The Damascus Spring V – From Spring of Hope to Winter of Discontent

Middle East Correspondent Damascus March 2005

When Bashar Al-Assad succeeded his father, Hafez, in 2000, there were hopes for a new era of freedom and reform in Syria. Those hopes have long since been crushed under the heels of the Rotten Assad Mafia Regime. A lawyer at the Human Rights Association of Syria said that there had been, perhaps, some economic changes – a private bank, Etc, and so on – but the laws controlling political and social life, and freedom, hadn't changed at all. The Government could put people in jail any time it wanted to, and there were emergency laws, and special courts fed by illegal arrests; and the security and intelligence chiefs had the main say in every Government decision, including economic ones.

The head of the HRA and local representative for Amnesty International believed there were no fewer than 2000 prisoners being held in Syrian jails, and that deaths in detention were widespread and torture was common – with at least four deaths under torture the year before. Those responsible acted with impunity – in 1969, the Government passed a law that stated that security service chiefs and agents could not be prosecuted for any crime, including murder, unless they agreed or allowed it – which they did not.

An emergency law in force since 1963 authorises special security courts and allows civilians to be tried by the military. In practice, the courts do exactly what the security agencies want. The charges and the sentences come to the judges in the same envelope.

One prominent victim of this system was Kamal Al-Labwani, a physician who was one of 10 leading civil rights activists imprisoned at the end of the short-lived Damascus Spring, which followed Bashar Al-ASS-ad's rise to power – and which I believe was a rotten ruse and gambit to draw all the high-ranking and intellectual dissidents out and expose them to arrests and…

For a time it seemed as though the young President, he was then only 34, was serious when he spoke of change. Private newspapers sprang up to challenge the stodgy state-owned media and people came together in homes and coffee-houses to debate a new era of freedom and reform.

Only 18 months later – it took the Syrian Mou-khara-barat that long to expose the dissidents – the Rotten Regime had a sudden change of heart, and the secret-police hyenas were let loose from their leashes. Dr. Labwani was released in 2004, after serving a full three-year sentence for offences such as weakening the state by publishing lies about it and encouraging sedition against the Baath Party – the hollow dried-out ideological shell of a secular and socialist pan-Arab nationalism that once dominated Syria and Iraq, and which, then and now, depends only on lies, intimidation, false arrests, violence, and torture to continue to survive but not thrive…

Six other leaders of the Damascus Spring group were still in prison (2005), and had been kept in solitary confinement for almost four years. After his release, Labwani said that all we had been charged with was for what we had said – for our opinions – and not for anything we had done. The main problem was the despotic-dictatorship and the lies and deceits; everyone in the Rotten-Regime government was always lying; you couldn't believe anything they said. A gang of army-deserters and rebels took over and occupied the political sphere and ruled for 40 years. The father had gone and the son followed in his father’s footsteps.

Low-level threats to the Government, such as the thousands of minority Kurds detained after ethnic riots the year before, could be arrested and imprisoned without due process of the law, beaten and tortured. More prominent dissidents with access to the foreign media were almost tolerated, but carefully watched.

Dr. Haitham Maleh, head of the Human Rights of Syria Association (HRSA) and the local representative for Amnesty International in Syria, complained that he had been turned back at Damascus Airport in December 2004 either on his way to France to collect a Human Rights Award from the French Government, or on his way back to Damascus. He said he couldn’t  leave the country, and there were always people from the intelligence services around his legal office and home. It put pressure on his customers to stop going there – a kind of economic war against him.

On 20^th Oct., Anwar Al-Bunni, a lawyer and human rights activist, was attacked in Damascus by three men on motorbikes, who stopped him as he was travelling in his car. They dragged him from his car and assaulted him physically, leaving him bruised, and then sped off.  In the light of other harassments he had been exposed to, it seemed likely that, that assault had been ordered or carried out by state officials – The Syphilitic Syrian Mou-khara-barat!

The Rotten Regime's underlying strength and weakness stem from the fact that it is controlled by members of the Alawite minority – an eccentric offshoot of Shiite Islam that is considered not Moslem by many orthodox Shiites and Sunnis. Alawites comprise an estimated 10% of Syria's 17 million people (2005).

When Hafez Al-Assad took power in a 1970 coup, his minority status seemed to have made him a mediating force between the much larger Shiite and Sunni rival communities – the Christians, although about 10% of Syria's population, traditionally play a more passive role. But Hafez Assad and his immediate Alawite clan quickly entrenched themselves in the heart of the security apparatus and stayed there ever since – from father to son. A Forced Dynasty backed by an Oligarchy! The first major challenge to their rule came in 1982, when the Sunni Moslem Brotherhood declared that Syria was governed by infidels and launched a campaign of insurrection – Have you read: 454 and 455?

Hafez Al-Assad responded with ruthless vigour, sealing off and destroying whole sections of the Sunni stronghold at Hama, in central Syria. Between 20,000 and 40,000 people were thought to have been slaughtered. That put paid to any thought of open rebellion in Syria, right up to the Damascus Spring. But with so many scores still to be settled, the Alawite bosses of the military, police, and the bewildering tangle of secret services, fear that giving up power could result in revenge. Moreover, losing power would also mean losing their privileged access to the economy of, not only Syria, but of neighbouring Lebanon…

Dr. Maleh said: Corruption affects all levels of the government. The intelligence services are a Mafia, and the top people in the intelligence services in Lebanon have become rich from the resources and income of Lebanon – check out

Most Lebanese and many well-informed Syrians suspected that the culprits for the murder of former Rafiq Hariri in February (2005) were lurking somewhere inside the security services. Many Syrians wonder, though, whether President Bashar Al-Ass-ad was personally involved.

For a start, it is argued that the assassination was not in his interest. As head of state, he is now bearing the brunt of the massive international condemnation that has descended on Damascus. Following Hariri's assassination, the US and France both called for Syria to get out of Lebanon, and the US once again accused Syria of exporting terrorism. Deprived of the military backing it once had from the former Soviet Union, and surrounded on all sides by US allies or armies – in Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, and Israel – the Rotten Syrian Regime is now isolated and frightened.

Observers say that in light of this, Bashar Al-Assad is now doing what it can to appease the US by preventing insurgents and weapons crossing its long desert border with Iraq. Syrian efforts to restart peace talks with Israel…With all this going on, many Syrians believe that the last thing President Assad needs is trouble over Lebanon or Palestine. But he may not be calling all the shots anymore.

One obsever/analyst with close links to the Government said: As a young and inexperienced leader, President Assad found himself unable to impose his wishes on the hard men around him. An ophthalmologist by training, he was not brought up to be part of the power elite. He reluctantly allowed himself to be drafted in to the succession after his older brother had died in a car crash. He is a reformer at heart, but he is crippled. He tried to reform politically twice, in the Damascus Spring and then, more recently (2005), when he appointed a new generation of technocrats to take over the ministries. Both were blocked and he may, in the end, have no choice but to go back to his father's way of doing things.

The Damascus Spring IV – The Qamishli Riots – Tensions Remain Unabated in Syria

The Associated Press via the Boston Globe March 2004

Armed police stood guard on main streets in Qamishli, a northeastern town, where most stores were closed and the atmosphere remained tense after the worst unrest in Syria in years. At least 15 people were reported to have been killed and more than 100 wounded in riots over the weekend that began with clashes between Kurdish and Arab soccer fans. The violence, which also gave rise to Kurdish protests in several European cities, posed a challenge to Bashar Al-Assad, whose government had already been facing calls to improve human rights conditions, and threats of US sanctions for alleged support for terrorism. The riots also raised concerns that the long-ignored minority Kurds, encouraged and emboldened by a bigger role for fellow-Kurds in neighbouring Iraq after the ouster of Saddam, might push for greater recognition.

Kurds number an estimated 1.5 of Syria's estimated 18.5 million people. Most of them live in the underdeveloped northeast, and many had been denied Syrian nationality or citizenship – which meant that they could not vote, own properties, go to state schools, or get government jobs – Tell that to the Pathetic Pain-in-the-Ass Palestinians! They think they are the only ones who have been misunderstood, mistreated and deprived of a home-land! I wouldn’t give a bent rusty buffalo nickel dipped in cat-shit for either the Palestinians or the Israelis; but at the same time, I will  not hide my head in the sands of obtuse-ostrich moronic naivety and cowardice!

While the two main towns in the northeast, Qamishli and Hasakah, were generally calm, there were reports of more violence in other parts of the region bordering Turkey and Iraq. Gunmen broke into the house of a local official in Ayn Al-Arab, about 125 miles southwest of Qamishli, shooting his son – according to police officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity. Rioters also set fire to a civil registry office in the town. Local sources said only a few people were killed in clashes between the Kurds and soldiers Turkey's Anatolia news agency reported from the border town of Suruc that Kurds in Ayn Al-Arab also attempted to raid a prison and free the inmates, but were unsuccessful.The disturbances began in Qamishli, shortly before Syria's championship soccer match was to begin in the city stadium. The next day, hundreds of Kurds went on the rampage, vandalizing shops and state offices in Qamishli and Hasakah. According to Kurdish officials and hospitals in the area, the dead were 11 Kurds and 4 Arabs. One Turkish media reported up to 49 people had died, and about 250 Kurds had been rounded up by security forces. Who could blame the Kurds? When a people have been suppressed and oppressed for so long, they tend to…

Smoke still rose from smoldering barns set on fire during the rioting in Qamishli. Riot police armed with automatic rifles patrolled the main streets. A customs office and a railway station had been destroyed by fire, and cars outside the government buildings had been damaged, overturned, or gutted. Rioters also broke chairs and desks at Arabistan School – That was too much! Typical of Humans to revert to their origins: Large Monkeys

An Arab in the town, who did not wish to give his name, said that the Kurds were to blame for what happened, and that they tried to politicise the issue to serve their own interests. I ask you! No citizenship, no vote, no property, no public schooling, and no government job but they tried to politicise the issue! No wonder he refused to give his name! Highly typical! What did they expect an Arab to say, that Arabs were to blame? An Arab could murder another Arab, or honour-kill his mother, his wife, or sister; or strap explosives to his waist and blow himself up, and kill several other Arabs, and wound more than twice more – like what’s taking place in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Etc – but it’s all right. They’re Arabs, or Arab-speaking people, or Moslems.

A high-ranking official in Qamishli alleged that some Kurdish parties were collaborating with foreign forces to annex some villages in the area to northern Iraq. The official insisted his name and position not be disclosed. I ask you again! And no wonder again! Such Horse-shit! As if the Kurds could annex the villages! They could declare themselves and their villages part of northern Iraq but they could not annex the villages. Not all of us are blind and deaf naive obtuse-ostrich morons or craven cowards with bird flu and swine flu in the brain!

The Damascus Spring III – The Qamishli Riots – Bashar Al-Assad Under Pressure: Potential Implications

The Moshe Dayan Centre for Middle-Eastern and African Studies 2004

8^th March 2004: Syria marked the 41^st anniversary of the Baath Party coup that brought the current regime to power. That year, however, the celebrations were kept in low key in an effort to conceal a sense of growing anxiety and concern over the future. That was not the time for Syrian self-assurance. Only a year before, the USA and the coalition forces toppled Saddam’s Regime, and there was a widespread feeling that Syria might be next on Washington’s hit-list. However, Bashar al-Assad’s problems were not confined to Syria’s relations with the US. His regime also faced serious domestic challenges, including a worsening socio-economic crisis and, most daunting of all, widening fissures in the facade of stability it had projected for that long. Almost four years after inheriting the reins of power, Bashar had failed to quell doubts about his ability to consolidate his leadership, and he was seen as a colourless ruler unable to steer the Syrian ship of state in stormy waters – Not like father, like son.

It was therefore not surprising that on that day, in that year, public attention was not focused on Revolution Day Ceremonies but rather on a demonstration opposite Parliament Building organised by several human rights activists. The demonstrators demanded the cancellation of the emergency laws in effect since the Baath Party seized power in 1963, and the inauguration of democratic rule. Such an event, however limited in scope, was unprecedented in Syria’s history and would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hafez Al-Assad. True, security forces quickly broke up the demonstration, and arrested some of the demonstrators. But they quickly released those arrested, largely because of the regime’s sensitivity to foreign criticism, especially Europe’s, whose goodwill Syria wanted to cultivate. A member of the US Embassy, who had come to observe, was among those released. The mere presence of a US diplomat at the demonstration was a source of particular concern to the authorities, and prompted them to claim that the US had stirred the fires of rebellion and incited the local population to come out against the regime.

The demonstration in Damascus might have passed as an isolated incident were it not for the signs of Kurdish rebellion that erupted a few days later in the northern region of Hasaka, and especially in the city of Qamishli, on the Syrian-Turkish border. There, a fight between fans of Kurdish and Arab supporters of football teams set off a tide of unrest that spread over the whole country. In protest against the deaths of three Kurdish youths at the football stadium and the senseless violence of the police and security forces, Kurds launched a wave of violence that included attacks on government offices and public facilities. The riot then spread to other concentrations of Kurds and reached the Kurdish quarter of Damascus and the University of Damascus, where Kurdish students denounced violations of Kurdish rights.

The Kurdish protests erupted against a historical background of tensions between Kurds and Arabs in the north, which traditionally had a Kurdish majority but had undergone a process of Arabization in the previous few decades. The Syrian government had struggled to suppress any expressions of Kurdish national identity for years, and refused to grant Syrian citizenship to hundreds of thousands of Kurds who, according to it, had fled to Syria from Iraq. At the same time, Syria’s relatively decent treatment of local Kurds, certainly by Saddam’s standards and approach to Iraqi Kurds, explains the relative calm that had prevailed there until then. What broke the calm was the signal of encouragement sent to Kurds in surrounding areas by developments in Iraq itself. US backing for a degree of Kurdish autonomy in Iraq, verging on de facto independence had strengthened Kurdish assertiveness against central governments in Syria, Iran and Turkey. That undoubtedly explained the audacity of the Kurds in confronting the regime in Damascus.

In response, the Rotten Regime tried to appease the Kurds and refrained from relying only on an iron fist, as it had done normally in the past. It was true that several dozen Kurdish deaths had been reported, but in repressing previous rebellions, such as the Hama uprising in 1982 454, the regime did not hesitate to kill thousands. In that case, it seemed that in dealing with a Kurdish challenge in the north, the regime could rely on the support of Arabs, who constituted an overwhelming majority of the population and who rejected any idea of Kurdish separatism, especially one relying on possible US support. Washington would tread carefully on the issue lest perceptions of US encouragement of the Kurds led to serious tensions with Turkey, which was even more suspicious of Kurdish self-assertiveness.

The Regime did not need to be overly concerned about the protests of opposition organisations and human rights activists. At the time, they remained a small collection of pro-reform forces lacking any real base in the broader Syrian population. In general, the regime still appeared to enjoy the support of most of the pillars of Syrian society: army officers, economic elites, and the middle class. They understood better than any foreign observer that the alternative to the Rotten Regime was not necessarily a liberal democracy as envisaged by the US administration, but rather Islamist fundamentalism of the sort that would make the Rotten Baath Regime look positively libertarian by contrast.

But even if those events did not present an immediate existential threat to the regime, longer-term trends were likely to weaken it and bring about its eventual demise, since recurrent and growing protests would have a cumulative effect, particularly in combination with deepening economic problems and the problematic regional environment in which Syria existed; not only its traditional Israeli adversary to the south, but also a new US neighbour to the east.

Such pressures might push Bashar in the direction of reform at home and conciliation abroad, especially with Israel and the USA. But he might be trapped in a situation over which he has no control – constrained at home by the recalcitrant Old Guard that had served his father and buffeted by regional and international forces too strong for him to resist.

Bashar Al-ASS-ad would do well to realise that without the love and support of the so-called naïve Syrian people, whom he and his Rotten Mafia Regime, backed by a possibly more Rotten Oligarchy, have trod on and deprived of all means or hope of being normal, average, decent, and sensible citizens, he will fail and fall, eventually. His un-Godly and un-equal partnership-in-crime-and-terror with Iran has got to be stopped or dissolved! Eventually, it will only lead Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine and the whole Middle-East – if not the whole world – to deaths and havoc! If a word to the wise is enough, then a thousand words to the naïve obtuse-ostrich moron ought to be enough. Is Bashar Al-ASS-ad wise, or otherwise? By God and Satan x 2!

The Damascus Spring II – Was it in Good Faith? Did Bashar Mean Well, but…? And what a to-do?

Initially, the regime seemed unsure how to respond to the Damascus Spring. In November 2000, hundreds of political prisoners were released and the infamous Mezze prison was closed. Eventually, the regime fell back on its tried methods of repression and in 2001 a number of arrests and imprisonments, coupled with the forced closure of the salons, brought it to an end. However, some aspects of it still remained: Syrian intellectuals released further statements echoing that of the 99; some demonstrations took place in Damascus; and until 2005, one salon, the Jamal Al-Atassi National Dialogue Forum, was permitted to function. The Atassi forum was shut down after a member had read a statement from the banned Syrian Moslem Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist organisation that had rebelled against the government of Hafez Al-Assad in the early 1980s. The regime had made it clear that any collaboration with the Brotherhood which, despite the exile of its leadership, was considered to be by far the strongest opposition movement in Syria, was a red line not to be crossed.

Following intense international pressures on the rotten Syrian Mafia Regime after the murder of Rafiq Harriri in February 2005 and the release of the UN Mehlis report, intellectuals again grew more outspoken. Pro-democracy and human rights activists, such as Wissam Tarif, continued to be active in their call for democratic change within Syria, despite being expelled from the country. In late October 2005, a declaration calling for democratic reform was issued by the opposition, notably including the Moslem Brotherhood, but the government refrained from any serious actions against them – Read:

454 (Dec. 2008): The Hama Massacre

455 (Dec. 2008): The Moslem Brotherhood

On 18^th January 2006, the government released 5 political prisoners linked to the Damascus Spring: Riyadh Seif and Mamoun Al-Homsi, Fawaz Tello, Walid Al-Buni, Habeeb Issa – in what analysts called an attempt to rally support for the beleaguered government after the unprecedented international pressure in the wake of the assassination. They were arrested alongside five other men in 2001. All five had been sentenced to five years in prison each, of which they had served four years and nearly five months. A face-saving and ASS-saving move by the Rotten Regime, and a high price paid by those released. It makes one wonder whether the Damascus Spring was not a gambit by the Rotten Assad Regime to draw out the dissidents!

The Syrian Human Rights Committee called for the following to be implemented immediately:

1. The release of all Damascus Spring prisoners, including Dr. Arif Daleela, Kamal Lubwani, and Habeeb Salih.

2. The release of all political detainees and prisoners of conscience in Syria.

3. To put an end to the arrests of all political dissidents and those who express their views and opinions.

4. To reveal the whereabouts of about 17,000 political prisoners who had been arrested in the early 80s and then disappeared in Syrian prisons and detention centres.

5. The Investigation into the barbaric and inhuman tortures practised by the Syrian security agents and referring those involved to the courts to be prosecuted – whether commander or officer.

6. Full compensation to be paid to all those who had been wrongfully imprisoned for expressing their opinions or for political dissent.

7. The re-instatement of all civil rights to those released from prisons…January 2006

Additional:

The Damascus Spring is the name given to the political awakening that swept Syria when Bashar Al-Assad took over from his father in June 2000. Over the course of approximately one year, numerous social organisations for promoting democracy and civil rights, Etc, were established throughout Syria, among them was the Jamal Al-Atassi Association, which proclaimed itself a non-governmental organisation for democratic dialogue in January 2001. A statement, signed by 99 Syrian intellectuals, and that called for an end to Syria's emergency laws, the release of political prisoners, and the promotion of political and civil reform, had already been published in Sept. 2000. In July 2001, the Human Rights Association in Syria was founded, and attorney Haythem Maleh, was elected as its head. Hopes for reform began to wither when, in August 2001, the Syrian authorities conducted a wave of arrests of dissidents and reformists who were then sentenced to prison terms of several years.

Riad Seif was a prominent figure in Damascus Spring. He used to host, in his home, meetings of the National Dialogue Association, of which he was head. In 2001, he was arrested together with other Damascus Spring activists. He was accused of trying to change the constitution through illegitimate means, and was sentenced to five years in prison. He was released in January 2006, after having served more than four years in prison. He was beaten brutally and tortured while in prison. I could quote the site for you but the Rotten Syrian Regime blocked it.

Over the period of January and February 2006, numerous reports appeared in the media concerning various proposed bills leading up to the publication of Syria's political parties law. The law was supposed to be published in April 2006, but to date no such law has been enacted.

In March 2004, severe disturbances broke out between Kurds and the Syrian security forces in the city of Qamishli in northern Syria, following arguments and verbal insults between fans of rival soccer teams, one of which was Kurdish. A fight broke out between the two groups of fans, and security forces arrived and intervened in an attempt to quell the riots. What followed was: dozens of Kurds were fired on and killed by the security forces and, as a result, in a few days, the rioting spread to additional Kurdish areas in northern Syria, which led to dozens of additional killings.

The Damascus Spring I – It was too good to last. Was it a gambit to draw out the Dissidents? And all about the Palestinians…

Gleaned from: Google-Wikipedia / Syria-Comment.Com / and other sources

The Damascus Spring was a period of intense political and social debate in Syria which began after the death of President Hafez Al-Assad in June 2000, and continued to some degree until the autumn of 2001, when most of the activities associated with it were ruthlessly suppressed by the government – The Rotten Syrian Regime

Syria is officially a Republic, but it has been governed by the Baath Party under Emergency Law since 1963, and the Head of State has been a member of the Assad Dynasty, backed by Syrian Oligarchy since 1970. Under Hafez Al-Assad, president of Syria from 1970 until his death in 2000, political activity had been strictly controlled, and from 1980 onwards, effective opposition activity had been impossible. Five principal security agencies served primarily to monitor political dissent, and a state of emergency had existed since 1963, with military courts applying martial law and special courts trying political cases with little regard for human life or rights, or due process of law. Political and intellectual prisoners were beaten, tortured, and held under appalling conditions. From 1998 onwards, the level of repression diminished somewhat. Following the death of Hafez Al-Assad in June 2000, his son Bashar was installed as president of Syria.

The Damascus Spring was characterised above all by the emergence of numerous muntadat, referred to in English as Salons or Forums. Groups of like-minded people met in private houses, spread current news and rumours by word of mouth, and discussed political matters and wider social questions. The phenomenon of the forums spread rapidly in Damascus and to a lesser extent in other cities. Long-standing members of the Syrian opposition were notable in animating the movement as were a number of intellectuals who resolutely declared themselves apolitical, such as film-maker, Omar Amiralay. Members of the Syrian Communist Party and reform-minded Baath Party members also took part in debates.

The Damascus Spring was mobilised around a number of political demands, expressed in the Manifesto of the 99, and signed by prominent intellectuals. They were: the cancellation of the state of emergency and the abolition of martial law and special courts; the release of all political prisoners; the return without fear of prosecution of political exiles; and the right to form political parties and civil organisations. The more precisely political demand that Article 8 of the Syrian constitution be repealed; the article that stipulated – the Arab Socialist Baath Party leads the state and society – was often added to the Manifesto.

The Damascus Spring made a major impact across the Arab world and there was considerable optimism that it would lead to real change, initially. The editor of the Syrian state newspaper, Tishrin, announced his intention of forming a committee, to comprise prominent intellectuals such as Maher Charif, Ahmad Barqawi, and Yusuf Salameh, to edit a new opinion page, but it never came about. The salons debated many political and social questions to a wide degree, from the position of women to the nature of education methods and the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Territories.

Read all about the Pathetic Pain-in-the-Ass Palestinians. They never wanted peace, or to live in peace, with anyone, any people, or any country. They never even wanted to live in peace with themselves:

366 (Sept. 2008): Nahr Al-Bared Camp – When, Why, How

397 (Oct. 2008): The Suez Crisis and the Arab/Israeli 6-Day War 1967

398 / 400 / 401 and 402 (Oct. 2008): The Palestinian Right to Return Horse-shit

396 (Oct. 2008): Nahr Al-Bared Again

414 / 415 / 416 / 417 / 418 / 419 (Oct. 2008): The Dire Plights of Others.  Not only Palestinians

458 (Dec. 2008): The Cairo-Ayro Accord + Black September

488 (Dec. 2008): Black September / The Lebanese Civil War / Nahr-Al-Bared

490 / 491 / 497 / 498 / 499 / 500 / 501 / 502 / 503 / 504 (Jan. 2009): The Latest Gaza Monkey-shit

519 (Jan. 2009): It was never the Occupied Palestinian Terrritories and the Right to return is the Carrot and Stick…

(Feb. 2009)

523: Erdogan in lip-service, face-saving, role-playing, play-acting Gaza Façade

524: The sinking of the Gaza Ship

525: Hassan Nasrallah’s Photo on Rosaries – Is Hassan now a Christian Saint?

526: Hamas hold rally in Beirut right under the noses of the government and…

534: The next Gaza Monkey-Shit

535: Hamas Propaganda Machine in Motion – Hezballah taught them well, but…

542: Hezballah threatens and warns Moslem-Arab and Arab-League Nations

546 / 547 / 548 / 549: The Gaza Strip or the Hamas Strip?

567: Hamas blame only handy scape-goat for defeat…

569: The only victims and losers of Hamas-Gaza are the little ones who yearn to learn

572 (March 2009): Still no education for the little ones of Hamas-Gaza

576 (March 2009): The Hamas-Gaza Strip: A colony of Iran’s – Gaza City: The Mini-Capital of Iran

618 (March 2009): Palestinians refuse food-shipment because it did not contain any weapons or rockets

619 March 2009): Hamas linked to Hezballah linked to Iran linked to the Sudan

734 (June 2009): The real losers of the Iran-Hamas-Gaza Horse-shit – This is what they get…

750 (June 2009): Iran-Hamas-Gaza – Instead of this for that, it’s that for this

790 (July 2009): I told you; it’s I don need you you don need me…Da Da Da

Kamal Al-Labwani – Arrested, Released, Arrested. Plus a shot at Bill Clinton and the White-Washed-Whore-House

Gleaned from: Middle-East Forum and other sites Autumn 2007

Syrian police arrested Syrian physician and political activist, Kamal Al-Labwani, on 8^th Nov. 2005 when he arrived at Damascus International Airport upon his return from a trip to the US and France. He had met with officials at the White House. A Syrian court charged him with communicating with a foreign country and inciting it to initiate aggression against Syria. While in prison, his fate remained uncertain pending sentencing. The then President, Bush, called for Bashar Al-Assad's Rotten Mafia Regime to free all political prisoners immediately, and named six imprisoned dissidents, including Labwani.

Labwani had long been a thorn in the Rotten Syrian Regime's side. He angered officials with his advocacy for human rights and fundamental freedoms and has been a consistent advocate for reform. On 28^th August 2002, a Syrian court sentenced him to three years in prison for his activities promoting reform during the Damascus Spring, the short period from 2000 to 2001 in which the Syrian regime appeared to be somewhat tolerant to more open political and social criticisms. Instead of intimidating Labwani, his previous imprisonment emboldened him. Following his release from prison in September 2004, he founded the Democratic Liberal Gathering which called for political and free-market reforms, and equality for women.

On 10^th May 2007, a week after Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, had met Syria's foreign minister, Walid Al-Moallem, for a high-level bilateral talks between the two governments in more than two years, a Syrian court sentenced Kamal Al-Labwani to 12 years in prison, with hard labour. That the harsh sentence coincided with Washington's decision to re-engage Damascus suggested that Assad believed the White House no longer held it accountable for its persecution of non-violent dissidents. Condo-Leeza-Teeza Riz told CNN after her meeting with the fat bloated hog, Moallem, that the US had no desire to have bad relations with Syria. It wanted to have better relations with Syria – at the expense of Syria’s political and intellectual dissidents and Lebanon and the Lebanese people.

After Kamal's sentence, his children issued a statement stating that the Rotten Syrian Regime might imprison his body but it could not imprison his soul, or his ideas, and his hunger for freedom. They could not detain his right to dream of a better Syria where all are equal before the law, and that their Dad still dreamt in prison – and thousands (millions) of average, decent and sensible Syrians shared that dream.

The White House condemned Kamal's sentence, but it had yet to translate its displeasure into policy. After her meeting with the fat bloated hog, Condo-Teeza-Riz also said that the Syrian government's actions would speak louder than words. Perhaps the same standards should be applied to the White-Washed House's response to the imprisonment of pro-reform activists whose major crimes only consisted of visiting Washington. The White-Washed Whore-House was strong on rhetoric, perhaps it was time for the US reaction to speak louder than words – no wonder Bill Clinton used it as a motel to Fuck every woman in sight at the White-Washed Whore-House!

Actually, when a reporter asked Bill how he could use the Oval Office for his extra-marital and adulterous Fucking-Sex-Life…he said: The Oval Office? I thought it was the Oral Office!

Mahmoud Al-Zuabi – Another Two-Bullets Suicide and no Official Representation at Funeral

Google-Wikipedia and Arabic-News.Com Syria-Politics May 2000

Mahmoud Al-Zuabi, arabic: محمود الزعبي was born in 1938 in Khirbat Ghazalah, a village 75 miles south of Damascus, Syria, in the Hauran region. He had two sons and a daughter. He was Syria's Prime Minister from 1^st November 1987 to 7^th March 2000.

He was the Speaker of Parliament from 1981 prior to being PM and was considered to be very close to the late President Hafez Al-Assad until his sudden fall from grace. He was said to have committed suicide on 21^st May 2000, by shooting himself with a gun – twice! I ask you!

Under the despotic-dictatorial leadership of Syria's President Hafez Al-Assad, who ruled from 1971 to 2000 – Syria is the only country where the president remains in office for 30 years. No wonder Bashar extended Elias Herawi’s and Emile Lahhoud’s terms by half. Lucky for Syria, he died. Unlucky for Syria, his son took over. Zuabi presided over a ramshackle supposedly socialist government and economic system as PM. Military and government officials exercised immense power and continue to do so even today, in 2009. Only oil revenues kept the economy going. Even foreign aid agencies struggled to implement their programmes under the weight of bureaucratic obduracy – Syria did the same thing in and to Lebanon.

Ubiquitous regulations, including price-control, had the effect, most observers said, of stifling legitimate enterprise. All officials were forced into corruption to supplement meager salaries – like Syria, like Lebanon. It is said, even today, that corruption extends all the way to the top of Syria's Rotten Mafia Regime – and that means ASS-ad.

When Hafez Al-Assad showed signs of deteriorating health in the late 1990s, supporters of his son, Bashar, began to position and groom him to succeed him as President. Hafez was also a major player in those maneuverings. Syria is a republic, so there is no direct transfer of power from father to son envisaged – let alone stipulated – in the constitution.

As Hafez’s health grew worse, both father and son (I believe it was mostly father, and son had to tag along, or else) decided that Zuabi's days were numbered. Tackling corruption is a popular cause among Syrians, who see the immense wealth created at their expense as a reason why the Syrian economy has struggled to grow. The dragging down of once swaggering officials, with punishments including jail and the confiscation and auction of their illegally obtained assets earned Bashar Al-Assad much kudos in the community – Bigger, better, and more qualified thieves getting rid of smaller thieves, only to replace them. Tackling corruption is a popular pass-time among the Lebanese, too. The only trouble is, unscrupulous and treacherous cowardly-bastards like Michael Aoun, and his band of bandits, know it, and use it to get to positions of power; and then use those positions to do the same things they set out to change – with much improved methods and subtler tactics. Like Syria, like Lebanon again!

In May 1996, Hafez Al-Assad expelled Zuabi from the Baath Party and decided that he should be prosecuted over a scandal involving the French Aircraft Manufacturer, Airbus. Zuabi and several ministers were accused of receiving illegal commissions of $124million in the purchase of six passenger-jets for Syrian Arab Airlines. The indictment alleged that the normal cost of the planes was $250m, but the Government paid $374m and Airbus paid $124m to the senior ministers. Three others were involved in the transaction, including the minister for Economic Affairs and the minister for Transport – they were sentenced to 10 years in prison. The French company Airbus denied paying off the Syrian officials.

It is interesting to note the Syrian Government announced its intention of purchasing six more Airbus planes for SAA in September 2003. The official findings within Syrian courts that Airbus had paid over $100m in bribes to convicted and imprisoned ministers was apparently not a factor in deciding whether to continue to do business with them or not.

In May 2000, while under house arrest, Zuabi committed suicide by gunshot rather than face trial. Many questioned whether he had taken his own life. The Syrian Arab News Agency's official explanation was that he committed suicide after learning that a police-chief had arrived at his house to serve a judicial notice requiring him to appear before an investigating judge to answer allegations of corruption in relation to the Airbus transaction. Three weeks after Zuabi's death, Hafez Al-Assad also died – They got rid of him in the nick of time!

Mahmoud Al-Zuabi was buried at his birthplace, Khirbat Ghazalah. The funeral was held according to his wish, which was stated in a message he left to his family before his suicide in the Dummar district in Damascus. A state-owned ambulance carried Mahmoud Zuabi’s body from the Al-Mouwasat hospital to his home-town. His wife, Nawal Al-Droubi, was waiting for the body to arrive.

No high-ranking officials from his peers attended the funeral. Local people and people from neighbouring villages numbering around 4,000 took part in the funeral.

On details concerning the Zuabi suicide, the London-based Al-Hayat daily said that Zuabi was playing cards with a friend when a Damascus police-chief came to his villa to notify him of a judicial warrant issued by the military investigation judge, ordering him to present himself before the investigation judge to answer charges addressed to him, according to the proposal made by the Baath Party regional leadership.

When the Damascus police-chief entered the house after Zuabi's friend had opened the door, Zuabi went to the upper floor of the villa. A few minutes later, two shots were heard coming from his room. It was found out from investigations that Zuabi fired two shots; the first in the air, and the second in his mouth, in a downward direction – in the presence of his wife Nawal, her sister, his son Mufleh, and his daughter Einas. His second son Humam was not there. Dared they say other than what they were told to say? No way, José!

Zuabi's friend and the police-chief went upstairs and found Zuabi on the floor and blood on the floor. The investigators stated, after exanining his personal gun that Zuabi’s fingerprints were on the handle of the gun. Zuabi's head was crushed as one of the bullets entered his head, but his heart continued to beat for a short period of time, and he died in the ambulance on its way to the Al-Mouwasat hospital.

Dear readers and fellow-Apes. Have you ever heard or read such Horse-shit and Horse-fart without the Horse in your lives? I ask you! If Mahmoud Zuabi fired two shots – one in the air, and the other in his mouth, in a downward direction – then how did the second bullet manage to enter his head and crush it? I believe that a bullet travelling in a downward direction from the mouth would enter organs below the neck or below the mouth. Use your brain, (IF) you’ve got one!

The Best Lawyer Story of the 21^st Century – Laughter is good medicine

Gleaned from: FUN_and_FUN ONLY

Charlotte, North Carolina: A lawyer purchased a box of 24 very rare and expensive cigars, and then insured them against fire, among other hazzards. Within a month, he had smoked the whole box of cigars and, without having even made the first premium payment on the policy, he filed a claim against the insurance company.

In his claim, the lawyer stated that the cigars were lost in a series of small fires. The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason – that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion.

The lawyer sued…and WON!

Delivering the ruling, the judge agreed with the insurance company’s attorney that the claim was frivolous, but he stated, nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the insurance company, which proved that the cigars were insurable, and which also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what was considered as unacceptable fire; and was therefore obliged to pay the claim. Rather than endure lengthy and costly appeal processes, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid the lawyer $15,000 for the loss of the cigars – lost in the fires.

After the lawyer had cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of arson – the crime of intentionally burning insured buildings or other properties for criminal or malicious reasons; deliberately and maliciously setting fire to structures or wildland areas.

With his own insurance claim, and the $15,000 settlement, and the testimony from the previous case used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000 fine.

The above is a true story and it won First Place and First Prize at a recent Criminal Lawyers Award Contest.

ONLY IN AMERICA!

Ghazi Kenaan III – The Conclusion – Read on, dear readers and fellow-Apes…

Gleaned from: Syria-Comment.Com

Ghazi Kenaan was murdered! It was too obvious. When the UN-STL really begins to roll – so to speak – that is, if it ever begins to roll at all – so to speak again – Ghazi Kenaan will be the scapegoat, like Mahmoud Al-Zoabi and others who were Suicided by the Rotten Regime.

Bashar Al-Ass-ad and his pack of jackals and hyenas handled the situation by inventing evidence, or making it seem like, Ghazi ordered Harriri killed, and then committed suicide out of fear of facing the STL. It’s a wonder they did not murder Ghazi in his house, with an empty Absolute Vodka bottle next to him, and a Glock in his hand, and a suicide note. The Perfect Murder.

The murder, or supposed suicide, of Ghazi Kenaan proves beyond the shadow of a doubt that Syria was involved in Harrir’s murder. The Rotten Mafia Regime must hand someone over to the UN-STL, eventually, and the unlucky one was Kenaan. But, Kenaan knew too much to be allowed to face the UN-STL. In the safety of the Hague, and under the protection of the STL, Ghazi would have been beyond Syria’s reach, and he would have sang – and killed Syria softly.

Several newspapers reported that Ghazi had said that if he was given immunity and a foreign country residence and protection, he would tell all that happened in Lebanon while he was governing it, including what was going on in Syria! It made sense to the Rotten Assad Mafia Regime to get rid of him – and blame him for it and everything else, too, to boot!

To all those that defended Syria and said that the USA or Israel killed Harriri and not Syria: Sah El-Noum!

All the news/rumours that sprang left and right after Ghazi's death, and the media pressure nonsense that was mentioned, was just another diversion for the naive Syrian people; that was after a Syrian official made a major slip of the tongue at Ghazi Kenaan's funeral, mentioning the latter's death, twice, as an assassination, before finally correcting himself. There was also another stupidity reported in Lebanon's Al-Diyar newspaper of a possible lawsuit by Kenaan's family against the Lebanese New-TV station after the airing of a report on Kenaan's meeting with the Harriri assassination UN Investigation Team. What a pile of rubbish! Knowing the ways of the Syrian intelligence-goons, it was quite obvious that Ghazi was murdered to create a kink in the link leading upwards to the Syrian head of intelligence, Assef Shawkat, and on to Bashar Al Ass-ad himself.

An Arabic leader committing suicide!? No way, José!

Ghazi Kenaan II – The Next Most Senior Alawi to Bashar –  Was it Suicide, or Murder?

Syria-Comment.Com / Naharnet / The Daily Star / Other Wednesday 12^th October 2005

Article or report in green, highlights in red, Horse-shits in orange, Horse-farts in pink, good and true in blue, extra highlights, comments and sayings in brown, and my comments in black

The Syrian Arab News Agency reported that Syria’s Interior Minister, Brigadier-General Ghazi Kenaan, supposedly committed suicide in his office just days before the expected release of a United Nations report into the assassination of Rafiq Harriri; and that Syrian authorities were carrying out the necessary investigation into – and the usual hush-up and cover-up of – the incident. Remember, fellow-Apes. Ghazi was not in Lebanon when Rafiq was musdered.

Ghazi Kenaan was intelligence chief in Lebanon from 1982 to very early in 2003. He presided over Syria's control of Lebanon. During all those years he headed Syria's powerful Political Security and Intelligence Directorate until he was summoned to Damascus and demoted to Interior Minister in October 2004. He had reportedly been questioned by UN investigators into Hariri's murder. Detlev Mehlis couldn’t have questioned any of the Lebanese Jackals, without Ghazi’s or Rustom’s permission; let alone Ghazi Kenaan himself! Not all of us are Etc, and so forth and so on…

On 30^th June 2005, The US Department of the Treasury named Ghazi Kenaan and Rustom Ghazali Specially Designated Nationals, which was aimed at financially isolating individuals and entities contributing to the Government of Syria's problematic behaviour – to financially isolate bad actors who were supporting Syria's efforts to, not only  destabilize its neighbours, but actually deplete their resources and destroy them.

Was Ghazi Kenaan setting himself up to be Bashar's alternative or substitute? Did the Rotten Syrian Regime suspect him of being the Alawite Musharraf that some Americans and Volker Perthes, the director of the German Institute for International and Security Affairs and author of Syria under Bashar Al-Assad, suggested would seize power from the House of Assad and bring Syria back into the good graces of the USA and the West? Several sources stated that high-ranking Syrians had complained to the UN and the NSC that they were very distressed by the errors Bashar Al-Assad had committed in Lebanon and the state of US-Syrian relations. Ghazi Kenaan had good relations with Washington when he held the Lebanon portfolio. He visited DC several times and two of his four sons went to the George Washington University in DC.

Ghazi was reported to have been one of the Old Guard who spoke out against the extension of Emile Lahhoud's presidency, which set the stage for Lebanon's Cedar Revolution and the assassination of Rafiq Harriri. He was responsible for cultivating Harriri and building up his position in Lebanon. He had been accused of having significant business relations in Lebanon that tied him to Hariri. It was unlikely that he was involved in Hariri's murder – He was a Harriri supporter and not a Lahhoud supporter. His relations with Lahhoud were strained and, reportedly, Lahhoud was one of the people who insisted that he be removed from the Lebanon File and replaced by Rustom Ghazali.

Since the June Baath Party Debate Conference, it had been rumoured that Ghazi would lose his Cabinet position as Minister of Interior, where he had been causing quite a ruckus.

Ghazi was the most senior Alawi official of the Hafez Generation left in government. He had served as intelligence chief and minister of interior gaining him influence over and knowledge of all branches of the security forces – intelligence and police. If Washington were to turn to anyone to carry out a coup against Bashar, it would have to place Ghazi Kanaan on the top of its list. Was Ghazi assassinated in order to prevent him from challenging or posing a serious threat to Bashar? Dear readers and fellow-Apes; I respect your intelligence – or fear your lack of intelligence – too much to tell you; so use your brain, (IF) you’ve got one!

Bashar al-Assad had clamped down on all possible or impossible rivals. Civil society had been all but silenced since the June Baath Party Debate Conference and The Atasi Forum was shut down. Anwar al-Bunni, a leading civil rights lawyer and advocate in Damascus, was in hiding at the time to avoid being arrested. All emerging political movements had been broken up during the previous months, and the Kurds and all Islamic organisations came under intense pressure. Bashar’s strongest point was that there was no alternative to his rule, and that Washington had to either accept him as president or tempt the fates – and take the risks – that Syria would collapse into some form of Religious, Political, and Social chaos – Iraq. Now that Ghazi Kenaan is dead, it is difficult to imagine another Alawi in the government who would have the authority, knowledge, or standing to pull off a coup – whether peaceful or violent.

AP / AFP  posted further details on Ghazi's interview via Naharnet and the Daily Star…

Hours before he was murdered, Ghazi Kenaan contacted the Beirut Voice of Lebanon radio station and made a statement, concluding with the words: I believe this is the last statement that I…He asked seasoned interviewer Wardeh to pass his comments on to other broadcasting media. In the statement, Ghazi unequivocally denied a report by the New-TV network, which reported in an evening newscast that Kenaan admitted to UN investigators that he had been involved in money extortion and corruption during what he called his reign in Lebanon.

New-TV said Kenaan had told investigators that he introduced the 2000 Lebanese election law that they had tailored to the measurements of Lebanese Punk-Politicians loyal to Syria, and that Hariri had at the time given Ghazi a $10 Million cheque and another $10 Million cheque to General Jamil Sayyed. New-TV also quoted Kenaan as saying: We were making money from Premier Hariri so how could we possibly kill him and close the flow of his riches?

General Jamil Sayyed was then the head of Lebanon's General Security Department or Surete Generale. He was in jail on a charge of complicity in Hariri's assassination. He was released – along with three other Foul Felons – read the Freed Four Foul Felons: 688 / 689 / 690

New-TV later played back its night-report on Ghazi's alleged interview with Mehlis, insisting it was 100% accurate despite Ghazi's denial – but of course! After Ghazi had been murdered, he wouldn’t be able to challenge or contradict it. Dead men tell and deny no tales; all we need to do now is find out who owns and controls New-TV…

SANA did not reveal any details on how or whether Ghazi Kenaan shot himself dead, took a lethal poison-pill, or was murdered. However, I knew Ghazi Kenaan personally, and I and all those that knew him can assure all of you out there and the rest in here that, he was not the sort of man who would commit suicide. In fact, Ghazi Kenaan was another Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, travelling on a different road.

Ghazi was survived by his wife, four sons, and two daughters.

Ghazi Kenaan I – The Story Begins…and Develops…Gleaned from: Google-Wikipedia / Naharnet and The Daily Star / Other sources

Article or report in green, highlights in red, Horse-shits in orange, Horse-farts in pink, good and true in blue, extra highlights, comments and sayings in brown, and my comments in black

Ghazi Kenaan: Arabic: غازي كنعان‎ was born in 1942 in Bhamra, near Qardaha, the home-town of former Syrian president Hafez Al-Assad and was Syria's Interior Minister from 2004 to 2005, and the long-time head of Syria's Security Apparatus in Lebanon. His violent death in his office during the investigation into the Harriri assassination drew international attention.

Qardaha: Arabic: قرداح is a city in north-western Syria, in the mountains overlooking the coastal town of Latakia the capital of the Latakia Governorate in the heartland Syria's Alawite minority. It is the traditional home of the Assad family that has ruled Syria since 1970. During the reign of Hafez Al-Assad – 1970-2000 – the government poured massive investments into Qardaha, Lattakia, and the surrounding region. Today, this is evident even before entering Qardaha, as the broad Syrian coastal highway makes an inexplicable pass into the mountains just to reach it. Qardaha has several luxurious villas dominating parts of the town. A large statue of Hafez al-Assad stands in the city-centre, and a huge mausoleum containing the graves of Basil and Hafez Al-Assad is also located there. The Aramaic meaning of Qardaha is First Village. He entered the military and commanded a tank-battalion against Israeli forces in the October 1973 War.

As a result of his success and extreme intelligence, he advanced quickly through the ranks of the military and was given the post of Director of Intelligence in Central Syria. In 1982, after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, parts of which were already under Syrian military control, he was assigned to head the Syrian intelligence machinery there. He remained the head of Syrian security in the country for 20 years, effectively manipulating his Lebanese Proxies through a web of agents and loyalist bureaucrats, backed by the Syrian military presence. During that time, he gained a decisive Syrian influence over Lebanese affairs, and gradually subdued the various warring Lebanese militia-factions through a combination of diplomacy, bribery and force. After Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon in 2000, he extended Syria's influence there, and backed Hezballah’s takeover of the area.

After being an early backer of Syrian president Bashar as a successor to his father, Ghazi was summoned back to Damascus in 2002 to become the head of Syria's Political Intelligence, a post that was viewed – in the eyes of many – as a demotion. He was succeeded in Lebanon by Rustom Ghazali. In 2004, after a string of bombings that targeted leading Hamas members who had been given sanctuary in Syria, and which Syria claimed was the work of Israeli intelligence, Bashar Al-Assad assigned him to the cabinet post of interior minister, another demotion, from where he could be fired anytime by a cabinet reshuffle. On the internal Syrian political scene, he was considered close to the president, although at the same time part of the old guard – or old school – of Syrian politics.

June 30^th 2005: The USA, which had been pressuring Syria over the Harriri bombing and the end of Syrian occupation, declared that it would freeze all assets belonging to Kenaan and Ghazali, due to their involvement in the occupation of Lebanon, and also due to suspicions of corrupt and criminal activities.

Ghazi Kenaan died in his office – he was shot twice in the head. After a one-day examination and investigation, Syrian authorities closed the case, Prosecutor Mohammed al-Luaji stated: Examination of the body and fingerprints as well as testimonies from employees, including senior aide, General Walid Abaza, indicated that it was a suicide by gunshot. Horse-shit! Nobody believed it!

It had been suggested he was in fact murdered by the Syrian government, and various theories explaining the possible motives for that were put forth. Walid Jumblatt, the Jumping-Frog-Chamaeleon Lebanese Druze leader, who had been intermittently allied and hostile to Kenaan during his stay in Lebanon, said: If Ghazi Kenaan was in fact linked to the Harriri murder, then he was a brave man who did well, if I may say so, by committing suicide.

Kenaan was interviewed in September 2005 by a UN team led by Detlev Mehlis, as a witness, who was probing into the 14^th February assassination of Hariri. In a phone interview by the Lebanese Broadcasting Station, Voice of Lebanon, on the day of his death, Ghazi denied any involvement in the assassination, and said: I think this is the last statement I might give.

Theories on Kenaan's death and his possible involvement in Hariri’s murder abound. Ali Sadr El-Din Bayanouni, the London-based leader of the banned Syrian branch of the Moslem Brotherhood, told Al-Jazeera that Ghazi Kenaan had indicated that he felt in danger, and that supported rumours circulating that there had been a deal by which Syria might sacrifice some heads to save the regime.

It was reported that Kenaan had opposed Assad's decision to extend the term of the then pro-Syrian Lebanese President, Émile Lahhoud, in 2004; siding with Hariri, with whom he was reported to have had a good relationship. The term-extension provoked the creation of a Lebanese Nationalists' Camp, whose anti-Syrian protests gained momentum after Harriri’s murder. It was seen as a strategic blunder by many supporters of the Syrian occupation, and was believed to have weakened President Bashar's position. It was even suggested that Kenaan might have been part of an opposition to Assad's rule. Most sources however indicated that he kept the president's trust, and that his appointment as interior minister after allegedly having opposed the term-extension in 2004 seemed to bolster that claim. Horse-shit again! Ghazi was soothed, and then duped and drawn into the same trap that caught Mughniyeh! I wonder how he could trust such a vain vicious malicious mischievous treacherous monkey like Bashar!

The Israeli Ha'aretz presented a theory that involved Bashar's brother, Maher, and other conspirators within the regime, who wanted to get rid of Kenaan, whom they viewed as too powerful and too close to the president. That theory could also involve a plot to eventually get rid of Bashar himself – possibly connected to Hafez Al-Assad's exiled brother Rifaat Al-Assad. While that was only speculation, the article presumed that the Mehlis report would not only shed light on the Hariri murder, but also on the internal intrigues of the Ruling Syrian elite.

Ghazi Kanaan's Brother Commited Suicide

Naharnet / The Daily Star / Other Websites 10^th November 2006

The Syrian Al-Marsad Observatory for the Defence of Human Rights reported on its website that the crushed and mutilated body of Ghazi Kenaan’s brother, Ali Kenaan, was found on a rail-way track near Bustan al-Basha region – not far from Qardaha. It quoted family sources as saying that Ali committed suicide and that he had been going through a state of depression.

His son had told Al-Marsad that Ali had lately been sleeping at his ranch on Jableh Road near the northwestern city of Latakia and that his body was found a few meters away from his car.

Ghazi Kenaan also allegedly committed suicide in October 2005. His Aide-de-Camp, Brigadier Walid Abaza, at the time told foreign news agencies that he shot himself in the mouth in his office at the interior ministry building in Damascus. I repeat: Nobody believed it. He was shot twice in the head!

But there were widespread speculations abroad that he was either murdered or forced to shoot himself in anticipation of his indictment by the chief UN investigator, Detlev Mehlis, as the engineer of ex-Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri's assassination. Mehlis couldn’t have indicted Ghazi Kenaan because he wasn’t in Lebanon when Harriri was assassinated. He had been summoned to Damascus in 2002 and demoted.

The Elaph website said that a Syrian official denied that Ali Kenaan's death was a setup, and said that sources had confirmed that his suicide was not in any way linked to political issues – it added that Ali had been suffering from psychological disturbances and that the family had a history of suicides.

But the Al-Mustaqbal newspaper said that Ali Kenaan had accused Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, his brother Maher, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, of killing Ghazi Kenaan  a few months before, and that the revelation was made to a French journalist in an interview published in the French Le Figaro newspaper.

The Syria-News website, on the other hand, reported that sources close to the Rotten Regime had said that the deceased was a man called Samih Kanaan, a retired army officer who was described by his neighbours as mentally ill. The sources denied that the man was murdered or committed suicide, but that he died in a car crash – I ask you! In Syria, as in Iran and other Arab countries, the Media say or print exactly what they are told to say or print…or else!

Of Flags and Emblems – The UN, The IC, The IAEA, and The Arab League of Nations with Notions…

The Flag, or the Emblem, of The UN ought to be a Huge Flag with four well-dressed monkeys of different species on one side; the first with its hands on its eyes; the second with its hands on its ears; the third with its hands on its mouth; and the fourth with its hands in its pockets; and with the caption: See Nothing, Hear Nothing, Say Nothing, and Do Nothing; and on the other side; the same four monkeys with their hands outstretched, and with the caption: Give Us Money, Send Us Funds and Donations!

The Flag, or the Emblem, of the IC ought to be a Huge Flag with several monkeys of several species on both sides; some huddled around a round table, and some sitting or standing on it; and with the caption: We See All, We Hear All, but We Know Nothing, Say Nothing, and Do Nothing!

The Flag, or the Emblem, the IAEA ought to be a Huge Flag with several blind monkeys walking in line; each with its hand on the monkey in front’s shoulder, and each holding a stick except the leader, who waves its arms about in front of it as it leads them along on a specially prepared path, while those – the monkeys – they are supposed to investigate or check on walk beside them and guide and cheer them along with prods and yells and jeers!

The Flag, or the Emblem, of the Arab League of Nations with Notions ought to be…I think I had better stop here and leave this one to all of you Human-Apes out there and the rest in here – any suggestions, anyone?

By God and Satan and their wives, families, relatives, neighbours, friends, and hosts!

Kindly check out: http://www.aldoukan.com/broadcast/ramadan.html

The 20^th Arab Summit in Damascus V – They did the Right Thing in the Wrong Place, and the Right Thing in the Wrong Way…

Gleaned from: Arab Leaders Threatened to Boycott Arab Summit in Damascus, Syria. Trust the Arabs to do the right thing in the wrong place, and then do the right thing in the wrong way

The Daily Star and the International Herald Tribune March 2008

Article or report in green, highlights in red, Horse-shits in orange, Horse-farts in pink, good and true in blue, extra comments and sayings in brown, and my comments in black

Several Arab Leaders said they might boycott the annual Arab-Jarab Summit meeting scheduled to be held in Damascus because of anger at Syria over its role in Lebanon, and its on-going links to Iran. The measures were part of an intensified campaign against Syria. The USA sent warships to cruise off the Lebanese coast – as a gesture – or as a warning or a threat – aimed directly at the Syrian government.

Saudi Arabia recalled its ambassador from Damascus and urged all its citizens to leave Lebanon as soon as possible. The Saudi government had previously deposited $1B in Lebanon's Central Bank as a show of support for Lebanon's government.

Syria's role in Lebanon was, and has always been, rooted in its alliance with Iran and Hezballah and Amal, which it views as crucial weapons against Israel and the West, but most Arab nations, led by Sunni Moslems, view Shiite Iran as the dangerous and implacable foe; and they appeared, at the time, to have given up on bringing Syria back into the Arab fold through diplomacy.

Syria was deliberately prolonging the political crisis and the presidential vacuum in Lebanon, which had remained without a president since 23^rd November 2007, through its support for Hezballah and Amal, and their alliances who opposed the government.

Syria, determined to maintain its course at the time in Lebanon, had derided the arrival of American warships as an empty gesture, and said it would rather have an Arab Summit meeting without major Arab Leaders present than give in to intimidation.

We, the Lebanese people in particular, and the rest of the world, can always trust the Arab-Jarab Leaders to always do the right thing in the wrong place, in the wrong way; or the wrong thing, in the wrong place, in the wrong way.

Instead of canceling the Arab League Summit scheduled for Damascus in Syria when Syria failed to meet the League’s terms, conditions, regulations, and requirements; and appointing or assigning another Arab city in another Arab state for it, they allowed it, and then later decided to boycott the Arab Summit. I ask you!

Why do the right thing – have an Arab Summit – in the wrong place – Damascus – and then do the right thing in the wrong way – then boycott it, instead of canceling it and assigning another city in another Arab state?

Kindly check out: http://www.aldoukan.com/broadcast/ramadan.html

The 20^th Arab Summit in Damascus IV – Lebanon was there because she was not there – Her presence seen and felt in her absence

Gleaned from: Reuters, AP, AFP via the Daily Star and several other newspapers and websites

Article or report in green, highlights in red, Horse-shits in orange, Horse-farts in pink, good and true in blue, extra comments and sayings in brown, and my comments in black

The Arab-Jarab-Summit in Damascus: Lebanon was there because she was not there. For the first time since the Arab-Jarab League of Nations with Notions was founded in 1945, Lebanon attended an Arab League Summit by not attending – her presence seen and felt in her absence

Damascus: Syria promised Arab Leaders at the Arab League Summit to co-operate in ending the political crisis in Lebanon – too late, Bobo! Also, that was just lip-service or Ass-service to throw them off their guard. Saudi Arabia said it saw Damascus as the main cause of the crises and not part of the solution.

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: At a press conference, broadcast live on Arab and other TVs during the Arab League summit's opening session in Damascus, Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister, Prince Faisal, slammed Syria for obstructing Lebanese Peace Efforts and said that Saudi Arabia had never boycotted a summit before.

He blamed the KSA’s boycott of the Arab-Jarab League Summit on Syria for not abiding by the Arab-Jarab League’s Consensus to solve the presidential and political crises in Lebanon – the stale-mate, dead-lock, road-block, airport-closed, parliament shut-down with keys in Nabih Beriberi’s pockets, and Baabda Palace converted to a Donkey-stable and a Ghost Town – and implicitly blasted Syria for worsening most of the crises in the Middle East.

Faisal called for the Arab-Jarab League to punish any and all member states that breach common resolutions or agreements, since the absence of credibility and seriousness in implementing them reduce the League to a Farce; and make fools, if not monkeys, of the other members and a Show-piece or Major-Moron-Monkey of the Secretary-General. They might call it, if they liked, punishment or disciplinary measures or actions.

For 63 years since she joined the Arab League of Nations with Notions in 1945, Lebanon attended each and every Arab-Jarab League Summit in Arab cities in Arab countries all over the world; and every time she attended, she was given the usual Horse-shit Reception and Treatment: Hugs and kisses on both cheeks and a comfortable seat at a place with microphone and a glass of mineral water. And all the while, the other Heads of States looked at her Syrian Puppet-President and his Delegation of Syrian Pawns with scorn and contempt. And when it was her turn to Fart, Lebanon’s Syrian Puppet-President made his Horse-shit speech; written, checked, and editted by Syria; containing pleas and requests by Syria for Syria and demanding resolutions and moves by the Arab-Jarab League to the benefit, and in the interests, of Syria. Then! Later, Iran also joined the fun.

In short, dear readers and fellow-Apes; to the Arab World and the rest of the world through the Arab-Jarab League, Lebanon’s Head of State, or Maronite Moron President, or Presiding Prick was the Mouth-piece of Syria and Iran – according to the Gospel of Syria and Iran – but to Syria and Iran, and to me, Daniel in The Lion’s Den, Lebanon’s Maronite Moron President or Presiding Prick was Syria’s and Iran’s ASS through which they FARTED in turn!

BUT! Not that time! Saniora, Harriri, and Jumblatt – Sunnis and a Druze, supported by the sensible Christians who supported them only because if they had decided to attend the Summit they couldn’t have stopped them, decided that Enough was Enough was Enough!

2 Sunnis and a Druze decided to seek and salvage the welfare, and protect the interests, of the Lebanese Christians in particular, especially the Maronite Morons, and the Lebanese people in general, after they – most of the Maronite Morons themselves – had tossed them onto the garbage-heap or rubbish-pile, if not flushed them down the drain! By God and Satan!

The Christians in particular and all the Lebanese people in general, may not have known or realised what Fouad Saniora, Saad Harriri, and Walid Jumblatt – supported by the sensible and patriotic Sunnis, Shiites, Druzes, and Christians among the Lebanese Apes had done for them, but I, Daniel in The Lion’s Den, do! By God and Satan again!

For the first time in its history, the Arab-Jarab League could not avoid or ignore the presence of Lebanon in her absence. When she was there and they could all see her, she was avoided and ignored; that time, her place was empty and because they could not see her there, they saw her clearly and knew her plight better! She was not there, but they saw her; and they could not avoid or ignore her in her absence!

The 14^th March Football Team used the surest and most effective “Psychological Warfare” in its history: It was either “Out of sight, out of heart and mind” or “Absence makes the heart grow fonder and more caring and the mind more alert and astute”At the time, the 14^th March Football Team not only screwed Syria – especially Bashar Al ASS-ad, and Iran; they screwed all of Syria’s and Iran’s moles, monkeys, rats, jackals, hyenas, and Fiends! By God and Satan one last time, but only for now!

The 20^th Arab Summit in Damascus III – The Case and Reason for Decision to Boycott Jarab Summit – Only Maronite President Could…

Gleaned from: The Daily Star Saturday 29^th March, 2008

Article or report in green, highlights in red, Horse-shits in orange, Horse-farts in pink, good and true in blue, extra comments and sayings in brown, and my comments in black

The Prime Minister, Fouad Saniora: Only a Maronite President could represent Lebanon at the Arab Summit…and he blamed Syria for the void at Baabda Palace – the Donkey-Stable

In a televised speech, the Lebanese PM, Fouad Saniora, addressed the Arab community and said that his government – or Lebanon – stayed away from the Jarab Summit to demonstrate the Lebanese people's refusal to accept a presidential vacuum caused by a political stalemate; stressing that Lebanon could only be represented by a Maronite Christian president who would reflect the country's diversity and who was the only Christian Arab President among all the various Heads of States!

Lebanon had been without a president since Emile Le-Hood stepped down at the end of his term in November the year before (2007). Parliamentary sessions to elect a new head of state had been postponed on 17 occasions by Syria’s and Iran's Champion mole, rat, jackal, hyena, and fiend, Nabih Beriberi Berri as part of the power struggle between the government and the opposition, which Saniora and his allies accused of obstructing the process on behalf of Syria and Iran.

Syria obstructed the Arab-Jarab initiative to end Lebanon's crisis and impeded Jarab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa's efforts to push forward a settlement in Lebanon and yet the Arab-Jarab-League went ahead anyway, and held the Summit in Damascus in Syria!

The Lebanese people demanded that Syria withdraw its troops from their country (2005) not to trade or exchange Syrian tutelage or rule for any other foreign tutelage or rule, and that the Lebanese people asked for an international investigation and an international tribunal to try suspects in the murder of former Prime Minister Rafiq Harriri for justice and not for revenge.

Saniora said that Lebanon would no longer accept or allow Lebanon to be used as the arena – the battleground – for regional conflicts, or as the shit-house for the rest of the world!

Fouad Saniora and his Football Team looked and sounded better to me every day! By God and Satan!

Where’s that piece-of-shit scumbag schmuck, Amine Mush-Ameen Gemaeyel? He was one of the shit-smeared Ass-holes who were in favour of Lebanon attending the Arab-Jarab-Summit without a Maronite Moron President! What a pity, that his brother, Bashir, and his son, Pierre, had to die while this scurvy scumbag shit-head schmuck is still alive – and gallopping about and Farting from both ends!

Is it funny, or is it ironic, that Fouad Saniora (Sunni) – supported of course by Saad Harriri (Sunni), Walid Jumblatt (Druze) and Christians like Samir Geagea, Nayla Mouawad, Elias El Murr, and others – sought, salvaged, and protected the welfare and interests of the Lebanese Christians in particular, especially the Maronite Morons, and the Lebanese people in general, after they, the Maronite Morons themselves – Michael Aouu-Aoun, Sully-Silly-man Frenzied-Frantic, Amine Al-Mush-Ameen, and especially that bone-head, Nesa-Allah Butt-Rose Sf-Ayr and others had tossed them onto the garbage-bin or rubbish-pile, if not flushed them down the drain? By God and Satan again!

At the time, and on my Blog, I thanked Fouad Saniora, Saad Harriri, and Walid Jumblatt, on behalf of the Maronite Morons in particular, and the Lebanese in general; and congratulated them for their brave and noble stance against two of the world’s most formidable mad-despot-dictator-monsters: Mad-moose Ahmak-dine-jackass and Bashar Al-Ass-ad – ad for Asses with both meanings: Donkey and Anus. I also asked Saniora to keep up the good, brave, and noble work, and to fear nothing and to let nothing stand in his way or hinder him and his Football Team, because a lot of us were with him all the way since not all of us are Etc and so forth and so on! By God and Satan one last time!