Ya Libnan – 4 Week Roundup – 9/23/09

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2009/08/wednesday_news_61.php

Wednesday News Briefs & Editorial
Published: Wednesday, 26 August, 2009 @ 12:04 PM in Beirut

Beirut – The Syrian regime of Bashar al Assad is back in action in Lebanon and is doing all it can to disrupt the formation of the cabinet through its allies the Hezbollah -led opposition. According to Syrian observers Syria is trying to make up for the loss of its allies in the polls by forcing on Lebanon’s majority the so called “ national Unity government “ in which the opposition will have the lion’s share of ministries through which they can control the country.

An Nahar political sources have reported that careful reading of the Syrian political stance towards Lebanon indicates that never before has an Arab country through its official media demanded that another Arab country should amend its constitution during the formation of a government .

An Nahar sources have also reported that Syria is allocating specific roles to its allies aimed at obstructing the formation of the cabinet unless their demands are met . While General Michel Aoun is charged with attacking the Prime minister designate and making impossible demands, Lebanon’s top Shiite cleric Grand Ayatollah Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah is charged with attacking Patriarch Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir who has been the most outspoken Christian spiritual leader against the obstruction of the Lebanese democratic institutions .

Yesterday Fadlallah slammed Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir over calling for a cabinet based on the outcome of the parliamentary polls. In a remark aimed at changing the constitution Fadlallah said : “We call for a popular majority and popular referendum … so that people would have their say.”

Engaged – Chapter 3

The Elemental Struggle of our times is exposing Islamic Supremacy.  The following is a letter exchange between two Americans, struggling to make sense of the 9/12 era. 

 

September 6, 2009

Gary,

I too found the Allawi quote quite interesting.

From a standpoint of Western understanding, the tolerance that exists between differing Muslim sects could signify that the sects coexist while neither side prohibits the religious practices of the other. Accommodation seems to be more hospitable, perhaps even representing a reconciliation of differences. But the quote shows that there is a vast difference between Eastern and Western understanding.

One thing to bear in mind is that we are dealing with a religion which literally means “submission.” Attempting to comprehend Islam with a Western framework of understanding will prove very misleading, and I believe is what has lead to the crisis Western civilization is in. As Allawi implied: Tolerance assumes supremacy. We are dealing with supremacists, and as a country that founded itself on principles meant to eliminate supremacy, that too can be a roadblock to our understanding of the nature of the conflict.

Since the commandments found in the Qur’an contradict themselves so frequently, it is difficult for someone who hasn’t devoted years of study to make sense of what the final say is. If Sunni Muslims are to “acknowledge the legitimacy and rights of minority groups” as Allawi states, how can it be that the concept of the “invitation,” or Dawa, holds sway? I understand the concept of abrogation decides which of Muhammad’s contradicting commandments are lawful. Which then is the right one: The “invitation,” which commands that Non-Muslims are to convert to Islam, be subjugated, or killed – or the acknowledgment of legitimacy and rights of minority groups?

But in addressing the differing East/West mindsets: The “permanent arrangement which implies the creation of a recognized and legitimate space for other religious and doctrinal groups” that Allawi mentions gives me the impression of Muslims setting aside space for Christians, Jews, Hindus, etc. with the religions coexisting peacefully. I don’t see many examples of such space in Africa, Pakistan, or Saudi Arabia – where non-Muslim places of worship are burned accompanied by the persecution and brutal murders of their worshipers. In fact, dozens of countries are either completely Muslim, like Saudi Arabia, or are approaching complete Muslim occupation. It is also worth noting that Islam is neither accommodating nor tolerant of the nation of Israel.

The conclusion I have come to is that perhaps the accommodation Allawi mentions is actually the Da’wa itself.

The Karen DeYoung AfPak Reader

Below, you will find a year’s worth of articles by Karen DeYoung of the Washington Post centered on the AfPak conflict.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/27/AR2008082703628_pf.html
Only a Two-Page ‘Note’ Governs U.S. Military in Afghanistan

By Karen DeYoung
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 28, 2008; A07

For the past six years, military relations between the United States and Afghanistan have been governed by a two-page “diplomatic note” giving U.S. forces virtual carte blanche to conduct operations as they see fit.

Although President Bush pledged in a 2005 declaration signed with Afghan President Hamid Karzai to “develop appropriate arrangements and agreements” formally spelling out the terms of the U.S. troop presence and other bilateral ties, no such agreements were drawn up.

But after a U.S.-led airstrike last week that United Nations and Afghan officials have said killed up to 90 civilians — most of them children — Karzai has publicly called for a review of all foreign forces in Afghanistan and a formal “status of forces agreement,” along the lines of an accord being negotiated between the United States and Iraq.

The prospect of codifying the ad hoc rules under which U.S. forces have operated in Afghanistan since late 2001 sends shudders through the Bush administration, which has struggled to finalize its agreement with Baghdad. “It’s never been done because the issues have been too big to surmount,” said one U.S. official who was not authorized to discuss the subject on the record. “The most diplomatic way of saying it is that there are just a lot of moving parts,” the official said.

The Afghan government “is not the most streamlined and efficient system,” he said. “So you’d have a multiplicity of players on that side.” Less diplomatic U.S. officials frequently describe elements of Karzai’s government as deeply corrupt and incompetent. Although most civilian war deaths in Afghanistan are caused by Taliban forces, those resulting from the highly visible airstrikes are a particular cause of public outrage that neither Karzai nor the administration can afford to ignore.

The other side of the equation is even more complicated. Of the 33,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan, 19,000 operate under U.S. Central Command, while 14,000 form the largest single component of a 40-nation force led by NATO under a U.N. resolution.

The disparate command structures have frustrated every government involved in the effort, but according to Afghan officials, they have also allowed diffused responsibility for civilian casualties, such as those of last week in the western part of the country. U.S. forces operate up to 90 percent of all strike aircraft in the country, and it is rarely clear whether an individual strike has been conducted as part of a NATO or U.S. operation.

Engaged – Chapter 2

A letter exchange between two Americans, struggling to make sense of the 9/12 era.

******

August 18, 2009

Gary,

Thank you for laying out your understanding of the different terms used to describe our enemy in your response of the 11th.  I am interested to see where you would categorize the different Islamic Supremacist groups.

As I currently see it, on one end of the spectrum the Muslim Brotherhood claims to have denounced violence (despite the fact that the Palestinian chapter of the Brotherhood is the terrorist group Hamas).  The Brotherhood seems to have enacted a plan of cultural invasion, infiltrating the United States government through academic channels and framing public opinion over their subversive activities through their many NGO front groups like the Council for American Islamic Relations and the Muslim Students Association. On the other end, there are groups like al Qaeda who seek to expand their ideology through violence, and give no quarter for those who do not participate in violent jihad.

Recently, I read in Robert Spencer’s The Truth About Muhammad that Islam’s Prophet was a caravan raider. American History is filled with the exploits of Muslim pirates – from the Barbary Wars of the early 19th Century to today where ships are routinely hijacked in the Gulf of Aden off the coast of Somalia. Considering Muhammad’s raider roots, can modern piracy be seen as a “fundamental” type of jihad in Islam?  Is there a connection between the pirates of today and Islamic Supremacy?

-Chris Carter

_____________________

August 26, 2009

Chris,

In his 2008 release, The Confrontation, Walid Phares posited that “The major missing component in the Western War on Terror is undoubtedly: public action and knowledge.  The man or woman on the street is strangely absent from the raging debates on the conflict, whether in New York, Paris, or London.”  This said, those with knowledge of Islamic Supremacism’s works must teach themselves to act as intuitive bridges between the source of the knowledge and those who would otherwise not have the time, energy, motivation, skill or guidance necessary to properly enter into the wager of our generation as the claimant of aggrieved status.  In light of your current perceptions, it is more than tempting to dive right in and bang away at the intricacies of groups like the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Qaeda, Hezbollah, HAMAS, Islamic Jihad, the Taliban(s), Jamaat al Islamiya, Hizb ut-Tahrir, and al Shabaab to determine the threat each poses, in their turn and in their twisted combinations, to Western Civilization.   However, in the interests of our audience, in this public intellectual struggle, it must be understood that framing the battle of ideas in terms of a spectrum of violence and non-violence does not skewer the core of the resentment beheld by free men and women, the world over, when facing the ultimatums of Islam’s faithful terrorists.  

Ya Libnan – 3 Week Roundup – 8/26/09

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2009/08/thursday_news_b_59.php
Thursday News Briefs & Editorial
Published: Thursday, 6 August, 2009 @ 9:08 AM in Beirut
Beirut – Jumblatt is doing a great job at confusing everyone. After having declared last Sunday that he was leaving the March 14 coalition he had joined “out of% Democratic Gathering bloc leader and Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblatt visited Baabda yesterday and met with President Michel Suleiman . Following the meeting he told reporters :

“My statement was misunderstood . I did not and will not abandon Prime Minister-designate Saad Hariri. I have stated that our coalition with the March 14 alliance cannot continue, but this does not mean leaving March 14, rather searching for new slogans. All I did was try to deal with ramifications of the May 7 events”.

But on Monday PSP media spokesman Rami Al-Rayyes told New TV : “Jumblatt’s departure from March 14 is final , will not be joining any other alliance and intends to play a centrist role.” He added ” The PSP MPs are committed to Jumblatt’s decision but non PSP members of the Democratic Gathering bloc are free to decide on their own.”

May 7, 2008 date that Jumblatt referred to was the day when Hezbollah invaded and occupied the Sunni part of Beirut and tried unsuccessfully to occupy the Druze stronghold of Mount Lebanon. The Druze leader at the time was in Beirut under siege but the Druze people fought on their own, defended Mount Lebanon and inflicted heavy losses on Hezbollah.

Jumblatt for some time has been trying to reconcile with Hezbollah to prevent a repeat of May 7.

Engaged – Chapter 1

A letter exchange between two Americans, struggling to make sense of the 9/12 era.

******

August 2, 2009

Gary,

We are fighting an enemy that does not believe in borders. Islamic terrorist groups take full advantage of the fact that we largely limit our warfare to certain areas. In the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, the United States engages in limited attacks such as Predator strikes against targets in the safehavens of tribal Pakistan, yet our military has not crossed the border.

When Iran took over our embassy in 1979, that should have been a wake-up call for the U.S..

Fast forward thirty years – we are still struggling to identify our enemy. 

Has our nation’s leadership failed us?   

A great portion of Americans could probably name most if not all winners of the “American Idol” television show, but what percentage do you think have even heard of the Muslim Brotherhood?

Due to media and information distortions, the U.S. population believes that the so-called Global War on Terror is a war for oil and that Islam is the “religion of peace.”

This is what we are up against.

Islam can only destroy our civilization if we are not made aware of the threat the religion poses to our freedom and security. That is precisely why the Muslim Brotherhood engages in a cultural invasion rather than a stand-up fight. Our enemies have already said that Islam and its Shariah Law are not compatible with democracy, and as we see in Saudi Arabia, there is no such thing as coexisting with other religions.

The first thing we should have done is identify our enemy. Considering the Islamic roots of the threat, to say that we are at war with “extremism” is patently ridiculous. It is equally ridiculous to say that we are at war with terrorism.  We are in a global struggle, but terrorism is a tactic, not a target.  

Analysts and commentators have come up with many names for the ideology of our enemies: Islamism, Jihadism, Radical Islam, Islamic Fundamentalism, Islamofascism, and Islamic Supremacism.  To your mind, what is the meaning of each?  And which provides the most accurate depiction and definition of the threat we face?

Engaged,

Chris Carter

_____________ 

August 11, 2009 (3:00pmEST)

Chris,

I apologize for taking so long to respond to your letter of the 2nd.  My schedule sometimes gets hectic over at United Against Islamic Supremacism.  I am interested in your Victory Institute, and your effort to Unite the Blogs demonstrates a desire to generate a unified response to the legitimate grievances of U.S. citizens against terroristic threats to the Sovereignty of the United States.  Thank you for your determined effort to engage.  It is a frustrating thing to become a bridge.

You are right to point out that our enemy does not respect or recognize borders.  Sovereignty is what Shariah Law destroys.  

FP 2009 Update – Week 31 – The Cable

Week 31 at Laura Rozen’s blog at Foreign Policy witnessed Secretary of State Hillary Clinton heading to Africa for an 11 day romp around the volatile continent, while her husband, President Bill Clinton ate up the Cameras, assisting in helping to free the two journalists from Al Gore’s Current TV who were captured for espionage and sentenced to hard labor by the North Korean judiciary.  Similarly, 3 more American journalists go hiking in Northern Iraq only to wind up missing and captured on the Iranian side of the border.  Hillary Clinton puts Iran hands into motion on the final round of preparation before the Afghanistan elections, making sure everything is in place to work on denuclearizing the regime through engagement – somehow – even though the Ayatollah’s responses to Obama’s private correspondence have been anything but confidence inspiring for the young administration.  Apparently everyone patted themselves on the back for how smoothly Obama’s team handled the tumult in the Iranian post-election street clashes between Moussavi opposition supporters and Ayatollah loyalists, striking the right tone somehow amid the violence by brooking no condemnations and focusing instead on raising international opprobrium over the activity of the Islamic Establishment in the oppression of the opposition voices and freedom of speech.  After a month of chilling reaction from the American people over healthcare reform, the Senate junkets are set for the recess, with John Kerry, who leads the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, jetting to Jordan and Pakistan to observe the realities on the ground in the Central Region for himself.  Dennis Ross’ crew was rather quiet this week, heeding Trita Parsi’s advice of a strategic pause in activity on the Iranian front.  Daniel Feltman was finally confirmed…and Carlos Pascual is now officially the Ambassador to Mexico.  More or less, week 31 at the Cable was a lead up to,  the counterterrorism czar, John Brennan’s CSIS speech, announcing a new approach to safeguarding America…   But more importantly, Foreign Policy Magazine launched what it is referring to as  ”The AfPak Channel” in which guest bloggers are tearing into the situation in the regional fiasco that is known as “the right war”.

-Gary H. Johnson, Jr. 8/13/09, 10:20pmEST)

 

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

Clinton hosts video conference with State Iran hands worldwide
Mon, 08/03/2009 – 1:36pm
This morning, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hosted a secure video conference with 20 State Department officials worldwide, at about a half dozen locations.

Much of the substance of the 45-minute video conference is classified, but broad strokes were provided to Foreign Policy. Though the locations of the State Department officials participating in the call from abroad weren’t disclosed, the United States has in recent years opened Iran “watching” stations at U.S. embassies in Dubai, Azerbaijan, Berlin, Turkey, and London, among key foreign locations with large Iranian expatriate populations and traffic.

Afghanistan’s Narco War: Senate Report Notes

http://www.foreign.senate.gov/afghan.pdf

The above report notes how 50 “Nexus Targets” have been placed on the “capture or kill” list by the Pentagon.  It does not list the targets; however, it indicates a huge shift away from business as usual and a ramped up understanding of the narco-war of Afghanistan in the eyes of our top representatives on the Hill.   Interestingly, the report downgrades the amount of money supporting Taliban and Al Qaeda in the AfPak region.  UN reports estimated 400 million dollars…Gretchen Peters estimates in the neighborhood of half a billion dollars, and the report here is closer to a $100 million.  Faced with the uptick in violence in Afghanistan, and the “triage” mentality of the coalition aiming to turn the momentum away from the Taliban with a successful August 20th election, Obama’s team scrapped the Bush Era poppy eradication policies for a more nuanced approach.  With a focus on blending counternarcotic intelligence and counterinsurgency efforts, the Obama Administration aims to take out the traffickers and powerbrokers tied to the Opium trade in Afghanistan… 

Below, I have placed a brace of articles surrounding the report…

GHJJ (8/13/09, 2:27pmEST) 

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/us-drug-agency-spies-on-afghan-kingpins-20090812-eief.html
US drug agency spies on Afghan kingpinsGreg Miller in Washington
August 13, 2009
THE CIA and the US Defence Intelligence Agency have concluded that the amount of drug money flowing to the Taliban in Afghanistan is far lower than widely estimated but remains critical to the insurgents’ ability to survive, according to a Senate report.

Ya Libnan – 2 Week Roundup – 8/5/09

http://yalibnan.com/site/archives/2009/07/thursday_news_b_57.php
Thursday News Briefs & Editorial
Published: Thursday, 23 July, 2009 @ 8:38 AM in Beirut
Beirut- The focus of the media in Lebanon continues to revolve around 2 issues : 1- The formation of the government by PM designate Saad Hariri . 2- The 10 member al Qaeda inspired terror network that was identified by the Lebanese intelligence last Tuesday and whose members have been detained and are being interrogated .

FP 2009 Update – Week 30 – The Cable

Week 30 at The Cable was wild.  Hillary Clinton and Tim Geithner start off out the shoot on the U.S.-China Economic future in what can be considered an unprecedented Wall Street Journal oped piece focusing on bilateral relations and a new strategy forward in a multipronged approach to stabilizing world markets, with three main areas of concern for dialogue: maintaining economic relations, climate change issues, and complementary security issues.   Secretary Clinton then hits Meet the Press to discuss the North Korea slight on her person and she discusses Iran and Afghanistan frankly…not two days later Secretary Clinton hit Thailand and raised the possibility of a “nuclear umbrella” for the Sunni World to defend against a nuclear Iran, which led Israelis to worry over whether the U.S. was conceding the nuclear weapons issue to the Iranian Establishment.   Gates heads to Israel to let everyone in the world know that the military option remains on the table on the Iranian Nuclear issue, to do top-brass damage control for Mitchell’s focus on halting Israeli settlements to achieve a two-state solution.  More or less, Gates’ announcement made clear that Iran’s window for establishing diplomatic talks with the United States is shrinking and has time limits.  Secretary Clinton’s team announces its Africa trip starting on the 5th of August, designed to increase trade relations; while the nominees for Latin American Ambassadorships, Valenzuela and Shannon are pushed through to the Senate.  Obama’s meeting with the progressive American Jewish groups like J Street, whose anti-Zionist focus has led them to announce that three quarters of American Jews favor a two-state solution for the future of a Palestinian resolution.   Judah Grunstein of WPR notes the engagement policy espoused by Clinton on Iran seeks an Iran who respects its “right to nuclear energy” but not a nuclear bomb, and Trita Parsi makes the case for a diplomatic pause with the Iranian regime out of a “wait and see” attitude over the Iranian Islamic Establishment’s resolution of its opposition anger boiling over onto its streets since the June 12th election results.    By far, the highlight of Week 30 at Laura Rozen’s Foreign Policy blog is found in the activity of Holbrooke and McChrystal in the AfPak theatre.  Holbrooke, who is in charge of the AfPak at the Obama Administration,  announces that he is tearing up the Bush policy of poppy eradication in the AfPak.  It was important to note that David Miliband, the Foreign Secretary for Britain, made the D.C. rounds and discussed the upcoming elections in Afghanistan in a State Department speakeasy with Hillary Clinton.   And McChrystal, who just assumed overall command in early June, discussed the US strategy to win the hearts and minds of the Afghani people, with a new focus on protecting civilians from harm, which is being put together in a Strategic Assessment group.  Laura Rozen immediately pounces and names the team of McChrystal’s advisors, which of course includes blogger Andrew Exum, who just happens to be a fellow over at the Center for New American Security (CNAS).   Holbrooke follows up his D.C. rounds with a Fort McNair policy shuffle for top insiders.   The week ends with more controversy on the settlement issue as the international community is angered by Israel’s eviction of 56 Palestinians from their East Jerusalem homes in preparation for demolition to increase settlement construction.

-Gary H. Johnson, Jr. (8/4/09, 8:57pmEST)

http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com

U.S.-China dialogue gets underway
Mon, 07/27/2009 – 12:05am
Tomorrow kicks off the first meeting of the U.S. China Strategic and Economic Dialogue, the Obama administration’s twist on a process started under former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. That process, known as the Strategic Economic Dialogue (no “and”), was primarily intended to address bilateral economic issues such as the dollar-renminbi exchange rate.

The two countries — which have become known as the “G-2″ in foreign-policy circles due to their preeminent size and geopolitical reach — will still be tackling economic issues like the global financial crisis. But this time, a State Department official tells Foreign Policy, the agenda is “much broader and more comprehensive,” encompassing global issues such as climate change, and regional ones such as North Korea, Afghanistan, and Pakistan.

Two top-ranking Chinese officials, Vice Premier Wang Qishan and State Councilor Dai Bingguo, will be in Washington for meetings Monday and Tuesday with Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who has just returned from meetings in India and Thailand.