LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
September 07/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.september07.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
‘Take care that
you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in heaven their
angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Matthew 18/01-05.10./:"At that
time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom
of heaven?’He called a child, whom he put among them, and said, ‘Truly I tell
you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the
kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.‘Take
care that you do not despise one of these little ones; for, I tell you, in
heaven their angels continually see the face of my Father in heaven."
All these regulations refer
to things that perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings
Letter to the Colossians 02/16-23/:"Therefore do not let anyone condemn you in
matters of food and drink or of observing festivals, new moons, or sabbaths.
These are only a shadow of what is to come, but the substance belongs to Christ.
Do not let anyone disqualify you, insisting on self-abasement and worship of
angels, dwelling on visions, puffed up without cause by a human way of thinking,
and not holding fast to the head, from whom the whole body, nourished and held
together by its ligaments and sinews, grows with a growth that is from God. If
with Christ you died to the elemental spirits of the universe, why do you live
as if you still belonged to the world? Why do you submit to regulations, ‘Do not
handle, Do not taste, Do not touch’? All these regulations refer to things that
perish with use; they are simply human commands and teachings. These have indeed
an appearance of wisdom in promoting self-imposed piety, humility, and severe
treatment of the body, but they are of no value in checking self-indulgence."
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis &
editorials from miscellaneous sources published on September 06-07/16
War reality blocks US-Russia tango in Syria/Joyce Karam/Al
Arabiya/September 06/16
In Hangzhou, there is a ‘solution’ for Syria/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/September
06/16
Hajj without Saudi Arabia, hajj without Iran/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/September
06/16
Sidelines, not the ‘main show’, defined G20 summit/Andrew J. Bowen/Al Arabiya/September
06/16
Why the UK shouldn’t harbor troublemakers/Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/September
06/16
Prisons: Harvard for Radicals/Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/September 06/16
ISIS Imposes a Partial Ban on Burqas/Daniel Pipes/Cross-posted from national
Review Online, The Corner/September 06/16
ISIS – The Threat To The Indian Subcontinent/By: Dr. Adil Rasheed/MEMRI/September
06/16
Massoud Day, September 9/A.J. Caschetta/MEMRI/September 06/16
Titles
For Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September
06-07/16
Iranian Report: Assad Forces, Hezbollah Coordinating
Large-Scale Operation on Israel Border in Golan Heights
Marada: Bassil's Rhetoric Sectarian, Sets Back Christians Tens of Years
Bassil: We're in System, Nation Crisis and We'll Use All Means to Rectify
Situation
Hizbullah 'Won't Abandon' FPM as Cabinet Faces Survival Test
Raad: We Want Lebanon to be Governed by Balance, Partnership
Salam Holds Talks with Three Ministers, Army Commander
Future bloc confirms adherence to dialogue, Constitution
Lebanese Army Bombs Arsal Outskirts after Militant Killed in IS-Nusra Clashes
Aoun Expected to Meet Nasrallah for First Time in Two Years
Bomb Attack Targets House in Majdal Anjar
Rifi from Tunis: For anchoring transparency principles
AUB leaps up influential QS World University Rankings for 2016
Egyptian Ambassador, Nazih Najjari after meeting Bassil: Egypt seeks to help
resolve vacancy in presidency problem
Pakradounian: We accepted cabinet's plan to save country from political crisis
Chahayeb from interior ministry: resolving amended waste crisis includes several
stages
Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq chairs meeting to discuss
solid waste treatment plan
Salam, Moqbel tackle current developments
IS Announces Death of Australian Jihadist of Lebanese Origin in Syria
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous
Reports And News published on on September
06-07/16
US ship changes
course after Iran vessel encounter
Suspected Aleppo chlorine attack chokes dozens
Italy breaks up ring smuggling Syrian refugees to Western Europe
Turkey loses 2 soldiers since start of Syria operation
Turkey’s government says under popular pressure to drop EU talks
First UN food aid in two years reaches over 30,000 Iraqis
France deploys artillery ahead of Mosul offensive
Report: Wife of ISIS head in charge of prisons in Iraq found dead
Radical UK cleric Choudary jailed for urging support for ISIS
Abbas says meeting with Netanyahu in Moscow ‘delayed to a later date’
Paris to open first refugee camp mid-October
Iranian Resistance exposes identities of dozens of officials responsible for
1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran
Iran/A prisoner's letter: The savior is on her way
Security and social consequences of unemployment are a major concern for Iran
regime’s vice president.
Links From Jihad Watch Site
for on September 06-07/16
Islamic State bans burqa for security reasons
Nigeria: Muslims attack, nearly lynch Christian chemist for alleged “blasphemy”
Salman Rushdie: “Today, I would be accused of Islamophobia and racism”
France: Far-Left Antifa writer and 12-year-old son savagely attacked by Muslims
shouting ‘filthy white’
Iran testing boundaries of nuclear deal while Obama does nothing
As Muslim migrants riot in Calais, Paris mayor announces two refugee camps will
open in Paris in October
Robert Spencer in FrontPage: When Are Islamic Terrorists Not Islamic Terrorists?
UK jihad preacher Anjem Choudary gets 5 1/2 years for urging support of the
Islamic State
Robert Spencer in PJ Media: DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson Speaks at Convention of
HAMAS-LINKED Group
Raymond Ibrahim: Pope Francis vs. Saint Francis
on Islam
Links From Christian Today
Site for on September 06-07/16
Please don't leave, Middle East church leaders
beg Christians
Former hostage Terry Waite: 'We are in a Third World War'
Police charge man with murder of Christian father who tried to retrieve daughter
from forced marriage
Assyrian forces liberate Christian village controlled by ISIS for two years
ISIS 'executes 9 young men by slicing them in half with a chainsaw'
How one youth pastor is bringing hope to persecuted Christians in Iraq
Revelation 2: The victorious persecuted Church
Four suicide bombers killed after they target Christians in Pakistan
Pakistani Christian girl abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry faces
death threats
Religious freedom: 3 ways Christianity threatens dictatorships
Church condemns rumours Patriarch was accomplice to failed coup
Tanzania: One dead, two seriously injured in
attack on Christian university
Latest Lebanese Related News published on on September 06-07/16
Iranian Report: Assad Forces, Hezbollah Coordinating Large-Scale
Operation on Israel Border in Golan Heights
Ruthie Blum/The Algemeiner/September 5, 2016/
The Syrian army and Lebanon-based Iranian proxy terrorist organization Hezbollah
are coordinating a large-scale “anti-terrorism” operation in southern Syria,
near the border with Israel in the Golan Heights, the semi-official Iranian news
agency Fars reported on Monday.According to the report, the purpose of the operation is to “end militancy” in
the area adjacent to the border.Anonymous “sources” quoted in the report said, “Hezbollah has deployed a large
number of its forces at the Quneitra passage, which has connected the Syrian
territories to the occupied Golan.”
Fars is aligned with the regime of Islamic Republic, which backs Syrian
President Bashar Assad against rebel forces — among them ISIS — in the country’s
raging civil war. It claimed that late last month,
Fatah al-Sham (the newly-formed al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorist group previously
known as the al-Nusra Front) suffered a heavy death toll and its military
hardware sustained major damage in Syrian Army troops’ attacks on their centers
in Quneitra.
Syrian army men targeted gatherings and concentration centers Fatah al-Sham near
the village of Um Batna South of al-Ba’ath town, killing several terrorists and
destroying three vehicles carrying a number terrorists and large volume of
weapons and ammunition.
On Sunday, as Reuters reported, the IDF confirmed that it had retaliated against
“errant mortar fire” from Syria that hit the Israeli side of Golan Heights. The
mortar fire caused no Israeli casualties. IAF jets responded by targeting
“cannons of the Syrian regime.”
As The Algemeiner reported in July, though the IDF defines the Syrian border as
“stable” — despite a number of incidents of stray fire and mortar-landings —
Israel is bracing itself for the “day after” a diplomatic arrangement is reached
in Syria.
According to the report, Israel’s assessment is that after the warring sides in
Syria achieve understandings, jihadists will turn their attention to and aim
their fire at Israel. This possibility was behind a series of drills conducted
by the IDF’s Golani Brigade along the Syrian and Lebanese borders earlier in the
summer to train for combat against ISIS and Hezbollah terrorists, against which
the Israeli military fought a war in Lebanon 10 years ago.
Marada:
Bassil's Rhetoric Sectarian, Sets Back Christians Tens of Years
Naharnet/September 06/16/Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil's rhetoric
during Monday's national dialogue session contained a “bigoted sectarian tone
that sets back Christians tens of years,” senior Marada Movement officials have
warned. Bassil's rhetoric is “very dangerous” and involves “an inclination to
revive an extremist trend in the Christian community,” senior Marada officials
close to movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh told As Safir newspaper in remarks
published Tuesday. The sources told the daily that Bassil depicted the country's
political crisis as a “sectarian rift” when he “asked Muslims (during the
dialogue session) whether they want to continue living with Christians or not.”
The Marada sources also noted that the FPM's new ally, Lebanese Forces leader
Samir Geagea, has not endorsed the FPM's interpretation of the 1943 National
Pact that stipulated Christian-Muslim partnership in running the country's
affairs and set the foundations of modern Lebanon as a multi-confessional state.
“Rabieh's interpretation of the National Pact is selective and not based on
unified standards but rather on shifting interests,” the sources added. Monday's
dialogue session had witnessed a heated exchange between Bassil and Franjieh
over the issue of Christian representation. Hitting back at recent remarks by
Bassil that the other parties in the cabinet represent only six percent of
Christians, Franjieh said: “We acknowledge the FPM's representation but we
represent a lot more than six percent. I don't know how the FPM's 'calculator'
works.” Bassil for his part said he raised the issue of respecting the National
Pact during the session, lamenting that “are practices in state institutions,
administrative appointments and the cabinet are not respecting the National
Pact.”“Disregard for the National Pact shakes our national belief in
coexistence. It is useless to continue our participation in dialogue if they
refuse to acknowledge our existence,” the FPM chief added.Lebanon has been
without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and
Hizbullah, FPM founder MP Michel Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their
allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them
of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is
close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh
for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's
main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Geagea to
endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival.The supporters of
Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become
president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his bigger influence in
the Christian community.
Bassil: We're in System, Nation Crisis and We'll Use All Means to Rectify
Situation
Naharnet/September 06/16/We are going through “a political system crisis and a
nation's crisis” and we will “use all political and popular means to rectify
this abnormal situation,” Free Patriotic Movement chief Jebran Bassil said on
Tuesday. “We won't accept a return to the era between 1990 and 2005,” Bassil
told reporters after the weekly meeting of the Change and Reform bloc in Rabieh.
“Respecting the National Pact is not a partisan demand for Christians but rather
a need for everyone, since it is the guarantee that can protect us,” he said.
Commenting on the row between him and Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh
during Monday's national dialogue session, Bassil said: “Some tried to drag us
into a side debate but we were not dragged.”“The dialogue meeting did not
witness any altercation with anyone because we did not argue or respond to the
insults that were hurled at us,” he added. “I was the first winner in (the
elections of) Batroun twice, so no one can shame us in this issue,” Bassil went
on to say, responding to remarks by Franjieh. “The current period is tough and
it needs big minds and we will not respond to those who have small souls. We
will not allow that the Syrian hegemony be turned into domestic hegemony over us
and we will resist that at the popular and political levels,” the FPM chief
added. “We can tolerate anything other than disregard for our national dignity
and we can no longer withstand the lack of answers to the questions we are
raising,” Bassil added. “We waited for answers from everyone in order to decide
on our participation in dialogue and in cabinet sessions, because some parties
are rejecting the principle of equality among us as Lebanese,” the FPM chief
lamented. He added: “We did not receive answers at the dialogue table and we
cannot continue this approach of dealing with each other and we cannot tolerate
this kind of marginalization.” The FPM chief also decried that he did not
receive any answers regarding “the election of a president in a manner that
respects the National Pact or the approval of an electoral law that is in
conformity with the National Pact.”The FPM's latest boycott of cabinet meetings
was linked to the thorny issue of military and security appointments and the
government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president. The
defense minister has recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council
chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three
candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes
term extensions for all senior officers. Addressing Prime Minister Tammam Salam
on Friday, Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention
when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it
convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main
component of the country (Christians).” Bassil has also warned that the country
might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do
not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”Franjieh hit
back at Bassil on Monday, saying Marada and the other Christian parties in the
cabinet “represent a lot more than six percent.”
Hizbullah 'Won't Abandon' FPM as Cabinet Faces Survival Test
Naharnet/September 06/16/Hizbullah has not taken a final stance on the issue of
attending the cabinet's next session although sources close to the March 8 camp
have said that the party will not “abandon” its ally the Free Patriotic
Movement, which has openly declared a boycott of cabinet and national dialogue
sessions, a media report said on Tuesday. Quoting ministerial sources, An Nahar
newspaper said Prime Minister Tammam Salam is “weighing his options” regarding
the cabinet's fate in light of what happened in Monday's dialogue session.
“Contacts are underway with a number of ministers, especially Hizbullah's two
ministers, to explore their stances on attending Thursday's ordinary cabinet
session, knowing that Social Affairs Minister Rashid Derbas said yesterday that
the cabinet session will be held on Thursday even in the absence of FPM's two
ministers,” An Nahar added. And as the daily said “Hizbullah has not yet taken a
final stance on the cabinet's next session and whether it would sign the decrees
or not,” senior March 8 sources said “the party will not abandon its ally,
although it supports the extension of Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji's term
amid the complicated situations in Lebanon and the region.” The FPM's latest
boycott of cabinet meetings was linked to the thorny issue of military and
security appointments and the government's decision-taking mechanism in the
absence of a president. The defense minister has recently postponed the
retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no
consensus was reached over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the
FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all senior officers. On
Friday, FPM chief Jebran Bassil announced that the FPM wants to “destroy” what
he called the “corrupt structure” that ruled the country between 1990 and 2005.
“Today, the FPM is the guardian of the National Pact. We should understand our
role and realize that we are regaining power for all people and we are not shy
about that... It is unacceptable for any of the Lebanese to undermine the
National Pact, which is the basis of coexistence,” the FPM chief warned.
Addressing Salam, Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great
attention when he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when
it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main
component of the country (Christians).”Bassil has also warned that the country
might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do
not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”
Raad: We Want Lebanon to be Governed by Balance, Partnership
Naharnet/September 06/16/Hizbullah's top lawmaker has stressed the importance of
“balance and partnership” in running the country's affairs, a day after
Hizbullah's ally the Free Patriotic Movement announced boycotting national
dialogue over perceived marginalization of the representatives of Christians in
state institutions. “We want Lebanon to enhance its national unity and we want
the Lebanese to unite against the main and existential enemy that is threatening
Lebanon's unity and sovereignty,” Raad added during the opening of a park in the
southern town of Jarjouaa, referring to Israel. “We want Lebanon to be governed
by balance and partnership among all its components at the level of political
decision-making and state institutions,” the head of Hizbullah's Loyalty to
Resistance bloc added. Apparently referring to al-Mustaqbal Movement, Raad added
that “those boasting about their close relations with the Gulf states must
employ these ties to serve the interest, unity and independence of their country
instead of relying on their foreign relations to conspire against their partners
in the country with the aim of enhancing their influence, domination and
monopolization of power.” “There is a deep rift revolving around these
disputes,” Raad went on to say, calling for “an agreement encompassing all the
main demands of the Lebanese components in order to achieve political stability
in Lebanon.”The FPM's latest boycott of cabinet meetings was linked to the
thorny issue of military and security appointments and the government's
decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a president. The defense minister
has recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief Maj. Gen.
Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates that he had
proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term extensions for all
senior officers. Addressing Salam on Friday, FPM chief and Foreign Minister
Jebran Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam must pay great attention when
he says that the government is respecting the National Pact when it convenes in
the presence of ministers representing only six percent of a main component of
the country (Christians).” Bassil has also warned that the country might be soon
plunged into a “political system crisis” if the other parties do not heed the
FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian “partnership.”
Salam Holds Talks with Three
Ministers, Army Commander
Naharnet/September 06/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam held separate talks Tuesday
with three ministers of his cabinet as well as the army chief, state-run
National News Agency reported, a day after the Free Patriotic Movement announced
that it will boycott national dialogue for reasons involving a long-running
dispute over military appointments and the cabinet's decision-taking mechanism
in the absence of a president. “Salam met this morning with Telecom Minister
Butros Harb at the Grand Serail and talks tackled the situations and the
developments,” NNA said. The prime minister also discussed the developments and
the local situations with Health Minister Wael Abou Faour, the agency added.
Later in the day, Salam met with State Minister for Administrative Development
Nabil du Freij and discussed with him issues related to his ministry, NNA said.
The premier also held talks on Tuesday with Army Commander General Jean Qahwaji.
Quoting ministerial sources, An Nahar newspaper reported Tuesday that Salam is
“weighing his options” regarding the cabinet's fate in light of what happened in
Monday's dialogue session. “Contacts are underway with a number of ministers,
especially Hizbullah's two ministers, to explore their stances on attending
Thursday's ordinary cabinet session, knowing that Social Affairs Minister Rashid
Derbas said yesterday that the cabinet session will be held on Thursday even in
the absence of FPM's two ministers,” An Nahar added.The FPM's latest boycott of
cabinet meetings was linked to the thorny issue of military and security
appointments and the government's decision-taking mechanism in the absence of a
president. The defense minister has recently postponed the retirement of Higher
Defense Council chief Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached
over three candidates that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it
opposes term extensions for all senior officers. Addressing Salam on Friday, FPM
chief and Foreign Minister Jebran Bassil said “the son of late PM Saeb Salam
must pay great attention when he says that the government is respecting the
National Pact when it convenes in the presence of ministers representing only
six percent of a main component of the country (Christians).” Bassil has also
warned that the country might be soon plunged into a “political system crisis”
if the other parties do not heed the FPM's demands regarding Muslim-Christian
“partnership.”
Future bloc confirms adherence to dialogue, Constitution
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA - "Future" bloc convened on Tuesday afternoon its weekly
meeting chaired by its head, former Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora at the
'Downtown' residence. The attendees tackled the situation in Lebanon and the
region. The bloc stressed the need to activate the work of the Constitutional
institutions and to continue national dialogue sessions to resolve all the
thorny and controversial issues. "It is essential to abide by the Constitution
to resolve pending files," the statement added. Moreover, the bloc touched on
the results of the latest dialogue session which was convened yesterday (Monday)
at Ain el Tineh which resulted in the suspension of dialogue sessions until
further notice after Minister Gebran Bassil announced his withdrawal from
dialogue sessions. On the other hand, the attendees expressed satisfaction over
the issuance of the indictment in the crime of Tripoli's mosques' bombing.
"This indictment has shown the involvement of the Syrian regime in the bombing.
The regime aimed at fueling strife in Lebanon and the north," the statement
asserted.
Lebanese Army Bombs Arsal
Outskirts after Militant Killed in IS-Nusra Clashes
Naharnet/September 06/16/The army shelled the outskirts of the northeastern
border town of Arsal on Tuesday after a militant was killed in clashes between
rival terrorist groups in the region, state-run National News Agency reported.
“The army's artillery is currently targeting movements by the terrorist
militants in the outskirts of the town of Arsal,” NNA said. It earlier reported
that Lebanese national Majd Mohammed al-Hujeiri was killed in Arsal's Wadi al-Khayl
in “clashes between the terrorist militants.”Militants from Fateh al-Sham Front,
formerly known as al-Nusra Front, and its jihadist rival Islamic State are
entrenched in rugged areas along the undemarcated Lebanese-Syrian border and the
army regularly shells their posts while Hizbullah and the Syrian army have
engaged in clashes with them on the Syrian side of the border. The two jihadist
groups briefly overran the town of Arsal in August 2014 before being ousted by
the army after days of deadly battles.
Aoun Expected to Meet
Nasrallah for First Time in Two Years
Naharnet/September 06/16/Free Patriotic Movement founder MP Michel Aoun is
expected to meet with Hizbullah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah soon,
a media report said on Tuesday. The meeting between the two allies has become
“certain and imminent,” March 8 sources told An Nahar newspaper, noting that
Nasrallah did not meet Aoun after his famous hours-long meeting with Marada
Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh in December. The last meeting between
Nasrallah and Aoun was held two years ago. “Their meeting will have a packed
agenda in the wake of the numerous domestic and regional changes and the latest
rift between the party's two allies – the FPM and Marada,” the sources added.
Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in
May 2014 and Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies
have been boycotting the parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the
needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to
Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate Franjieh for the
presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main
Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces
leader Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian
rival, after months of rapprochement talks between the LF and the FPM. The
rapprochement was crowned with the signing of a so-called declaration of intent
paper between the former foes and an electoral alliance in the municipal polls.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than
Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his
bigger influence in the Christian community.
Bomb Attack Targets House in Majdal Anjar
Naharnet/September 06/16/A bomb exploded at dawn Tuesday outside a house in the
Bekaa town of Majdal Anjar, wounding two Syrian children, state-run National
News Agency reported. “The explosive device went off at 3:00 am, targeting the
car of Mohammed Salim Abdul Khaleq outside his house in Majdal Anjar,” NNA said.
The car was completely destroyed as a nearby room inhabited by Syrian refugees
sustained damage. “Two Syrian toddler girls were lightly injured and transported
to hospital,” NNA said. Security agencies have since launched an investigation
into the incident. The army later issued a statement saying the explosive device
was a hand grenade that was placed under the car.
Rifi from Tunis: For
anchoring transparency principles
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA -
Justice Minister Ashraf Rifi said on Tuesday that the intended goals to face
corruption and consolidate integrity require transforming de facto into reality
that devotes the principles of transparency, responsibility, and accountability.
Minister Rifi was speaking during the inaugural ceremony of the Conference of
the Arab Anti-Corruption and Integrity Network in the Tunisian capital, Tunis,
on top of a Lebanese delegation comprising General Prosecutor, Judge Samir
Hammoud, and others. "To achieve this goal, we need a firm political will
consistent with relevant international criteria," Rifi said. "In this regard, we
should shed light on the achievements made by Lebanon during the last three
years," he added, dwelling on a comprehensive package of projects and proposals
to be included on the parliament's agenda. He lauded the Lebanese government
efforts in the fight against corruption.
AUB leaps up influential QS
World University Rankings for 2016
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA - In a press release by the American University of Beirut,
it said: "The QS World University Rankings for the year 2016/2017 issued on
September 6, 2016 show progress on AUB's overall ranking amongst universities
worldwide with an increase of 40 positions or spots, making it the university
with the most improvement amongst the top 250 ranking universities in the past
year. With an overall score of 43.3, AUB ranks 228 amongst universities
worldwide, jumping from last year's score of 268."Release added: "The
improvement in ranking is mainly due to an increase of 18 places in the Academic
Reputation indicator (considered the centerpiece of the QS rankings and carrying
a weighted score of 40% of the overall performance score) and 21 places in the
Student-to-Faculty ratio (weighted at 20%) which evaluates the level of teaching
quality through calculating the ratio between two datasets, full time equivalent
students per full time equivalent faculty.""This significantly improved ranking
is a clear testimony of the University's continuous drive for sustaining
excellence in teaching, research, and service, and for becoming a premier
University not only in the region but worldwide," Interim Provost Mohamed
Harajli told us. "The AUB community, including students, faculty, staff, and
alumni should feel proud of this remarkable achievement."Over 100,000 survey
responses were collected by the think tank Quacquarelli Symonds (QS),
considering 4,322 universities, with 916 evaluated in one of the most
comprehensive and trusted global ranking processes, the only one independently
scrutinized and International Ranking Expert Group (IREG) approved.'AUB ranks in
the top 100 worldwide on two indicators: Employer Reputation (10% of overall
score), taking into consideration the reputation of the university amongst
employers and the resulting employability of fresh graduates; and International
faculty (5% of overall score), assessing success in attracting academics from
other nations. All the University's figures and indices for the Citations per
Faculty category are higher for the year 2016, although AUB's ranking dropped
for this category, indicating a rise in research figures across all
universities. AUB increased its publishing from less than 500 to over 1,000
papers per year since 2015. AUB ranked 73rd in the world and first in the Arab
world in employment reputation. "This is a significant evidence of the high
quality of the faculty that AUB has and the services that our institution
provides to students, the great and relevant education that it offers to its
students, and the high caliber of workforce and leaders that it produces and
makes available to the local and regional economies and societies," Director of
AUB University Libraries, Dr. Lokman Meho told us. "I am heartened to learn of
the prestigious QS rankings and their affirmation of us as the finest
institution of higher learning in Lebanon and among the top 3 in the Arab
world," President Fadlo R. Khuri told us. "While these rankings by no means can
reflect all of the tremendous impact and value that AUB provides for Lebanon,
the Arab world, and the international community as a whole, they do serve as
affirmation of our continued progress towards being unanimously acclaimed as one
of the finest universities in the world."
Egyptian Ambassador, Nazih
Najjari after meeting Bassil: Egypt seeks to help resolve vacancy in presidency
problem
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA - Egyptian Ambassador, Nazih Najjari, said that Egypt was
seeking to facilitate the path for Lebanon to find a solution to the vacancy in
presidency as "we are striving to help Lebanese find a common area on which a
consensus will be reached over the candidate who will become president."Najjari
on Tuesday visited Foreign Affairs Minister, Gibran Bassil, and reviewed with
him developments. Minister Bassil also received Tunisia's Ambassador, Karim
Boudali, who invited his host to partake in a conference for supporting economy
and investment in Tunisia that will take place on November 29, 30. Amongst
Bassil's visitors had been the Ambassadors of Ghana and Chile.
Pakradounian: We accepted
cabinet's plan to save country from political crisis
Tue 06 Sep 2016 /NNA - "Tashnag" party head, Hagop Pakradounian said on Tuesday
following the meeting at the interior ministry "we have accepted the Cabinet's
waste plan to rescue the country from a political crisis". He pointed out that
"all the stages of the plan announced by Agriculture Minister, Akram Chehayeb
are vital". "We will stop storing trash in Bourj Hammoud landfill and we are not
responsible for collecting waste from the streets," he concluded.
Chahayeb from interior
ministry: resolving amended waste crisis includes several stages
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA - Agriculture Minister, Akram Chahayeb said on Tuesday night
following the meeting at the interior ministry that "resolving the amended waste
crisis includes several stages which are the waste storage, removal of the waste
mountain in Bourj Hammoud, which is a key condition, the development of naval
construction and the setup of sanitary landfill". He added that the plan would
lead to the disposal of the waste mountain and the mound of waste on the streets
at the same time. The minister confirmed "decentralization is the right of the
municipalities and has been approved by the Cabinet". "If Kataeb Party removes
the sit-in in Bourj Hammoud then lifting the waste will start tomorrow," he
concluded.
Interior and Municipalities
Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq chairs meeting to discuss solid waste treatment plan
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA - Interior and Municipalities Minister, Nuhad Mashnouq, on
Tuesday presided over a meeting of the central technical team affiliated to the
Ministry, to oversee the proper application of solid household waste treatment
plan.The meeting was attended by Agriculture Minister Akram Shehayeb and his
team, MP Hagop Pakradonian, Tashnag Party Deputy Secretary General general
Avadis Kidanian, President of the Union of North Metn Municipalities Mirna Murr,
Chairman of the Union of Municipalities of Kesrouan Ftouh Joan Hbeich, Bourj
Hammoud Municipalities Head Mardek Boghossian, Head of Jdaideh- Bouchria-al-Sad
Municipality Antoine Jabara, and representatives of the Ministries of Interior,
agriculture, Finance, administrative development and Construction and
Development Council.
Salam, Moqbel tackle current developments
Tue 06 Sep 2016/NNA - Prime Minister, Tammam Salam, met on Tuesday at the Grand
Serail with Vice PM, National Defense Minister Samir Moqbel, whereby they
discussed most recent developments on the local arena. Premier Salam also met
with British Ambassador to Lebanon, Hugo Shorter, with talks between the pair
reportedly touching on bilateral relations. Salam also received Interior and
Municipalities Minister Nuhad Mashnouq.
IS Announces Death of
Australian Jihadist of Lebanese Origin in Syria
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/September 06/16/The Islamic State group has
announced the death in Syria of an Australian jihadist of Lebanese origin
convicted over a 2005 plot to bomb the Melbourne Cricket Ground, in a new
English-language magazine. Ezzit Raad, who traveled to the Middle East after
serving time in jail, died fighting for IS in Manbij near the battleground city
of Aleppo in northern Syria, according to the online propaganda magazine Rumiyah
released on Monday. The first edition also featured calls for lone-wolf attacks
in the West, singling out targets in Australia in a biography of the Australian
jihadist of Lebanese origin, also known as Abu Mansur al-Muhajir. The 38-page
magazine was released simultaneously in seven languages, including English,
French, German, Russian and Turkish. Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull
said last week that more than 60 Australians have so far been killed in Iraq and
Syria, while around 200 people back home had been investigated for supporting
militant groups. Ten attacks have been foiled in Australia since the country
raised its alert level to high in 2014, he said, but three have taken place,
including the murder of a police employee in Sydney in October. Officials
announced last week that Australia would start targeting jihadist support and
logistics resources in Iraq and Syria, as it broadens the scope of its air war
on IS as part of a U.S.-led multinational coalition.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on September 06-07/16
US ship changes
course after Iran vessel encounter
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 6 September 2016/A vessel from Iran’s
Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps came within 100 yards of a US military ship in
the central Gulf on Sept. 4, two US Defense Department officials told Reuters on
Tuesday. The officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the Iranian
vessel sailed directly in front of the USS Firebolt, a 174-foot (53 m) coastal
patrol vessel, forcing the US ship to change course in a maneuver they described
as “unsafe and unprofessional.” The incident comes after a similar occurrence in
late August. A US Defense official told Reuters in August that four vessels from
Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “harassed” a US destroyer by carrying
out a “high speed intercept” in the vicinity of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran also
detained 10 US sailors on Jan. 12 after their boats entered its territorial
waters because of what they said was a navigational error. The US military’s
concerns about Iran’s behavior in places like the Strait, one of the world’s
most important oil shipping channels, have persisted despite the nuclear deal
signed in April last year under which Tehran curbed its disputed atomic program
in exchange for relief from economic sanctions.(With Reuters)
Suspected Aleppo chlorine
attack chokes dozens
Reuters, Beirut Tuesday, 6 September 2016/A suspected chlorine gas attack on an
opposition-held neighborhood in the Syrian city of Aleppo caused dozens of cases
of suffocation on Tuesday, rescue workers and a monitoring group said. The
Syrian Civil Defense, a rescue workers’ organization that operates in rebel-held
areas, said government helicopters had dropped barrel bombs containing chlorine
on the Sukari neighborhood in eastern Aleppo. The Syrian government has denied
previous accusations it used chemical weapons during the five-year-old civil
war. The Syrian army could not be immediately reached for comment on the latest
allegations. The Civil Defense said on its Facebook page that 80 people had
suffocated. It reported no deaths. It posted a video showing wheezing children
doused in water using oxygen masks to breathe. The British-based Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, which tracks Syrian violence using sources on the
ground, said medical sources had reported 70 cases of suffocation. A United
Nations and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons inquiry seen by
Reuters last month found that Syrian government forces were responsible for two
toxic gas attacks in 2014 and 2015 involving chlorine. The Civil Defense accused
the government of two other suspected chlorine gas attacks in August. The United
Nations Commission of Inquiry on Syria said it was investigating an August
incident. “Unimaginable crimes are occurring in Aleppo ... pro-government aerial
bombardments cause mass civilian casualties,” Commission Chairman Paulo Pinheiro
told reporters in Geneva. “In government-held areas, indiscriminate ground
shelling (by) armed groups ... is also killing scores of civilians,” he added.
Aleppo has been one of the areas hardest hit by escalating violence in recent
months after the collapse of a partial truce brokered by the United States and
Russia in February. Government forces put eastern Aleppo under siege on Sunday
for a second time since July after advancing against rebels on the city’s
outskirts. The city has long been divided between government and opposition
areas of control. The Syrian conflict has killed more than 250,000 people and
forced more than 11 million from their homes.
Italy breaks up ring
smuggling Syrian refugees to Western Europe
Reuters, Rome Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Italian police said on Tuesday they had
broken up a criminal network that smuggled mostly Syrian refugees across the
Balkans to Western Europe. International police forces arrested 21 people in
Austria, Germany and Italy on suspicion of people smuggling, a police statement
said. The arrests followed an investigation conducted by prosecutors in the
northern Italian city of Como. Most of those arrested were Syrian, while others
were Algerian, Egyptian, Lebanese and Tunisian and were officially resident in
the area around Como, Italy. The criminal group organized transport for more
than 200 migrants from 2014 to 2016, charging at least 500 euros ($560) each,
according to prosecutors, who worked together with the EU's judicial cooperation
unit, Eurojust. The probe began in September last year after an Italian was
arrested in Hungary “while driving in a vehicle with several illegal migrants,”
Eurojust said in a separate statement. Italian police said the smuggling ring
picked up migrants who had reached Hungary, and from there they were moved on
towards Germany, Austria, and more rarely to France and Italy. The so-called
“Balkans route,” used by hundreds of thousands of migrants last year, has been
less popular since the European Union and Turkey agreed to stop boat crossings
from Turkey to Greece earlier this year. But boat crossings from Libya to Italy
continue at about the same rate as before, with some 100,000 arrivals so far
this year. Migrants have flooded into Europe over the past three years from the
Middle East, Africa and Asia, fleeing violence and poverty at home.
Turkey loses 2 soldiers since
start of Syria operation
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Two Turkish soldiers
were killed and five were wounded in a missile attack Tuesday by ISIS in
northern Syria - the first Turkish casualties caused by the militants in
Turkey’s two-week-old incursion into Syria. The Turkish fatalities came after
Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels on Sunday expelled ISIS from the last
strip of territory the militant group controlled along the Syrian-Turkish
border, effectively sealing the extremists’ self-styled caliphate off from the
outside world. Turkey launched the incursion into Syria - the so-called
Euphrates Shield operation - to back Syrian rebels in their fight to push ISIS
out of the town of Jarablus and to limit the Syrian Kurdish militia forces’
advance west of the Euphrates River. In a statement, Turkey’s military said the
militants fired rockets at Turkish tanks during clashes near the border area
from where ISIS was pushed out of on Sunday. It said the wounded were evacuated
by helicopters. Two Turkey-backed Syrian rebels were also killed and two wounded
rebels were also evacuated. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human
Rights said there were intense clashes on Tuesday between the Turkish-backed
rebels and ISIS militants east of the town of al-Rai and surrounding villages.
The territorial losses at the border were the biggest blow to the militant
group, which also has suffered a series of recent battlefield setbacks elsewhere
in Syria and in neighboring Iraq. The two killed by ISIS were not Turkey’s first
casualties following the launch of the incursion, though they were the first
fatalities at the hands of the militant group since the operation began. On the
fifth day of the operation, a Turkish soldier was killed in clashes with Kurdish
fighters in northern Syria.In July 2015, a Turkish soldier was killed after ISIS
militants shot across the border into Turkey. Ankara conducted airstrikes
against ISIS inside Syria after that.
Turkey hopes for ceasefire
Turkey on Tuesday said it hoped a ceasefire in Syria could be implemented in
time for a major Islamic holiday that begins next week, despite the failure of
world powers to announce a deal at the G20 summit in China. President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan’s spokesman, Ibrahim Kalin, revealed that the Turkish leader had
met separately a second time with Russian and US counterparts Vladimir Putin and
Barack Obama before leaving the G20 meeting in Hangzhou. He said Erdogan had
told the two leaders that it was essential “as soon as possible to agree a
ceasefire or a truce” for Syria’s northern Aleppo province. “We are waiting for
a final agreement. We received an outline but we are expecting an agreement on
paper that can be implemented,” Kalin told NTV television. Asked when such a
truce could be implemented, Kalin said Erdogan had told Putin that the people of
Aleppo should benefit from a suspension of fighting in time for the Feast of the
Sacrifice (Eid al-Adha) Islamic holiday which in Turkey begins on Sep. 12. Kalin
said that the ceasefire could begin with a 48-hour-truce that would then be
lengthened and would see both the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and
opposition fighters halt fire. An agreement between Russia and the United States
was believed to have been close at the G20 but Washington then admitted no deal
could be announced for the moment. Turkey and Russia have been on opposite sides
of Syria’s five-and-a-half-year civil war, with Moscow backing Assad and Ankara
supporting the opposition against him.
However, there have been signs of a rapprochement on Syria between the two
countries after a deal to normalize crisis-hit relations, with Ankara
acknowledging Assad could temporarily stay on in a transition. Turkey has also
staged a major incursion inside Syria to back the opposition fighters which it
says is aimed at rooting out both ISIS militants and Kurdish militia on its
border. Kalin said that Putin told Erdogan in China that the operation, which
has now lasted two weeks, had his “full support.”Meanwhile, Kalin added that
there was still no agreement between Turkey and the US over the Kurdish People’s
Protection Units (YPG), which Washington sees as an ally in the fight against
ISIS but Ankara regards as a terror group.
‘Safe zone’ idea not rejected
Kalin also said that world powers have not ruled out Turkey’s idea for a “safe
zone” in Syria but they have not shown a clear will to implement the plan
either. Erdogan had said on Monday that he repeated Turkey’s proposal at a
meeting of G20 leaders for a “safe zone” from fighting in Syria to help curb the
flow of migrants. Turkey, meanwhile, has been supporting Syrian rebels near its
southern borders to beat ISIS militant group. In the same time, Turkey has also
intensified its offensive against Kurdish militias in Syria.
Confrontation with Kurds soon?
On Tuesday, a spokesman for Erdogan said Turkey insists that all elements of
Kurdish militia YPG must be cleared from Syria’s Manbij. Manbij city, which was
a former ISIS stronghold, is located near the battleground city of Aleppo in
northern Syria. Ankara claimed that Kurdish militia forces had attempted to
seize more territories following the liberation of Manbij from ISIS. This has
propelled Turkey to warn the Kurds to leave the area and intensify its backing
to Syrian rebels. On Tuesday, a Syrian rebel commander said Kurdish militia
forces have not withdrawn from Manbij, warning that he expects confrontation
soon. In a related story, NATO head Jens Stoltenberg will travel to key ally
Turkey this week to meet Erdogan, one of the highest western officials to visit
since a failed military coup in July, a statement said Tuesday.
The alliance gave no further details of Stoltenberg’s meeting Thursday and
Friday with Erdogan, who has berated the West for what he sees as its lukewarm
backing and criticism of his massive crackdown on coup suspects.(With AP, AFP,
Reuters)
Turkey’s government says
under popular pressure to drop EU talks
Reuters, Bled (Slovenia)
Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Turkey’s government is under “huge pressure” from its
people to abandon its decades-old drive to join the European Union because they
see it applying double standards towards their country, Foreign Minister Mevlut
Cavusoglu said on Tuesday. Speaking at a forum in the Slovene mountain resort of
Bled, Cavusoglu also warned that Europe could be heading towards instability and
could succumb to extremism due to the strains of its twin economic and migration
crises. Cavusoglu also repeated his previous criticism of EU leaders for not
showing sufficient solidarity with Turkey after a botched military coup in July
in which President Tayyip Erdogan narrowly avoided capture and possible death.
“Turkish people see the double standard,” Cavusoglu said. “We are under huge
pressure to stop the negotiating process.”Ankara, which has been seeking EU
membership for decades and began formal accession talks in 2005, has long
accused the bloc of treating it differently to other candidate nations. Some
European politicians have spoken out against admitting Turkey, a large, mainly
Muslim nation of nearly 80 million people that borders Iraq and Syria and has
had a patchy record on democracy and human rights over the decades. Relations
have become especially strained after EU governments criticised the scale of
Erdogan’s crackdown on those he accused of organising or backing the failed coup
on July 15.
Support on migrants
But the EU needs Turkey’s support in reducing the large number of migrants and
refugees fleeing conflicts in the Middle East. In return for that help Brussels
has promised to speed up Turkey’s EU talks and allow Turks visa-free travel to
the bloc. Cavusoglu said on Tuesday Turkey’s promise to accommodate war refugees
on its territory would be rendered void if the EU did not uphold its pledge on
visa-free travel. Drawing a parallel between the rise of far-right parties in
several EU member states today and the situation in the 1930s, he added: “In 10
years perhaps (Europe) may be facing a similar situation as before World War
Two.”On Monday, Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the collapse of the
EU’s deal with Turkey on managing migrant flows could unleash a new flood of
people through the Balkans like that seen last autumn and further fuel support
for far-right parties across the continent.
First UN food aid in two
years reaches over 30,000 Iraqis
AFP, Baghdad Tuesday, 6 September 2016/The UN said Tuesday it has delivered food
supplies to more than 30,000 residents of Qayyara for the first time in two
years after Iraqi forces expelled extremists from the northern town. Government
forces on August 25 pushed ISIS out of Qayyara, considered strategic for a
planned offensive against the extremists’ last Iraqi stronghold of Mosul further
north. Qayyara had been “inaccessible for over two years”, the UN World Food
Program (WFP) said in a statement. “The people of Qayyara... are suffering
extreme hunger with scarce access to food supplies,” said WFP’s country director
for Iraq, Sally Haydock. WFP said the food delivered in the past week included
dates, beans and canned food as well as rations containing lentils, rice, flour
and vegetable oil, enough to last for a month. The town is “in a dire state”
with “black smoke” rising from oilfields around it that were set ablaze by the
extremists during fighting, WFP said. “All of its shops were either destroyed or
closed and food stocks were running dangerously low with people surviving only
on wheat from the recent harvest,” it said.“Safe drinking water, electricity and
medical services remain nearly impossible to access,” it added. The UN food
agency said it had also distributed food to “almost 2,000 displaced people
living in camps and with host families in areas surrounding Qayyara.”Located on
the Tigris river, Qayyara was retaken in a three-day operation led by Iraqi
special forces backed by US-led coalition air strikes. Its capture is part of a
plan by Iraqi forces to drive ISIS from their last stronghold in Iraq in Mosul,
60 kilometers (35 miles) away. The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR warned
last month that a Mosul offensive could displace another 1.2 million people.
Around 3.4 million people have already been forced to flee their homes in Iraq
by conflict since the start of 2014. WFP said it was “scaling up its food
assistance in Iraq ahead of the Mosul offensive but “urgently” needed $106
million to assist displaced families until the end of 2016.
France deploys artillery
ahead of Mosul offensive
Reuters, Paris Tuesday, 6 September 2016/France said on Tuesday it was deploying
artillery to Iraq and readying its aircraft carrier for deployment to reinforce
foreign military support for the Iraqi army’s expected push to recapture Mosul,
the de facto capital of ISIS in Iraq. The Iraqi army and its elite units have
gradually taken up positions around the city 400 km (248 miles) north of
Baghdad, with international coalition forces keen to capitalize on the militant
group’s loss of territory in both Iraq and Syria. “We decided to bolster our
support of the Iraqi forces this Autumn with the aim of recapturing Mosul,”
French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian told a gathering of defense and
military officials in Paris. “At this very moment, artillery is arriving close
to the front line,” Le Drian said, adding that the Charles de Gaulle aircraft
carrier would soon leave for the Middle East. French defense officials declined
to give details on the nature of the artillery. It was from Mosul’s Grand Mosque
in 2014 that ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdad declared a caliphate spanning
regions of Iraq and Syria. France, the first country to join US-led air strikes
in Iraq, has stepped up aerial operations against ISIS, including in Syria,
after several attacks by the group in France. Paris also has special forces
operating in both countries and has provided weapons to Syrian rebel groups.
Report: Wife of ISIS head in
charge of prisons in Iraq found dead
Staff writer, Al Arabiya English Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Wife of a head in
charge of ISIS prisons of the militant group in Iraq was found dead in a town
north of Salah Al-Din province amid reports saying that she escaped with her
lover the day before, local media said Tuesday.
“Wife of ISIS prisons’ head in Al-Shirqat known as Abu Mansour was found dead.
Her body was dumped on the side of a country road outside [Al-Shirqat] the town
a day after her escape,” the source, who spoke under the condition of anonymity,
told the Arabic-language website Al-Sumaria satellite station.The source added
that “bullets were found in the corpse.”Al-Shirqat, located southeast of Mosul
city, is under ISIS occupation.The source said that “there are semi-confirmed
information that the slain woman has escaped with her lover the day before her
killing,” describing the lover “as the younger brother of Abu Mansour whose
whereabouts are still unknown.”Another local news agency, Buratha News said a
“scandal has rocked ISIS circles and drove the ISIS head of prisons to avoid the
public,” citing another anonymous source. “There are speculations that Abu
Mansour has run after the two to seek revenge,” the source added. Iraq’s Defense
Ministry, meanwhile, said on Tuesday that the reason behind the delay to
liberate Al-Shiqat was to allow more civilians to flee the town. Getting rid of
ISIS in Al-Shirqat is a prelude to the Mosul offensive, which will see Iraqi
forces backed by the US-led Coalition forces attempting to defeat the militant
group which seized the country’s second largest city in June 2014.
Radical UK cleric Choudary
jailed for urging support for ISIS
AFP, London Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Radical cleric Anjem Choudary, long a
thorn in the side of British authorities, was jailed Tuesday for five-and-a-half
years after being convicted of encouraging support for ISIS militants.
Supporters of the 49-year-old and his co-defendant Mohammed Mizanur Rahman - who
received the same sentence - shouted “Allahu Akbar” (God is greatest) from the
public gallery as the judge announced his decision, according to an AFP
journalist. Judge Timothy Holroyde said Choudary was “calculating and dangerous”
and had shown no remorse in a ruling handed down at London’s Old Bailey court.
Dressed in a white robe, Choudary showed no emotion as the sentence was passed.
“A significant proportion of those listening to your words would be
impressionable persons looking to you for guidance on how to act,” said the
judge.Sue Hemming from the Crown Prosecution Service said both men were “fully
aware that Daesh (ISIS) is a proscribed terrorist group responsible for brutal
activities and that what they themselves were doing was illegal.”A jury
convicted both men in July. Choudary is the former head in Britain of Islam4UK
or al-Muhajiroun, a now banned group co-founded by Omar Bakri Muhammad that
called for Islamic law in Britain.For two decades, the former lawyer who is of
Pakistani descent, managed to stay on the right side of the law, becoming
Britain’s most prominent radical preacher. Among those radicalised by Muhajiroun
were the suicide bombers who killed 52 people on London’s public transport
system in July 2005, and the men who murdered soldier Lee Rigby in the capital
in 2013, police say. Commander Dean Haydon, head of counter-terrorism at
London’s Metropolitan Police, earlier said: “There is no one within the
counter-terrorism world that has any doubts of the influence that they have had,
the hate they have spread and the people that they have encouraged to join
terrorist organisations.”He said an oath of allegiance made in July 2014 was a
“turning point”, giving police the evidence they needed to prove that the men
supported ISIS.
The father-of-five previously hit the headlines for organising a pro-Osama bin
Laden event in London in 2011.He also belonged to a group that burned poppies,
the symbol of remembrance for deaths in war, during an Armistice Day protest in
the British capital in 2010.
Abbas says meeting with
Netanyahu in Moscow ‘delayed to a later date’
AFP, Warsaw Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said
Tuesday that an aide to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had suggested
delaying a proposed meeting between the two leaders in Moscow on Friday.
“Netanyahu’s representative proposed to delay this meeting to a later date. So
the meeting will not happen,” Abbas said at a joint press conference in Warsaw
with Polish President Andrzej Duda. “But I am ready and I declare again that I
will go to any meeting.”Abbas had agreed to a Russian proposal to meet Netanyahu
as part of a new peace push, a Palestinian official said Monday in
Ramallah.Netanyahu said he was open to such a meeting together with Russian
President Vladimir Putin, which Abbas said had been scheduled for Sep. 9. But
the Palestinians have questioned Israel’s commitment to the initiative, and
disagreements have derailed previous attempts to arrange talks. Abbas said
international help to end the conflict was crucial. “The peace process has
stalled because of the Israeli government’s position and we now need the
political and economic help of the United States and the European Union,
especially to rebuild our infrastructure,” he said. During talks with Duda, the
two discussed “the creation of a special Polish-Palestinian industrial zone in
the Palestinian territories,” he said. The Palestinian leader also said he
expected “a second round of talks this year” hosted by France, which is aimed at
pulling together an international conference to reboot Middle East peace talks
by the year’s end. Abbas’s office has previously said the Palestinians are ready
to participate in any peace initiative aimed at a “comprehensive and fair
solution.” But Palestinian leaders also say years of negotiations with the
Israelis have not ended the occupation of the West Bank, and they have more
recently pursued an international strategy. They say an Abbas-Netanyahu meeting
would lead nowhere without a freeze on Israeli settlement building, the release
of Palestinian prisoners and a deadline for an end to the occupation. Peace
efforts have been at a standstill since a US-led initiative collapsed in April
2014. The last substantial public meeting between Abbas and Netanyahu is thought
to have been in 2010, though there have been unconfirmed reports of secret
meetings since then.
Paris to open first refugee
camp mid-October
Reuters, Paris Tuesday, 6 September 2016/Paris will house close to 1,000
migrants in two camps to tackle the growing number of men, women and children
fleeing war and poverty who are sleeping rough on the French capital’s streets,
the city’s mayor said on Tuesday. The building of the two camps in the capital
comes as the government faces pressure to dismantle a swollen shanty town dubbed
the ‘jungle’ near the port of Calais, whose inhabitants are blamed by residents
for an increase in crime and the ailing local economy. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo
said one camp would be built for men, the other for vulnerable women and
children, with the first site opening in mid-October. “We have to come up with
new ways of overcoming the situation. Things are saturated,” Hidalgo told a news
conference. “These migrant camps reflect our values.”Hidalgo said the camps
would be temporary and cost 6.5 million euros to set up, of which the Paris
municipal authorities would cover 80 percent. While France has been much less
affected by Europe’s migrant crisis than neighbouring Germany, thousands of
asylum seekers use it as a transit point in the hope of reaching Britain. Truck
drivers, farmers and Calais business owners on Monday blocked traffic on the
motorway approach to Calais demanding a deadline for the dismantling of the
“jungle”.
Iranian
Resistance exposes identities of dozens of officials responsible for 1988
massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran
Remarks of Mohammad Mohaddessin, Chair of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the
National Council of Resistance of Iran
NCRI / Paris – September 6, 2016
According to intelligence obtained by the People’s Mojahedin Organization of
Iran (PMOI or MEK), most of the institutions of the Iranian regime are run by
the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners. We have
managed to obtain information about 59 of the most senior officials responsible
for this massacre, whose names had remained secret for nearly three decades.
They currently hold key positions in the various institutions of the regime.
These individuals were members of the “Death Commissions” in Tehran and 10 other
Iranian provinces. An investigation is continuing to uncover the identities of
other such criminals.
This intelligence and widespread information of the names of the martyrs and
their burial sites and mass graves have reached the PMOI in recent weeks.
Background
At the end of July 1988, Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering the massacre of
political prisoners. Death Commissions were formed in more than 70 towns and
cities. Until now only the names of the members of the Death Commission in
Tehran had been exposed, since Khomeini had directly appointed them.
The Death Commissions were comprised of a religious judge, a prosecutor, and a
representative of the Intelligence Ministry. Individuals such as the deputy
prosecutor and heads of prisons had a direct role in implementing Khomeini’s
fatwa and cooperated with the Death Commissions. The religious judge and the
prosecutor were appointed by the Supreme Judicial Council that was at the time
headed by Abdul-Karim Mousavi Ardebili.
The publication several weeks ago of an audio file dating to 1988 of a meeting
between Hossein-Ali Montazeri (Khomeini’s former heir) and members of the Death
Commission brought to light new dimensions of the massacre and set off a storm
in Iranian society.
In the matter of a few months, some 30,000 political prisoners, some of whom
were as young as 14 or 15 at the time of their arrest, were massacred and
secretly buried in mass graves.
A partial list of the martyrs includes the identities of 789 minors and 62
pregnant women who were executed. It also lists 410 families from which three or
more members were executed. This is only a fraction of the full list of those
who were executed which we have been able to collect under the current climate
of absolute suppression.
Current positions of officials responsible for the 1988 massacre of political
prisoners
These 59 individuals are currently active in the most sensitive government
positions.
Let us evaluate the key bodies of the regime in this regard:
The regime’s Supreme Leader:
Ali Khamenei – was at the time the President and a key decision-maker.
Four members of the State Expediency Council:
Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani – the council’s chairman, was at the time Speaker
of the Majlis (Parliament) and Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces, and was the
de facto number two official of the regime after Khomeini.
Ali Fallahian, then-Deputy Intelligence Minister who later went on to become
Intelligence Minister, is currently a member of the State Expediency Council.
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei was the Judiciary’s representative in the
Intelligence Ministry during the massacre and is now a member of the State
Expediency Council.
Majid Ansari was at the time the head of the state Prisons’ Organization and is
now a member of the State Expediency Council.
Khamenei and Rafsanjani worked alongside Khomeini in initiating the massacre.
Khomeini’s former heir Hossein-Ali Montazeri said in a letter that Khomeini
sought counsel on his dangerous decisions from these two individuals alone.
Six members of the Assembly of Experts (the highest decision-making body of the
regime, tasked with selecting the Supreme Leader’s successor):
Six members of the assembly had a direct role in the massacre. They are:
Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ebrahim Raeesi, who was a member of the Death Commission in Tehran and is
currently a member of the Assembly of Experts’ board
Mohammad Reyshahri, who was Intelligence Minister at the time and selected the
ministry’s representatives in the Death Commissions
Morteza Moqtadaee, who was at the time a member and spokesperson of the Supreme
Judicial Council
Zeinolabedin Qorbani Lahiji, who was a religious judge and a member of the Death
Commission in Lahijan and Astaneh-Ashrafieh
Abbas-Ali Soleimani, who was a member of the Death Commission in Babolsar.
The Judiciary
This body is almost entirely infested with officials responsible for the
massacre.
In addition to the Justice Minister, we have thus far identified 12 of the
highest-ranking Judiciary officials who were responsible for the massacre. They
include:
Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, the Justice Minister in Hassan Rouhani’s cabinet – he
was the primary Intelligence Ministry officials who was involved in the 1988
massacre.
Hossein-Ali Nayyeri, the head of the Supreme Disciplinary Court for Judges – he
was the Judiciary’s representative and head of the Death Commission in Tehran in
1988.
Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, the First Deputy Chief and spokesperson of the
Judiciary – he was the Judiciary’s representative in the Intelligence Ministry
during the massacre.
Ali Mobasheri, a Supreme Court judge – he was a religious judge and Nayyeri’s
deputy at the time of the massacre.
Ali Razini, Deputy of Legal Affairs and Judicial Development of the Judiciary
–at the time of the massacre he was a religious judge and head of the Judicial
Organization of the Armed Forces.
Gholam-Reza Khalaf Rezai-Zare’e, a Supreme Court judge – he was a member of the
Death Commission in Dezful, in the province of Khuzistan, south-west Iran.
Allah-Verdi Moqaddasi-Far, a senior member of judiciary – he was a religious
judge and a member of the Death Commission in Rasht.
An important point with regard to the Judiciary is that ever since the 1988
massacre, the Justice Minister in the Rafsanjani, Khatami, Ahmadinejad and now
Rouhani administrations has always been from among the perpetrators of the
massacre. These officials are Mohammad Esmeil Shushtari (the minister during the
Rafsanjani and Khatami administrations), Morteza Bakhtiari (was the minister in
the Ahmadinejad administration), and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi (currently the
minister in the Rouhani administration).
Officials in the Presidency and administrative bodies who had a role in the
massacre:
Majid Ansari, the Vice President of Iran for Legal Affairs, was at the time of
the massacre the head of the state Prisons’ Organization.
Mohammad Esmeil Shushtari, until a month ago was the head of the Presidency’s
Inspectorate Office – he was a member of the Supreme Judicial Council at the
time of the massacre.
Seyyed Alireza Avaei, current head of the Presidency’s Inspectorate Office – he
was the prosecutor and a member of the Death Commission in Dezful during the
massacre.
The Armed Forces:
Ali Abdollahi Ali-Abadi, the Coordinator of the Headquarters of the Armed Forces
– he was a member of the Death Commission in Rasht (Gilan Province in northern
Iran).
Gen. Ahmad Nourian, the Coordinator of the Tharallah Garrison in Tehran (one of
the main garrisons responsible for the protection of Tehran) – he was a member
of the Death Commission in Kermanshah Province (western Iran).
Key financial institutions:
Some of Iran’s largest financial and trade institutions are run and controlled
by the perpetrators of the 1988 massacre.
The head of the Astan Quds Razavi conglomerate (in Khorasan Province) and his
deputy were both officials responsible for the massacre. The huge conglomerate’s
wealth stands at tens of billions of dollars, and it has huge financial, trade,
agriculture, ranching, food product, mining, vehicle manufacturing,
petro-chemical, and pharmaceutical enterprises. According to its officials, it
is the largest endowment institution of the Islamic world.
Shah-Abdol-Azim endowment foundation in southern Tehran.
Nasser Ashuri Qal’e Roudkhan, managing director of the Atieh Damavand Investment
Company, was a member of the Death Commission in Gilan Province. The company’s
main investor is the Bank of Industry and Mining.
Ladies and gentlemen,
On August 9 of this year, an audio recording was revealed to the public which
featured remarks by Hossein-Ali Montazeri, the former heir to Khomeini, in his
meeting with members of the Tehran Death Commission that had been appointed by
Khomeini. This audio recording is from August 15, 1988.
In this meeting, Montazeri states: “In my view, the biggest crime in the Islamic
Republic, for which history will condemn us, has been committed at your hands.
Your (names) will in the future be etched in the annals of history as
criminals.” He added: “People detest the Velayat-e Faqih (absolute religious
rule). … Beware of 50 years from now, when people will pass judgement on the
leader (Khomeini) and will say he was a bloodthirsty, brutal and murderous
leader… I do not want history to remember him like that.”
The publication of the tape has led to widespread discord among various regime
officials. The Deputy Speaker of the regime’s Parliament has demanded an
explanation for the massacre, and the Justice Minister Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi
who until a few years ago flatly denied that he had a role in the 1988 massacre,
has now openly declared that he is “proud” of having carried out “God’s
commandment” to execute members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran.
As a result of such disunity, the regime took the unexpected step of temporarily
closing down the Parliament on the pretense of a summer break, even though the
summer recess had just been held.
Various officials of the regime have expressed fear that the principle of
Velayat-e Faqih is shaking, “Khomeini’s image” is being tarnished, and that the
PMOI is being “redeemed” and receiving an “atmosphere of innocence”. The
officials and institutions of the regime are all stating in their own way that
if Khomeini did not initiate the massacre, the PMOI would have taken over after
Khomeini’s death.
But Khomeini’s verdict was un-Islamic to the point that there has never been a
single similar fatwa by any Shiite or Sunni religious jurisprudent in the past
1400 years. Therefore the vast majority of the regime’s top mullahs have not
been willing to endorse it, and some have even gone so far as to bluntly
question its validity even under the regime’s own interpretation of Islam.
Ladies and gentlemen,
Please let me conclude:
We are faced with a crime against humanity and a massacre of political prisoners
scope of which was unprecedented since World War II. But even more important is
that the regime in power in Iran is currently being led and administered by the
very same officials who were responsible for this crime against humanity.
The United Nations must set up a Commission of Inquiry into this massacre and
take the necessary steps to bring the perpetrators of this great crime to
justice. The impunity must end. Inaction in the face of this crime has not only
led to further executions in Iran, but has also encouraged the regime to spread
its crimes to Syria, Iraq and other countries of the region. Some 2,700
executions have been officially carried out in Iran since Rouhani took office.
Just several weeks ago some 25 Sunnis from Iranian Kurdistan were hanged en
masse in a single day, and several days later another three political prisoners
from Ahvaz were executed.
The Iranian people and Resistance demand an international investigation into the
1988 massacre. They also demand that any economic relations with the regime be
predicated upon a halt to executions. We call on the international community, in
particular Western and Muslim countries, to condemn this great inhuman and
un-Islamic crime. Silence in the face of this crime violates the principles of
democracy and human rights and goes against the teachings of Islam.
In recent weeks there has been an unprecedented volume of information about the
names of the martyrs and the locations of their mass graves has been sent to the
Iranian Resistance by the relatives of the victims, officials who have parted
ways with the regime and even from within the regime itself, and we plan to make
them public in due course.
We call on all human rights organizations and institutions, and Islamic scholars
and clerics, both Shiite and Sunni, to assist the Iranian people in their
legitimate demand to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Iran/A prisoner's letter: The
savior is on her way
Tuesday, 06 September 2016 18:08
Excerpts of a letter by Maryam Akbari Monfared
This is the seventh year that I'm not with her. She was 3.5 when we were
separated.
I really wanted to be by her side when she is having an operation and when she
is recovering.
That's why I asked to be granted a leave, but they did not approve of it.
Earlier, in 2011, when she wanted to start the first grade, I asked to be by her
side on the first day of school, but they did not accept that either. And now,
after all these years, and at this time, when Sara is supposed to undergo a
surgery, they have turned down my request to have a leave.
Of course, I'm ashamed. I feel ashamed because my dear sisters and brothers have
left behind their loved ones, to free their enchained nation and to realize an
exalted cause in which they believe.
They have left their children and have not seen any of the beautiful moments of
their growth. And so many of them died before even seeing their beautiful
children. And now I am thinking of being by Sara's side.
I am not writing this because I missed Sara, because Sara has her father,
Hassan, and her sisters, Pegah and Zahra, who have been like a mother to her.
I am writing this to draw just a small picture of the oppression we experience…
As my mind was taking me away with these thoughts, I suddenly remembered the
memories of summer 1988.
I will never forget that hot, gloomy evening in August 1988, when the call to
evening prayers could be heard from the mosque of Hashemabad neighborhood.
Tired of playing, Mahnaz and I went home, as usual. But we saw my mother
weeping. It was so strange for us, because we had never seen my mother like
that. She was always happy and smiled all the time.
As she sobbed and tears rolled down her cheeks, she told us why she was so
upset.
Yes, this time it was my sister, Roghieh's turn to be executed. And the only
name, my mother kept repeating was Roghieh. "Dear Roghieh! Oh, dear! What shall
I do with your Mahnaz? What shall I tell her?"
fter an hour, I learned that my brother, Abdi, had also been executed in that
summer of 1988. My parents had been informed of the executions of Roghieh and
Abdi at the same time, in the visiting hall of the prison.
Before them, my other brother, Alireza had been executed in September 1981, and
then, the other brother, Gholamreza in November 1985.
But Roghieh's death was more difficult for my mother that the deaths of her
three sons, since Roghieh had a small daughter. Mahnaz was only three years old
when Roghieh was arrested. Almost the same age as my own Sara. When I think of
Roghieh, I think of what she was thinking of Mahnaz, when she said no to the
oppressors.
And now here I am, Roghieh's sister, worrying about my daughter's operation.
Occasionally, when I'm really upset, I whisper to God, what could ever stop a
mother from loving her child. There is no power in the world that could
challenge a mother's love. This shows that the world with all its glory is too
small compared to a mother's love for her child.
Today, more than any other time in my life, I am filled with pain, and with
love. And I feel stronger than ever that I have made the right choice, and I
have done so, with all my honesty.
And I do believe and I have faith that justice is much stronger than a mother's
love for her child...
There are moments when life loses its meaning, leaving it to us to give it a
meaning with our deeds.
Accidents do not make us hopeful or disappointed. It is how we look at the
events surrounding us and the way we look at things that makes us happy or
disappointed.
So, when I look at it this way, the most bitter and most painful of events seem
inspiring and energizing to me. I can gain power from my weaknesses and I can
gain calm from the depths of distress. As if you carve out a soft statue from a
big, rough rock; a soft statue of steadfastness and hope for future.
And I believe it is the duty of every freedom-loving human being to recognize
the savagery of his/her time and stand up to it.
Yes, autumn leaves fall down to your feet, but a firm and resistant tree stands
tall. Of course, leaves are an unforgettable part of the meaning of a tree…
Love does not fit in the cage of words, unless you have felt the suffering of
captivity.
To climb to the highest peaks, there is always a large group of people to start
with to leave a small group to reach the apex in the end. The large group gives
all its energy to the small group so that it could feel the moment of conquering
the peak.
The important thing is the resolve and the faith of the climbers…
Because of all the complications in my life, I have had to walk along this
lonely and narrow path of separation a thousand times on my own, without my body
even touching the walls of this alley. Sometimes, I even had to run. I hope ran
well.
What long years and what days and seconds we spent. And you, my dear Sara, in
these years and days and moments, you have been full of strength and patience.
Your strength gives me power to stand up to the cruelties, like a thunder
roaring in the sky, giving life the meaning of endurance and resistance.
And yes, this is the road, and this the price for it and the savior is on her
way.
Maryam Akbari Monfared
September 2016
Evin Prison
Security and social
consequences of unemployment are a major concern for Iran regime’s vice
president.
NCRI - Ishaq Jahangiri Vice president of Rouhani has expressed concern about the
rise of unemployment and warned about the security and social consequences of
it, he stated: “the challenge is that if the unemployment problem is not solved,
it could have grave political, social and security costs for the country.”Fars
news agency quoted Jahangiri who was lecturing at the command headquarters of
the so-called resistive economy center as confessing: “there are 900 thousand
university graduates looking for job annually, and continued: "The rising number
of graduate jobseekers in addition to accretion of unemployment during past
years is a serious problem that should be high on the agenda as a special
priority.”
Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials from
miscellaneous sources published on on September 06-07/16
War reality
blocks US-Russia tango in Syria
Joyce Karam/Al Arabiya/September
06/16
The failure of Russia and the United States yesterday to reach a new agreement
on Syria after four months of negotiations, comes to illustrate the complex
reality of the war and the limited leverage of both Washington and Moscow in
shaping its outcome. Barack Obama’s and Vladimir Putin’s inability to broker a
deal is less about their shrinking differences around the war, or willingness to
agree. It is more of a mutual realization of powerlessness in implementing such
deal, as the trajectory of Syrian conflict and actions of rivaling actors takes
separate path from that sought by the Kremlin and the White House.
Why the talks failed
Meeting on the sidelines of the G-20 summit in Hangzhou, China, Putin and Obama
had every intention of reaching a deal in Syria. American-Russian convergence in
finding a political settlement, prioritizing counterterrorism, and saving the
faltering components of the Syrian state has defined both of their interests
-albeit different approaches- for over two years now. Hence the proposal that
each Moscow and Washington submitted to the Assad regime and the Syrian
opposition was framed around these interests. It was centered around increased
intelligence sharing to target the Islamic State (ISIS) and al-Qaeda elements
within Jabhat Fatah Sham (JFS, formerly Jabhat Nusra) or other organizations,
and in return in allowing more humanitarian aid to East Aleppo as well as
restrain the Assad regime from aerial bombing non-JFS rebels in Northern Syria.
In theory the US-Russia proposal makes perfect sense for both Obama and Putin,
but not to those calling the shots inside Syria and that’s precisely why it
failed.
In theory the US-Russia proposal makes perfect sense for both Obama and Putin,
but not to those calling the shots inside Syria and that’s precisely why it
failed. Implementing the deal would have required adherence from the Assad
regime, Iranian proxies, Syrian rebels, the political opposition and regional
players, a mission impossible in today’s Syria given the war dynamics and the
ground developments. Just as Obama and Putin were reiterating in China their
commitment to a political solution and a ceasefire, clashes and bombings were
intensifying in Syria. In the last 48 hours, the regime regained control of some
of its lost territory in East Aleppo, the rebels targeted a new front in Hama,
while ISIS claimed responsibility for terrorist attacks in four Syrian
provinces.
The rhetoric heard from China, and the actors negotiating with not one Syrian in
the room, brought forth a completely detached setting from the reality of the
war. This in itself doomed the talks to fail or even a deal if it were to be
finalized.
The parameters of the war in Aleppo are dictated by the forces on the ground
backed on the regime side by Iran, and on the opposition side by regional Arab
states. While Russia had hoped to pressure the Assad regime into accepting a
ceasefire, and the US its allied rebels to break ties with JFS, neither of them
has the needed leverage to achieve such outcome. Hezbollah and the Iranian
government have had more say in steering the Aleppo battle and influencing Assad
than Moscow. The events of the last 48 hrs in Aleppo only emphasize this
discrepancy between Russia and its allies. Similarly, deep distrust defines the
relation between the rebels fighting in Aleppo and the Obama administration.
There is no evidence that Washington would have succeeded in isolating JFS from
the coalition fighting in Aleppo, or that Moscow would have stopped Assad air
force from adhering to its part of the deal. If anything, the last four years of
the Syrian conflict were a loud and clear evidence of limitations of both
American and Russian leverage in Syria. From controlling the arming to extremist
factions of the rebels, to pushing the regime to releasing a number of those
kidnapped, both the U.S. and Russia have failed in producing the desired
outcome.
War of attrition continues
If the US-Russian agreement was materialized, it would have improved ties
between Obama and Putin four months and a half before the US President leaves
office. It would have also set the stage for the next American President to deal
with Syria as primarily a counterterrorism nightmare, while granting Russia the
lead in seeking a political solution. However, the grim situation on the ground
and the dichotomy between the actors inside Syria and those on the outside
negotiating a political solution, promises a continuation of the war until the
internal dynamics have shifted.
In the early 1980s during the Lebanese civil war, host countries from
Switzerland to France attempted to broker peace between different factions
without achieving that goal until a decade later when all sides had given up on
a military solution. The Taif agreement that ended the 15-year-old Lebanese war
brokered a new power structure, something that the Assad regime is nowhere near
contemplating or accepting in Syria. The current path of the fighting,
population transfers, and different militias grabbing control of territories in
the country puts Syria closer to a road of de facto partition than a political
solution.
In the meantime, both Russia and the US will likely keep attempting to find
common ground in Syria around counterterrorism, while acknowledging lack of
leverage for significant political progress to settle the conflict.
In Hangzhou, there is a
‘solution’ for Syria
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/September 06/16
Statements made following the meetings of G20 leaders in Hangzhou, China,
promise a “solution for violence” in Syria. This new term is neither a political
solution nor a reconciliation among Syrian powers, but a bandage for a crisis
that is bleeding dangerously. US President Barack Obama said Russia is the key
to achieving a solution. How will this “solution for violence” work? Can they
confiscate the rifles of hundreds of thousands of armed men? Can they dismiss
fighters like they do in regular armies? Is Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
ready to leave power? Without political arrangements that answer these difficult
questions, violence will not stop just because Obama agreed on it with Russia.
If what we hear is true, this solution is based on accepting the Syrian regime’s
governance despite five years of murder, destruction and displacement. The armed
Syrian opposition has been used by the forces of countries fighting there. The
Free Syrian Army (FSA) was used by the US to attack the Islamic State of Iraq
and Syria (ISIS), and Turkey is using it to fight Kurdish groups in the north.
Down but not out
The situation of the Syrian resistance is difficult, but it is not defeated.
Tens of thousands of Syrians chose to confront Assad’s forces, Iranians,
Russians and militias, and are still fighting to defend their cause and people.
If they had not fought, the regime would have extended its power to most of
Syria, as foreigners who have joined terrorist groups are estimated at 5,000.
Despite setbacks, whether due to decreasing support from allied countries or due
to the closing of borders in the north and south, the Syrian resistance is still
fighting fiercely. The regime has not succeeded, even with massive support from
Iran and Russia, and despite international and regional pressure on the
opposition.
We are hearing about promises of a new solution only because the US wants to end
violence without solving the problem, like an ostrich that buries its head in
the sand . The war is still raging in most of Syria. Neither peace nor defeat
looms on the horizon. We are hearing about promises of a new solution only
because the US wants to end violence without solving the problem, like an
ostrich that buries its head in the sand. Obama’s presidency ends in 12 weeks,
and he wants to end violence in any way. However, Russian President Vladimir
Putin and Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei are staying. Putin and Khamenei
want one thing: to subjugate the Syrians. What they can agree on is fighting
ISIS and its terrorist sisters, granting Turkey the same right to fight Kurdish
groups that are hostile to Ankara and giving up on the Syrian opposition without
a change in political stance. The proposed solution is an escape from reality,
and makes them feel that the Syrian cause will gradually fade away and
eventually end. They think summing up the crisis as “violence” simplifies
negotiators’ task. However, it will result in imposing Assad as ruler all over
again - even though he murdered half a million of his citizens and displaced 12
million - and in granting Iran power over Iraq, Syria and Lebanon.
**This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Sept. 6, 2016.
Hajj without Saudi Arabia,
hajj without Iran
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/September 06/16
Can you imagine how services to Muslim pilgrims and care of the two holy mosques
would be if Saudi Arabia did not exist? That is not to say Saudis want people to
feel indebted, but who would serve like them? Their consecutive kings have
chosen the title “custodian of the two holy mosques” instead of other glorifying
titles granted to monarchs. Saudi Arabia has looked after the hajj season since
its establishment. Services have flourished since the days of founder and King
Abdulaziz bin Abdulrahman al-Saud, who personally looked after hajj-related
matters. Back then, the phrase “there’s no hajj like that performed during King
Abdulaziz’s era” spread across the country. Rashed bin Saad al-Baz wrote about
the origin of this phrase: “King Abdulaziz used to send letters to other
countries’ princes, leaders and tribal leaders around two months before hajj.
He’d order them to count the number of needy or poor people who can’t perform
hajj, either because they can’t afford it or because they have a disability.”
Baz wrote that these pilgrims were offered “unprecedented services and
facilitations.” King Abdulaziz provided services to the disabled and housing to
the needy. He worked on providing safe shelter for pilgrims. For a half century
now, Saudi Arabia has gotten better at securing the hajj season. Meanwhile, Iran
has incited its proxies to destabilize the season since the early 1980s
Accusations, sabotage
However, as the hajj season approaches every year, we hear hostile accusations
from Iran and isolationist Arab nationalists who envy Saudi Arabia for its
strategic position and religious significance. An Arab daily even claimed that
Saudi Arabia coordinated with Israel to secure the hajj season! For a half
century now, Saudi Arabia has gotten better at securing the hajj season.
Meanwhile, Iran has incited its proxies in the Gulf to destabilize the season
since the early 1980s. It caused massacres that were committed by Hezbollah
factions in the Gulf. Confessions by faction members that they are affiliated
with Iran and received official orders to disturb the hajj season in order to
embarrass the Saudis have been broadcast on TV. Tehran has been involved in many
incidents that led to the death of pilgrims. One of the most prominent incidents
was on July 31, 1987, when Iranian pilgrims carrying photos of then-Supreme
Leader Ruhollah Khomeini and Iranian flags demonstrated during hajj, which led
to blocked roads and the murder of pilgrims, citizens and security men. On July
10, 1989, a Hezbollah cell in Kuwait allegedly planned explosions at the holy
sites. One bomb exploded on one of the roads leading to the Grand Mosque, while
another exploded above the bridge nearby. Saudi police arrested 20 Kuwaitis, 16
of them accused of planning the explosions. Their confessions were broadcast on
Saudi TV. Last year, an official from Iran’s hajj mission told Ash-Sharq al-Awsat
newspaper that the stampede that killed hundreds was caused by a group of around
300 Iranian pilgrims who did not follow instructions from hajj authorities.
Tehran also forged the identity of an ambassador among the pilgrims, thus
violating civil laws and regulations followed in all countries.
Ideology
Iranian pilgrims will not go to hajj this year. This is unfortunate, but who
pushed against their attendance? Does this mean Tehran will not carry out acts
of sabotage? Have we forgotten that it previously used Hezbollah cells in the
Gulf, and that it can influence people of other nationalities who have the same
ideology and can act on its behalf? Iranian ideological mentality is based on
historical legacies and grudges engraved and guarded in their memories. Thus
hajj to them has been a provocative subject since the days of Iran’s revolution.
Its mullahs feel that Saudi Arabia carries religious and spiritual weight, which
they hope to attain in the long run, but in the short term they wish to sabotage
it. It is scary when God’s rites are violated by a political regime that claims
to be religious, as glorifying these rites is the pinnacle of hearts’ piety.
*This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Sept. 06, 2016.
Sidelines, not the ‘main
show’, defined G20 summit
Andrew J. Bowen/Al Arabiya/September 06/16
As the leaders of the G20 convened in Hangzhou, President Xi Jinping had hoped
the summit would be an opportunity to demonstrate Beijing’s role as a global
economic convener who concretely laid steps to boost sluggish global growth.
However, it wasn’t the summit meetings that attracted the most attention but
more the sidelines, including the airport tarmac. President Obama’s final visit
to China of his presidency was marred on his arrival at the airport by Chinese
officials attempting to manhandle both the White House press corps and the US
National Security Advisor Susan Rice and her deputy, Ben Rhodes. Reminding this
global gathering of the tensions on the Korean peninsula, North Korea’s Kim Jong-Un
even fired three ballistic missiles on the final day of the summit. Back home,
Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel faced losses in her home state elections on
Sunday. Britain’s new Prime Minister Theresa May hoped this summit would be an
opportunity for the UK to assert its post-Brexit global role but was bluntly
rebuffed both in a long policy white paper Japan published chiding the UK of the
economic consequences of their vote and President Obama reminding Ms. May that
the UK’s still in the back of the line on trade deals. President Putin even
couldn’t resist jabbing the new Prime Minister in their first meeting. A
stronger global financial architecture with deeper coordination and cooperation
continues to be marred by virulent populism, which has riled global politics and
has brought to prominence political leaders who see globalization as the enemy
of the good
Simmering conflicts
As tensions continued to boil in Ukraine, President Obama met with both European
leaders and the Russian President separately to continue to try to salvage the
Minsk agreements. No substantial progress emerged from these talks. Similarly,
intensive diplomatic negotiations by US Secretary of State John Kerry, and to a
lesser degree President Obama, with their Russian counterparts to reach a
broader cease-fire as the Syrian opposition sustained deeper losses around
Aleppo failed. President Obama acknowledged that gaps remain still between the
Russian and American positions. Obama, however, had a relatively productive
meeting with President Erdogan. In their first meeting since the coup, Erdogan
expressed more cordiality to his American counterpart than he did to US Vice
President Joe Biden on his visit to Ankara last month. President Obama affirmed
his support for Erdogan and their mutual efforts in combatting ISIS. The
American President continued his awkward dance of expressing support for Turkish
moves in Syria and at the same time, his support for his heavily focused Kurdish
ground strategy against ISIS. Obama even made a superficial reference to
considering Erdogan’s requests to brining the coup plotters to justice (knowing
that Gulen’s extradition is largely out of his hands). Erdogan also had a
diplomatic embrace with his Russian counterpart. The Turkish President’s
diplomatic and military moves in Syria suggest that he seeks to reach an
agreement on northwest Syria that would prevent first and foremost the PYD from
establishing an autonomous region and establish a degree of Turkish influence
over the area from which parts of the Syrian opposition could experience a
degree of protection.
Stabilizing oil price
The G20 also marked Deputy Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman’s first visit to
Beijing since President Xi’s visit to the Kingdom in January. He used the visit
to deepen trade, investment, and energy ties with Beijing. The Deputy Crown
Prince also used it as an opportunity to hold a number of bilateral meetings
with the Kingdom’s partners in the G20 both on security and on the Kingdom’s new
Vision 2030. Saudi Energy Minister, Khalid Al-Falih also met with his Russian
counterpart, Alexander Novak, where they agreed to work together to address
volatility in the the international oil markets and work together to better
stabilize the price of oil. While this agreement between the world’s two largest
producers brought a brief rise in crude oil price after it was announced, it’s
unclear yet how this “historic” co-ordination will substantively work in
practice.
Global growth boost?
The “main show” of the G20 for all of its fanfare fell far short in terms of
actual deliverables. While the final communiqué is littered with a number of
agreed initiatives focused on sustainable development, ending protectionism,
taxation, and transitioning from quantitative easing to boost global growth,
it’s not clear whether these initiatives have much substance to them or what
actual impact they will have in practice. President Xi’s efforts to establish
China as a global economic convener and example fell far short of his
expectations. On the issue of the large surplus of steel in the global market
(where China has been the main contributor to this), Beijing agreed, after much
criticism, to more effectively co-ordinate its steel production levels.
Beijing’s own economic policies continued to face criticism from its peers who
challenged its own practices, including its own protectionist policies, for
falling not in line with President Xi’s rhetoric. Efforts to turn the G20 into a
more effective organization to boost cooperation amongst the world’s leading
economies remain still largely a mixed endeavor at best. A stronger global
financial architecture with deeper coordination and cooperation continues to be
marred by virulent populism, which has riled global politics and has brought to
prominence political leaders who see globalization as the enemy of the good.
Protectionism, geopolitical rivalry, and nationalism have over-taken deep global
integration. World leaders acknowledged these challenges but offered few new
solutions beyond rhetorical epithets about supporting more “inclusive” growth.
One vague tangible the G20 agreed on was to draft a set of global investment
rules to deepen global investment as a way expand global growth in addition to
purely low interest rates. They also agreed to pair these new rules with further
structural reforms of the economy, but left the details of such initiatives to
be worked out. It was the sidelines than the “main show” that will make the G20
in Hangzhou memorable. Even there, though, a number of opportunities were
missed.
Why the UK shouldn’t harbor
troublemakers
Dr. Azeem Ibrahim/Al Arabiya/September 06/16
When countries harbor terrorists, we usually have recourse against them – legal
or otherwise. When the Taliban government in Afghanistan harbored Osama bin
Laden and refused to hand him over, we invaded the country, with broad
international support. When terrorists threaten the US and the UK and hide in
countries such as Yemen, we simply assassinate them by drone – with or without
the acquiescence of the government. But what happens when terrorists who
threaten the interests of other countries do so while being based in the US or
in Britain?
What happens is not a lot. From our point of view, our legal system stands above
the security concerns of other countries. And so long as the suspected
individuals are not accused of any crime under our legal system, the normal
legal protection we offer to our citizens and foreign residents against
arbitrary detention continues to apply.
Case in point
Altaf Hussain, a leading Pakistani politician who actively encourages his 4
million supporters in his native country to undermine Pakistan’s state apparatus
by violent means, is residing in the UK. What is more, the UK government is
fully aware of his presence and his activities regarding Pakistan, but seems to
have done little about it. Mr Hussain frequently calls on his followers to shut
down Karachi, Pakistan’s largest city, and the riots that ensue often result in
deaths, not least of law enforcement officers. The most recent such incident
happened just last month. But surely it cannot be in the interests of the UK
that countries like Pakistan can be destabilized by individuals like Mr Hussain,
while they live comfortably on British soil
We would not have much trouble dealing with such an individual – except perhaps
if they were given refuge by the US, Russia or China. But Pakistan has been
reduced to bringing terrorism charges against Mr Hussain in London. But so far,
to no avail. This has led to huge frustrations in Pakistan, not only for the
political and military leaders of the country, but for many ordinary Pakistanis.
Not least those who keep suffering in Karachi, every time the Muttahida Quami
Movement (MQM), Mr Hussain’s organization in Pakistan, flexes its muscles at the
behest of their leader headquartered in London.
Breeding hostility
The hostility this breeds in Pakistan against the British government is no less
real, and raw. I never subscribe to conspiracy theories, especially those
originating in Pakistan where they are a convenient way of deflecting
responsibility for many of their own problems. But on recent trips I took to the
country almost everyone from the leading politicians to the taxi driver will
tell you that that Mr Hassan is being protected by the MI6 and that the MQM are
doing the bidding of the British government for some geopolitical reason or
another.When I try to explain that Mr Hussain is not protected by the British
government or the intelligence services, and the UK legal system does not take
kindly to political interference, they look at me as if I am just a naïve
foreigner. I am not entirely sure I can blame them. We all know that if British
or American interests were on the line, we would not be all that sympathetic to
the finer points of the legal system of Pakistan, or a similar country. Of
course, the counterpoint still stands. The UK is said to have provided safe
haven to many legitimate political dissidents who would have been strung up by
kangaroo courts in repressive countries, and it is right to have done so. We
also have more than enough reason to doubt the judicial process in Pakistan, a
country where corruption is rampant, and Western-looking state institutions are
merely a front for factional, sectarian and ethnic power struggles. But surely
it cannot be in the interests of the UK that countries like Pakistan can be
destabilized by individuals like Mr Hussain, while they live comfortably on
British soil. Surely we can amend the terrorism laws to allow for the
prosecution of those who are responsible for organized rioting and the death of
so many civilians and police officers in countries which are, technically, still
our allies in the war on terror.
Prisons: Harvard for Radicals
Denis MacEoin/Gatestone Institute/September 06/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8873/prisons-radical-islam
"If they arrest me and put me in prison, I will carry on in prison. I will
radicalise everyone in prison." — Anjem Choudary, quoted by the Daily Mail.
One of the most troubling factors is the vulnerability of fresh converts to
radicalisation. Starting out with minimal knowledge of their new faith, converts
are easily lured into adopting strict forms of Islam, guided by existing
radicals and by the extremist literature freely available in prisons.
"Political correctness in prisons is allowing extremism to flourish because
guards are too afraid of confronting Muslims." Extremists are "exploiting...
staff fear of being labelled racist." — The Telegraph, citing a report by Ian
Acheson, a former British prison governor.
Said al-Shihri, after his release from Guantanamo in 2007, completed and passed
the Saudi deradicalisation program, then became deputy leader of al-Qaeda in
Yemen, orchestrating the bombing of the U.S. embassy there in 2008.
A Labour MP, Khalid Mahmood, pointed out that many of the mentors who are
supposed to guide young people away from becoming radicalised are themselves
non-violent radicals.
Great Britain is not short of irritating, scoundrelous, extremist figures. One
thinks of today's Labour party leader, the Trotskyite Jeremy Corbyn, a 'friend'
of Hamas and Hizbullah; the anti-Semitic far-left former Mayor of London, Ken
Livingstone, recently suspended from the same party for anti-Jewish remarks; or
George Galloway, who defended and lobbied for Saddam Hussein and called on the
Iraqi leader to conquer Israel and retake Jerusalem. We have had more than our
share of self-vaunting and holier-than-thou religious figures, too, notably the
string of Muslim hate preachers who tour our universities and mosques,
radicalising students and a host of other impressionable and easily-angered
young people.
But for many of us, there is concern about the high rate of radicalisation
engineered by Muslim extremists such as Anjem Choudary, who has tried to promote
some of Britain's most radical Islamist movements for some twenty years. His
interview technique is to say things that are offensive, or at times seemingly
demented, while remaining calm and apparently rational. He preaches hatred for
democracy, loathing for British law, and a candid disrespect for all
non-Muslims. In different circumstances, he would make a very able politician.
In fact, he is a traitor to his country, a manipulator of the young and
vulnerable, and is probably best revealed in his own words:
"We [Muslims] take the Jizya, which is ours anyway. The normal situation is to
take money from the kuffar [non-Muslim]. They give us the money. You work, give
us the money, Allahu Akhbar. We take the money."
And:
'Next time when your child is at school and the teacher asks, 'What is your
ambition?' They should say, 'to dominate the whole world by Islam, including
Britain, that is my ambition'".
And, concerning the British hostage, Alan Henning, a volunteer aid worker about
to be beheaded by the Islamic State: "In the Quran it is not allowed for you to
feel sorry for non-Muslims. I don't feel sorry for him."
Or, prophetically, "If they arrest me and put me in prison," he has said, "I
will carry on in prison. I will radicalise everyone in prison."
He has called for the "flag of Sharia" to be raised over 10 Downing Street; for
Buckingham Palace to be turned into a mosque, and for Islamic shari'a law to
replace British secular law -- while predicting that this country will before
long be taken over by Muslims. These might be childish dreams, but they are
currently inspiring terrorist attacks and raising security threats.
Anjem Choudary (center).
Born in London in 1967, Choudary is a lawyer by training. He smiles
contemptuously as he proclaims his superiority over the non-Muslim population of
the UK. With Omar Bakri Muhammad, he created al-Muhajiroun, a Salafi group
linked to half of the terrorist attacks in the UK during the past 20 years. When
it was banned in 2005, it re-emerged under a string of aliases, reforming every
time another ban was put in place: Islam4UK; al-Ghurabaa; the Saved Sect;
Need4Khilafah; the Shariah Project; and the Islamic Dawah Association.
Choudary had been arrested more than once, but soon re-emerged into public life.
His knowledge of the law has, until very recently, allowed him to evade
punishment.
British police have now revealed his links to 500 Islamic State terrorists.
Mr Choudary, however, and a younger follower, Mohammed Rahman, between August
and September 2014, posted speeches on the scarcely-secret website YouTube, in
which they encouraged listeners to support and join the Islamic State, urging
them to travel to Syria to take part in the fighting. Choudary had apparently
accepted the claim of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi to be the latest in the long but
interrupted chain of Muslim caliphs. Baghdadi continues to assert that claim
through his leadership of the Islamic State terrorist group, not just in Iraq
and Syria, but in several other Muslim countries -- not to mention hundreds of
operatives now infiltrating Europe. In accordance with long-established
tradition, Choudary declared bay'a (formal allegiance) to the caliph.
Choudary was charged on August 5, 2015, under section 12 of the Terrorism Act
(2000), of inviting others to support, between June 2014 and March 2015, a
banned organization, the Islamic State. He was tried along with Rahman and
convicted on July 28, 2016. His sentence will be handed down this month. It is
estimated that he will be sent down for about 10 years.
If that sounds short, it could get shorter. Unlike the United States, where many
offenders serve their full term, the UK system is more flexible. According to
the provisions of the 2003 Criminal Justice Act, introduced in 2005, any
prisoners serving a fixed sentence are required to serve half of their sentence
in custody. They are then released from jail and remain on licence (supervised
by probation) for the other half of their sentence. In five years, therefore,
Choudary could conceivably be back in the community and attending a mosque and
religious festivals.
Ironically, that might be the least of our worries. Prison is the last place
anyone with terrorist and radical affiliations should be sent. Radical
publications are widely distributed to prisoners in British jails. In April
2016, a review ordered by Justice Minister Michael Gove revealed that extremist
materials had been found in over ten jails in November 2015. Writing in The
Telegraph, Sophie Jamieson summed up some of the report's findings:
Extremist Islamic hate literature is available on the bookshelves of British
jails and distributed to inmates by Muslim chaplains, according to a leaked
report.
A review into extremism in prisons found misogynistic and homophobic pamphlets
and hate tracts endorsing the killing of apostates were available in chaplaincy
rooms, the Times reported.
Hate literature and CDs were reportedly discovered in more than ten prisons in
November.
That extremism exists within the chaplaincy system of British prisons should not
be too surprising. Samuel Westrop has pointed out that innumerable links exist
between Muslim chaplains and radical organizations such as Hizb ut Tahrir,
Jamaat-e Islami, Al-Hikma Media, and many more. In a major report, Unlocking
al-Qaeda, published in 2009 by the Quilliam Foundation, close ties to groups
such as al-Qaeda were identified among Muslim chaplains and inmates. The report
recommended:
"The removal of all books, newspaper and televisions in de-radicalization
centres will have [sic] will gradually create a great hunger among extremist
prisoners (many of whom are highly literate and intelligent) for new information
and literature. Prisoners who show good behaviour and evidence of reform, can be
gradually supplied with counter-extremism books, written either by more moderate
Muslim authors (including books by former extremists from groups such as al-Gamaa
al-Islamiya). Such books should be supplied sparingly in order to force inmates
to read them."
Yet seven years later, a government report revealed that radical literature
remains freely available to inmates.
The report identifies several factors that cause or play a part in prison
radicalisation: extremism seen as a logical solution to other problems;
extremism as a 'new start'; prison deepens radicalisation ("While some
individuals first adopt extremist ideologies only while in prison, in other
cases individuals who entered prison as extremists become more radical as a
result of their experiences there"); perceptions of mistreatment in prison;
extremism as an extension of earlier behaviour; extremism causes dramatic
behavioural changes; extremism can follow release.
One of the most troubling factors is the vulnerability of fresh converts to
radicalisation. Because they start out with minimal knowledge of their new
faith, converts are easily lured into adopting strict forms of Islam, a passage
through which they may be guided by existing radicals and by the sort of
extremist literature freely available in jail.
But there are reasons for the indulgence given to radicalisers and the newly
radicalised in British jails. Citing an August 2016 classified report written
for Britain's Ministry of Justice by Ian Acheson, a former prison governor,
Peter Dominiczak, political editor of The Telegraph, argues that "political
correctness in prisons is allowing extremism to flourish because guards are too
afraid of confronting Muslims."
Acheson warns that supervising staff are being "pressured" to leave prayer rooms
during collective worship and that extremists are "exploiting... staff fear of
being labelled racist". The report concluded that "cultural sensitivity" among
National Offender Management Service staff towards Muslim prisoners has
"extended beyond the basic requirements of faith observance and could inhibit
the effective confrontation of extremist views".
The report also warned that "charismatic Islamist extremist prisoners [are]
acting as self-styled 'emirs' and exerting a controlling and radicalising
influence of the wider Muslim prison population." It concluded that some
charismatic prisoners had exerted a radicalising influence over fellow Muslims.
And it claimed that "some have attempted to engineer segregation, encouraged
aggressive conversions to Islam, and been involved in the intimidation of prison
imams".
According to the BBC, "Muslim inmates now account for 14.4% of those behind
bars, compared with 7.7% in 2002." In other words, that "wider Muslim prison
population" is extensive. In the ten years between 2004 and 2014, the number of
Muslims in prisons rose from 6,571 to 12,106.
Under these conditions -- which are replicated in France, the Netherlands, Spain
and elsewhere -- Choudary could easily, as he has promised, continue
radicalising others -- anyone predisposed to lend a hearing ear to his
fulminations against the "infidel" world and his invitations to convert to Islam
or to become a more radical Muslim. He could possibly recruit more to this cause
than he did when on the streets.
There are many studies of the problem of radicalisation within prisons. On the
one hand, our democratic laws are too weak to take radicalising preachers off
the streets. Choudary got away with his Islamist language and his nods towards
extreme action for twenty years. He was not alone. That weakness in the law,
created by an understandable desire to allow free speech, remains crucial to
everyone -- Trotskyites, neo-fascists, and Islamic militants -- who wants to
tear down Western civilisation and erect a totalitarian regime in its place. But
just taking agitators off the streets is objectively inadequate.
If we let men like Anjem Choudary on the streets, they will use whatever means
they can to bring more young Muslims and Muslim converts in their wake, and some
of those newly-baptized extremists will either head for the Middle East or work
their way into terror networks in Europe. If we keep men with these mindsets in
prison, new generations of proselytes will carry more than their personal
effects when they check out of jail a month or a year later.
Following Acheson's report, the government announced new measures to tackle some
of the problems in jails. Their proposals will radically alter a fifty-year-old
system of dispersing the most dangerous prisoners across many prisons. Liz
Truss, who recently replaced Michael Gove as Minister of Justice (who had
commissioned the Acheson review) has announced that the most dangerous
extremists will instead be locked up in isolated high-security
prisons-within-prisons, in order to prevent them radicalising other inmates.
Unfortunately, this proposal has already come under fire. An editorial in the
left-wing newspaper The Independent quotes Professor Peter Neumann of the
International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation and Political Violence at
King's College, London. Neumann argues that keeping Muslim terrorists apart from
other prisoners exposes the system to two risks. One, he believes, is that
putting these individuals together would give them a chance to create a military
command structure tighter than anything they could achieve if dispersed. The
other is that, by putting them in one place, there is a danger that this would
award them a political status. The new arrangement would be portrayed as a
"British Guantanamo" that will serve Muslims everywhere as a propaganda machine.
Neumann goes further, saying that it would be wrong in principle to treat one
category of criminal as distinct from another because their crimes are
ideologically motivated. He argues that under British law, murder is murder and
terrorism is terrorism, regardless of the belief system in whose name such
crimes are carried out. This seems extraordinarily naïve and politically
correct. A man who stabs his wife to death in a jealous rage is very different
indeed from someone who has killed in order to do God's will and who tells other
people they should do the same, perhaps in a massacre.
The editorial shows its political interests, saying:
"The Independent has long been in favour of a radical rethink about the
alternatives to custody for punishment and rehabilitation. That is the solution
to the problem of prisoners learning how to be more serious criminals, and it is
also the way to prevent petty offenders being radicalised in prison."
Unfortunately, the author does not explain just what these "alternatives" may
be. No doubt, there is much to be said about finding better ways to turn
convicts away from a life of recidivism. When the present author sat as a
magistrate in a British court, it was always depressing to be shown an accused's
record sheet (something we were shown, but never mentioned in court
proceedings). Young men and women went in and out of prison so many times there
seemed no easy way to break the cycle.
Islamic radicalisation in prisons currently possibly poses far greater risks to
the public than drug addiction or theft.
For a start, non-Muslim experts must be brought in to evaluate prison chaplains
or to decide that no more should be appointed. Certainly, such outside experts
should make regular checks of the books available to Muslim prisoners in
English, Arabic, Urdu, Turkish or Persian, and reject any that may be
contentious.
It would be advisable to separate them out, even if jails are overcrowded. What
we can also do is keep radicals or young men who have returned from fighting for
the Islamic State well away from petty criminals and those at risk from
radicalisation. In these cases, the best solution might be solitary confinement.
This will be expensive and may be attacked as harsh. But if political
correctness means that potential or actual terrorists continue to be treated
with kid gloves, the lives of many innocent people will be lost. Radicals and
terrorist recruiters do not deserve special sympathy. Being a Muslim should not
be some sort of "get out of jail free" card.
Muslim extremists whose beliefs are deeply ingrained in their identity need to
be treated differently from drug addicts or petty offenders. We used to send
drug addicts to jail for six months, in the hope they would be kept in long
enough to go through a thorough rehabilitation program. That can sometimes work.
Schemes to provide young offenders with education and training are also capable
of providing the means to steer clear of crime on release. However, many are
critical of deradicalisation programs for Muslim terrorist or extremists. John
Horgan and Kurt Braddock of the International Center for the Study of Terrorism,
at Pennsylvania State University, have argued against the effectiveness of such
programs:
To date, there is no consensus on what constitutes success in reforming a
terrorist, let alone what even constitutes reform in this context. There is, in
addition, confusion about whether any kind of rehabilitation is necessarily
brought about by "de-radicalization" (itself a term which has not been
adequately conceptualized, let alone defined) as opposed to other interventions
for eliciting behavior change. Recent research suggests that many of those who
disengage (or desist) from terrorist activity are not necessarily de-radicalized
(as primarily conceived via a change in thinking or beliefs), and that such
de-radicalization is not necessarily a prerequisite for ensuring low risk of
recidivism.
Much has been said about the extensive Saudi deradicalisation and rehabilitation
program that was initiated in 2004 by Assistant Interior Minister Prince
Muhammad bin Nayef, is run by the Advisory Committee based in Riyadh, and has
seven regional offices. The Saudis have proclaimed tremendous success for their
program, but Andreas Capstack, writing for the Middle East Institute offers
severe qualifications for that success:
At first glance, the figures of the deradicalization programs in Saudi Arabia
are remarkable. In 2007, Sheikh Al-Sadlan, a member of the Counseling Program,
announced that 90 percent of its participants had renounced their radical views
and that 1,500 of the 3,200 prisoners involved in the program had been released.
Further, in November 2007 Prince Muhammad bin Nayef claimed that there had been
only 35 recorded cases of recidivism—equivalent to a rate of less than two
percent—and none of the acts of violence resulting from this recidivism occurred
within Saudi Arabia. However, the small numbers of cases in which individuals
have resisted rehabilitation cannot be ignored due to the severity of some of
these cases. The most notable example is Said al-Shihri, who, after his release
from Guantanamo Bay in 2007, completed and passed the Saudi deradicalization
program but then proceeded to become deputy leader of al-Qaeda in Yemen,
orchestrating the bombing of the American embassy in Sana'a in 2008. It has been
estimated that 10 percent of the incarcerated jihadists, many of whom have been
previously detained in Iraq or Guantanamo by the United States, are "hard-core
militants with entrenched deviant beliefs." They are likely to refuse to
cooperate with the rehabilitation process, dismissing the clerics as having been
co-opted by the West-aligned Saudi government; as a result, they are probably
beyond the reach of any deradicalization program.
This 10 percent "hard-core" figure neatly corresponds with the program's 90
percent success rate, and would include the most violent and dangerous of the
imprisoned extremists. Although these prisoners are unlikely to be
released—rehabilitated or not (with al-Shihri's case being an exception)—it
still means that the effectiveness of the rehabilitation campaign is limited
mainly to minor offenders and jihadist supporters and sympathizers who may
already be looking for a way out of jihadism, having been disillusioned by the
circumstances leading to their capture. The results of the Sakinah campaign,
which announced in 2007 that they had persuaded 690 individuals from Saudi
Arabia and elsewhere to "recant their takfir and deviant views," must be
similarly qualified.
If the Saudis, themselves advocates of a Salafi approach, find it so difficult
to deradicalise their hard core, there can be little hope that Choudary and his
friends will leave British jails as reformed and integrated men.
A report issued in August 2016 shows that half of UK Muslims deemed to be at
risk of grooming by the Islamic State have refused to participate in the
government's counter-radicalisation program, "Channel", part of the wider
Prevent strategy. A Labour MP, Khalid Mahmood, called for the program to be made
compulsory and pointed out that many of the mentors who are supposed to guide
young people away from becoming radicalised are themselves non-violent radicals.
This means that those at risk were being advised to agree to the ideology that
ultimately leads to the violence. We clearly have a long way to go before
governments take Islamic radicalisation as seriously as it deserves.
Denis MacEoin has studied, taught, and written about Islam since the early
1970s, has served as a magistrate, and has been a Distinguished Senior Fellow at
the Gatestone Institute since 2014.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
ISIS Imposes a Partial Ban on Burqas
Daniel Pipes/Cross-posted from national Review Online, The Corner/September
06/16
http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/2016/09/isis-imposes-a-partial-ban-on-burqas
Before getting to the news item at hand, a personal preface:
I am frustrated that Westerners don't perceive the obvious point that burqas and
niqabs, both of which cover not only the head but the whole body, threaten
public security. A person wearing these Islamic garments can be male or female,
can carry an assault rifle, and can usually get away with anything anonymously.
that my compilation of burqa- and niqab-assisted crimes and acts of political
violence going back nearly fifteen years and now about 150 incidents long, would
convince any sensible observer of the public security problem; all the more so
because the assaults included child abduction and rape, the murder of police
officers, and other outrages; and because banks and other institutions have
noted the problem and in many cases banned these and many lesser coverings.
But no, whether it be an intellectual like Martha Nussbaum, a journalist like
Joel Mathis, or the many, many voices opining on the recent burkini ban from
French beaches, security issues inspire a collective shrug, with almost everyone
focused instead on the symbolism of these two garments, whether it be concerning
the welcoming of the other, the inhibition of social interaction, or the status
of women.
For reasons that baffle me, the burkini raises more protests than the burqa. One
is not dangerous, the other is.
While sensible to these concerns, I fail to see how one can legally ban an
article of clothing because it bothers one's sensibilities. As I like to put it,
bad taste is a human right; you can wear a green-and-pink plaid jacket and I
have no right to forbid it because it happens to offend me; likewise for the
burqa and niqab. I can only ban those if they pose a danger, which they do.
So much for the West. Now to the news item, which concerns the Islamic State,
that bastion of burqas, where women can be flogged for not wearing one; Iran
Front Page translated a Persian-language item from Al-Alam News Network, an
Iranian regime news agency:
A local source in the Iraqi province of Nineveh announced on Friday, September
2, that the [ISIS] terrorist group has released an order, based on which no
woman is allowed to be wearing niqab or burqa when entering the security and
military centres. The decision, according to the source, came after some fully
veiled women killed a number of ISIS commanders and members in the past months.
Comments:
(1) First irony: The ISIS rulers first require the burqa and then, realizing
what a perfect cover it provides to attack themselves, ban it from sensitive
areas. Should attacks on them continue, perhaps ISIS will have to ban the burqa
from all public places, which would be quite a change.
Members of the ISIS all-women Al-Khansaa Brigade, a police unit, in their burqas.
(2) Second irony: The most retrograde, extreme, and morbid Islamist regime on
earth recognizes burqas as a danger to public security while the modern,
moderate, and democratic states in the West remain clueless.
(3) Despite my frustration on this issue, I do believe it's just a matter of
more assaults and more time before Westerners wake up to this problem. But how
many more must be gratuitously robbed, raped, and killed before that happens?
(September 6, 2016)
The above text may be reposted, forwarded, or translated so long as it is
presented as an integral whole with complete information about its author, date,
place of publication, as well as the original URL.
ISIS – The Threat To The Indian Subcontinent
By: Dr. Adil Rasheed/MEMRI/September 06/16
September 6, 2016 MEMRI Daily Brief No.101
On August 2, 2016, Indian State Minister for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir sought to
assure the Lok Sabha, India's lower house of parliament, that the international
terrorist organization Islamic State (ISIS) has attracted "very few" youths from
the country.[1] This statement caused many to wonder whether the government is
fully alive to the threat posed by ISIS.
Indian State Minister for Home Affairs Hansraj Ahir addressing the Lok Sabha
(Image: indiatvnews.com)
The "Very Few" ISIS Suspects
In reply to a question, the minister admitted that the number of these "very
few" ISIS suspects stood at 54, and that this included only those misled youths
against whom the country's National Investigation Agency, as well as the police
in Maharashtra, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu, have filed
cases. The minister then deftly introduced an addendum by mentioning nine other
cases of "persons [who] have been reported missing from some parts of Kerala,
who are suspected to have joined terrorist outfits like ISIS, but whose links
[to these organizations] have not yet been established." According to some
observers, the minister's response seems to have conspicuously overlooked the
possibility of ISIS recruitment in the troubled Jammu and Kashmir region and in
several other riot-prone states in north India.[2]
But even the "very few" cases divulged by the government point to a steady
increase in the number of individuals suspected to have been caught in the ISIS
radicalization snare, compared to the much smaller number of cases that had been
registered by government agencies until late last year.[3]
ISIS's Doctrinal Offensive
The trend is particularly disconcerting in light of ISIS-related terrorist
activities in neighboring Pakistan and Bangladesh, and more importantly in the
context of the deliberate ideological campaign that Salafis have been waging in
the Urdu and Bangla blogosphere against the Hanafi Deobandi and Barelvi
adherents of Sunni Islam in the subcontinent. This intra-Sunni doctrinal debate
has been launched so that globalist Salafi-jihadist ideas find greater resonance
among non-Salafi Muslims in the subcontinent.
Thus, the blogosphere in the subcontinent is abuzz these days with literature
against the "muqallid" (jurisprudential conformism) doctrine of the more
moderate Deobandis and Barelvi Muslims in the region, a hitherto unknown
phenomenon. It should be noted that ISIS follows the "ghair muqallid" brand of
Islam, which rejects adherence to the four orthodox Sunni jurisprudential
schools – Hanafi, Shafi'i, Maliki and Hanbali– in spite of its Hanbali
leanings.[4]
This doctrinal dissonance has turned into a turf war, with ISIS trying to unseat
the Deobandi Taliban from its position of influence in the AfPak region by
weaning away its splinter groups. In the wake of this tug-of-war, the Afghan
Taliban sent a direct message to ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi last year,
warning him that his fighters should refrain from encroaching upon the Taliban's
insurgent operation.[5] In August that year, the Taliban denounced a video
showing ISIS fighters blowing up blindfolded Afghan prisoners with explosives,
describing them as "horrific."[6]
As a matter of fact, the clash between the Salafi Al-Qaeda/ISIS ideologues and
the Deobandi jihadists in the subcontinent is not a recent phenomenon. Its signs
were evident even during the Afghan-Arab war against the Soviets in the 1980s.
According to Al-Qaeda's most prolific writer, Abu Mus'ab Al-Suri, in the late
1970s the Sunni jihadist movement was "a mixture of Qutbist organizational
ideology, the Salafist creed and the Wahhabi call."[7] In his book Call to
Global Islamic Resistance, Al-Suri notes with consternation that, in the 1990s,
the growing influence of Salafi hardline ideologues within the jihadist fold
bred "partisan fanaticism" and led to "bloodshed, conspiracies and internecine
fighting." He describes the Arab-Afghan jihadists as being derisive of the "muqallid"
doctrinal beliefs of the Taliban and dismissive of Mullah Omar's claim of having
established an "Islamic emirate" in Afghanistan. According to Al-Suri, many of
the Arab jihadists regarded the Taliban as no more than a "safe haven" from
which they could operate freely, and did not regard the so-called Taliban
"emirate" as a suitable starting point for launching their cherished dream of a
future Islamic Caliphate. He states (pp. 844-845): "One of the astonishing
things... is a statement made by one of those extremist Salafi-jihadists. He
told me in one of our conversations that jihad must be under the Salafist
banner; its leadership, program and religious rulings must also be Salafist...
If we accept that non-Salafists participate with us in jihad, we only do so
because we need them. However, they should not have any leadership role at all.
We should lead them like a herd of cows to perform their duty of jihad."[8]
Although Al-Qaeda's top leadership (Bin Laden and now Al-Zawahiri) has always
sought to downplay the doctrinal differences within the organization, the
emergence of ISIS has brought the internal dissonance to the fore like never
before.[9] With the death of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Omar, ISIS has gained
more ground and influence in the region, which poses a new set of challenges for
countries in the subcontinent.
Recent Increase In ISIS Attacks In Subcontinent
Not surprisingly, the increasing influence of the Salafist brand of Islam has
triggered a spurt in terrorist activity in the subcontinent. ISIS is said to
have already developed close ties with the Salafi Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) in
Pakistan and Jamaatul Mujahideen in Bangladesh. In late July 2016, the
Afghanistan government accused former LeT chief Hafiz Muhammad Saeed of
directing ISIS attacks in Afghanistan. In the beginning of the month, ISIS
gunmen entered an upscale restaurant in the Bangladeshi capital of Dhaka and
held dozens of people hostage for hours, eventually killing 20 of them. In fact,
that country has been rattled by a major wave of Islamist violence with a number
of targeted killings of secularists, atheists and foreigners since 2013.[10]
Then, on July 8, 2016, two policemen and a woman were killed in a terrorist
attack on an Eid prayer gathering in the country. [11]
Demonstration in wake of terror wave in Bangladesh (Image: News24online.com,
July 18, 2016)
In issue 13 of ISIS's online English-language magazine Dabiq, released in
January 2016, the head of ISIS in Bangladesh, Sheikh Abu Ibrahim Al-Hanif,
claimed that the group is currently training fighters in Bangladesh and Pakistan
to launch simultaneous attacks from the western and eastern borders of India, in
order to create chaos in this country. The mouthpiece also said that Kashmir
would soon be overrun by ISIS. Indian jihadi groups like the Indian Mujahideen
(IM) also have links to the group, with many of their members having joined the
ranks of ISIS in Syria and Iraq and some planning their return to India, to
enlist more recruits. In fact, the Ansar-ut Tawhid fi Bilad al-Hind (AuT),
formed in 2013 by members of IM, ISIS and a Taliban faction, pledged their
allegiance to ISIS in September of that year.[12]
The Looming ISIS Threat
With the number of suspected ISIS members in India and the subcontinent on the
rise, as reflected even by the tentative data released by the authorities, the
dreadful specter of this insidious monstrosity quickly getting out of control is
a clear and present danger to the entire region. First, trained terror recruits
returning from ISIS-held territories pose the close-term threat of perpetrating
major terrorist operations, as well as the medium-to-long-term danger of
establishing clandestine sleeper cells for sustained terrorist campaigns.
Meanwhile, there is also the looming specter of home-grown terrorism, wherein
jihadist websites provide inspiration and training for non-affiliated
individuals or small groups to carry out lone-wolf attacks. ISIS has developed
an intricate social media network (as exposed in the Mehdi Biswas aka Shami
Witness case in 2014) and has posted guidebooks and manuals for concocting
destructive explosives from household materials (as exemplified in the Boston
bombings of 2013) and for using readily available means, such as vehicles, as
lethal weapons (as manifest in the Nice terror attack this year).
In addition, there are many religious organizations and seminaries in the region
that continue to be indoctrinated by extremist Salafi-Wahhabi ideologues and to
receive funding from extremist donors in the Middle East. There are also
millions of South Asian expatriates in Gulf states, who may bring back to their
native countries the radical and extremist ideologies currently rampant in that
part of the world.
Fighting Jihadism And Its Agenda
In light of the above, it is important for governments in South Asia to take
serious note of the fact that jihadists are increasingly gaining a foothold in
their respective countries and devise effective measures to combat the growing
menace.
In the formulation of any counter-terrorism policy, it is necessary to take into
account the collusion and competition between various Deobandi and Salafi
jihadist organizations in the Indian subcontinent, as well as the growing Salafi-jihadist
subversion by foreign elements of the moderate Sufi Islam practiced by the
hitherto peaceable Muslims of the Kashmir valley.
The Darul Uloom of Deoband in India (the headquarters of the Deobandi school)
should be urged to exhort all renegade Deobandi jihadi organizations in Pakistan
to renounce the practice of terrorism, which is condemned by all schools of
Islamic jurisprudence. In fact, Darul Uloom Deoband should revive the stance of
one of its greatest scholars and spiritual leaders, Maulana Husain Ahmad Madani,
who in his celebrated book Al-Shahab Al-Shaqab denounced the Wahhabi doctrine as
a "false belief" (aqaid-i-batil), particularly for its use of violence and
takfir (the practice of accusing other Muslims of heresy). This Islamic school
and its affiliate organizations should also make sure that they do not receive
any financial or ideological support for their mosques and seminaries from
countries or private patrons espousing Salafi-Wahhabi beliefs.
It should be noted here that the Hanafi Darul Uloom of Deoband in India has
since its inception worked toward greater communal peace and amity. It voted in
favor of a united India at the time of partition and against Pakistan's
creation, and in 2009 issued a historic fatwa calling India dar al-aman (a land
of peace where jihad is forbidden).[13]
*Dr. Adil Rasheed is a distinguished research fellow at the United Service
Institution of India, and is the author of the book ISIS: Race to Armageddon.
Endnotes:
[1] Indiatimes.com. August 2, 2016.
[2] Indiatimes.com. August 2, 2016; Hindustantines.com. August 4, 2016.
[3] OneIndia.com, December 9, 2015.
[4] Hardnewsmedia.com, August 7, 2015.
[5] Economictimes.indiatimes.com, June 16, 2015.
[6] English.alarabiya.net, August 12, 2016.
[7] Ctc.usma.edu, December 15, 200.
[8] Full Text of Call to Global Islamic Resistance, archive.org
[9] Hudson.org, February 16, 2016.
[10] Thehindu.com, June 11, 2016.
[11] Ndtv.com, July 8, 2016.
[12] Rsis.edu.sg, July 2016.
[13] Thenational.ae, March 6, 2009.
Massoud Day, September 9
A.J. Caschetta/MEMRI/September 06/16
America's Best Ally in Afghanistan
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8872/ahmad-shah-massoud
Unfortunately, Afghanistan's neighbors were not about to let a democratic
government with Western influences flourish on their borders, so war broke out.
"[I]t was Massoud and his followers who struggled to uphold human rights, and
his enemies who abused them." — John Jennings, Associated Press.
In 1998, the same year Osama bin Laden released his Declaration of War Against
Americans with its "ruling to kill the Americans," Massoud wrote that
Afghanistan had become "occupied by fanatics, extremists, terrorists,
mercenaries, drug Mafias and professional murderers." Citing a "duty to defend
humanity against the scourge of intolerance, violence and fanaticism," he
pleaded for American assistance, to no avail.
In 2012, Afghanistan's National Assembly declared September 9 "Massoud Day. It
should be "Massoud Day" in America too.
Before the 15th commemoration of the 9/11 attacks this Sunday, America might
also do well to pause on Friday, September 9, to reflect on the 15th anniversary
of the assassination of Ahmad Shah Massoud, an Afghan of Tajik ancestry from the
Panshjir Valley, who was our best ally in the fight against Al-Qaeda and the
Taliban.
Massoud's detractors say he was just another warlord, but this is not correct.
True, the Lion of the Panjshir, as he was known, was a commander of forces. But
in a land of warlords, he stood out as a humanist who by all accounts practiced
a tolerant, egalitarian version of Islam. He played chess, read poetry, and
traveled with hundreds of books. Some called him the "warrior monk."
Massoud opposed forced marriages, child marriages, and other kinds of
widely-approved abuses of women. He signed and promoted the Declaration of the
Essential Rights of Afghan Women. That alone makes him more than "just another
warlord."
He once said, "I am against killing anyone because they believe in communism,
liberalism, or any other 'ism.'"[1] But Massoud did kill. He was a key member of
the mujahideen who, with American weapons, ousted the Soviet Union from
Afghanistan. He then fought the Soviet puppet-government led by a
Moscow-educated Afghan, Dr. Mohammad Najibullah.
In 1992, when Kabul fell to the mujahideen, the communist generals surrendered
to Massoud rather than to the warlords. Working in Afghanistan with Medecins du
Monde at the time, Michael Barry observed that "the way he extended amnesty to
the entire communist bureaucracy in Kabul meant that the city paid allegiance to
him intact."[2] Massoud even granted his defeated enemy, Najibullah, sanctuary
in the UN compound.
After the defeat of Najibullah's government, a pivotal moment in Afghan history,
Massoud again proved that he was not just another warlord. Many had urged him to
enter Kabul with his forces and take control of the country, but he refused.
Like George Washington, who might have become king of America after defeating
the British but instead launched an ambitious project of shared governance,
Massoud chose not to be another warlord dictator. Instead he helped form, and
served as defense minister in, a coalition government in which Berhanuddin
Rabbani served as president.
Recognizing that "the cultural environment of the country suffocates women,"
Massoud made changes. One of his top commanders, Bismallah Khan, recalls that he
"appointed a woman doctor as chief of the medical academy to send a message that
we supported women and that we wanted women to have a role in the reconstruction
efforts."[3] When Massoud's wife was interviewed by Marie-Francoise Colombani
for Elle magazine, she wore high-heeled shoes revealing her painted toenails,
railed against the chadri [burqa] and looked forward to an Afghanistan where
women had access to birth control in place of the barbaric practice of "perform[ing]
abortions by putting huge stones on the womb."[4]
Unfortunately, Afghanistan's neighbors were not about to let a democratic
government with Western influences flourish on their borders, so war broke out.
It is often erroneously called a "civil war." In reality it was a proxy invasion
of newly-freed Afghanistan by its neighboring, Iran-backed Shiite militias and
Uzbekistan-backed Sunni militias, both often under the command of Abdul Rashid
Dostum. They attacked Kabul from one side, while Pakistan-backed militias
commanded by Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, attacked from the other.[5] In 1994, the
Taliban came into existence, also supported by Pakistan, to become Afghanistan's
most potent foe.
Massoud is sometimes blamed for civilian deaths in this war, but these false
narratives are Pakistani propaganda. The truth is that Hekmatyar's Hezb-i-Islami
forces shelled Kabul and killed thousands of civilians. So too did Dostum's
Hazara militia, the Hezb-Wahdet-Islami, which specifically targeted Kabul's
northwestern residential neighborhoods.
After Massoud drove the Hazara from their positions, some of the Afghan fighters
took revenge on the retreating militia members. Radio Iran called it a massacre,
and many since have repeated the claim. But this false charge applies to Massoud
the same unrealistic standard applied to Ariel Sharon, convicted in some circles
not of committing a massacre but failing to prevent one.
John Jennings, who covered Kabul for the Associated Press from1991 to 1994,
called it an "invented massacre that never, in fact, occurred." Jennings wrote
of "savagery I had witnessed the Hazara militia inflict on noncombatants" and
refuted the Radio Iran account: "it was Massoud and his followers who struggled
to uphold human rights, and his enemies who abused them."[6]
In 1996 the Taliban, with the support of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence
(ISI), overthrew the Rabbani government. Upon taking Kabul, they searched for
Najibullah, still, thanks to Massoud's largesse, living in the UN building. But
the Taliban fighters showed him no mercy. They castrated and killed him, and
then they hung his corpse from a pole.
The Taliban soon controlled 80% of Afghanistan, and for the next five years, the
only opposition came from the "United Front," known in the West as the "Northern
Alliance". Massoud, its de facto leader, spent his remaining days fighting
Al-Qaeda and the Taliban and asking the world for help.
In 1998, the same year Osama bin Laden released his Declaration of War Against
Americans with its "ruling to kill the Americans," Massoud wrote a Letter to the
People of the United States of America, explaining that Afghanistan had become
"occupied by fanatics, extremists, terrorists, mercenaries, drug Mafias and
professional murderers." Citing a "duty to defend humanity against the scourge
of intolerance, violence and fanaticism," he pleaded for American assistance, to
no avail. He even traveled to Europe to state his case. In Brussels to address
the European Parliament, he admonished all that "it's not just my war; it's the
war of the world! Be careful, because these are dangerous people."[7]
Massoud also regularly warned the US not to trust Pakistan and its ISI.
Declassified CIA documents indicate that he even warned the US that Al-Qaeda was
preparing "to perform a terrorist act against the U.S. on a scale larger than
the 1998 bombing of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania." But no one
listened to his warnings.
Massoud was killed on September 9, 2001 by Tunisian Al-Qaeda operatives posing
as Belgian journalists, who pretended they were taking his picture. Bin Laden
and Taliban leader Mullah Omar knew that the 9/11 attacks would bring reprisal,
and they believed that eliminating the charismatic leader of the Northern
Alliance would cause it to fall into disarray and make any invasion of
Afghanistan unsuccessful. His murder has been described as the "go" signal for
the September 11 attack and bin Laden's "gift" to Mullah Omar.
Left: Ahmad Shah Massoud in an undated photo. Right: The tomb of Massoud in the
Panjshir province of Afghanistan, under construction in 2007.
Eulogizing Massoud from the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives on
September 17, 2001, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) said that with a little help
"the Northern Alliance could easily have dealt a knock-out punch to the
Taliban."
In death, Ahmad Shah Massoud has become a legend in Afghanistan, where his image
endures printed on posters, painted in murals, and woven into rugs, an important
index of "fame" in Afghan society. In 2012, Afghanistan's National Assembly
declared September 9 "Massoud Day. It should be "Massoud Day" in America too.
A.J. Caschetta is a Shillman-Ginsburg fellow at the Middle East Forum and a
senior lecturer at the Rochester Institute of Technology.
[1] See Marcela Grad's Massoud, An Intimate Portrait of the Legendary Afghan
Leader, (St. Louis: Webster UP, 2009), p. 112. Grad's book draws on printed
sources in many languages and scores of interviews conducted over a four-year
period with Massoud's family, friends, former comrades, and even enemies. This
particular recollection comes from Abdul Latif Pedram, co-founder of the
Afghanistan National Congress Party.
[2] Grad, p. 111.
[3] Grad, p. 157.
[4] Colombani interviewed Massoud's wife for the French edition of Elle Magazine
published on September 10, 2001, a day after Massoud's death. An English
translation by M.E. Clarkson is available at Free Republic. See also Grad, p.
43-46.
[5] See Aref Shajahan's recollection in Grad, p. 185. Shajahan is a Hazara with
the Harakat-e-Islami Party which joined Massoud in the fight against the
Taliban.
[6] See Grad, pp.178-180. Jennings also covered the war for The Economist.
[7] See Masood Khalili's account in Grad, pp. 192-194. Khalili was seriously
injured in the attack that killed Massoud.
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