nations investigation will take many more months - time enough to kill many more people. What happened on Monday was a finger in the eye of the Security Council, and few could miss that the road on which Tueni was killed is essentially the same one used on a regular basis by UN investigators descending to Beirut from their Monteverde redoubt.
In killing Tueni, the murderers hoped to strike a mortal blow at Lebanon's most prestigious newspaper. For them, the real danger has always been independent thought - against which they can only muster media that threaten, crowds that threaten, and security services that best them both by implementing the threats. Ideas are absent from their endeavors; human development is absent; amelioration is absent; self-determination, freedom, imagination are all absent, crushed by a regime that can only warn that if it goes down, the region will go down with it.
There are those who cretinously swallow that contention hook, line and sinker; who argue that the gentlemen in Damascus must be left alone, maintained, because their departure might indeed bring disorder. That incredible interpretation somehow assures us that Gibran Tueni was, in the end, a martyr to order. A remarkable order it is, then, the very same that protected Saddam Hussein until 2003, and that today props up the authority of a cornucopia of greater and lesser criminals, from Nouakchott to Sanaa, wardens all of what Ghassan Tueni has called "the great Arab prison."
What does one do now? At the Security Council, the outrage must be used to convince the Russians and Chinese that what they are abetting, by opposing sanctions in the UN investigation, is more death. While an expansion of the investigation to cover all assassinations since that of Rafik Hariri seems unlikely, it's time for the council to make a clear statement on who it believes is responsible. The Lebanese security services have already blamed individuals allegedly linked to the Syrian intelligence services, and there seems no reason why the Siniora government should not once again highlight that evidence.
But isn't that the real problem? There is still little courage in Beirut. It took a lesser-known magistrate to sign the judicial order looking into the mass grave found in Anjar, most of his more senior colleagues not daring to do so. One very much suspects that somewhere in Tueni's investigation, someone will get cold feet and just let the matter slide. That's what happened with Marwan Hamadeh, Samir Kassir and George Hawi, lest we forget. Already, some politicians are mouthing banal generalities. Yesterday, for example, Michel Aoun showed remarkable reluctance in expressing his real hunch of who had killed his onetime devotee.
A rapid sign of daring would be for Prime Minister Fouad Siniora to compel the government to endorse an international tribunal in the Hariri case as soon as possible. If Hizbullah opposes the measure and threatens to withdraw from the session, or from the government, then the ministers must go ahead and vote anyway. The majority will win. A Lebanese consensus should not mean giving a minority the right of veto when it means defending against state-sponsored terrorism. The message on a tribunal will have a strong impact in New York, where the Security Council must know Lebanon is willing to partly internationalize its security, since it has been left with no other choice.
None of this will bring Gibran Tueni back, nor is charm, elegance and perpetual dissent. Nothing will reassure us that the venerable An-Nahar can survive this latest crime. Ghassan Tueni will soon have to bury another child, the most heartbreaking duty of all. But deep down it's another wish we have: that the Tuenis, Ghassan but also Gibran's widow and children, will stick to their guns and demand that the truth come out. At the end of the day, his murderers remain most afraid of one thing: the truth.
Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.

Quotes by Slain Lebanese Journalist


"You must realize that many Lebanese are not at ease either with Syrian policy in Lebanon or with the presence of Syrian troops in our country." -- March 23, 2000, in an open letter to Bashar Assad published in An-Nahar, the first time a Lebanese journalist directly challenges the Syrian leader. * __ "We are on the edge of a new era. It can be something completely positive for Lebanon, and it can be something completely dark for Lebanon. ... That's why we are really at a turning point where anything can happen." -- May 2000, in an interview with The Associated Press after the Israeli troop withdrawal from Lebanon. * __ "Don't think it is easy for anyone to be forced to live abroad, far from his country, colleagues, wife and children. But sometimes I think, maybe if I am far away I will spare them difficulties and problems. I would transfer the danger to somewhere else and I would not involve those I love." -- Undated, interview with LBC television station. * __ "Yes, there may be other attacks and assassination attempts. One of us may pay the price. Anyway, hopefully it will be us, not anyone else." -- March 14, 2005. * __ "The Lebanese security authorities and the remnants of the Syrian system in Lebanon, and directly the Syrian regime from top to bottom, is responsible for every crime and every drop of blood spilled." -- June 2, 2005, following the assassination of colleague Samir Kassir. * __ "It is time for us to put an end to our fear for which we paid a very heavy price, to face all the lies of the Syrian security regime." -- Dec. 1, 2005, editorial in An-Nahar. * __ "The Syrian security regime should know ... that despotic regimes and tyrants who committed massacres against humanity were pursued, prosecuted and collapsed

Syria Eyed in Death of Lebanese
By SAM F. GHATTASAssociated Press

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Journalist and lawmaker Gibran Tueni, a relentless critic of Syria who spent months in France fearing assassination, was killed Monday in a car bombing -- only a day after returning to his homeland. A previously unknown group claimed responsibility, but suspicion quickly settled on Syria, where the state-controlled media has been highly critical of anti-Syrian reports by Lebanese journalists.

The slaying silenced the blistering editorial voice of Tueni, the 48-year-old general manager of Lebanon's leading newspaper, An-Nahar, founded in 1933 by his grandfather. His motorcade was attacked hours before the United Nations released a follow-up report on its probe of the February car bomb assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The report by chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis, who earlier implicated Syria in the killing, said new evidence reinforced investigators' belief that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence likely knew about the Hariri killing in advance. The new report accused Syria of trying to obstruct the probe by demanding it revise earlier findings after a crucial witness recanted. After Mehlis' earlier report, the U.N. Security Council warned Syria it would face further action -- possibly including sanctions -- if it didn't cooperate fully. Tueni was one of the hundreds of witnesses who were interviewed by Mehlis. An earlier Mehlis report reported Tueni as saying he was told by Hariri that Syrian President Bashar Assad had threatened the Lebanese leader directly. While Syria has denied involvement in both killings, the United States, France and Tueni's Lebanese allies said the slaying would not distract them from pressuring Syria to cooperate with the U.N. inquiry. President Bush condemned the slaying as a murderous act "aimed at subjugating Lebanon to Syrian domination and silencing the Lebanese press." He insisted that Syria comply with U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for an end to its interference in Lebanon "once and for all." British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, speaking for the European Union, said the perpetrators "who seek to destabilize Lebanon and the region through such cowardly attacks will not succeed." France indicated it would push ahead with efforts against Syria at the Security Council, which condemned the slaying and called Tueni an "outspoken symbol of freedom and the sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon." In a letter to Tueni's widow, French President Jacques Chirac said the journalist's death "is the opportunity to redouble the efforts so that the Security Council resolutions are fully put to work." U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed shock and dismay at the "cold-blooded murder" and said those responsible must be brought to justice. Condemnation also came from Reporters Without Borders, the Committee to Protect Journalists and Amnesty International. Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Saniora held emergency meetings with top security officials and told reporters he was pained and angered by the slaying. "The criminals are killing one after another, but we will not succumb no matter what the price." In the first political fallout following the assassination, the five ministers representing the pro-Syrian Hezbollah guerrilla group and the Amal movement in the Cabinet suspended their membership over the anti-Syrian majority's push to ask for an international tribunal in the Hariri killing and to ask the U.N. to investigate the death of Tueni and other recent killings. Syrian allies Hezbollah and Amal oppose it, saying it amounted to international intervention. The move by Amal and Hezbollah, who represent Shiite Muslims in the government, was short of resignation and was not expected to immediately bring down the 24-member Cabinet. As news spread of Tueni's killing, church bells tolled, supporters shouted insults at Syria and men and women wept in the street and at the offices of An-Nahar. "My God, Gibran, you were the only one who told the truth!" shouted one man, weeping at the scene of the bombing. A fax claiming responsibility was sent to news organizations by "The Strugglers for the Unity and Freedom in al-Sham" -- Arabic for the eastern Mediterranean region that includes Lebanon, Syria, Israel and the Palestinian areas. "We have broken the pen of Gibran Tueni and gagged his mouth forever, turning An-Nahar into a dark night," it said. "An-Nahar" is Arabic for day. The statement's authenticity could not be independently confirmed. Tueni returned from France on Sunday to attend a government ceremony honoring his father, Ghassan Tueni, who was widely described as dean of the press corps in Lebanon. The elder Tueni, 79, returned to Beirut late Monday; funeral plans for his son were still pending. A parked car packed with 88 pounds of TNT exploded as Tueni's motorcade passed in the industrial suburb of Mkalles, flinging his armor-plated vehicle and several other cars into a ravine. Tueni, his driver and a passer-by were killed. Thirty people were wounded in the bombing, which shattered store windows and incinerated at least 10 vehicles. "May God have mercy on the latest of the martyrs for Lebanon's independence and sovereignty in the face of the dictatorial hegemony of Bashar Assad," said Tueni's uncle, Telecommunications Minister Marwan Hamadeh, himself a survivor of a car bombing last year. Syrian Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah denied his government was involved, telling LBC television: "Those who are behind this are the enemies of Lebanon." However, Syrian officials and the state-run press have for weeks been criticizing the anti-Syrian sentiment in most of the Lebanese media and in some Arab countries. Tueni is the fourth anti-Syrian figure in Lebanon killed in 14 bombings that began with the Feb. 14 blast that killed Hariri and 20 other people. * __ .

Assad threatens the world as Mehlis submits his final report on the Hariri assassination to Kof Annan on Dec. 11.
He can no longer count on Russian veto against UN sanctions or Saudi support
December 11, 2005, 11:05 PM (GMT+02:00)
In a special interview to the Russian TV station Rossiya, the Syrian president declared the Middle East and the whole world would suffer if Syria were subjected to UN sanctions.
DEBKAfile reports from its exclusive sources disclose that the US and France have jointly prepared the following plan of action to be pursued at the United Nations:
1. France has drafted a seven-point Security Council resolution voicing deep concern over Syria’s failure to fully cooperate with the UN inquiry in accordance with resolution 1636. The Hariri assassination is defined for the first time as an act of terror, a short step towards holding Damascus guilty of terrorism.
2. The US requests the inclusion in the draft of the phrase: “Syria has for the second time violated Security Council resolution 1636. Personal sanctions are proposed for the Syrian officers suspected by the UN panel of complicity in the Hariri murder plot, including a ban on travel and freeze on their overseas assets.
According to our sources, those two steps will be followed by three more:
--- International arrest warrants against Syrian suspects.
--- Subpoenas to additional Syrian officers for questioning at UN headquarters in Vienna
---Detlev Mehlis, who intends to retire as head of the UN Hariri team after submitting his report to the Security Council on Dec. 15, will first to turn over to the Beirut authorities Hussam Taher Hussam, who fled to Syria and caused a sensation last week by alleging the UN had offered him a bribe to implicate Syrian officers. Mehlis now has the testimony of his girlfriend, who remained in Lebanon. She reports that she was present with Hussam at the scene of the assassination on the day of the crime, when a phone call came through from Col. Jam’a Jam’a, right hand of Gen. Rustum Ghazaleh, a senior suspect. He asked Hussam where he was. When Hussam said he was at the murder scene, Jama told him to get out fast because his life was in danger.
This collapse of Damascus’ attempt to discredit the UN probe is behind president Assad’s threatening statement to Russian TV, in which he said the stability of the Middle East and the world would be imperiled by UN sanctions against Syria.
DEBKAfile’s sources add that the threat is a symptom of his desperation after discovering that he can no longer count on a Russian veto vote against sanctions. The Syrian leader has also been let down by the Saudis. King Abdullah not only spurned Assad’s pleas to intercede on his behalf with Washington, but invited the enemy of his clan, the Lebanese Druze leader, Walid Jumblatt, for an official visit to Riyadh Saturday, Dec. 10.

Israel Readies Forces for Strike on Nuclear IranUzi Mahnaimi, Tel Aviv, and Sarah Baxter, Washington The Sunday Times
ISRAEL’S armed forces have been ordered by Ariel Sharon, the prime minister, to be ready by the end of March for possible strikes on secret uranium enrichment sites in Iran, military sources have revealed. The order came after Israeli intelligence warned the government that Iran was operating enrichment facilities, believed to be small and concealed in civilian locations. Iran’s stand-off with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) over nuclear inspections and aggressive rhetoric from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president, who said last week that Israel should be moved to Europe, are causing mounting concern. The crisis is set to come to a head in early March, when Mohamed El-Baradei, the head of the IAEA, will present his next report on Iran. El-Baradei, who received the Nobel peace prize yesterday, warned that the world was “losing patience” with Iran. A senior White House source said the threat of a nuclear Iran was moving to the top of the international agenda and the issue now was: “What next?” That question would have to be answered in the next few months, he said. Defence sources in Israel believe the end of March to be the “point of no return” after which Iran will have the technical expertise to enrich uranium in sufficient quantities to build a nuclear warhead in two to four years. “Israel — and not only Israel — cannot accept a nuclear Iran,” Sharon warned recently. “We have the ability to deal with this and we’re making all the necessary preparations to be ready for such a situation.” The order to prepare for a possible attack went through the Israeli defence ministry to the chief of staff. Sources inside special forces command confirmed that “G” readiness — the highest stage — for an operation was announced last week. Gholamreza Aghazadeah, head of the Atomic Organisation of Iran, warned yesterday that his country would produce nuclear fuel. “There is no doubt that we have to carry out uranium enrichment,” he said. He promised it would not be done during forthcoming talks with European negotiators. But although Iran insists it wants only nuclear energy, Israeli intelligence has concluded it is deceiving the world and has no intention of giving up what it believes is its right to develop nuclear weapons. A “massive” Israeli intelligence operation has been underway since Iran was designated the “top priority for 2005”, according to security sources. Cross-border operations and signal intelligence from a base established by the Israelis in northern Iraq are said to have identified a number of Iranian uranium enrichment sites unknown to the the IAEA. Since Israel destroyed the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq in 1981, “it has been understood that the lesson is, don’t have one site, have 50 sites”, a White House source said. If a military operation is approved, Israel will use air and ground forces against several nuclear targets in the hope of stalling Tehran’s nuclear programme for years, according to Israeli military sources. It is believed Israel would call on its top special forces brigade, Unit 262 — the equivalent of the SAS — and the F-15I strategic 69 Squadron, which can strike Iran and return to Israel without refuelling. “If we opt for the military strike,” said a source, “it must be not less than 100% successful. It will resemble the destruction of the Egyptian air force in three hours in June 1967.” Aharon Zeevi Farkash, the Israeli military intelligence chief, stepped up the pressure on Iran this month when he warned Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, that “if by the end of March the international community is unable to refer the Iranian issue to the United Nations security council, then we can say the international effort has run its course”. The March deadline set for military readiness also stems from fears that Iran is improving its own intelligence-gathering capability. In October it launched its first satellite, the Sinah-1, which was carried by a Russian space launcher. “The Iranians’ space programme is a matter of deep concern to us,” said an Israeli defence source. “If and when we launch an attack on several Iranian targets, the last thing we need is Iranian early warning received by satellite.” Russia last week signed an estimated $1 billion contract — its largest since 2000 — to sell Iran advanced Tor-M1 systems capable of destroying guided missiles and laser-guided bombs from aircraft. “Once the Iranians get the Tor-M1, it will make our life much more difficult,” said an Israeli air force source. “The installation of this system can be relatively quick and we can’t waste time on this one.” The date set for possible Israeli strikes on Iran also coincides with Israel’s general election on March 28, prompting speculation that Sharon may be sabre-rattling for votes. Benjamin Netanyahu, the frontrunner to lead Likud into the elections, said that if Sharon did not act against Iran, “then when I form the new Israeli government, we’ll do what we did in the past against Saddam’s reactor, which gave us 20 years of tranquillity”. TEHRAN MINISTER MET MILITANTS BEFORE NEW OFFENSIVEIran’s foreign minister met leading figures from three Islamic militant groups to co-ordinate a united front against Israel days before a recent escalation of attacks against Israeli targets shattered fragile ceasefires with Lebanon and the Palestinians, writes Hugh Macleod in Damascus. The minister, Manouchehr Mottaki, held talks with leaders of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah in Damascus on November 15. Among those who attended the meeting were Khaled Meshaal, the Hamas leader, and a deputy leader of Islamic Jihad, which claimed responsibility for last Monday’s suicide bombing of a shopping mall in Netanya that killed five Israeli citizens. Ahmed Jibril, leader of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine- General Command, was also present. “We all confirmed that what is going on in occupied Palestine is organically connected to what is going on in Iraq, Syria, Iran and Lebanon,” said Jibril. Seven days after the talks, Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets and mortars at Israeli targets, sparking the fiercest fighting between the two sides since Israel’s withdrawal from south Lebanon five years ago.

Iranian Intentions
By Rachel Ehrenfeld and Paul E. Vallely
One wonders what will it take for the international community to understand that Iran seriously intends to use its nuclear power to attack the "infidels." Iran's latest move to ban international inspectors is just one more step that the new Iranian president, Mahmoud Ahmedinijad, has taken to herald the return of the 12th Imam al-Mahdi, who is believed to have been born 800 years ago and went missing in 941 and whom the Shi'ites and Mr. Ahmedinijad believe will return before judgment day "to lead an era of Islamic justice." According to the prophecies in the Muslim Hadith, (the traditions and sayings of the prophet Mohammed), the 12th Imam al-Mahdi will be resurrected only after "one-third of the world population will die by being killed and one-third will die as a result of epidemics." Indeed, last year's tsunami and this year's devastating hurricanes and earthquakes are being used as propaganda by the radical Shi'ite clerics, claiming that the recent calamities are part of these prophecies. On Nov. 16, Mr. Ahmedinijad stated: "Our revolution's main mission is to pave the way for the reappearance of the 12th Imam, the Mahdi." In all his public statements in Iran and abroad, Mr. Ahmedinijad's messages are on target: Iran under his leadership must rise as a global power to lead the world in the footsteps of the prophets. He clearly follows up with actions -- moving on to develop nuclear weapons. Yet, despite the evidence, neither the international community, nor the United States seem to comprehend Mr. Ahmedinijad's serious commitment to advance the arrival of the 12th Imam. Indeed, by continuing discussions with Iran, they are playing along, giving it the time and latitude needed to achieve nuclear proliferation. Mr. Ahmedinijad's agenda has wide public appeal in Iran, as demonstrated by his landslide victory in the June election. This contradicts what many in the West and the United States want to believe. Consequently, Mr. Ahmedinijad's agenda, which is strongly supported by Iran's clerics, precludes the possibility that Iran will stop developing its nuclear weapons and therefore that there can be a peaceful resolution for this problem. Iran claims that it deserves to be a nuclear power like the United States and Russia. However, unlike the United States and Russia, which developed nuclear arsenals as mechanisms of deterrence, Iran by all indications is developing a nuclear arsenal as a mechanism to set off a chain reaction of death resulting in the destruction of a third of the world's population in order to facilitate the arrival of the Mahdi. Not surprisingly, Iran has just passed a new law to ban foreign inspections of its nuclear facilities, and at the same time announced its plan to build 20 more nuclear plants. According to the Hadith, the Mahdi's arrival will be preceded by three major stages. First, territorial conquests marked by death, destruction and conversion to Islam. In the case of Iran, it presents a real possibility of religious war with worldwide ramifications. The second stage constitutes the subversion and taxation, or economic domination, of the newly controlled territories, which according to Shi'ite interpretation would be under its domination. The significance of these prophecies of the Hadith and the Koran lies not in the truth or falsehood of the predictions. Rather, the significance of these prophecies is that the Muslim faith imposes its belief that Islamic prophecy is reality-based. The radical Shi'ites led by Mr. Ahmedinijad consider themselves the advance guard in the mission to bring back the 12th Imam. If left undisturbed, this 1,400-year-old religious dogma carries a lethal payload. It would not be the first time that radical Muslims try to destroy civilizations. They were successful in the past, and those successes feed their current aspirations. To strengthen Mr. Ahmedinijad's message and to indicate that he is chosen by God to bring about the Imam's return, he and his entourage claim that a halo of light appeared around his head when he addressed the U.N. General Assembly in September. We hear constantly about Iranians who long for democracy. If only the United States would help them, so we are told, they would overthrow this suppressive regime. How then can they explain Mr. Ahmedinijad's victory with 62 percent of Iran's vote. The logical explanation is that the elections were rigged. Be that as it may, Mr. Ahmedinijad is the president of Iran and he sets the agenda. We are all his captive audience, but we don't have to be. What we have to be is better informed. In order to win the war against radical Islam, it is important to understand who the enemy is, how they think and what their intentions are. There is mounting evidence that the Revolutionary Guard is following up on Iran's constitutional mandate to export terrorism and expand Iran's influence around the world. It is vital to the national security of the United States and its interests to do all it takes to stop Iran's nuclear development and its support of international terrorism now. Rachel Ehrenfeld is director of the American Center for Democracy, author of "Funding Evil; How terrorism is Financed — and How to Stop It" and a member of the Committee on the Present Danger. Retired Maj. Gen. Paul E Vallely is a senior military analyst for Fox News Channel and co-author of "Endgame — Blueprint for Victory in War on Terror."

Nobel Laureate ElBaradei's Comments Seen as Warning to Israel Not to Bomb Iran
OSLO, Norway (AP) - Nobel peace laureate and U.N. nuclear watchdog agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei appeared to warn Israel not to bomb Iranian atomic facilities in a newspaper interview published Saturday."You cannot use force to prevent a country from obtaining nuclear weapons. By bombing them half to death, you can only delay the plans," ElBaradei was quoted as saying by the respected Oslo newspaper Aftenposten. "But they will come back, and they will demand revenge."ElBaradei was in the Norwegian capital to accept the Nobel Peace Prize awarded jointly to him and the International Atomic Energy Agency.The report said ElBaradei did not mention Israel but it was clear he was referring to the Jewish state's increasingly open discussion over whether to protect itself by bombing Iranian facilities it suspects are being used in a possible secret nuclear weapons program.The report was in line with what ElBaradei said at a news conference in Oslo on Friday, that military force was not a solution to world concerns about the Iranian nuclear weapons program and could be counterproductive.In Israel, Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz said he was not interested in discussing the issue. "We have made it clear that the policy of the state of Israel is to put the Iran issue to the Security Council and that the diplomatic channel is the proper one to deal with this matter at this time," he said on Israeli Radio.ElBaradei and the IAEA have been seeking a negotiated settlement with Iran, in which inspections could prove whether it was still attempting to develop nuclear weapons.On Friday, he said it was too early to bring the matter to the U.N. Security Council, but that the next few months would be crucial.Israel has been expanding its military arsenal to deal with what it considers the key threat to its existence: a nuclear attack by Iran. Although Israel says there are no short-term plans for an attack, senior officials have begun openly discussing the option.Tensions between Iran and Israel stem from the 1979 Islamic Revolution, when Israel sided with the United States in supporting the Shah of Iran before he was deposed.
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PM Aides: Orders for Attack Came from Syria
Ynetnews

Jerusalem points finger at Damascus for providing safe haven for Islamic Jihad terror activities, group responsible for Monday's Netanya bombing; U.S. State Department calls on Assad to close down group's Damascus headquarters
Ronny Sofer

Israel has joined the United States in pointing the accusation finger at Syria as being responsible for the deadly suicide bombing in Netanya Monday, with both countries quoting intelligence reports linking the regime of President Bashar Assad to the activities of the Islamic Jihad terror group.

for Monday's attack at Netanya’s Sharon Mall, where a suicide bomber blew himself up killing 5 Israelis and injuring as many as 50 bystanders.

The U.S. State Department acknowledged claims by the Palestinian Authority that the orders to carry out the attack emanated from Damascus, a haven for Islamic Jihad's leadership.

The State Department condemned the attack calling on Syria to immediately close down the headquarters of the terror group in the Syrian capital.

Cabinet: Abbas weak leader in fight against terror

Israel’s adoption of the United State’s accusations against Syria was voiced during a meeting of the security cabinet in Jerusalem Tuesday.

“We accept the Palestinian Authority’s claims that the orders to carry out the attack came out of Damascus,” aides to Prime Minister Ariel Sharon told reporters at the conclusion of the meeting.

The cabinet reiterated past Israeli claims that PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas is a weak leader incapable of being a partner in the fight against terror.

The IDF has been instructed to intensify its operations against terror cells in the West Bank and Gaza Strip in the wake of the attack, with Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz seeking legal permission to dust off the targeted assassination policy against “ticking bombs” and terrorists with blood on their hands.

Jerusalem accused the Islamic Jihad leadership in Damascus of operating terror cells in the northern West Bank.

The Foreign Ministry has been instructed to ask Western countries to renew demands that Abbas cracks down on Palestinian terror organizations and intensify pressure on Damascus to ban terror groups from operation on its territory.

International call for PA crackdown

Aides in Abbas’ office in Ramallah’s Muqata received stern messages from Israeli and western diplomats with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s senior advisor Dov Weisglass telling his Palestinian counterpart that demands for Israeli assistance in all issues would fall on deaf ears.

“Don’t ask anything from us in the near future, from issues related to the border crossings in the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and in general. You have to bare responsibility for your actions,” an Israeli diplomat reportedly told Abbas’ office.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice, E.U. High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy Javier Solana and Egyptian diplomats urged Abbas to launch a campaign to disarm terror groups before the January 25 general elections for the PA leadership.

Israel’s belief that Abbas is incapable of controlling terror groups prompted the campaign to intensify pressure on Damascus with both Israel and the U.S. thinking that Syrian action against Islamic Jihad is likely to weaken the group’s operational activities in the West Bank and Gaza, an Israeli official told Ynet.

“There is no doubt that additional American pressure on Syria, which is being investigated by the United Nations for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri can narrow the activities of Islamic Jihad,” the source said.

“The orders and the funds come from there. Damascus is doing nothing to stop that. It’s possible that it has an interest in heating up the ground to stop pressure applied on it," the source said.

"In fact, if the Americans and the Europeans pressure Bashar Assad on this issue, the tap will be sealed for terrorists who dispatch Palestinian suicide bombers,” he added.

Ehud Ya'ari

A Different Spring

It is difficult to mistake the intentions of the ad-hoc American-French-British alliance formed to bring about the ousting of Syrian President Bashar al-Asad. The steamroller effect of the pressures exerted on him through the Security Council is pushing him slowly but surely toward breaking point. This is how the picture is being read in the Arab world, which has avoided rallying to the Syrian president's cause, and the same is true in Damascus itself. Bashar al-Asad is perceived as politically condemned, a dead president walking, whose remaining time in office is loudly ticking away. The challenge, it seems, is how to ease Asad out of power without causing Syria to collapse into a swirl of instability, and how to do away with the ruling Baath Party without inviting terror organizations to fill the vacuum, as happened in Iraq. Or in other words, how to depose the Asad family and its clients without having the army, at least part of the security services and the government administration cease to function. In the past two weeks, there have been growing signs that Asad is beginning to lose his grip on Syria. Several heavy-duty businessmen connected to him, and chief among them his cousin Rami Makhluf, have left the country. Makhluf, whose father was the commander of the personal guard of the late Asad senior, has moved his headquarters to Dubai. Others have gone to Paris. There is a quiet wave of Syrian lira withdrawals from the banks, and the Syrian Central Bank is flooding ever greater sums into the market in order to prevent the local currency going into freefall. Opposition figures, and most prominent among them the veteran Communist leader Riad Turk, are calling publicly, inside Syria, for Asad's "resignation." Harsh criticism of Asad is being aired within the Alawite minority that has been ruling for 40 years, particularly among the clan of Gen. Ghazi Kana'an, the interior minister who recently "committed suicide." Many Alawites are convinced that Kana'an was poisoned because he tried to distance himself from his rivals, heads of other security branches who were involved in the murder of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri. Army commanders, and most notably Chief of Staff Ali Habib, are doing their best to remain in the shadows and are not joining in the demonstrations of support that Asad is organizing for himself. The lively Internet chat among Syria's intellectual elite talks openly and bluntly of preparations for a post-Bashar era. There are other signals as well. From his Spanish exile, Asad's estranged uncle Rif'at Asad, a former vice president, is running a noisy campaign to return to Syria, this time as president, on a platform of democratic reform. Rif'at's recent visit to Saudi Arabia during the Muslim fast month of Ramadan shows that he has the ear of the royal court there. His satellite TV station, ANN, is spreading rumors about a rift between the president and his brother-in-law, Gen. Asef Shawkat, head of military intelligence and a prime suspect in the Hariri murder. In Lebanon, there are reports of Asad loyalists in the Christian camp defecting and seeking the patronage of the Maronite Church. Activists of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood are putting out feelers for a dialogue with Washington, Paris and London. And one opposition activist, Nabil Fayad, was even ready to defend his recent meetings with Israelis, including cabinet minister Meir Shitreet and former Shin Bet head Avi Dichter, on Dubai-based Al-Arabiya TV. All these separate notes make up a cacophonous background music that gives a sense of the political climate in Syria, but they do not provide enough of a chorus to point to the formation of an alternative force. As soon as a coherent tune emerges, Asad's seat will begin to shake, even if he is still on it. It will constitute the swansong of the Asad dynasty. The next moment of truth will probably come on December 15, when the extension granted to Detlev Mehlis, the special investigator appointed by the U.N. to probe Hariri's murder, runs out. His new report will only make things worse for Asad. The chances are growing that one of those Syrians under investigation will open his mouth to save his own skin. There is no shortage of candidates. In the meantime Asad will try to pretend to cooperate with the investigation. In reality he will be doing his best to hold it up and cover tracks. However, the piles of evidence that Mehlis already has, not least the records of the constant cellphone conversations between the lookouts following Hariri's convoy and their handlers, will make it difficult for the Syrians to wriggle out this time. Therefore, it is assumed that the haze might clear toward the spring of 2006. The next "Damascus Spring" should look different from the one that Asad promised when he first came to power, and that he never delivered. The various players within the regime and outside of it will have to decide whether to tie their fate to his, or to explore other avenues. And they will have to take these decisions against the backdrop of the possible removal of admiral Emil Lahoud, the Lebanese president and faithful prot?g? of Asad. At this stage, the Maronite Patriarch Butrus Nasrallah Sfeir is delaying his ouster. He fears a precedent of a Christian president being routed by the heads of other sects, namely the Sunni Saad Hariri (son of Rafiq) and Walid Junblatt on behalf of the Druse. The patriarch is defending Lahoud with the cooperation of Hizballah for now, but that partnership cannot last long. The moment there is agreement on an alternative Christian candidate, Lahoud will have to go in disgrace and pray that legal steps will not be taken against him for involvement in Hariri's murder. Thus the battle for power in Damascus may begin in Beirut, and Asad's fate might be sealed, in the final analysis, in the Lebanese presidential palace of Ba'abda. Once Lahoud is out, it will be his patron's turn next.
The Jerusalem Report, November 28, 2005 issue

‘Bulldozer’ Sharon smashes new path

By Matthew Tostevin
JERUSALEM: First Ariel Sharon remodelled himself, now Israel’s ‘Bulldozer’ aims to reshape the landscape of the Middle East forever. Sharon has shifted far enough left to form a centrist party with a platform of pursuing peace and giving up isolated settlements.He is still no dove, vowing to keep major West Bank enclaves as part of a long-term strategic vision.But the transformation that began with the 77-year-old ex-general’s widely popular withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip has become complete with Sharon’s departure from the right-wing Likud after it failed to follow his lead.Ditching the party he helped found three decades earlier was a move typical of the burly master risk-taker.“He always keeps the initiative on his side and it usually turns out well,” said political analyst Gerald Steinberg.Until Sharon shocked Israelis by announcing the Gaza pullout in 2003, there was little hint that the man nicknamed the Bulldozer for his bruising style would go into reverse gear to leave a very different legacy.Sharon fought in all Israel’s wars, notching up battlefield victories — sometimes in defiance of more cautious commanders — and moving in crushing force against Arab fighters.He was particularly reviled in the Arab world for masterminding the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, during which Lebanese Christian allies massacred Palestinians in two refugee camps.Sharon was elected prime minister in 2001 and 2003 with a pledge for tough action against militants behind suicide bombings.Sharon’s dramatic change in direction came late in 2003 when Israeli forces were having greater success in stopping attacks, but violence had still sunk another chance for negotiations on a US-backed peace ‘road map’.Sharon set out a plan for giving up all the Gaza settlements and four of 120 in the West Bank.The right-wingers he had encouraged to ‘settle every hilltop’ after Israel captured Gaza and the West Bank in the 1967 war were furious at what they saw as betrayal by their old champion.But by forming an alliance with Labour leftists who would once have laughed at the idea of supporting Sharon, he was able to defeat the settlers and their allies in his own Likud to complete the Gaza pullout in September.—Reuters

A moment of truth for Syria
By Dennis Ross
During the nearly 30-year rule of Hafez Assad, Syria came to control Lebanon and used terrorist groups — Hezbollah, Hamas and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine — to exert pressure (and at times reduce it) on others in the region. His son, Bashar, who has been the Syrian president for the past five years, seems to lack his father's guile and understanding of limits that need to be respected.
As a result, Syria is completely isolated both within the Middle East and outside it. Even Algeria, the Arab country represented on the United Nations Security Council, joined in the unanimous vote Oct. 31 demanding Syrian cooperation in the international investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
Is President Bashar Assad's regime on its last legs? If it cannot survive, what are the alternatives to it, and are those alternatives likely to trigger even greater instability and problems for us in an already volatile region?
Pressure has been building
Clearly, the Syrian regime is under tremendous pressure. Detlev Mehlis, a former German prosecutor charged with investigating the assassination for the U.N., has issued a preliminary report implicating the Syrian security forces in the plot to kill Hariri. While Mehlis does not officially allege that members of the Assad family were part of the plot, the names of Assef Shawkat and Maher Assad — President Assad's brother-in-law (the head of Syrian intelligence) and brother (the head of the presidential guard) — were excised from the published version of the report but appeared in a draft that news organizations were able to read.
There is little doubt that they are now suspects in the investigation, and this creates a fundamental problem for the regime. The Security Council resolution mandates cooperation — including the arrest and, if requested, transfer out of the country for questioning of possible suspects. So Assad might soon be called on to turn his relatives over for questioning or worse. If Mehlis concludes that Shawkat and Maher Assad are responsible for the assassination, the president will face an international demand to turn his brother and brother-in-law over to a non-Syrian court for trial.
Before the issuance of Mehlis' preliminary findings, many international news reports indicated that the Assad regime was putting out feelers to the Bush administration to do a "Libyan-type" Pan Am Flight 103 deal. Under that deal, security operatives were turned over for trial, and Libya assumed liability for the downing of the aircraft. In this connection, the "suicide" of Ghazi Kanaan, the Syrian minister of interior, on the eve of the Mehlis report was probably part of a planned response.
If the leading elements of the Syrian regime needed a Syrian scapegoat in order to save themselves, Kanaan — who had basically run Lebanon as the leading Syrian general there — would have been highly believable. But Mehlis never even mentioned Kanaan in the conspiracy, thus Assad's quandary.
If he fails to cooperate, the president knows Syria will probably face U.N.-imposed sanctions, a worrisome prospect given its already failing economy. Yet his only alternative might be to force his brother and brother-in-law to stand trial, something he would see as a threat to his own survival.
So what does he do?
Fear as a strategy
Assad will probably try to muddle through with a strategy based on the fear of the alternative to his regime — the radical Sunni Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, which appears to be the only organized group outside the regime. The Brotherhood is likely to scare secular Syrians, others in the region, and the international community alike.
Should the Muslim Brotherhood come to power, it would certainly support the insurgency in Iraq as well as Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other rejectionists in acts of terror against Israel. But how different would that be from the current policy of the Assad regime?
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice declared after the Security Council vote that Syria was isolated and needed to change its posture on Iraq, Lebanon and Israel. Indeed, her message implied that the regime could save itself if it was ready to stop backing the insurgency in Iraq, its continuing efforts to destabilize Lebanon and its support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad terror in Israel.
Perhaps Assad will see this as a lifeline and realize that he must carry out a strategic shift to survive. Nothing he has done to date, however, would indicate either a capability or a willingness to transform Syrian behavior in such a dramatic fashion. Moreover, as desirable as such a change might be for the region, will the international community drop the demand for accountability for Hariri's assassination in return for such a shift?
Ironically, the threat to the regime today might come more from those within Syria who feel that to forestall international sanctions, the regime must be removed. The fear of the Muslim Brotherhood is unlikely to deter a military-led coup, particularly because the military (which is essentially secular) might see itself as the protector of Syria against the Brotherhood. As such, the alternative to President Assad's Alawi faction might not be the Muslim Brotherhood but a militarily-led Sunni-Alawi dominated regime. It wouldn't be democratic, but it would seek to reduce Syria's isolation.
In the end, Assad can save himself only by acting out of character and turning on his family and against the very terror groups he has supported. Would the Middle East be more secure if he did this? Absolutely, but don't bet on it; a better bet is that his days are probably numbered, and the outlook in Syria is likely to remain unclear for some time to come.

Dennis Ross is counselor at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy, author ofThe Missing Peace: The Inside Story of the Fight for Middle East Peaceand was U.S. envoy to the Middle East under presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush.

May we be protected together.
May we be nourished together.
May we work together with great vigour.
May our study be enlightening us.
May there be no hatred between us.
Om peace, peace, peace.

Bush May Soon Order Attacks on Bases Inside Syria
President Bush May Soon Order Aerial Attacks on Insurgent Military Bases Inside SyriaBy Washington---Within the past several weeks, President Bush has come within hours of ordering U.S. military forces to conduct aerial bombing raids against insurgent training camps inside Syrian territory that are being used by foreign fighters as a staging ground in which to enter Iraq and kill American soldiers. But Secretary of State, Condeleeza Rice and representatives from the Central Intelligence Agency have until now prevailed in convincing President Bush that Syrian President Bashar Assad can be reasoned with, according to high ranking officials within the Bush administration.
Heretofore Secretary of State Rice and the CIA have advocated patience in dealing with the Syrian leader on two accounts. For one, following September ll, 2001 Syrian officials, particularly its chief of military intelligence, Asef Shawkat, Assad’s brother-in-law, now a key suspect in the death of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, worked closely with U.S. counter-terrorism agencies. Secondly, CIA officials have told the White House that a U.S. military attack inside Syria may destabilize the Assad government and there is no guarantee that a worse government, possibly an Islamist fundamentalist one, might replace it. Israeli intelligence officials have also expressed similar concerns to their Western counterparts.
White House insiders, however, report the reservoir of patience for Syria is all but evaporating by the hour. One official known to be strongly advocating a strike against Syria is President Bush’s national intelligence director, John Negroponte.
In recent months, President Assad has been shown unmistakable evidence by representatives of the U.S. government of insurgent military training camps that are being operated inside Syrian territory. Assad has reviewed such information and repeatedly promised to do something about it. But to date he has done little or nothing to quell the insurgent attacks, most of which are comprised by Saudi nationals.
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“We do not have the least doubt that nine out of l0 of the suicide bombers who carry out suicide bombing operations among Iraqi citizens…are Arabs who have crossed the border with Syria,” Iraqi national security adviser, Mowaffak Rubaie, told journalists in Cairo last weekend.
In an exercise of pan-Arab solidarity, Syria’s President Assad expressed hope back in 2003 that Americans would lose the war in Iraq , which rankled feathers with Washington.
“The problem with any U.S. aerial strike inside Syria is that we are not a thousand percent sure where all of these camps are located,” explains one U.S. intelligence official. “But any such attack would surely bolster President Bush’s sagging popularity in the short term.”
Acting as if he knows what is coming, Syrian President Bashar Assad delivered a highly confrontational speech last Thursday at Damascus University in which he warned his nation to prepare for tougher times with the international community. “We cannot give in to anything that could enter our houses and try to humiliate us from the inside or play with our national stability,” said Assad.”…This country is protected by its people, by its state and above all, as the popular saying has it, ‘Syria is protected by God.’”
Assad seems to have pushed Syria into a tight corner by balking at complete cooperation with the United Nations’ lead investigator, Detlev Mehlis, regarding Syria’s complicity in the assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri’s murder. He has characterized the UN’s investigation into the February l4th assassination of Hariri as part of a United States attack on Syria.
Several well-placed members of the U.S. intelligence community report to IIMCR that members of the Syrian intelligence apparatus were definitely involved in orchestrating the assassination of Mr. Hariri. U.S. and Israeli intelligence authorities have hard evidence of Syrian officials discussing plans of Hariri’s death. But neither U.S., nor Israeli intelligence officials, warned Hariri directly. That responsibility was left to French President Jacques Chirac, a close confidant of Hariri. It is also known that Hariri was actively involved in the year before his death in attempting to overthrow the Assad regime in Syria. And yet others suggest the evidence the United Nations has on the Hariri investigation is not an open and shut case.
What is clear, however, is that one of Assad’s primary supporter, Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak is believed to be exhausted in helping the Syrian leader extract himself from daily crises.
Syria’s 40-year-old leader, a former eye doctor who spent a year training at a St Mary’s Hospital unit in London, is believed to be in way over his head. Not equipped to run a country to which he ascended to power in June of 2000, Assad is no longer being given the benefit of the doubt. He continues to frustrate his own aides on almost a daily basis.
But can Assad save himself with the West if he were to do more to try to block the flow of Arab volunteers going to join the Iraqi insurgency? Very few are willing to take such a bet today.

Lebanese denounce Assad's disrespectful speech
By Ya Libnan
Beirut - The Syrian President delivered a speech at the University of Damascus in which he attacked Lebanon and its leadership. The speech was denounced by most Lebanese; some even called it "a declaration of war on Lebanon."
Fouad Siniora, Lebanon's prime minister, on Friday shrugged off the scathing comments by Syrian president Bashar al-Assad who called the Lebanese politician "slave of a slave" during his speech on Thursday, a reference to his ties to Saad Hariri (son of former PM Rafik Hariri) and to the Hariri Family relationship with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and President Chirac of France.
A very calm and mature Siniora said he would "let these words pass" but added that ties between the two countries had to be based on mutual respect. Many people came out of their offices in the heart of Beirut to cheer Siniora as he arrived to attend Friday prayers at a local mosque.
Lebanese newspapers reacted strongly to Assad's speech that harshly criticized Lebanon's government and parliament. Almost all the Lebanese newspapers reprinted the speech in full and published lengthy commentaries mostly denouncing Assad's harsh language.
An-Nahar newspaper and Ya Libnan called Assad's address "a declaration of war against Lebanon."
L'Orient-Le Jour, the French-language paper, wrote that Assad was seeking to provoke strife in Lebanon.
During his speech Assad claimed that Lebanon had become a "passageway, a factory and a financier" of conspiracies against Syria, in effect accusing Beirut of siding with the West against it.
He accused Lebanese politicians of being "blood merchants" exploiting the blood of the assassinated politicians to make political gains.
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea said insults to the Prime Minister of Lebanon are unacceptable, especially when they come from the outside. He praised Siniora and assured him of his complete and continued support.
Presidential aspirant Butros Harb also took Assad to task for charging that Lebanon had turned into a haven of conspiracies against Syria since it withdrew its army last April. "He knows before anyone else that Lebanon is absolutely incapable of threatening Syria's security. It is the other way around," Harb said.
Saad Hariri's bloc in parliament has also rejected Assad's abuse after a meeting it held at Koreitem Saturday evening. The 38-strong bloc, which is the biggest in Lebanon's 128-seat parliament, renewed in a statement after the meeting its unequivocal confidence in PM Siniora's honesty and statesmanship and Arab patriotism.
It backed anew Saad Hariri's declaration that Rafik Hariri's blood would never be in any political compromise or bargaining, reasserting the determination and that of the Hariri family to bring the assassins to justice at all costs.
"We also reject attempts to intimidate and cast doubt about the UN investigation commission. Rafik Hariri has been a shining icon as a ruler and no one will be allowed to absolve his killers from guilt and from punishment," the statement said.
MP Walid Jumblatt said "This [language and criticism] is unbecoming of the president of Syria. PM Siniora is a statesman who protected the Taif Accord and is one of Rafik Hariri's political heirs," added the leader of the Progressive Socialist Party whose bloc in Parliament is aligned with the Future Tide bloc.
"It is our right, Saad Hariri and I, to get to the truth of Rafik Hariri's murder and it is our right to call on the Syrian regime to cooperate with the international investigation," Jumblatt said.
Jumblatt called for calm and unity, hinting that Assad's speech could divide the Lebanese and could have far reaching effect on the stability in Lebanon.
Assad's disrespect to Lebanon
Assad continued to question Lebanon's patriotism and its Arab Affiliation. He also continues to accuse Lebanon of its intent to sign a peace agreement with Israel.Assad seemed to forget very quickly that Lebanon is the only Arab country that was able to force Israel to pull out from its occupied territories. Lebanon has set an example to all the Arabs in liberating their land. Lebanon therefore does not need any blood tests to prove its Arab nationality nor its patriotism. No country in the Arab world paid a higher price for its patriotism and support for the Arab cause than Lebanon did and we will continue to be proud Arabs.
Assad therefore should show much more respect to Lebanon. He has a lot to learn from Lebanon and the Lebanese. A relationship built on mutual respect will benefit both countries ... We both need each other, but should behave as friends and not brothers.
Mehlis report
Relations between Syria and Lebanon have been tense since the murder in February of Hariri, Lebanon's former prime minister. The killing was blamed on Syria, and while it maintained its innocence, Damascus ended its 29-year military presence in Lebanon in April due to the popular uprising (the Cedar Revolution) and international pressure.
Last month a UN probe determined that there was "converging evidence" pointing to the involvement of Syria and its Lebanese allies in the plot.
Detlev Mehlis, the chief UN investigator, is seeking to interview six Syrian officials including Assef Shawkat, president Assad's brother-in-law and head of military intelligence.

12 Bodies Uncovered From Yarze Mass Grave
The Lebanese army has dug out 12 bodies from the Defense ministry compound in Yarze of victims killed during the Syrian military offensive that flushed out Gen. Aoun from the Baabda palace on Oct. 13, 1990 and sent him to a 14-year banishment in France, the Beirut media reported on Saturday.
Eleven of the 12 were in military uniform, an indication they were from the army that was loyal to Aoun during his reign as interim prime minister of Lebanon from 1988 until October of 1990, when his war of liberation against the Syrians was crushed on the battlefield. The 12th body was charred beyond recognition and may have belonged to a Christian monk, the media said, noting that army troops, Red Cross volunteers and forensic experts took part in the digging operation.An Nahar said samples of the corpses would be taken to Hotel Dieu hospital for DNA tests while the digging operation would be carried out though Saturday for more possible bodies. The case of the missing soldiers was raised by An Nahar last Oct. 13 and legislator Gebran Tueni had tabled a questionnaire to the government before parliament about the long pending affair.

Loose CanonsThe CIA Disinformation Campaign
By Jed Babbin
The CIA's disinformation campaign against President Bush -- headlined in the Wilson/Plame affair -- is more jujitsu than karate. Instead of applying your own force to defeat your opponent, you turn his energy and momentum against him and bring him down. The CIA, as much or more than the State Department, didn't support President Bush's decision to invade Iraq. And to discredit that decision, it appears the CIA first chose an unspeakably unqualified political activist for a sham intelligence mission, structured it so that the results would be utterly public, and then -- when the activist resumed his publicity-hound activity -- demanded and achieved a high-profile criminal investigation into White House activities that resulted, so far, in the indictment of the Vice President's chief of staff. It's time for the Justice Department -- or, better yet, for the Senate Intelligence Committee -- to investigate the Wilson/Plame sham. Not only was the Wilson mission to Niger a sham, but the CIA's demand for an investigation of Robert Novak's outing of Valerie Plame may itself have been a criminal act.
Maj. Gen. Paul Vallely (USA, ret.) is one of Fox's senior military analysts. Gen. Vallely confirmed to me that nearly a year before Robert Novak's July 2003 column revealed Valerie Plame as a CIA employee, former Clinton Ambassador Joe Wilson told Vallely and his wife, Muffin, that Wilson's wife worked for the CIA. This revelation, published last week on John Batchelor's ABC talk show (and repeated Monday night on John's show), blew more holes into Joe Wilson's tattered credibility and raises important questions about the CIA's actions. (Fox's Judge Andrew Napolitano had said on the air that a FNC colleague had told him of Plame's CIA employment; Vallely didn't recall being Napolitano's source.)
Wilson's reactions to Vallely's assertion bespeak panic and meltdown. After Vallely's assertion on the Batchelor show (subsequently republished on World Net Daily), Wilson's lawyer both called and e-mailed Vallely threatening legal action if he didn't withdraw the assertion. The e-mail, which Vallely sent me, included Wilson's e-mail to his lawyer. Wilson, in a message to his lawyer dated November 5 at 5:11 p.m., said, "This is slanderous. I never appeared on tv before at least July 2002 and only saw him maybe twice in the green room at Fox. Vallely is a retired general and this is a bald faced lie. Can we sue? This is not he said/he said, since I never laid eyes on him till several months after he alleges I spoke to him about my wife. Joe." But the threat of legal action against Vallely isn't serious. Neither Wilson nor Plame want to testify in open court under oath.
There are just too many anomalies in the Wilson mission to Niger to believe that anyone who wasn't planning to bash the president could possibly have chosen Wilson for the task. He had no expertise in WMD, hadn't been in Niger since the 1980s, and had no intelligence training. One of the most revealing aspects of Wilson's mission, relevant to showing it was part of a disinformation campaign, was that he wasn't required to sign a CIA secrecy agreement before taking on the mission. In plainest terms, that meant his CIA bosses wanted him to go public on his return. And he did. The other point that proves Wilson's mission was anything but serious is that, in Wilson's own words, he told everyone he met that he was an agent of the U.S. government.
In his July 6, 2003 NYT op-ed, Wilson said, "The mission I undertook was discreet but by no means secret. While the CIA paid my expenses (my time was offered pro bono), I made it abundantly clear to everyone I met that I was acting on behalf of the United States government." You tell everyone you're speaking to that you're in the government's employ so they can feed you whatever line of baloney they want the U.S. government to hear? Wilson's "mission," in short, was a pathetic joke and not an intelligence mission by any definition. The CIA knew this. Who in the CIA authorized, paid for and managed this mission? Why did they do it? There's no plausible explanation other than the intent to embarrass and discredit the Bush administration.
A source who spoke on the condition of anonymity said Valerie Plame -- who suggested her husband for the Niger mission -- was too low on the CIA totem pole to have approved and paid for the mission. The source also told me that Judith ("Jami") Miscik, then the CIA"s deputy director for intelligence, was the person who signed off on the Wilson mission. Plame's WINPAC directorate was under Miscik in the chain of command. Miscik was fired by new CIA director Porter Goss late last year during Goss's housecleaning in which Deputy Director John E. McLauglin resigned and Deputy Director of Operations James Pavitt retired.
The CIA, through one of its spokesmen, declined to comment on whether it was Miscik or someone else because of pending legal proceedings. And, in context with other information, it appears that Miscik would not likely have been the one. Logically the person who approved the Wilson mission would have had to be some senior person in the Operations Directorate, possibly the now-retired Pavitt.
Regardless of who started the mission, the CIA responded to the Novak column by sending a classified criminal referral -- the allegation of criminal conduct requesting a formal investigation -- to the Justice Department. When it did so, it had to have known that Plame's status was not covert (as defined in the Intelligence Identities Protection Act of 1982) and probably knew â?? it is an intelligence organization, after all â?? that Wilson had blabbed his wife's identity around town. Why, then, was the criminal referral made? Who approved it? Such actions had to be approved at least by the CIA general counsel and probably by CIA Director Tenet or at least his deputy, McLauglin. Why did they do that knowing what they must have known?
The December 30, 2003 letter from Deputy Attorney General Paul Comey appointing Patrick Fitzgerald special prosecutor, says, in part: "â?¦I hereby delegate to you all the authority of the Attorney General with respect to the Department's investigation into the alleged unauthorized disclosure of a CIA employee's identityâ?¦" What was the allegation? If it were made falsely -- say with the knowledge that Plame's identity wasn't covert or had become public -- the person who made the referral may have committed a serious crime.
The whole Wilson/Plame affair stinks to high heaven. And the smell is coming from Langley. Porter Goss should receive credit for working hard to fix the CIA. The Wilson affair isn't his problem, it's ours. Right now, the CIA's disinformation campaign has cost Scooter Libby his future, threatens other White House staffers and -- most importantly -- burdens the credibility of the president in time of war. It affects our standing in the world, our relationship with our allies, and our strength in the eyes of our enemies. In short, this damned thing needs to be unraveled, publicly, and right bloody now.
The American people need this matter investigated forthwith, and not -- God help us -- by yet another special counsel. The Senate Intelligence Committee should, immediately, investigate and cause the following questions to be answered publicly as soon as possible:
What precisely does the CIA criminal referral that started the Fitzgerald investigation say? It should be declassified and published;
Who approved the criminal referral and why?
Was Pavitt the person who approved the Wilson mission? Who else approved the mission and how it was to be performed?
Why did they choose Wilson instead of someone qualified?
Why wasn't Wilson required to sign a confidentiality agreement?
Were his various op-eds vetted at CIA?
Who else, beside Vallely and his wife, knew Plame was a CIA employee, when did they know it and from whom?
Who was Bob Novak's source? Was it Wilson? Pavitt? Someone else at CIA?There are hundreds of other questions that should be answered publicly. Let's get ol' Joe in front of the Senate Intelligence Committee, under oath and with the television cameras on. Let's see if he does as well as George Galloway did in front of Norm Coleman's Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations. I have no doubt he'll fail to rise to even that standard.TAS contributing editor Jed Babbin is the author of Inside the Asylum: Why the UN and Old Europe Are Worse Than You Think (Regnery, 2004).