Astrologist predicts next target...
Following the recent London attacks, which stunned the UK as well as the entire world, the next major attack, will take place in Paris, according to an Arabian astrologist.
A Tunisian who had reportedly "predicted" the deaths of Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, Pope John Paul II and Princess Diana - and the recent attacks in London - has put France on the target line, saying Paris would be the next major European city to suffer a major “terror attack”.
On July 7, four blasts ripped across central London, killing over 50 people and injuring 700. The coordinated attack hit three Underground trains and a bus, as the morning's rush hour drew to a close.
“At the end of this summer or at the beginning of winter... France, and especially Paris, will be the target of a very big offensive,” wrote Hassan al-Charni, deputy president of the World Union of Astrologers. “I clearly see three targets in Paris: the Eiffel Tower, the Paris Tunnel, and the Montparnasse district.”
The Eiffel Tower is a metallic tower built on the Champ de Mars in the French capital and is nowadays the most famous landmark and symbol of Paris. Last December, the Arabian astrologer predicted “strong blasts that will rock Britain, and especially London” sometime in 2005. He also said at the time Pope John Paul II would die “very soon,” just three months before the latter died.
Charni had also said US President Bush will be killed by an assassin's bullet in 2005.
Soothsaying is not unusual, nor forbidden, in Islam – as it is in Christianity and Judaism. Muslim caliphs relied on court astrologers as early as the eighth century.
Astrology is any of several traditions or systems in which knowledge of the apparent positions of celestial bodies is held to be useful in understanding, interpreting, and organizing knowledge about reality and human existence on earth.
It is classified as a pseudoscience because it makes use of observed data about the heavens to draw conclusions that are unsupported by science.
Charni also predicted the sudden death of ousted Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein before his trial begins. "The Middle East region will be sitting on a volcano in 2005, and the situation in Iraq will get even more dramatic as Saddam Hussein is expected to die suddenly before his trial even starts," Charni had reportedly said.
He also predicted the death of Saudi King Faud this year. King Faud is currently hospitalized in a Riyadh hospital. However, it should be noted, that not all al-Charni’s predictions come true. He also predicted a major “terror attack” in Tel Aviv during January’s elections for Palestinian Authority leader, a prediction that failed to come true.
Even though there are astrologers who try to put astrology on sound scientific grounds, for many more it is a technology and an art that merges calculations with intuitive perceptions. Only time can tell whether Charni’s insights will eventually become a reailty, once again.
Sunday, July 31, 2005
Friday, July 29, 2005
In response to Diala Haje-Aref, the Syrian Social Affairs Minister.
“Syria is awaiting the formation of a new Lebanese government to begin negotiations over compensation owed to Syrian workers who were attacked.” These surrealistic words were pronounced by Diala Haje-Aref, the Syrian Social Affairs Minister.
We, the Lebanese people, are waiting for Mr. Siniora, or one of his cabinet members, to seek compensation, be it for economic, social, or psychological, to all Lebanese citizens harmed, mutilated, bombed, or otherwise tortured in the last 30 years.
I cannot help but ask how the pounding of Zahle, Bab –El Tabaneh, Achrafieh, and Souk El Gharb could be forgotten? How can we overlook the fact that the Syrians sucked our blood dry by taking half of the revenue from our casino, port, and airport? Should we get compensated for all Lebanese who have served, and are continuing to illegally do so, in Syrian jails? If so, how do we put a price on how much a family is owed for having its son tortured by the “Doulab”?
Permit me to tell Mrs. Diala (assuming, of course, her remark was made for internal Syrian consumption) that at best I can appreciate the objective of her remark considering Syria’s state as a dictatorship. However, if this was in fact truly her intention, I would be the first to suggest that we each agree to compensate the other (in which case Syria would no doubt wind up owing us billions of dollars per year).
Lastly, the workers that she references in her statement should have not been in Lebanon in the first place. Under the auspices of a new Lebanese government, they should be formally documented and, as such, have work permits and pay Lebanese taxes. We, the Lebanese people, will determine how many workers we require, no more and no less. I, for one, would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart, as she will be helping offset our forty billion dollar debt created by them Now we, the Lebanese people, are left to sit back and see which of our Ministers will dare to demand compensation from the Syrians, and put Mrs. Haje-Aref back in her place.
“Syria is awaiting the formation of a new Lebanese government to begin negotiations over compensation owed to Syrian workers who were attacked.” These surrealistic words were pronounced by Diala Haje-Aref, the Syrian Social Affairs Minister.
We, the Lebanese people, are waiting for Mr. Siniora, or one of his cabinet members, to seek compensation, be it for economic, social, or psychological, to all Lebanese citizens harmed, mutilated, bombed, or otherwise tortured in the last 30 years.
I cannot help but ask how the pounding of Zahle, Bab –El Tabaneh, Achrafieh, and Souk El Gharb could be forgotten? How can we overlook the fact that the Syrians sucked our blood dry by taking half of the revenue from our casino, port, and airport? Should we get compensated for all Lebanese who have served, and are continuing to illegally do so, in Syrian jails? If so, how do we put a price on how much a family is owed for having its son tortured by the “Doulab”?
Permit me to tell Mrs. Diala (assuming, of course, her remark was made for internal Syrian consumption) that at best I can appreciate the objective of her remark considering Syria’s state as a dictatorship. However, if this was in fact truly her intention, I would be the first to suggest that we each agree to compensate the other (in which case Syria would no doubt wind up owing us billions of dollars per year).
Lastly, the workers that she references in her statement should have not been in Lebanon in the first place. Under the auspices of a new Lebanese government, they should be formally documented and, as such, have work permits and pay Lebanese taxes. We, the Lebanese people, will determine how many workers we require, no more and no less. I, for one, would like to thank her from the bottom of my heart, as she will be helping offset our forty billion dollar debt created by them Now we, the Lebanese people, are left to sit back and see which of our Ministers will dare to demand compensation from the Syrians, and put Mrs. Haje-Aref back in her place.
Syria at a Crossroads
“Where do we go from here?” The question is making the rounds in the mushrooming political salons of Damascus, the Syrian capital. Many Syrians have the sentiment that they are heading for uncharted waters with a divided crew and a Hamlet-like captain.
“The certainties that kept Syria stable, not to say frozen in time, have all gone,” says a senior Syrian economist in Damascus. “And there is no indication that any new certainties are taking shape.”
For almost a quarter of a century Syria’s foreign policy has been based on some certainties.
The first was that the United States, persuaded into believing that there could be no peace in the Middle East without Syria, would continue not only to tolerate the Baathist regime but to prop it up against its opponents. That certainty was shaped over the years as Hafez Assad, who ruled Syria for three decades, became the only Arab leader to enjoy tête-à-tête meetings with all US presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton.
The second was that the Islamic Republic in Tehran would cherish Syria as a valuable ally not only in Lebanon but in the region as a whole. In 1980 the Islamic Republic started by writing off a $190 million loan that the Shah had given to President Assad in 1976. That was followed by cash gifts worth over $2.2 billion and cut-price oil supplies that has translated into $1.5 billion worth of aid over the past 25 years. The Islamic Republic has also supplied unknown quantities of weapons to the Baathist regime while creating and then arming the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah as a means of easing Israeli military pressure on Syria.
All these certainties, however, have now disappeared, leaving Syria under President Bashar, Hafez Assad’s son, afloat in a sea of doubts.
The American certainty evaporated when President George W. Bush realized the folly of policies pursued by his predecessors and understood a simple fact: A regime like that of the Syrian Baathists can never be the true friend of a Western democracy.
The strongest signal that Washington was changing its policy came in the year 2001 when Bush refused to continue the three-decade old tradition of tête-à-tête between US president and Syrian rulers.
This was followed by Bush’s designation of Syria as a sponsor of international terrorism, and his championing of the cause of ending the Syrian military presence in Lebanon. Last year the Bush administration also lifted a 30-year old ban on contacts with the Syrian opposition, and began a diplomatic campaign that led to Resolution 1559 of the United Nations Security Council demanding Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarming of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s former prime minister was assassinated in a bomb attack in Beirut last February. Although the investigations started by the Lebanese government and the United Nations remain to be concluded, many have pointed the finger of blame toward Damascus.
It is hard to believe that Syria which had over 50,000 soldiers and intelligence operatives in Lebanon while also controlling the Lebanese military and intelligence services should have no idea of who killed Hariri.
The departure of Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a long advocate of close ties with Saudi Arabia, together with virtually his entire faction from the Syrian leadership last June, is another sign of dramatic changes in Damascus.
By last month, Syria was left only with its Iranian “certainty”.
But that, too, seems to be fading.
Iran’s President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to hold substantive talks with Bashar during a rushed visit to Tehran. Ahamdinejad believes that Syria has lost much of its value as a glacis for Iran. Contrary to most fashionable analyses, there are no signs that Ahamdinejad wishes to pick up a quarrel with the United States. On the contrary, he is more likely to opt for a policy of patience combined with small but steady advances for Iranian influence throughout the region.
In such a scenario, close ties with Syria, gripped as it is with domestic economic and political problems of its own, could become a handicap for Iran.
With Syria out of Lebanon, Iran itself could become the major foreign influence in the country. Shiites, accounting for 40 percent of the population, represent the largest community in Lebanon and provide the Islamic Republic with the strongest domestic base any foreign power could have in that country.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), Syria played an important role in favor of Iran by dividing the Arab ranks and supplying sensitive information to Tehran. But the demise of Saddam Hussein means that Iran no longer needs Syria to counterbalance Iraq within Arab regional politics. Once the US is out of Iraq, Iran could easily emerge as the main foreign influence in that newly liberated country.
Ahamdinejad believes that only two powers can shape the future of the Middle East: Iran and the United States. On that basis he may be prepared to offer tactical concessions to Washington in exchange for strategic gains for the Islamic Republic. One such concession would be to look the other way as Syria becomes a target of regime change. After all the two regime changes that the US has already engineered in the region, in Afghanistan and Iraq, have removed two of Iran’s bitterest enemies from the scene. Change in Syria could help Iran get rid of a cumbersome ally that has always insisted on having its own say in both Lebanon and Iraq.
In the meantime tension is building up in Syria, with protest marches in several cities, including Damascus itself, and increasing talks of a major split in the ruling party.
Syria, once a bride that everyone courted despite her obvious blemishes, has been transformed into a widow that everyone shuns. It is unlikely that the question “where do we go from here”, debated in the political salons of Damascus, would find a clear answer anytime soon.
“Where do we go from here?” The question is making the rounds in the mushrooming political salons of Damascus, the Syrian capital. Many Syrians have the sentiment that they are heading for uncharted waters with a divided crew and a Hamlet-like captain.
“The certainties that kept Syria stable, not to say frozen in time, have all gone,” says a senior Syrian economist in Damascus. “And there is no indication that any new certainties are taking shape.”
For almost a quarter of a century Syria’s foreign policy has been based on some certainties.
The first was that the United States, persuaded into believing that there could be no peace in the Middle East without Syria, would continue not only to tolerate the Baathist regime but to prop it up against its opponents. That certainty was shaped over the years as Hafez Assad, who ruled Syria for three decades, became the only Arab leader to enjoy tête-à-tête meetings with all US presidents from Richard Nixon to Bill Clinton.
The second was that the Islamic Republic in Tehran would cherish Syria as a valuable ally not only in Lebanon but in the region as a whole. In 1980 the Islamic Republic started by writing off a $190 million loan that the Shah had given to President Assad in 1976. That was followed by cash gifts worth over $2.2 billion and cut-price oil supplies that has translated into $1.5 billion worth of aid over the past 25 years. The Islamic Republic has also supplied unknown quantities of weapons to the Baathist regime while creating and then arming the Lebanese branch of the Hezbollah as a means of easing Israeli military pressure on Syria.
All these certainties, however, have now disappeared, leaving Syria under President Bashar, Hafez Assad’s son, afloat in a sea of doubts.
The American certainty evaporated when President George W. Bush realized the folly of policies pursued by his predecessors and understood a simple fact: A regime like that of the Syrian Baathists can never be the true friend of a Western democracy.
The strongest signal that Washington was changing its policy came in the year 2001 when Bush refused to continue the three-decade old tradition of tête-à-tête between US president and Syrian rulers.
This was followed by Bush’s designation of Syria as a sponsor of international terrorism, and his championing of the cause of ending the Syrian military presence in Lebanon. Last year the Bush administration also lifted a 30-year old ban on contacts with the Syrian opposition, and began a diplomatic campaign that led to Resolution 1559 of the United Nations Security Council demanding Syrian withdrawal from Lebanon and the disarming of the Lebanese Hezbollah.
Lebanon’s former prime minister was assassinated in a bomb attack in Beirut last February. Although the investigations started by the Lebanese government and the United Nations remain to be concluded, many have pointed the finger of blame toward Damascus.
It is hard to believe that Syria which had over 50,000 soldiers and intelligence operatives in Lebanon while also controlling the Lebanese military and intelligence services should have no idea of who killed Hariri.
The departure of Vice President Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a long advocate of close ties with Saudi Arabia, together with virtually his entire faction from the Syrian leadership last June, is another sign of dramatic changes in Damascus.
By last month, Syria was left only with its Iranian “certainty”.
But that, too, seems to be fading.
Iran’s President-elect Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has refused to hold substantive talks with Bashar during a rushed visit to Tehran. Ahamdinejad believes that Syria has lost much of its value as a glacis for Iran. Contrary to most fashionable analyses, there are no signs that Ahamdinejad wishes to pick up a quarrel with the United States. On the contrary, he is more likely to opt for a policy of patience combined with small but steady advances for Iranian influence throughout the region.
In such a scenario, close ties with Syria, gripped as it is with domestic economic and political problems of its own, could become a handicap for Iran.
With Syria out of Lebanon, Iran itself could become the major foreign influence in the country. Shiites, accounting for 40 percent of the population, represent the largest community in Lebanon and provide the Islamic Republic with the strongest domestic base any foreign power could have in that country.
During the Iran-Iraq War (1980-88), Syria played an important role in favor of Iran by dividing the Arab ranks and supplying sensitive information to Tehran. But the demise of Saddam Hussein means that Iran no longer needs Syria to counterbalance Iraq within Arab regional politics. Once the US is out of Iraq, Iran could easily emerge as the main foreign influence in that newly liberated country.
Ahamdinejad believes that only two powers can shape the future of the Middle East: Iran and the United States. On that basis he may be prepared to offer tactical concessions to Washington in exchange for strategic gains for the Islamic Republic. One such concession would be to look the other way as Syria becomes a target of regime change. After all the two regime changes that the US has already engineered in the region, in Afghanistan and Iraq, have removed two of Iran’s bitterest enemies from the scene. Change in Syria could help Iran get rid of a cumbersome ally that has always insisted on having its own say in both Lebanon and Iraq.
In the meantime tension is building up in Syria, with protest marches in several cities, including Damascus itself, and increasing talks of a major split in the ruling party.
Syria, once a bride that everyone courted despite her obvious blemishes, has been transformed into a widow that everyone shuns. It is unlikely that the question “where do we go from here”, debated in the political salons of Damascus, would find a clear answer anytime soon.
Wednesday, July 27, 2005
Good neighbors don't close their borders to their neighbors
July 27, 2005
On Thursday, July 21, 2005, Syrian Labor and Social Affairs Minister Diyala al-Haj Aref alleged in a press conference that 37 Syrian workers have been killed, 150 others disabled, while many others have been illegally expelled from Lebanon without compensation in anti-Syrian attacks that occurred in the aftermath of the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri last February (Syria is the main suspect in the murder investigation).
Aref demanded appropriate financial compensation and legal measures from Lebanon in response. By the same token, Aref had refused earlier to elaborate on the status of hundreds of Lebanese citizens detained arbitrarily in Syria's notorious detention centers for years, while deprived of all their basic human rights.
During the same day as Aref's press conference, her boss, Syria's Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari, discussed UN Resolution 1559 (that calls for disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias stationed in Lebanon and for the deployment of the Lebanese on the Israeli-Lebanese borders) in an interview with Kuwait's "Al Anba" newspaper.
Otari bizarrely claimed that, "Disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon will threaten the national security of Syria; this is the most important point for us. Disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon will turn Lebanon into a playground for Israeli intelligence, and threaten Syria's national security."
Asked if he thought Syria would be Washington's next military target, Otari postured, "I don't think so, because America cannot get out of Iraq, cannot get out of the quagmire it is in. It cannot open a new front." It is noted here that everyone in Lebanon and abroad who follow world events is well aware of Iran's and Syria's ties to Hezbollah; however this connection has rarely been publicly discussed by Syrian officials in the past.
Allegations of both Syrian officials are actually in full alignment with Syria's Baathist dictators' evil doctrine of forging facts, twisting of norms, and demeaning the intelligence and dignity of the Syrian people, practices that have been in place for the past thirty years.
During the years of their evil reign the Baathists have spared no known means in committing crime, oppression, injustice, assaults or atrocities in cold blood against their own people and against those of neighboring countries. They never abided by any law, code of ethics or human rights covenant, but by the law of the jungle.
They imprisoned, persecuted, intimidated, tortured, impoverished and forced into exile hundreds of thousands of their own citizens as well as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian people in both Syria and Lebanon. They used and abused all national causes to serve their own interests and never honored the peoples' dignity, rights or beliefs.
They harbored, financed, bred, manipulated and exported terrorism, fanaticism and crime to the whole world. They invaded and occupied Lebanon for twenty-eight years during which they viciously inflicted on its peace loving people all kinds of horrible atrocities with numbed conscience. They destroyed everything that is productive in Lebanon from institutions, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, environment, human rights, law and order, peace, stability, education, culture, identity and civilization.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent Lebanese citizens were brutally tortured and savagely killed while many more thousands were either left with handicapping physical and mental ailments or were kidnapped and transferred to Syria to end up as living corpses in notorious prisons and detention centers.
The Syrian regime that was forced to free Lebanon and withdraw its occupation army and intelligence apparatuses in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 last April is now viciously plotting on strangulating its freed prey's economy and hindering all regional and international efforts designed to rebuild devastated and ruined, neighboring Lebanon.
Syria's ongoing clamp down and closure of its borders with Lebanon for the last four weeks is with no doubt a pre-planned conspiracy and a hideous crime that is inflicted on the Lebanese people and on their means for survival. This closure aims to pressure Lebanon not to implement the remaining clauses of the UN Resolution 1559 that necessitates the disarmament of Hezbollah and the Palestinian refugee camps in a bid to hinder the Middle East peace process.
It is worth mentioning that Lebanon exports Lebanese and imported goods through Syria to many Middle East countries with a value of 400 million dollars every month. Syrian rulers who claim Lebanon is a brotherly, neighboring country should recognize that "good neighbors don't close their borders to their neighbors" as the US State Department Secretary, Condoleezza Rice said in Beirut last Friday. These rulers have never ever showed any kind of mercy, respect or sympathy to their poor Syrian workers. Almost one million of them find in Lebanon the employment opportunities that they are deprived of in Syria itself.
If it is true that, if any of these workers are missing in Lebanon, it is the Syrian regime that must be accountable and not the Lebanese government due to the fact that Syria has been occupying Lebanon, fully controlling its government and enslaving its people for the last 30 years.
The Syrian regime that is demanding financial and legal compensations for its killed and injured workers should remember that based on its criteria, Lebanon is entitled to pursue the same track and demand Syrian compensation for three hundred thousand Lebanese citizens murdered by the Syrian army and by "made in Syria" Palestinian, Arabic, Islamic fundamentalists and Lebanese militias during the last thirty years, for three hundred fifty thousand people handicapped, three million Lebanese forced into exile and immigration, and for many other hundreds of thousands who Syria kidnapped, tortured and savagely killed or detained.
Syria needs to be held accountable as well for 150 billion dollars for damages it has inflicted on Lebanon's infrastructure.
We strongly believe that the new Lebanese government in full coordination with the country's Human Rights NGO'S should sue Syria at the international Hague court for all the crimes it has committed against the Lebanese people during the last thirty years.
In response to Aref's allegations, Mr. Ghazi Aad, head of the organization known as Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE), told "The Daily Star" on July 22, 2005, "Aref's statement is a blatant attempt to avoid discussing the case of Lebanese detainees in Syria. She is trying to run forward, and to avoid answering a question about the situation and fate of Lebanese detainees held in Syria. But we will not give up on the right of our detainees to see freedom again. If there were actually Syrian nationals missing in Lebanon, the Syrian regime would be the authority responsible for their disappearance, I hope she has not forgotten that their security apparatus was the one running Lebanon for the past 30 years. "If anyone is behind the disappearance of thousands of Syrians in Lebanon, they are," he added. We demand an international committee to carry out an investigation of such claims, and on the presence of Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons as well. This should be settled as soon as possible. Aad said that SOLIDE is afraid that the detainees, currently being held in various prisons across Syria, might "face liquidation as a response to the recent souring of relations between the government of Damascus and Lebanon."
He elaborated, "We have always worried about this issue, but now more than ever in the light of deteriorating relations between the two countries." According to Aad, who criticized the fact that none of the top Lebanese government leaders have yet responded to Aref, the issue of Lebanese detainees is still a taboo. He said: "We are waiting for the Ministerial Statement to be issued, and if it ignores the case of Lebanese detainees in Syria we will decide on a plan of action to free our sons under unjust detention."
It is worth mentioning that the subject of hundreds of Lebanese detainees in Syria has long been a taboo in Lebanon during the whole evil Syrian occupation era. The withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon last April in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 has removed this taboo and encouraged hope that a release of the prisoners would be possible.
It is a heretic and venomous argument for Syria to tie its national security to Hezbollah's arms. If Syria actually believes that this "made in Iran" organization is scaring Israeli Intelligence and deterring them away from Lebanon with its arms, this means they are freely practicing in Syria itself and in the rest of the Arabic countries because Hezbollah is not there!!!
Accordingly we suggest the Syrian regime immediately hire Hezbollah to patrol Syria's border with Israel in a bid to keep Syria free from the Israeli Intelligence. What a joke and what a naive kind of thinking? This Syrian Hezbollah arm's argument negates all previous Syrian claims that Syria had rehabilitated and rebuilt Lebanon's armed forces on national bases and rendered them efficient and capable. In reality Syria which occupied Lebanon for the last 28 years has never offered any actual or genuine support to the Lebanese army. Its focus was on Hezbollah and other Lebanese and Palestinian militias.
Syria was and still is protecting, financing, harboring and arming Lebanese and Palestinian militias among which are Hezbollah. Sheik Hassasn Nasralleh, Hezbollah's General Secretary had vowed openly in public several times during the last few years that his militia will be Syria's army in Lebanon if and when the Syrian army is forced to withdraw from Lebanon. Now Hezbollah has replaced the Syrian army after its withdrawal from Lebanon and is strongly hindering the Lebanese people from reclaiming their country's independence, sovereignty and freedoms.
Syria and Iran will continue to support Hezbollah and abort all Lebanese endeavors to disarm it as long as the free world countries are not serious enough in forcing with all appropriate and deterrent means the implementation of UN Resolution 1559. Lebanon cannot disarm Hezbollah by itself, the free world should carry this task through the UN, or otherwise the current unstable, bizarre status quo forced on Lebanon will continue to prevail and Hezbollah will continue to be a threat not only to the Lebanese, but to the peace process in the Middle East and stability in the whole world.
The Syrian regime Baathist rulers' are professionals in falsification of facts and twisting of norms. Their selfishness, paranoia, stupidity, tunnel vision, arrogance, criminal mentality and conduct, and camouflaging cheap tactics has put their country and its people in an awkward regional and international isolation while turning it into a rogue country.
They have been and still are a nuisance not only to Lebanon, but also for all their neighboring countries and for the whole free world's democracies and peace. This regime is living in the stone ages, detached from reality.
We strongly believe that the free world has a moral obligation toward the Syrian people who deserve a democratic regime that represents their hopes, aspirations and wishes, and not the Baathist Stalinist rogue one.
July 27, 2005
On Thursday, July 21, 2005, Syrian Labor and Social Affairs Minister Diyala al-Haj Aref alleged in a press conference that 37 Syrian workers have been killed, 150 others disabled, while many others have been illegally expelled from Lebanon without compensation in anti-Syrian attacks that occurred in the aftermath of the assassination of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri last February (Syria is the main suspect in the murder investigation).
Aref demanded appropriate financial compensation and legal measures from Lebanon in response. By the same token, Aref had refused earlier to elaborate on the status of hundreds of Lebanese citizens detained arbitrarily in Syria's notorious detention centers for years, while deprived of all their basic human rights.
During the same day as Aref's press conference, her boss, Syria's Prime Minister Mohammed Naji Otari, discussed UN Resolution 1559 (that calls for disarmament of all Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias stationed in Lebanon and for the deployment of the Lebanese on the Israeli-Lebanese borders) in an interview with Kuwait's "Al Anba" newspaper.
Otari bizarrely claimed that, "Disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon will threaten the national security of Syria; this is the most important point for us. Disarming Hezbollah in Lebanon will turn Lebanon into a playground for Israeli intelligence, and threaten Syria's national security."
Asked if he thought Syria would be Washington's next military target, Otari postured, "I don't think so, because America cannot get out of Iraq, cannot get out of the quagmire it is in. It cannot open a new front." It is noted here that everyone in Lebanon and abroad who follow world events is well aware of Iran's and Syria's ties to Hezbollah; however this connection has rarely been publicly discussed by Syrian officials in the past.
Allegations of both Syrian officials are actually in full alignment with Syria's Baathist dictators' evil doctrine of forging facts, twisting of norms, and demeaning the intelligence and dignity of the Syrian people, practices that have been in place for the past thirty years.
During the years of their evil reign the Baathists have spared no known means in committing crime, oppression, injustice, assaults or atrocities in cold blood against their own people and against those of neighboring countries. They never abided by any law, code of ethics or human rights covenant, but by the law of the jungle.
They imprisoned, persecuted, intimidated, tortured, impoverished and forced into exile hundreds of thousands of their own citizens as well as hundreds of thousands of Lebanese and Palestinian people in both Syria and Lebanon. They used and abused all national causes to serve their own interests and never honored the peoples' dignity, rights or beliefs.
They harbored, financed, bred, manipulated and exported terrorism, fanaticism and crime to the whole world. They invaded and occupied Lebanon for twenty-eight years during which they viciously inflicted on its peace loving people all kinds of horrible atrocities with numbed conscience. They destroyed everything that is productive in Lebanon from institutions, infrastructure, agriculture, industry, environment, human rights, law and order, peace, stability, education, culture, identity and civilization.
Hundreds of thousands of innocent Lebanese citizens were brutally tortured and savagely killed while many more thousands were either left with handicapping physical and mental ailments or were kidnapped and transferred to Syria to end up as living corpses in notorious prisons and detention centers.
The Syrian regime that was forced to free Lebanon and withdraw its occupation army and intelligence apparatuses in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 last April is now viciously plotting on strangulating its freed prey's economy and hindering all regional and international efforts designed to rebuild devastated and ruined, neighboring Lebanon.
Syria's ongoing clamp down and closure of its borders with Lebanon for the last four weeks is with no doubt a pre-planned conspiracy and a hideous crime that is inflicted on the Lebanese people and on their means for survival. This closure aims to pressure Lebanon not to implement the remaining clauses of the UN Resolution 1559 that necessitates the disarmament of Hezbollah and the Palestinian refugee camps in a bid to hinder the Middle East peace process.
It is worth mentioning that Lebanon exports Lebanese and imported goods through Syria to many Middle East countries with a value of 400 million dollars every month. Syrian rulers who claim Lebanon is a brotherly, neighboring country should recognize that "good neighbors don't close their borders to their neighbors" as the US State Department Secretary, Condoleezza Rice said in Beirut last Friday. These rulers have never ever showed any kind of mercy, respect or sympathy to their poor Syrian workers. Almost one million of them find in Lebanon the employment opportunities that they are deprived of in Syria itself.
If it is true that, if any of these workers are missing in Lebanon, it is the Syrian regime that must be accountable and not the Lebanese government due to the fact that Syria has been occupying Lebanon, fully controlling its government and enslaving its people for the last 30 years.
The Syrian regime that is demanding financial and legal compensations for its killed and injured workers should remember that based on its criteria, Lebanon is entitled to pursue the same track and demand Syrian compensation for three hundred thousand Lebanese citizens murdered by the Syrian army and by "made in Syria" Palestinian, Arabic, Islamic fundamentalists and Lebanese militias during the last thirty years, for three hundred fifty thousand people handicapped, three million Lebanese forced into exile and immigration, and for many other hundreds of thousands who Syria kidnapped, tortured and savagely killed or detained.
Syria needs to be held accountable as well for 150 billion dollars for damages it has inflicted on Lebanon's infrastructure.
We strongly believe that the new Lebanese government in full coordination with the country's Human Rights NGO'S should sue Syria at the international Hague court for all the crimes it has committed against the Lebanese people during the last thirty years.
In response to Aref's allegations, Mr. Ghazi Aad, head of the organization known as Support of Lebanese in Detention and Exile (SOLIDE), told "The Daily Star" on July 22, 2005, "Aref's statement is a blatant attempt to avoid discussing the case of Lebanese detainees in Syria. She is trying to run forward, and to avoid answering a question about the situation and fate of Lebanese detainees held in Syria. But we will not give up on the right of our detainees to see freedom again. If there were actually Syrian nationals missing in Lebanon, the Syrian regime would be the authority responsible for their disappearance, I hope she has not forgotten that their security apparatus was the one running Lebanon for the past 30 years. "If anyone is behind the disappearance of thousands of Syrians in Lebanon, they are," he added. We demand an international committee to carry out an investigation of such claims, and on the presence of Lebanese detainees in Syrian prisons as well. This should be settled as soon as possible. Aad said that SOLIDE is afraid that the detainees, currently being held in various prisons across Syria, might "face liquidation as a response to the recent souring of relations between the government of Damascus and Lebanon."
He elaborated, "We have always worried about this issue, but now more than ever in the light of deteriorating relations between the two countries." According to Aad, who criticized the fact that none of the top Lebanese government leaders have yet responded to Aref, the issue of Lebanese detainees is still a taboo. He said: "We are waiting for the Ministerial Statement to be issued, and if it ignores the case of Lebanese detainees in Syria we will decide on a plan of action to free our sons under unjust detention."
It is worth mentioning that the subject of hundreds of Lebanese detainees in Syria has long been a taboo in Lebanon during the whole evil Syrian occupation era. The withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon last April in accordance with UN Resolution 1559 has removed this taboo and encouraged hope that a release of the prisoners would be possible.
It is a heretic and venomous argument for Syria to tie its national security to Hezbollah's arms. If Syria actually believes that this "made in Iran" organization is scaring Israeli Intelligence and deterring them away from Lebanon with its arms, this means they are freely practicing in Syria itself and in the rest of the Arabic countries because Hezbollah is not there!!!
Accordingly we suggest the Syrian regime immediately hire Hezbollah to patrol Syria's border with Israel in a bid to keep Syria free from the Israeli Intelligence. What a joke and what a naive kind of thinking? This Syrian Hezbollah arm's argument negates all previous Syrian claims that Syria had rehabilitated and rebuilt Lebanon's armed forces on national bases and rendered them efficient and capable. In reality Syria which occupied Lebanon for the last 28 years has never offered any actual or genuine support to the Lebanese army. Its focus was on Hezbollah and other Lebanese and Palestinian militias.
Syria was and still is protecting, financing, harboring and arming Lebanese and Palestinian militias among which are Hezbollah. Sheik Hassasn Nasralleh, Hezbollah's General Secretary had vowed openly in public several times during the last few years that his militia will be Syria's army in Lebanon if and when the Syrian army is forced to withdraw from Lebanon. Now Hezbollah has replaced the Syrian army after its withdrawal from Lebanon and is strongly hindering the Lebanese people from reclaiming their country's independence, sovereignty and freedoms.
Syria and Iran will continue to support Hezbollah and abort all Lebanese endeavors to disarm it as long as the free world countries are not serious enough in forcing with all appropriate and deterrent means the implementation of UN Resolution 1559. Lebanon cannot disarm Hezbollah by itself, the free world should carry this task through the UN, or otherwise the current unstable, bizarre status quo forced on Lebanon will continue to prevail and Hezbollah will continue to be a threat not only to the Lebanese, but to the peace process in the Middle East and stability in the whole world.
The Syrian regime Baathist rulers' are professionals in falsification of facts and twisting of norms. Their selfishness, paranoia, stupidity, tunnel vision, arrogance, criminal mentality and conduct, and camouflaging cheap tactics has put their country and its people in an awkward regional and international isolation while turning it into a rogue country.
They have been and still are a nuisance not only to Lebanon, but also for all their neighboring countries and for the whole free world's democracies and peace. This regime is living in the stone ages, detached from reality.
We strongly believe that the free world has a moral obligation toward the Syrian people who deserve a democratic regime that represents their hopes, aspirations and wishes, and not the Baathist Stalinist rogue one.
Monday, July 25, 2005
U.S. delegation arrives with message of support
Two days after U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice's surprise visit to the Lebanese capital, a U.S. Congress delegation arrived in Beirut expressing "U.S.A.'s support to the Lebanese people," a statement said.
The delegation, led by Curt Welden and including Solomon Ortiz, Silvestre Reyes, Nick Rahal, Mark Souder and Tom Cole, equally divided between Republicans and Democrats, first paid a visit to Beirut MP Saad Hariri.
During the meeting, Welden announced, without mentioning dates, that a Lebanese flag will be flown over the Capitol building to show American solidarity with the Lebanese in commemoration of slain former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
Welden said that during the delegation's short visit to the Middle East, it was important to stop in Lebanon to show that Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress agreed on supporting the Lebanese people, and Lebanon's stability and future.
He said that the congressmen supported U.S. President George W. Bush's and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's efforts to push the relationship between both countries to a stronger status.
"And when we are back, we will inform our fellow colleagues about the need to support the Lebanese government as soon as possible," he said.
Welden said the delegation's members were interested in Lebanon's independence, stability and freedom, adding that Ortiz and Rahal are of Lebanese origin.
When asked if the delegation would visit President Emile Lahoud, Welden replied by saying: "I guess that visiting Lahoud and the prime minister is on our agenda tomorrow, and we will visit other officials as well."
He said the American people did not wish to see any U.S. plans in Lebanon. "It is up to the Lebanese people ... They should decide what quality of life they want," he explained, adding that his country aimed at helping the Lebanese only.
Rahal said it was the first time a government was formed without Syrian hegemony, adding that the delegation was a way to express U.S. support to the Lebanese people's self-expression after the results of the parliamentary elections.
Regarding the relations with Hariri, "we always had good relations with Hariri dating back to his father's days and his father's efforts for Lebanon, and we would like to see him walking in his father's steps
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice pays her respects at the grave of assassinated former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri, as Saad al-Hariri, Lebanese parliament's majority coalition leader, looks on in Beirut July 22,2005. Rice made a surprise visit to Lebanon on Friday to show U.S. support for the new government, the first to be formed since Syrian forces withdrew. REUTERS/Adnan Hajj
Turning the Lebanese Diaspora into an asset
Self-made businessman Nassib Fawaz heads the most important organization outside Bechir Saade
Business in person
The 15 million Lebanese expatriates scattered around the globe always represented a hope to relieve their tiny motherland from its unchanging and disastrous economic status quo.
Nassib Fawaz, a self-made businessman from the South Lebanon is one of a few conscientious members of this diaspora who is doing everything he can to set things straight.
Fawaz who moved to the U.S. in 1955 to seek education and work, is one of those who had a taste of Lebanon's sour economic and social environments.
Today he is president and chairman of numerous organizations and companies which operate in the U.S. as well as the Middle East. But more importantly, Fawaz is the president and the founder of the Lebanese International Business Council, an international organization which groups together major business individuals and groups, Lebanese expatriates and others, to cooperate in serving Lebanon economically.
According to its Web site, the LIBC "aims on paving the way for all Lebanese, wherever they are, to position themselves as a powerful economic and financial community in the international business world."
Since founding of the Arab Chamber of Commerce in 1992, Fawaz progressively recognized the utility of a lobbying organization and pushed for the creation of LIBC in 1999 after receiving formal authorization from the government of then-Premier Salim al-Hoss to operate.
Since then, each year LIBC organizes conferences called "Planet Lebanon." These seminars pull together a plethora of Lebanese businessmen from across the world, as well as Lebanese officials. The next locale for a conference on November 21 is Curacao, a Caribbean island where "these people will enjoy the calm, and the beauty of the weather, as they will find out ways to cooperate more closely" says Fawaz, who also heads Energy International Corporation, an engineering firm generating over $40 million annually, managing over 200 employees and 100 engineers all over the Middle East and the U.S. In addition, Fawaz heads Power One Corporation which distributes electricity in Michigan.
Back in 1960, Fawaz served in the U.S. Army for two years, during which he was transferred to Europe. He retained from this "unique experience," his main ethical guidelines.
"I have learned leadership, how to be on time and do things right, how to follow rules and give directions," he says.
From there Fawaz draws his perception of the prefect politician: "It is someone who needs to set an example to his people, because if the leader is corrupt, the people become corrupt, which is exactly what we are witnessing in Lebanon."
For the president of LIBC, the most perverse aspect of the Lebanese economy is its level of corruption. "The government should make sure cartels, and other influential capital holders cannot force politicians to give away contracts at high price." But this can only happen if Lebanese politicians start thinking in a fully exhaustive "Lebanese" way.
Because, as Fawaz puts it, "the real problem in this small country is that people think of it by regions when it comes to investing in any sector." Confessionalism plagues not only political spheres but also business thinking, as different groups are just satisfied by using the institutions of the state to take their own share of the political pie says the president of LIBC.
Nevertheless, Fawaz voiced much faith in the newly elected Lebanese government. He thinks that the people in power are potentially up to the task in terms of implementing the much-needed reforms. He also applauded MP Michel Aoun's initiative to stand as a watchdog to the new government. "At last, this is real democracy: someone is accountable to someone else" says Fawaz.
And by tapping into the economic power that Lebanese expatriates can represent, Fawaz believes the Lebanese government could greatly benefit not just for financial reasons, but also because "the Lebanese Diaspora does not behave in a confessional way, and when organized around one organization such as LIBC, will quickly determine its common best interests" says Fawaz, adding that successive Lebanese governments were never able to conceptualize this goal.
Fawaz could draw lessons from his own experience on how to succeed by taking baby steps: while still studying mechanical engineering when he first arrived in the U.S., Fawaz got a job at York International Air Conditioning, becoming its regional director in 1974 out of Dubai.
The president of LIBC is now working on important programs to give a new role for Lebanese expatriates through the creation of a representative committee for Lebanese expatriates made up of 150 members. "They can be the seed of the international Lebanese lobby around the world" says Fawaz.
LIBC is also pushing for a law that tackles the efficient "use of the investment, energy and potential of the Lebanese Diaspora" says Fawaz.
Wednesday, July 20, 2005
- Karl Rove is a hunter. His favorite quarry in Texas is quail; in Washington, it's foes of George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney. Rove was focused intently, with a touch of anger, on his prey. It was Monday, July 7, 2003, the day after Joe Wilson, a veteran diplomat, had launched a damaging public assault on a central administration rationale for the war in Iraq: that Saddam Hussein had been trying to buy yellowcake uranium in Niger. In a New York Times op-ed piece and a companion appearance on "Meet the Press," Wilson said he had been dispatched to the African country in 2002 by the CIA, at the behest of Cheney, to check out the yellowcake claim—and had found it flimsy at best.
Now here, in the gun sight of Rove, was a bird in flight. Until then, Wilson had been obscured from view, peddling his story and his doubts—but not his own name—to selected reporters, officials and Hill staffers. The resulting stories had attracted the administration's attention. In May, the State Department's intelligence unit had prepared a secret memorandum about the provenance of Wilson's journey and its classified results—including the curious fact that Wilson's wife, a CIA agent then working on weapons of mass destruction issues, had been involved in planning the mission, and had even suggested that her husband undertake it. Still, there had been no cause to criticize Wilson—let alone mention his wife.
But then Wilson went public. Some prominent administration officials scurried for cover. Traveling in Africa, Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had long harbored doubts, disowned the "sixteen words" about Niger that had ended up in Bush's prewar State of the Union speech. So did CIA Director George Tenet, who said they shouldn't have been in the text. But Cheney—who tended never to give an inch on any topic—held firm. And so, therefore, did Rove, who sometimes referred to the vice president as "Leadership." Rove took foreign-policy cues from the pro-war coterie that surrounded the vice president, and was personally and operationally close to Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Soon enough, Rove had drawn a bead on Wilson. The diplomat was a Democrat who had worked on national-security issues in the Clinton administration; he had donated money to Al Gore in 2000. Now, Rove had heard, he was friendly with Sen. John Kerry. Wilson was trying to drag Cheney into the story for partisan reasons—to caricature him as the dark, secret taskmaster of the war. Cheney hadn't dispatched Wilson; the vice president hadn't had anything directly to do with it.
In the World According to Karl Rove, you take the offensive, and stay there. You create a narrative that glosses over complex, mitigating facts to divide the world into friends and enemies, light and darkness, good and bad, Bush versus Saddam. You are loyal to a fault to your friends, merciless to your enemies. You keep your candidate's public rhetoric sunny and uplifting, finding others to do the attacking. You study the details, and learn more about your foes than they know about themselves. You use the jujitsu of media flow to flip the energy of your enemies against them. The Boss never discusses political mechanics in public. But in fact everything is political—and everyone is fair game.
CONTINUED
1 2 3 4 5 Next >
Now here, in the gun sight of Rove, was a bird in flight. Until then, Wilson had been obscured from view, peddling his story and his doubts—but not his own name—to selected reporters, officials and Hill staffers. The resulting stories had attracted the administration's attention. In May, the State Department's intelligence unit had prepared a secret memorandum about the provenance of Wilson's journey and its classified results—including the curious fact that Wilson's wife, a CIA agent then working on weapons of mass destruction issues, had been involved in planning the mission, and had even suggested that her husband undertake it. Still, there had been no cause to criticize Wilson—let alone mention his wife.
But then Wilson went public. Some prominent administration officials scurried for cover. Traveling in Africa, Secretary of State Colin Powell, who had long harbored doubts, disowned the "sixteen words" about Niger that had ended up in Bush's prewar State of the Union speech. So did CIA Director George Tenet, who said they shouldn't have been in the text. But Cheney—who tended never to give an inch on any topic—held firm. And so, therefore, did Rove, who sometimes referred to the vice president as "Leadership." Rove took foreign-policy cues from the pro-war coterie that surrounded the vice president, and was personally and operationally close to Cheney's chief of staff, Lewis (Scooter) Libby.
Soon enough, Rove had drawn a bead on Wilson. The diplomat was a Democrat who had worked on national-security issues in the Clinton administration; he had donated money to Al Gore in 2000. Now, Rove had heard, he was friendly with Sen. John Kerry. Wilson was trying to drag Cheney into the story for partisan reasons—to caricature him as the dark, secret taskmaster of the war. Cheney hadn't dispatched Wilson; the vice president hadn't had anything directly to do with it.
In the World According to Karl Rove, you take the offensive, and stay there. You create a narrative that glosses over complex, mitigating facts to divide the world into friends and enemies, light and darkness, good and bad, Bush versus Saddam. You are loyal to a fault to your friends, merciless to your enemies. You keep your candidate's public rhetoric sunny and uplifting, finding others to do the attacking. You study the details, and learn more about your foes than they know about themselves. You use the jujitsu of media flow to flip the energy of your enemies against them. The Boss never discusses political mechanics in public. But in fact everything is political—and everyone is fair game.
CONTINUED
1 2 3 4 5 Next >
Exclusive Sources: UN Investigator of Hariri assassination: I received good information from Israeli intelligence
Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis reports good information from Israeli intelligence helped his probe into the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut on February 14 and other Lebanese figures. Mehlis names his prime suspect as the pro-Syrian President Emil Lahoud’s presidential brigade commander Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan.
The UN investigator, a Berlin prosecutor, made these disclosures in an interview published by the Parisian daily LeFigaro, Wednesday, July 20. Mehlis now plans also to interrogate Syria’s former military intelligence chief in Lebanon Brig. Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh. But Hamdan was among the first persons questioned, said Mehils, because he was one of those who gave orders “to change the scene of the crime just after the attack.”
On June 21, UN investigators took Hamdan, known as Lahoud’s inseparable military shadow, for prolonged interrogation and searched his office in the Baabde presidential palace and Beirut home. “He has cooperated,” said Mehlis.
Chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis reports good information from Israeli intelligence helped his probe into the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri in Beirut on February 14 and other Lebanese figures. Mehlis names his prime suspect as the pro-Syrian President Emil Lahoud’s presidential brigade commander Brig. Gen. Mustafa Hamdan.
The UN investigator, a Berlin prosecutor, made these disclosures in an interview published by the Parisian daily LeFigaro, Wednesday, July 20. Mehlis now plans also to interrogate Syria’s former military intelligence chief in Lebanon Brig. Gen. Rustom Ghazaleh. But Hamdan was among the first persons questioned, said Mehils, because he was one of those who gave orders “to change the scene of the crime just after the attack.”
On June 21, UN investigators took Hamdan, known as Lahoud’s inseparable military shadow, for prolonged interrogation and searched his office in the Baabde presidential palace and Beirut home. “He has cooperated,” said Mehlis.
Tuesday, July 19, 2005
Monday, July 18, 2005
CHINA PROVIDES TERRORISM'S NEW WEAPON
by Gordon Thomas
The world's Terror Network has been given a new weapon. It can overcome the most stringent of airport and airline security checks. Far more lethal than Semtex, it can be smuggled with virtual impunity from one country to another, one terrorist cell to another.
For the 80 terror groups listed on the computers of the CIA, MI5, MI6 and Germany's BND, the weapon once more tips the scales in their favour. It is a new type of plastic explosive that was used by the two young British radical Muslims in last week's suicide bomb attack on the club in Tel Aviv. Three were killed and 50 injured. One of the suicide bombers escaped, leaving behind some explosive. After a week of intensive investigation by chemists at Israel's ultra-secret research centre in the Tel Aviv suburb of Nes Ziona, its lethal qualities and country of background have been discovered. It was at the centre, in one of the most guarded places on earth, the explosive was analysed behind two-feet thick dun-coloured concrete walls and bombproof sliding doors. The conclusion of the scientists sent a collective shock wave through the intelligence community.
The Israeli experts concluded that the explosives were manufactured in the laboratories of ZDF, one of China's leading military defence contractors. The first hint that China was working on a new type of explosive had come in March, 2001, when a top-ranking Chinese defector, Senior Colonel Xu Junping in the China's People Liberation Army and one of the nation's leading military strategists, had defected to the United States and was personally debriefed by CIA director George Tenet. So important was the debriefing that President Bush had authorised his closest aide, Condoleeza Rice, to sit in.
Over several days Xu detailed the work that was being done to create the explosives in the ZDF laboratories situated some 60km to the west of Beijing. He also detailed how China had secretly been helping rogue states like Iraq, Iran and North Korea. But, most critical of all, he outlined China's contacts with terror groups - through its powerful intelligence services: Military Intelligence Department (MID) and its Science and Technology Department (STD).
Employing some 5,000 field agents and defences analysts, both agencies operate globally. They are supported by satellite surveillance and state-of-the-art equipment. Xu told the CIA that part of the work of the two services was to maintain contact with not only terror groups in the Middle East, but also those in the Philippines, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. But what astonished the CIA was Xu's revelations of Chinese intelligence contacts in Colombia with FARC, in Spain with ETA, in Peru with Shining Path.
In the past year, MI5 have also picked up hints that Chinese agents have had contacts with extreme Islamic groups in London and the East Midlands. M J Gohel, a terrorism and security expert with the prestigious Asia-Pacific Foundation in London, said there was an "urgent need to grasp the reality of the situation".
Now, two years after Xu's revelation, intelligence services are bracing themselves to confront this latest weapon of choice for terrorists. The Chinese explosive is so sophisticated it even escaped detection by Israel's ultra-vigilant border controls. Mossad has now established that the two British suicide bombers smuggled in their explosive from Jordan. It had arrived there from Pakistan - whose intelligence service has had long and close links to China's.
CIA agents have established that, in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, it was from Pakistan that Osama bin Laden made three separate visits to Beijing. Each time he was accompanied by China's Ambassador to that country and the head of Pakistan's powerful and many-tentacled intelligence service, PIS. Bin Laden made those visits to Beijing prior to the 9/11 attacks. He had gone to organise a defence contract for the Taliban worth $1 billion.
"We now believe that during those visits he was appraised of the progress with the new explosives", said a senior Mossad source in Tel Aviv. He agreed there "is a very strong possibility" that al Quaeda had been provided with a quantity of the explosive - a tiny portion of which had been given to the two British suicide bombers. "Following the attack in Tel Aviv, airports and airlines around the world are urgently looking at security again. This takes terrorism into a new dimension", an MI5 source said in London. Already Israeli military censors have placed a news blackout on all local media reporting any details about the new explosive. But speaking under a guarantee of anonymity, one source did say that the "explosive is far lighter and easier to conceal than previous kinds. It makes Semtex look outdated. This has tipped the scale back in favour of the terrorist".
Gordon Thomas is the author of Mossad: La Historia Secreta (Ediciones-B).
by Gordon Thomas
The world's Terror Network has been given a new weapon. It can overcome the most stringent of airport and airline security checks. Far more lethal than Semtex, it can be smuggled with virtual impunity from one country to another, one terrorist cell to another.
For the 80 terror groups listed on the computers of the CIA, MI5, MI6 and Germany's BND, the weapon once more tips the scales in their favour. It is a new type of plastic explosive that was used by the two young British radical Muslims in last week's suicide bomb attack on the club in Tel Aviv. Three were killed and 50 injured. One of the suicide bombers escaped, leaving behind some explosive. After a week of intensive investigation by chemists at Israel's ultra-secret research centre in the Tel Aviv suburb of Nes Ziona, its lethal qualities and country of background have been discovered. It was at the centre, in one of the most guarded places on earth, the explosive was analysed behind two-feet thick dun-coloured concrete walls and bombproof sliding doors. The conclusion of the scientists sent a collective shock wave through the intelligence community.
The Israeli experts concluded that the explosives were manufactured in the laboratories of ZDF, one of China's leading military defence contractors. The first hint that China was working on a new type of explosive had come in March, 2001, when a top-ranking Chinese defector, Senior Colonel Xu Junping in the China's People Liberation Army and one of the nation's leading military strategists, had defected to the United States and was personally debriefed by CIA director George Tenet. So important was the debriefing that President Bush had authorised his closest aide, Condoleeza Rice, to sit in.
Over several days Xu detailed the work that was being done to create the explosives in the ZDF laboratories situated some 60km to the west of Beijing. He also detailed how China had secretly been helping rogue states like Iraq, Iran and North Korea. But, most critical of all, he outlined China's contacts with terror groups - through its powerful intelligence services: Military Intelligence Department (MID) and its Science and Technology Department (STD).
Employing some 5,000 field agents and defences analysts, both agencies operate globally. They are supported by satellite surveillance and state-of-the-art equipment. Xu told the CIA that part of the work of the two services was to maintain contact with not only terror groups in the Middle East, but also those in the Philippines, Cambodia and Sri Lanka. But what astonished the CIA was Xu's revelations of Chinese intelligence contacts in Colombia with FARC, in Spain with ETA, in Peru with Shining Path.
In the past year, MI5 have also picked up hints that Chinese agents have had contacts with extreme Islamic groups in London and the East Midlands. M J Gohel, a terrorism and security expert with the prestigious Asia-Pacific Foundation in London, said there was an "urgent need to grasp the reality of the situation".
Now, two years after Xu's revelation, intelligence services are bracing themselves to confront this latest weapon of choice for terrorists. The Chinese explosive is so sophisticated it even escaped detection by Israel's ultra-vigilant border controls. Mossad has now established that the two British suicide bombers smuggled in their explosive from Jordan. It had arrived there from Pakistan - whose intelligence service has had long and close links to China's.
CIA agents have established that, in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, it was from Pakistan that Osama bin Laden made three separate visits to Beijing. Each time he was accompanied by China's Ambassador to that country and the head of Pakistan's powerful and many-tentacled intelligence service, PIS. Bin Laden made those visits to Beijing prior to the 9/11 attacks. He had gone to organise a defence contract for the Taliban worth $1 billion.
"We now believe that during those visits he was appraised of the progress with the new explosives", said a senior Mossad source in Tel Aviv. He agreed there "is a very strong possibility" that al Quaeda had been provided with a quantity of the explosive - a tiny portion of which had been given to the two British suicide bombers. "Following the attack in Tel Aviv, airports and airlines around the world are urgently looking at security again. This takes terrorism into a new dimension", an MI5 source said in London. Already Israeli military censors have placed a news blackout on all local media reporting any details about the new explosive. But speaking under a guarantee of anonymity, one source did say that the "explosive is far lighter and easier to conceal than previous kinds. It makes Semtex look outdated. This has tipped the scale back in favour of the terrorist".
Gordon Thomas is the author of Mossad: La Historia Secreta (Ediciones-B).
CBS/Infinity Radio blacks out anti-terror conference'Too many people might be emotionally affected by the subject matter'
CBS/Infinity Radio has refused to air paid commercial announcements for an upcoming non-partisan symposium on terrorism, claiming "people might be too emotionally affected" by it.
The People’s Truth Forum, which is sponsoring the symposium titled The Radical-Islamist Threat to World Peace and National Security to be held in Connecticut on Sept. 21, was rebuffed by CBS/Infinity Radio when the PTF’s president, Jeffrey Epstein, tried to purchase commercial time to publicize the event.
The official statement from CBS/Infinity Radio said, "Too many people might be emotionally affected by the subject matter. … It's too controversial to be aired at this time."
CBS/Infinity Radio's decision comes on the heels of the recent terrorist bombings in London which claimed over 50 lives.
"The commercial segments were to commence on July 18. They were considered critical to the success of our symposium, which has received quite a bit of favorable response from the 'First Responder' community," Epstein said. "We have people coming from as far away as Australia to attend the event."
The symposium is scheduled to feature lectures by Dr. Harvey Kushner, noted terrorism expert; Brigitte Gabriel, a former anchor for world news in the Middle East and a prominent Arab-American journalist; Robert Spencer, noted author on the subject of terrorism and publisher of JihadWatch – published weekly in Human Events; and Laura Mansfield, author and counterterrorism expert.
After having preliminarily agreed to air eight 60-second commercial segments on WTIC-AM in Hartford Connecticut – a CBS/Infinity affiliate station – Epstein was contacted by a CBS/Infinity's sales representative with the news of the cancellation. The sales representative stated that the decision had come down from CBS/Infinity's legal division and that the decision was final.
"CBS is blocking a potent message from being disseminated to both our citizenry and the region’s first responders who would benefit from being in attendance," Epstein said, noting, "A number of congressmen and senators from across the country are supporting our efforts."
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., is scheduled to attend and has recently endorsed Epstein's efforts.
"CBS/Infinity Radio joins Sinclair Broadcasting in refusing to air fact-based content about issues important to the country," said David Masak, the media production director for PTF's symposium. "The facts of the threat we face might be disturbing, but that's the truth of the matter. Why CBS/Infinity wouldn't want to take this opportunity to share the facts with the American people, especially in light of the recent bombings in London, says a lot about CBS."
The turnaround is reminiscent of last year's censorship controversy involving Sinclair Broadcasting. During the election season, Sinclair had agreed to air a documentary titled "Stolen Honor," which was critical of presidential candidate John Kerry. But under pressure from the Kerry campaign and an assortment of pro-Kerry 527 groups, Sinclair decided to pull the documentary, replacing it on selected stations with a one-hour news program that used parts of the documentary.
CBS/Infinity Radio has refused to air paid commercial announcements for an upcoming non-partisan symposium on terrorism, claiming "people might be too emotionally affected" by it.
The People’s Truth Forum, which is sponsoring the symposium titled The Radical-Islamist Threat to World Peace and National Security to be held in Connecticut on Sept. 21, was rebuffed by CBS/Infinity Radio when the PTF’s president, Jeffrey Epstein, tried to purchase commercial time to publicize the event.
The official statement from CBS/Infinity Radio said, "Too many people might be emotionally affected by the subject matter. … It's too controversial to be aired at this time."
CBS/Infinity Radio's decision comes on the heels of the recent terrorist bombings in London which claimed over 50 lives.
"The commercial segments were to commence on July 18. They were considered critical to the success of our symposium, which has received quite a bit of favorable response from the 'First Responder' community," Epstein said. "We have people coming from as far away as Australia to attend the event."
The symposium is scheduled to feature lectures by Dr. Harvey Kushner, noted terrorism expert; Brigitte Gabriel, a former anchor for world news in the Middle East and a prominent Arab-American journalist; Robert Spencer, noted author on the subject of terrorism and publisher of JihadWatch – published weekly in Human Events; and Laura Mansfield, author and counterterrorism expert.
After having preliminarily agreed to air eight 60-second commercial segments on WTIC-AM in Hartford Connecticut – a CBS/Infinity affiliate station – Epstein was contacted by a CBS/Infinity's sales representative with the news of the cancellation. The sales representative stated that the decision had come down from CBS/Infinity's legal division and that the decision was final.
"CBS is blocking a potent message from being disseminated to both our citizenry and the region’s first responders who would benefit from being in attendance," Epstein said, noting, "A number of congressmen and senators from across the country are supporting our efforts."
U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo, R-Colo., is scheduled to attend and has recently endorsed Epstein's efforts.
"CBS/Infinity Radio joins Sinclair Broadcasting in refusing to air fact-based content about issues important to the country," said David Masak, the media production director for PTF's symposium. "The facts of the threat we face might be disturbing, but that's the truth of the matter. Why CBS/Infinity wouldn't want to take this opportunity to share the facts with the American people, especially in light of the recent bombings in London, says a lot about CBS."
The turnaround is reminiscent of last year's censorship controversy involving Sinclair Broadcasting. During the election season, Sinclair had agreed to air a documentary titled "Stolen Honor," which was critical of presidential candidate John Kerry. But under pressure from the Kerry campaign and an assortment of pro-Kerry 527 groups, Sinclair decided to pull the documentary, replacing it on selected stations with a one-hour news program that used parts of the documentary.
Enemies, foreign and domestic
Charles Krauthammer July 15, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Last Nov. 2, Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker and descendant of the painter, was cycling through Amsterdam. He was accosted by Mohammed Bouyeri, who shot him six times as Van Gogh pleaded ``We can still talk about it! Don't do it!'' Bouyeri then cut his throat with a kitchen knife, severing his head all the way to his spine. Bouyeri was not done. He then took a five-page Islamist manifesto and with his knife impaled it on van Gogh's chest. On trial now in Holland, Bouyeri is unrepentant. In court he turned to van Gogh's grieving mother, and with infinite cruelty said to her, ``I do not feel your pain.''
He feels instead glory. Van Gogh had made a short film about the oppression of Muslim women. Bouyeri was acting ``purely in the name of my religion,'' championing his faith by butchering a filmmaker critical of it.
Bouyeri is no newly arrived immigrant. Nor is he, like the 9/11 hijackers, a cosmopolitan terrorist sent abroad to kill. He is native born and bred in Holland. As were three of the four London bombers, who were second-generation Pakistani Brits.
The most remarkable discovery is that Europe's second- and third-generation Muslim immigrants are more radicalized than the first. One reasonably non-political and non-radical Muslim activist, raised in the suburbs of Paris, explained himself (to The Wall Street Journal) as having ``immigrated to France at the local maternity ward.''
The fact that native-born Muslim Europeans are committing terror acts within their own countries shows that this Islamist malignancy long predates Iraq, long predates Afghanistan and long predates 9/11. What Europe had incubated is an enemy within, a threat that for decades Europe simply refused to face.
Early news reports of the London bombings mentioned that police found no suspects among known Islamist cells in Britain. Come again? Why in God's name is a country letting known Islamist cells thrive, instead of just rolling them up?
British Islamists had spoken of a ``covenant of security'' under which Britain would be spared Islamic terror so long as it allowed radical clerics free rein. Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, for example, a Syrian-born, exiled Saudi cleric granted asylum 19 years ago, openly preaches jihad against Britain. He is sought by the press for comment all the time. And, a lovely touch, he actually lives on the British dole -- even though he rejects the idea of British citizenship, saying, ``I don't want to become a citizen of hell.''
One of the reasons Westerners were so unprepared for this wave of Islamist terrorism, not just militarily but psychologically, is sheer disbelief. It shockingly contradicts Western notions of progress. The savagery of Bouyeri's act, mirroring the ritual human slaughter by Zarqawi or Daniel Pearl's beheaders, is a return to a primitiveness that we in the West had assumed a progressive history had left behind.
Our first response was, therefore, to simply sweep this contradiction under the rug. Put the first World Trade Center bombers on trial and think it will solve the problem. Even today, there are many Americans and even more Europeans who believe that after 9/11 the United States should just have done Afghanistan -- depose the Taliban and destroy al Qaeda's sanctuary -- and gone no further, thinking that would solve the problem.
But the problem is far deeper. It is essentially a civil war within a rival civilization in which the most primitive elements are seeking to gain the upper hand. 9/11 forced us to intervene massively in this civil war, which is why we are in Iraq. There, as in Afghanistan, we have enlisted millions of Muslims on the anti-Islamist side.
But what about the vast majority of European Muslims, the 99 percent who are peace-loving and not engaged in terror? They must also join the fight. They must actively denounce not just -- what is obvious -- the terror attacks, but their source: Islamist ideology and its practitioners.
Where are the fatwas issued against Osama bin Laden? Where are the denunciations of the very idea of suicide bombing? Europeans must demand this of all their Muslim leaders. They must also dismantle and destroy all ``known'' Islamist cells before trains and buses are blown up.
A modest beginning might be removing the likes of Sheik Omar -- and Bouyeri -- from the teat of the infidel taxpayer. ``He (Bouyeri) had the time to plan this,'' van Gogh's mother told the court, ``because for three years he was on unemployment benefits.'' Decadence is defined not by a civilization's art or music but ultimately by its willingness to simply defend itself.
Charles Krauthammer July 15, 2005
WASHINGTON -- Last Nov. 2, Theo van Gogh, Dutch filmmaker and descendant of the painter, was cycling through Amsterdam. He was accosted by Mohammed Bouyeri, who shot him six times as Van Gogh pleaded ``We can still talk about it! Don't do it!'' Bouyeri then cut his throat with a kitchen knife, severing his head all the way to his spine. Bouyeri was not done. He then took a five-page Islamist manifesto and with his knife impaled it on van Gogh's chest. On trial now in Holland, Bouyeri is unrepentant. In court he turned to van Gogh's grieving mother, and with infinite cruelty said to her, ``I do not feel your pain.''
He feels instead glory. Van Gogh had made a short film about the oppression of Muslim women. Bouyeri was acting ``purely in the name of my religion,'' championing his faith by butchering a filmmaker critical of it.
Bouyeri is no newly arrived immigrant. Nor is he, like the 9/11 hijackers, a cosmopolitan terrorist sent abroad to kill. He is native born and bred in Holland. As were three of the four London bombers, who were second-generation Pakistani Brits.
The most remarkable discovery is that Europe's second- and third-generation Muslim immigrants are more radicalized than the first. One reasonably non-political and non-radical Muslim activist, raised in the suburbs of Paris, explained himself (to The Wall Street Journal) as having ``immigrated to France at the local maternity ward.''
The fact that native-born Muslim Europeans are committing terror acts within their own countries shows that this Islamist malignancy long predates Iraq, long predates Afghanistan and long predates 9/11. What Europe had incubated is an enemy within, a threat that for decades Europe simply refused to face.
Early news reports of the London bombings mentioned that police found no suspects among known Islamist cells in Britain. Come again? Why in God's name is a country letting known Islamist cells thrive, instead of just rolling them up?
British Islamists had spoken of a ``covenant of security'' under which Britain would be spared Islamic terror so long as it allowed radical clerics free rein. Sheik Omar Bakri Mohammed, for example, a Syrian-born, exiled Saudi cleric granted asylum 19 years ago, openly preaches jihad against Britain. He is sought by the press for comment all the time. And, a lovely touch, he actually lives on the British dole -- even though he rejects the idea of British citizenship, saying, ``I don't want to become a citizen of hell.''
One of the reasons Westerners were so unprepared for this wave of Islamist terrorism, not just militarily but psychologically, is sheer disbelief. It shockingly contradicts Western notions of progress. The savagery of Bouyeri's act, mirroring the ritual human slaughter by Zarqawi or Daniel Pearl's beheaders, is a return to a primitiveness that we in the West had assumed a progressive history had left behind.
Our first response was, therefore, to simply sweep this contradiction under the rug. Put the first World Trade Center bombers on trial and think it will solve the problem. Even today, there are many Americans and even more Europeans who believe that after 9/11 the United States should just have done Afghanistan -- depose the Taliban and destroy al Qaeda's sanctuary -- and gone no further, thinking that would solve the problem.
But the problem is far deeper. It is essentially a civil war within a rival civilization in which the most primitive elements are seeking to gain the upper hand. 9/11 forced us to intervene massively in this civil war, which is why we are in Iraq. There, as in Afghanistan, we have enlisted millions of Muslims on the anti-Islamist side.
But what about the vast majority of European Muslims, the 99 percent who are peace-loving and not engaged in terror? They must also join the fight. They must actively denounce not just -- what is obvious -- the terror attacks, but their source: Islamist ideology and its practitioners.
Where are the fatwas issued against Osama bin Laden? Where are the denunciations of the very idea of suicide bombing? Europeans must demand this of all their Muslim leaders. They must also dismantle and destroy all ``known'' Islamist cells before trains and buses are blown up.
A modest beginning might be removing the likes of Sheik Omar -- and Bouyeri -- from the teat of the infidel taxpayer. ``He (Bouyeri) had the time to plan this,'' van Gogh's mother told the court, ``because for three years he was on unemployment benefits.'' Decadence is defined not by a civilization's art or music but ultimately by its willingness to simply defend itself.
Sunday, July 17, 2005
Saturday, July 16, 2005
The recipe for a good life
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
You are (it is said) what you eat and (it could be added) what you do with your feet. Maimonides, the physician and great Jewish sage who urged moderation in all things, said the same thing in different words over 800 years ago.
Good nutrition and regular exercise as a way of life can not only prevent disease but even reverse it, not only improve your quality of life but also extend your life. If you also eschew tobacco and have inherited good genes, you have a near-guarantee of a long and healthy life.
So why do so many people ignore this blessing? Why do they eat junk food and puff away? Why does their exercise consist mostly of pressing the keys of the TV remote or clicking a computer mouse?
Because it requires an effort to do the right and healthful thing, and because we become physically and psychologically addicted to what isn't good for us.
Our ancestors, even those living at the beginning of the previous century, had little choice; there was little processed food, and they had to do physical work – at least walk. Yemenite and Ethiopian Jews, for example, apparently carry genes that helped them survive famine, drought and other difficulties in a hardscrabble environment; once they move to Israel or other Western countries, these genes are unable to cope with plenty, and make it even more difficult for them to avoid obesity.
At a recent symposium for clinical dietitians, physicians, nurses and other health professionals held at The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School in Jerusalem's Ein Kerem, most of the speakers were tangibly (and maddeningly) fit; they obviously practice what they preach. Dr. Dorit Nitzan-Kalusky, head of the Health Ministry's Food and Nutrition Services, and Dr. Dorit Adler, chief of clinical nutrition at Hadassah University Medical Center, have girlish figures. Prof. Elliot Berry, head of The Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicinen (who is also an expert in clinical metabolism) doesn't seem to have added a gram to his body since he was a teen. Prof. Mayer Brezis, a nephrologist who lectures at the school of public health, bicycles to and from his office in Ein Kerem, 45 minutes each way.
Although the pre-opening refreshments started a bit oddly, with heaps of croissants and other French pastry alongside bottled water, the stand-only light lunch was much more appropriate to a nutrition conference: tuna or soft white cheese sandwiches on whole wheat rolls, cucumber and carrot sticks, peppers, watermelon slices, water, tea and coffee (and leftover pastry).
One could also pick up free low-fat Yoplait at a promotional stand set up outside by a dairy company, heart-friendly California walnuts from another, and greens from McDonalds representatives trying to persuade participants that they were repenting for their high-fat, high-calorie hamburgers, chips and sugary drinks and were now offering (in addition) more salads, low-calorie dressings, sweet potatoes and canola oil.
"Why did you serve the cakes, which are full of no-no trans fatty acids?" I asked at question time. Oops.
"I suppose because people like them," explained a somewhat abashed Berry, one of the hosts.
THE PUBLIC are confused about what is really good for you, and suffer from a surfeit of information, much of it not based on proven medical evidence, said Brezis. Every other day, a new declaration about what is beneficial is published, but many of these messages are dispatched by industries and their public relations agents.
Continued1 2 3 Next »
U.S. Says Syria Is Trying To Strangle LebanonGovernment, Economy Said to Be Targeted
By Robin WrightWashington Post Staff Writer
The Bush administration charged yesterday that Syria has launched a campaign to politically and economically strangle Lebanon. The White House said Damascus is now blocking attempts by Beirut's new prime minister to form a government, while also threatening the livelihood of tens of thousands of Lebanese by closing the border to regional commerce.U.S. and European officials alleged yesterday that President Bashar Assad's government now appears to be using new tools in an attempt to control the Lebanese because its ability to use military intimidation diminished after Syria was forced to withdraw 14,000 troops from Lebanon in April under international pressure.Syria has blocked three attempts by the new Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, to form a cabinet after the historic May elections, undermining efforts to put in place a government that for the first time in 29 years would not be dominated by Damascus, U.S. officials said.National Security Council spokesman Frederick L. Jones II charged that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a Syrian ally whose term was extended by three years under pressure from Damascus, is now "preventing the will of the Lebanese people from being carried out." Lahoud must approve the government, giving him veto power.In an attempt to break a two-week deadlock, Siniora yesterday presented Lahoud with another proposed cabinet, which he said has the support of more than 100 members of the 128-member parliament.Jones also said that Syria is now trying to "undermine the Lebanese economy by blocking Lebanese exports so that millions of dollars of produce rots" at the Lebanese-Syrian border. The number of trucks carrying agriculture and goods imported through Beirut's port to Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries has dropped from 300 per day to zero over the past two weeks, a State Department official said.U.S. and European officials also charged that Syria has not pulled out a significant number of its 5,000 intelligence agents, who were also supposed to be removed from Lebanon by the end of April. A State Department official involved in Middle East policy said yesterday that there is "plenty of evidence" to suggest that Syria's hold on Lebanon is still strong."All these actions violate U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for Syria domination and interference in Lebanon to end," Jones added.The administration has also warned Syria that it is now consulting with other governments, including France, on ways to "force" Syria to halt its meddling and "reinforce Lebanese democracy and independence," Jones said.Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustafa vehemently denied that Syria is playing any role in Lebanon, an accusation he described as "ridiculous" and said "does not merit a comment.""Not a single Lebanese has complained that Syria is interfering in what is going on in the Lebanese political scene," he added. "The United States is the one that is interfering."Border traffic has slowed because Damascus has introduced new border security measures, as it has along the Iraq border, he added. "Yes, the new security measures are causing some trouble for those who want to cross," he said, noting that Syrian officials pledged this week to try to streamline the new arrangements. "It is not an issue that warrants statements from the State Department. It will be addressed and resolved," he said.But a State Department official yesterday countered: "It's not a question of a slowdown, inspecting and new measures that slow movement. This is a roadblock," he said speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy underway.The border closure is threatening 50,000 jobs in Lebanon, the official added, noting it would have a major impact on a country about 1,000 square miles smaller than Connecticut. The loss of produce exports has cost Lebanon $1.5 million, with a loss of $300,000 every day it continues, according to the State Department.Syria also has taken some unusual steps to hurt Lebanon's economy, the State Department official said. A Lebanese mineral water company was banned from exporting to or through Syria because its metal bottle caps have six points, which resemble the six-pointed Star of David on the Israeli flag, and the water distributor in Syria has been jailed, he said. "This is an obvious attempt to create an economic stranglehold on the most vulnerable sector of Lebanon's economy -- farmers and small merchants," the State Department official said. "Syria has historically been the gate through which Lebanese produce and products go to the rest of the region. Syria is now pulling out every dirty trick from its importation guide to have maximum dilatory effect."The European Union is scheduled to hold a working session on the growing crisis in Lebanon on Monday in Brussels, according to a European diplomat involved in the meeting.Terje Larsen, the United Nations' envoy to Lebanon, is to brief foreign ministers. Some E.U. members are pushing to put Syria on notice that any deepening of relations will depend on how helpful Syria is on Lebanon and the Palestinians, the diplomat said.
By Robin WrightWashington Post Staff Writer
The Bush administration charged yesterday that Syria has launched a campaign to politically and economically strangle Lebanon. The White House said Damascus is now blocking attempts by Beirut's new prime minister to form a government, while also threatening the livelihood of tens of thousands of Lebanese by closing the border to regional commerce.U.S. and European officials alleged yesterday that President Bashar Assad's government now appears to be using new tools in an attempt to control the Lebanese because its ability to use military intimidation diminished after Syria was forced to withdraw 14,000 troops from Lebanon in April under international pressure.Syria has blocked three attempts by the new Lebanese prime minister, Fouad Siniora, to form a cabinet after the historic May elections, undermining efforts to put in place a government that for the first time in 29 years would not be dominated by Damascus, U.S. officials said.National Security Council spokesman Frederick L. Jones II charged that Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, a Syrian ally whose term was extended by three years under pressure from Damascus, is now "preventing the will of the Lebanese people from being carried out." Lahoud must approve the government, giving him veto power.In an attempt to break a two-week deadlock, Siniora yesterday presented Lahoud with another proposed cabinet, which he said has the support of more than 100 members of the 128-member parliament.Jones also said that Syria is now trying to "undermine the Lebanese economy by blocking Lebanese exports so that millions of dollars of produce rots" at the Lebanese-Syrian border. The number of trucks carrying agriculture and goods imported through Beirut's port to Syria, Iraq and Gulf countries has dropped from 300 per day to zero over the past two weeks, a State Department official said.U.S. and European officials also charged that Syria has not pulled out a significant number of its 5,000 intelligence agents, who were also supposed to be removed from Lebanon by the end of April. A State Department official involved in Middle East policy said yesterday that there is "plenty of evidence" to suggest that Syria's hold on Lebanon is still strong."All these actions violate U.N. Resolution 1559, which calls for Syria domination and interference in Lebanon to end," Jones added.The administration has also warned Syria that it is now consulting with other governments, including France, on ways to "force" Syria to halt its meddling and "reinforce Lebanese democracy and independence," Jones said.Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustafa vehemently denied that Syria is playing any role in Lebanon, an accusation he described as "ridiculous" and said "does not merit a comment.""Not a single Lebanese has complained that Syria is interfering in what is going on in the Lebanese political scene," he added. "The United States is the one that is interfering."Border traffic has slowed because Damascus has introduced new border security measures, as it has along the Iraq border, he added. "Yes, the new security measures are causing some trouble for those who want to cross," he said, noting that Syrian officials pledged this week to try to streamline the new arrangements. "It is not an issue that warrants statements from the State Department. It will be addressed and resolved," he said.But a State Department official yesterday countered: "It's not a question of a slowdown, inspecting and new measures that slow movement. This is a roadblock," he said speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the sensitive diplomacy underway.The border closure is threatening 50,000 jobs in Lebanon, the official added, noting it would have a major impact on a country about 1,000 square miles smaller than Connecticut. The loss of produce exports has cost Lebanon $1.5 million, with a loss of $300,000 every day it continues, according to the State Department.Syria also has taken some unusual steps to hurt Lebanon's economy, the State Department official said. A Lebanese mineral water company was banned from exporting to or through Syria because its metal bottle caps have six points, which resemble the six-pointed Star of David on the Israeli flag, and the water distributor in Syria has been jailed, he said. "This is an obvious attempt to create an economic stranglehold on the most vulnerable sector of Lebanon's economy -- farmers and small merchants," the State Department official said. "Syria has historically been the gate through which Lebanese produce and products go to the rest of the region. Syria is now pulling out every dirty trick from its importation guide to have maximum dilatory effect."The European Union is scheduled to hold a working session on the growing crisis in Lebanon on Monday in Brussels, according to a European diplomat involved in the meeting.Terje Larsen, the United Nations' envoy to Lebanon, is to brief foreign ministers. Some E.U. members are pushing to put Syria on notice that any deepening of relations will depend on how helpful Syria is on Lebanon and the Palestinians, the diplomat said.
اPsalm 1
1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
1Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
Saint Charbel
"...a hermit of the Lebanese mountain is inscribed in the number of the blessed, a new eminent member of monastic sanctity is enriching, by his example and his intercession, the entire Christian people. May he make us understand, in a world largely fascinated by wealth and comfort, the paramount value of poverty, penance and asceticism, to liberate the soul in its ascent to God..."
Pope Paul VI, October 9, 1977
Life of Saint Charbel
Also Read The Call of the Desert
From the Church of the Hermitage to the Church of the MonasteryFrom the book, Three Lights From the East, by Father Mansour Awad.
Sections: 1 2 3 4 5 6 << href="http://www.charbel.org/saint/charbel/life/3lights02.asp">Next >>
On May 8, 1828 in a mountain village of Biqa-Kafra, Lebanon, Charbel was born to a poor Maronite Family. From childhood his life revealed a calling to "bear fruit as a noble Cedar of Lebanon."
Charbel "grew in age and wisdom before God and men." At 23 years old he entered the monastery of Our Lady of Lebanon (north of Byblos) where he became a novice. After two years of novitiate, in 1853, he was sent to St. Maron monastery where he pronounced the monastic vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.
Charbel was then transferred to the monastery of Kiffan where he studied philosophy and theology. His ordination to the priesthood took place in 1853, after which he was sent back to St. Maron monastery. His teacher provided him a good education and nurtured within him a deep love for monastic life.
During his 16 years at St. Maron monastery, Charbel performed his priestly ministry and his monastic duties in an edifying way. He totally dedicated himself to Christ with undivided heart and desired to live in silence before the Nameless One.
In 1875 Charbel was granted permission to live as a hermit on the hill nearby the monastery at St. Peter and Paul hermitage. His 23 years of solitary life were lived in a spirit of total abandonment to God.
Charbel's companies in hermitage were the Son of God, as encountered in the Scriptures and in the Eucharist, and the Blessed Mother. The Eucharist became the center of his life. He consumed the Bread of Life and was consumed by it. Though his hermit did not have a place in the world, the world had a great place in his heart. Through prayer and penance he offered himself as a sacrifice so that the world would return to God.
It is in this light that one sees the importance of the following Eucharistic prayer in his life:
"Father of Truth, behold Your Son a sacrificedpleasing to You, accept the offering of Him who died for me…"
On December 16, 1898 while reciting the "Father of Truth" prayer at the Holy Liturgy Charbel suffered a stoke. He died on Christmas Eve at the age of 70. Through faith this hermit received the Word of God and through love he continued the Mystery of Incarnation.
To the Grave
Father Charbel spent the night before Christmas, 1898 in church, following his usual custom of twenty-three years, ever since he became a hermit at the hermitage of Saints Peter and Paul on the mountain of Annays. He did not waver from this praiseworthy custom. But that last night, he was lying down, neither awake, nor praying, nor meditating; he was asleep, sleeping the sleep of death. His soul, however, was with God, quite awake, in the eternal awakening. This was the last night Father Charbel would spend in the church of Saints Peter and Paul. Contrary to his custom and for the first time, Father Charbel was lying on the floor, over the mat of hair, with his face exposed.
Please note that people never saw his face when he was alive. He always kept his head down in church, at work or when walking, always looking to the ground. He would lift his eyes only to heaven. When in church, he always faced the altar with his eyes fixed on the tabernacle. However, when he died and was Lying face upward, his eyes were closed, still not looking at anyone, exactly as in his lifetime. Holding vigil at the body of the Servant of God in church, were his companions of the hermitage, Father Macarius Mishmshany, and Brother Francis of Artaba, along with a group of monks from the monastery of St. Maron. As soon as they learned of the passing of Father Charbel they rushed to the hermitage to kiss his hands and to be blessed by touching his body while bidding him farewell. Many spent most of the night kneeling near him, praying.
The snow was coming down heavily, accumulating on the hermitage and on the neighboring mountains and valleys. It was extremely cold and windy, to a degree that those keeping vigil around the saintly remains were trembling from the severity of the cold. And no wonder. The altitude of the hermitage is one thousand and four hundred meters above sea level, on a high summit exposed to the wind.
Those keeping vigil were asking one another, "If we are suffering so much for only one night in this severe winter, how was Father Charbel able to live twenty-three years here spending every night of his life, kneeling on bamboo, in pain from midnight until the time of his Mass at 9:00 o'clock in the morning, fasting and immobile as the stone statue erected on the floor before the altar. Truly, this hermit was a saint. He endured fatigue, hunger, poverty and cold with the courage of a martyr. Every minute of his life was martyrdom, without complaint. No doubt he is now finding the reward of his marvelous martyrdom, with God."
Who could dare venture out that night, from the hermitage, from the monastery, or from the neighboring villages? Heavy snow had blocked all roads with an accumulation of three to six feet in some places. The monks were wondering if tomorrow they would be able to transfer the body of Father Charbel to the cemetery of the monastery in the extremely severe weather and with so much snow. How could they notify the people of the death of the saint under these circumstances? The neighbors would be very disappointed and sorry, not only because of the death of Father Charbel but also because they would be unable to bid him a last farewell and be blessed by him before he was buried.
Thus were the monks thinking. But the news of his passing quickly reached all neighboring villages like lightning. In those days, there were no telephones and no automobiles.
The conversation of the villagers that night was about Father Charbel and his holiness. Each recalled what he knew of his outstanding virtue, his poverty, humility, angelic purity, his amazing obedience, his continuous prayer and hard work, his observance of the monastic rules, his meekness and especially his perpetual silence, that prudent and holy silence.
Also, people were remembering his continuous communication with God, his love of the Blessed Sacrament, his devotion to the Virgin Mary, his compassion to the poor and the sick and his miracles. The stories would end with these words: "We are happy for him. He is a saint who went straight to heaven."
It seemed as if the angels themselves, who had announced to the shepherds of Bethlehem the nativity of the Savior of the world, now proclaimed that heaven had gained a newborn, in the person of Father Charbel a ripe fruit of the nativity of our divine Savior, Who himself was born humbly in a manger in Bethlehem.
That night everyone who knew of the passing of Father Charbel was wondering, "Will the snow stop tomorrow so we can visit Father Charbel for the last time, participate in his funeral, and bid him goodbye?"
On the morning of Christmas, 1898, the monks at the monastery and the people of the villages nearby, awakened early and saw the sky cloudy and dark and the ground, from the mountains to the valleys, covered with bright white snow with the trees shimmering like crystal chandeliers. No voice could be heard, only the howling of the wind. The cold was extreme, the roads were blocked. There were indications that more snow was on the way. They didn't think they could make it to the hermitage for the transfer of the body of St. Charbel to St. Maroon’s monastery. They believed that those at the hermitage would have to bury Father Charbel in the church of the hermitage. Nevertheless, young men from Annaya and its neighborhood wore their winter clothes and their heavy boots. They wrapped some covering around their heads, so that only their eyes were visible. Each carried a shovel to clear the road from the snow and to lean on it as a support while making their way. With courage, they faced the mounds of snow, so they could see their "saint," and have the honor of carrying his body on their shoulders down to the monastery and then to the grave.
At 8:00 A.M., a small group of these young men had gathered and joined the monks who were kneeling near the body of Father Charbel in church. Sorrowfully, together they prayed, their eyes fixed on Father Charbel who radiated the image of God in the most perfect way possible to man through the grace of God and because of his own voluntary efforts. Each one respect fully said, "He is a saint! Lucky him! God took him today to give him rest from his labors and to grant him reward of his virtues."
At 9:00 A.M., they brought a casket made of three wooden boards nailed to a slab extending from both ends, so it could be carried on the shoulders ~ of the pallbearers. On it they put a mat of hair. Then the hermit, Father I' Marcarius Mishmshany, the monks, and the brothers who had come from the monastery when Father Charbel died, carried the body and placed it in the casket. Father Marcarius, with tears in his eyes, and the monks, the brothers, and the young men carried it on their shoulders and began the descent from the hermitage to the monastery. The road was rugged. The strong men had shoveled some of the snow but more was falling, threatening to block the road again. The pallbearers were afraid they would drop the casket and the body because it was very difficult to walk the path leading to the hermitage. However, Father Macarius, the hermit, said to them: "Rely on God, do not be afraid; Father Charbel will make it easy for us."
They had hardly left the door of the church when the rain, the snow and the wind stopped all at once. Little by little the clouds began to clear. The pallbearers had no trouble at all. In fact, carrying the body to the hermit age was easy. They exclaimed: "Miracle! This is one of Father Charbel miracles."
George Emmanuel Abi-Saseen of Mishmash, a resident of Annaya, and one of the bearers, testified in the 17th Session, which took place on Oct. 13, 1926. After swearing to tell the truth and kneeling in the church with his right hand on the Holy Gospel, he said: "Father Charbel died on the eve of Christmas; the snow was heavy. We transferred him to the monastery on Christmas day. Before we moved him, the snow was falling rapidly and the clouds were very dark. When we carried him, the clouds disappeared, and the weather cleared."
Brother Peter of Mishmash, of the Lebanese order, a servant at the hermitage during the life of Father Charbel, testified that he was present at the death and at the funeral (Page 38 of the Investigation). "On the day of the funeral, it was raining and snowing."
How great is the Lord and how great is His mercy and love for those who fear Him. He send His angel before everyone of these "lest they das their foot against a stone" (Ps. 91:12).
He is the One who calmed the rough area and walked upon it. He is the One who gave orders to the wind: "Be calm," and it became calm. He gave orders to the wind at the mountain of Annaya and commanded the tempest and the snow to "Stop!" and they did. The clouds disappeared the weather cleared. It seems that God provided that the angels cooperated and see the face of His servant, Job; His beloved Charbel has endured patiently the suffering and the weakness of the body and It ridicule of those who mock the deeds of Christian heroism and the monastic and hermetic life, those who laugh at abstinence and mortification.
The small procession continued slowly, quietly, from the summit Mount Annaya to the monastery of St. Maron, located at the foot of the mountain. There was none of the grandeur that usually accompanies the funeral of clergymen. Each one of the pallbearers was saying: "Father Charbel had died. The angels took his soul to Abraham's bosom, and here we are taking his body to the grave, to the dirt. The soul of Father Charbel is whiter than this snow which covers the earth and dazzles our eyes."
The sun appeared over those high mountains and over the valleys, and the rays created some of the most beautiful, incredible spectacles. It seemed as if the sun itself wanted to bid farewell to Father Charbel. This was the same sun that burned his body in the summer as he worked in the garden and the same sun, which he sought so that he could suffer its rays to mortify his body. The sun seemed to be blessing God, our Maker, for this precious treasure placed here on earth to be an ornament for the sons of Adam and Eve. God will be praised and glorified by it in reparation for the fall of our first parents and for the transgression of sinners.
The cortege continued to move humbly over the snow to the monastery of St. Maron Annaya. There the fathers and brothers met it as it carried the holy body to the monastery and placed it on a platform. All flushed to kiss Father Charnel’s hands, asking for his intercession with God, saying, "This man knew how to live his life, for the glory of God and for his own salvation, whether at the house of his parents, in the Order, or at the hermitage. He ascended the ladder of holiness to heaven with giant steps like the angels who, in Revelation, ascended the ladder of Jacob. And now, he has reached the destination. How fortunate for him!"
People from the surrounding towns started to pour into the monastery, from Ehmej, from Mishmash, Toraza, Ouainey, Kfar Baal, Annaya, even Hojula, despite the fact that the inhabitants of the latter are Shiite Moslems. Nothing stopped them from coming, neither the distance nor the freezing cold, nor the high accumulation of snow. They said, "All fatigue and weariness are nothing to us who wish to bid farewell to Father Charbel and be blessed by kissing his hands before his burial. This is more valuable than the whole world, in our eyes."
As for the women in the neighborhood, they were sorry that they were unable to come to bid farewell to the saint. They wanted to be there very much. But women were forbidden to enter the monasteries of monks by virtue of the monastic law of cloister. Father Charbel himself, ever since he entered religious life, did not allow his eyes to see women, not even the face of his mother Brigita, nor his sister and his niece Rose (Wardeh).
At that time no one ever dreamed that in the future permission would be granted to the monastery of St. Maron Annaya to open the doors of its church and the cells of its monks to men and women and pilgrims coming from Lebanon and other countries of the world to see the body of Father Charbel, without its being subject to excommunication or other impediment. The miracle of April 22, 1950 was the incentive that caused the patriarch to remove the excommunication and allow all people, men and women, to temporarily enter the monastery for the benefit of the visiting sick and all the faithful.
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From the Church of the Hermitage to the Church of the MonasteryFrom the book, Three Lights From the East, by Father Mansour Awad.
An Iraqi puts his dead brother in a wooden coffin outside the morgue of a local hospital in Baghdad, 13 July 2005. The child is one of 24 Iraqi children were killed by a suicide car bomber targeting American soldiers handing out sweets after entering their Baghdad neighborhood precisely to warn of a possible attack. AFP PHOTO/ALI AL-SAADI
Why Does God Allow Suffering?
How do we reconcile anguish and suffering with the Bible's portrayal of a loving God? Why would He allow the horrendous miseries that afflict humanity? Does the Bible explain suffering?Many people, the faithful and the faithless, look at calamities—whether personal, national or global—and agonize over these questions. In this lesson we will see how the Bible addresses this enigma: Why does God allow suffering?
Read the PDF format
Table of Contents :
Introduction
Freedom of Choice or Freedom from Suffering?
The Sovereignty of God
Why Suffering?
The Importance of Godly Character
Jesus Christ's Profound Example of Suffering
Why Must Christians Suffer?
Avoiding Unnecessary Suffering
Help for Sufferers
Time and Chance
God is Always Fair
How God Sees Suffering
Satan's Role in Causing Suffering
Glossary
Cause and Effect: An Often-Overlooked Principle
Learning from the Suffering of Job
Historical Insights into Human Suffering
Points to Ponder
Novak Spills the Beans
To all the partisan Democrats who are screaming "Why didn't they prosecute Bob Novak while poor little Judy Miller sleeps on a mattress in jail?" -- well, here's your answer:"Columnist Robert Novak provided detailed accounts to federal prosecutors of his conversations with Bush administration officials who were sources for his controversial July 11, 2003 column identifying Valerie Plame as a clandestine CIA officer, according to attorneys familiar with the matter."Hat tip: Laura RozenAre you happy now? I didn't think so ...For my own take on the Novak-Plame imbroglio, go here. A snippet:"Let's get one thing clear: Novak committed no crime. He merely reported one. The criminals are the "senior administration officials" who whispered secrets in his ear with the knowledge that they would almost certainly see print. To all those supposedly "antiwar" Republican-haters, who write Novak off as a shill for the Bush administration: without Novak's reporting, the machinations of the neocons would still be taking place in the dark. His column shone the spotlight on their intrigues, and in no way did he denigrate or dismiss Joe Wilson. As Jack Shafer put it in Slate:"'Whatever the leakers' objective, Novak did not serve them very well. I defy anyone to read Novak's now-famous column and summarize it coherently. The brief discussion of Plame and her shadowy occupation seems gratuitous in the larger frame of the article, which, if anything, sympathizes with Wilson's view that the case for war wasn't properly made.
"Robert Kuttner gets it right.
To all the partisan Democrats who are screaming "Why didn't they prosecute Bob Novak while poor little Judy Miller sleeps on a mattress in jail?" -- well, here's your answer:"Columnist Robert Novak provided detailed accounts to federal prosecutors of his conversations with Bush administration officials who were sources for his controversial July 11, 2003 column identifying Valerie Plame as a clandestine CIA officer, according to attorneys familiar with the matter."Hat tip: Laura RozenAre you happy now? I didn't think so ...For my own take on the Novak-Plame imbroglio, go here. A snippet:"Let's get one thing clear: Novak committed no crime. He merely reported one. The criminals are the "senior administration officials" who whispered secrets in his ear with the knowledge that they would almost certainly see print. To all those supposedly "antiwar" Republican-haters, who write Novak off as a shill for the Bush administration: without Novak's reporting, the machinations of the neocons would still be taking place in the dark. His column shone the spotlight on their intrigues, and in no way did he denigrate or dismiss Joe Wilson. As Jack Shafer put it in Slate:"'Whatever the leakers' objective, Novak did not serve them very well. I defy anyone to read Novak's now-famous column and summarize it coherently. The brief discussion of Plame and her shadowy occupation seems gratuitous in the larger frame of the article, which, if anything, sympathizes with Wilson's view that the case for war wasn't properly made.
"Robert Kuttner gets it right.
Friday, July 15, 2005
Lebanon: civil war feeling again
By Ferry Biedermann
BEIRUT: Lebanon has not really had the occasion yet to enjoy the departure of Syrian troops and the victory of anti-Syrian groups in the parliamentary elections last month. The country is facing a period of political and economic upheaval almost unparalleled since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. This week a fifth bomb went off in a series that has been aimed at mostly anti-Syrian politicians and journalists since October last year. Syria extended a weeklong slowdown of border checks for trucks coming out of Lebanon, and the country’s prime minister designate is close to resigning as a result of pressure by Syria’s still powerful supporters.The target of Tuesday’s bomb attack was outgoing defence minister Elias Murr who is also deputy prime minister and former interior minister. He is a scion of the powerful Murr family that has had a hand in many political and economic pies in the country for decades.Murr, who survived the blast that killed two people in a northern suburb of Beirut is also son-in-law of pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud.Tannous Mouawad, a security analyst with close ties to the army, says that despite his pro-Syrian image and connections, Murr had been in conflict with the powerful former head of Syrian security in Lebanon, Dustom Ghazale, since 2003.So far only explicitly anti-Syrian politicians and a journalist have been targeted, apart from a parallel series of bombings aimed at commercial properties.The most prominent victim of the bombings was former prime minister Rafiq Hariri who was killed in a huge blast in the centre of Beirut in February. He had resigned several months earlier after a conflict with Syria over the extension of the mandate of President Lahoud, which he initially opposed.Despite Syrian denials of involvement, the killing of Hariri sparked huge protests in Lebanon that eventually, in combination with international pressure, led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops who had been present in the country for some 30 years.The attack against Murr, said Mouawad, was meant not only as a settling of accounts but may also have been intended to intimidate his immediate family, President Lahoud in particular. “You always think it will not happen to you but when it hits your family, you start thinking about it,” he told IPS.Lahoud is Syria’s most important remaining asset in the Lebanese political system. But he has the approval of the new cabinet that the victorious anti-Syrian coalition is trying to form.Prime minister designate Fouad Siniora from the bloc of Saad Hariri, son of the murdered former prime minister, has been trying to put together a broad coalition, including also the pro-Syrian Hezbollah and Amal parties and the right-wing former army general Michel Aoun.On Tuesday, hours after the attack on Murr, Siniora finally presented a list of 30 ministers to Lahoud for approval. Later in the evening, Aoun and Hezbollah withdrew from the list. President Lahoud is rumoured to be opposed to the list.With all of Syria’s allies or presumed allies such as Aoun opposed to the new government, the impression of Syrian obstructionism in the formation of the new government became even stronger in Lebanon after weeks of negotiations in which Siniora had given in to most of their demands.Syria has condemned the attack on Murr, as it has condemned earlier attacks, but the timing does again lead many Lebanese to point the finger at Damascus.“Syria wants Siniora out and (current pro-Syrian PM) Najib Mikati back in,” said Mouawad. Mikati is known to be friendly with Syria’s president, Bashar Assad.While there is no hard evidence to link Syria to any of the violence in the country, or even to the political stalemate, there is now a clear element of economic pressure added to the mix.For more than a week now, Syria has imposed stringent border controls on traffic leaving Lebanon, particularly on trucks exporting products from the country but also on travellers.Hundreds of trucks, some carrying perishable produce, have been stuck for days at border crossings that are normally negotiated in a matter of hours.Lebanese trade lobbyists have accused Syria of using economic pressure for political purposes. “This is a political game the Syrians are playing to influence the formation of the new government,” said Mouhedienne Jammal, coordinator of Lebanon’s agricultural and industrial cooperatives.Many Lebanese see the Syrian behaviour as an act of vengeance. Syria has given contradictory explanations for the slowdown.Syria’s measures may be in violation of an Arab League free-trade agreement. The controls may also run counter to the association agreement that Damascus wants to sign with the European Union.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.
By Ferry Biedermann
BEIRUT: Lebanon has not really had the occasion yet to enjoy the departure of Syrian troops and the victory of anti-Syrian groups in the parliamentary elections last month. The country is facing a period of political and economic upheaval almost unparalleled since the end of the 1975-1990 civil war. This week a fifth bomb went off in a series that has been aimed at mostly anti-Syrian politicians and journalists since October last year. Syria extended a weeklong slowdown of border checks for trucks coming out of Lebanon, and the country’s prime minister designate is close to resigning as a result of pressure by Syria’s still powerful supporters.The target of Tuesday’s bomb attack was outgoing defence minister Elias Murr who is also deputy prime minister and former interior minister. He is a scion of the powerful Murr family that has had a hand in many political and economic pies in the country for decades.Murr, who survived the blast that killed two people in a northern suburb of Beirut is also son-in-law of pro-Syrian president Emile Lahoud.Tannous Mouawad, a security analyst with close ties to the army, says that despite his pro-Syrian image and connections, Murr had been in conflict with the powerful former head of Syrian security in Lebanon, Dustom Ghazale, since 2003.So far only explicitly anti-Syrian politicians and a journalist have been targeted, apart from a parallel series of bombings aimed at commercial properties.The most prominent victim of the bombings was former prime minister Rafiq Hariri who was killed in a huge blast in the centre of Beirut in February. He had resigned several months earlier after a conflict with Syria over the extension of the mandate of President Lahoud, which he initially opposed.Despite Syrian denials of involvement, the killing of Hariri sparked huge protests in Lebanon that eventually, in combination with international pressure, led to the withdrawal of Syrian troops who had been present in the country for some 30 years.The attack against Murr, said Mouawad, was meant not only as a settling of accounts but may also have been intended to intimidate his immediate family, President Lahoud in particular. “You always think it will not happen to you but when it hits your family, you start thinking about it,” he told IPS.Lahoud is Syria’s most important remaining asset in the Lebanese political system. But he has the approval of the new cabinet that the victorious anti-Syrian coalition is trying to form.Prime minister designate Fouad Siniora from the bloc of Saad Hariri, son of the murdered former prime minister, has been trying to put together a broad coalition, including also the pro-Syrian Hezbollah and Amal parties and the right-wing former army general Michel Aoun.On Tuesday, hours after the attack on Murr, Siniora finally presented a list of 30 ministers to Lahoud for approval. Later in the evening, Aoun and Hezbollah withdrew from the list. President Lahoud is rumoured to be opposed to the list.With all of Syria’s allies or presumed allies such as Aoun opposed to the new government, the impression of Syrian obstructionism in the formation of the new government became even stronger in Lebanon after weeks of negotiations in which Siniora had given in to most of their demands.Syria has condemned the attack on Murr, as it has condemned earlier attacks, but the timing does again lead many Lebanese to point the finger at Damascus.“Syria wants Siniora out and (current pro-Syrian PM) Najib Mikati back in,” said Mouawad. Mikati is known to be friendly with Syria’s president, Bashar Assad.While there is no hard evidence to link Syria to any of the violence in the country, or even to the political stalemate, there is now a clear element of economic pressure added to the mix.For more than a week now, Syria has imposed stringent border controls on traffic leaving Lebanon, particularly on trucks exporting products from the country but also on travellers.Hundreds of trucks, some carrying perishable produce, have been stuck for days at border crossings that are normally negotiated in a matter of hours.Lebanese trade lobbyists have accused Syria of using economic pressure for political purposes. “This is a political game the Syrians are playing to influence the formation of the new government,” said Mouhedienne Jammal, coordinator of Lebanon’s agricultural and industrial cooperatives.Many Lebanese see the Syrian behaviour as an act of vengeance. Syria has given contradictory explanations for the slowdown.Syria’s measures may be in violation of an Arab League free-trade agreement. The controls may also run counter to the association agreement that Damascus wants to sign with the European Union.—Dawn/The InterPress News Service.
Wednesday, July 13, 2005
RPT-Syria wants Lebanon as ally in talks with Israel
DAMASCUS, July 13 (Reuters) - Syria's deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Wednesday his country wanted Lebanon to join it in any peace talks with Israel.
"The Syrian and Lebanese tracks have not separated and the reason is very clear," Waleed al-Mualem told Syria's Al Thawra and Kuwait's al-Anbaa newspapers in a joint interview.
"When we negotiate with the Israeli enemy together we can achieve better results."Mualem voiced confidence that Lebanon, now clear of Syrian troops for the first time in three decades, would not sign any separate peace with Israel under U.S. influence.
"Lebanon has a choice now: either the American direction, which means Israel -- a remote possibility because of what we know of the Lebanese people -- or the Arab direction. Syria will be the bridge for Lebanon in the Arab direction," he said.
Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon in April under intense international pressure following the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February.
Previously the main powerbroker in its smaller neighbour for three decades, Syria has always opposed any separate peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
Mualem said such an agreement was the real agenda of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, whose demands were partly fulfilled by the end to Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon. The measure also calls for the dismantling of all militias in Lebanon, mainly anti-Israel Hizbollah guerrillas.
"This resolution aims at setting Lebanon for a partial settlement with Israel such as that of May 17, 1983, but a wide majority of the Lebanese people still stand to say that Lebanon will be the last Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel," Mualem said.
Lebanon, then still under partial Israeli occupation, signed a U.S.-brokered peace accord with Israel in 1983, but abrogated it the following year after an uprising by Syrian-backed militias.
Mualem reiterated that Syria was willing to renew peace talks with Israel but said the Jewish state was not interested.
Israel has dismissed Syrian calls for the resumption of talks that faltered in 2000 over the future of Golan Heights, under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war.
DAMASCUS, July 13 (Reuters) - Syria's deputy foreign minister said in remarks published on Wednesday his country wanted Lebanon to join it in any peace talks with Israel.
"The Syrian and Lebanese tracks have not separated and the reason is very clear," Waleed al-Mualem told Syria's Al Thawra and Kuwait's al-Anbaa newspapers in a joint interview.
"When we negotiate with the Israeli enemy together we can achieve better results."Mualem voiced confidence that Lebanon, now clear of Syrian troops for the first time in three decades, would not sign any separate peace with Israel under U.S. influence.
"Lebanon has a choice now: either the American direction, which means Israel -- a remote possibility because of what we know of the Lebanese people -- or the Arab direction. Syria will be the bridge for Lebanon in the Arab direction," he said.
Syria withdrew its forces from Lebanon in April under intense international pressure following the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri in February.
Previously the main powerbroker in its smaller neighbour for three decades, Syria has always opposed any separate peace agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
Mualem said such an agreement was the real agenda of U.N. Security Council resolution 1559, whose demands were partly fulfilled by the end to Syria's 29-year military presence in Lebanon. The measure also calls for the dismantling of all militias in Lebanon, mainly anti-Israel Hizbollah guerrillas.
"This resolution aims at setting Lebanon for a partial settlement with Israel such as that of May 17, 1983, but a wide majority of the Lebanese people still stand to say that Lebanon will be the last Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel," Mualem said.
Lebanon, then still under partial Israeli occupation, signed a U.S.-brokered peace accord with Israel in 1983, but abrogated it the following year after an uprising by Syrian-backed militias.
Mualem reiterated that Syria was willing to renew peace talks with Israel but said the Jewish state was not interested.
Israel has dismissed Syrian calls for the resumption of talks that faltered in 2000 over the future of Golan Heights, under Israeli occupation since the 1967 Middle East war.
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
الصحافية جوديث ميلر .. حمايتها لمصدرها وضعتها خلف القضبان
سجنت في نفس السجن الذي يقبع فيه «الطالباني الأميركي» وزكريا موساوي
واشنطن: محمد علي صالح في الاسبوع الماضي دخلت جوديث ميلر، الصحافية العريقة في جريدة «نيويورك تايمز» سجن الاسكندرية، ضواحي واشنطن، في ولاية فرجينيا، لأنها رفضت كشف مصدر خبر له صلة بالغزو الأميركي للعراق. يعتقل في نفس السجن زكريا موساوي، المتهم الفرنسي المغربي، الذي اعترف بدوره في هجوم 11 سبتمبر على اميركا. ويعتقل في السجن، ايضا، جون ليند، الاميركي الذي ادين بجريمة إعلان الحرب ضد الولايات المتحدة، بعد اعتقاله في افغانستان، وسمي «الطالباني الأميركي»، وحوكم بالسجن المؤبد.
وكان في السجن عبد الرحمن العمودي، الاميركي الاريتري، الذي حوكم بالسجن 25 سنة لاشتراكه في خطة ليبية لاغتيال ولي العهد السعودي الأمير عبد الله بن عبد العزيز، ولتهريب أموال اعطتها له ليبيا.
وفي السجن، ايضا، جواسيس اميركيون حوكموا بفترات متعددة لتجسسهم على الولايات المتحدة خلال سنوات الحرب الباردة، منهم روبرت هانسن، محقق سابق في مكتب المباحث الفيدرالي (اف.بي.آي)، والدريش ايمز، عميل سابق في وكالة الاستخبارات المركزية (سي.آي.ايه).
ولأن الصحافية جوديث حوكمت بالسجن في واشنطن العاصمة، ارسلت، اولا، الى سجن واشنطن، ثم الى سجن ضاحية الاسكندرية، لأن قسم النساء فيه اكثر امنا، بالمقارنة مع حوادث قتل وهجوم واغتصاب في قسمي النساء والرجال في سجن واشنطن. وكانت جوديث قد طلبت ان تعتقل في منزلها، لكن القاضي رفض ذلك. ثم طلبت ان تعامل معاملة خاصة في السجن، لكن القاضي رفض ذلك، ايضا.
مشكلة جوديث
* بدأت مشكلة جوديث قبل سنتين، عندما كتب جوزيف ويلسون، القائم سابقا بالأعمال الاميركي في العراق، رأيا في جريدتها، «نيويورك تايمز»، انتقد فيه الغزو الاميركي للعراق، وقال ان الرئيس بوش كذب عندما قال ان «سي.آي.ايه» اثبتت وجود اسلحة دمار شامل في العراق. واستشهد بمهمة سرية كلفته بها الوكالة الى النيجر لاثبات انها باعت مواد نووية الى العراق، وقال انه لم يعثر على دليل يؤكد ذلك.
وغضب مؤيدو غزو العراق، وقالوا ان ويلسون كشف دورا سريا كان يجب ان يبقي سرا، ووصفوه بأنه «خائن»، وهو وصف كانوا يطلقونه على كثير من معارضي الغزو.
وبعد اسبوع، نشر روبرت نوفاك، معلق صحافي يميني، من مؤيدي غزو العراق، رايا كشف فيه ان فاليري بالمر، زوجة ويلسون، تعمل في الاستخبارات المركزية، وانها هي التي اختارته لمهمة النيجر، ولولا ذلك لما كان ارسل، لأنه لم يكن الرجل المناسب. وقال نوفاك انه علم ذلك من «مصدرين مسؤولين».
محقق خاص
* ولأن القانون الاميركي يمنع نشر اسم من يعمل في اجهزة الاستخبارات، تحول الموضوع الي قانوني، وضغط ديمقراطيون في الكونغرس على الرئيس بوش لتعيين محقق يكشف الجهة التي سربت وظيفة زوجة ويلسون. واختار بوش نائب وزير العدل، باتريك فتزجيرالد، ليحقق في الموضوع مع الرئيس بوش، ومسؤولين آخرين كبار. ثم انتقل الى الصحافيين. ومن بين الذين حقق معهم ماثيو كوبر، الصحافي في مجلة «تايم»، وجوديث ميلر، في جريدة «نيويورك تايمز». ويعتقد ان المحقق حصل على معلومات بأن الاثنين يعرفان الشخص، او الاشخاص الذين كشفوا وظيفة زوجة ويلسون. لكن الاثنين رفضا كشف اي اسم. ودفعت «تايم» و«نيويورك تايمز» تكاليف محامين استأجروهما للدفاع عن الصحافي والصحافية، ولاستئناف الأحكام، حتى وصلت القضية الى المحكمة العليا. ولسوء حظ الاثنين، ايدت المحكمة العليا (التي تفسر الدستور الاميركي) بأن لا شخص يعلو فوق القانون، حتى ولو كان صحافيا، خاصة اذا كان تعاونه مطلوبا للوصول الى الحقيقة في قضية مهمة.
صمود وتنازل
* ويوم الاربعاء الماضي، ذهب الاثنان الى توماس هوغان، قاضي واشنطن الفيدرالي، ليحاكمهما بالسجن. لكن كوبر قال، في آخر لحظة، انه سيكشف اسم مصدره لأن مصدره اتصل به هاتفيا في اليوم السابق، وسمح له بذلك. ورغم ان هذا مقبول ومتعارف عليه مهنيا وأخلاقيا، تساءل صحافيون ومراقبون عن توقيت ما فعل كوبر، وربطوه بقرار «تايم» في الاسبوع الماضي بتسليم اوراقه الى المحقق. وقال هؤلاء ان «تايم»، وهي جزء من شركة «تايم ورنر» (التي تملك صحفا ومحطات تلفزيون واذاعة) خافت على مصالحها، وعلى دفع الف دولار عن كل يوم لا يكشف فيه الصحافي مصدر الخبر. ولهذا ضغطت على الصحافي، اولا، لتأخذ اوراقه، وثانيا، لتسلمها الى المحقق، وثالثا، لتساعده على ما يعتقد انها «حيلة» حتى لا يسجن.
في الجانب الآخر، ايدت «نيويورك تايمز» تحدي الصحافية جوديث، وهي، كما قالت، يعتبر تحديا «مهنيا واخلاقيا» وفي اي حال، لن تبقى في السجن اكثر من اربعة أشهر، مع نهاية هيئة المحلفين التي تحقق في القضية.
بالإضافة إلى جوديث
* تحولت جوديث من تغطية الاخبار الى صناعتها، لكنها ليست اول صحافية تسجن بسبب اصرارها على عدم كشف مصدر اخبارها. فقد سبقها زميل آخر في «نيويورك تايمز»، ماريون فاربر، الذي سجن 40 يوما، سنة 1978، لأنه رفض كشف اسم مصدر في قضية بولاية نيوجيرسي المجاورة، وغرم 1000 دولار، وغرمت الجريدة 185 ألف دولار. وبعد سنة اصدر حاكم ولاية نيوجيرسي قرارا بالعفو عنه.
وفي سنة 1982 سجن باري سميث، صحافي في جريدة «دورانغو هيرالد» (ولاية نورث داكوتا) ليومين، وغرم 500 دولار، لأنه رفض كشف اسم مصدر في قضية كتب عنها. ثم الغيت القضية. وفي سنة 1985، سجن كريستوفر فان نيس، وهو صحافي متعاون في كاليفورنيا، ليوم واحد لأنه رفض تسليم شريط لمقابلة لها صلة بقضية موت الممثل جون بلوشي. وكان مقررا ان يبقى في السجن فترة اطول، لكنه سلم الشريط وأطلق سراحه.
وفي سنة 1996، غرم ديفيد كيدويل، صحافي في جريدة «ميامي هيرالد»، 500 دولار، وحوكم بالسجن شهرين لأنه رفض تسليم شريط مقابلة مع معتقل في قضية جنائية، لكنه خرج بعد اسبوعين بعد ان قدم استرحاما.
وآخر صحافية سجنت قبل جوديث كانت فانيسا ليغيت، من تكساس، قبل ثلاث سنوات، وكانت قد كتبت كتابا عن جريمة قتل هناك، وعندما حققت الشرطة في القضية، وطلبت من فانيسا كشف مصادرها، رفضت. وحوكمت بالسجن، لكنها خرجت بعد ستة أشهر عندما انتهت فترة هيئة المحلفين. وحسب القانون، لم تستدعها هيئة المحلفين التالية، لأن الأخيرة استطاعت ان تحكم في جريمة القتل بدون الاعتماد على معلومات فانيسا.
سجنت في نفس السجن الذي يقبع فيه «الطالباني الأميركي» وزكريا موساوي
واشنطن: محمد علي صالح في الاسبوع الماضي دخلت جوديث ميلر، الصحافية العريقة في جريدة «نيويورك تايمز» سجن الاسكندرية، ضواحي واشنطن، في ولاية فرجينيا، لأنها رفضت كشف مصدر خبر له صلة بالغزو الأميركي للعراق. يعتقل في نفس السجن زكريا موساوي، المتهم الفرنسي المغربي، الذي اعترف بدوره في هجوم 11 سبتمبر على اميركا. ويعتقل في السجن، ايضا، جون ليند، الاميركي الذي ادين بجريمة إعلان الحرب ضد الولايات المتحدة، بعد اعتقاله في افغانستان، وسمي «الطالباني الأميركي»، وحوكم بالسجن المؤبد.
وكان في السجن عبد الرحمن العمودي، الاميركي الاريتري، الذي حوكم بالسجن 25 سنة لاشتراكه في خطة ليبية لاغتيال ولي العهد السعودي الأمير عبد الله بن عبد العزيز، ولتهريب أموال اعطتها له ليبيا.
وفي السجن، ايضا، جواسيس اميركيون حوكموا بفترات متعددة لتجسسهم على الولايات المتحدة خلال سنوات الحرب الباردة، منهم روبرت هانسن، محقق سابق في مكتب المباحث الفيدرالي (اف.بي.آي)، والدريش ايمز، عميل سابق في وكالة الاستخبارات المركزية (سي.آي.ايه).
ولأن الصحافية جوديث حوكمت بالسجن في واشنطن العاصمة، ارسلت، اولا، الى سجن واشنطن، ثم الى سجن ضاحية الاسكندرية، لأن قسم النساء فيه اكثر امنا، بالمقارنة مع حوادث قتل وهجوم واغتصاب في قسمي النساء والرجال في سجن واشنطن. وكانت جوديث قد طلبت ان تعتقل في منزلها، لكن القاضي رفض ذلك. ثم طلبت ان تعامل معاملة خاصة في السجن، لكن القاضي رفض ذلك، ايضا.
مشكلة جوديث
* بدأت مشكلة جوديث قبل سنتين، عندما كتب جوزيف ويلسون، القائم سابقا بالأعمال الاميركي في العراق، رأيا في جريدتها، «نيويورك تايمز»، انتقد فيه الغزو الاميركي للعراق، وقال ان الرئيس بوش كذب عندما قال ان «سي.آي.ايه» اثبتت وجود اسلحة دمار شامل في العراق. واستشهد بمهمة سرية كلفته بها الوكالة الى النيجر لاثبات انها باعت مواد نووية الى العراق، وقال انه لم يعثر على دليل يؤكد ذلك.
وغضب مؤيدو غزو العراق، وقالوا ان ويلسون كشف دورا سريا كان يجب ان يبقي سرا، ووصفوه بأنه «خائن»، وهو وصف كانوا يطلقونه على كثير من معارضي الغزو.
وبعد اسبوع، نشر روبرت نوفاك، معلق صحافي يميني، من مؤيدي غزو العراق، رايا كشف فيه ان فاليري بالمر، زوجة ويلسون، تعمل في الاستخبارات المركزية، وانها هي التي اختارته لمهمة النيجر، ولولا ذلك لما كان ارسل، لأنه لم يكن الرجل المناسب. وقال نوفاك انه علم ذلك من «مصدرين مسؤولين».
محقق خاص
* ولأن القانون الاميركي يمنع نشر اسم من يعمل في اجهزة الاستخبارات، تحول الموضوع الي قانوني، وضغط ديمقراطيون في الكونغرس على الرئيس بوش لتعيين محقق يكشف الجهة التي سربت وظيفة زوجة ويلسون. واختار بوش نائب وزير العدل، باتريك فتزجيرالد، ليحقق في الموضوع مع الرئيس بوش، ومسؤولين آخرين كبار. ثم انتقل الى الصحافيين. ومن بين الذين حقق معهم ماثيو كوبر، الصحافي في مجلة «تايم»، وجوديث ميلر، في جريدة «نيويورك تايمز». ويعتقد ان المحقق حصل على معلومات بأن الاثنين يعرفان الشخص، او الاشخاص الذين كشفوا وظيفة زوجة ويلسون. لكن الاثنين رفضا كشف اي اسم. ودفعت «تايم» و«نيويورك تايمز» تكاليف محامين استأجروهما للدفاع عن الصحافي والصحافية، ولاستئناف الأحكام، حتى وصلت القضية الى المحكمة العليا. ولسوء حظ الاثنين، ايدت المحكمة العليا (التي تفسر الدستور الاميركي) بأن لا شخص يعلو فوق القانون، حتى ولو كان صحافيا، خاصة اذا كان تعاونه مطلوبا للوصول الى الحقيقة في قضية مهمة.
صمود وتنازل
* ويوم الاربعاء الماضي، ذهب الاثنان الى توماس هوغان، قاضي واشنطن الفيدرالي، ليحاكمهما بالسجن. لكن كوبر قال، في آخر لحظة، انه سيكشف اسم مصدره لأن مصدره اتصل به هاتفيا في اليوم السابق، وسمح له بذلك. ورغم ان هذا مقبول ومتعارف عليه مهنيا وأخلاقيا، تساءل صحافيون ومراقبون عن توقيت ما فعل كوبر، وربطوه بقرار «تايم» في الاسبوع الماضي بتسليم اوراقه الى المحقق. وقال هؤلاء ان «تايم»، وهي جزء من شركة «تايم ورنر» (التي تملك صحفا ومحطات تلفزيون واذاعة) خافت على مصالحها، وعلى دفع الف دولار عن كل يوم لا يكشف فيه الصحافي مصدر الخبر. ولهذا ضغطت على الصحافي، اولا، لتأخذ اوراقه، وثانيا، لتسلمها الى المحقق، وثالثا، لتساعده على ما يعتقد انها «حيلة» حتى لا يسجن.
في الجانب الآخر، ايدت «نيويورك تايمز» تحدي الصحافية جوديث، وهي، كما قالت، يعتبر تحديا «مهنيا واخلاقيا» وفي اي حال، لن تبقى في السجن اكثر من اربعة أشهر، مع نهاية هيئة المحلفين التي تحقق في القضية.
بالإضافة إلى جوديث
* تحولت جوديث من تغطية الاخبار الى صناعتها، لكنها ليست اول صحافية تسجن بسبب اصرارها على عدم كشف مصدر اخبارها. فقد سبقها زميل آخر في «نيويورك تايمز»، ماريون فاربر، الذي سجن 40 يوما، سنة 1978، لأنه رفض كشف اسم مصدر في قضية بولاية نيوجيرسي المجاورة، وغرم 1000 دولار، وغرمت الجريدة 185 ألف دولار. وبعد سنة اصدر حاكم ولاية نيوجيرسي قرارا بالعفو عنه.
وفي سنة 1982 سجن باري سميث، صحافي في جريدة «دورانغو هيرالد» (ولاية نورث داكوتا) ليومين، وغرم 500 دولار، لأنه رفض كشف اسم مصدر في قضية كتب عنها. ثم الغيت القضية. وفي سنة 1985، سجن كريستوفر فان نيس، وهو صحافي متعاون في كاليفورنيا، ليوم واحد لأنه رفض تسليم شريط لمقابلة لها صلة بقضية موت الممثل جون بلوشي. وكان مقررا ان يبقى في السجن فترة اطول، لكنه سلم الشريط وأطلق سراحه.
وفي سنة 1996، غرم ديفيد كيدويل، صحافي في جريدة «ميامي هيرالد»، 500 دولار، وحوكم بالسجن شهرين لأنه رفض تسليم شريط مقابلة مع معتقل في قضية جنائية، لكنه خرج بعد اسبوعين بعد ان قدم استرحاما.
وآخر صحافية سجنت قبل جوديث كانت فانيسا ليغيت، من تكساس، قبل ثلاث سنوات، وكانت قد كتبت كتابا عن جريمة قتل هناك، وعندما حققت الشرطة في القضية، وطلبت من فانيسا كشف مصادرها، رفضت. وحوكمت بالسجن، لكنها خرجت بعد ستة أشهر عندما انتهت فترة هيئة المحلفين. وحسب القانون، لم تستدعها هيئة المحلفين التالية، لأن الأخيرة استطاعت ان تحكم في جريمة القتل بدون الاعتماد على معلومات فانيسا.
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