Missed OpportunitiesUS Intelligence Failures in the Middle East
By Nagi N. Najjar
The momentum in the ME is an intelligence momentum, not a military one. When the US military defeated Saddam Hussein and his criminals in power, the right decision by President Bush, US intelligence failed in consolidating and cultivating the ground, something every Intelligence service rushes to do after a battle is won on the ground, and adopting the right strategy to place Iraq's both neighbors on defensive tracks, specifically a malcontent Syria who is the easier target compared to Iran. Everybody in the Middle East understands what it takes to win the nature of this war except the leadership of the US Intelligence community who are too busy articulating and promoting "Democracy" in a region where religion is the doctrine of overwhelming choice. Not only is this United States Administration failing in this war and surrendering their allies to an unacceptable status quo, creating a dangerous indefensible situation in the Middle East, but its Intelligence community is using every wrong instrument to pressure and surrenders their enemies.This failure of effective action will inevitably lead to a major US setback in the area, for a misguided US policy will allow Teheran to force an Islamic take-over of the Levant, compounded by an upheaval of the Gulf States, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and the entire region. The first US Intelligence miscalculation, by taking over Iraq, over-evaluated the Sistani Shiaa factor by discovering after a few years the dangerous influence of Teheran on its neighbors. Should the US course of events stay unchanged, Iran will have access to the Mediterranean sea, controlling the oil flow production, assisted by the Damascus regime, Hezbollah, Hamas, and all the Islamic terror groups that are placing Israel under a terror siege while waiting for Israel's collapse.Another of America’s greatest mistakes was pressuring Israel to preventing it from redrawing the geopolitical map of the terror regimes in the area, mainly Lebanon under Hezbollah, Damascus, and Teheran, collectively known as the Syrian-Iranian axis of terror. Jerusalem had the ability to change the events in Lebanon and Syria far more effectively than the United States ever could.Iran and Syria, along with a "quiet" Russia, are using delaying tactics to bring about a defeat of George W. Bush in the next election in order to create a new fait accompli of terror that will affect regional Oil production as well as the politics of the area.Iran's Islamic Revolution is one of the bloodiest rises to power of any century, and Iran by exporting its terror alliance to Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Iraq, ensured the political survival of Teheran’s struggle that is now underway against a fragmented United States's political power structure.Should the US continue its politics of pressuring its allies for concessions to please the Saudis, as they did with Prime Minister Sharon in Gaza for a Peace of illusion, they will enter a power struggle that Ahmadinejad will certainly win against the US at the end of the day in the region. As Washington is dragging its feet in Iraq and over the nuclear issue, the Iranian strategy is far more clever, more operational, and more effective in the Middle East and debilitating for the United States. Yet, despite its aggressive terror path, this terror strategy can be destroyed and vanquished .This will not happen by using the ineffective United Nations tool as an up-front instrument to counter the terror of such Rogue States in the area, only military action will halt an Iranian advance into a regional, nuclear power and neutralize and defeat their terrorist paramilitary groups in the ME.Bachar el Assad and Ahmadinejad of Iran know that US sanctions mean weakness, for it will only prolong the corruption and blackmail of the West as Iran enhances its nuclear bomb capacity. For those who understand the Middle East, this cosmetic US-Saudi power struggle, now being played out against Iran and Syria, is doomed to failure.Syria and Iran will see the economic sanctions by the West as an opportunity to consolidate their positions on the ground. Using the showdown against the West, Syria and Iran, with Russia’s support, will deceive Washington and defeat it in the region by using a strategy of terror in Lebanon, Israel, and Iraq. The U.S. military misadventure in the Middle East is seen as a failure in the Islamic world as they know that the United States is politically in trouble in both Iraq and Afghanistan, therefore America’s options for dealing with Syria and Iran are limited.Economic sanctions will do little to damage this Axis of terror. Short of a regime change, the US mishandling of the area will result in the consolidation of the power of these regimes who will continue their campaign of terror and assassination in Iraq, Israel, and Lebanon, in order to consolidate their take over against the United States in the area and justify the effectiveness of their take over against the West.Gebran Tueni was assassinated within this context in Lebanon, only few days after FBI Director Robert Mueller visited Lebanon with a message of support from Washington. Syria reacted with Teheran’s blessing in sparking the assassination by telling the Lebanese that America will not bring Peace to your country .A serious indication of Washington intelligence failure is the weakness with which the Saudi-US alliance reacts to such terrorism. Syria has cleverly chosen to pick its fight with the West, because whomever controls the ground, controls substance in the Middle East. Iran controls a large part of Iraq Shiaa affiliates and Syria still controls many Shiaa radicals through Hezbollah and the Palestinian militias in Lebanon. The CIA and Prince Bandar were busy playing the Abdel Halim Khaddam card, a former Syrian Vice President empty of substance who cannot deliver anything but buy time for Damascus and give Syria another chance of survival in the region.This is enough failure in a time of war, Syria must be destroyed, not pampered and compromised as the CIA and the Saudis are articulating in their warfare against terrorism. Time is working against the Bush Administration in this war. There are unexplored different wild cards that will disintegrate and defeat the nexus of these "rogue states," otherwise Terrorism Incorporated will take shape and empower the entire region against the West.This strategy of failure from the US side will inevitability assist Iran in acquiring nuclear weapons and ensure to Iran the capability of threatening the whole Middle East as well as the United States.Without consolidating the ground and demilitarizing Hezbollah in Lebanon, the upcoming reception of Hariri's son at the White House will only compound the US failure for a bold solution versus terrorism in the Middle East. The Saudis have demonstrated a series of failures with their American appointed associates in countering the Iranian-Syrian terror offensive in Lebanon.To marginalize terror in the Middle East, Israel should take the offensive against Iran's nuclear capacity, against the Syrian regime by toppling it, and against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The countdown of the consequences of Iran's confrontation has started.Diplomatic pressure will backfire on the West, only precise military actions against the terror groups and toppling their sponsoring regime in Lebanon, Syria, and Iran, will consolidate the West's strategy in consolidating a new Iraq and peaceful Middle East, anything else will be translated as a strategic failure and will empower Tehran and Damascus to use terror incentives to completely destroy the United States and assassinate their political allies and regimes one after the other in the Middle East.

Ariel Sharon,An Immortal Legacy
by Nagi N. Najjar
Sabra and Shatila darkened P.M. Sharon's name for decades, as manipulated by Arab media warfare, it was a segment of a bigger, confrontation dynamic playing out between Islam and the Forces supporting the West in the Middle East. The Sabra and Shatila camps were not a piece of Real Estate on the French Riviera and Cote D'Azur where barbarians came from nowhere and massacred "innocent" Palestinians living there.Sabra and Shatilla was an ugly reaction in history to Palestinian gangsterism in Lebanon, from the Lebanese community who were fed up with Yasser Arafat and his gangs who harbored most of the terror organizations of the world, protecting them, and giving them support from the PLO and their likes. Most of the airplane hijacking in the 70's and 80's were masterminded in the Sabra and Shatilla Camps of Beirut by the Palestinian organizations; many Lebanese kidnapped by the PLO gangs were murdered there and never returned. Where was the silent Press of the West then? Why this silence? The silence was due to Arab Saudi Oil influencing European and US political and media influence. Indeed, Prince Bandar from his Aspen, Colorado residence and his Washington residence succeeded in coercing the White House, the State Department , European and US media, to turn a blind eye to the atrocities of Islam against the other minorities in the Middle East. Thousands of Lebanese were murdered in Damur and other cities of Lebanon prior to Sabra and Shatilla. Sabra and Shatilla was a primal reaction to an unprovoked barbaric and savage slaughter of Lebanese Christians by Islamists. Where was the West? They were blinded by Saudi Oil. Today, after the events of Iraq , the wheel is turning in an alarming situation in Lebanon, just as prior to 1982 when the IDF entered Lebanon to help the Lebanese liberate themselves from the terror of the PLO and other Islamic militias ruling the country Ben Laden style. The silent West, sedated by Saudi financial influence, didn't move, as it watched the Christians of Lebanon being massacred by the various Islamic Palestinian militias. Israel responded on its own due to a brave, political decision taken then by Prime Minister Begin and Minister of Defense Ariel Sharon. The whole world later came down against them: why? 20 years of Islamic terrorism could have been prevented in the Middle East should Sharon have consolidated Lebanon with an Israeli military alliance. The Israeli Forces and their Lebanese Forces allies in Lebanon were crushing Islamic fundamentalism and the Palestinian mini-armies of Yasser Arafat who were spreading terror using Southern Lebanon as a springboard for their terror operations against Israel. No, instead, the Americans who pretended to know better, condemned Israel and pressured Israel to withdraw. The Americans then landed in Beirut in 1983 to consolidate Lebanon under the banner of "US Democracy" and ran later like rabbits with the first wave of car bombs that Hezbollah launched against them. The results?US diplomats were kidnapped and murdered everywhere for 20 years as a result, their diplomatic missions and Embassies were blown up everywhere possible, from Beirut to Ryadh, to the USS Cole in Yemen, to the Nairobi attacks on the US Embassies, finalizing it in the event of September 11th in the United States, and not to forget the Islamic terror offensive in London, Paris, Darfur, and other parts of the world. A "Western" orientated Lebanon collapsed and Lebanon became a breeding ground for Islamic terrorism as Iran and Syrian use the various Palestinian and Islamic militias as offensive instruments to achieve their goal . The whole Middle East surrendered to Islamic fundamentalism and kidnaping, murders and car bombs, became the new reality of the Islamic world to be used against the West, predominantly America, as the Islamic terror pressure increased on the State of Israel. The best instrument of diplomacy used by the Palestinians to get concessions from Israel was terrorism, and the best advise America gave Israel was to concede to the Palestinians for a Peace of illusion that was promoted by various White House Administrations who never will understand a politically and religiously nuanced Middle East. Ariel Sharon understood the Islamic threat and had the adequate response to its problem. Terrorism has to be challenged by force and not concessions. If the United State had let Sharon proceed forward in Lebanon, the Middle East would be a different and quiet piece of Real Estate today. Sharon in substance, with the Christians of Lebanon, turned Lebanon into the cemetery of all Islamic Fundamentalism, despite a few missed political opportunities . America beat him on the head in 1982, forcing him to withdraw as if they could do better; America beat him again on the head in 2005 with the Gaza Withdrawal. The new US results? even more dangerous, just look around you! Iran, with a nuclear bomb in hand is waiting for the first sign of US weakness to take over Iraq. The situation is more perilous than described as if you read closely, the world is concerned that Iran does not develop a home grown nuclear capacity and does not address the real possibility that Iran has nukes purchased elsewhere. After assassinating Hariri and others to prevent Lebanon stabilization under Saudi-US influence, Syria and Iran in the last few months flooded the Palestinian camps, Hezbollah, and various Islamic militias, with tons of arms and ammunition. Lebanon at any moment, is a powder keg ready to explode in Washington's face. In the balance of forces on the ground, Lebanon's today is a de facto stooge, who under Iran's control is expanding its influence, aligned with Hezbollah, in strengthening Hamas in taking over the Palestinian Authority . What we will see afterward is an Iranian Mullah Empire spreading its terror roots from Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon to the PA territories with Ahmadnijad becoming the new Middle East political symbol after Arafat. That is not important for Washington, what it further important for the moment is to bring acting Prime Minister Olmert to Washington to extract more concessions for Palestinians. The more these misguided politicians in Washington articulate Peace in their illusionary vision of a democratic Middle East, the more a war is shaping up at the horizon with Iran and Syria, along with the terror networks affiliated with them.

Resistance: A Case of Stunted Development
Joseph Hitti
Edgartown, Massachusetts
December 31, 2005

In its Saturday, December 31, 2005 issue, the Lebanese Daily Star reports on the holding of a National Conference in Beirut last Friday to “Support the Resistance” and “Endorse the option to resist and confront the American-Israeli schemes against Lebanon and other countries in the Middle East." According to the report, entitled “Arab culture ‘under attack from West in name of democracy'”, the conference which was held at, of all places, the UNESCO (a United Nations organization) building in Beirut, “emphasized the need to promote the culture of resistance and reinforce society's immunity to meet the current challenges facing Lebanon.”
The Conference president, Yehya Ghaddar, is quoted as telling the attendees that "…Lebanon is put again on the agenda of invaders who want to change our culture, politics and rob our resources in the name of democratization following devious road maps."
These are all tired, stale and obsolete arguments that continue to be used by those who want to protect the culture of death and destruction they themselves imported and implemented in Lebanon during 30 years of mayhem and barbarity. All under the banner of this “Arab culture and politics” that, they say, must be protected against the “invaders”. Such slogans as “Supporting the Resistance” and “Promoting the culture of Resistance” are intended solely by to maintain these individuals’ own grip on power and on the frozen mindsets of their people, whom they maintain immersed in a primordial soup of intellectual depravity and ignorance, with a good dose of backwards antiquated religious beliefs.
It is time for the Lebanese people and other peoples of the Middle East to listen more carefully to this language that has been slowly injected in their veins and their brains for several decades. Yes, I advocate that people should listen very carefully to this discourse and study every word of it, and not merely hear the big catchy headlines in it. Of course, the word “Resistance” is appealing. It conjures up romantic images of freedom fighters dressed a la mode, living a bohemian lifestyle under the cover of the bush, the jungle, the tropical forest, the desert or the Mediterranean maquis, cigarettes dangling from their mouths, and a gun over their shoulder, thwarting attacks by “foreign” enemies and occupiers. In other words, living it up very much like the Hollywood movies that these paper heroes grew up with and want to imitate in real life, but which they also condemn in their intellectually truncated development.
But in real life, real people get killed, countries get destroyed, innocent people get hurt, and their lives, livelihoods, political power and economic wellbeing become shattered. Yes, people should read carefully the words that these power-hungry hate-mongers say to them, and understand that their underlying aim is to keep them in a state of war, in a state of stunted development, in a state of disrupted lives, in an existential limbo simply to maintain the romanticism of “resistance”. In real life, the people themselves - who are being “protected” by the “Resistance” against the “invaders” – become deprived of normal development, of economic wellbeing, of schooling for their children, and most importantly, of access to genuine political power that they must first snatch out of the hands of the political establishment spewing this language at them. In other words, as long as they want you to support the resistance, you will always live precarious lives. We must abandon this contorted intellectual depravity in order to give people real power: The power to control their lives economically, to elect who they want politically, to be treated with justice and fairness by governments they can hold accountable.
The “venerable” institutions that organized this summit of Arab and Lebanese grey matter have names such as the “Democratic Dialogue Forum”, the “Cultural Committees Gathering in Lebanon” and the “Permanent Conference to Confront the Zionist Cultural Invasion”. In addition, and to the chagrin and surprise of this writer and many Lebanese Americans, the Daily Star report stated that representatives of the “Leader of the Free Patriotic Movement Michel Aoun” attended this pseudo-intellectual cesspool, along with other illustrious Lebanese leaders or their representatives such as “President Emile Lahoud, Speaker Nabih Berri, and the Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Butros Sfeir.” Thankfully, Premier Fouad Siniora was not represented, as if this would tip the balance in favor of some hope. But let us not get too euphoric. Siniora is watching his government quickly decompose, thanks to the defection of, you guessed it, the “Resistance” members of his government.
One of the papers that were presented at the conference offered its view on “how the Zionist and the Americans organize their media campaigns with the aim of defeating the Arab masses culturally and psychologically through ‘establishing and financing nongovernmental organizations and political and cultural associations capable of penetrating society's immunity and will to resist.’ ” Stunning intellectual perspicacity! According to this mind-shattering analysis, the Arab masses are currently at the zenith of their culture and development, thanks to the efforts of dedicated, pioneering, accountable and otherwise fast-moving democratic governments. But all these achievements and the wellbeing of those scientifically-literate, technologically-advanced, educated societies stand threatened by the Zionists and the Americans. The entire Western world, and it would be safe to add the growing Asian economic giants like China, Japan and India to the mix, have realized that the might of the Arab World is of such magnitude that it must be defeated before it takes over the world. And therefore, how better to attack these societies than by “penetrating their immunity and will to resist.”
If there is one thing that the Arab masses need liberating from, it is this mindset and language and one’s definition of oneself through the prism of the victim. What are the Arab countries offering world civilization TODAY? What developments and inventions and discoveries are being made in the Arab World TODAY? How is the Arab World contributing to human civilization and human decency TODAY? Besides the oil beneath their soil, for which no merit can be claimed by the humans living on the ground above, there is nothing that the Arab peoples are offering their fellow humans in our time and in our world. And the reason is primarily because the Arab masses remain hostage to their religious, genetic and economic elites that parade themselves as the pseudo-intellectual vanguard defenders of their masses against the outsiders, the Crusaders, the Zionists, the imperialists, the Americans, the colonialists, etc.
When will the Arab peoples understand their predicament under these totalitarian social and political systems? Luckily, there are true intellectuals from the Arab and Middle Eastern worlds, working with their fellow intellectuals and researchers from all over the world, to try and emancipate the human populations of the region from the hold that their governments and religious dictators have on them. The United Nations Arab Human Development Reports, which are published yearly, are a testament to this effort.
In the words of Rima Khalaf Hunaidi, UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Regional Bureau for Arab States, “There can be no doubt that self-reform stemming from open, scrupulous and balanced self-criticism is the right, if not the only alternative to plans that have apparently been drawn up outside the Arab world for restructuring the region and for reshaping its identity” (http://www.rbas.undp.org/ahdr.cfm). The only alternative to the West forcing change in the Middle East for the benefit of the peoples and to the detriment of the rulers, is self-criticism. Self-criticism implies putting an end to the victim-syndrome, assuming one’s own responsibility to effect change, and shunning the fatalistic assignment to God of the source of our happiness and misery in this world. Admitting one’s own mistakes and taking steps and measures to correct them. Stop blaming others for our problems.
But until this happens, until the pseudo-intellectual heroes of the conference in Beirut pack their bags and go home, until they shut the tap on their verbal diarrheas against the West, until the construct of “Resistance” is thrown aside and is replaced by a proactive search within the self for the modalities of improvement and moving into the modern world, then we, the ordinary Lebanese, Arabs, and Middle Easterners will continue to seek help from the West and others to help us bring a modicum of change in our lives. To discard the yoke of tribal and family oppression, social and intellectual backwardness, the destruction of the human spirit by antiquated religious beliefs, and the overwhelming feeling that the Arab World, in spite of its wealth, remains the most backwards collection of societies in the world today.
Dr. Joseph Hitti

Lebanon remains a prey for axis of evil powers
Elias Bejjani
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By Elias Bejjani
December 30, 2005
Numerous puzzling questions are on the horizon in the aftermath of the recent military escalations that took place on the Israeli-Lebanese border. Six rockets were fired by an unidentified terrorist organization from inside Lebanese territory targeting Israeli residential communities. This unjustified infringement has instigated an immediate Israeli retaliation with an air raid on a Palestinian military base located in a coastal Lebanese village south of the capital, Beirut.
This base, like many similar others in the Bekaa valley and in the north of the country, were erected by Baathist Syria during its occupation to Lebanon.
All these bases are still under Syria's full control through surrogate Palestinian armed militias. The Lebanese central government does not exercise any kind of control or authority over those military bases, nor does it have any control over the other twelve Palestinian Refugee camps that host around fourhundred thousand residents These camps are a haven for dozens of armed militias and Jehadist organization, including Al Qaeda.
Meanwhile, a futile internal Lebanese power struggle and bickering among the country's main ruling political and sectarian officials has reached a point of no return. Hezbollah and its partner, the Amal Shiite movement, have put the activities of their five ministers in the current Siniora cabinet on hold, demanding before their return a public declaration from the central government stating that all clauses of UN Resolution 1559 have been implemented, and accordingly Hezbollah will maintain its weapons as well as its full military and administrative control on the Lebanese-Israeli border, the whole southern region of the country, the southern Beirut suburbs and a big portion of the Bekaa Valley.
The Beirut government, made up of representatives of the ruling coalition, is an unworkable marriage between what is known as the "Forces of March 14" and the "Forces of March 8". Regardless of such classifications, members of the cabinet are divided into two broad camps: the Hariri-Jumblat camp on one hand, and the Berri-Hizbullah camp on the other.
Meanwhile, the Christian ministers in the cabinet who belong to both camps are completely marginalized and not involved in the decision-making process, while all the portfolios they hold are not key ones.
What is happening on the border and inside the country is greatly disappointing, a sad sign of the Beirut government's helplessness and a high dose of reality for all those Lebanese and non Lebanese good wishers who envisaged with hope and faith a quick full triumph over the axis of evil and its rogue powers of terrorism and darkness. The Lebanese have been longing for a new Middle East and a new Lebanon with a leading role model of democracy and human rights.
The unfolding criminal events that have been targeting Lebanon's stability after the Syrian military withdrawal and striking hard at the Lebanese people and their patriotic leaders one after the other is a clear indication that under the imposed current internal and regional status quo, Lebanon remains, and will remain, a hostage to terrorism and terrorists.
The recent military escalations on the border once again delineates to the whole world that Lebanon is still used as a battlefield for the wars of others and a mail box for exchanging fiery criminal messages between Baathist Syria, Israel and other regional and international countries and powers. These powers have been for the last thirty years engaged in an ongoing war at the expense of the interests of the Lebanese people and the independence, sovereignty, security, and stability of the country.
Once again and in spite of the Syrian military withdrawal earlier this year, the Beirut government is powerless, stagnating in an idle position as was the status of all its predecessors since 1990 under the Syrian tutelage and dictatorship. The Beirut government is completely paralyzed, manipulated by non Lebanese agendas that are adopted and advocated by most of its members whose loyalty is not for Lebanon or its people, but for foreign countries that some of them are members of the axis of evil.
This Beirut government is divided on almost every issue. It is far from being a governing body. It is merely a bunch of politicians striving to maintain the bizarre status quo of the "no central state authority"
and the cantons and states inside the state. It has proved without a shred of doubt its blatant inability to rule effectively because its ministers do not see eye to eye on any crucial matter, especially UN Resolution 1559 that calls for the disarming and dismantling of all armed militias and the spread of the central government's authority through its own armed forces all over the country's territory and borders.
Lebanon, if not urgently rescued by the international community through the United Nations, will remain a haven for terrorism and terrorists and a breeding field for fundamentalists and Jihadists. It will fall far short from emerging as an independent, peaceful and democratic country. Meanwhile, an unstable Lebanon is going to negatively affect progress on peace andstability in the entire Middle East.
No more time should be wasted in vain: Lebanon needs a forceful, immediate and decisive international military intervention and an administrative custody for as long as is needed for laying down the foundations of a strong central government, particularly in the areas of security and the judiciary.
The Free World should come to the rescue of Lebanon before it is too late.
Elias Bejjani
*Human Rights activist, journalist & political commentator.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Quote
A un Homme qui aimait le Liban ...

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

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

To Lebanese Bloggers in the blogosphere. We need your help!
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Moghtarebeen.com is organizing a gathering down town Beirut next summer. We need to spread the word! If you could post this article on your blogs, it would be a HUGE help! I have it attached to this email in English, French, and Arabic! You can also post our logo to your site (attached).

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

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

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http://www.maya-mroue.fr.tc/

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

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

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

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

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

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

Defeat them with the truth
By Michael Young

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

Quotes by Slain Lebanese Journalist


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cabinet: Abbas weak leader in fight against terror

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

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

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

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

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

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

International call for PA crackdown

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

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

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

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

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

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

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