'American Hiroshima'linked with Iran attack
Pakistani journalist who met bin Laden confirms al-Qaida nukes, says they may already be in U.S.
By Paul L. Williams and David Dastych
Al-Qaida has already obtained nuclear suitcase weapons from the Russian black market, weapons tested in Afghanistan in 2000, and they may have already been forward-deployed inside the U.S., according to the only journalist to interview Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri in the wake of Sept. 11.
Last week, Hamid Mir's credibility skyrocketed when he accurately predicted in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin and later in WND the imminent release of a new recorded communiqué from bin Laden through al-Jazeera, the Arabic TV network. Two days later, bin Laden's tape was the focus of international news coverage.
"If you think that my information and analysis about bin Laden's location is correct," said Hamid Mir, "then please don't underestimate my analysis about his nuclear threat also."
Mir said that he met with an Egyptian engineer last week who lost an eye after one of bin Laden's nuclear tests in the Kunar province of Pakistan. The Pakistani journalist said the encounter with the engineer greatly disturbed and depressed him since it provided further assurance that a nuclear nightmare for America is about to dawn.
Mir believes that an "American Hiroshima" will occur as soon as the U.S. launches an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities.
"Al-Qaida and Iran," he says, "have a long, secret relationship." "American Hiroshima" is the name al-Qaida leaders chose for their long-planned nuclear attack on the U.S.
The relationship between Iran and bin Laden dates back to June 21, 1996, when bin Laden attended a terror summit in Tehran. The gathering attracted terror leaders from various places throughout the world, including Ramadan Shallah (the Palestinian Islamic Jihad), Ahmad Salah (Egyptian Islamic Jihad), Imad al-Alami and Mustafa al-Liddawi (Hamas), Ahmad Jibril (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine), Abdallah Ocalan (the Kurdish People Party), Muhammad Ali Ahmad (al Qaida), and Imad Mugniyah (Hezbollah). The summit resulted in the creation of the "Committee of Three" that would meet on a regular basis for the "coordination, planning and execution of attacks" against the United States and Israel. The committee members were Ahmad Salah, Imad Mugniyah and bin Laden.
Mir's position that al-Qaida's nuclear weapons may have already been forward-deployed to the United States confirms the report of Sharif al-Masri, a key al-Qaida operative who was arrested in Pakistan in November 2000.
Al Masri, an Egyptian national with ties to al-Zawahiri, said that al-Qaida had made arrangements to smuggle nuclear weapons and supplies to Mexico. From Mexico, he said, the weapons were to be transported across the border and into the United States with the help of a Latino street gang.
Mir also maintains that numerous sleeper agents are in place in major cities throughout the United States to prepare for the nuclear holocaust. Many of these agents, he says, are Algerians and Chechens who obtained European passports and are posing as Christian and Jews.
He further says that many of these agents have been in the United States since bin Laden's issuance of his "Declaration of War on Americans Occupying the Country of the Two Holy Places." That fatwa was issued Aug. 23, 1996.
Friday, April 28, 2006
Thursday, April 27, 2006
Lebanese Housewife Tells of Horrifying 8 Years in Syrian Torture Camps
On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, An Nahar published the horrifying story of Hala el Hajj, a Lebanese housewife who spent 8 years of hell in Syria's torture camps.Hajj was kidnapped in Beirut in 1992 and then disappeared for 8 years during which she was transferred to three detention centers run by the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon and Syria where she was tortured, almost starved to death and thrown in an underground cell hardly big enough for a dog.Hajj, who now lives with her family in France, is married to Gaby Karam, a Lebanese intelligence officer. She says Syrian agents, who were after her husband, seized her near the Beirut Museum after they failed to capture Karam.Her four assailants immediately handcuffed her, placed a black bag over her head and drove her to the notorious Syrian intelligence command center near the Beau Rivage Hotel in Beirut.For three days, she was beaten with sticks while the bag was still covering her head and her hands were in cuffs. The beatings were so severe that her face was mangled and covered with blood while she slipped in and out of consciousness.When her tormentors failed to make her confess that she was gathering information about the Syrian army in Lebanon, Hajj was transferred to Syrian intelligence headquarters at Anjar in the Bekaa Valley where she met Ghazi Kanaan, the head of Syria's security operations in the country at the time."We will strip off the skin of anyone in Lebanon who dares to say anything (negative) about Syria," Hajj recalls Kanaan as saying to her and the 8 other people who arrived at Anjar on that fateful day.After their short stop in the Bekaa, Hajj and her fellow detainees were hauled into truck and taken across the border to the Mazzeh detention in Damascus where political prisoners are usually interrogated before being sent to jails in other parts of Syria.As soon as the group got off the truck they were received with more beatings and insults, recalls Hajj."I will crush the biggest head in Lebanon with this boot," Hajj quotes one of her tormentors Munir el Abras as saying to them.Of all her long ordeal, Hajj seems to have been particularly marked by her arrival at Mazzeh."I will never forget this night. We called on all the prophets and saints to show their mercy but (our prayers) were in vain," she said.The worst was yet to come. The prisoners were then led to their cells which Hajj said were 40 meters underground. She described them as dim boxes that were no bigger than 80x180cm with a ceiling height of 1.5 meters.Hajj recounts the torture methods used at Mazzeh which included whippings, removal of finger nails, beatings of genital areas, electric shocks to the nose and ears, burning with cigarettes and hanging from the ceiling sometimes for days. Their injuries were covered with salt to make them even more painful and when they passed out from the pain, they were drenched with ice cold water to wake them up.Hajj miraculously survived 150 days of unbearable torture during which she was fed handfuls of stale bread mixed with unrecognizable particles and forced to defecate and urinate on herself.When Hajj's torturers realized she had no information to give them, they allowed her to bathe, change into a Syrian army uniform and then they transferred her to a cell with other Lebanese and Jordanian women. They were all charged with "threatening Syrian security."Hajj says she was released after interventions on her behalf. Ironically, after she was handed over to Lebanese intelligence, she was beaten again during a debriefing session."Weren't eight years of torture in Syria enough? I now speak Arabic with a Syrian accent and cannot remember the names of my own family members. What do you still want from me?" Hajj said she told her Lebanese interrogators.
On the occasion of the one-year anniversary of Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon, An Nahar published the horrifying story of Hala el Hajj, a Lebanese housewife who spent 8 years of hell in Syria's torture camps.Hajj was kidnapped in Beirut in 1992 and then disappeared for 8 years during which she was transferred to three detention centers run by the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon and Syria where she was tortured, almost starved to death and thrown in an underground cell hardly big enough for a dog.Hajj, who now lives with her family in France, is married to Gaby Karam, a Lebanese intelligence officer. She says Syrian agents, who were after her husband, seized her near the Beirut Museum after they failed to capture Karam.Her four assailants immediately handcuffed her, placed a black bag over her head and drove her to the notorious Syrian intelligence command center near the Beau Rivage Hotel in Beirut.For three days, she was beaten with sticks while the bag was still covering her head and her hands were in cuffs. The beatings were so severe that her face was mangled and covered with blood while she slipped in and out of consciousness.When her tormentors failed to make her confess that she was gathering information about the Syrian army in Lebanon, Hajj was transferred to Syrian intelligence headquarters at Anjar in the Bekaa Valley where she met Ghazi Kanaan, the head of Syria's security operations in the country at the time."We will strip off the skin of anyone in Lebanon who dares to say anything (negative) about Syria," Hajj recalls Kanaan as saying to her and the 8 other people who arrived at Anjar on that fateful day.After their short stop in the Bekaa, Hajj and her fellow detainees were hauled into truck and taken across the border to the Mazzeh detention in Damascus where political prisoners are usually interrogated before being sent to jails in other parts of Syria.As soon as the group got off the truck they were received with more beatings and insults, recalls Hajj."I will crush the biggest head in Lebanon with this boot," Hajj quotes one of her tormentors Munir el Abras as saying to them.Of all her long ordeal, Hajj seems to have been particularly marked by her arrival at Mazzeh."I will never forget this night. We called on all the prophets and saints to show their mercy but (our prayers) were in vain," she said.The worst was yet to come. The prisoners were then led to their cells which Hajj said were 40 meters underground. She described them as dim boxes that were no bigger than 80x180cm with a ceiling height of 1.5 meters.Hajj recounts the torture methods used at Mazzeh which included whippings, removal of finger nails, beatings of genital areas, electric shocks to the nose and ears, burning with cigarettes and hanging from the ceiling sometimes for days. Their injuries were covered with salt to make them even more painful and when they passed out from the pain, they were drenched with ice cold water to wake them up.Hajj miraculously survived 150 days of unbearable torture during which she was fed handfuls of stale bread mixed with unrecognizable particles and forced to defecate and urinate on herself.When Hajj's torturers realized she had no information to give them, they allowed her to bathe, change into a Syrian army uniform and then they transferred her to a cell with other Lebanese and Jordanian women. They were all charged with "threatening Syrian security."Hajj says she was released after interventions on her behalf. Ironically, after she was handed over to Lebanese intelligence, she was beaten again during a debriefing session."Weren't eight years of torture in Syria enough? I now speak Arabic with a Syrian accent and cannot remember the names of my own family members. What do you still want from me?" Hajj said she told her Lebanese interrogators.
It's All 'Jimmah' Carter's Fault
by Michael Reagan
Everybody's playing the blame game these days. The current target is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who seems to be standing in for President Bush - the man who his enemies say is responsible for everything that's gone wrong since the Biblical flood. ("Bush lied about the need to build an ark.")South of our borders we have a nut job running oil-rich Venezuela and threatening to do all kinds of nasty things to us. In North Korea we have another nut job building nukes and rattling sabers, and in Iran there's still another whacked-out leader threatening to blow Israel off the map, for starters.Believe me, Rummy had nothing to do with any of that. Nor did George Bush. If you're looking for someone to point the finger at, look no further than James Earl Carter. Every one of these problems can be laid at the door of the Georgia peanut farmer and self-anointed evangelist for world peace, understanding, good-will, and promoter of universal love-ins with dictators who hate us.Let's begin with Iran, a boiling cauldron of hatred for everything associated with Western civilization. Recall that when Jimmah took office Iran was ruled by a strong ally of the United States, the Shah. Like most Middle Eastern potentates, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ruled with an iron hand. Under him, Iran was not the kind of democracy we're now promoting for the Middle East.The Shah, however, was also the staunch friend and ally of the United States. He saw to it that the oil kept flowing in our direction, and kept his military in good-enough shape to protect our interests in the area. But the Shah somehow offended Brother Carter's exalted view of the inherent goodness of a mankind freed from the strictures imposed by dictatorial rules. With a wink and a nod, he arranged to have Pahlavi replaced by an exiled mullah - the Ayatollah Khomeini - who in Carter's view would be a moderate leader who would democratize Iran.What Carter got for us was a Muslim fanatic seething with hatred for everything Western, who without blinking an eye spat on our national sovereignty when he took over the United States embassy in Tehran and held 52 American hostages for 444 days, until the U.S. came to its senses and elected my dad Ronald Reagan to replace the hapless Jimmy Carter.Thanks to Carter, Iran today constitutes a grave threat to the United States and to world peace. He allowed the creation of an Islamic Republic bent on imposing the most repressive form of Islam on the entire world.Then we can turn to Venezuela, now locked in the grip of a Castro-clone and fervent communist Hugo Chavez, who is creating a heavily armed communist dictatorship on our southern doorstep. When Chavez faced a recall election Cater was on hand to monitor the election, which turned out to be rigged to elect Chavez from the very start. Despite overwhelming evidence that the Chavez victory was the result of rampant vote fraud, Mr. Carter put his stamp of approval on it, declaring it to have been fair and honest. Carter kept Chavez in office.In 1994, when Bill Clinton was facing down North Korea's Kim Il-Sung, father of current dictator Kim Jong-Il, he sent Carter to strike a deal on his development of nuclear technology. Speaking of the dying murderous dictator, Carter said he found him "vigorous, intelligent, surprisingly well-informed about the technical issues, and in charge of the decisions about this country," and dded, "I don't see the [North Koreans] are an outlaw nation."The deal Carter made allowed the North Koreans to work behind the scenes to build nuclear weapons which now threaten world peace. When he came back from North Korea he told CNN's Judy Woodruff, "I think it's all roses now..."I agree with Jack Kinsella who once wrote in the Omega Letter Daily Intelligence Digest that "... Jimmy Carter holds the hands-down record for being the worst ex-president the United States has ever known. His post-presidential meddling in foreign affairs has cost America dearly, both in terms of international credibility and international prestige."
by Michael Reagan
Everybody's playing the blame game these days. The current target is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who seems to be standing in for President Bush - the man who his enemies say is responsible for everything that's gone wrong since the Biblical flood. ("Bush lied about the need to build an ark.")South of our borders we have a nut job running oil-rich Venezuela and threatening to do all kinds of nasty things to us. In North Korea we have another nut job building nukes and rattling sabers, and in Iran there's still another whacked-out leader threatening to blow Israel off the map, for starters.Believe me, Rummy had nothing to do with any of that. Nor did George Bush. If you're looking for someone to point the finger at, look no further than James Earl Carter. Every one of these problems can be laid at the door of the Georgia peanut farmer and self-anointed evangelist for world peace, understanding, good-will, and promoter of universal love-ins with dictators who hate us.Let's begin with Iran, a boiling cauldron of hatred for everything associated with Western civilization. Recall that when Jimmah took office Iran was ruled by a strong ally of the United States, the Shah. Like most Middle Eastern potentates, the Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, ruled with an iron hand. Under him, Iran was not the kind of democracy we're now promoting for the Middle East.The Shah, however, was also the staunch friend and ally of the United States. He saw to it that the oil kept flowing in our direction, and kept his military in good-enough shape to protect our interests in the area. But the Shah somehow offended Brother Carter's exalted view of the inherent goodness of a mankind freed from the strictures imposed by dictatorial rules. With a wink and a nod, he arranged to have Pahlavi replaced by an exiled mullah - the Ayatollah Khomeini - who in Carter's view would be a moderate leader who would democratize Iran.What Carter got for us was a Muslim fanatic seething with hatred for everything Western, who without blinking an eye spat on our national sovereignty when he took over the United States embassy in Tehran and held 52 American hostages for 444 days, until the U.S. came to its senses and elected my dad Ronald Reagan to replace the hapless Jimmy Carter.Thanks to Carter, Iran today constitutes a grave threat to the United States and to world peace. He allowed the creation of an Islamic Republic bent on imposing the most repressive form of Islam on the entire world.Then we can turn to Venezuela, now locked in the grip of a Castro-clone and fervent communist Hugo Chavez, who is creating a heavily armed communist dictatorship on our southern doorstep. When Chavez faced a recall election Cater was on hand to monitor the election, which turned out to be rigged to elect Chavez from the very start. Despite overwhelming evidence that the Chavez victory was the result of rampant vote fraud, Mr. Carter put his stamp of approval on it, declaring it to have been fair and honest. Carter kept Chavez in office.In 1994, when Bill Clinton was facing down North Korea's Kim Il-Sung, father of current dictator Kim Jong-Il, he sent Carter to strike a deal on his development of nuclear technology. Speaking of the dying murderous dictator, Carter said he found him "vigorous, intelligent, surprisingly well-informed about the technical issues, and in charge of the decisions about this country," and dded, "I don't see the [North Koreans] are an outlaw nation."The deal Carter made allowed the North Koreans to work behind the scenes to build nuclear weapons which now threaten world peace. When he came back from North Korea he told CNN's Judy Woodruff, "I think it's all roses now..."I agree with Jack Kinsella who once wrote in the Omega Letter Daily Intelligence Digest that "... Jimmy Carter holds the hands-down record for being the worst ex-president the United States has ever known. His post-presidential meddling in foreign affairs has cost America dearly, both in terms of international credibility and international prestige."
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
Happy Birthday to my blog!
Freedom to Lebanon
Happy Bithday to "About Lebanon". It's been just over a year and over 1000 visitors, not too bad for a little someone like me! I never thought I'd have so many visitors. Thank you especially to my regular readers. Thanks to those who leave comments behind, who spark debate, and share opinions. I am looking forward to more!
Thank you
Freedom to Lebanon
Happy Bithday to "About Lebanon". It's been just over a year and over 1000 visitors, not too bad for a little someone like me! I never thought I'd have so many visitors. Thank you especially to my regular readers. Thanks to those who leave comments behind, who spark debate, and share opinions. I am looking forward to more!
Thank you
Saturday, April 22, 2006
I include here simple recipes that are either daily to us or serve as a basis for other dishes -- starting with making your own yogurt and derivatives the Lebanese way.What the west calls yogurt, that we call laban, was already made and enjoyed thousands of years ago by the Phoenicians
. Laban, labneh, and Lebanon all come from the ancient word LBN meaning "white". If you like yogurt, you will enjoy making your own with this very old method.
LABAN(yogurt or curdled milk)Ingredients:1 liter of milk (during the war when only powder milk was available, my mom would use that and it would turn out great)1 tablespoon of rennet (or readymade yogurt)If the milk is raw, boil it. If it's pasteurized, warm it to 451⁄4C (if you can insert your finger and count till 10 without getting burned, the temperature is right).Dilute the rennet or yogurt in a bit of milk and pour into the lukewarm milk. It is even better if the latter is in an earthenware recipient at that point. Stir with a spoon then cover with a thick duffel or the like.Leave it 4 hours.TipsYogurt/laban can be eaten sweet or salted, and we use it for many recipes such as stuffed zucchini with laban, stuffed vine leaves with laban, meat stew with laban... A very simple and very fresh recipe is to mix laban with crushed dry mint leaves, salt and sliced cucumbers.Once you have made laban, you can make a variety of derivatives, the most popular of them all being labneh.
LABNEH(drained curdled milk)Prepare the laban as explained above, then add 1 teaspoon of salt for every liter you have.Stir gently and then pour inside a thin mesh bag. Suspend the bag overnight so that it can drain; my mom would suspend it to the tap of the kitchen sink. Whether you want the laban to lose all or part of its water is up to you. The result will be a white spread-like cheese. Empty the contents of the bag in a dish, beat slightly and keep in the fridge.TipsThere are many ways to eat labneh, this wonderfully healthy and versatile cheese.
• The classical way is to spread it in a round dish, and with a spoon create a depression in the center so that the result is like a shallow labneh basin. Pour olive oil all over: it will form a pool in the center of the dish. Eat it by taking scoops with "pita" bread, accompanying it with salt, mint leaves, or olives.
• If you like garlic, pound some and mix it to the labneh to obtain labneh-with-garlic, a delicacy.
• Spread it in "pita" bread or even on toast bread and add slices of cucumber or tomato.
• The young generation appreciates labneh as an alternative dip for french fries or nachos.
LABNEH MALBOUDEH(drained labneh)Prepare labneh but let the laban drain completely. At that stage, the cheese comes easily loose from the bag. Transfer it to a bowl and knead it well so as not to leave any lump. If it's not drained enough, put it back in the bag for a few more hours. Check that it is salted to your taste.Thoroughly heap the resulting cheese in a glass jar that can be sealed, and keep it in the fridge or a fresh place.TipsBoth laban and labneh keep a while in a sealed container in the fridge, but if they turn sour they should be thrown away. Packed labneh can be kept up to 6 months.
LABNEH BILZAYT(labneh in oil) Prepare labneh malboudeh, but instead of packing the labneh in a jar, roll little balls the size of a nut in your hands. Fill a jar with olive oil up to 1/3rd, then fill it with the labneh balls. Add oil as you go; when the jar is full, the balls should be covered with about 1/2 inch oil. Prepared in this way, and if you're careful to always keep oil above the balls once you start consuming them, the cheese can be kept for over a year. However, as it ages it turns slightly more sour (personally I like it best when it does).TipsWhen prepared with goat milk, this recipe is a delicacy.
3AYRAN(labneh drink)The basic labneh, cut with water and salted, makes a refreshing drink to be served cold.
JIBNEH(cheese)This simple cheese, so basic it has no other name, is firm, like pressed unbaked dough. Salted, it is an ingredient in many recipes.Ingredients:5 liters milk1/2 teaspoon of rennetPour the raw, cold milk in a, earth or glass container. Dilute the rennet in a bit of milk and add it to the container.Stir and allow to curdle for an hour. The curds form a block then; take a chunk using a teacup and press it between your hands until you get a compact cake and part of the remaining milk has been drained. Dispose the cheese cakes on an upturned sieve, or a slightly inclined platter. Turn them over after an hour and leave them to drain another hour or two.TipsJibneh can be eaten fresh, with a bit of salt, a bit of sugar or even some honey or jam. It can be conserved 5 or 6 months if the following procedure is followed: salt the cheese using a pinch of salt per cake, wait 2 0r 3 hours and store it in glass jars containing water that has been boiled then cooled and salted (1 teaspoon per liter). Covr the surface with a thick layer of olive oil.
TARATOR BIT'HINEH(ground sesame sauce)Ingredients:4 tablespoons "t'hineh" (ground sesame)1/2 cup fresh lemon juice4 garlic cloves (if wanted)1/2 teaspoon saltDilute the ground sesame in the lemon. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix everything well.This sauce accompanies fish or is served alone with a bunch of chopped parsley. It is also used to make several other dishes.
OLIVES(how to prepare them)For green olives:2 kg of green olives in their natural state4 tablespoons salt1 cup olive oilWash the olives in hot water in a colander. Split them using a pebble or a large pounder. Wash them again in cold water. Put them in a jar or two. Cover with salt water, then with about a centimeter of olive oil. The olives can be prepared this way without being split: in this case they keep longer (over a year) but are more bitter. Either way they can be consumed after 2 weeks.For black olives:2 kg of black olives in their natural state6 tablespoons saltOlive oilWash the olives in hot water, then in cold water. Place them in a bowl and roll them in 4 tablespoons of salt. Allow to macerate for 5 days, stirring occasionally, then pour in one or more glass jars (don't pour the reject juice that's at the bottom of the bowl). Cover with salt water then a centimeter of oil. They will be good to eat after a week and keep up to a year as long as there's always oil on top of the water.Tip:Insert in the jar a few slices of lemon, or a chili pepper, or a branch of thyme to flavour your olives.
QATR(syrup)Ingredients:1 kg sugar1/2 liter water3 tablespoons lemon juice4 tablespoons orange blossom waterPut the sugar in an aluminum cooking pot, add the water and stir to melt the sugar. Set to medium heat to bring to a boil. Foam, add the lemon juice and the orange blossom water. Stir and remove from fire.This syrup is served on the side anytime sweets are presented, so that guests can pour some on top of theirs.
Mezza
The mezza was born in Zahle in the 1920s. The word is an abbreviation from al-lumazza: "that which is savoured". It is now the form of the traditional Lebanese meal -- a meal that extends both in space and time. A large number of entr?es, up to 30 for exceptional occasions, are laid on the table until there's no space left whatsoever. Rather than serving from the dishes into individual plates, the guests eat straight from the dishes, using folded pieces of bread as spoons. After the entr?es comes the grilled meat and chicken done on the "fahm" -- in other words, skewered and barbecued. Fruits are the usual dessert, unless the meal is really lavish, and Turkish or white coffee concludes it. A Lebanese meal is not just about eating, it is about laying back, exchanging news and laughing with friends; a drink of arak (grape spirits) and a narguileh pipe are a must. The meal can very easily last 4 hours or more: I suspect that the reason why so many mezza dishes are made is to make it last as long as possible without ever leaving the table empty of things to munch on.Every mezza element below can be readily made on its own as an entr?e to a regular meal.
TABBOULEH("mixture") This very famous salad is the national dish and you will find it everywhere there is mention of Lebanese food.Ingredients:1 cup of fine bourghoul (ground wheat)3 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint4 tomatoes4 green onions or 1 white onion6 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juiceWash the bourghoul in a deep dish by filling it with water and gently pouring out the water so that it will take away any impurity. Leave the bourghoul to soak in cold water for 30 mn. Finely dice the tomatoes and onion and chop the parsley and mint. Mix together the oil, salt and lemon for the sauce. Squeeze the borghoul between your hands to press out the water and mix all the ingredients together.TipsThe tabbouleh is best eaten with small lettuce leaves or better yet, fresh vine leaves rolled up in a cone shape.
FATTOUSH("crumble")Bread is kept in a basket or a nylon bag, and small pieces always accumulate at the bottom of it. The salad known as fattoush makes use of them and prevents their waste.Ingredients:Small grilled or fried pieces of Lebanese/pita bread (although you can try with croutons)1/2 kg cucumber or Lebanese cucumber1/2 kg tomatoes2 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint1 bunch of purslane (this "weed" grows in American backyards, but if the word rings no bells simply ignore it and use lettuce instead)3 onions (if wanted)4 cloves of garlic1 teaspoon sumac4 tablespoons olive oil5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 teaspoon saltSeparate the leaves off the parsley, mint and purslane. Slice the cucumbers, dice the tomatoes. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix it in the oil and lemon. Mix the vegetables and top with the bread fragments. Pour the sauce and sprinkle sumac all over.
HOMMOS BIT'HINEH(mashed chick peas in ground sesame)Ingredients:1 glass of dry chick peas (or a can of cooked chick peas)Tarator sauce as prepared aboveabout 2 tablespoons olive oilIf the chick peas aren't cooked, soak them overnight. Cook them well then mash them in such a way as to get a thick purée. Add the tarator and mix thoroughly. The olive oil is poured on top of the hommos before serving.TipsServed alongside the hommos are usually radishes, green onions and pickles.
SALATA HOMMOS(chick peas salad)Ingredients:1 can of precooked chick peas6 tablespoons olive oil8 garlic cloves1 tablespoon dry mint2 lemonsTake the chick peas out of the water and quickly plunge them in salted boiling water. When it starts boiling again, take them out, rinse them with cold water, pout them in a clean towel and gently rub them to remove the skins. Rinse again in cold water in a bowl: the skins float and flow away with the water.Season with lemon and oil. Offer the pounded garlic and the mint on the side so that everyone can add it according to their own taste. Serve fresh.
FALAFEL("spiced") Ingredients:3/4 glass broad bean flour1/2 glass chick peas flour1/2 glass flour1 teaspoon salt1 pich of pepper1 pinch of red chili powder1 glass of olive oilMix together the flours, salt, pepper, chili. Add very little water, just enough to be able to shape small firm flat cakes thick as a finger. Brown them in the hot oil, on medium-high fire. Remove them and put them on absorbant paper. Serve with radishes, mint, parsley, tomato slices.
LAHM B3AJEEN(meat cakes)Ingredients:500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)600g ground mutton2 onions1 teaspoon salt1 pinch of pepper1 tablespoon butter10 tablespoons laban or yogurt50g pine kernels (if available)Mix together the mutton and finely chopped onions, with salt, pepper, melted butter, yogurt and pine kernels. Separate the dough in pices the size of an egg and spread it to a thickness of about 5 mm. Spread one tablespoon or more of the meat mixture on each piece of dough. Bake in a hot oven for15 mn.Tip:The yogurt can be replaced with 1/2 kg finely chopped tomatoes. Either way they are served with a bowl of yogurt and each person sprinkles some on his hot cakes.
FATAYER BI SBANIGH(spinach cakes)Ingredients:1 kg 1/2 chopped spinach2 big onions8 tablespoons olive oil1 tablespoon salt1 pinch pepper1/2 glass lemon juice500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)Gently rub the spinach with salt and squeeze them to get the water out. Mix them with oil, lemon juice, finely chopped onions, and pepper.Spread the dough to a thickness of about 5 mm. Use a glass to cut round shapes in it, and put a good tablespoonful of spinach mixture in the center of each. Close the dough in the shape of a pyramid. Bake in a hot oven about 20 mn.
KIBBEH NAYYEH(raw meat ground with onion and wheat)Kibbeh shares with tabbouleh the position of national Lebanese dish. This recipe is for the raw version, but the next is an example of the many ways in which kibbeh can be cooked.Ingredients:600g mutton leg1 big cup of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 onion1 teaspoon saltpepper to taste Wash the bourghoul well by rinsing it in a deep dish so that the scraps float and are evacuated with the water. Cover the bourghoul with water and let it soak for half an hour. In the meanwhile, very finely chop the meat and onion together -- they must take the consistency of a dough. Add salt and pepper. Press the bourghoul between your hands to squeeze out the water and add it to the meat and onion. Knead at length with the palm of the hand, often dipping your fingers in cold water. Spread in a dish, not too thickly. Decorate with fresh mint leaves and store about 15 mn in the fridge before serving. Serve with olive oil on the side for the guests to pour on their plate if they wish.Tip:Raw kibbeh is often eaten with pita bread and green onions.
KIBBEH KBEIBAT(kibbeh balls)Ingredients:500g mutton leg2 big cups of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 large onion1 tablespoon saltpepper to tasteStuffing:100g finely chopped mutton ribs1 onion50 g pine kernels2 tablespoons butter or oilPrepare kibbeh nayye as explained in the previous recipe. Prepare the stuffing: brown the ingredients separately in the butter or oil, then mix them.Make a ball of kibbeh the size of an egg. Dig it with the finger while holding it in the hollow of the palm of the other hand. When the walls are no thicker than half a centimeter, insert a bit of stuffing inside it and pinch the opening closed again. The ball takes on the shape of a lemon, which you can see in the image to the left. Bake the balls of kibbeh in the oven at medium heat for 40 mn, or fry them in butter or peanut oil. They are served cold or warm.Tip:Kibbeh balls can be seasoned in various ways. Kibbeh Labniyeh involves a yogurt-based sauce: bring water to a boil in a cooking pot, with very little salt. Poach the balls in it for 10 mn and carefully remove them with a sieve. Bring laban to a boil on low fire -- 1 liter for 20 balls. When it's boiling, pour a teaspoon of starch and add the balls. Leave to simmer for 5 to 10 mn.The yogurt can be replaced by tomato sauce.
KAFTA MISHWEH(skewered parsleyed meat)Ingredients:600g chopped mutton leg2 onions1 bunch of parsleySalt and pepperChop the meat very finely until it becomes dough-like. Also chop the onions and parsley very finely. Add salt and pepper, knead well together and divide into 8 balls. Skewer each ball individually and press with the fingers to spread the ball alogn the skewer in the shape of a sausage. Press the extremities well wo that they'll adhere well to the metal. Barbecue and serve hot on a bed of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped parsley, and onion slices (sprinkled with sumac if available).Tip:Kafta can also be baked in an oven, under the grill. The dough can be made into flattened balls just like hamburger meat and browned in a wok, or put in a dish with tomato sauce, tomato slices and potato slices, to be cooked in the oven.
Other than prepared dishes, the following are also put on the table for a mezza:
French fries (like everything else that enters the country, they were Lebanized).
Labneh, either plain or garlic-flavoured
A large plate of fresh vegetables: tomato, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, radish, Lebanese cucumber...
Small bowls of black and green olives (stuffed are a plus).
Small bowls of fresh almonds in water or pistacchios (depending on the season).
Lots and lots of Lebanese bread! The traditional bread, the 'marqouq", is the favourite for this sort of meal: it is very large, up to 2 feet in diameter, and so thin the French used to call it "drum skin".
Home dishes
There is quite a difference between Lebanese food one eats in a restaurant or on occasions and food that is made at home for daily meals. The quantity of rice that we eat is more obvious in home cooking, for one thing, and the ingredients are not scattered in dozens of little dishes, but rather concentrated in one or two large ones.
DAOUD BACHA(meatballs with rice)Ingredients:600g ground mutton (hamburger meat works fine)50g pine kernels2 cans of tomato sauce (or 1 kg fresh tomatoes)2 onions1 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oilAn appropriate quantity of cooked white riceFinely chop the onions and mix them with the meat along with salt and pepper. Knead well and make balls the size of a nut. Dig each ball with a finger, stuff a few pine kernels in and close it again. Brown the balls in half the buter and put them in a greased baking dish. Cover in tomato sauce (if canned, dilute it with 1 and 1/2 glass of water). Cook for 25 mn at medium high. Turn over the balls after half the time has passed.Serve hot on white rice.(This dish was named after the pacha David, who administrated Mount Lebanon from 1961 to 1968)
LOUBIEH BZAYT(French beans in oil)Ingredients:1 kg tender French beans (also called green beans I believe?)2 onions10 garlic cloves1 kg ripe tomatoes2 tablespoons peanut oil4 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon saltWash the beans then cut them in two. Whiten them 5 mn in boiling water then drain them. Brown the thinly sliced onions and the peeled garlic cloves (whole) in peanut oil. After a few minutes, add the salt and beans. Cover the cooking pot and steam on low heat for 5 mn. Add the diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup boiling water. Allow to stew for half an hour on low heat, covered. Add the olive oil at the end. Serve lukewarm or cold.Tip:This dish can be prepared without mashing the lentils: in this case it is called Mdardara. Thinly slice another onion and brown it to cover the surface of the mdardara (or mjaddara) dish.
MJADDARA(mashed lentils and rice)Ingredients:1 cup lentils1 cup round rice1 onion2 tablespoons olive oil2 tablespoons peanut oil1 teaspoon saltWash the lentils. Boil the lentils in 3 cups of water for about 40 mn. Mash them and add 2 cups of boiling water. Bring to a boil again and add the rice after havign washed it. Brown the finely diced onion on the side in the peanut oil and add it to the cooking pot. Stir and let cook on low heat for 20 mn, stirring occasionally. Add the olive oil towards the end. Serve lukewarm or cold with a tomato and cucumber salad or another Lebanese salad.
3ADASS B'HAMOD(lentils in lemon)Ingredients:2 cups of lentils2 onions4 garlic clovesA few beet leaves2 medium potatoes1 teaspoon powdered mint2 tablespoons peanut oil2 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup lemon juiceBring the lentils to a boil in 6 glasses of water and cook them for one hour. Chop the onions roughly and brown them slightly in the peanut oil. Pour them in the pot on the cooked lentils along with the garlic, pounded and mixed to the mint. Dice the potatoes and chop the beet leaves before adding them to the mix. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Add the lemon juice. Serve as a soup.
Desserts
It is not really customary to eat desserts at the end of a meal in Lebanon (usually it ends with fruits), but sweet dishes are numerous to be served to guests or unexpected visitors.
MHALLABIYEH(rice cream)Ingredients:1 liter milk1/2 glass powdered rice3/4 glass sugar1 glass roughly ground pistacchiosDilute the rice in a bit of cold water. Boil the milk and add the rice. Stir until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups and allow to cool. Sprinkle pistacchios on the surface before serving.TipsThe rice can be replaced by starch, and the pistacchios by almonds, in which case the dessert is called ilmassiyeh ("diamonded").
ROZZ BI HALIB(rice in milk)Ingredients:1 liter milk3/4 cup round rice3/4 cup sugar2 tablespoons orange bloom waterWash the rice and cook it in 3/4 cup of boiling water until the water is completely absorbed. Boil the milk and add the orange bloom water, the sugar and cooked rice. Stir until boiling point then allow to cook on low heat for about 30 mn. Serve cold or lukewarm.
SIMSMIYEH(sesame nougat)Ingredients:2 cups sesame seeds3/4 cup sugar1 tablespoon lemon juicePut all the ingredients in a wok on medium heat and sti continually. Qhen the sigar starts to melt, lower the heat while continuing to stir until it is completely melted. Pour the mixture on a platter. Spread it with a rolling pin. cut it into pieces while it's still warm.TipsThe sesame seeds can be replaced by pine kernels to make a Snoubariyeh, nuts for a Jauziyeh, pistachios for a Fistqiyeh or hazelnuts for a Bunduqiyeh. In the later two cases, grill the fruits first.
Special occasions
A number of dishes, especially desserts, are made only at a specific time of the year, notably for religious celebrations, or for special events such as a birth.
ZALABI HAF(doughnuts)Prepared on the Eve of the EpiphanyIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon yeast1 or more cups of water2 cups of oil (for frying)Knead the flour, salt, yeast and water together to get a light dough. Let it rest for an hour. Heat the oil in a wok. Take egg-sized pieces of dough and lightly stretch them, then drop them in the boiling oil. Remove when golden and dispose on absorbant paper. Serve lukewarm or cold, sprinkled with sugar or accompanied with honey or jam.
KAAK B'HALIB(milk cakes)Prepared for EasterIngredients:500g flour100g butter2 tablespoons olive oil1 cup of milk200g sugar1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon powdered aromatic plants: wild cherry seed, marjoram, aniseed.Mix the flour, yeast, aromatic plants and gradually add the olive oil and melted butter. Dilute the sugar in the milk and add to the mixture. Knead the dough and allow to rest for 2 hours. Shape flat cakes about 7 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick (wooden molds exist to imprint a motif on the dough). They can also be stretched in the shapes of bracelets thick as a finger. Bake in medium oven after preheating it at a high temperature. They are eaten lukewarm or cold.TipsOnce the kaaks are baked, you can dilute 2 tablespoons of sugar in half a cup of milk and dip the top face of the cakes in it, then sprinkle them with sugar. Allow to dry a bit before serving.
QIRBAN(festivity cakes)Prepared for religious celebrationsIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon salt200g sugar1/4 cup orange blossom water (or rose water)1 cup water or moreGradually mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, orange blossom water and water until you get a dough like bread dough. Allow to rest for 2 hours. Make cakes the size of a tea saucer. Prick the dough with a fork or knitting needle, especially in the center, to prevent it from swelling. Bake in the oven on medium heat. Serve cold.Qirban are prepared in large quantities for holidays. They are distributed to relatives and friends and a dozen is sent to the church to be blessed by the priest. He symbolically sends one back to the family and the rest are cut into pieces that are distributed to the mass attendees.
MIGHLI(carvi cream)Prepared on the occasion of a birthIngredients:2 cups sugar1 cup rice powder2 tablespoons carvi powder1/2 tablespoon aniseed powder1/2 tablespoon cinnamon powderroughly chopped nuts, pine kernels, almonds, grated coconutBring 2.5 liters of water to a boil, add the rice powder diluted in a bit of cold water. Add the sugar and spices. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups. Serve cold, covered with the nuts and coconut.
. Laban, labneh, and Lebanon all come from the ancient word LBN meaning "white". If you like yogurt, you will enjoy making your own with this very old method.
LABAN(yogurt or curdled milk)Ingredients:1 liter of milk (during the war when only powder milk was available, my mom would use that and it would turn out great)1 tablespoon of rennet (or readymade yogurt)If the milk is raw, boil it. If it's pasteurized, warm it to 451⁄4C (if you can insert your finger and count till 10 without getting burned, the temperature is right).Dilute the rennet or yogurt in a bit of milk and pour into the lukewarm milk. It is even better if the latter is in an earthenware recipient at that point. Stir with a spoon then cover with a thick duffel or the like.Leave it 4 hours.TipsYogurt/laban can be eaten sweet or salted, and we use it for many recipes such as stuffed zucchini with laban, stuffed vine leaves with laban, meat stew with laban... A very simple and very fresh recipe is to mix laban with crushed dry mint leaves, salt and sliced cucumbers.Once you have made laban, you can make a variety of derivatives, the most popular of them all being labneh.
LABNEH(drained curdled milk)Prepare the laban as explained above, then add 1 teaspoon of salt for every liter you have.Stir gently and then pour inside a thin mesh bag. Suspend the bag overnight so that it can drain; my mom would suspend it to the tap of the kitchen sink. Whether you want the laban to lose all or part of its water is up to you. The result will be a white spread-like cheese. Empty the contents of the bag in a dish, beat slightly and keep in the fridge.TipsThere are many ways to eat labneh, this wonderfully healthy and versatile cheese.
• The classical way is to spread it in a round dish, and with a spoon create a depression in the center so that the result is like a shallow labneh basin. Pour olive oil all over: it will form a pool in the center of the dish. Eat it by taking scoops with "pita" bread, accompanying it with salt, mint leaves, or olives.
• If you like garlic, pound some and mix it to the labneh to obtain labneh-with-garlic, a delicacy.
• Spread it in "pita" bread or even on toast bread and add slices of cucumber or tomato.
• The young generation appreciates labneh as an alternative dip for french fries or nachos.
LABNEH MALBOUDEH(drained labneh)Prepare labneh but let the laban drain completely. At that stage, the cheese comes easily loose from the bag. Transfer it to a bowl and knead it well so as not to leave any lump. If it's not drained enough, put it back in the bag for a few more hours. Check that it is salted to your taste.Thoroughly heap the resulting cheese in a glass jar that can be sealed, and keep it in the fridge or a fresh place.TipsBoth laban and labneh keep a while in a sealed container in the fridge, but if they turn sour they should be thrown away. Packed labneh can be kept up to 6 months.
LABNEH BILZAYT(labneh in oil) Prepare labneh malboudeh, but instead of packing the labneh in a jar, roll little balls the size of a nut in your hands. Fill a jar with olive oil up to 1/3rd, then fill it with the labneh balls. Add oil as you go; when the jar is full, the balls should be covered with about 1/2 inch oil. Prepared in this way, and if you're careful to always keep oil above the balls once you start consuming them, the cheese can be kept for over a year. However, as it ages it turns slightly more sour (personally I like it best when it does).TipsWhen prepared with goat milk, this recipe is a delicacy.
3AYRAN(labneh drink)The basic labneh, cut with water and salted, makes a refreshing drink to be served cold.
JIBNEH(cheese)This simple cheese, so basic it has no other name, is firm, like pressed unbaked dough. Salted, it is an ingredient in many recipes.Ingredients:5 liters milk1/2 teaspoon of rennetPour the raw, cold milk in a, earth or glass container. Dilute the rennet in a bit of milk and add it to the container.Stir and allow to curdle for an hour. The curds form a block then; take a chunk using a teacup and press it between your hands until you get a compact cake and part of the remaining milk has been drained. Dispose the cheese cakes on an upturned sieve, or a slightly inclined platter. Turn them over after an hour and leave them to drain another hour or two.TipsJibneh can be eaten fresh, with a bit of salt, a bit of sugar or even some honey or jam. It can be conserved 5 or 6 months if the following procedure is followed: salt the cheese using a pinch of salt per cake, wait 2 0r 3 hours and store it in glass jars containing water that has been boiled then cooled and salted (1 teaspoon per liter). Covr the surface with a thick layer of olive oil.
TARATOR BIT'HINEH(ground sesame sauce)Ingredients:4 tablespoons "t'hineh" (ground sesame)1/2 cup fresh lemon juice4 garlic cloves (if wanted)1/2 teaspoon saltDilute the ground sesame in the lemon. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix everything well.This sauce accompanies fish or is served alone with a bunch of chopped parsley. It is also used to make several other dishes.
OLIVES(how to prepare them)For green olives:2 kg of green olives in their natural state4 tablespoons salt1 cup olive oilWash the olives in hot water in a colander. Split them using a pebble or a large pounder. Wash them again in cold water. Put them in a jar or two. Cover with salt water, then with about a centimeter of olive oil. The olives can be prepared this way without being split: in this case they keep longer (over a year) but are more bitter. Either way they can be consumed after 2 weeks.For black olives:2 kg of black olives in their natural state6 tablespoons saltOlive oilWash the olives in hot water, then in cold water. Place them in a bowl and roll them in 4 tablespoons of salt. Allow to macerate for 5 days, stirring occasionally, then pour in one or more glass jars (don't pour the reject juice that's at the bottom of the bowl). Cover with salt water then a centimeter of oil. They will be good to eat after a week and keep up to a year as long as there's always oil on top of the water.Tip:Insert in the jar a few slices of lemon, or a chili pepper, or a branch of thyme to flavour your olives.
QATR(syrup)Ingredients:1 kg sugar1/2 liter water3 tablespoons lemon juice4 tablespoons orange blossom waterPut the sugar in an aluminum cooking pot, add the water and stir to melt the sugar. Set to medium heat to bring to a boil. Foam, add the lemon juice and the orange blossom water. Stir and remove from fire.This syrup is served on the side anytime sweets are presented, so that guests can pour some on top of theirs.
Mezza
The mezza was born in Zahle in the 1920s. The word is an abbreviation from al-lumazza: "that which is savoured". It is now the form of the traditional Lebanese meal -- a meal that extends both in space and time. A large number of entr?es, up to 30 for exceptional occasions, are laid on the table until there's no space left whatsoever. Rather than serving from the dishes into individual plates, the guests eat straight from the dishes, using folded pieces of bread as spoons. After the entr?es comes the grilled meat and chicken done on the "fahm" -- in other words, skewered and barbecued. Fruits are the usual dessert, unless the meal is really lavish, and Turkish or white coffee concludes it. A Lebanese meal is not just about eating, it is about laying back, exchanging news and laughing with friends; a drink of arak (grape spirits) and a narguileh pipe are a must. The meal can very easily last 4 hours or more: I suspect that the reason why so many mezza dishes are made is to make it last as long as possible without ever leaving the table empty of things to munch on.Every mezza element below can be readily made on its own as an entr?e to a regular meal.
TABBOULEH("mixture") This very famous salad is the national dish and you will find it everywhere there is mention of Lebanese food.Ingredients:1 cup of fine bourghoul (ground wheat)3 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint4 tomatoes4 green onions or 1 white onion6 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juiceWash the bourghoul in a deep dish by filling it with water and gently pouring out the water so that it will take away any impurity. Leave the bourghoul to soak in cold water for 30 mn. Finely dice the tomatoes and onion and chop the parsley and mint. Mix together the oil, salt and lemon for the sauce. Squeeze the borghoul between your hands to press out the water and mix all the ingredients together.TipsThe tabbouleh is best eaten with small lettuce leaves or better yet, fresh vine leaves rolled up in a cone shape.
FATTOUSH("crumble")Bread is kept in a basket or a nylon bag, and small pieces always accumulate at the bottom of it. The salad known as fattoush makes use of them and prevents their waste.Ingredients:Small grilled or fried pieces of Lebanese/pita bread (although you can try with croutons)1/2 kg cucumber or Lebanese cucumber1/2 kg tomatoes2 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint1 bunch of purslane (this "weed" grows in American backyards, but if the word rings no bells simply ignore it and use lettuce instead)3 onions (if wanted)4 cloves of garlic1 teaspoon sumac4 tablespoons olive oil5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 teaspoon saltSeparate the leaves off the parsley, mint and purslane. Slice the cucumbers, dice the tomatoes. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix it in the oil and lemon. Mix the vegetables and top with the bread fragments. Pour the sauce and sprinkle sumac all over.
HOMMOS BIT'HINEH(mashed chick peas in ground sesame)Ingredients:1 glass of dry chick peas (or a can of cooked chick peas)Tarator sauce as prepared aboveabout 2 tablespoons olive oilIf the chick peas aren't cooked, soak them overnight. Cook them well then mash them in such a way as to get a thick purée. Add the tarator and mix thoroughly. The olive oil is poured on top of the hommos before serving.TipsServed alongside the hommos are usually radishes, green onions and pickles.
SALATA HOMMOS(chick peas salad)Ingredients:1 can of precooked chick peas6 tablespoons olive oil8 garlic cloves1 tablespoon dry mint2 lemonsTake the chick peas out of the water and quickly plunge them in salted boiling water. When it starts boiling again, take them out, rinse them with cold water, pout them in a clean towel and gently rub them to remove the skins. Rinse again in cold water in a bowl: the skins float and flow away with the water.Season with lemon and oil. Offer the pounded garlic and the mint on the side so that everyone can add it according to their own taste. Serve fresh.
FALAFEL("spiced") Ingredients:3/4 glass broad bean flour1/2 glass chick peas flour1/2 glass flour1 teaspoon salt1 pich of pepper1 pinch of red chili powder1 glass of olive oilMix together the flours, salt, pepper, chili. Add very little water, just enough to be able to shape small firm flat cakes thick as a finger. Brown them in the hot oil, on medium-high fire. Remove them and put them on absorbant paper. Serve with radishes, mint, parsley, tomato slices.
LAHM B3AJEEN(meat cakes)Ingredients:500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)600g ground mutton2 onions1 teaspoon salt1 pinch of pepper1 tablespoon butter10 tablespoons laban or yogurt50g pine kernels (if available)Mix together the mutton and finely chopped onions, with salt, pepper, melted butter, yogurt and pine kernels. Separate the dough in pices the size of an egg and spread it to a thickness of about 5 mm. Spread one tablespoon or more of the meat mixture on each piece of dough. Bake in a hot oven for15 mn.Tip:The yogurt can be replaced with 1/2 kg finely chopped tomatoes. Either way they are served with a bowl of yogurt and each person sprinkles some on his hot cakes.
FATAYER BI SBANIGH(spinach cakes)Ingredients:1 kg 1/2 chopped spinach2 big onions8 tablespoons olive oil1 tablespoon salt1 pinch pepper1/2 glass lemon juice500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)Gently rub the spinach with salt and squeeze them to get the water out. Mix them with oil, lemon juice, finely chopped onions, and pepper.Spread the dough to a thickness of about 5 mm. Use a glass to cut round shapes in it, and put a good tablespoonful of spinach mixture in the center of each. Close the dough in the shape of a pyramid. Bake in a hot oven about 20 mn.
KIBBEH NAYYEH(raw meat ground with onion and wheat)Kibbeh shares with tabbouleh the position of national Lebanese dish. This recipe is for the raw version, but the next is an example of the many ways in which kibbeh can be cooked.Ingredients:600g mutton leg1 big cup of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 onion1 teaspoon saltpepper to taste Wash the bourghoul well by rinsing it in a deep dish so that the scraps float and are evacuated with the water. Cover the bourghoul with water and let it soak for half an hour. In the meanwhile, very finely chop the meat and onion together -- they must take the consistency of a dough. Add salt and pepper. Press the bourghoul between your hands to squeeze out the water and add it to the meat and onion. Knead at length with the palm of the hand, often dipping your fingers in cold water. Spread in a dish, not too thickly. Decorate with fresh mint leaves and store about 15 mn in the fridge before serving. Serve with olive oil on the side for the guests to pour on their plate if they wish.Tip:Raw kibbeh is often eaten with pita bread and green onions.
KIBBEH KBEIBAT(kibbeh balls)Ingredients:500g mutton leg2 big cups of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 large onion1 tablespoon saltpepper to tasteStuffing:100g finely chopped mutton ribs1 onion50 g pine kernels2 tablespoons butter or oilPrepare kibbeh nayye as explained in the previous recipe. Prepare the stuffing: brown the ingredients separately in the butter or oil, then mix them.Make a ball of kibbeh the size of an egg. Dig it with the finger while holding it in the hollow of the palm of the other hand. When the walls are no thicker than half a centimeter, insert a bit of stuffing inside it and pinch the opening closed again. The ball takes on the shape of a lemon, which you can see in the image to the left. Bake the balls of kibbeh in the oven at medium heat for 40 mn, or fry them in butter or peanut oil. They are served cold or warm.Tip:Kibbeh balls can be seasoned in various ways. Kibbeh Labniyeh involves a yogurt-based sauce: bring water to a boil in a cooking pot, with very little salt. Poach the balls in it for 10 mn and carefully remove them with a sieve. Bring laban to a boil on low fire -- 1 liter for 20 balls. When it's boiling, pour a teaspoon of starch and add the balls. Leave to simmer for 5 to 10 mn.The yogurt can be replaced by tomato sauce.
KAFTA MISHWEH(skewered parsleyed meat)Ingredients:600g chopped mutton leg2 onions1 bunch of parsleySalt and pepperChop the meat very finely until it becomes dough-like. Also chop the onions and parsley very finely. Add salt and pepper, knead well together and divide into 8 balls. Skewer each ball individually and press with the fingers to spread the ball alogn the skewer in the shape of a sausage. Press the extremities well wo that they'll adhere well to the metal. Barbecue and serve hot on a bed of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped parsley, and onion slices (sprinkled with sumac if available).Tip:Kafta can also be baked in an oven, under the grill. The dough can be made into flattened balls just like hamburger meat and browned in a wok, or put in a dish with tomato sauce, tomato slices and potato slices, to be cooked in the oven.
Other than prepared dishes, the following are also put on the table for a mezza:
French fries (like everything else that enters the country, they were Lebanized).
Labneh, either plain or garlic-flavoured
A large plate of fresh vegetables: tomato, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, radish, Lebanese cucumber...
Small bowls of black and green olives (stuffed are a plus).
Small bowls of fresh almonds in water or pistacchios (depending on the season).
Lots and lots of Lebanese bread! The traditional bread, the 'marqouq", is the favourite for this sort of meal: it is very large, up to 2 feet in diameter, and so thin the French used to call it "drum skin".
Home dishes
There is quite a difference between Lebanese food one eats in a restaurant or on occasions and food that is made at home for daily meals. The quantity of rice that we eat is more obvious in home cooking, for one thing, and the ingredients are not scattered in dozens of little dishes, but rather concentrated in one or two large ones.
DAOUD BACHA(meatballs with rice)Ingredients:600g ground mutton (hamburger meat works fine)50g pine kernels2 cans of tomato sauce (or 1 kg fresh tomatoes)2 onions1 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oilAn appropriate quantity of cooked white riceFinely chop the onions and mix them with the meat along with salt and pepper. Knead well and make balls the size of a nut. Dig each ball with a finger, stuff a few pine kernels in and close it again. Brown the balls in half the buter and put them in a greased baking dish. Cover in tomato sauce (if canned, dilute it with 1 and 1/2 glass of water). Cook for 25 mn at medium high. Turn over the balls after half the time has passed.Serve hot on white rice.(This dish was named after the pacha David, who administrated Mount Lebanon from 1961 to 1968)
LOUBIEH BZAYT(French beans in oil)Ingredients:1 kg tender French beans (also called green beans I believe?)2 onions10 garlic cloves1 kg ripe tomatoes2 tablespoons peanut oil4 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon saltWash the beans then cut them in two. Whiten them 5 mn in boiling water then drain them. Brown the thinly sliced onions and the peeled garlic cloves (whole) in peanut oil. After a few minutes, add the salt and beans. Cover the cooking pot and steam on low heat for 5 mn. Add the diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup boiling water. Allow to stew for half an hour on low heat, covered. Add the olive oil at the end. Serve lukewarm or cold.Tip:This dish can be prepared without mashing the lentils: in this case it is called Mdardara. Thinly slice another onion and brown it to cover the surface of the mdardara (or mjaddara) dish.
MJADDARA(mashed lentils and rice)Ingredients:1 cup lentils1 cup round rice1 onion2 tablespoons olive oil2 tablespoons peanut oil1 teaspoon saltWash the lentils. Boil the lentils in 3 cups of water for about 40 mn. Mash them and add 2 cups of boiling water. Bring to a boil again and add the rice after havign washed it. Brown the finely diced onion on the side in the peanut oil and add it to the cooking pot. Stir and let cook on low heat for 20 mn, stirring occasionally. Add the olive oil towards the end. Serve lukewarm or cold with a tomato and cucumber salad or another Lebanese salad.
3ADASS B'HAMOD(lentils in lemon)Ingredients:2 cups of lentils2 onions4 garlic clovesA few beet leaves2 medium potatoes1 teaspoon powdered mint2 tablespoons peanut oil2 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup lemon juiceBring the lentils to a boil in 6 glasses of water and cook them for one hour. Chop the onions roughly and brown them slightly in the peanut oil. Pour them in the pot on the cooked lentils along with the garlic, pounded and mixed to the mint. Dice the potatoes and chop the beet leaves before adding them to the mix. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Add the lemon juice. Serve as a soup.
Desserts
It is not really customary to eat desserts at the end of a meal in Lebanon (usually it ends with fruits), but sweet dishes are numerous to be served to guests or unexpected visitors.
MHALLABIYEH(rice cream)Ingredients:1 liter milk1/2 glass powdered rice3/4 glass sugar1 glass roughly ground pistacchiosDilute the rice in a bit of cold water. Boil the milk and add the rice. Stir until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups and allow to cool. Sprinkle pistacchios on the surface before serving.TipsThe rice can be replaced by starch, and the pistacchios by almonds, in which case the dessert is called ilmassiyeh ("diamonded").
ROZZ BI HALIB(rice in milk)Ingredients:1 liter milk3/4 cup round rice3/4 cup sugar2 tablespoons orange bloom waterWash the rice and cook it in 3/4 cup of boiling water until the water is completely absorbed. Boil the milk and add the orange bloom water, the sugar and cooked rice. Stir until boiling point then allow to cook on low heat for about 30 mn. Serve cold or lukewarm.
SIMSMIYEH(sesame nougat)Ingredients:2 cups sesame seeds3/4 cup sugar1 tablespoon lemon juicePut all the ingredients in a wok on medium heat and sti continually. Qhen the sigar starts to melt, lower the heat while continuing to stir until it is completely melted. Pour the mixture on a platter. Spread it with a rolling pin. cut it into pieces while it's still warm.TipsThe sesame seeds can be replaced by pine kernels to make a Snoubariyeh, nuts for a Jauziyeh, pistachios for a Fistqiyeh or hazelnuts for a Bunduqiyeh. In the later two cases, grill the fruits first.
Special occasions
A number of dishes, especially desserts, are made only at a specific time of the year, notably for religious celebrations, or for special events such as a birth.
ZALABI HAF(doughnuts)Prepared on the Eve of the EpiphanyIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon yeast1 or more cups of water2 cups of oil (for frying)Knead the flour, salt, yeast and water together to get a light dough. Let it rest for an hour. Heat the oil in a wok. Take egg-sized pieces of dough and lightly stretch them, then drop them in the boiling oil. Remove when golden and dispose on absorbant paper. Serve lukewarm or cold, sprinkled with sugar or accompanied with honey or jam.
KAAK B'HALIB(milk cakes)Prepared for EasterIngredients:500g flour100g butter2 tablespoons olive oil1 cup of milk200g sugar1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon powdered aromatic plants: wild cherry seed, marjoram, aniseed.Mix the flour, yeast, aromatic plants and gradually add the olive oil and melted butter. Dilute the sugar in the milk and add to the mixture. Knead the dough and allow to rest for 2 hours. Shape flat cakes about 7 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick (wooden molds exist to imprint a motif on the dough). They can also be stretched in the shapes of bracelets thick as a finger. Bake in medium oven after preheating it at a high temperature. They are eaten lukewarm or cold.TipsOnce the kaaks are baked, you can dilute 2 tablespoons of sugar in half a cup of milk and dip the top face of the cakes in it, then sprinkle them with sugar. Allow to dry a bit before serving.
QIRBAN(festivity cakes)Prepared for religious celebrationsIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon salt200g sugar1/4 cup orange blossom water (or rose water)1 cup water or moreGradually mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, orange blossom water and water until you get a dough like bread dough. Allow to rest for 2 hours. Make cakes the size of a tea saucer. Prick the dough with a fork or knitting needle, especially in the center, to prevent it from swelling. Bake in the oven on medium heat. Serve cold.Qirban are prepared in large quantities for holidays. They are distributed to relatives and friends and a dozen is sent to the church to be blessed by the priest. He symbolically sends one back to the family and the rest are cut into pieces that are distributed to the mass attendees.
MIGHLI(carvi cream)Prepared on the occasion of a birthIngredients:2 cups sugar1 cup rice powder2 tablespoons carvi powder1/2 tablespoon aniseed powder1/2 tablespoon cinnamon powderroughly chopped nuts, pine kernels, almonds, grated coconutBring 2.5 liters of water to a boil, add the rice powder diluted in a bit of cold water. Add the sugar and spices. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups. Serve cold, covered with the nuts and coconut.
I include here simple recipes that are either daily to us or serve as a basis for other dishes -- starting with making your own yogurt and derivatives the Lebanese way.What the west calls yogurt, that we call laban, was already made and enjoyed thousands of years ago by the Phoenicians
. Laban, labneh, and Lebanon all come from the ancient word LBN meaning "white". If you like yogurt, you will enjoy making your own with this very old method.
LABAN(yogurt or curdled milk)Ingredients:1 liter of milk (during the war when only powder milk was available, my mom would use that and it would turn out great)1 tablespoon of rennet (or readymade yogurt)If the milk is raw, boil it. If it's pasteurized, warm it to 451⁄4C (if you can insert your finger and count till 10 without getting burned, the temperature is right).Dilute the rennet or yogurt in a bit of milk and pour into the lukewarm milk. It is even better if the latter is in an earthenware recipient at that point. Stir with a spoon then cover with a thick duffel or the like.Leave it 4 hours.TipsYogurt/laban can be eaten sweet or salted, and we use it for many recipes such as stuffed zucchini with laban, stuffed vine leaves with laban, meat stew with laban... A very simple and very fresh recipe is to mix laban with crushed dry mint leaves, salt and sliced cucumbers.Once you have made laban, you can make a variety of derivatives, the most popular of them all being labneh.
LABNEH(drained curdled milk)Prepare the laban as explained above, then add 1 teaspoon of salt for every liter you have.Stir gently and then pour inside a thin mesh bag. Suspend the bag overnight so that it can drain; my mom would suspend it to the tap of the kitchen sink. Whether you want the laban to lose all or part of its water is up to you. The result will be a white spread-like cheese. Empty the contents of the bag in a dish, beat slightly and keep in the fridge.TipsThere are many ways to eat labneh, this wonderfully healthy and versatile cheese.
• The classical way is to spread it in a round dish, and with a spoon create a depression in the center so that the result is like a shallow labneh basin. Pour olive oil all over: it will form a pool in the center of the dish. Eat it by taking scoops with "pita" bread, accompanying it with salt, mint leaves, or olives.
• If you like garlic, pound some and mix it to the labneh to obtain labneh-with-garlic, a delicacy.
• Spread it in "pita" bread or even on toast bread and add slices of cucumber or tomato.
• The young generation appreciates labneh as an alternative dip for french fries or nachos.
LABNEH MALBOUDEH(drained labneh)Prepare labneh but let the laban drain completely. At that stage, the cheese comes easily loose from the bag. Transfer it to a bowl and knead it well so as not to leave any lump. If it's not drained enough, put it back in the bag for a few more hours. Check that it is salted to your taste.Thoroughly heap the resulting cheese in a glass jar that can be sealed, and keep it in the fridge or a fresh place.TipsBoth laban and labneh keep a while in a sealed container in the fridge, but if they turn sour they should be thrown away. Packed labneh can be kept up to 6 months.
LABNEH BILZAYT(labneh in oil) Prepare labneh malboudeh, but instead of packing the labneh in a jar, roll little balls the size of a nut in your hands. Fill a jar with olive oil up to 1/3rd, then fill it with the labneh balls. Add oil as you go; when the jar is full, the balls should be covered with about 1/2 inch oil. Prepared in this way, and if you're careful to always keep oil above the balls once you start consuming them, the cheese can be kept for over a year. However, as it ages it turns slightly more sour (personally I like it best when it does).TipsWhen prepared with goat milk, this recipe is a delicacy.
3AYRAN(labneh drink)The basic labneh, cut with water and salted, makes a refreshing drink to be served cold.
JIBNEH(cheese)This simple cheese, so basic it has no other name, is firm, like pressed unbaked dough. Salted, it is an ingredient in many recipes.Ingredients:5 liters milk1/2 teaspoon of rennetPour the raw, cold milk in a, earth or glass container. Dilute the rennet in a bit of milk and add it to the container.Stir and allow to curdle for an hour. The curds form a block then; take a chunk using a teacup and press it between your hands until you get a compact cake and part of the remaining milk has been drained. Dispose the cheese cakes on an upturned sieve, or a slightly inclined platter. Turn them over after an hour and leave them to drain another hour or two.TipsJibneh can be eaten fresh, with a bit of salt, a bit of sugar or even some honey or jam. It can be conserved 5 or 6 months if the following procedure is followed: salt the cheese using a pinch of salt per cake, wait 2 0r 3 hours and store it in glass jars containing water that has been boiled then cooled and salted (1 teaspoon per liter). Covr the surface with a thick layer of olive oil.
TARATOR BIT'HINEH(ground sesame sauce)Ingredients:4 tablespoons "t'hineh" (ground sesame)1/2 cup fresh lemon juice4 garlic cloves (if wanted)1/2 teaspoon saltDilute the ground sesame in the lemon. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix everything well.This sauce accompanies fish or is served alone with a bunch of chopped parsley. It is also used to make several other dishes.
OLIVES(how to prepare them)For green olives:2 kg of green olives in their natural state4 tablespoons salt1 cup olive oilWash the olives in hot water in a colander. Split them using a pebble or a large pounder. Wash them again in cold water. Put them in a jar or two. Cover with salt water, then with about a centimeter of olive oil. The olives can be prepared this way without being split: in this case they keep longer (over a year) but are more bitter. Either way they can be consumed after 2 weeks.For black olives:2 kg of black olives in their natural state6 tablespoons saltOlive oilWash the olives in hot water, then in cold water. Place them in a bowl and roll them in 4 tablespoons of salt. Allow to macerate for 5 days, stirring occasionally, then pour in one or more glass jars (don't pour the reject juice that's at the bottom of the bowl). Cover with salt water then a centimeter of oil. They will be good to eat after a week and keep up to a year as long as there's always oil on top of the water.Tip:Insert in the jar a few slices of lemon, or a chili pepper, or a branch of thyme to flavour your olives.
QATR(syrup)Ingredients:1 kg sugar1/2 liter water3 tablespoons lemon juice4 tablespoons orange blossom waterPut the sugar in an aluminum cooking pot, add the water and stir to melt the sugar. Set to medium heat to bring to a boil. Foam, add the lemon juice and the orange blossom water. Stir and remove from fire.This syrup is served on the side anytime sweets are presented, so that guests can pour some on top of theirs.
Mezza
The mezza was born in Zahle in the 1920s. The word is an abbreviation from al-lumazza: "that which is savoured". It is now the form of the traditional Lebanese meal -- a meal that extends both in space and time. A large number of entr?es, up to 30 for exceptional occasions, are laid on the table until there's no space left whatsoever. Rather than serving from the dishes into individual plates, the guests eat straight from the dishes, using folded pieces of bread as spoons. After the entr?es comes the grilled meat and chicken done on the "fahm" -- in other words, skewered and barbecued. Fruits are the usual dessert, unless the meal is really lavish, and Turkish or white coffee concludes it. A Lebanese meal is not just about eating, it is about laying back, exchanging news and laughing with friends; a drink of arak (grape spirits) and a narguileh pipe are a must. The meal can very easily last 4 hours or more: I suspect that the reason why so many mezza dishes are made is to make it last as long as possible without ever leaving the table empty of things to munch on.Every mezza element below can be readily made on its own as an entr?e to a regular meal.
TABBOULEH("mixture") This very famous salad is the national dish and you will find it everywhere there is mention of Lebanese food.Ingredients:1 cup of fine bourghoul (ground wheat)3 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint4 tomatoes4 green onions or 1 white onion6 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juiceWash the bourghoul in a deep dish by filling it with water and gently pouring out the water so that it will take away any impurity. Leave the bourghoul to soak in cold water for 30 mn. Finely dice the tomatoes and onion and chop the parsley and mint. Mix together the oil, salt and lemon for the sauce. Squeeze the borghoul between your hands to press out the water and mix all the ingredients together.TipsThe tabbouleh is best eaten with small lettuce leaves or better yet, fresh vine leaves rolled up in a cone shape.
FATTOUSH("crumble")Bread is kept in a basket or a nylon bag, and small pieces always accumulate at the bottom of it. The salad known as fattoush makes use of them and prevents their waste.Ingredients:Small grilled or fried pieces of Lebanese/pita bread (although you can try with croutons)1/2 kg cucumber or Lebanese cucumber1/2 kg tomatoes2 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint1 bunch of purslane (this "weed" grows in American backyards, but if the word rings no bells simply ignore it and use lettuce instead)3 onions (if wanted)4 cloves of garlic1 teaspoon sumac4 tablespoons olive oil5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 teaspoon saltSeparate the leaves off the parsley, mint and purslane. Slice the cucumbers, dice the tomatoes. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix it in the oil and lemon. Mix the vegetables and top with the bread fragments. Pour the sauce and sprinkle sumac all over.
HOMMOS BIT'HINEH(mashed chick peas in ground sesame)Ingredients:1 glass of dry chick peas (or a can of cooked chick peas)Tarator sauce as prepared aboveabout 2 tablespoons olive oilIf the chick peas aren't cooked, soak them overnight. Cook them well then mash them in such a way as to get a thick purée. Add the tarator and mix thoroughly. The olive oil is poured on top of the hommos before serving.TipsServed alongside the hommos are usually radishes, green onions and pickles.
SALATA HOMMOS(chick peas salad)Ingredients:1 can of precooked chick peas6 tablespoons olive oil8 garlic cloves1 tablespoon dry mint2 lemonsTake the chick peas out of the water and quickly plunge them in salted boiling water. When it starts boiling again, take them out, rinse them with cold water, pout them in a clean towel and gently rub them to remove the skins. Rinse again in cold water in a bowl: the skins float and flow away with the water.Season with lemon and oil. Offer the pounded garlic and the mint on the side so that everyone can add it according to their own taste. Serve fresh.
FALAFEL("spiced") Ingredients:3/4 glass broad bean flour1/2 glass chick peas flour1/2 glass flour1 teaspoon salt1 pich of pepper1 pinch of red chili powder1 glass of olive oilMix together the flours, salt, pepper, chili. Add very little water, just enough to be able to shape small firm flat cakes thick as a finger. Brown them in the hot oil, on medium-high fire. Remove them and put them on absorbant paper. Serve with radishes, mint, parsley, tomato slices.
LAHM B3AJEEN(meat cakes)Ingredients:500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)600g ground mutton2 onions1 teaspoon salt1 pinch of pepper1 tablespoon butter10 tablespoons laban or yogurt50g pine kernels (if available)Mix together the mutton and finely chopped onions, with salt, pepper, melted butter, yogurt and pine kernels. Separate the dough in pices the size of an egg and spread it to a thickness of about 5 mm. Spread one tablespoon or more of the meat mixture on each piece of dough. Bake in a hot oven for15 mn.Tip:The yogurt can be replaced with 1/2 kg finely chopped tomatoes. Either way they are served with a bowl of yogurt and each person sprinkles some on his hot cakes.
FATAYER BI SBANIGH(spinach cakes)Ingredients:1 kg 1/2 chopped spinach2 big onions8 tablespoons olive oil1 tablespoon salt1 pinch pepper1/2 glass lemon juice500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)Gently rub the spinach with salt and squeeze them to get the water out. Mix them with oil, lemon juice, finely chopped onions, and pepper.Spread the dough to a thickness of about 5 mm. Use a glass to cut round shapes in it, and put a good tablespoonful of spinach mixture in the center of each. Close the dough in the shape of a pyramid. Bake in a hot oven about 20 mn.
KIBBEH NAYYEH(raw meat ground with onion and wheat)Kibbeh shares with tabbouleh the position of national Lebanese dish. This recipe is for the raw version, but the next is an example of the many ways in which kibbeh can be cooked.Ingredients:600g mutton leg1 big cup of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 onion1 teaspoon saltpepper to taste Wash the bourghoul well by rinsing it in a deep dish so that the scraps float and are evacuated with the water. Cover the bourghoul with water and let it soak for half an hour. In the meanwhile, very finely chop the meat and onion together -- they must take the consistency of a dough. Add salt and pepper. Press the bourghoul between your hands to squeeze out the water and add it to the meat and onion. Knead at length with the palm of the hand, often dipping your fingers in cold water. Spread in a dish, not too thickly. Decorate with fresh mint leaves and store about 15 mn in the fridge before serving. Serve with olive oil on the side for the guests to pour on their plate if they wish.Tip:Raw kibbeh is often eaten with pita bread and green onions.
KIBBEH KBEIBAT(kibbeh balls)Ingredients:500g mutton leg2 big cups of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 large onion1 tablespoon saltpepper to tasteStuffing:100g finely chopped mutton ribs1 onion50 g pine kernels2 tablespoons butter or oilPrepare kibbeh nayye as explained in the previous recipe. Prepare the stuffing: brown the ingredients separately in the butter or oil, then mix them.Make a ball of kibbeh the size of an egg. Dig it with the finger while holding it in the hollow of the palm of the other hand. When the walls are no thicker than half a centimeter, insert a bit of stuffing inside it and pinch the opening closed again. The ball takes on the shape of a lemon, which you can see in the image to the left. Bake the balls of kibbeh in the oven at medium heat for 40 mn, or fry them in butter or peanut oil. They are served cold or warm.Tip:Kibbeh balls can be seasoned in various ways. Kibbeh Labniyeh involves a yogurt-based sauce: bring water to a boil in a cooking pot, with very little salt. Poach the balls in it for 10 mn and carefully remove them with a sieve. Bring laban to a boil on low fire -- 1 liter for 20 balls. When it's boiling, pour a teaspoon of starch and add the balls. Leave to simmer for 5 to 10 mn.The yogurt can be replaced by tomato sauce.
KAFTA MISHWEH(skewered parsleyed meat)Ingredients:600g chopped mutton leg2 onions1 bunch of parsleySalt and pepperChop the meat very finely until it becomes dough-like. Also chop the onions and parsley very finely. Add salt and pepper, knead well together and divide into 8 balls. Skewer each ball individually and press with the fingers to spread the ball alogn the skewer in the shape of a sausage. Press the extremities well wo that they'll adhere well to the metal. Barbecue and serve hot on a bed of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped parsley, and onion slices (sprinkled with sumac if available).Tip:Kafta can also be baked in an oven, under the grill. The dough can be made into flattened balls just like hamburger meat and browned in a wok, or put in a dish with tomato sauce, tomato slices and potato slices, to be cooked in the oven.
Other than prepared dishes, the following are also put on the table for a mezza:
French fries (like everything else that enters the country, they were Lebanized).
Labneh, either plain or garlic-flavoured
A large plate of fresh vegetables: tomato, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, radish, Lebanese cucumber...
Small bowls of black and green olives (stuffed are a plus).
Small bowls of fresh almonds in water or pistacchios (depending on the season).
Lots and lots of Lebanese bread! The traditional bread, the 'marqouq", is the favourite for this sort of meal: it is very large, up to 2 feet in diameter, and so thin the French used to call it "drum skin".
Home dishes
There is quite a difference between Lebanese food one eats in a restaurant or on occasions and food that is made at home for daily meals. The quantity of rice that we eat is more obvious in home cooking, for one thing, and the ingredients are not scattered in dozens of little dishes, but rather concentrated in one or two large ones.
DAOUD BACHA(meatballs with rice)Ingredients:600g ground mutton (hamburger meat works fine)50g pine kernels2 cans of tomato sauce (or 1 kg fresh tomatoes)2 onions1 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oilAn appropriate quantity of cooked white riceFinely chop the onions and mix them with the meat along with salt and pepper. Knead well and make balls the size of a nut. Dig each ball with a finger, stuff a few pine kernels in and close it again. Brown the balls in half the buter and put them in a greased baking dish. Cover in tomato sauce (if canned, dilute it with 1 and 1/2 glass of water). Cook for 25 mn at medium high. Turn over the balls after half the time has passed.Serve hot on white rice.(This dish was named after the pacha David, who administrated Mount Lebanon from 1961 to 1968)
LOUBIEH BZAYT(French beans in oil)Ingredients:1 kg tender French beans (also called green beans I believe?)2 onions10 garlic cloves1 kg ripe tomatoes2 tablespoons peanut oil4 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon saltWash the beans then cut them in two. Whiten them 5 mn in boiling water then drain them. Brown the thinly sliced onions and the peeled garlic cloves (whole) in peanut oil. After a few minutes, add the salt and beans. Cover the cooking pot and steam on low heat for 5 mn. Add the diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup boiling water. Allow to stew for half an hour on low heat, covered. Add the olive oil at the end. Serve lukewarm or cold.Tip:This dish can be prepared without mashing the lentils: in this case it is called Mdardara. Thinly slice another onion and brown it to cover the surface of the mdardara (or mjaddara) dish.
MJADDARA(mashed lentils and rice)Ingredients:1 cup lentils1 cup round rice1 onion2 tablespoons olive oil2 tablespoons peanut oil1 teaspoon saltWash the lentils. Boil the lentils in 3 cups of water for about 40 mn. Mash them and add 2 cups of boiling water. Bring to a boil again and add the rice after havign washed it. Brown the finely diced onion on the side in the peanut oil and add it to the cooking pot. Stir and let cook on low heat for 20 mn, stirring occasionally. Add the olive oil towards the end. Serve lukewarm or cold with a tomato and cucumber salad or another Lebanese salad.
3ADASS B'HAMOD(lentils in lemon)Ingredients:2 cups of lentils2 onions4 garlic clovesA few beet leaves2 medium potatoes1 teaspoon powdered mint2 tablespoons peanut oil2 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup lemon juiceBring the lentils to a boil in 6 glasses of water and cook them for one hour. Chop the onions roughly and brown them slightly in the peanut oil. Pour them in the pot on the cooked lentils along with the garlic, pounded and mixed to the mint. Dice the potatoes and chop the beet leaves before adding them to the mix. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Add the lemon juice. Serve as a soup.
Desserts
It is not really customary to eat desserts at the end of a meal in Lebanon (usually it ends with fruits), but sweet dishes are numerous to be served to guests or unexpected visitors.
MHALLABIYEH(rice cream)Ingredients:1 liter milk1/2 glass powdered rice3/4 glass sugar1 glass roughly ground pistacchiosDilute the rice in a bit of cold water. Boil the milk and add the rice. Stir until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups and allow to cool. Sprinkle pistacchios on the surface before serving.TipsThe rice can be replaced by starch, and the pistacchios by almonds, in which case the dessert is called ilmassiyeh ("diamonded").
ROZZ BI HALIB(rice in milk)Ingredients:1 liter milk3/4 cup round rice3/4 cup sugar2 tablespoons orange bloom waterWash the rice and cook it in 3/4 cup of boiling water until the water is completely absorbed. Boil the milk and add the orange bloom water, the sugar and cooked rice. Stir until boiling point then allow to cook on low heat for about 30 mn. Serve cold or lukewarm.
SIMSMIYEH(sesame nougat)Ingredients:2 cups sesame seeds3/4 cup sugar1 tablespoon lemon juicePut all the ingredients in a wok on medium heat and sti continually. Qhen the sigar starts to melt, lower the heat while continuing to stir until it is completely melted. Pour the mixture on a platter. Spread it with a rolling pin. cut it into pieces while it's still warm.TipsThe sesame seeds can be replaced by pine kernels to make a Snoubariyeh, nuts for a Jauziyeh, pistachios for a Fistqiyeh or hazelnuts for a Bunduqiyeh. In the later two cases, grill the fruits first.
Special occasions
A number of dishes, especially desserts, are made only at a specific time of the year, notably for religious celebrations, or for special events such as a birth.
ZALABI HAF(doughnuts)Prepared on the Eve of the EpiphanyIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon yeast1 or more cups of water2 cups of oil (for frying)Knead the flour, salt, yeast and water together to get a light dough. Let it rest for an hour. Heat the oil in a wok. Take egg-sized pieces of dough and lightly stretch them, then drop them in the boiling oil. Remove when golden and dispose on absorbant paper. Serve lukewarm or cold, sprinkled with sugar or accompanied with honey or jam.
KAAK B'HALIB(milk cakes)Prepared for EasterIngredients:500g flour100g butter2 tablespoons olive oil1 cup of milk200g sugar1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon powdered aromatic plants: wild cherry seed, marjoram, aniseed.Mix the flour, yeast, aromatic plants and gradually add the olive oil and melted butter. Dilute the sugar in the milk and add to the mixture. Knead the dough and allow to rest for 2 hours. Shape flat cakes about 7 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick (wooden molds exist to imprint a motif on the dough). They can also be stretched in the shapes of bracelets thick as a finger. Bake in medium oven after preheating it at a high temperature. They are eaten lukewarm or cold.TipsOnce the kaaks are baked, you can dilute 2 tablespoons of sugar in half a cup of milk and dip the top face of the cakes in it, then sprinkle them with sugar. Allow to dry a bit before serving.
QIRBAN(festivity cakes)Prepared for religious celebrationsIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon salt200g sugar1/4 cup orange blossom water (or rose water)1 cup water or moreGradually mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, orange blossom water and water until you get a dough like bread dough. Allow to rest for 2 hours. Make cakes the size of a tea saucer. Prick the dough with a fork or knitting needle, especially in the center, to prevent it from swelling. Bake in the oven on medium heat. Serve cold.Qirban are prepared in large quantities for holidays. They are distributed to relatives and friends and a dozen is sent to the church to be blessed by the priest. He symbolically sends one back to the family and the rest are cut into pieces that are distributed to the mass attendees.
MIGHLI(carvi cream)Prepared on the occasion of a birthIngredients:2 cups sugar1 cup rice powder2 tablespoons carvi powder1/2 tablespoon aniseed powder1/2 tablespoon cinnamon powderroughly chopped nuts, pine kernels, almonds, grated coconutBring 2.5 liters of water to a boil, add the rice powder diluted in a bit of cold water. Add the sugar and spices. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups. Serve cold, covered with the nuts and coconut.
. Laban, labneh, and Lebanon all come from the ancient word LBN meaning "white". If you like yogurt, you will enjoy making your own with this very old method.
LABAN(yogurt or curdled milk)Ingredients:1 liter of milk (during the war when only powder milk was available, my mom would use that and it would turn out great)1 tablespoon of rennet (or readymade yogurt)If the milk is raw, boil it. If it's pasteurized, warm it to 451⁄4C (if you can insert your finger and count till 10 without getting burned, the temperature is right).Dilute the rennet or yogurt in a bit of milk and pour into the lukewarm milk. It is even better if the latter is in an earthenware recipient at that point. Stir with a spoon then cover with a thick duffel or the like.Leave it 4 hours.TipsYogurt/laban can be eaten sweet or salted, and we use it for many recipes such as stuffed zucchini with laban, stuffed vine leaves with laban, meat stew with laban... A very simple and very fresh recipe is to mix laban with crushed dry mint leaves, salt and sliced cucumbers.Once you have made laban, you can make a variety of derivatives, the most popular of them all being labneh.
LABNEH(drained curdled milk)Prepare the laban as explained above, then add 1 teaspoon of salt for every liter you have.Stir gently and then pour inside a thin mesh bag. Suspend the bag overnight so that it can drain; my mom would suspend it to the tap of the kitchen sink. Whether you want the laban to lose all or part of its water is up to you. The result will be a white spread-like cheese. Empty the contents of the bag in a dish, beat slightly and keep in the fridge.TipsThere are many ways to eat labneh, this wonderfully healthy and versatile cheese.
• The classical way is to spread it in a round dish, and with a spoon create a depression in the center so that the result is like a shallow labneh basin. Pour olive oil all over: it will form a pool in the center of the dish. Eat it by taking scoops with "pita" bread, accompanying it with salt, mint leaves, or olives.
• If you like garlic, pound some and mix it to the labneh to obtain labneh-with-garlic, a delicacy.
• Spread it in "pita" bread or even on toast bread and add slices of cucumber or tomato.
• The young generation appreciates labneh as an alternative dip for french fries or nachos.
LABNEH MALBOUDEH(drained labneh)Prepare labneh but let the laban drain completely. At that stage, the cheese comes easily loose from the bag. Transfer it to a bowl and knead it well so as not to leave any lump. If it's not drained enough, put it back in the bag for a few more hours. Check that it is salted to your taste.Thoroughly heap the resulting cheese in a glass jar that can be sealed, and keep it in the fridge or a fresh place.TipsBoth laban and labneh keep a while in a sealed container in the fridge, but if they turn sour they should be thrown away. Packed labneh can be kept up to 6 months.
LABNEH BILZAYT(labneh in oil) Prepare labneh malboudeh, but instead of packing the labneh in a jar, roll little balls the size of a nut in your hands. Fill a jar with olive oil up to 1/3rd, then fill it with the labneh balls. Add oil as you go; when the jar is full, the balls should be covered with about 1/2 inch oil. Prepared in this way, and if you're careful to always keep oil above the balls once you start consuming them, the cheese can be kept for over a year. However, as it ages it turns slightly more sour (personally I like it best when it does).TipsWhen prepared with goat milk, this recipe is a delicacy.
3AYRAN(labneh drink)The basic labneh, cut with water and salted, makes a refreshing drink to be served cold.
JIBNEH(cheese)This simple cheese, so basic it has no other name, is firm, like pressed unbaked dough. Salted, it is an ingredient in many recipes.Ingredients:5 liters milk1/2 teaspoon of rennetPour the raw, cold milk in a, earth or glass container. Dilute the rennet in a bit of milk and add it to the container.Stir and allow to curdle for an hour. The curds form a block then; take a chunk using a teacup and press it between your hands until you get a compact cake and part of the remaining milk has been drained. Dispose the cheese cakes on an upturned sieve, or a slightly inclined platter. Turn them over after an hour and leave them to drain another hour or two.TipsJibneh can be eaten fresh, with a bit of salt, a bit of sugar or even some honey or jam. It can be conserved 5 or 6 months if the following procedure is followed: salt the cheese using a pinch of salt per cake, wait 2 0r 3 hours and store it in glass jars containing water that has been boiled then cooled and salted (1 teaspoon per liter). Covr the surface with a thick layer of olive oil.
TARATOR BIT'HINEH(ground sesame sauce)Ingredients:4 tablespoons "t'hineh" (ground sesame)1/2 cup fresh lemon juice4 garlic cloves (if wanted)1/2 teaspoon saltDilute the ground sesame in the lemon. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix everything well.This sauce accompanies fish or is served alone with a bunch of chopped parsley. It is also used to make several other dishes.
OLIVES(how to prepare them)For green olives:2 kg of green olives in their natural state4 tablespoons salt1 cup olive oilWash the olives in hot water in a colander. Split them using a pebble or a large pounder. Wash them again in cold water. Put them in a jar or two. Cover with salt water, then with about a centimeter of olive oil. The olives can be prepared this way without being split: in this case they keep longer (over a year) but are more bitter. Either way they can be consumed after 2 weeks.For black olives:2 kg of black olives in their natural state6 tablespoons saltOlive oilWash the olives in hot water, then in cold water. Place them in a bowl and roll them in 4 tablespoons of salt. Allow to macerate for 5 days, stirring occasionally, then pour in one or more glass jars (don't pour the reject juice that's at the bottom of the bowl). Cover with salt water then a centimeter of oil. They will be good to eat after a week and keep up to a year as long as there's always oil on top of the water.Tip:Insert in the jar a few slices of lemon, or a chili pepper, or a branch of thyme to flavour your olives.
QATR(syrup)Ingredients:1 kg sugar1/2 liter water3 tablespoons lemon juice4 tablespoons orange blossom waterPut the sugar in an aluminum cooking pot, add the water and stir to melt the sugar. Set to medium heat to bring to a boil. Foam, add the lemon juice and the orange blossom water. Stir and remove from fire.This syrup is served on the side anytime sweets are presented, so that guests can pour some on top of theirs.
Mezza
The mezza was born in Zahle in the 1920s. The word is an abbreviation from al-lumazza: "that which is savoured". It is now the form of the traditional Lebanese meal -- a meal that extends both in space and time. A large number of entr?es, up to 30 for exceptional occasions, are laid on the table until there's no space left whatsoever. Rather than serving from the dishes into individual plates, the guests eat straight from the dishes, using folded pieces of bread as spoons. After the entr?es comes the grilled meat and chicken done on the "fahm" -- in other words, skewered and barbecued. Fruits are the usual dessert, unless the meal is really lavish, and Turkish or white coffee concludes it. A Lebanese meal is not just about eating, it is about laying back, exchanging news and laughing with friends; a drink of arak (grape spirits) and a narguileh pipe are a must. The meal can very easily last 4 hours or more: I suspect that the reason why so many mezza dishes are made is to make it last as long as possible without ever leaving the table empty of things to munch on.Every mezza element below can be readily made on its own as an entr?e to a regular meal.
TABBOULEH("mixture") This very famous salad is the national dish and you will find it everywhere there is mention of Lebanese food.Ingredients:1 cup of fine bourghoul (ground wheat)3 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint4 tomatoes4 green onions or 1 white onion6 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juiceWash the bourghoul in a deep dish by filling it with water and gently pouring out the water so that it will take away any impurity. Leave the bourghoul to soak in cold water for 30 mn. Finely dice the tomatoes and onion and chop the parsley and mint. Mix together the oil, salt and lemon for the sauce. Squeeze the borghoul between your hands to press out the water and mix all the ingredients together.TipsThe tabbouleh is best eaten with small lettuce leaves or better yet, fresh vine leaves rolled up in a cone shape.
FATTOUSH("crumble")Bread is kept in a basket or a nylon bag, and small pieces always accumulate at the bottom of it. The salad known as fattoush makes use of them and prevents their waste.Ingredients:Small grilled or fried pieces of Lebanese/pita bread (although you can try with croutons)1/2 kg cucumber or Lebanese cucumber1/2 kg tomatoes2 bunches of parsley1 bunch of fresh mint1 bunch of purslane (this "weed" grows in American backyards, but if the word rings no bells simply ignore it and use lettuce instead)3 onions (if wanted)4 cloves of garlic1 teaspoon sumac4 tablespoons olive oil5 tablespoons fresh lemon juice1 teaspoon saltSeparate the leaves off the parsley, mint and purslane. Slice the cucumbers, dice the tomatoes. Pound the garlic with the salt and mix it in the oil and lemon. Mix the vegetables and top with the bread fragments. Pour the sauce and sprinkle sumac all over.
HOMMOS BIT'HINEH(mashed chick peas in ground sesame)Ingredients:1 glass of dry chick peas (or a can of cooked chick peas)Tarator sauce as prepared aboveabout 2 tablespoons olive oilIf the chick peas aren't cooked, soak them overnight. Cook them well then mash them in such a way as to get a thick purée. Add the tarator and mix thoroughly. The olive oil is poured on top of the hommos before serving.TipsServed alongside the hommos are usually radishes, green onions and pickles.
SALATA HOMMOS(chick peas salad)Ingredients:1 can of precooked chick peas6 tablespoons olive oil8 garlic cloves1 tablespoon dry mint2 lemonsTake the chick peas out of the water and quickly plunge them in salted boiling water. When it starts boiling again, take them out, rinse them with cold water, pout them in a clean towel and gently rub them to remove the skins. Rinse again in cold water in a bowl: the skins float and flow away with the water.Season with lemon and oil. Offer the pounded garlic and the mint on the side so that everyone can add it according to their own taste. Serve fresh.
FALAFEL("spiced") Ingredients:3/4 glass broad bean flour1/2 glass chick peas flour1/2 glass flour1 teaspoon salt1 pich of pepper1 pinch of red chili powder1 glass of olive oilMix together the flours, salt, pepper, chili. Add very little water, just enough to be able to shape small firm flat cakes thick as a finger. Brown them in the hot oil, on medium-high fire. Remove them and put them on absorbant paper. Serve with radishes, mint, parsley, tomato slices.
LAHM B3AJEEN(meat cakes)Ingredients:500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)600g ground mutton2 onions1 teaspoon salt1 pinch of pepper1 tablespoon butter10 tablespoons laban or yogurt50g pine kernels (if available)Mix together the mutton and finely chopped onions, with salt, pepper, melted butter, yogurt and pine kernels. Separate the dough in pices the size of an egg and spread it to a thickness of about 5 mm. Spread one tablespoon or more of the meat mixture on each piece of dough. Bake in a hot oven for15 mn.Tip:The yogurt can be replaced with 1/2 kg finely chopped tomatoes. Either way they are served with a bowl of yogurt and each person sprinkles some on his hot cakes.
FATAYER BI SBANIGH(spinach cakes)Ingredients:1 kg 1/2 chopped spinach2 big onions8 tablespoons olive oil1 tablespoon salt1 pinch pepper1/2 glass lemon juice500g dough (or frozen shortcrust)Gently rub the spinach with salt and squeeze them to get the water out. Mix them with oil, lemon juice, finely chopped onions, and pepper.Spread the dough to a thickness of about 5 mm. Use a glass to cut round shapes in it, and put a good tablespoonful of spinach mixture in the center of each. Close the dough in the shape of a pyramid. Bake in a hot oven about 20 mn.
KIBBEH NAYYEH(raw meat ground with onion and wheat)Kibbeh shares with tabbouleh the position of national Lebanese dish. This recipe is for the raw version, but the next is an example of the many ways in which kibbeh can be cooked.Ingredients:600g mutton leg1 big cup of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 onion1 teaspoon saltpepper to taste Wash the bourghoul well by rinsing it in a deep dish so that the scraps float and are evacuated with the water. Cover the bourghoul with water and let it soak for half an hour. In the meanwhile, very finely chop the meat and onion together -- they must take the consistency of a dough. Add salt and pepper. Press the bourghoul between your hands to squeeze out the water and add it to the meat and onion. Knead at length with the palm of the hand, often dipping your fingers in cold water. Spread in a dish, not too thickly. Decorate with fresh mint leaves and store about 15 mn in the fridge before serving. Serve with olive oil on the side for the guests to pour on their plate if they wish.Tip:Raw kibbeh is often eaten with pita bread and green onions.
KIBBEH KBEIBAT(kibbeh balls)Ingredients:500g mutton leg2 big cups of bourghoul (ground wheat)1 large onion1 tablespoon saltpepper to tasteStuffing:100g finely chopped mutton ribs1 onion50 g pine kernels2 tablespoons butter or oilPrepare kibbeh nayye as explained in the previous recipe. Prepare the stuffing: brown the ingredients separately in the butter or oil, then mix them.Make a ball of kibbeh the size of an egg. Dig it with the finger while holding it in the hollow of the palm of the other hand. When the walls are no thicker than half a centimeter, insert a bit of stuffing inside it and pinch the opening closed again. The ball takes on the shape of a lemon, which you can see in the image to the left. Bake the balls of kibbeh in the oven at medium heat for 40 mn, or fry them in butter or peanut oil. They are served cold or warm.Tip:Kibbeh balls can be seasoned in various ways. Kibbeh Labniyeh involves a yogurt-based sauce: bring water to a boil in a cooking pot, with very little salt. Poach the balls in it for 10 mn and carefully remove them with a sieve. Bring laban to a boil on low fire -- 1 liter for 20 balls. When it's boiling, pour a teaspoon of starch and add the balls. Leave to simmer for 5 to 10 mn.The yogurt can be replaced by tomato sauce.
KAFTA MISHWEH(skewered parsleyed meat)Ingredients:600g chopped mutton leg2 onions1 bunch of parsleySalt and pepperChop the meat very finely until it becomes dough-like. Also chop the onions and parsley very finely. Add salt and pepper, knead well together and divide into 8 balls. Skewer each ball individually and press with the fingers to spread the ball alogn the skewer in the shape of a sausage. Press the extremities well wo that they'll adhere well to the metal. Barbecue and serve hot on a bed of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped parsley, and onion slices (sprinkled with sumac if available).Tip:Kafta can also be baked in an oven, under the grill. The dough can be made into flattened balls just like hamburger meat and browned in a wok, or put in a dish with tomato sauce, tomato slices and potato slices, to be cooked in the oven.
Other than prepared dishes, the following are also put on the table for a mezza:
French fries (like everything else that enters the country, they were Lebanized).
Labneh, either plain or garlic-flavoured
A large plate of fresh vegetables: tomato, lettuce, cabbage, cucumber, radish, Lebanese cucumber...
Small bowls of black and green olives (stuffed are a plus).
Small bowls of fresh almonds in water or pistacchios (depending on the season).
Lots and lots of Lebanese bread! The traditional bread, the 'marqouq", is the favourite for this sort of meal: it is very large, up to 2 feet in diameter, and so thin the French used to call it "drum skin".
Home dishes
There is quite a difference between Lebanese food one eats in a restaurant or on occasions and food that is made at home for daily meals. The quantity of rice that we eat is more obvious in home cooking, for one thing, and the ingredients are not scattered in dozens of little dishes, but rather concentrated in one or two large ones.
DAOUD BACHA(meatballs with rice)Ingredients:600g ground mutton (hamburger meat works fine)50g pine kernels2 cans of tomato sauce (or 1 kg fresh tomatoes)2 onions1 teaspoon salt2 tablespoons butter or vegetable oilAn appropriate quantity of cooked white riceFinely chop the onions and mix them with the meat along with salt and pepper. Knead well and make balls the size of a nut. Dig each ball with a finger, stuff a few pine kernels in and close it again. Brown the balls in half the buter and put them in a greased baking dish. Cover in tomato sauce (if canned, dilute it with 1 and 1/2 glass of water). Cook for 25 mn at medium high. Turn over the balls after half the time has passed.Serve hot on white rice.(This dish was named after the pacha David, who administrated Mount Lebanon from 1961 to 1968)
LOUBIEH BZAYT(French beans in oil)Ingredients:1 kg tender French beans (also called green beans I believe?)2 onions10 garlic cloves1 kg ripe tomatoes2 tablespoons peanut oil4 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon saltWash the beans then cut them in two. Whiten them 5 mn in boiling water then drain them. Brown the thinly sliced onions and the peeled garlic cloves (whole) in peanut oil. After a few minutes, add the salt and beans. Cover the cooking pot and steam on low heat for 5 mn. Add the diced tomatoes and 1/2 cup boiling water. Allow to stew for half an hour on low heat, covered. Add the olive oil at the end. Serve lukewarm or cold.Tip:This dish can be prepared without mashing the lentils: in this case it is called Mdardara. Thinly slice another onion and brown it to cover the surface of the mdardara (or mjaddara) dish.
MJADDARA(mashed lentils and rice)Ingredients:1 cup lentils1 cup round rice1 onion2 tablespoons olive oil2 tablespoons peanut oil1 teaspoon saltWash the lentils. Boil the lentils in 3 cups of water for about 40 mn. Mash them and add 2 cups of boiling water. Bring to a boil again and add the rice after havign washed it. Brown the finely diced onion on the side in the peanut oil and add it to the cooking pot. Stir and let cook on low heat for 20 mn, stirring occasionally. Add the olive oil towards the end. Serve lukewarm or cold with a tomato and cucumber salad or another Lebanese salad.
3ADASS B'HAMOD(lentils in lemon)Ingredients:2 cups of lentils2 onions4 garlic clovesA few beet leaves2 medium potatoes1 teaspoon powdered mint2 tablespoons peanut oil2 tablespoons olive oil1 teaspoon salt1/2 cup lemon juiceBring the lentils to a boil in 6 glasses of water and cook them for one hour. Chop the onions roughly and brown them slightly in the peanut oil. Pour them in the pot on the cooked lentils along with the garlic, pounded and mixed to the mint. Dice the potatoes and chop the beet leaves before adding them to the mix. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir. Add the lemon juice. Serve as a soup.
Desserts
It is not really customary to eat desserts at the end of a meal in Lebanon (usually it ends with fruits), but sweet dishes are numerous to be served to guests or unexpected visitors.
MHALLABIYEH(rice cream)Ingredients:1 liter milk1/2 glass powdered rice3/4 glass sugar1 glass roughly ground pistacchiosDilute the rice in a bit of cold water. Boil the milk and add the rice. Stir until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups and allow to cool. Sprinkle pistacchios on the surface before serving.TipsThe rice can be replaced by starch, and the pistacchios by almonds, in which case the dessert is called ilmassiyeh ("diamonded").
ROZZ BI HALIB(rice in milk)Ingredients:1 liter milk3/4 cup round rice3/4 cup sugar2 tablespoons orange bloom waterWash the rice and cook it in 3/4 cup of boiling water until the water is completely absorbed. Boil the milk and add the orange bloom water, the sugar and cooked rice. Stir until boiling point then allow to cook on low heat for about 30 mn. Serve cold or lukewarm.
SIMSMIYEH(sesame nougat)Ingredients:2 cups sesame seeds3/4 cup sugar1 tablespoon lemon juicePut all the ingredients in a wok on medium heat and sti continually. Qhen the sigar starts to melt, lower the heat while continuing to stir until it is completely melted. Pour the mixture on a platter. Spread it with a rolling pin. cut it into pieces while it's still warm.TipsThe sesame seeds can be replaced by pine kernels to make a Snoubariyeh, nuts for a Jauziyeh, pistachios for a Fistqiyeh or hazelnuts for a Bunduqiyeh. In the later two cases, grill the fruits first.
Special occasions
A number of dishes, especially desserts, are made only at a specific time of the year, notably for religious celebrations, or for special events such as a birth.
ZALABI HAF(doughnuts)Prepared on the Eve of the EpiphanyIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon yeast1 or more cups of water2 cups of oil (for frying)Knead the flour, salt, yeast and water together to get a light dough. Let it rest for an hour. Heat the oil in a wok. Take egg-sized pieces of dough and lightly stretch them, then drop them in the boiling oil. Remove when golden and dispose on absorbant paper. Serve lukewarm or cold, sprinkled with sugar or accompanied with honey or jam.
KAAK B'HALIB(milk cakes)Prepared for EasterIngredients:500g flour100g butter2 tablespoons olive oil1 cup of milk200g sugar1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon powdered aromatic plants: wild cherry seed, marjoram, aniseed.Mix the flour, yeast, aromatic plants and gradually add the olive oil and melted butter. Dilute the sugar in the milk and add to the mixture. Knead the dough and allow to rest for 2 hours. Shape flat cakes about 7 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick (wooden molds exist to imprint a motif on the dough). They can also be stretched in the shapes of bracelets thick as a finger. Bake in medium oven after preheating it at a high temperature. They are eaten lukewarm or cold.TipsOnce the kaaks are baked, you can dilute 2 tablespoons of sugar in half a cup of milk and dip the top face of the cakes in it, then sprinkle them with sugar. Allow to dry a bit before serving.
QIRBAN(festivity cakes)Prepared for religious celebrationsIngredients:500g flour1 teaspoon yeast1 teaspoon salt200g sugar1/4 cup orange blossom water (or rose water)1 cup water or moreGradually mix together the flour, yeast, salt, sugar, orange blossom water and water until you get a dough like bread dough. Allow to rest for 2 hours. Make cakes the size of a tea saucer. Prick the dough with a fork or knitting needle, especially in the center, to prevent it from swelling. Bake in the oven on medium heat. Serve cold.Qirban are prepared in large quantities for holidays. They are distributed to relatives and friends and a dozen is sent to the church to be blessed by the priest. He symbolically sends one back to the family and the rest are cut into pieces that are distributed to the mass attendees.
MIGHLI(carvi cream)Prepared on the occasion of a birthIngredients:2 cups sugar1 cup rice powder2 tablespoons carvi powder1/2 tablespoon aniseed powder1/2 tablespoon cinnamon powderroughly chopped nuts, pine kernels, almonds, grated coconutBring 2.5 liters of water to a boil, add the rice powder diluted in a bit of cold water. Add the sugar and spices. Stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens. Pour in cups. Serve cold, covered with the nuts and coconut.
Tabbouleh
By Mark Hix
As I've already said, this is a great way of using an abundance of home-grown parsley, mint and tomatoes in a simple and refreshing salad. Some European versions have fewer herbs than they should, or more cracked wheat. A true Lebanese or Middle Eastern tabbouleh will have just traces of cracked wheat among the herbs and makes a perfect addition to a selection of mezze or a refreshing accompaniment to grilled meat or fish.
Half a small onion, peeled and finely chopped (spring onions can be used) 5g bulgar wheat soaked in a little hot water for 10 minutes, or dry couscous 50g flat-leaved parsley, leaves picked, washed and coarsely chopped 30g mint, leaves removed, washed and coarsely chopped 2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped Juice of one lemon 1-2tbsp olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put all the ingredients into a bowl, season and mix well. Cover with clingfilm and leave for one hour to stand. A little more olive oil and lemon can be added to taste
By Mark Hix
As I've already said, this is a great way of using an abundance of home-grown parsley, mint and tomatoes in a simple and refreshing salad. Some European versions have fewer herbs than they should, or more cracked wheat. A true Lebanese or Middle Eastern tabbouleh will have just traces of cracked wheat among the herbs and makes a perfect addition to a selection of mezze or a refreshing accompaniment to grilled meat or fish.
Half a small onion, peeled and finely chopped (spring onions can be used) 5g bulgar wheat soaked in a little hot water for 10 minutes, or dry couscous 50g flat-leaved parsley, leaves picked, washed and coarsely chopped 30g mint, leaves removed, washed and coarsely chopped 2 tomatoes, skinned, seeded and chopped Juice of one lemon 1-2tbsp olive oil Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Put all the ingredients into a bowl, season and mix well. Cover with clingfilm and leave for one hour to stand. A little more olive oil and lemon can be added to taste
Monday, April 17, 2006
The frightening truth of why Iran wants a bomb
By Amir Taheri
The Sunday Telegraph
Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours. He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the Hidden Imam, the 12th and last of the imams of Shiism who went into "grand occultation" in 941.
According to Shia lore, the Imam is a messianic figure who, although in hiding, remains the true Sovereign of the World. In every generation, the Imam chooses 36 men, (and, for obvious reasons, no women) naming them the owtad or "nails", whose presence, hammered into mankind's existence, prevents the universe from "falling off". Although the "nails" are not known to common mortals, it is, at times, possible to identify one thanks to his deeds. It is on that basis that some of Ahmad-inejad's more passionate admirers insist that he is a "nail", a claim he has not discouraged. For example, he has claimed that last September, as he addressed the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, the "Hidden Imam drenched the place in a sweet light".
Last year, it was after another khalvat that Ahmadinejad announced his intention to stand for president. Now, he boasts that the Imam gave him the presidency for a single task: provoking a "clash of civilisations" in which the Muslim world, led by Iran, takes on the "infidel" West, led by the United States, and defeats it in a slow but prolonged contest that, in military jargon, sounds like a low intensity, asymmetrical war.
In Ahmadinejad's analysis, the rising Islamic "superpower" has decisive advantages over the infidel. Islam has four times as many young men of fighting age as the West, with its ageing populations. Hundreds of millions of Muslim "ghazis" (holy raiders) are keen to become martyrs while the infidel youths, loving life and fearing death, hate to fight. Islam also has four-fifths of the world's oil reserves, and so controls the lifeblood of the infidel. More importantly, the US, the only infidel power still capable of fighting, is hated by most other nations.
According to this analysis, spelled out in commentaries by Ahmadinejad's strategic guru, Hassan Abassi, known as the "Dr Kissinger of Islam", President George W Bush is an aberration, an exception to a rule under which all American presidents since Truman, when faced with serious setbacks abroad, have "run away". Iran's current strategy, therefore, is to wait Bush out. And that, by "divine coincidence", corresponds to the time Iran needs to develop its nuclear arsenal, thus matching the only advantage that the infidel enjoys.
Moments after Ahmadinejad announced "the atomic miracle", the head of the Iranian nuclear project, Ghulamreza Aghazadeh, unveiled plans for manufacturing 54,000 centrifuges, to enrich enough uranium for hundreds of nuclear warheads. "We are going into mass production," he boasted.
The Iranian plan is simple: playing the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame-duck", unable to take military action against the mullahs, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons.
Thus do not be surprised if, by the end of the 12 days still left of the United Nations' Security Council "deadline", Ahmadinejad announces a "temporary suspension" of uranium enrichment as a "confidence building measure". Also, don't be surprised if some time in June he agrees to ask the Majlis (the Islamic parliament) to consider signing the additional protocols of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Such maneuvers would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director, Muhammad El-Baradei, and Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, to congratulate Iran for its "positive gestures" and denounce talk of sanctions, let alone military action. The confidence building measures would never amount to anything, but their announcement would be enough to prevent the G8 summit, hosted by Russia in July, from moving against Iran.
While waiting Bush out, the Islamic Republic is intent on doing all it can to consolidate its gains in the region. Regime changes in Kabul and Baghdad have altered the status quo in the Middle East. While Bush is determined to create a Middle East that is democratic and pro-Western, Ahmadinejad is equally determined that the region should remain Islamic but pro-Iranian. Iran is now the strongest presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, after the US. It has turned Syria and Lebanon into its outer defences, which means that, for the first time since the 7th century, Iran is militarily present on the coast of the Mediterranean. In a massive political jamboree in Teheran last week, Ahmadinejad also assumed control of the "Jerusalem Cause", which includes annihilating Israel "in one storm", while launching a take-over bid for the cash-starved Hamas government in the West Bank and Gaza.
Ahmadinejad has also reactivated Iran's network of Shia organisations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen, while resuming contact with Sunni fundamentalist groups in Turkey, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. From childhood, Shia boys are told to cultivate two qualities. The first is entezar, the capacity patiently to wait for the Imam to return. The second is taajil, the actions needed to hasten the return. For the Imam's return will coincide with an apocalyptic battle between the forces of evil and righteousness, with evil ultimately routed. If the infidel loses its nuclear advantage, it could be worn down in a long, low-intensity war at the end of which surrender to Islam would appear the least bad of options. And that could be a signal for the Imam to reappear.
At the same time, not to forget the task of hastening the Mahdi's second coming, Ahamdinejad will pursue his provocations. On Monday, he was as candid as ever: "To those who are angry with us, we have one thing to say: be angry until you die of anger!"
His adviser, Hassan Abassi, is rather more eloquent. "The Americans are impatient," he says, "at the first sight of a setback, they run away. We, however, know how to be patient. We have been weaving carpets for thousands of years."
By Amir Taheri
The Sunday Telegraph
Last Monday, just before he announced that Iran had gatecrashed "the nuclear club", President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad disappeared for several hours. He was having a khalvat (tête-à-tête) with the Hidden Imam, the 12th and last of the imams of Shiism who went into "grand occultation" in 941.
According to Shia lore, the Imam is a messianic figure who, although in hiding, remains the true Sovereign of the World. In every generation, the Imam chooses 36 men, (and, for obvious reasons, no women) naming them the owtad or "nails", whose presence, hammered into mankind's existence, prevents the universe from "falling off". Although the "nails" are not known to common mortals, it is, at times, possible to identify one thanks to his deeds. It is on that basis that some of Ahmad-inejad's more passionate admirers insist that he is a "nail", a claim he has not discouraged. For example, he has claimed that last September, as he addressed the United Nations' General Assembly in New York, the "Hidden Imam drenched the place in a sweet light".
Last year, it was after another khalvat that Ahmadinejad announced his intention to stand for president. Now, he boasts that the Imam gave him the presidency for a single task: provoking a "clash of civilisations" in which the Muslim world, led by Iran, takes on the "infidel" West, led by the United States, and defeats it in a slow but prolonged contest that, in military jargon, sounds like a low intensity, asymmetrical war.
In Ahmadinejad's analysis, the rising Islamic "superpower" has decisive advantages over the infidel. Islam has four times as many young men of fighting age as the West, with its ageing populations. Hundreds of millions of Muslim "ghazis" (holy raiders) are keen to become martyrs while the infidel youths, loving life and fearing death, hate to fight. Islam also has four-fifths of the world's oil reserves, and so controls the lifeblood of the infidel. More importantly, the US, the only infidel power still capable of fighting, is hated by most other nations.
According to this analysis, spelled out in commentaries by Ahmadinejad's strategic guru, Hassan Abassi, known as the "Dr Kissinger of Islam", President George W Bush is an aberration, an exception to a rule under which all American presidents since Truman, when faced with serious setbacks abroad, have "run away". Iran's current strategy, therefore, is to wait Bush out. And that, by "divine coincidence", corresponds to the time Iran needs to develop its nuclear arsenal, thus matching the only advantage that the infidel enjoys.
Moments after Ahmadinejad announced "the atomic miracle", the head of the Iranian nuclear project, Ghulamreza Aghazadeh, unveiled plans for manufacturing 54,000 centrifuges, to enrich enough uranium for hundreds of nuclear warheads. "We are going into mass production," he boasted.
The Iranian plan is simple: playing the diplomatic game for another two years until Bush becomes a "lame-duck", unable to take military action against the mullahs, while continuing to develop nuclear weapons.
Thus do not be surprised if, by the end of the 12 days still left of the United Nations' Security Council "deadline", Ahmadinejad announces a "temporary suspension" of uranium enrichment as a "confidence building measure". Also, don't be surprised if some time in June he agrees to ask the Majlis (the Islamic parliament) to consider signing the additional protocols of the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT).
Such maneuvers would allow the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director, Muhammad El-Baradei, and Britain's Foreign Secretary, Jack Straw, to congratulate Iran for its "positive gestures" and denounce talk of sanctions, let alone military action. The confidence building measures would never amount to anything, but their announcement would be enough to prevent the G8 summit, hosted by Russia in July, from moving against Iran.
While waiting Bush out, the Islamic Republic is intent on doing all it can to consolidate its gains in the region. Regime changes in Kabul and Baghdad have altered the status quo in the Middle East. While Bush is determined to create a Middle East that is democratic and pro-Western, Ahmadinejad is equally determined that the region should remain Islamic but pro-Iranian. Iran is now the strongest presence in Afghanistan and Iraq, after the US. It has turned Syria and Lebanon into its outer defences, which means that, for the first time since the 7th century, Iran is militarily present on the coast of the Mediterranean. In a massive political jamboree in Teheran last week, Ahmadinejad also assumed control of the "Jerusalem Cause", which includes annihilating Israel "in one storm", while launching a take-over bid for the cash-starved Hamas government in the West Bank and Gaza.
Ahmadinejad has also reactivated Iran's network of Shia organisations in Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen, while resuming contact with Sunni fundamentalist groups in Turkey, Egypt, Algeria and Morocco. From childhood, Shia boys are told to cultivate two qualities. The first is entezar, the capacity patiently to wait for the Imam to return. The second is taajil, the actions needed to hasten the return. For the Imam's return will coincide with an apocalyptic battle between the forces of evil and righteousness, with evil ultimately routed. If the infidel loses its nuclear advantage, it could be worn down in a long, low-intensity war at the end of which surrender to Islam would appear the least bad of options. And that could be a signal for the Imam to reappear.
At the same time, not to forget the task of hastening the Mahdi's second coming, Ahamdinejad will pursue his provocations. On Monday, he was as candid as ever: "To those who are angry with us, we have one thing to say: be angry until you die of anger!"
His adviser, Hassan Abassi, is rather more eloquent. "The Americans are impatient," he says, "at the first sight of a setback, they run away. We, however, know how to be patient. We have been weaving carpets for thousands of years."
Friday, April 14, 2006
Squeeze Out Syria to Build a Free Lebanon
by James Phillips
Executive Memorandum #966
The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14 provoked a strong Lebanese backlash against Syrian domination, long sustained by targeted killings and systematic intimidation. Massive public protests--the largest anti-government rallies ever staged in the Arab world--prompted the resignation of Lebanon's pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami on February 28. Yet 10 days later, President Emile Lahoud slapped the Lebanese opposition in the face by reappointing Karami as prime minister.
The Bush Administration has correctly supported the Lebanese people against Syria and has pushed Syria to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. Washington should maintain firm and relentless pressure on Syria to withdraw all of its military and intelligence forces, to halt its support of Iraqi insurgents, and to end its support of terrorism against Israel.
Assad's Dinosaur Regime. The Assad regime is a repressive dictatorship, the only remaining Baathist regime after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and President Bashar Assad has played Syria's weak hand of foreign policy cards clumsily. Although Syria has dominated Lebanon since 1976, when it intervened in the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese have grown increasingly resentful of the Syrian presence, especially since the withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon in 2000.
The Lebanese opposition is demanding a total Syrian withdrawal, an international inquiry into Hariri's murder, and the ouster of seven top Lebanese security officials who work closely with Damascus. However, Syria's Lebanese surrogates, President Lahoud and Prime Minister Karami, have ruled out an independent international investigation of Hariri's assassination and continue to cling to power in the face of rising popular opposition. The opposition, which controls about one-third of the seats in parliament, hopes to expand its numbers in the coming May elections but fears that Syria could tilt the election results if its troops and intelligence personnel do not leave before the elections.
On March 12, President Assad grudgingly pledged to withdraw from Lebanon in two phases, but Damascus has not publicly committed to a timetable for full withdrawal. Syria has reportedly withdrawn 4,000 to 6,000 troops, but approximately 10,000 remain in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. Syrian and Lebanese officials are scheduled to meet on April 7 to finalize a withdrawal timetable, but Syria has a poor record of fulfilling its diplomatic promises. Damascus has strong economic reasons to maintain its grip on Lebanon: Cross-border smuggling is a lucrative source of income, and more than 1 million Syrian workers are employed in Lebanon. Moreover, the Assad regime, dominated by Syria's Alawite minority, cannot afford to allow subversive democratic ideas to spread to its own hostage population.
Getting Serious with Syria. The United States has a long history of tense relations with Syria, a former ally of the Soviet Union and implacable enemy of Israel. The U.S. Department of State has included Syria on its list of state sponsors of terrorism ever since the list was created in 1979. Syria has a bloody record of supporting terrorism in Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, and (most recently) Iraq; it also gives sanctuary and support to Iraqi Baathists and facilitates the transit of Islamic militants to Iraq.
Following Syria's heavy-handed alteration of the Lebanese constitution to secure an extended term for President Lahoud, the United States and France pushed through Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and the disarming of all Lebanese militias. While paying lip service to Resolution 1559, Damascus is dragging its feet on complying with it, preferring the terms of the 1989 Taif Accord, which gave Syria more latitude by allowing it to negotiate a timetable for final withdrawal with the Lebanese government.
To help build a free and independent Lebanon and discourage Syrian troublemaking there and in other countries, the Bush Administration should:
Maintain firm pressure on Syria and Iran to withdraw all forces from Lebanon before the Lebanese elections. The United States should cooperate closely with France and other interested countries to pressure Syria and Iran, which has several hundred Revolutionary Guards and intelligence personnel deployed in Lebanon, to withdraw all personnel immediately and unconditionally. If Syria or Iran continues to stall, Washington should press its allies to impose economic sanctions and push for U.N. economic sanctions. Syria's Achilles' heel is its faltering economy, which has been damaged by decades of socialist economic policies. Although the United States has little economic leverage left with Damascus because of sanctions already in place, European or U.N. sanctions could impose heavy costs on Syria. To verify the withdrawal of Syrian and Iranian forces, the 2,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon should be redeployed to eastern Lebanon, and the Lebanese Army should move into the U.N. positions in the south to maintain law and order.
Help the Lebanese to build a free and democratic Lebanon. Washington should continue to support Lebanon's democratic opposition and encourage other countries to follow suit. To ensure fair elections, it should seek to deploy international election monitors. After the elections and formation of a new government, the United States should support efforts to purge Lebanon's army, police, and other government bureaucracies of Syria's stooges. The United States should also insist that the pro-Iranian, Syrian-backed Hezbollah militia be disarmed, as required by Resolution 1559.
Compel the Assad regime to stop supporting terrorism. The Bush Administration should patiently maintain maximum diplomatic, political, and economic pressure on Syria to stop supporting Hezbollah terrorists, Iraqi insurgents, and Palestinian terrorist groups. The Assad regime must understand that its lethal efforts to interfere in the internal affairs of its neighbors will backfire by provoking concerted international pressure against it.
Conclusion. Syria's Assad regime must be firmly pressured to halt interference in Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian, and Israeli affairs. If it fails to do so, the Bush Administration should lead an international effort to impose higher economic, diplomatic, and political costs on Damascus.
James Phillips is Research Fellow in Middle Eastern Studies in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.
by James Phillips
Executive Memorandum #966
The assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri on February 14 provoked a strong Lebanese backlash against Syrian domination, long sustained by targeted killings and systematic intimidation. Massive public protests--the largest anti-government rallies ever staged in the Arab world--prompted the resignation of Lebanon's pro-Syrian Prime Minister Omar Karami on February 28. Yet 10 days later, President Emile Lahoud slapped the Lebanese opposition in the face by reappointing Karami as prime minister.
The Bush Administration has correctly supported the Lebanese people against Syria and has pushed Syria to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon. Washington should maintain firm and relentless pressure on Syria to withdraw all of its military and intelligence forces, to halt its support of Iraqi insurgents, and to end its support of terrorism against Israel.
Assad's Dinosaur Regime. The Assad regime is a repressive dictatorship, the only remaining Baathist regime after the fall of Saddam Hussein, and President Bashar Assad has played Syria's weak hand of foreign policy cards clumsily. Although Syria has dominated Lebanon since 1976, when it intervened in the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war, the Lebanese have grown increasingly resentful of the Syrian presence, especially since the withdrawal of Israel from southern Lebanon in 2000.
The Lebanese opposition is demanding a total Syrian withdrawal, an international inquiry into Hariri's murder, and the ouster of seven top Lebanese security officials who work closely with Damascus. However, Syria's Lebanese surrogates, President Lahoud and Prime Minister Karami, have ruled out an independent international investigation of Hariri's assassination and continue to cling to power in the face of rising popular opposition. The opposition, which controls about one-third of the seats in parliament, hopes to expand its numbers in the coming May elections but fears that Syria could tilt the election results if its troops and intelligence personnel do not leave before the elections.
On March 12, President Assad grudgingly pledged to withdraw from Lebanon in two phases, but Damascus has not publicly committed to a timetable for full withdrawal. Syria has reportedly withdrawn 4,000 to 6,000 troops, but approximately 10,000 remain in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon. Syrian and Lebanese officials are scheduled to meet on April 7 to finalize a withdrawal timetable, but Syria has a poor record of fulfilling its diplomatic promises. Damascus has strong economic reasons to maintain its grip on Lebanon: Cross-border smuggling is a lucrative source of income, and more than 1 million Syrian workers are employed in Lebanon. Moreover, the Assad regime, dominated by Syria's Alawite minority, cannot afford to allow subversive democratic ideas to spread to its own hostage population.
Getting Serious with Syria. The United States has a long history of tense relations with Syria, a former ally of the Soviet Union and implacable enemy of Israel. The U.S. Department of State has included Syria on its list of state sponsors of terrorism ever since the list was created in 1979. Syria has a bloody record of supporting terrorism in Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, and (most recently) Iraq; it also gives sanctuary and support to Iraqi Baathists and facilitates the transit of Islamic militants to Iraq.
Following Syria's heavy-handed alteration of the Lebanese constitution to secure an extended term for President Lahoud, the United States and France pushed through Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for the withdrawal of all foreign forces from Lebanon and the disarming of all Lebanese militias. While paying lip service to Resolution 1559, Damascus is dragging its feet on complying with it, preferring the terms of the 1989 Taif Accord, which gave Syria more latitude by allowing it to negotiate a timetable for final withdrawal with the Lebanese government.
To help build a free and independent Lebanon and discourage Syrian troublemaking there and in other countries, the Bush Administration should:
Maintain firm pressure on Syria and Iran to withdraw all forces from Lebanon before the Lebanese elections. The United States should cooperate closely with France and other interested countries to pressure Syria and Iran, which has several hundred Revolutionary Guards and intelligence personnel deployed in Lebanon, to withdraw all personnel immediately and unconditionally. If Syria or Iran continues to stall, Washington should press its allies to impose economic sanctions and push for U.N. economic sanctions. Syria's Achilles' heel is its faltering economy, which has been damaged by decades of socialist economic policies. Although the United States has little economic leverage left with Damascus because of sanctions already in place, European or U.N. sanctions could impose heavy costs on Syria. To verify the withdrawal of Syrian and Iranian forces, the 2,000 U.N. peacekeeping troops in southern Lebanon should be redeployed to eastern Lebanon, and the Lebanese Army should move into the U.N. positions in the south to maintain law and order.
Help the Lebanese to build a free and democratic Lebanon. Washington should continue to support Lebanon's democratic opposition and encourage other countries to follow suit. To ensure fair elections, it should seek to deploy international election monitors. After the elections and formation of a new government, the United States should support efforts to purge Lebanon's army, police, and other government bureaucracies of Syria's stooges. The United States should also insist that the pro-Iranian, Syrian-backed Hezbollah militia be disarmed, as required by Resolution 1559.
Compel the Assad regime to stop supporting terrorism. The Bush Administration should patiently maintain maximum diplomatic, political, and economic pressure on Syria to stop supporting Hezbollah terrorists, Iraqi insurgents, and Palestinian terrorist groups. The Assad regime must understand that its lethal efforts to interfere in the internal affairs of its neighbors will backfire by provoking concerted international pressure against it.
Conclusion. Syria's Assad regime must be firmly pressured to halt interference in Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian, and Israeli affairs. If it fails to do so, the Bush Administration should lead an international effort to impose higher economic, diplomatic, and political costs on Damascus.
James Phillips is Research Fellow in Middle Eastern Studies in the Douglas and Sarah Allison Center for Foreign Policy Studies, a division of the Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for International Studies, at The Heritage Foundation.
Iran, Now
National Review
Four years ago, George W. Bush said his administration would not "permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Yet precisely that is about to happen. With Iran's announcement this week that it has begun uranium enrichment, we know that the world's most dangerous regime — a sponsor of global terror and sworn enemy of the United States that openly threatens the annihilation of Israel — is on a fast track to building an atomic bomb. If we don't want that to happen, we must recognize that our Iran policy has failed and change it — now. Or, to be more precise, the Bush administration must recognize that it never had an Iran policy. It chose instead to second the policy devised by France, Germany, and Britain, which rested on the premise that Iran's rulers could be bribed and browbeaten into submission. This was never a reasonable assumption. Since its birth in 1979, the Iranian theocracy has shown pure contempt for the norms that govern relations among sovereign states: by permitting the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran; by declaring a fatwa on a British subject; by orchestrating a 1994 massacre at a Jewish center in Buenos Aires; by murdering 19 U.S. airmen in the Khobar Towers bombing of 1996; by subsidizing terror attacks and armed militias in Lebanon, Israel, Iraq. Is there now — was there ever — any reason to think the mullahs will play by the rules?The problem with Iran is precisely not its nuclear program. The problem is the regime. We have every reason to think this regime would use its arsenal to threaten the U.S. and its allies, and to extract concessions inimical to our interests. Nor can we exclude the possibility that the mullahs would actually launch their nukes. Consider Hashemi Rafsanjani, that celebrated "moderate," exulting that the Muslim world will "vomit [Israel] out from its midst," since "a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy [it]." Nuclear deterrence operates on the assumption that your foe is rational. Things start to break down when a significant part of its ruling establishment fancies itself on divine mission to evaporate the Zionist Entity in a mushroom cloud, roll back the Great Satan, and usher in a paradisiacal rule by sharia. That's not a regime to bargain with. The goal must be to remove it from power.This does not mean invasion and occupation. But it does mean getting serious about supporting the Iranian democracy movement. The contradiction of Iran is that its people, the most educated, moderate, and pro-Western of the Muslim Middle East, are ruled by the most aggressive Islamists in the world. It wouldn't take a large expenditure to catalyze that tension. President Bush routinely declares his support for the cause of Iranian democracy — something that, according to a dissident inside Iran who recently spoke to National Review Online, has made a deep impression on his countrymen. Why, then, has Bush's administration failed to give material aid to the Iranian democrats?There are three things we should begin doing now. First, supporting Iranian labor unions. The Iron Curtain would not have fallen without Lech Walesa and Solidarity, and unions could play a similar role in Iran. As recently as three months ago, Iran's rulers had to dispatch the goons to crush a strike among Tehran's bus drivers, who were protesting not just their work conditions but also the oppressive nature of their government, and were joined by demonstrators from all walks of Iranian life. The mismanagement of the Iranian economy — particularly its lack of refinery capacity — is such that a well-planned strike in the right sectors could bring the country to a standstill. Some will object that American support would discredit the unions, but let's not forget that similar things were said of Solidarity, or that there are ways of directing funds through nongovernmental channels.
“None of this is guaranteedto spark a revolution, butit has better odds thandoing nothing.”
Second, we should do everything we can to help Iranian student groups. Roughly 70 percent of Iran's population is under 30. These youths are the most pro-Western segment of Iranian society — and they happen to be mad as hell at Iran's rulers, who they think have isolated them from the modern world. The U.S. could galvanize that sentiment to its advantage if only it tried. A good place to start would be opening channels of communication with their leaders and repeating their message at every opportunity.Which brings us to the third point: We should massively increase our pro-democracy broadcasts into Iran, both by funding U.S.-based Farsi satellite-TV networks and by exercising a modicum of intelligence in our Voice of America programming. VOA officials act like they're running the Columbia School of Journalism, but "balance" should count for a lot less than inspiring the Iranians to rouse themselves against tyranny and explaining to them the value of what we have over against what they don't have. We should also send them the message — through both broadcasts and the utterances of our diplomatic establishment — that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons will only isolate them and entrench the mullahs they so despise.None of this is guaranteed to spark a revolution, but it has better odds than doing nothing. Indeed, these efforts should have begun years ago. Instead, we've waited for centrifuges to start spinning at Natanz. The sad consequence of that delay — and the world's indifference — has been to make military action against Iran much likelier. The U.N. Security Council's resolve to confront Iran looked serious for all of 15 minutes. Then China and Russia made it clear they'd block any resolute move to punish Iranian intransigence. There is talk of America's joining the EU-3 in targeted economic sanctions, but these would almost surely be ineffective. Not only does Iran's wealth come from oil — which no importing country is ascetic enough to deny itself — but there is no clear precedent of sanctions' having reformed a regime that already perceived itself as the enemy of those doing the sanctioning. The most likely consequence of sanctions would be to tie our hands and stop us from taking effective measures.That leaves air strikes. We know where the nuclear facilities are; we have the means to target them; and we should not hesitate to do so if we reach a point where there is no other way to thwart the mullahs' atomic ambitions. While a massive bombing campaign can't stop Iran from eventually building nukes, it would delay that outcome by several years. But then what? If the mullahs stay in power, all that will change is the intensity of their lust for a bomb and the brazenness with which they export terror. Any air campaign should therefore be coupled with aggressive and persistent efforts to topple the regime from within. Accordingly, it should hit not just the nuclear facilities, but also the symbols of state oppression: the intelligence ministry, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard, the guard towers of the notorious Evin Prison.Make no mistake: This is not a good option. Iran would probably retaliate with terrorist attacks against U.S. interests around the world, as well as aggressive efforts to destabilize Iraq. But the alternative — letting the mullahs go nuclear — is incalculably worse. For a quarter-century those mullahs have been fighting an undeclared war against the West with the only weapons they had: terrorism and a poisonous ideology. For a quarter-century we have failed to respond. They now stand on the brink of getting a new weapon — and this one will let them threaten the incineration of millions of infidels at the push of a button. Is this something that we — that anyone — should be willing to live with?
National Review
Four years ago, George W. Bush said his administration would not "permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons." Yet precisely that is about to happen. With Iran's announcement this week that it has begun uranium enrichment, we know that the world's most dangerous regime — a sponsor of global terror and sworn enemy of the United States that openly threatens the annihilation of Israel — is on a fast track to building an atomic bomb. If we don't want that to happen, we must recognize that our Iran policy has failed and change it — now. Or, to be more precise, the Bush administration must recognize that it never had an Iran policy. It chose instead to second the policy devised by France, Germany, and Britain, which rested on the premise that Iran's rulers could be bribed and browbeaten into submission. This was never a reasonable assumption. Since its birth in 1979, the Iranian theocracy has shown pure contempt for the norms that govern relations among sovereign states: by permitting the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran; by declaring a fatwa on a British subject; by orchestrating a 1994 massacre at a Jewish center in Buenos Aires; by murdering 19 U.S. airmen in the Khobar Towers bombing of 1996; by subsidizing terror attacks and armed militias in Lebanon, Israel, Iraq. Is there now — was there ever — any reason to think the mullahs will play by the rules?The problem with Iran is precisely not its nuclear program. The problem is the regime. We have every reason to think this regime would use its arsenal to threaten the U.S. and its allies, and to extract concessions inimical to our interests. Nor can we exclude the possibility that the mullahs would actually launch their nukes. Consider Hashemi Rafsanjani, that celebrated "moderate," exulting that the Muslim world will "vomit [Israel] out from its midst," since "a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy [it]." Nuclear deterrence operates on the assumption that your foe is rational. Things start to break down when a significant part of its ruling establishment fancies itself on divine mission to evaporate the Zionist Entity in a mushroom cloud, roll back the Great Satan, and usher in a paradisiacal rule by sharia. That's not a regime to bargain with. The goal must be to remove it from power.This does not mean invasion and occupation. But it does mean getting serious about supporting the Iranian democracy movement. The contradiction of Iran is that its people, the most educated, moderate, and pro-Western of the Muslim Middle East, are ruled by the most aggressive Islamists in the world. It wouldn't take a large expenditure to catalyze that tension. President Bush routinely declares his support for the cause of Iranian democracy — something that, according to a dissident inside Iran who recently spoke to National Review Online, has made a deep impression on his countrymen. Why, then, has Bush's administration failed to give material aid to the Iranian democrats?There are three things we should begin doing now. First, supporting Iranian labor unions. The Iron Curtain would not have fallen without Lech Walesa and Solidarity, and unions could play a similar role in Iran. As recently as three months ago, Iran's rulers had to dispatch the goons to crush a strike among Tehran's bus drivers, who were protesting not just their work conditions but also the oppressive nature of their government, and were joined by demonstrators from all walks of Iranian life. The mismanagement of the Iranian economy — particularly its lack of refinery capacity — is such that a well-planned strike in the right sectors could bring the country to a standstill. Some will object that American support would discredit the unions, but let's not forget that similar things were said of Solidarity, or that there are ways of directing funds through nongovernmental channels.
“None of this is guaranteedto spark a revolution, butit has better odds thandoing nothing.”
Second, we should do everything we can to help Iranian student groups. Roughly 70 percent of Iran's population is under 30. These youths are the most pro-Western segment of Iranian society — and they happen to be mad as hell at Iran's rulers, who they think have isolated them from the modern world. The U.S. could galvanize that sentiment to its advantage if only it tried. A good place to start would be opening channels of communication with their leaders and repeating their message at every opportunity.Which brings us to the third point: We should massively increase our pro-democracy broadcasts into Iran, both by funding U.S.-based Farsi satellite-TV networks and by exercising a modicum of intelligence in our Voice of America programming. VOA officials act like they're running the Columbia School of Journalism, but "balance" should count for a lot less than inspiring the Iranians to rouse themselves against tyranny and explaining to them the value of what we have over against what they don't have. We should also send them the message — through both broadcasts and the utterances of our diplomatic establishment — that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons will only isolate them and entrench the mullahs they so despise.None of this is guaranteed to spark a revolution, but it has better odds than doing nothing. Indeed, these efforts should have begun years ago. Instead, we've waited for centrifuges to start spinning at Natanz. The sad consequence of that delay — and the world's indifference — has been to make military action against Iran much likelier. The U.N. Security Council's resolve to confront Iran looked serious for all of 15 minutes. Then China and Russia made it clear they'd block any resolute move to punish Iranian intransigence. There is talk of America's joining the EU-3 in targeted economic sanctions, but these would almost surely be ineffective. Not only does Iran's wealth come from oil — which no importing country is ascetic enough to deny itself — but there is no clear precedent of sanctions' having reformed a regime that already perceived itself as the enemy of those doing the sanctioning. The most likely consequence of sanctions would be to tie our hands and stop us from taking effective measures.That leaves air strikes. We know where the nuclear facilities are; we have the means to target them; and we should not hesitate to do so if we reach a point where there is no other way to thwart the mullahs' atomic ambitions. While a massive bombing campaign can't stop Iran from eventually building nukes, it would delay that outcome by several years. But then what? If the mullahs stay in power, all that will change is the intensity of their lust for a bomb and the brazenness with which they export terror. Any air campaign should therefore be coupled with aggressive and persistent efforts to topple the regime from within. Accordingly, it should hit not just the nuclear facilities, but also the symbols of state oppression: the intelligence ministry, the headquarters of the Revolutionary Guard, the guard towers of the notorious Evin Prison.Make no mistake: This is not a good option. Iran would probably retaliate with terrorist attacks against U.S. interests around the world, as well as aggressive efforts to destabilize Iraq. But the alternative — letting the mullahs go nuclear — is incalculably worse. For a quarter-century those mullahs have been fighting an undeclared war against the West with the only weapons they had: terrorism and a poisonous ideology. For a quarter-century we have failed to respond. They now stand on the brink of getting a new weapon — and this one will let them threaten the incineration of millions of infidels at the push of a button. Is this something that we — that anyone — should be willing to live with?
Facing Down Iran
Mark Steyn
Our lives depend on it.Most Westerners read the map of the world like a Broadway marquee: north is top of the bill—America, Britain, Europe, Russia—and the rest dribbles away into a mass of supporting players punctuated by occasional Star Guests: India, China, Australia. Everyone else gets rounded up into groups: “Africa,” “Asia,” “Latin America.”But if you’re one of the down-page crowd, the center of the world is wherever you happen to be. Take Iran: it doesn’t fit into any of the groups. Indeed, it’s a buffer zone between most of the important ones: to the west, it borders the Arab world; to the northwest, it borders NATO (and, if Turkey ever passes its endless audition, the European Union); to the north, the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation’s turbulent Caucasus; to the northeast, the Stans—the newly independent states of central Asia; to the east, the old British India, now bifurcated into a Muslim-Hindu nuclear standoff. And its southern shore sits on the central artery that feeds the global economy.If you divide the world into geographical regions, then, Iran’s neither here nor there. But if you divide it ideologically, the mullahs are ideally positioned at the center of the various provinces of Islam—the Arabs, the Turks, the Stans, and the south Asians. Who better to unite the Muslim world under one inspiring, courageous leadership? If there’s going to be an Islamic superpower, Tehran would seem to be the obvious candidate.That moment of ascendancy is now upon us. Or as the Daily Telegraph in London reported: “Iran’s hardline spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of atomic weapons against its enemies.” Hmm. I’m not a professional mullah, so I can’t speak to the theological soundness of the argument, but it seems a religious school in the Holy City of Qom has ruled that “the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem, according to sharia.” Well, there’s a surprise. How do you solve a problem? Like, sharia! It’s the one-stop shop for justifying all your geopolitical objectives.The bad cop/worse cop routine the mullahs and their hothead President Ahmadinejad are playing in this period of alleged negotiation over Iran’s nuclear program is the best indication of how all negotiations with Iran will go once they’re ready to fly. This is the nuclear version of the NRA bumper sticker: “Guns Don’t Kill People. People Kill People.” Nukes don’t nuke nations. Nations nuke nations. When the Argentine junta seized British sovereign territory in the Falklands, the generals knew that the United Kingdom was a nuclear power, but they also knew that under no conceivable scenario would Her Majesty’s Government drop the big one on Buenos Aires. The Argie generals were able to assume decency on the part of the enemy, which is a useful thing to be able to do.But in any contretemps with Iran the other party would be foolish to make a similar assumption. That will mean the contretemps will generally be resolved in Iran’s favor. In fact, if one were a Machiavellian mullah, the first thing one would do after acquiring nukes would be to hire some obvious loon like President Ahmaddamatree to front the program. He’s the equivalent of the yobbo in the English pub who says, “Oy, mate, you lookin’ at my bird?” You haven’t given her a glance, or him; you’re at the other end of the bar head down in the Daily Mirror, trying not to catch his eye. You don’t know whether he’s longing to nut you in the face or whether he just gets a kick out of terrifying you into thinking he wants to. But, either way, you just want to get out of the room in one piece. Kooks with nukes is one-way deterrence squared.If Belgium becomes a nuclear power, the Dutch have no reason to believe it would be a factor in, say, negotiations over a joint highway project. But Iran’s nukes will be a factor in everything. If you think, for example, the European Union and others have been fairly craven over those Danish cartoons, imagine what they’d be like if a nuclear Tehran had demanded a formal apology, a suitable punishment for the newspaper, and blasphemy laws specifically outlawing representations of the Prophet. Iran with nukes will be a suicide bomber with a radioactive waist.If we’d understood Iran back in 1979, we’d understand better the challenges we face today. Come to that, we might not even be facing them. But, with hindsight, what strikes you about the birth of the Islamic Republic is the near total lack of interest by analysts in that adjective: Islamic. Iran was only the second Islamist state, after Saudi Arabia—and, in selecting as their own qualifying adjective the family name, the House of Saud at least indicated a conventional sense of priorities, as the legions of Saudi princes whoring and gambling in the fleshpots of the West have demonstrated exhaustively. Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue—though, as the Royal Family has belatedly discovered vis-à-vis the Islamists, they’re somewhat overdrawn on that front. The difference in Iran is simple: with the mullahs, there are no London escort agencies on retainer to supply blondes only. When they say “Islamic Republic,” they mean it. And refusing to take their words at face value has bedeviled Western strategists for three decades.Twenty-seven years ago, because Islam didn’t fit into the old cold war template, analysts mostly discounted it. We looked at the map like that Broadway marquee: West and East, the old double act. As with most of the down-page turf, Iran’s significance lay in which half of the act she’d sign on with. To the Left, the shah was a high-profile example of an unsavory U.S. client propped up on traditional he-may-be-a-sonofabitch-but-he’s-our-sonofabitch grounds: in those heady days SAVAK, his secret police, were a household name among Western progressives, and insofar as they took the stern-faced man in the turban seriously, they assured themselves he was a kind of novelty front for the urbane Paris émigré socialists who accompanied him back to Tehran. To the realpolitik Right, the issue was Soviet containment: the shah may be our sonofabitch, but he’d outlived his usefulness, and a weak Iran could prove too tempting an invitation to Moscow to fulfill the oldest of czarist dreams—a warm-water port, not to mention control of the Straits of Hormuz. Very few of us considered the strategic implications of an Islamist victory on its own terms—the notion that Iran was checking the neither-of-the-above box and that that box would prove a far greater threat to the Freeish World than Communism. But that was always Iran’s plan. In 1989, with the Warsaw Pact disintegrating before his eyes, poor beleaguered Mikhail Gorbachev received a helpful bit of advice from the cocky young upstart on the block: “I strongly urge that in breaking down the walls of Marxist fantasies you do not fall into the prison of the West and the Great Satan,” Ayatollah Khomeini wrote to Moscow. “I openly announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the greatest and most powerful base of the Islamic world, can easily help fill up the ideological vacuum of your system.”Today many people in the West don’t take that any more seriously than Gorbachev did. But it’s pretty much come to pass. As Communism retreated, radical Islam seeped into Africa and south Asia and the Balkans. Crazy guys holed up in Philippine jungles and the tri-border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay who’d have been “Marxist fantasists” a generation or two back are now Islamists: it’s the ideology du jour. At the point of expiry of the Soviet Union in 1991, the peoples of the central Asian republics were for the most part unaware that Iran had even had an “Islamic revolution”; 15 years on, following the proselytizing of thousands of mullahs dispatched to the region by a specially created Iranian government agency, the Stans’ traditionally moderate and in many cases alcoholically lubricated form of Islam is yielding in all but the most remote areas to a fiercer form imported from the south. As the Pentagon has begun to notice, in Iraq Tehran has been quietly duplicating the strategy that delivered southern Lebanon into its control 20 years ago. The degeneration of Baby Assad’s supposedly “secular” Baathist tyranny into full-blown client status and the replacement of Arafat’s depraved “secular” kleptocrat terrorists by Hamas’s even more depraved Islamist terrorists can also be seen as symptoms of Iranification.So as a geopolitical analyst the ayatollah is not to be disdained. Our failure to understand Iran in the seventies foreshadowed our failure to understand the broader struggle today. As clashes of civilizations go, this one’s between two extremes: on the one hand, a world that has everything it needs to wage decisive war—wealth, armies, industry, technology; on the other, a world that has nothing but pure ideology and plenty of believers. (Its sole resource, oil, would stay in the ground were it not for foreign technology, foreign manpower, and a Western fetishization of domestic environmental aesthetics.)For this to be a mortal struggle, as the cold war was, the question is: Are they a credible enemy to us?For a projection of the likely outcome, the question is: Are we a credible enemy to them?Four years into the “war on terror,” the Bush administration has begun promoting a new formulation: “the long war.” Not a reassuring name. In a short war, put your money on tanks and bombs—our strengths. In a long war, the better bet is will and manpower—their strengths, and our great weakness. Even a loser can win when he’s up against a defeatist. A big chunk of Western civilization, consciously or otherwise, has given the impression that it’s dying to surrender to somebody, anybody. Reasonably enough, Islam figures: Hey, why not us? If you add to the advantages of will and manpower a nuclear capability, the odds shift dramatically.What, after all, is the issue underpinning every little goofy incident in the news, from those Danish cartoons of Mohammed to recommendations for polygamy by official commissions in Canada to the banning of the English flag in English prisons because it’s an insensitive “crusader” emblem to the introduction of gender-segregated swimming sessions in municipal pools in Puget Sound? In a word, sovereignty. There is no god but Allah, and thus there is no jurisdiction but Allah’s. Ayatollah Khomeini saw himself not as the leader of a geographical polity but as a leader of a communal one: Islam. Once those urbane socialist émigrés were either dead or on the plane back to Paris, Iran’s nominally “temporal” government took the same view, too: its role is not merely to run national highway departments and education ministries but to advance the cause of Islam worldwide.If you dust off the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, Article One reads: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.” Iran fails to meet qualification (d), and has never accepted it. The signature act of the new regime was not the usual post-coup bloodletting and summary execution of the shah’s mid-ranking officials but the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by “students” acting with Khomeini’s blessing. Diplomatic missions are recognized as the sovereign territory of that state, and the violation thereof is an act of war. No one in Washington has to fret that Fidel Castro will bomb the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Even in the event of an actual war, the diplomatic staff of both countries would be allowed to depart.Yet Iran seized protected persons on U.S. soil and held them prisoner for over a year—ostensibly because Washington was planning to restore the shah. But the shah died and the hostages remained. And, when the deal was eventually done and the hostages were released, the sovereign territory of the United States remained in the hands of the gangster regime. Granted that during the Carter administration the Soviets were gobbling up real estate from Afghanistan to Grenada, it’s significant that in this wretched era the only loss of actual U.S. territory was to the Islamists.Yet Iran paid no price. They got away with it. For the purposes of comparison, in 1980, when the U.S. hostages in Tehran were in their sixth month of captivity, Iranians opposed to the mullahs seized the Islamic Republic’s embassy in London. After six days of negotiation, Her Majesty’s Government sent SAS commandos into the building and restored it to the control of the regime. In refusing to do the same with the “students” occupying the U.S. embassy, the Islamic Republic was explicitly declaring that it was not as other states.We expect multilateral human-rights Democrats to be unsatisfactory on assertive nationalism, but if they won’t even stand up for international law, what’s the point? Jimmy Carter should have demanded the same service as Tehran got from the British—the swift resolution of the situation by the host government—and, if none was forthcoming, Washington should have reversed the affront to international order quickly, decisively, and in a sufficiently punitive manner. At hinge moments of history, there are never good and bad options, only bad and much much worse. Our options today are significantly worse because we didn’t take the bad one back then.With the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, a British subject, Tehran extended its contempt for sovereignty to claiming jurisdiction over the nationals of foreign states, passing sentence on them, and conscripting citizens of other countries to carry it out. Iran’s supreme leader instructed Muslims around the world to serve as executioners of the Islamic Republic—and they did, killing not Rushdie himself but his Japanese translator, and stabbing the Italian translator, and shooting the Italian publisher, and killing three dozen persons with no connection to the book when a mob burned down a hotel because of the presence of the novelist’s Turkish translator.Iran’s de facto head of state offered a multimillion-dollar bounty for a whack job on an obscure English novelist. And, as with the embassy siege, he got away with it.In the latest variation on Marx’s dictum, history repeats itself: first, the unreadable London literary novel; then, the Danish funny pages. But in the 17 years between the Rushdie fatwa and the cartoon jihad, what was supposedly a freakish one-off collision between Islam and the modern world has become routine. We now think it perfectly normal for Muslims to demand the tenets of their religion be applied to society at large: the government of Sweden, for example, has been zealously closing down websites that republish those Danish cartoons. As Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said, “It is in our revolution’s interest, and an essential principle, that when we speak of Islamic objectives, we address all the Muslims of the world.” Or as a female Muslim demonstrator in Toronto put it: “We won’t stop the protests until the world obeys Islamic law.”If that’s a little too ferocious, Kofi Annan framed it rather more soothingly: “The offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population, and is not yet sure how to adjust to it.”If you’ve also “recently acquired” a significant Muslim population and you’re not sure how to “adjust” to it, well, here’s the difference: back when my Belgian grandparents emigrated to Canada, the idea was that the immigrants assimilated to the host country. As Kofi and Co. see it, today the host country has to assimilate to the immigrants: if Islamic law forbids representations of the Prophet, then so must Danish law, and French law, and American law. Iran was the progenitor of this rapacious extraterritoriality, and, if we had understood it more clearly a generation ago, we might be in less danger of seeing large tracts of the developed world being subsumed by it today.Yet instead the West somehow came to believe that, in a region of authoritarian monarchs and kleptocrat dictators, Iran was a comparative beacon of liberty. The British foreign secretary goes to Tehran and hangs with the mullahs and, even though he’s not a practicing Muslim (yet), ostentatiously does that “peace be upon him” thing whenever he mentions the Prophet Mohammed. And where does the kissy-face with the A-list imams get him? Ayatollah Khamenei renewed the fatwa on Rushdie only last year. True, President Bush identified Iran as a member of the axis of evil, but a year later the country was being hailed as a “democracy” by then-deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and a nation that has seen a “democratic flowering,” as State Department spokesman Richard Boucher put it.And let’s not forget Bill Clinton’s extraordinary remarks at Davos last year: “Iran today is, in a sense, the only country where progressive ideas enjoy a vast constituency. It is there that the ideas that I subscribe to are defended by a majority.” That’s true in the very narrow sense that there’s a certain similarity between his legal strategy and sharia when it comes to adultery and setting up the gals as the fall guys. But it seems Clinton apparently had a more general commonality in mind: “In every single election, the guys I identify with got two-thirds to 70 percent of the vote. There is no other country in the world I can say that about, certainly not my own.” America’s first black President is beginning to sound like America’s first Islamist ex-president.Those remarks are as nutty as Gerald Ford’s denial of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. Iran has an impressive three-decade record of talking the talk and walking the walk—either directly or through client groups like Hezbollah. In 1994, the Argentine Israel Mutual Association was bombed in Buenos Aires. Nearly 100 people died and 250 were injured—the worst massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. An Argentine court eventually issued warrants for two Iranian diplomats plus Ali Fallahian, former intelligence minister, and Ali Akbar Parvaresh, former education minister and deputy speaker of the Majlis.Why blow up a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires? Because it’s there. Unlike the Iranian infiltration into Bosnia and Croatia, which helped radicalize not just the local populations but Muslim supporters from Britain and Western Europe, the random slaughter in the Argentine has no strategic value except as a demonstration of muscle and reach.Anyone who spends half an hour looking at Iranian foreign policy over the last 27 years sees five things: 1. contempt for the most basic international conventions; 2. long-reach extraterritoriality; 3. effective promotion of radical Pan-Islamism; 4. a willingness to go the extra mile for Jew-killing (unlike, say, Osama); 5. an all-but-total synchronization between rhetoric and action.Yet the Europeans remain in denial. Iran was supposedly the Middle Eastern state they could work with. And the chancellors and foreign ministers jetted in to court the mullahs so assiduously that they’re reluctant to give up on the strategy just because a relatively peripheral figure like the, er, head of state is sounding off about Armageddon.Instead, Western analysts tend to go all Kremlinological. There are, after all, many factions within Iran’s ruling class. What the country’s quick-on-the-nuke president says may not be the final word on the regime’s position. Likewise, what the school of nuclear theologians in Qom says. Likewise, what former president Khatami says. Likewise, what Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, says.But, given that they’re all in favor of the country having nukes, the point seems somewhat moot. The question then arises, what do they want them for?By way of illustration, consider the country’s last presidential election. The final round offered a choice between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an alumnus of the U.S. Embassy siege a quarter-century ago, and Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, which sounds like an EU foreign policy agency but is, in fact, the body that arbitrates between Iran’s political and religious leaderships. Ahmadinejad is a notorious shoot-from-the-lip apocalyptic hothead who believes in the return of the Twelfth (hidden) Imam and quite possibly that he personally is his designated deputy, and he’s also claimed that when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly last year a mystical halo appeared and bathed him in its aura. Ayatollah Rafsanjani, on the other hand, is one of those famous “moderates.” What’s the difference between a hothead and a moderate? Well, the extremist Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” while the moderate Rafsanjani has declared that Israel is “the most hideous occurrence in history,” which the Muslim world “will vomit out from its midst” in one blast, because “a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel, while an Israeli counter-strike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world.” Evidently wiping Israel off the map seems to be one of those rare points of bipartisan consensus in Tehran, the Iranian equivalent of a prescription drug plan for seniors: we’re just arguing over the details.So the question is: Will they do it?And the minute you have to ask, you know the answer. If, say, Norway or Ireland acquired nuclear weapons, we might regret the “proliferation,” but we wouldn’t have to contemplate mushroom clouds over neighboring states. In that sense, the civilized world has already lost: to enter into negotiations with a jurisdiction headed by a Holocaust-denying millenarian nut job is, in itself, an act of profound weakness—the first concession, regardless of what weaselly settlement might eventually emerge.Conversely, a key reason to stop Iran is to demonstrate that we can still muster the will to do so. Instead, the striking characteristic of the long diplomatic dance that brought us to this moment is how September 10th it’s all been. The free world’s delegated negotiators (the European Union) and transnational institutions (the IAEA) have continually given the impression that they’d be content just to boot it down the road to next year or the year after or find some arrangement—this decade’s Oil-for-Food or North Korean deal—that would get them off the hook. If you talk to EU foreign ministers, they’ve already psychologically accepted a nuclear Iran. Indeed, the chief characteristic of the West’s reaction to Iran’s nuclearization has been an enervated fatalism.Back when nuclear weapons were an elite club of five relatively sane world powers, your average Western progressive was convinced the planet was about to go ka-boom any minute. The mushroom cloud was one of the most familiar images in the culture, a recurring feature of novels and album covers and movie posters. There were bestselling dystopian picture books for children, in which the handful of survivors spent their last days walking in a nuclear winter wonderland. Now a state openly committed to the annihilation of a neighboring nation has nukes, and we shrug: Can’t be helped. Just the way things are. One hears sophisticated arguments that perhaps the best thing is to let everyone get ’em, and then no one will use them. And if Iran’s head of state happens to threaten to wipe Israel off the map, we should understand that this is a rhetorical stylistic device that’s part of the Persian oral narrative tradition, and it would be a grossly Eurocentric misinterpretation to take it literally.The fatalists have a point. We may well be headed for a world in which anybody with a few thousand bucks and the right unlisted Asian phone numbers in his Rolodex can get a nuke. But, even so, there are compelling reasons for preventing Iran in particular from going nuclear. Back in his student days at the U.S. embassy, young Mr. Ahmadinejad seized American sovereign territory, and the Americans did nothing. And I would wager that’s still how he looks at the world. And, like Rafsanjani, he would regard, say, Muslim deaths in an obliterated Jerusalem as worthy collateral damage in promoting the greater good of a Jew-free Middle East. The Palestinians and their “right of return” have never been more than a weapon of convenience with which to chastise the West. To assume Tehran would never nuke Israel because a shift in wind direction would contaminate Ramallah is to be as ignorant of history as most Palestinians are: from Yasser Arafat’s uncle, the pro-Nazi Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during the British Mandate, to the insurgents in Iraq today, Islamists have never been shy about slaughtering Muslims in pursuit of their strategic goals.But it doesn’t have to come to that. Go back to that Argentine bombing. It was, in fact, the second major Iranian-sponsored attack in Buenos Aires. The year before, 1993, a Hezbollah suicide bomber killed 29 people and injured hundreds more in an attack on the Israeli Embassy. In the case of the community center bombing, the killer had flown from Lebanon a few days earlier and entered Latin America through the porous tri-border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Suppose Iran had had a “dirty nuke” shipped to Hezbollah, or even the full-blown thing: Would it have been any less easy to get it into the country? And, if a significant chunk of downtown Buenos Aires were rendered uninhabitable, what would the Argentine government do? Iran can project itself to South America effortlessly, but Argentina can’t project itself to the Middle East at all. It can’t nuke Tehran, and it can’t attack Iran in conventional ways.So any retaliation would be down to others. Would Washington act? It depends how clear the fingerprints were. If the links back to the mullahs were just a teensy-weensy bit tenuous and murky, how eager would the U.S. be to reciprocate? Bush and Rumsfeld might—but an administration of a more Clinto-Powellite bent? How much pressure would there be for investigations under UN auspices? Perhaps Hans Blix could come out of retirement, and we could have a six-month dance through Security-Council coalition-building, with the secretary of state making a last-minute flight to Khartoum to try to persuade Sudan to switch its vote.Perhaps it’s unduly pessimistic to write the civilized world automatically into what Osama bin Laden called the “weak horse” role (Islam being the “strong horse”). But, if you were an Iranian “moderate” and you’d watched the West’s reaction to the embassy seizure and the Rushdie murders and Hezbollah terrorism, wouldn’t you be thinking along those lines? I don’t suppose Buenos Aires Jews expect to have their institutions nuked any more than 12 years ago they expected to be blown up in their own city by Iranian-backed suicide bombers. Nukes have gone freelance, and there’s nothing much we can do about that, and sooner or later we’ll see the consequences—in Vancouver or Rotterdam, Glasgow or Atlanta. But, that being so, we owe it to ourselves to take the minimal precautionary step of ending the one regime whose political establishment is explicitly pledged to the nuclear annihilation of neighboring states.Once again, we face a choice between bad and worse options. There can be no “surgical” strike in any meaningful sense: Iran’s clients on the ground will retaliate in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Europe. Nor should we put much stock in the country’s allegedly “pro-American” youth. This shouldn’t be a touchy-feely nation-building exercise: rehabilitation may be a bonus, but the primary objective should be punishment—and incarceration. It’s up to the Iranian people how nutty a government they want to live with, but extraterritorial nuttiness has to be shown not to pay. That means swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime—but no occupation.The cost of de-nuking Iran will be high now but significantly higher with every year it’s postponed. The lesson of the Danish cartoons is the clearest reminder that what is at stake here is the credibility of our civilization. Whether or not we end the nuclearization of the Islamic Republic will be an act that defines our time.A quarter-century ago, there was a minor British pop hit called “Ayatollah, Don’t Khomeini Closer.” If you’re a U.S. diplomat or a British novelist, a Croat Christian or an Argentine Jew, he’s already come way too close. How much closer do you want him to get?
Mark Steyn
Our lives depend on it.Most Westerners read the map of the world like a Broadway marquee: north is top of the bill—America, Britain, Europe, Russia—and the rest dribbles away into a mass of supporting players punctuated by occasional Star Guests: India, China, Australia. Everyone else gets rounded up into groups: “Africa,” “Asia,” “Latin America.”But if you’re one of the down-page crowd, the center of the world is wherever you happen to be. Take Iran: it doesn’t fit into any of the groups. Indeed, it’s a buffer zone between most of the important ones: to the west, it borders the Arab world; to the northwest, it borders NATO (and, if Turkey ever passes its endless audition, the European Union); to the north, the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation’s turbulent Caucasus; to the northeast, the Stans—the newly independent states of central Asia; to the east, the old British India, now bifurcated into a Muslim-Hindu nuclear standoff. And its southern shore sits on the central artery that feeds the global economy.If you divide the world into geographical regions, then, Iran’s neither here nor there. But if you divide it ideologically, the mullahs are ideally positioned at the center of the various provinces of Islam—the Arabs, the Turks, the Stans, and the south Asians. Who better to unite the Muslim world under one inspiring, courageous leadership? If there’s going to be an Islamic superpower, Tehran would seem to be the obvious candidate.That moment of ascendancy is now upon us. Or as the Daily Telegraph in London reported: “Iran’s hardline spiritual leaders have issued an unprecedented new fatwa, or holy order, sanctioning the use of atomic weapons against its enemies.” Hmm. I’m not a professional mullah, so I can’t speak to the theological soundness of the argument, but it seems a religious school in the Holy City of Qom has ruled that “the use of nuclear weapons may not constitute a problem, according to sharia.” Well, there’s a surprise. How do you solve a problem? Like, sharia! It’s the one-stop shop for justifying all your geopolitical objectives.The bad cop/worse cop routine the mullahs and their hothead President Ahmadinejad are playing in this period of alleged negotiation over Iran’s nuclear program is the best indication of how all negotiations with Iran will go once they’re ready to fly. This is the nuclear version of the NRA bumper sticker: “Guns Don’t Kill People. People Kill People.” Nukes don’t nuke nations. Nations nuke nations. When the Argentine junta seized British sovereign territory in the Falklands, the generals knew that the United Kingdom was a nuclear power, but they also knew that under no conceivable scenario would Her Majesty’s Government drop the big one on Buenos Aires. The Argie generals were able to assume decency on the part of the enemy, which is a useful thing to be able to do.But in any contretemps with Iran the other party would be foolish to make a similar assumption. That will mean the contretemps will generally be resolved in Iran’s favor. In fact, if one were a Machiavellian mullah, the first thing one would do after acquiring nukes would be to hire some obvious loon like President Ahmaddamatree to front the program. He’s the equivalent of the yobbo in the English pub who says, “Oy, mate, you lookin’ at my bird?” You haven’t given her a glance, or him; you’re at the other end of the bar head down in the Daily Mirror, trying not to catch his eye. You don’t know whether he’s longing to nut you in the face or whether he just gets a kick out of terrifying you into thinking he wants to. But, either way, you just want to get out of the room in one piece. Kooks with nukes is one-way deterrence squared.If Belgium becomes a nuclear power, the Dutch have no reason to believe it would be a factor in, say, negotiations over a joint highway project. But Iran’s nukes will be a factor in everything. If you think, for example, the European Union and others have been fairly craven over those Danish cartoons, imagine what they’d be like if a nuclear Tehran had demanded a formal apology, a suitable punishment for the newspaper, and blasphemy laws specifically outlawing representations of the Prophet. Iran with nukes will be a suicide bomber with a radioactive waist.If we’d understood Iran back in 1979, we’d understand better the challenges we face today. Come to that, we might not even be facing them. But, with hindsight, what strikes you about the birth of the Islamic Republic is the near total lack of interest by analysts in that adjective: Islamic. Iran was only the second Islamist state, after Saudi Arabia—and, in selecting as their own qualifying adjective the family name, the House of Saud at least indicated a conventional sense of priorities, as the legions of Saudi princes whoring and gambling in the fleshpots of the West have demonstrated exhaustively. Hypocrisy is the tribute vice pays to virtue—though, as the Royal Family has belatedly discovered vis-à-vis the Islamists, they’re somewhat overdrawn on that front. The difference in Iran is simple: with the mullahs, there are no London escort agencies on retainer to supply blondes only. When they say “Islamic Republic,” they mean it. And refusing to take their words at face value has bedeviled Western strategists for three decades.Twenty-seven years ago, because Islam didn’t fit into the old cold war template, analysts mostly discounted it. We looked at the map like that Broadway marquee: West and East, the old double act. As with most of the down-page turf, Iran’s significance lay in which half of the act she’d sign on with. To the Left, the shah was a high-profile example of an unsavory U.S. client propped up on traditional he-may-be-a-sonofabitch-but-he’s-our-sonofabitch grounds: in those heady days SAVAK, his secret police, were a household name among Western progressives, and insofar as they took the stern-faced man in the turban seriously, they assured themselves he was a kind of novelty front for the urbane Paris émigré socialists who accompanied him back to Tehran. To the realpolitik Right, the issue was Soviet containment: the shah may be our sonofabitch, but he’d outlived his usefulness, and a weak Iran could prove too tempting an invitation to Moscow to fulfill the oldest of czarist dreams—a warm-water port, not to mention control of the Straits of Hormuz. Very few of us considered the strategic implications of an Islamist victory on its own terms—the notion that Iran was checking the neither-of-the-above box and that that box would prove a far greater threat to the Freeish World than Communism. But that was always Iran’s plan. In 1989, with the Warsaw Pact disintegrating before his eyes, poor beleaguered Mikhail Gorbachev received a helpful bit of advice from the cocky young upstart on the block: “I strongly urge that in breaking down the walls of Marxist fantasies you do not fall into the prison of the West and the Great Satan,” Ayatollah Khomeini wrote to Moscow. “I openly announce that the Islamic Republic of Iran, as the greatest and most powerful base of the Islamic world, can easily help fill up the ideological vacuum of your system.”Today many people in the West don’t take that any more seriously than Gorbachev did. But it’s pretty much come to pass. As Communism retreated, radical Islam seeped into Africa and south Asia and the Balkans. Crazy guys holed up in Philippine jungles and the tri-border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay who’d have been “Marxist fantasists” a generation or two back are now Islamists: it’s the ideology du jour. At the point of expiry of the Soviet Union in 1991, the peoples of the central Asian republics were for the most part unaware that Iran had even had an “Islamic revolution”; 15 years on, following the proselytizing of thousands of mullahs dispatched to the region by a specially created Iranian government agency, the Stans’ traditionally moderate and in many cases alcoholically lubricated form of Islam is yielding in all but the most remote areas to a fiercer form imported from the south. As the Pentagon has begun to notice, in Iraq Tehran has been quietly duplicating the strategy that delivered southern Lebanon into its control 20 years ago. The degeneration of Baby Assad’s supposedly “secular” Baathist tyranny into full-blown client status and the replacement of Arafat’s depraved “secular” kleptocrat terrorists by Hamas’s even more depraved Islamist terrorists can also be seen as symptoms of Iranification.So as a geopolitical analyst the ayatollah is not to be disdained. Our failure to understand Iran in the seventies foreshadowed our failure to understand the broader struggle today. As clashes of civilizations go, this one’s between two extremes: on the one hand, a world that has everything it needs to wage decisive war—wealth, armies, industry, technology; on the other, a world that has nothing but pure ideology and plenty of believers. (Its sole resource, oil, would stay in the ground were it not for foreign technology, foreign manpower, and a Western fetishization of domestic environmental aesthetics.)For this to be a mortal struggle, as the cold war was, the question is: Are they a credible enemy to us?For a projection of the likely outcome, the question is: Are we a credible enemy to them?Four years into the “war on terror,” the Bush administration has begun promoting a new formulation: “the long war.” Not a reassuring name. In a short war, put your money on tanks and bombs—our strengths. In a long war, the better bet is will and manpower—their strengths, and our great weakness. Even a loser can win when he’s up against a defeatist. A big chunk of Western civilization, consciously or otherwise, has given the impression that it’s dying to surrender to somebody, anybody. Reasonably enough, Islam figures: Hey, why not us? If you add to the advantages of will and manpower a nuclear capability, the odds shift dramatically.What, after all, is the issue underpinning every little goofy incident in the news, from those Danish cartoons of Mohammed to recommendations for polygamy by official commissions in Canada to the banning of the English flag in English prisons because it’s an insensitive “crusader” emblem to the introduction of gender-segregated swimming sessions in municipal pools in Puget Sound? In a word, sovereignty. There is no god but Allah, and thus there is no jurisdiction but Allah’s. Ayatollah Khomeini saw himself not as the leader of a geographical polity but as a leader of a communal one: Islam. Once those urbane socialist émigrés were either dead or on the plane back to Paris, Iran’s nominally “temporal” government took the same view, too: its role is not merely to run national highway departments and education ministries but to advance the cause of Islam worldwide.If you dust off the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, Article One reads: “The state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: (a) a permanent population; (b) a defined territory; (c) government; and (d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states.” Iran fails to meet qualification (d), and has never accepted it. The signature act of the new regime was not the usual post-coup bloodletting and summary execution of the shah’s mid-ranking officials but the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran by “students” acting with Khomeini’s blessing. Diplomatic missions are recognized as the sovereign territory of that state, and the violation thereof is an act of war. No one in Washington has to fret that Fidel Castro will bomb the U.S. Interests Section in Havana. Even in the event of an actual war, the diplomatic staff of both countries would be allowed to depart.Yet Iran seized protected persons on U.S. soil and held them prisoner for over a year—ostensibly because Washington was planning to restore the shah. But the shah died and the hostages remained. And, when the deal was eventually done and the hostages were released, the sovereign territory of the United States remained in the hands of the gangster regime. Granted that during the Carter administration the Soviets were gobbling up real estate from Afghanistan to Grenada, it’s significant that in this wretched era the only loss of actual U.S. territory was to the Islamists.Yet Iran paid no price. They got away with it. For the purposes of comparison, in 1980, when the U.S. hostages in Tehran were in their sixth month of captivity, Iranians opposed to the mullahs seized the Islamic Republic’s embassy in London. After six days of negotiation, Her Majesty’s Government sent SAS commandos into the building and restored it to the control of the regime. In refusing to do the same with the “students” occupying the U.S. embassy, the Islamic Republic was explicitly declaring that it was not as other states.We expect multilateral human-rights Democrats to be unsatisfactory on assertive nationalism, but if they won’t even stand up for international law, what’s the point? Jimmy Carter should have demanded the same service as Tehran got from the British—the swift resolution of the situation by the host government—and, if none was forthcoming, Washington should have reversed the affront to international order quickly, decisively, and in a sufficiently punitive manner. At hinge moments of history, there are never good and bad options, only bad and much much worse. Our options today are significantly worse because we didn’t take the bad one back then.With the fatwa against Salman Rushdie, a British subject, Tehran extended its contempt for sovereignty to claiming jurisdiction over the nationals of foreign states, passing sentence on them, and conscripting citizens of other countries to carry it out. Iran’s supreme leader instructed Muslims around the world to serve as executioners of the Islamic Republic—and they did, killing not Rushdie himself but his Japanese translator, and stabbing the Italian translator, and shooting the Italian publisher, and killing three dozen persons with no connection to the book when a mob burned down a hotel because of the presence of the novelist’s Turkish translator.Iran’s de facto head of state offered a multimillion-dollar bounty for a whack job on an obscure English novelist. And, as with the embassy siege, he got away with it.In the latest variation on Marx’s dictum, history repeats itself: first, the unreadable London literary novel; then, the Danish funny pages. But in the 17 years between the Rushdie fatwa and the cartoon jihad, what was supposedly a freakish one-off collision between Islam and the modern world has become routine. We now think it perfectly normal for Muslims to demand the tenets of their religion be applied to society at large: the government of Sweden, for example, has been zealously closing down websites that republish those Danish cartoons. As Khomeini’s successor, Ayatollah Khamenei, has said, “It is in our revolution’s interest, and an essential principle, that when we speak of Islamic objectives, we address all the Muslims of the world.” Or as a female Muslim demonstrator in Toronto put it: “We won’t stop the protests until the world obeys Islamic law.”If that’s a little too ferocious, Kofi Annan framed it rather more soothingly: “The offensive caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad were first published in a European country which has recently acquired a significant Muslim population, and is not yet sure how to adjust to it.”If you’ve also “recently acquired” a significant Muslim population and you’re not sure how to “adjust” to it, well, here’s the difference: back when my Belgian grandparents emigrated to Canada, the idea was that the immigrants assimilated to the host country. As Kofi and Co. see it, today the host country has to assimilate to the immigrants: if Islamic law forbids representations of the Prophet, then so must Danish law, and French law, and American law. Iran was the progenitor of this rapacious extraterritoriality, and, if we had understood it more clearly a generation ago, we might be in less danger of seeing large tracts of the developed world being subsumed by it today.Yet instead the West somehow came to believe that, in a region of authoritarian monarchs and kleptocrat dictators, Iran was a comparative beacon of liberty. The British foreign secretary goes to Tehran and hangs with the mullahs and, even though he’s not a practicing Muslim (yet), ostentatiously does that “peace be upon him” thing whenever he mentions the Prophet Mohammed. And where does the kissy-face with the A-list imams get him? Ayatollah Khamenei renewed the fatwa on Rushdie only last year. True, President Bush identified Iran as a member of the axis of evil, but a year later the country was being hailed as a “democracy” by then-deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage and a nation that has seen a “democratic flowering,” as State Department spokesman Richard Boucher put it.And let’s not forget Bill Clinton’s extraordinary remarks at Davos last year: “Iran today is, in a sense, the only country where progressive ideas enjoy a vast constituency. It is there that the ideas that I subscribe to are defended by a majority.” That’s true in the very narrow sense that there’s a certain similarity between his legal strategy and sharia when it comes to adultery and setting up the gals as the fall guys. But it seems Clinton apparently had a more general commonality in mind: “In every single election, the guys I identify with got two-thirds to 70 percent of the vote. There is no other country in the world I can say that about, certainly not my own.” America’s first black President is beginning to sound like America’s first Islamist ex-president.Those remarks are as nutty as Gerald Ford’s denial of Soviet influence in Eastern Europe. Iran has an impressive three-decade record of talking the talk and walking the walk—either directly or through client groups like Hezbollah. In 1994, the Argentine Israel Mutual Association was bombed in Buenos Aires. Nearly 100 people died and 250 were injured—the worst massacre of Jewish civilians since the Holocaust. An Argentine court eventually issued warrants for two Iranian diplomats plus Ali Fallahian, former intelligence minister, and Ali Akbar Parvaresh, former education minister and deputy speaker of the Majlis.Why blow up a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires? Because it’s there. Unlike the Iranian infiltration into Bosnia and Croatia, which helped radicalize not just the local populations but Muslim supporters from Britain and Western Europe, the random slaughter in the Argentine has no strategic value except as a demonstration of muscle and reach.Anyone who spends half an hour looking at Iranian foreign policy over the last 27 years sees five things: 1. contempt for the most basic international conventions; 2. long-reach extraterritoriality; 3. effective promotion of radical Pan-Islamism; 4. a willingness to go the extra mile for Jew-killing (unlike, say, Osama); 5. an all-but-total synchronization between rhetoric and action.Yet the Europeans remain in denial. Iran was supposedly the Middle Eastern state they could work with. And the chancellors and foreign ministers jetted in to court the mullahs so assiduously that they’re reluctant to give up on the strategy just because a relatively peripheral figure like the, er, head of state is sounding off about Armageddon.Instead, Western analysts tend to go all Kremlinological. There are, after all, many factions within Iran’s ruling class. What the country’s quick-on-the-nuke president says may not be the final word on the regime’s position. Likewise, what the school of nuclear theologians in Qom says. Likewise, what former president Khatami says. Likewise, what Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, says.But, given that they’re all in favor of the country having nukes, the point seems somewhat moot. The question then arises, what do they want them for?By way of illustration, consider the country’s last presidential election. The final round offered a choice between Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an alumnus of the U.S. Embassy siege a quarter-century ago, and Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Council, which sounds like an EU foreign policy agency but is, in fact, the body that arbitrates between Iran’s political and religious leaderships. Ahmadinejad is a notorious shoot-from-the-lip apocalyptic hothead who believes in the return of the Twelfth (hidden) Imam and quite possibly that he personally is his designated deputy, and he’s also claimed that when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly last year a mystical halo appeared and bathed him in its aura. Ayatollah Rafsanjani, on the other hand, is one of those famous “moderates.” What’s the difference between a hothead and a moderate? Well, the extremist Ahmadinejad has called for Israel to be “wiped off the map,” while the moderate Rafsanjani has declared that Israel is “the most hideous occurrence in history,” which the Muslim world “will vomit out from its midst” in one blast, because “a single atomic bomb has the power to completely destroy Israel, while an Israeli counter-strike can only cause partial damage to the Islamic world.” Evidently wiping Israel off the map seems to be one of those rare points of bipartisan consensus in Tehran, the Iranian equivalent of a prescription drug plan for seniors: we’re just arguing over the details.So the question is: Will they do it?And the minute you have to ask, you know the answer. If, say, Norway or Ireland acquired nuclear weapons, we might regret the “proliferation,” but we wouldn’t have to contemplate mushroom clouds over neighboring states. In that sense, the civilized world has already lost: to enter into negotiations with a jurisdiction headed by a Holocaust-denying millenarian nut job is, in itself, an act of profound weakness—the first concession, regardless of what weaselly settlement might eventually emerge.Conversely, a key reason to stop Iran is to demonstrate that we can still muster the will to do so. Instead, the striking characteristic of the long diplomatic dance that brought us to this moment is how September 10th it’s all been. The free world’s delegated negotiators (the European Union) and transnational institutions (the IAEA) have continually given the impression that they’d be content just to boot it down the road to next year or the year after or find some arrangement—this decade’s Oil-for-Food or North Korean deal—that would get them off the hook. If you talk to EU foreign ministers, they’ve already psychologically accepted a nuclear Iran. Indeed, the chief characteristic of the West’s reaction to Iran’s nuclearization has been an enervated fatalism.Back when nuclear weapons were an elite club of five relatively sane world powers, your average Western progressive was convinced the planet was about to go ka-boom any minute. The mushroom cloud was one of the most familiar images in the culture, a recurring feature of novels and album covers and movie posters. There were bestselling dystopian picture books for children, in which the handful of survivors spent their last days walking in a nuclear winter wonderland. Now a state openly committed to the annihilation of a neighboring nation has nukes, and we shrug: Can’t be helped. Just the way things are. One hears sophisticated arguments that perhaps the best thing is to let everyone get ’em, and then no one will use them. And if Iran’s head of state happens to threaten to wipe Israel off the map, we should understand that this is a rhetorical stylistic device that’s part of the Persian oral narrative tradition, and it would be a grossly Eurocentric misinterpretation to take it literally.The fatalists have a point. We may well be headed for a world in which anybody with a few thousand bucks and the right unlisted Asian phone numbers in his Rolodex can get a nuke. But, even so, there are compelling reasons for preventing Iran in particular from going nuclear. Back in his student days at the U.S. embassy, young Mr. Ahmadinejad seized American sovereign territory, and the Americans did nothing. And I would wager that’s still how he looks at the world. And, like Rafsanjani, he would regard, say, Muslim deaths in an obliterated Jerusalem as worthy collateral damage in promoting the greater good of a Jew-free Middle East. The Palestinians and their “right of return” have never been more than a weapon of convenience with which to chastise the West. To assume Tehran would never nuke Israel because a shift in wind direction would contaminate Ramallah is to be as ignorant of history as most Palestinians are: from Yasser Arafat’s uncle, the pro-Nazi Grand Mufti of Jerusalem during the British Mandate, to the insurgents in Iraq today, Islamists have never been shy about slaughtering Muslims in pursuit of their strategic goals.But it doesn’t have to come to that. Go back to that Argentine bombing. It was, in fact, the second major Iranian-sponsored attack in Buenos Aires. The year before, 1993, a Hezbollah suicide bomber killed 29 people and injured hundreds more in an attack on the Israeli Embassy. In the case of the community center bombing, the killer had flown from Lebanon a few days earlier and entered Latin America through the porous tri-border region of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Suppose Iran had had a “dirty nuke” shipped to Hezbollah, or even the full-blown thing: Would it have been any less easy to get it into the country? And, if a significant chunk of downtown Buenos Aires were rendered uninhabitable, what would the Argentine government do? Iran can project itself to South America effortlessly, but Argentina can’t project itself to the Middle East at all. It can’t nuke Tehran, and it can’t attack Iran in conventional ways.So any retaliation would be down to others. Would Washington act? It depends how clear the fingerprints were. If the links back to the mullahs were just a teensy-weensy bit tenuous and murky, how eager would the U.S. be to reciprocate? Bush and Rumsfeld might—but an administration of a more Clinto-Powellite bent? How much pressure would there be for investigations under UN auspices? Perhaps Hans Blix could come out of retirement, and we could have a six-month dance through Security-Council coalition-building, with the secretary of state making a last-minute flight to Khartoum to try to persuade Sudan to switch its vote.Perhaps it’s unduly pessimistic to write the civilized world automatically into what Osama bin Laden called the “weak horse” role (Islam being the “strong horse”). But, if you were an Iranian “moderate” and you’d watched the West’s reaction to the embassy seizure and the Rushdie murders and Hezbollah terrorism, wouldn’t you be thinking along those lines? I don’t suppose Buenos Aires Jews expect to have their institutions nuked any more than 12 years ago they expected to be blown up in their own city by Iranian-backed suicide bombers. Nukes have gone freelance, and there’s nothing much we can do about that, and sooner or later we’ll see the consequences—in Vancouver or Rotterdam, Glasgow or Atlanta. But, that being so, we owe it to ourselves to take the minimal precautionary step of ending the one regime whose political establishment is explicitly pledged to the nuclear annihilation of neighboring states.Once again, we face a choice between bad and worse options. There can be no “surgical” strike in any meaningful sense: Iran’s clients on the ground will retaliate in Iraq, Lebanon, Israel, and Europe. Nor should we put much stock in the country’s allegedly “pro-American” youth. This shouldn’t be a touchy-feely nation-building exercise: rehabilitation may be a bonus, but the primary objective should be punishment—and incarceration. It’s up to the Iranian people how nutty a government they want to live with, but extraterritorial nuttiness has to be shown not to pay. That means swift, massive, devastating force that decapitates the regime—but no occupation.The cost of de-nuking Iran will be high now but significantly higher with every year it’s postponed. The lesson of the Danish cartoons is the clearest reminder that what is at stake here is the credibility of our civilization. Whether or not we end the nuclearization of the Islamic Republic will be an act that defines our time.A quarter-century ago, there was a minor British pop hit called “Ayatollah, Don’t Khomeini Closer.” If you’re a U.S. diplomat or a British novelist, a Croat Christian or an Argentine Jew, he’s already come way too close. How much closer do you want him to get?
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