The Angry Arab News Service/وكالة أنباء العربي الغاضب

2008-05-11T15:39:00.000-07:00

This article in Al-Akhbar about (pro-Syrian politician) Wi'am Wahhab is just unrealistic: it represents the wishful thinking of the opposition side: of Hizbullah and its allies. They need to know that Walid Jumblat represents 90% of Druze public opinion, just as Sa`d Hariri represents some 80% of Sunni public opinion. Hizbullah "military" successes in Lebanon will not change those numbers--not without political gestures and from Hizbullah and its allies. But all sides in Lebanon are sectarian, and their sectarianisms narrow their visions, acutely.

2008-05-11T15:10:00.000-07:00

For those who don't care, I will speak live about Lebanon's development tomorrow (Monday morning) at 5:10AM (Pacific Time). You may listen live.

2008-05-11T15:00:00.000-07:00

"Lahd was granted asylum in Israel after the withdrawal. He currently runs a restaurant specialized in Lebanese food in Tel Aviv."

2008-05-11T14:43:00.000-07:00

"John Bolton, who as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2005-2006 became a conservative icon, has not connected with Sen. John McCain's presidential campaign, though he desires to help out. Friends say Bolton was puzzled when his offers of assistance got no response from the McCain campaign. He did receive a late request to be a spokesman for McCain Tuesday in Winston-Salem, N.C., where the candidate addressed selection of federal judges. However, Bolton got the impression that he was merely being asked to attend the event and declined the invitation."

2008-05-11T14:38:00.000-07:00

For you, o Sanyurah: "A US warship, which was deployed off Lebanon in February amid concern over Beirut's political crisis, crossed Egypt's Suez Canal on Sunday on its way to the Mediterranean, an official with the canal authority told AFP." (If you enlarge the picture, you may see Sanyurah and Sa`d Hariri waving from the deck). (thanks L)

2008-05-11T14:22:00.000-07:00

"Since he lost the hold he had in the White House through his good friends Bill and Hillary Clinton, the Saban Center at the Brookings Institution and the Saban Forum have become his levers of influence on political Washington and on Jerusalem...History proved that Sharon was right and I was wrong. In matters relating to security, that moved me to the right. Very far to the right." How far right? "When there is a terrorist attack, I am [Yisrael Beiteinu party chair Avigdor] Lieberman. Sometimes to the right of Lieberman."" (thanks Ziyad)

2008-05-11T13:33:00.000-07:00

Did you see the propagandist of the House of Saud, Jamal Khashuqji (a former Bin Ladenite--and he even knew him--turned a "liberal" Wahhabi), on LBC-TV? Those Saudi advocates speak as if they now speak on behalf of the US government. He almost was directing the US to bomb places in Syria and Iran.

2008-05-11T13:28:00.001-07:00

Can somebody explain to me what Walid Jumblat is trying to say here?

2008-05-11T13:10:00.000-07:00

Sectarian solidarity. You can't analyze the situation in the Middle East only in pure sectarian terms. For example: NBN TV (Nabih Birri TV) yesterday reported that `Adil `Abdul-Mahdi (a leader of the pro-US, pro-Iranian Badr sectarian militia which, among other crimes, largely orchestrated the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Iraq) called Nabih Birri (the leader of the Amal sectarian militia which led the war on the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, when Palestinian brothers and sisters were forced to eat rats to survive). So the leader of a militia that is implementing the US plan in Iraq, called and congratulated (?) the leader of the militia that is fighting the US plan in Lebanon?

2008-05-11T13:08:00.001-07:00

This is a really bad week for the Bush Doctrine. You may have noticed that the (allegedly) US-backed, (Islamist) Justice and Equality Movement of Darfur failed in its attack on Darfur. And the Sanyurah government is tottering. There is a rumor in Beirut that Sa`d Hariri called Muhammad Dahlan and the two cried for 2 hours on the phone.

2008-05-11T13:00:00.000-07:00

Sectarian analysis. I heard a former Lebanese communist say on Al-Arabiya TV that the "Sunnis of Lebanon were orphaned" with the death of Rafiq Hariri.

2008-05-11T12:57:00.000-07:00

Propaganda? What propaganda? We have read about the Lincoln Group: that outfit in DC which received a Pentagon contract to plant stories in the Arabic press. Just read this article in the mouthpiece of Prince Khalid Bin Sultan: notice that it is clear it has been translated from English (some phrases may have been google translated even). (thanks Amer)

2008-05-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Somebody has embezzled, it seems. A Western reporter in Lebanon tells me that Hariri (non)militia men have been complaining that they have not been fed, as promised by Hariri Inc. This is odd because Hariri Inc has a contract with Suqrat restaurant in Beirut to prepare 3000 meals a day for Hariri (non) militia men.

2008-05-11T11:20:00.000-07:00

Some parts of the Saudi propaganda war raging are quite amusing. AlArabiya TV rolls out advocates for Husni Mubarak and House of Saud and Hashemite Kingdom who state (without irony) that they are opposed to Hizbullah because the latter is not democratic.

2008-05-11T10:48:00.001-07:00

Hariri school students in Sidon were bussed in to hear Bahiyyah Hariri speak in Sidon. The average age of her audience was 4 years old.

2008-05-11T10:46:00.000-07:00

You visit some pro-Hariri, pro-Saudi websites and realize that the only hope left for the Hariri camp is Al-Qa`idah. They have not heard that Al-Qa`idah is on the run, and that all its members can fit in a cave or two.

2008-05-11T10:13:00.000-07:00

"President George W. Bush stressed his commitment to a Palestinian state and applauded the American Task Force on Palesinte (ATFP) for its work in supporting Mideast peace in a letter to the American Task Force on Palestine and to those attending ATFP's second annual Gala." If that does not boost the credibility of the task force, nothing will.

2008-05-11T10:01:00.000-07:00

Pro-US Arab regimes wanted the Arab League to send Arab troops to Lebanon. That could calm things down, no? I mean, if they were to send Jordanian or Saudi or Egyptian troops, people in Lebanon would regard them as neutral. What? You are now going to imply that Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are biased in Lebanon? No way.

2008-05-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

An-Nahar reported yesterday that Syria offered to mediate in the Lebanese conflict. I kid you not. Its former intelligence chief in Lebanon, Rustum Ghazalah, offered to return to Lebanon to end the bloodshed. If that occurs, I bet you that all of March 14 leaders (former lackeys of Syrian regime with one or two exceptions) will line up at Masna` border point to greet him and chant: with blood, with spirit....

2008-05-11T09:42:00.000-07:00

Experts of the Council of Foreign Relations. Israeli Orientalists have a lot of influence on US terrorism (and Orientalist) experts. The Washington Post here thought it was doing its readers a service by linking to a report on Hizbullah written by "the staff" of the Council of Foreign Relations. It says:
"Who are Hezbollah's leaders? Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah is considered the group's spiritual leader." This is a common Israeli misconception (and explains why Israeli planes bombed houses and institutions of Fadallah during the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006.) And of course, whatever misconceptions originate in Israel, they found their ways into US think tanks, media, and government. In reality, Muhammad Husayn Fadlallah NEVER served as "spiritual guide" of Hizbullah, and in fact had a bitter feud with Hizbullah for much of the 1990s and it continued up to 2005. There were fatwawawas and counter-fatwawawas between the two sides, and a Lebanon-based Iranian cleric specialized (with Hizbullah support) in countering the (relatively) liberal fatwawawas of Fadlallah. It is fair to say that Israeli attacks on Fadlallah's house and schools during the Israeli war on Lebanon ended the feud between Hizbullah and Nasrallah, and radicalized the cleric, who had changed much of his views in the 1990s, and moved away from Khumayni's theory of Wilayat Al-Faqih. So the Washington Post needs to alert the Council on Foreign Relations which needs to alert its Israeli sources that they are...wrong.

2008-05-11T09:40:00.001-07:00

Despite the blood, sectarian conflict, and sad news from Lebanon, I found evidence of one good news from the Middle East: the Saudi-Qatari feud has been resumed.

2008-05-11T09:36:00.000-07:00

I noticed this in the US press: when the allies of the US do well in the Middle East, it is front page coverage. And when allies of the US don't do well, it is confined to page 28 of the newspaper. Remember during the Hummus Revolution when Lebanon was a front page story every day for weeks? Now, when things are not going well for Bush Doctrine, the story is relegated to inside pages, and in small articles.

2008-05-11T09:24:00.000-07:00

This just in. Walid Jumblat's (non)militia agreed to surrender its weapons in Ba`aqlin. (By the way, the US government also maintain this deception: that there is only one militia in Lebanon, while the others are...non-militias. Is it true that Hariri family called on Muhammad Dahlan to come to Lebanon to provide leadership and military command for Hariri non-militia?

2008-05-11T07:59:00.000-07:00

The Lebanese Army. The New York Times article today is quite ill-informed. One can't say that the Lebanese Army stood neutral during the crisis, was was suggested. In fact, it clearly sided with Hizbullah. I asked an expert of the Lebanese Army who knows Gen. Michel Sulayman well. He said that it is simple: that Sulayman saw that the balance of forces on the ground was clearly in Hizbullah's favor, and he moved accordingly. If the Hariri (non)militia got better training in Jordan, and if it performed better on the ground, Sulayman would have sided with them, or been more neutral, he told me.

2008-05-11T07:57:00.001-07:00

"Still, Mr. Khalidi said ascertaining Mr. Obama’s precise position was often difficult. “You may come away thinking, ‘Wow, he agrees with me,’ ” he said. “But later, when you get home and think about it, you are not sure.”" Let me explain this one. It is easy. You were not sure because he was lying to the Arabs he meet. That is why. Then Rashid said: "“I’m unhappy about the positions he’s taken, but I can’t say I’m terribly disappointed.” He added: “People think he’s a saint. He’s not. He’s a politician.”" Oh, no. We know that he is a politician and we were not thinking that he is a saint. We simply were expecting him to be honest, consistent, and decent. This is not about sainthood at all.