Untitled - orsam

MIDDLE EAST BULLETIN 

GÜNLÜK ORTADOĞU BÜLTENİ 

23 SEPTEMBER / EYLÜL 2011 

NO: 1239 

1. IRAQ / IRAK ......................................... 3 

Iraqi Christians support province for minorities ..........................................................................3 

Media reports: Iraqi parliament speaker to visit Kuwait soon .....................................................3 

Goran Barzani Şerefine Yemek Düzenledi ....................................................................................4 

Bir Ayda 7 Milyar Dolara Petrol Satıldı .........................................................................................4 

Four killed when Iraqi insurgents attack police, government compound ...................................5 

Former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani assassinated ....................................................6 

Five Killed in Iraq Attacks..............................................................................................................8 

Researchers Develop Laser to Help Detect Roadside Bombs ......................................................8 

Mullen: Troop Total In Iraq To Drop Sharply ................................................................................9 

Iraq drawdown no cakewalk for U.S. military, police advisors ................................................. 10 

Iraqi Shiites threaten departing U.S. army ................................................................................ 12 

Iraq Joins Calls for Assad to Step Down in Syria ........................................................................ 14 

Dead, missing in South Rumaila station blast ........................................................................... 16 

Iraq looks to triple its palm trees in revival of date farming ..................................................... 17 

Gulf Keystone raises $200 mln in placing .................................................................................. 20 

A Second Chamber for the Iraqi Parliament? ............................................................................ 21 

Sahwa member injured by US forces in northern Babil ............................................................ 22 

Barzani conveys a message to Maliki ........................................................................................ 22 

New political initiative discussed between Nujaifi and Barzani in Arbil ................................... 23 

Al-Hashemi critiques strongly the way the government is dealing with the issue of human 

rights .................................................................................................................................................. 23 

Iraqiya List will meet Wednesday to discuss Nujaifi’s visit to Arbil ........................................... 24 

Al-Sadr to Al-Maliki: It's apparent it's a new dictatorship after Al-Ugaili, the purging of media, 

the warrant for Al-Saedi's arrest ....................................................................................................... 24 

Talabani assigns his functions to Hashemi during absence from Iraq ...................................... 24 

Kuwait's ambassador to return to Baghdad .............................................................................. 25 

Fire breaks out in al-Kabs Gas Refinery in Basrah ..................................................................... 25 

A lieutenant colonel in the Ninawa police Killed north of Mosul ............................................. 26 

2. IRAN / İRAN ....................................... 26 

IRGC Unveils Latest Supersonic Anti-Ship Missile ..................................................................... 26 

Iran Nearing Production of Indigenous S-300 Missile System .................................................. 27 

Iran displays ballistic missiles at military parade ...................................................................... 28 

Nations’ awakening will disappoint hegemons, Ahmadinejad tells Suleiman .......................... 29 

İran, serbest bırakılan Amerikalılar hakkında bir bildiri yayınladı ............................................. 30 

Ahmedinejad: Bölgede büyük bir kasırga yaşanabilir................................................................ 31 

Celili: Mevcut uluslar arası yapılar, dünya için güvenliği sağlayamaz ....................................... 32 

3. ISRAEL - PALESTINE / İSRAİL – FİLİSTİN 33 

Sayfa 1

Erdogan at UN: Israel must apologize for flotilla deaths........................................................... 33 

Bill Clinton: Netanyahu isn't interested in Mideast peace deal ................................................ 34 

Abbas confirms he'll ask for full membership at UN ................................................................. 36 

Palestinian president stands to gain from gambit as he heads to U.N. .................................... 37 

Israel rejects French compromise on Palestinian state ............................................................. 41 

U.S. leads walkout of Ahmadinejad U.N. speech; Erdogan calls for pressure on Israel ............ 42 

4. AFRICA and EGYPT / AFRİKA ve MISIR . 45 

Sonia Farid / Letter from Cairo: Not all that hits the billboard … .............................................. 45 

Fresh fighting breaks in Sudan oil state, police fire teargas to disperse protesters in east ...... 48 

Egypt youth coalition to contest elections; says revolution is endangered .............................. 50 

Tantawi to testify in Mubarak trial on Saturday ....................................................................... 51 

5. JORDAN and LEBANON / ÜRDÜN ........ 52 

US embassy: Possible surge in demonstartion in Lebanon ....................................................... 52 

Zahra: Change in Syria will reflect positively on Lebanon ......................................................... 52 

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Sept. 23, 2011 ......................................................................... 53 

Sleiman stresses peacekeeping importance ............................................................................. 55 

Lebanon approves bill to overhaul power sector ...................................................................... 57 

6. SYRIA / SURİYE ................................... 59 

Brutal response as Syrian children join protests ....................................................................... 59 

Israel faces 'regional tsunami' set off by Arab Spring ............................................................... 60 

Kadınlar Birliği Kamplardaki Tecavüz Olaylarını Kınadı ............................................................. 64 

Saldırdık Kundakladık Onlarca Kişiyi Öldürdük .......................................................................... 65 

Cabinet Approves Bill Exempting Loans of Agricultural Corporative Bank from Interests ....... 68 

7. ARABIAN PENINSULA AND THE GULF OF BASRA / ARAP YARIMADASI VE BASRA KÖRFEZİ 69 

President Saleh returns to Yemen after 3-month absence as violence escalates .................... 69 

UAE to hold second limited polls to choose 20 representatives at Federal National Council .. 71 

Bahrain king highlights need to resolve UAE islands issue ........................................................ 73 

Foreign minister welcomes Obama' remarks on Bahrain ......................................................... 75 

8. AFGHANISTAN - PAKISTAN / AFGANİSTAN - PAKİSTAN 76 

US to lose Pakistan as ally if accusations continue, says Khar .................................................. 76 

Karzai vows to continue Afghan peace effort ........................................................................... 78 

Rabbani's Killer Used Fake Peace Message to Gain Access, Karzai Says ................................... 78 

Afghan president pays tribute to late Rabbani's role in peace efforts ..................................... 80 

200 French troops to leave Afghanistan ................................................................................... 81 

Pakistan rejects U.S. allegations against spy agency ................................................................. 82 

US Presses Pakistan for Action on Haqqani Network ................................................................ 83 

Drones: Pakistan Has No Leg To Stand On ................................................................................ 85 

11 insurgents killed, 9 injured in Afghanistan's restive south ................................................... 88 

Taliban local leader killed, 2 NATO drone crashed in E. Afghanistan ........................................ 88 

Bomb kills Afghan district police chief ...................................................................................... 89 

Today's Afghan Headlines ......................................................................................................... 90 

Sayfa 2

1. IRAQ / IRAK 

Iraqi Christians support province for 

minorities 

Iraqi Christians supported the formation 

of a 19th province for minorities in 

Nineveh regions. Christians believe this 

project would help curb minorities’ 

migration and contribute to the 

development of the province’s regions 

which they asked to be protected by 

Kurdistan. 

Christians in Nineveh reassured that this 

province would gather all minorities of the 

region, yet, they ask to be protected by 

Kurdistan. This request spurred 

reservations among Arab parties in the 

province irritated Arabs in the province 

which considered it as political hypocrisy. 

While Christians regard the establishment 

of a special province in Nineveh as a 

solution for migration, observers believe 

that supporting the idea may be a motive 

for armed groups to attack Christians who 

have been and still are a target for 

gunmen 

http://www.alsumaria.tv/en/Iraq-News/1- 

68765-Iraqi-Christians-support-provincefor-minorities.html 

Media reports: Iraqi parliament 

speaker to visit Kuwait soon 

Erbil, Sept. 21 (AKnews) – Iraq’s 

Parliament speaker Osama Nujaifi is 

expected to visit Kuwait for talks over 

pending issues. 

Kuwait’s al-Dar Newspaper reported that 

Nujaifi will visit several countries, 

including Iran, but his main focus will be 

Kuwait. The newspaper did not report 

when this trip is going to be. 

There are several issues lingering between 

Kuwait and Iraq that frequently spark 

tensions between the two neighbors: 

shared oil fields, land and water border 

demarcations, and the controversial 

Kuwaiti Mubarak Port which Iraqis believe 

will take business away from their ports 

and effect fishermen working in the Gulf. 

Iraq is also criticizing Kuwait for its 

support of the UN's Chapter 7 sanctions 

that were imposed on Iraq after the 

Second Gulf War in 1991. Kuwait demands 

reparations for the Iraqi invasion, 

disclosure of the fate of Kuwaiti MIAs and 

the return of the remains of Kuwaitis 

POWs. 

Without Kuwait’s approval, it is not likely 

that the United Nations Security Council 

lift the Chapter 7 sanctions. 

Sayfa 3

http://www.aknews.com/en/aknews/4/26 

3017/ 

Goran Barzani Şerefine Yemek 

Düzenledi 

Peyamner 

Süleymaniye/23-Sep- 

2011(PNA)- Dün yurt gezisi çerçevesinde 

Kelar’da bulunan Başkan Barzani ordan 

Süleymaniye’ye geçti ve Goran 

Hareketi’nin Lideri Newşirwan Mustafa ile 

bir araya geldi. 

Kürdistan Bölgesi Başkan Mesud Barzani 

büyük 11 Eylül devrimi kutlamaları ile aynı 

gün Zaxo’da start verdiği yurt gezisine 

devam ediyor. 

Kelar’dan sonra Süleymaniye’ye geri gelen 

Başkan Barzani Goran Hareketi Lideri 

Newşirwan Mustafa ile görüştü. Görüşme 

öncesi Goran Hareketi Başkan Barzani’nin 

şerefine bir yemek düzenledi. Yemek 

sonrası Başkan Barzani ile Goran 

Hareketi’nin lideri Newşırwan Mustafa 

başbaşa görüşmek için salondan ayrıldı. 

karşısına geçmesini bekliyordu. Ancak 

görüşme sonrası hiç bir açıklama 

yapılmadan ikili toplantı yerinden ayrıldı. 

Görüşmede Kürdistan Bölgesi’nin içinde 

bulunduğu durum ve yaşanan sorunların 

ele alındığı öğrenildi. Tarafların diyalokla 

herşeyin çözümüne kavuşması ve 

reformların devam etmesini ele aldıklarını 

öğrenildi. 

Kürdistan Bölgesi’nde bir çok il, ilçe ve 

kasabayı ziyaret eden başkan Barzani dün 

Xaneqin ve ardından Kelara geçmiş ve 

orda da halk toplantıları düzenlemişti. 

Gittiği her yerde sevgi gösterileri ile 

karşılanan Başkan, halkın sorunları dinliyor 

ve beraberinde bulunan Bakanlar 

sorunların çözümü için gerekli raporları 

hazırlatıyor. 

http://www.peyamner.com/details.aspx?l 

=6&id=249065 

Bir Ayda 7 Milyar Dolara Petrol Satıldı 

Peyamner Bağdat/23-Sep-2011(PNA)- Irak 

Petrol Bakanlığı yaptığı açıklamada geçen 

ay satılan petrolden elde edilen gelirin 7 

milyar 124 milyon dolara olduğunu 

açıkladı. 

Yaklaşık bir saat süren görüşmenin 

ardından basın mensupları ikilinin basının 

Sayfa 4

commander in Ramadi, capital of Anbar 

province. 

Irak Petrol Bakanlığı sözcüsü Asım Cihad 

yaptığı açıklamada Irak’ın ihraç ettiği varil 

saysının 67 milyon 900 bine ulaştığını ve 

bunun 7 milyar 124 milyon dolar gelire 

tekabül ettiğini dile getirdi. 

http://www.peyamner.com/details.aspx?l 

=6&id=249075 

Four killed when Iraqi insurgents 

attack police, government compound 

Insurgents dressed in military uniforms 

launched a coordinated attack on a 

government compound in the western city 

of Ramadi on Tuesday, but the assault was 

partly foiled by local police, who had 

taken over security of the compound from 

the Iraqi army four months ago. 

Two police officers, one civilian and a 

leader of the Sons of Iraq, a Sunni 

counterinsurgency coalition, were killed 

by twin suicide bombs, said Brig. 

Mohammed Rashid, the police 

Fifteen policemen were injured in an 

ensuing firefight with five gunmen who 

breached the perimeter of the compound 

after the explosions. Police shot and killed 

the gunmen. They also fatally shot a third 

would-be suicide bomber before he could 

trigger his device. 

One suicide bomber detonated his 

explosives at the eastern gate of the 

compound about 12:45 p.m., and another 

blew up his car at the western gate. Police 

then cordoned off the compound, and 

gunfire could be heard inside. 

The compound, about 60 miles west of 

Baghdad, houses the headquarters of the 

Anbar police department, government 

and counterterrorism bureau. It has been 

the site of seven insurgent assaults in the 

past two years. 

Tuesday's attack bears the fingerprints of 

al-Qaeda in Iraq, said Saadoun al-Shaalan, 

deputy chairman of the provincial council 

of Anbar, a majority-Sunni province that 

was once a stronghold of the insurgent 

group. 

"This is solid evidence that al-Qaeda 

doesn't represent the Sunni sect or the 

Sayfa 5

citizens of Anbar," Shaalan said of the 

attack. "And it also gives you real evidence 

that we are on the right path" with local 

security. 

Nevertheless, a new government 

compound is under construction in 

western Anbar, a location that might 

provide more of a buffer against attacks. 

Among the dead Tuesday was Khalid al- 

Alwani, one of the leaders of the Sons of 

Iraq. 

The coordinated attack was reminiscent of 

a more devastating raid in March on a 

provincial government headquarters in 

the northern city of Tikrit, where gunmen 

and suicide bombers in military garb killed 

more than 50 people. 

The latest Anbar incident continues a 

string of bold insurgent attacks in the 

province this month. Last week, gunmen 

killed 22 Shiites from Karbala on a 

pilgrimage to a shrine in Damascus, Syria. 

The massacre, in a desert valley west of 

Ramadi, triggered a helicopter search by 

the Iraqi military that resulted in the 

arrests of 10 men, six of whom were 

released Saturday because of a lack of 

evidence and four of whom remain in 

custody in Anbar. 

Lt. Gen. Farouk al-Araji, an adviser to 

Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, told 

reporters Sunday that the attack on the 

pilgrims was executed with precision by 

cooperating foreign groups. The suspects 

are Arabs from outside Iraq, he said. 

Elsewhere Tuesday, three Iraqi policemen 

were killed by gunmen using silencer 

pistols at a checkpoint in the Shiite district 

of Shaab, in northern Baghdad, and a 

district police commander was injured by 

a bomb attached to his car in the city of 

Baqubah, about 35 miles northeast of the 

capital. 

Iraqi government and religious leaders 

have said such sporadic attacks are 

designed to inflame sectarian violence as 

the Dec. 31 deadline for U.S. troop 

withdrawal approaches. 

Washington Post, Uthman al-Mokhtar and 

Dan Zak, September 21 

Former Afghan President 

Burhanuddin Rabbani assassinated 

Kabul - Former Afghan President 

Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed by a 

suicide bomber on Tuesday in his home in 

the capital, the latest in a series of highprofile 

assassinations to rock the country 

in recent months. 

Sayfa 6

Rabbani was the head of a government 

panel set up last year to try to begin 

negotiations with the Taliban, and his 

death was seen as a serious blow to those 

still-nascent efforts. 

The bomber, who apparently had 

explosives concealed in his turban, 

entered Rabbani's home in an upscale 

Kabul neighborhood on the pretext of 

visiting him, said Gen. Mohammed Zaher, 

the head of criminal investigation for the 

Kabul police. 

The powerful blast injured at least two 

other people, Zaher said, possibly 

including at least one other member of 

the High Peace Council, as the 

reconciliation body was known. 

The Associated Press reported that four of 

Rabbani's bodyguards were also killed, but 

that could not be immediately confirmed. 

Rabbani's death came a short time before 

President Obama and Afghan President 

Hamid Karzai met in New York on the 

sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly, 

their first face-to-face session since the 

American leader announced plans to 

reduce the number of U.S. troops in 

Afghanistan over the coming year. 

"This will not deter us from continuing 

down the path we have started," said 

Karzai, seated beside Obama at a 

Manhattan hotel. Karzai planned to cut 

short his New York visit and return home. 

Rabbani served as Afghan president in the 

early-to-mid 1990s, and was the head of 

government at the time of the Taliban 

takeover. 

He was a Tajik, one of Afghanistan's 

largest ethnic groups. Although there was 

no immediate claim of responsibility from 

the Taliban or other insurgent groups, the 

killing is likely to heighten ethnic tensions. 

Most Taliban are Pashtuns, the country's 

largest ethnic group. 

Afghanistan's political climate, always 

violent, has become much more so in 

recent months. 

Karzai's younger half-brother, Ahmed Wali 

Karzai, was assassinated by a close family 

associate in July. A close Karzai aide, Jan 

Mohammed Khan, was killed that same 

month, as was the mayor of the southern 

city of Kandahar, Ghulam Haidar Hamidi. 

Los Angeles Times, Laura King, September 

21 

Sayfa 7

Five Killed in Iraq Attacks 

Iraqi officials say at least five people have 

been killed in a series of attacks on 

Tuesday. 

Authorities say gunmen using silencers 

opened fire on a police patrol in Baghdad, 

killing three police officers. 

Meanwhile, a series of explosions in the 

western city of Ramadi killed at least two 

people. 

Investigators say the bombings, which 

included at least one suicide attack, took 

place near government buildings. 

Overall violence in Iraq has been down 

since its height in 2006 and 2007. 

However, Iraqi and U.S. officials have 

expressed concern about Baghdad's ability 

to maintain security after U.S. forces 

withdraw at the end of the year. 

VOA, September 20 

Researchers Develop Laser to Help 

Detect Roadside Bombs 

Researchers from Michigan State 

University are developing a laser-based 

method to combat improvised explosive 

devices (IEDs) used by insurgents fighting 

in Iraq and Afghanistan. 

The laser used by MSU researchers isn't 

necessarily stronger or more powerful, 

but is able to scan the immediate area 

analyzing the chemical composition of 

surrounding objects. 

Originally designed for microscopes, the 

new technology uses both ultra-short 

pulses designed to disturb molecules, and 

the longer pulses are able to identify 

different frequencies. 

Accurately picking out chemical 

compounds used in IEDs in the field is 

complicated due to the varying 

compounds already present. To 

complicate matters further, IEDs are often 

placed in populated locations, so any type 

of IED locator must spot an IED without 

destroying it. 

"Having molecular structure sensitivity is 

critical for identifying explosives and 

avoiding unnecessary evacuation of 

buildings and closing roads due to false 

alarms," noted researcher Dr. Marcos 

Dantus. "The laser and the method we've 

developed were originally intended for 

microscopes, but we were able to adapt 

and broaden its use to demonstrate its 

effectiveness for standoff detection of 

explosives." 

Sayfa 8

British research teams also are developing 

new chemical-based IED detection 

systems they hope can be field tested as 

soon as possible. The use of roadside 

bombs in Iraq and Afghanistan still cause a 

high number of coalition casualties, 

despite vehicles with better armor. 

Trying to combat the deadly impact of 

IEDs has been a difficult challenge, with a 

number of different options tested by the 

US military. Last month, a story surfaced 

about US Army soldier successfully using a 

modified RC truck to help locate IEDs out 

in the field. 

Daily Tech, Michael Hatamoto, September 

20 

Mullen: Troop Total In Iraq To Drop 

Sharply 

Washington - The number of American 

troops in Iraq will fall to roughly 40,000 by 

the end of this month as the U.S. winds 

down the war, U.S. military officials said 

Tuesday. 

Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint 

Chiefs of Staff, initially said force levels 

would drop to 30,000 over that 

timeframe, but later Tuesday his 

spokesman corrected the number. 

Capt. John Kirby said Mullen spoke in 

error when he told a crowd at the 

Carnegie Endowment for International 

Peace that the number was lower. 

Kirby added that "the larger point" that 

Mullen made "is still valid: We are on 

track to meet the president's goal of 

withdrawing all American troops from Iraq 

by the end of the year." 

There are about 44,500 U.S. troops in Iraq. 

When the U.S. officially ended its combat 

mission in Iraq on Sept. 1, 2010, it had 

about 50,000 troops. Under a 2008 

agreement, all U.S. troops are to be out of 

Iraq by the end of this year. 

"This is the drawdown plan that Gen. 

Austin's had in place specifically, and it's 

really a plan that gets us to, under the 

current agreement, to (pulling) all the 

troops out by the end of December," 

Mullen said during a news conference 

Tuesday with Defense Secretary Leon 

Panetta. Gen. Lloyd Austin is the top U.S. 

commander in Iraq. 

Talks are under way with Iraq to consider 

leaving at least a few thousand U.S. troops 

in the country to help train Iraqi forces. 

Mullen said it is a difficult process, and 

Sayfa 9

there still have been no final decisions on 

troop levels beyond Dec. 31. 

Asked about plans for the U.S. Embassy to 

hire 8,000 private security contractors to 

protect American personnel and buildings 

in Iraq if the military leaves, Panetta said 

that the issue is part of the negotiations. 

"One of the concerns we always have is 

the importance of providing adequate 

security, and I think that will be one of the 

issues that will be involved in these 

negotiations," he said. 

AP via NPR, Robert Burns, September 20 

Iraq drawdown no cakewalk for U.S. 

military, police advisors 

The Obama-promised drawdown from 

Iraq is one of the most anticipated events 

in 2011. According to President Barack 

Obama and his national security team, 

most U.S. troops will have left -- or will be 

leaving -- by December 31, 2011. 

However, the drawdown of U.S. forces in 

Iraq and the transition from a U.S. military 

to a civilian-led presence after December 

2011 continue amid an uncertain security 

and political environment. A government 

report indicates a priority is maintaining a 

cadre of training advisors for Iraqi soldiers 

and police officers, especially police 

commandos. 

On Friday, the Government Accountability 

Office -- the U.S. Congress' investigative 

and research arm -- released one in a 

series of reviews regarding the planning 

and execution of the drawdown. 

Specifically, Friday's report assessed the 

extent to which Pentagon has planned for, 

begun to execute, and mitigated risk 

associated with transferring and removing 

personnel and equipment from remaining 

bases in Iraq; curtailing unneeded contract 

services, transitioning expiring contracts, 

and providing adequate contract 

oversight; and facilitating and supporting 

the transition to a civilian-led presence in 

Iraq. 

The GAO examined relevant DOD planning 

documents, attended drawdown-related 

conferences, interviewed State officials 

and DOD officials throughout the chain of 

command in the United States, Kuwait, 

and Iraq, and visited several locations in 

Kuwait and Iraq to observe drawdown 

operations. 

The GAO reported that "DOD has robust 

plans and processes" for determining the 

sequence of actions and associated 

Sayfa 10

esources necessary to achieve the 

drawdown from Iraq, which is well 

underway with a significant amount of 

equipment removed from Iraq and bases 

transitioned, among other things. 

However, several factors contribute to 

making this phase more challenging than 

the previous drawdown phase. First, DOD 

will have less operational flexibility in this 

phase of the drawdown, yet will need to 

move a greater amount of equipment 

than in prior drawdown phases. 

Second, DOD is closing the largest bases 

with fewer available resources left on site, 

which creates a set of challenges and risks 

greater than what DOD faced during the 

prior drawdown phase. Although DOD's 

plans and processes create flexibility and 

mitigate risk, it has limited visibility over 

some equipment remaining in Iraq and 

does not track equipment found on 

transitioning bases that is not listed on 

any property accountability record. 

Without addressing these issues, DOD 

may miss opportunities to make the 

drawdown more efficient. DOD has taken 

action to improve its management of 

contracts in Iraq, such as enhancing 

contract oversight and assigning 

Contracting Officer's Representative 

responsibilities as a primary duty, 

although concerns, such as lack of 

experience among contract oversight 

personnel, remain. As the drawdown 

progresses, DOD may face further 

challenges in ensuring that major 

contracts transition without gaps in key 

services. 

To ensure the continuity of key services 

while continuing to reduce these services, 

some units are exploring the option of 

using local contractors to provide certain 

services since local contractors do not 

require extensive support, such as 

housing, and will not have to be 

repatriated to their country of origin at 

the end of the contract, although GAO has 

previously reported on challenges 

associated with hiring such firms resulting 

in the need for greater oversight. 

Some units also intend to replace 

contractor personnel with U.S. service 

members to ensure continuity of certain 

services, such as guard security and 

generator maintenance. 

Despite various steps to ease contractor 

demobilization, DOD faces challenges in 

demobilizing its contractors, including 

operational security-driven limits on 

exchanging information such as base 

Sayfa 11

closure dates and ensuring accurate 

contractor planning. Without taking 

additional steps to address these 

challenges, DOD may be unable to 

effectively implement its demobilization 

guidance and ensure the effective 

reduction of contract services to 

appropriate levels and ultimate 

demobilization of all its contractors. 

As the U.S. presence in Iraq transitions to 

a civilian-led presence, although DOD and 

State Department interagency 

coordination for the transition began late, 

both agencies have now coordinated 

extensively and begun to execute the 

transfer or loan to State of a wide range of 

DOD equipment, while DOD has taken 

steps to minimize any impact on unit 

readiness of such transfers. DOD also has 

agreed to potentially provide State 

Department staff with extensive 

contracted services, including base and 

life support, food and fuel, and 

maintenance, but State may not have the 

capacity to fund and oversee these 

services. 

GAO recommended to Congress that DOD 

take further action to (1) acquire and 

maintain real-time visibility over 

contractor-managed government- owned 

equipment; (2) collect data on 

unaccounted-for equipment found during 

base transitions; (3) work with contractors 

to gather and distribute information 

needed to demobilize their workforces; 

and (4) officially clarify the scope of DOD's 

role in post-2011 Iraq, to include the 

privileges and immunities to be afforded 

all DOD government personnel. DOD 

officials concurred with all of GAO's 

recommendations. 

The Examiner, Jim Kouri, September 20 

Iraqi Shiites threaten departing U.S. 

army 

Baghdad - U.S. troops preparing to pull 

out of Iraq face a growing threat from a 

Shiite militia known as Asaib Ahl al-Haq, 

founded and led by veteran insurgent Qais 

al-Khazali. 

U.S. commanders say AAH is one of the 

most dangerous groups in Iraq and, along 

with other Shiite militant groups like the 

Promised Day Brigades and the Hezbollah 

Brigades, is backed and armed by Iran. 

The group claims it is funded by 

sympathetic Iraqis but these are believed 

to include backers of the Mehdi 

Movement led by Iranian-backed cleric 

Sayfa 12

Moqtada Sadr who fought the Americans 

in 2004-07. 

Khazali was once spokesman for al-Sadr's 

Mehdi Army militia. That organization has 

officially been disbanded but most of its 

hard-liners have re-emerged with other 

militant groups such as AAH. 

Asaid Ahl al-Haqm, whose name means 

"League of the Righteous," maintains an 

office in Beirut, where it liaises with 

Hezbollah, Iran's longtime proxy in the 

Levant and the Tehran regime's strike arm 

against Israel. 

AAH is also understood to have financial 

assets in the Lebanese capital, a major 

Middle Eastern banking hub that 

maintains tight secrecy about foreign 

assets held there. 

U.S. intelligence sources say that 

Hezbollah, which was formed by Iran after 

the Israelis invaded Lebanon in June 1982, 

was instrumental in organizing and 

training AAH, and other "special groups" 

of Iraqi Shiite militants set up by Iran 

following the U.S. invasion of March 2003. 

One of the key Hezbollah operatives who 

worked with the elite al-Quds Force, the 

covert action arm of Iran's Revolutionary 

Guards Corps, to establish these groups 

was Ali Mussa Daqduq. He was captured 

by coalition forces March 20, 2007, along 

with Qais al-Khazali, and his brother Laith. 

These three headed a Shiite group that 

kidnapped and killed five U.S. soldiers 

outside Karbala, a Shiite holy city south of 

Baghdad, Jan. 20, 2007. 

The Khazalis were released in a 2009 

prisoner exchange with Iran. Daqduq, who 

was sent to Iraq in 2005 to build a local 

version of Hezbollah, was a lieutenant of 

the Lebanese group's iconic operations 

chief, Imad Mughniyeh, assassinated in 

Damascus Feb. 12, 2008. 

Daqduq remains in U.S. custody in Iraq 

and this poses a dilemma for the 

Americans: If they hand him over to the 

Shiite-dominated Baghdad government 

when the U.S. military withdrawal is 

scheduled to be completed Dec. 31, 

Daqduq would almost certainly be 

delivered to the Iranians and freed or 

"allowed to escape" as other high-value 

prisoners have done in recent months. 

But if the Americans hold onto him, they 

would either have to send him to 

Guantanamo Bay or put him on trial, 

neither of which is considered a viable 

option. 

Sayfa 13

There was a plan to quietly hand him over 

to Iraqi authorities in July. But word 

leaked out and senior members of the U.S. 

Congress were outraged that "the highest 

ranking Hezbollah operative currently in 

our custody" should be released "to kill 

more American servicemen and women." 

The plan was dropped. But if the 

Americans take him with them when they 

depart that will leave them with the 

thorny legal question of how to prosecute 

him. 

Asaib Ahl al-Haq is believed to have 

several thousand operatives, highly 

trained by al-Quds Force and its Hezbollah 

allies, and primed to go on the attack to 

speed the Americans on their way or to 

mount a full-scale offensive against them 

if Baghdad extends a U.S. military 

presence in Iraq, as the U.S. 

administration and Republicans in 

Congress want. 

There are indications the "special groups" 

are flexing their muscles. AAH sent a 

warning July 4 by rocketing Baghdad's 

heavily protected Green Zone. 

"Like its predecessor, Jaish al-Mahdi (al- 

Sadr's Mehdi Army), AAH is becoming a 

catch-all for a wide range of militants who 

seek to engage in violence for a host of 

ideological, sectarian or purely 

commercial motives," observed Michael 

Knights, an expert on Iraq currently with 

the Washington Institute for Near East 

Policy. 

Iran, determined to stamp its authority 

over its oil-rich neighbor and traditional 

foe once the Americans go, can unleash 

these "special groups" any time it wants 

to. 

One ominous sign is the recent return to 

Iraq from Iran of two other notorious 

group commanders, Sadrist breakaway 

Abu Mustapha al-Sheibani and Ismail al- 

Lami, aka Abu Deraa, one of the most 

bloodthirsty of the Shiite warlords. 

UPI, September 20 

Iraq Joins Calls for Assad to Step 

Down in Syria 

After months of striking a far friendlier 

tone toward the government of President 

Bashar al-Assad of Syria, the Iraqi 

government has joined a chorus of other 

nations calling on him to step down. 

An adviser to the Iraqi prime minister, 

Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, said in an interview 

with The New York Times on Tuesday that 

the Iraqi government had sent messages 

Sayfa 14

to Mr. Assad that said he should step 

down. 

"We believe that the Syrian people should 

have more freedom and have the right to 

experience democracy," said the adviser, 

Ali al-Moussawi. "We are against the oneparty 

rule and the dictatorship that hasn't 

allowed for the freedom of expression." 

The statements from Mr. Moussawi mark 

a significant change for Iraq. When the 

United States and several of its major 

allies called in August for Mr. Assad to 

cede power, the Iraqi government 

appeared to be more in line with Iran, 

which has supported Mr. Assad. The same 

day as the American statement, Mr. Maliki 

gave a speech warning Arab leaders that 

Israel would benefit the most from the 

Arab Spring. 

"There is no doubt that there is a country 

that is waiting for the Arab countries to be 

ripped and is waiting for internal 

corrosion," Mr. Maliki said in that speech. 

"Zionists and Israel are the first and 

biggest beneficiaries of this whole 

process." 

As violence began to spread across Syria in 

June, Mr. Maliki received a delegation of 

visiting Syrian business people and 

government officials, including the foreign 

minister, to discuss closer economic ties 

between the two countries. At the time, 

Mr. Maliki called on Syrians to stick to 

peaceful protests and rely on the 

government to enact reforms. 

Iraq and Syria have been adversaries in 

the past, particularly at the height of 

sectarian conflict here, when many Iraqi 

leaders, including Mr. Maliki, said the 

Syrians were allowing foreign fighters and 

suicide bombers to cross its border into 

Iraq. 

But last year, analysts said, Iran pressed 

Mr. Assad to support Mr. Maliki for 

another term as prime minister, and since 

then Iraq and Syria have strengthened 

their economic and diplomatic relations. 

Mr. Moussawi said Tuesday that the Iraqi 

government was very worried that if Mr. 

Assad's government collapses, violence 

will spill over the border and further 

destabilize Iraq. He said the Iraqi 

government was asking Washington what 

the United States' plans are in the event of 

Mr. Assad's departure. 

"Our goals are the same as the United 

States has in changing the regime," he 

said. "The only difference is the way to 

Sayfa 15

achieve these goals. I don't know how you 

can guarantee what will happen in Syria if 

there is a sudden change. I'm sure there 

will be a civil war and lots of chaos. We 

were always against the Syrian regime." 

Mr. Moussawi said there was a danger 

that Syria would plunge into a sectarian 

conflict similar to the one that engulfed 

Iraq after the United States-led invasion 

overthrew Saddam Hussein in 2003. 

"The sudden change will create lots of 

chaos, because they have a divided army 

and a divided people in Syria, and this is 

going to create a civil war," he said. "We 

took everything from what happened in 

Iraq, and we know that a sudden change 

can create a problem - even with the 

presence of a foreign army." 

More than 2,700 people are estimated to 

have died in Syria as security forces have 

cracked down on pro-democracy protests 

over the past six months. Leaders of other 

Arab nations said little about the violence 

at first, but many have since condemned 

the killings. 

NYT, Michael S. Schmidt and Yasir Ghazi, 

September 20 

Dead, missing in South Rumaila 

station blast 

Basra - There was at least one explosion at 

a degassing station in Iraq's power-horse 

Rumaila oil field near the Kuwaiti border 

when a pipeline was set ablaze during 

maintenance, and shutting in at least part 

of field's production. 

The station belongs to the state-run South 

Gas Co., but will affect the output of the 

Rumaila oil field, operated by BP and the 

China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) in 

a development deal signed with the staterun 

South Oil Co. in late 2009. 

Rumaila accounts for at least 40 percent 

of the country's 2.7 million barrels per day 

(bpd) of production. 

Details are unclear as of 3 p.m. local time, 

three hours after the incident, which is 

not being considered a sabotage. The fire 

at this time is ongoing but under control 

as firefighters from the South Oil 

Company's many fields, the South 

Refineries Company, and those working 

for foreign oil companies have responded. 

An oil police official in Basra said there are 

six dead and more than 30 injured. An 

Interior Ministry source said eight killed. 

Sayfa 16

There were reports of two explosions 

within a 30 minute timeframe, coming 

days after a fire at the Janubia Degassing 

Station in al-Rutga, 60 kilometers west of 

Basra city. 

The maintenance team of as many as 12 

people were repairing a leaking pipeline at 

the degassing station, "using heavy 

equipment," said one South Gas Co. 

worker. A pipeline containing flammable 

gas was being moved and exploded, 

according to a South Rumaila oil field 

worker. 

The teams are having difficulty, however, 

due to the toxic gas fumes and the flames. 

The oil field, which has been producing at 

between 1.1 million and 1.2 million bpd 

will be affected, though its too early to 

determine the extent, a foreign oil 

company official said. The field is slated to 

produce 2.85 million bpd in six years, 

which would make it the second largest 

producing oil field in the world. 

The field's production had been "curtailed 

for the last few days" on order of the Oil 

Ministry, the official said. Iraq's domestic 

and export infrastructure is not fully 

developed and producing fields face 

numerous bottlenecks, forcing the 

government to order fields to be partially 

shut-in. 

"Of course there should be a shut down," 

said an Iraqi worker at the South Rumaila 

oil field. "How are they going to work with 

this fire at the degassing station?" 

"But there is no sabotage at all, for sure," 

he said. "It's just an accident." 

Iraq Oil Report, Ali Abu Iraq and Ben 

Lando, September 20 

Iraq looks to triple its palm trees in 

revival of date farming 

Baghdad - Iraqi officials are pushing replanting 

programmes for the country's 

date palms, which are famed across the 

Middle East as the region's best but have 

suffered terrible losses in past decades. 

The trees were celebrated during 

Babylonian times for their strength and 

majesty, but more than three decades of 

conflict, sanctions and mismanagement 

have seen their numbers plummet. 

Kamel Al Dulaimi, the head of the date 

palm department at Iraq's agriculture 

ministry, aid: "In ancient times, people 

were heavily dependent on this tree," 

from which they derived not only food but 

Sayfa 17

wood for fashioning tools, furniture and 

baskets. 

"It is a symbol [of Iraq] for many reasons," 

Mr Al Dulaimi said. 

In response, the Iraqi government is 

pushing a US$150 million (Dh550.5m) 

project to triple the number of date palms 

by 2021. 

The programme, which started in 2005, 

involved the ministry planting about 30 

date palm farms. The government is 

courting private investors to cultivate 

additional sites in Iraq's western desert. 

Thousands of seedlings have also been 

provided by the UN's Food and Agriculture 

Organisation and the UAE. 

It comes as part of a nationwide effort to 

rebuild Iraq's shattered infrastructure, 

economy and culture, Mr Al Dulaimi said. 

One of the sites being planted with the 

trees was the route connecting Baghdad's 

airport to the capital, he said, long 

infamous as the target of regular 

bombings and rocket attacks. 

The government programme aims to 

increase the number of trees to 40 million 

in 10 years. Mr Al Dulaimi said that date 

palm trees numbered 32 million in the 

mid 20th century, but that figure dropped 

to 12 m 

He added that officials were hoping to 

increase the variety and quality of dates 

produced. 

Authorities have so far collected 520 types 

of trees, and are looking to increase that 

number. Three quarters of date palm 

trees in Iraq now are of just one variety. 

Before the 1980s, Iraq had more than 600 

varieties of dates, also reputed in Iraq to 

be a source of virility for men. 

The decline has come as a result of Iraq's 

numerous conflicts since 1980, before 

which time dates were the country's 

second-largest export revenue earner 

after oil. 

The outskirts of Basra, the country's main 

commercial hub in the south and the most 

fertile land for the trees, are now littered 

with trunks, dubbed a "palm tree desert", 

which are a legacy of the 1980-1988 war 

with Iran. Just two million trees have 

survived. 

The embargo that followed the 1990 

invasion of Kuwait deprived farmers of 

modern agricultural equipment, while 

water has become increasingly scarce as 

Sayfa 18

dam-building in Turkey and Iran has 

reduced the flow of the Tigris and 

Euphrates rivers in Iraq. 

The US-led invasion in 2003 also indirectly 

hurt the industry as aircraft that sprayed 

insecticides and other necessary chemicals 

were grounded for about two years for 

security reasons. 

All those factors have combined with longterm 

soil salinisation, shortfalls of 

electricity and official negligence, 

according to date palm farmers, to slash 

date palm numbers and deeply harm their 

industry. 

Despite the decline in numbers, the tree's 

fruit remains extremely popular among 

Iraqis, who need little prodding to 

trumpet it as the best of its type in the 

region. 

A reduction in supply for sale, however, 

has put countless date palm farmers out 

of business, and of the ones who have 

survived, many are hanging on by a 

thread. 

Nur Abbas Hashim, a plantation owner in 

Basra, said: "We used to produce tonnes, 

and now we produce dozens of 

kilograms." He said that because of a lack 

of updated equipment and shortfalls of 

nearly everything he required, the quality 

of the fruit had suffered. 

Other farmers have fallen victim to the 

brutal violence that raged across Iraq from 

2006 to 2008. Mizhar Uday, whose 

plantation lies in the northern Baghdad 

neighbourhood of Graiat, said he had lost 

a third of his 250 palm trees as a result of 

clashes between militants and US soldiers. 

"All problems are because of the 

occupiers," Mr Uday, 45, said, referring to 

US forces. "They did not just kill men, they 

are the cause of the death of the trees." 

Many of his trees were hit by bullets or 

shrapnel from explosions during the 

rampant violence that plagued the capital 

in the years following the invasion, and 

dozens of trunks litter his plantation. 

One was even battered by a Katyusha 

rocket, but regarding that particular 

incident, Mr Uday is not complaining - the 

tree saved his house, metres away, from 

the force of the blast. 

"I need financial help to rebuild my 

plantation - I cannot afford it on my own," 

Mr Uday said. "It is very sad, because 

these trees are very precious to us." 

AFP, September 21 

Sayfa 19

Gulf Keystone raises $200 mln in 

placing 

London - Kurdistan-focused explorer Gulf 

Keystone said it raised $200 million in a 

placing to help accelerate the 

development of the massive oil 

discoveries it has made in the semiautonomous 

region of Iraq. 

The company said on Tuesday it issued 91 

million new shares in an oversubscribed 

placing at a price of 140 pence, 

representing a 14 percent discount to 

Monday's closing price. 

Gulf Keystone, which confirmed on 

Monday that it was considering its options 

with regards to a fundraising, said the 

proceeds would be used to fund an 

aggressive exploration and appraisal 

programme in Kurdistan where it has 

found at least 12 billion barrels of oil so 

far. 

The company is planning to build a 

pipeline from its Shaikan oil field to the 

vital Kirkuk-Ceyhan export pipeline, which 

transports some 500,000 barrels per day 

of crude from northern Iraq to Turkey. 

Cash will also be spent on a development 

plan for the field, upgrading production 

facilities at Shaikan and drilling another 

well on its Sheikh Adi oil field. 

The company, which is seeking a move to 

London's main market from its junior AIM 

market, also plans to raise additional 

funds from selling a minority interest in 

one of its Kurdistan blocks. 

Kurdistan has enjoyed a surge of 

investment in the past year as relations 

between its regional government and 

Iraq's national government in Baghdad 

improved. 

BP's former boss Tony Hayward staged a 

reverse takeover of Turkish explorer Genel 

Energy earlier this month to create a 

Kurdistan-focused group worth $4 billion. 

Shares in Gulf Keystone, which have 

gained 26 percent in the last month, 

closed at 162.5 pence on Monday valuing 

the company at 1.2 billion pounds ($1.9 

billion). ($1 = 0.639 British Pounds) 

Reuters, Sarah Young and Lorraine Turner, 

September 20 

Analysts estimate the cost of building the 

pipeline at between $100 million to $150 

million. 

Sayfa 20

A Second Chamber for the Iraqi 

Parliament? 

Over the past few days there have been 

persistent reports that some leading 

members of Iraqiyya who have lost faith in 

the national council for high policies are 

contemplating reviving the debate about a 

senate in the Iraqi parliament as a 

potential substitute. 

To some extent, there are positive aspects 

to this suggestion. Firstly, unlike the 

strategic council, the senate is already in 

the Iraqi constitution, even though its 

composition and prerogatives are illdefined 

(article 65, which apparently was 

added to the constitutional draft in 2005 

as a last-minute measure). Iraq has had a 

bicameral parliamentary structure in the 

past as well: The senate during the days of 

the monarchy was an appointed upper 

chamber to the “elected” first chamber. 

Potentially, then, a senate could serve as a 

deliberative forum that could supplement 

the existing parliament, not least since the 

appointment formula sketched out in the 

constitution – 

two representatives per 

governorate and region – would produce a 

different political dynamic than that 

prevailing in the proportionally elected 

house of representatives. Indeed, when 

compared with the strategic policy council 

(which would largely comprise members 

of the existing government), the senate 

comes across as an institution that holds 

far greater promise for avoiding a mere 

duplication of the stalemates that 

currently dominate both the executive 

and the legislature in Iraq. 

But there are also multiple problems 

connected with the senate. In the first 

place, the senate enjoys no specific 

prerogatives defined in the constitution. 

The explanation is probably very simple: 

The drafters of the constitution must have 

had a last-minute realisation that since 

they had rather unceremoniously 

transformed Iraq into a loose federation, 

they would need to add a second chamber 

since most good federations have one. An 

attempt to define the powers of the 

chamber was done during the 

unsuccessful attempt at revising the 

constitution in 2007–2009, but those 

powers indicated in the revision are not 

particularly strong and resemble that of 

many European second chambers, i.e. the 

senate has the power to delay but not to 

ultimately block the actions of the first 

chamber. This is very far from what some 

Iraqiyya members (such as Nabil Harbo) 

have in mind when they declare that the 

second chamber will potentially have 

Sayfa 21

greater powers than the strategic policy 

council. 

Iraq and Gulf Analysis, 

September 20 

Reidar Visser, 

Even more importantly, there are special 

legal requirements and thresholds 

pertaining to the law for creating the 

senate: A two-thirds absolute majority or 

216 deputies in the current parliament. 

This means that unless the senate is 

created as part of the special 

constitutional revision under article 142 

(which can be done with an absolutemajority 

vote followed by a popular 

referendum), the senate, just like the 

projected federal supreme court, belongs 

to the realm of legislation requiring 

special-majority votes that seem unlikely 

to see the light of day anytime soon. 

The hard reality is that neither the senate 

nor the strategic policy council is likely to 

come into existence or give Iraqiyya what 

they are seeking. If they are objective, 

they would instead notice that Prime 

Minister Nuri al-Maliki currently has 

problems both with the Kurds and his 

fellow Shiite Islamists (including most 

recently Sabah al-Saadi, an independent, 

and Kazim al-Sayadi, a Sadrist). 

Negotiating with him directly seems to 

remain a far more realistic way of winning 

real power. 

Sahwa member injured by US forces 

in northern Babil 

A security source in Babil province said 

Tuesday that a Sahwa member was hit by 

U.S. forces north of Babil. 

In an interview with al-Sumaria News, the 

source said, "A U.S. convoy fired at noon 

Tuesday, toward a Sahwa checkpoint in 

2nd Muwailha area, 55 kilometers north 

of Babil, which resulted in the injury of 

one of the checkpoint members." He 

noted that the reasons for the incident are 

unknown. 

The anonymous source said a police force 

cordoned off the scene and transported 

the injured to a nearby hospital for 

treatment. The police opened an 

investigation into the incident. 

Buratha News, September 20 

Barzani conveys a message to Maliki 

Chairman of the Presidential Office in 

Kurdistan Region, Foaud Hussein said 

President Masoud Barzani stressed the 

need for the federal government to 

commit to the Kurdish demands. 

Sayfa 22

Hussain said Barzani sent a message to 

Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki, indicating 

that problems between Kurdistan and 

Baghdad should be settled by effective 

and serious steps not promises. 

Barzani’s message, which was delivered by 

Deputy Prime Minister Ruz Nuri Sawish, 

stressed the need to implement Arbil 

agreement between the political blocs, 

implementation of Article 140 of the 

Constitution, oil and gas law and budget 

for the Kurdish Peshmerga forces. 

Al-Iraqiyah, September 20 

New political initiative discussed 

between Nujaifi and Barzani in Arbil 

President of Kurdistan region and Iraqi 

Parliament Speaker agreed to work on 

political and economic reforms, national 

and constitutional balances and abide by 

previous initiative for national 

partnership. 

In a statement issued by Parliament 

Speaker's office, received by Aswat al-Iraq, 

Ussama Nujaifi stated that the talks held 

in Arbil were candid and serious. 

Nujaifi explained to President Barzani his 

overall initiative, which was made due to 

the reaction of the obstacles that face the 

political process in the country and late 

events that nearly threw Iraq in the 

furnace of civil war, the statement added. 

Barzani expressed full cooperation to 

establish the pillars of the political 

movement and democracy in the light of 

real national reconciliation, it said. 

He added that the Kurdish delegation will 

head to Baghdad when Kurdistan forces 

and government decide. 

Both sides agreed on political and 

economic reforms, national and 

constitutional balances and abide by the 

previous initiatives to make national 

partnership a success, the statement 

concluded. 

Aswat al-Iraq, September 20 

Al-Hashemi critiques strongly the way 

the government is dealing with the 

issue of human rights 

Vice President Tariq Al-Hashemi criticized 

the Iraqi government regarding its way of 

handling the human rights file. He said 

that it is far from the international 

standards. He expressed his displeasure at 

the continued raids and arbitrary arrests 

carried out by the security forces. 

Al-Hashemi inquired about the role of the 

prosecutors in resolving the cases of the 

Sayfa 23

detainees. He stressed that there are a lot 

of them who are still detained even 

though the constitutional period of their 

arrest has passed and their cases have not 

been seen yet. 

Iraqi Coalition and some of the National 

Alliance shared the stand point of Al- 

Hashemi. They stressed the need to 

release those who were not indicted or 

found guilty of any crimes. The accused 

the Ministry of Justice of being derelict in 

this regard. 

Amnesty International organization stated 

in a report last year about the Iraqi prisons 

that there were 30,000 Iraqis in prison, 

who have not been tried. Months and 

years have gone by without their trial. The 

Judicial Council reaffirms that they are 

trying to expedite the cases of the 

detained. 

Al-Sumaria TV, September 20 

Iraqiya List will meet Wednesday to 

discuss Nujaifi’s visit to Arbil 

Member of Iraqiya List, Salim Al-Jibbouri, 

said his bloc will meet Wednesday to 

discuss a number of important subjects. 

Jibbouri said Tuesday that Wednesday’s 

meeting will include all members of the 

Iraqiya List. The meeting will discuss 

Nujaifi’s visit to Arbil and how to deal with 

the other political parties in addition to 

the files of Ministry of Electricity and the 

security ministries, added Jibbouri. 

All Iraq News, September 20 

Al-Sadr to Al-Maliki: It's apparent it's 

a new dictatorship after Al-Ugaili, the 

purging of media, the warrant for Al- 

Saedi's arrest 

Sadrist Trend leader asked the Prime 

Minister Nuri Al-Maliki to let go of the 

exclusion policy to maintain Iraq's 

reputation. 

Al-Sadr said, "The warrant of the arrest for 

the independent MP Sabah Al-Saedi has 

disturbed us greatly. My words to the 

Prime Minister, it is apparent to us and 

after a few cases among them the warrant 

for Sabah Al-Saedi; before it, the 

resignation of the Integrity Commission 

president and the purging of the media, all 

in sight of the government. This news 

shows a new dictatorship... we do not 

want another Saddam or another clash." 

Al-Sumaria news, September 21 

Talabani assigns his functions to 

Hashemi during absence from Iraq 

President Jalal Talabani commissioned 

Vice President Tariq Al-Hashimi as 

Sayfa 24

president of the republic during Talabani's 

absence from Iraq. 

The Information Office of the Vice 

President said in a statement Tuesday, 

"Hashemi received a letter issued by 

President Talabani to carry out the tasks 

assigned to him as president during his 

absence from Iraq to attend the opening 

of 66th session for the General Assembly 

of the United Nations." 

Buratha News, September 20 

Kuwait's ambassador to return to 

Baghdad 

KUWAIT: Kuwait's Ambassador to Iraq Ali 

Al-Momen is due to resume his diplomatic 

duties in Baghdad in the coming days after 

a new "fortified" and secure headquarters 

for the embassy was found. Speaking to 

the Kurdistan News Agency (AKNEWS), 

Momen said that Kuwait's embassy in 

Baghdad would resume work in ten days 

at a more secure location. "Kuwait has not 

withdrawn its ambassador from Baghdad 

as some media claimed with the aim to 

create a political crisis between both 

countries," Momen said. He also denied 

that he had left Baghdad for any political 

reasons or disagreements over the 

Mubarak Al-Kabeer port project. 

Meanwhile, an Iraqi lawmaker urged his 

government to speed up construction and 

finish a port on Iraq's side of the Arabian 

Gulf to counter competition from the 

Mubarak port that is being built nearby. 

The rival ports have caused a major feud 

between the neighbors. Baghdad has tried 

to play down concerns that the Kuwaiti 

facility will disrupt Iraqi shipping. 

But Monday, Mansour Al-Timimi, a Shiite 

from Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki's 

political bloc, said the Mubarak port will 

have a "destructive" impact on Iraq's 

economy and waterways. Al-Timimi urged 

Baghdad to finish up the construction of 

its own Faw port, which stalled after it 

started two years ago. He also said Iraq 

should boycott companies involved in 

building the Kuwait port. 

PUK Media, A. Saleh, September 20 

Fire breaks out in al-Kabs Gas 

Refinery in Basrah 

A large fire broke out in al-Kabs Gas-field 

in Southern Rumaila Refinery in Basrah. 

The fire resulted in a number of casualties, 

according to sources from the Southern 

Oil Company. 

The sources said, while the maintenance 

team was working at the location to 

Sayfa 25

eplace a gas pipeline, an explosion 

occurred, which resulted in a huge fire. 

The fire was controlled by the fire 

department, added the sources. 

Al-Iraqiyah, September 20 

A lieutenant colonel in the Ninawa 

police Killed north of Mosul 

A security source reported that 

unidentified gunmen killed a police 

lieutenant colonel from the Ninawa police 

Tuesday evening by an armed attack near 

his home north of Mosul, Ninawa 

province. 

The source that "unknown gunmen 

traveling in a car opened gunfire at the Lt. 

Col. Saad Kamel near his home while he 

returned from work, north of Mosul." 

The source pointed out that the police 

cordoned off the area and blocked access 

to the area in search of the perpetrators 

of the assassination. 

Yaqen, September 20 

2. IRAN / İRAN 

IRGC Unveils Latest Supersonic Anti- 

Ship Missile 

TEHRAN (FNA)- The Islamic Revolution 

Guards Corps (IRGC) Navy displayed its 

latest supersonic anti-ship ballistic missile 

during the annual military parades in 

Southern Tehran on Thursday. 

The smart missile, named "Persian Gulf", 

traverses at supersonic speed and 

destroys targets 300km in distance. 

Military experts said that 'Persian Gulf' is 

deemed as a step ahead in the IRGC Navy 

missile capability not just because of its 

higher velocity, but because the IRGC 

Navy missiles mainly belonged to the 

cruise class, "while Persian Gulf is a 

ballistic missile which flies vertically after 

being launched from a platform on the 

ground". 

"Persian Gulf enjoys a combined guidance 

system," experts said, and explained, "Its 

search and targeting system locks on the 

target only in the final phase, giving 

enemy vessels no chance of escape." 

The solid-fuel missile has a 650kg warhead 

and has been designed by the research 

Sayfa 26

center of the IRGC Aerospace Force and 

mass-produced by the Defense Ministry. 

The smart, solid-fuel anti-ship missile was 

displayed during the military parades at 

the mausoleum of the Founder of the 

Islamic Republic, the Late Imam Khomeini, 

in Southern Tehran today. 

The parades mark the start of the Week of 

Sacred Defense, commemorating Iranian 

sacrifices during the 8 years of the Iraqi 

imposed war on Iran in the 1980s. 

Commander of Khatam ol-Anbia Air 

Defense Base Brigadier General Farzad 

Esmayeeli told reporters on the sidelines 

of the annual military parades in Southern 

Tehran today. 

Stating that the feasibility studies of the 

system have ended, the commander 

underlined, "This project will soon enter 

its final stage (of production) and it will be 

much more advanced than the S-300 

missile system." 

Each year, the Iranian Armed Forces 

display the country's latest military 

achievements and products in nationwide 

parades on September 22. 

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.ph 

p?nn=9006300212 

Iran Nearing Production of 

Indigenous S-300 Missile System 

TEHRAN (FNA)- A top Iranian Air Defense 

commander announced on Thursday that 

the country has actually ended designing 

the Iranian version of the Russian S-300 

missile defense system and would soon 

start its production. 

"Manufacturing Bavar (Belief) 373 Missile 

System is in progress and all production 

needs have been supplied domestically," 

General Esmayeeli first announced on 

Tuesday that Iran is developing its own 

version of the sophisticated S-300 air 

defense system, adding that Iranian 

experts have removed the flaws and 

defects of the Russian version. 

Esmayeeli told FNA that the country's 

experts have started designing and 

building an Iranian version of the S-300 

anti-aircraft missile system after Russia 

refrained from delivering it to Iran. 

Sayfa 27

He noted that the development of the 

Bavar 373 missile system started at the 

order of the commander in-chief of the 

Iranian Armed Forces, Ayatollah Seyed Ali 

Khamenei. 

Asked about the features and 

specifications of the Iranian system, 

Esmayeeli stated, "The flaws and defects 

of the (Russian) S-300 system have been 

removed in the indigenous version of the 

system and its conceptual designing has 

finished." 

Senior Iranian commanders have also 

announced that Bavar 373 enjoys higher 

capabilities than the Russian S-300 

system, reminding that the Iranian system 

has been designed on the basis of the 

country's operational needs. 

"It is now several years that our defense 

industries researchers and experts have 

been designing a system whose 

capabilities are way beyond the S-300 

missile system," Deputy Commander of 

Khatam ol-Anbia Air Defense Base for 

Research and Self-Sufficiency Jihad 

Colonel Mohammad Hossein Shamkhali 

told reporters on Wednesday. 

said, adding that Iran may unveil part of 

the system by the next Iranian year (starts 

on March 20, 2012). 

Under a contract signed in 2007, Russia 

was to provide Iran with at least five S-300 

air-defense systems. But later, Moscow 

shrugged off doing its end of the bargain 

under different excuses. 

Moscow's continued delays in delivering 

the defense system drew criticism from 

the Islamic Republic on several occasions. 

And eventually, Russia refused to deliver 

the system to Iran under the pretext that 

the system is covered by the fourth round 

of UN Security Council resolutions against 

Iran. 

http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.ph 

p?nn=9006300210 

Iran displays ballistic missiles at 

military parade 

TEHRAN, Sept. 22 (MNA) – At a military 

parade on Thursday marking the start of 

Iraq’s war against Iran 31 years ago a 

number of Shahab missiles, solid-fuel Sajjil 

missiles, Qadr F missiles, and radarevading 

fighter jets were displayed. 

"The system has been designed based on 

our own operational needs," Shamkhali 

Sayfa 28

The military parade was held near the 

mausoleum of Imam Khomeini in south 

Tehran. 

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Brigadier 

General Hassan Firouzabadi addressed the 

ceremony. Other top military officials 

including Defense Minister Ahmad Vahidi, 

Nations’ awakening will disappoint 

hegemons, Ahmadinejad tells 

Suleiman 

TEHRAN, Sept. 21 (MNA) – Iranian 

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has 

said that the nations’ awakening will 

scuttle hegemonistic powers’ plans to 

save the Zionist regime and their slumping 

economy. 

Ahmadinejad made the remarks during a 

meeting with Lebanese President Michel 

Suleiman in New York on Wednesday. 

The nations’ awakening will thwart the 

hegemons’ efforts to achieve their 

Armed Forces Commander Ataollah 

Salehi, IRGC Commander Mohammad Ali 

Jafari, Basij Commander Mohammad Reza 

Naqdi, and senior military advisor to the 

Supreme Leader Yahya Rahim Safavi were 

present at the military parade. 

On September 22, 1980, the Iraqi regime, 

under Saddam Hussein’s leadership, 

launched a large scale war against Iran 

and thereby imposed a war against the 

Islamic Republic. 

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdeta 

il.aspx?NewsID=1414548 

imperial ambitions, he stated. 

He also said the Islamic Republic and 

Lebanon are fighting in a common front 

and are bound together by shared 

interests, adding that deepening bilateral 

ties and mutual cooperation in all spheres 

is in favor of stability and security in the 

region. 

He went on to say that hegemons intend 

to create split between nations, but the 

era of such methods have come to an end. 

In the meeting, Suleiman also described 

Tehran-Beirut ties as close and historical 

and said friendly relations between the 

Sayfa 29

two countries are in favor of resistance 

movement and regional countries. 

He emphasized the importance of unity 

and solidarity among regional countries 

against the enemies’ plots and said 

regional nations together can attain great 

successes. 

During another meeting between 

Ahmadinejad and Bolivian President Evo 

Morales, which was held at the United 

Nations headquarters in New York on 

Tuesday, the two sides strongly criticized 

hegemons’ interference in other 

countries’ internal affairs. 

Ahmadinejad underlined the importance 

of unity among independent countries 

against colonial powers and said the 

recent developments in Latin America 

would benefit all freedom-seekers around 

the world. 

In the meeting, Morales also called Iran- 

Bolivia ties friendly and said La Paz 

support Tehran’s principled stances. 

In a separate meeting with the leaders of 

some anti-war groups based in the United 

States, Ahmadinejad pointed to the 

necessity of commitment to human 

dignity and said God has created human 

beings with dignity and would not allow 

anyone to undermine that even in the 

name of religion. 

http://www.mehrnews.com/en/newsdeta 

il.aspx?NewsID=1414313 

İran, serbest bırakılan Amerikalılar 

hakkında bir bildiri yayınladı 

Tahran, 23 Eylül 2011- İran İslam 

Cumhuriyeti Dışişleri Bakanlığı serbest 

bırakılan iki Amerikalı ile ilgili bir bildiri 

yayınladı. 

MHA - İran İslam Cumhuriyeti Dışişleri 

Bakanlığı, kamuoyuna saygı çerçevesinde 

serbest bırakılan iki Amerikalı ile ilgili bir 

bildiri yayınladı. 

Dışişleri Bakanlığı’nın bu bildirisinde, iki yıl 

önce üç Amerikan vatandaşının kanuni 

olmayan bir şekilde, Kürdistan 

mıntıkasından geçerek İran İslam 

Cumhuriyeti topraklarına girdiği bunun 

üzerine görevlerinin bir gereği olarak sınır 

güçleri tarafından tutuklandığı ve yargı 

güçlerine teslim edildiği ve ilk emniyet 

incelemelerinin yapılmasının ardından 

yargıya gelen bu dosyadaki üçüncü kişi 

Sara Shroud’un insani sebepler ve İslami 

merhamet çerçevesinde kefaletle serbest 

bırakıldığı belirtilmektedir. 

İran Dışişleri Bakanlığı tarafından 

yayınlanan bu bildirinin devamında, 

Sayfa 30

mahkemede ithamların dinlenmesi ve 

duruşmalar neticesinde ilgili hakim 

tarafından bu iki Amerikalı tutuklunun da 

2011 Eylül ayı içinde serbest bırakılmasına 

karar verildiğine işaret edilerek, Amerika 

ve diğer ülkelerdeki özellikle İngiltere’de 

hapishanelerde insani olmayan zor 

koşullar altında ve temel hakları inkar 

edilen İranlı tutuklular hatırlatılarak, İran 

Halkı’nın bu masum insanların temel 

haklarının yeniden sağlanması ve bunların 

serbest bırakılması için gerekli zeminin 

sağlanmasını bekledikleri vurgulanıyor. 

http://www.mehrnews.com/tr/newsdetail 

.aspx?NewsID=1414775 

Ahmedinejad: Bölgede büyük bir 

kasırga yaşanabilir 

İran İslam Cumhuriyeti Cumhurbaşkanı 

Mahmud Ahmedinejad, bölge halkının 

hareketinin Batı ve ABD hegemonyasına 

karşı şekillendiğine işaret ederek, bölgede 

bir kasırganın yolda olduğunu ve meydana 

gelen gelişmelerin de bunun bir belirtisi 

olduğunu belirtti. 

New York’ta Amerikan üniversite hocaları 

ve öğrencileriyle görüşen Ahmedinejad 

bölgesel ve uluslar arası gelişmelerle ilgili 

soruları yanıtladı. 

Ahmedinejad “bölge milletleri onlarca yıl 

Batılı devletlerin istek ve taleplerinden 

bıktı ve sonunda bir gün bu dengeyi 

bozacak” dedi. 

BM Genel Kurulunda Obama’nın sözlerine 

değinen Cumhurbaşkanı “bugün ABD 

Başkanı, bir şekilde Filistin milletini, 

egemenlik hakkı üzerinde ısrar etmemesi 

konusunda tehdit etti ve BM kararına 

aykırı ve yasa dışı bir tutumla Filistinlilerin 

egemenlik haklarının verilmesini 

işgalcilerle müzakereye oturma şartına 

bağladı. Hiç şüphesiz bu mantıksız tutum, 

sorunu çözmeyecek. Filistin’in sonunda 

bağımsızlığına ulaşacağına inanıyoruz. 

ABD’nin Siyonist rejimi desteklemekten 

vazgeçmesinde yarar var. Bu rejim, Orta 

Doğu’ya egemen olma hedefiyle kuruldu 

ancak bugün yolun sonuna gelindi. Bu yasa 

dışı rejimin devamı, sahiplerinin 

zararınadır” dedi. 

İran ve ABD ilişkileri ve bu ilişkilerin 

karmaşıklığıyla ilgili bir öğrencinin 

sorusuna karşılık Ahmedinejad “tabii 

Amerikan hükümetlerinin İran ile ilişkileri 

karmaşık değil bu karmaşıklığın çözüm 

Sayfa 31

yolu, ortak insani değerlere bağlı 

kalmaktır. Hiç kimse dünyanın maliki 

olarak kendisini görmemeli başkalarına 

saygı duymalı ve haklarını resmen 

tanımalı” yanıtını verdi. 

Orta Doğu bölgesinin önemi ve Filistin 

devletinin kurulması ile ilgili bir diğer 

soruya karşılık Cumhurbaşkanı şunları 

söyledi: “100 yıldan fazla zamandır 

doğrudan Orta Doğu bölgesi uluslar arası 

dengelerin şekillendiği ana merkezdir ve 

yüz yıldan beri de güçler arasında Orta 

Doğu’ya egemen olma çatışması var. 

Dünyaya hakim olmak isteyen Orta 

Doğu’ya hakim olması şart. Dünyaya 

egemen olma sevdası içinde olan ABD ve 

Batı her zaman Orta Doğu’ya hakim olma 

çabası içinde oldu.” 

Milletlerin özgür olma ve ulusal egemenlik 

haklarına sahip olduğuna işaret eden 

Ahmedinejad “ne yazık ki Filistinlilerin 

hakları ihlal edildi Filistin milleti Birinci ve 

İkinci Dünya Savaşından önce vardı. Filistin 

halkı, yeni oluşan bir millet değil. 

Filistinliler yüz yıllarca bu topraklarda 

yaşadı ancak Orta Doğu’ya egemen olma 

isteği, sahte rejimi ortaya çıkarttı. Silah 

zoru ve Güvenlik Konseyi’nin desteğiyle 

Filistin milletine bu rejim dayatıldı. Filistin 

halkı başından beri bu rejime karşıydı. 

Bugün Filistin devletinin resmen tanınması 

konusu gündeme geldi herkes bu talebin 

Filistin milletinin hakkı olduğunu, son 

yıllarda Filistin’e egemenlik hakkı 

verilmediğini ve bu hakkının iade edilmesi 

gerektiğini bilmeli” dedi. 

http://www2.irna.ir/tr/news/view/line- 

119/1109232723104311.htm 

Celili: Mevcut uluslar arası yapılar, 

dünya için güvenliği sağlayamaz 

İran İslam Cumhuriyeti Ulusal Güvenlik 

Konseyi Sekreteri Said Celili, mevcut 

uluslar arası yapıların ve kuruluşların ve 

ABD ile NATO gibi güçlerin dünya için 

güvenliğini sağlayamayacağını belirtti. 

Rusya’da yapılan güvenlik toplantısında 

konuşan Celili, uluslar arası ilişkilerde 

adaletin temel alınması gerektiğine işaret 

ederek “adalet, uluslar arası ilişkilerin 

temeli olmazsa güvenli bir dünyayı da 

beklememek gerekir” dedi. 

Sayfa 32

BM Güvenlik Konseyinin kurulmasından 60 

yıldan fazla geçmesine rağmen dünyada 

hatta ABD ve Avrupa’da terör ve gıda 

sorunlarıyla birlikte güvenlik sorunlarına 

da işaret eden Celili “güvenliğe bakış 

uluslar arası olmalı ve tüm insanlar için 

adalet temeline dayanmalı” dedi. 

http://www2.irna.ir/tr/news/view/line- 

120/1109230528104655.htm 

3. ISRAEL - PALESTINE / İSRAİL – 

FİLİSTİN 

Erdogan at UN: Israel must apologize 

for flotilla deaths 

said in his first address to the UN General 

Assembly. 

The nine people were killed on May 31, 

2010, when Israeli commandos raided the 

Navi Marmara, the main ship of a flotilla 

that was trying to bring humanitarian 

assistance to Gazans. Eight were Turkish 

nationals and one was a Turkish American. 

A UN report last month said the Israeli 

naval blockade is legal, but criticized Israel 

for excessive use of forces when its 

commandos intercepted the ship on the 

high seas and stopped the flotilla from 

reaching its target. 

Speech at General Assembly comes on 

heels of UN report which says the Israeli 

blockade of Gaza is legal, but criticizes 

Israel for excessive use of force for its 

killing of 9 Turkish citizens aboard the 

Gaza flotilla in May 2010. 

Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 

Erdogan asked Israel again on Thursday to 

apologize for the deaths of nine people on 

a Turkish ship that tried to break the 

Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip in 2010. 

"Israel must apologize and compensate for 

the deaths of our martyrs and lift the 

economic blockade on Gaza," Erdogan 

Turkey last month downgraded diplomatic 

relations and cancelled military talks with 

Israel after its demand for an apology and 

compensation was not met. 

Erdogan urged the UN General Assembly 

to recognize Palestinian statehood and 

grant it UN membership. 

Sayfa 33

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy 

-defense/erdogan-at-un-israel-mustapologize-for-flotilla-deaths-1.386135 

Bill Clinton: Netanyahu isn't 

interested in Mideast peace deal 

Former U.S. President says a cynical 

perspective of Prime Minister's calls for 

negotiations 'means that he's just not 

going to give up the West Bank'. 

Netanyahu lost interest in the peace 

process as soon as two basic Israelis 

demands seemed to come into reach: a 

viable Palestinian leadership and the 

possibility of normalizing ties with the 

Arab world. 

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton speaking 

during the 2011 Clinton Global Citizen 

Award ceremony at the Clinton Global 

Initiative in New York September 22, 

2011. 

"The Israelis always wanted two things 

that once it turned out they had, it didn't 

seem so appealing to Mr. Netanyahu," 

Clinton said, adding that Israel wanted "to 

By Haaretz Tags: Middle East peace 

Palestinian state West Bank Benjamin 

Netanyahu Mahmoud Abbas Barack 

Obama UN 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is 

responsible for the inability to reach a 

peace deal that would end the conflict 

between Israel and the Palestinians, 

former U.S. President Bill Clinton said on 

Thursday. 

Speaking on the sidelines of the Clinton 

Global Initiative conference in New York, 

the former U.S. president was quoted by 

Foreign Policy magazine as claiming that 

believe they had a partner for peace in a 

Palestinian government, and there's no 

question -- and the Netanyahu 

government has said -- that this is the 

finest Palestinian government they've 

ever had in the West Bank." 

Furthermore, the former U.S. president is 

quoted by Foreign Policy as saying that 

Israel was also on the verge of being 

recognized by Arab nations adding that 

the "king of Saudi Arabia started lining up 

all the Arab countries to say to the Israelis, 

‘if you work it out with the Palestinians ... 

we will give you immediately not only 

Sayfa 34

ecognition but a political, economic, and 

security partnership." 

"This is huge.... It's a heck of a deal," 

Clinton said, adding: "That's what 

happened. Every American needs to know 

this. That's how we got to where we are." 

"The real cynics believe that the 

Netanyahu's government's continued call 

for negotiations over borders and such 

means that he's just not going to give up 

the West Bank," he added. 

Clinton also said he felt the Palestinians 

would accept the deal rejected by former 

PA President Yasser Arafat in 2000 

negotiations with then Prime Minister 

Ehud Barak, saying that Palestinian 

leaders "have explicitly said on more than 

one occasion that if [Netanyahu] put up 

the deal that was offered to them before - 

- my deal -- that they would take it." 

"For reasons that even after all these 

years I still don't know for sure, Arafat 

turned down the deal I put together that 

Barak accepted," he was quoted by 

Foreign Policy as saying. "But they also 

had an Israeli government that was willing 

to give them East Jerusalem as the capital 

of the new state of Palestine." 

Clinton also added, as to the chances of 

Mideast peace being achievable in the 

foreseeable future, in light of past failures, 

saying that the "two great tragedies in 

modern Middle Eastern politics, which 

make you wonder if God wants Middle 

East peace or not, were [Yitzhak] Rabin's 

assassination and [Ariel] Sharon's stroke." 

Clinton's comments come as a Palestinian 

delegation headed by Abbas is planned to 

officially submit its statehood bid to the 

United Nations later Friday, with both 

Palestinian President Abbas and Prime 

Minister Netanyahu scheduled to address 

the General Assembly. 

Despite heavy pressure from the West, 

Abbas remained determined to formally 

apply for UN recognition of a Palestinian 

state Friday. 

U.S. President Barack Obama met with 

Abbas Thursday night in an effort to 

convince him not to seek Security Council 

recognition, warning that the U.S. would 

use its veto power to block it. Lower-level 

American officials also met with Abbas 

several times, but to no avail. 

Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the 

United Nations, reiterated on Thursdays 

that Abbas' statehood bid will not 

Sayfa 35

contribute to the peace process and will 

merely delay the start of negotiations - 

which, she added, are the only way the 

Palestinians can actually achieve 

independence. 

determined to present a request to the 

UN to be accepted as a full member after 

his speech at the General Assembly. 

American officials also continued their 

effort to mobilize enough Security Council 

votes to defeat the statehood bid without 

a U.S. veto. Germany has already 

announced it won't vote yes, and Rice said 

she is convinced other countries will do 

the same. America, she said, is not the 

only country to realize that the UN gambit 

is unproductive. 

http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy 

-defense/bill-clinton-netanyahu-isn-t- 

interested-in-mideast-peace-deal- 

1.386222 

Abbas confirms he'll ask for full 

membership at UN 

Despite growing pressure, PA president 

tells Palestinian-American leaders in New 

York that he is determined to present 

request to UN to be accepted as full 

member after his speech at General 

Assembly. 

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud 

Abbas made it clear Friday that despite 

heavy international pressure, he is 

During a meeting with 200 Palestinian- 

American leaders, Abbas said: "I have to 

tell you something important. I am under 

heavy pressure not to go to the UN but 

also I want to say that I will go to the 

Security Council and I have no intention to 

withdraw the request no matter what 

pressure there is." 

Abbas' comments came after Israeli 

diplomatic officials said on Thursday that 

fierce US resistance, as well as even some 

European opposition, could force him to 

jettison plans to bring his statehood bid 

either to the UN Security Council or the 

General Assembly anytime soon. 

Abbas will reveal his hand during his 

much-anticipated speech to the General 

Assembly. During that speech he is 

expected to say he is going forward with a 

request to the Security Council for full UN 

Sayfa 36

membership, as he has said he would do; 

whether he would be satisfied with an 

upgrade for “Palestine” from observer to 

nonmember-state observer in the General 

Assembly; or whether he will pursue both 

initiatives. 

According to the officials, a proposal 

floated by Quartet envoy Tony Blair and 

first reported last week in The Jerusalem 

Post would have Abbas submit a formal 

request, via Secretary-General Ban 

Kimoon, to the Security Council. 

Ban, however, will not immediately pass 

the request on, giving the Quartet – the 

US, EU, Russia and UN – time to come up 

with a statement agreed upon by both 

sides that would form the parameters for 

relaunching negotiations. 

The benefit of this proposal, the officials 

said, is that it would allow Abbas a facesaving 

way out of forcing a vote at the 

Security Council, since formally he will 

have done what he promised the 

Palestinians: Submit a request to the 

Security Council. 

The question then would become whether 

he would go to the General Assembly 

seeking an upgrade. 

While it is clear that the Palestinians 

would win a vote in the General Assembly 

by a large margin, since a simple majority 

would be all that was needed there, 

diplomatic officials said some European 

countries were pressing him to refrain 

from going to the General Assembly 

because it would split the EU at a time 

when it is trying to project an image of 

unity on key foreign-policy issues. 

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolit 

ics/Article.aspx?id=239167 

Palestinian president stands to gain 

from gambit as he heads to U.N. 

The drama over the Palestinians’ bid for 

U.N. recognition is still unfolding, but 

President Mahmoud Abbas appears to 

have won new respect at home for 

standing up to the United States and 

moving their decades-long quest for 

statehood back to the center of the world 

stage. 

Recognition of Palestine ─ even in a 

possible watered-down form, since full 

U.N. membership is blocked by a certain 

U.S. veto ─ won’t bring the Palestinians 

true independence anytime soon. It might 

not even be enough to improve their 

hoped-for leverage in future border talks 

with Israel. 

Sayfa 37

But despite such uncertainties and the risk 

of a serious rift with Washington, Abbas 

and his aides say they had to try to break 

the diplomatic impasse of recent years 

with a bold move. 

“In the revolutionary atmosphere of the 

region, when the Palestinian leadership is 

unable to deliver anything, they have to 

be worried about their public standing,” 

said Ghassan Khatib, spokesman for 

Abbas’ West Bank-based Palestinian 

Authority. “With this approach (of seeking 

U.N. recognition), I think it will a little bit 

defuse public pressure.” 

A poll published this week yielded 

stunning support for Abbas’ gambit, 

Abbas was losing domestic credibility ─ as 

well as political ground against militant 

rival Hamas ─ by sticking to the old 

formula of U.S.-brokered negotiations 

with Israel. 

Israelis and Palestinians tend to blame the 

other side for the failure to reach a deal. 

Despite several far-reaching efforts, gaps 

could ultimately not be bridged, and 

Israel’s military occupation of the West 

Bank continues. 

And the Arab Spring ─ a wave of antigovernment 

protests sweeping the region 

since the start of the year ─ has made it 

more difficult for the Palestinian 

leadership to appear to accept the status 

quo. 

suggesting he had tapped into a hunger 

for taking a stand. 

The poll of 1,200 Palestinians indicated 

that more than 80 percent support the bid 

to win U.N. recognition for a Palestinian 

state encompassing the West Bank, Gaza 

and east Jerusalem, areas Israel captured 

in 1967. 

That backing comes despite widespread 

expectations of greater hardships as a 

result, including a possible cut in U.S. aid. 

Last week’s survey by the Palestinian 

Center for Policy and Survey Research, 

with an error margin of 3 percentage 

points, also cited a five-point increase, to 

59 percent, in Abbas’ popularity in the 

past three months. 

Sayfa 38

Abbas ─ who never enjoyed the crowd 

appeal of his late predecessor, Yasser 

Arafat ─ might now also be better able to 

deflect claims by Hamas militants that he 

has been serving the interests of the West 

at the expense of Palestinian aspirations. 

Such charges might have stuck more easily 

had Abbas not held his stance. 

Palestinians seem angry and even 

surprised at the support by President 

Barack Obama’s administration for Israel 

at the United Nations. 

On Thursday, several dozen protesters 

held up anti-Obama banners outside 

Abbas’ government compound. A day 

earlier, a masked youth burned a U.S. flag 

at a pro-Abbas rally. 

Abbas will formally request U.N. 

membership for Palestine on Friday in a 

speech to the General Assembly, despite 

“great pressure” from the United States 

and others, said a senior aide, Nabil Abu 

Rdeneh. Palestinian officials say they 

believe Obama is siding with Israel at the 

U.N. largely because of domestic 

considerations as he seeks re-election 

next year. 

Full membership can only be bestowed by 

the U.N. Security Council, where Abbas’ 

quest is sure to be derailed, either by 

failing to get the required support of at 

least nine of 15 members or ─ if a 

necessary majority is obtained ─ by a U.S. 

veto. 

It’s unclear why Abbas didn’t turn directly 

to the General Assembly, where the 

Palestinians enjoy broad support and the 

U.S. has no veto. The General Assembly 

could make Palestine a “nonmember 

observer state” ─ a lesser option but one 

that was widely expected and seen as still 

valuable to the Palestinians because of the 

implicit recognition of the pre-1967 

borders. 

Some speculated that by turning to the 

Security Council, the Palestinians were 

trying to ramp up pressure on the Obama 

administration to try harder to create an 

acceptable negotiating framework; they 

want negotiations to be based on the pre- 

1967 frontiers and demand that Israel halt 

all settlement construction on occupied 

land. 

The U.S. has said it would veto the 

Palestinian membership request in the 

Security Council ─ but it would clearly 

prefer to see the application either not be 

submitted or not get the required votes. A 

veto would hurt Washington’s image 

Sayfa 39

among Arabs, which had just recovered a 

bit because of its support for the region’s 

pro-democracy movements. 

A Security Council vote could only be held 

after a committee review of the 

membership request, which could take 

weeks. 

Abbas aides dismissed speculation that 

the Palestinians were willing to let the 

application languish in a committee as a 

way of giving the U.S. and other mediators 

more time to restart negotiations. 

“The normal procedures should take place 

immediately,” Abu Rdeneh said. “Any 

delay is unacceptable.” 

If the Palestinians suspect foot-dragging in 

the Security Council, they will consider 

their options, Abbas advisers said. This 

might include going to the General 

Assembly or dissolving the Palestinian 

Authority, the self-rule government 

established in the mid-1990s as part of 

interim agreements with Israel 

Dissolving the Palestinian Authority and 

effectively stepping down has been Abbas’ 

doomsday weapon. It would spell the 

collapse of two decades of U.S. policy in 

the region and would force Israel, as 

occupying power, to assume responsibility 

for nearly four million Palestinians, a 

costly task now largely funded by the 

international community. 

“Handing the keys to the Israeli side has 

become a very realistic option,” said 

Azzam Ahmed, a leader of Abbas’ Fatah 

movement. 

This week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu won strong backing from 

Obama for his position that a Palestinian 

state can only be created through 

negotiations. 

Israel has complained that the true aim of 

the Palestinians’ U.N. bid is to isolate and 

delegitimize the Jewish state ─ a charge 

Abbas has denied. 

Netanyahu ─ a longtime hard-liner who 

reluctantly accepted the idea of a 

Palestinian state in 2009 ─ called again 

this week for direct talks. However, he has 

rejected the Palestinian demand that all 

settlement construction be halted while 

talks on the future of the territories are 

held. Netanyahu has also said Israel will 

keep east Jerusalem and significant 

chunks of the West Bank, citing concerns 

that any territory Israel relinquishes might 

be used to launch attacks on the Jewish 

state. 

Sayfa 40

While Netanyahu is enjoying Washington’s 

backing at the U.N., he may soon face 

increased pressure from the U.S. and 

Europe to accept terms for negotiations 

that are acceptable to the Palestinians, 

said Moty Cristal, a former Israeli 

negotiator. 

“The strategic goal of the Palestinians (at 

the U.N.) was to bring Israel to the 

negotiating table in a much weaker 

position,” Cristal said. “They will to some 

extent achieve this goal. Europe and the 

U.S. will say (to Israel), ‘we supported you 

in the U.N., therefore the payoff will be a 

clear negotiating process which will yield 

results.’” 

http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2011/ 

09/23/168256.html?PHPSESSID=ovcaus2n 

8joqptlt8k5vpa4sf3 

Israel rejects French compromise on 

Palestinian state 

Israel on Friday rejected a proposal by 

French President Nicolas Sarkozy to 

upgrade the Palestinians’ U.N. status and 

admit them as a non-member state, a 

foreign ministry spokesman said. 

“This may seem like a good idea on the 

surface but in reality you can’t cut corners 

by giving the Palestinians a state, however 

you describe it, which does not come from 

an agreement with Israel,” Yigal Palmor 

told AFP. 

The Palestinians will later on Friday 

present a formal request to U.N. chief Ban 

Ki-moon for U.N. membership for a 

Palestinian state in a move which has 

sparked a wave of opposition from both 

Israel and the United States. 

But Sarkozy on Wednesday proposed a 

compromise, urging the world body to 

admit Palestine as a non-member state, 

upgrading its status from that of an 

observer entity, without granting it full 

membership. 

Being upgraded from an observer entity to 

a non-member state would be equivalent 

to granting them recognition as a state, 

Palmor said. 

“In this, case we cannot pretend that 

Israel did not exist,” he said. 

Washington has vowed to block the 

Palestinian request to the Security Council 

for full membership in a move set to spark 

a diplomatic showdown, and which has 

set international diplomats scrambling to 

find a compromise. 

Sayfa 41

“Each of us knows that Palestine cannot 

immediately obtain full and complete 

recognition of the status of United Nations 

member state,” Sarkozy said in his address 

to the General Assembly, warning that a 

U.S. veto “risks engendering a cycle of 

violence in the Middle East.” 

the child welfare agency UNICEF and the 

UNESCO world heritage body. 




U.S. leads walkout of Ahmadinejad 

U.N. speech; Erdogan calls for 

pressure on Israel 

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 

said “arrogant powers” threatened 

anyone who questioned the Holocaust 

and the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. with 

sanctions and military action. (File photo) 

“Why not envisage offering Palestine the 

status of United Nations observer state? 

This would be an important step forward,” 

he said. 

Under U.N. rules, any bid for full 

membership requires a recommendation 

from the Security Council and then a twothirds 

majority in the 193-member 

General Assembly. 

But upgrading the Palestinians’ status to 

that of a non-member state would require 

only a straight majority in the General 

Assembly where no veto is possible. 

It would also allow the Palestinians to 

become a full member of U.N. agencies 

such as the World Health Organization, 


said “arrogant powers” threatened 

anyone who questioned the Holocaust 

and the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S. with 

sanctions and military action. (File photo) 


attacked Western powers on Thursday for 

a catalogue of misdeeds, but his address 

to the United Nations failed to mention 

Tehran’s disputed nuclear program. 

The U.S. delegation walked out when 

Ahmadinejad said “arrogant powers” 

threatened anyone who questioned the 

Holocaust and the Sept. 11 attacks on the 

United States with sanctions and military 

Sayfa 42

action. Other Western delegations soon 

made their exit. 

The White House dismissed 

Ahmadinejad’s attack on U.S. policy and 

accused Iran’s government of “vile 

mistreatment” of its own citizens. 

“I find it rich that the Iranian president 

would have such criticism,” White House 

spokesman Jay Carney told reporters 

aboard Air Force One as President Barack 

Obama headed for Ohio, according to 

Reuters. 

Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 

Erdogan, meanwhile, called for 

international “pressure” on Israel to make 

peace with the Palestinians. 

“It is necessary to put pressure on Israel to 

achieve peace,” Erdogan told the UN 

General Assembly, “and show them that 

they are not above the law.” He also made 

a new demand that Israel apologize for its 

deadly raid on a Turkish-led aid flotilla to 

Gaza in May 2010, according to AFP. 

Ahmadinejad made only a passing 

reference to the Palestinian issue which 

has overshadowed this year’s U.N. 

General Assembly and did not comment 

on the Palestinian plan to ask the U.N. 

Security Council to recognize their nascent 

state. 

He accused the United States of using the 

“mysterious” Sept. 11, 2001, attacks as a 

pretext to launch wars on Iraq and 

Afghanistan. The United States and its 

allies “view Zionism as a sacred notion and 

ideology,” the Iranian leader said. 

“By using their imperialistic media 

network which is under the influence of 

colonialism they threaten anyone who 

questions the Holocaust and the Sept. 11 

event with sanctions and military actions,” 

he added. 

Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. 

mission at the United Nations, 

condemned Ahmadinejad’s remarks. 

“Mr Ahmadinejad had a chance to address 

his own people’s aspirations for freedom 

and dignity, but instead he again turned to 

abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and 

despicable conspiracy theories,” Kornblau 

said in a statement. 

Ahmadinejad’s address also passed in 

silence over the pro-democracy uprisings 

that have swept the Arab world this year, 

including Syria, Iran’s closest Arab ally. 

Sayfa 43

British Prime Minister David Cameron also 

assailed the Iranian leader in his own 

speech to the United Nations. 

“He didn’t remind us that he runs a 

country where they may have elections, of 

a sort, but they also repress freedom of 

speech. They do everything they can to 

avoid the accountability of a free media. 

They violently prevent demonstrations 

and, yes, they detain and torture those 

who argue for a better future,” Cameron 

said. 

democratically elected official,” said 

Hamid Azimi, a computer systems 

engineer from California. 

Ahmadinejad, wearing a jacket with no tie, 

has often used the U.N. podium to lecture 

the West on its responsibility for the evils 

of slavery, colonialism, poverty and 

militarism. 

Mark Kornblau, spokesman for the U.S. 

mission at the United Nations, said 

Ahmadinejad had “again turned to 

abhorrent anti-Semitic slurs and 

despicable conspiracy theories.” 

Thousands of people protested against 

Ahmadinejad outside the United Nations 

complex in New York. 

The demonstrators, mostly Iranian- 

Americans, chanted “Down with dictators, 

down with Ahmadinejad” and called for 

the overthrow of the Iranian leader, 

whose bitterly disputed 2009 re-election 

touched off months of street protests in 

Iran. 

“We are hoping to see that the people of 

Iran are represented in the U.N. by a 

Iran remains under U.N. and other 

sanctions over its nuclear program, which 

the West believes masks a drive for 

atomic weapons. Tehran says its nuclear 

activities are peaceful. 

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe met 

his Iranian counterpart in New York and 

told him France and five other big powers 

were worried about the U.N. nuclear 

watchdog’s latest report which suggests 

Iran was violating U.N. resolutions. 

“This behavior by Iranian leaders seriously 

threatens the international nonproliferation 

system and puts in danger 

regional peace and security,” French 

Sayfa 44

Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard 

Valero said. 

U.S. President Barack Obama told the 

United Nations on Wednesday that Iran 

and North Korea risked more pressure if 

they pursued nuclear programs that 

flouted international law. 

“There is a future of greater opportunity 

for the people of these nations if their 

governments meet their obligations. But if 

they continue down a path that is outside 

international law, they must be met with 

greater pressure and isolation,” he said. 




4. AFRICA and EGYPT / AFRİKA ve 

MISIR 

Sonia Farid / Letter from Cairo: Not all 

that hits the billboard … 

A tale of two Turkish superstars in Egypt: 

Mohanad (L) the TV soap star and Prime 

Minister Recip Erdogan.(File photo) 

A tale of two Turkish superstars in Egypt: 

Mohanad (L) the TV soap star and Prime 

Minister Recip Erdogan.(File photo) 

A couple of years ago, I started hearing 

the name Mohanad who looked like he 

was becoming the prince charming of 

every Egyptian female aged 15 to 75. In no 

time, he became the talk of the town not 

only because he does everything a woman 

would want ─ which happened to be 

everything Egyptian men do not do ─ but 

also because he started becoming the 

direct reason for several divorces, 

whether because the wife kept whining 

about her husband being good for nothing 

compared to the blue-eyed heartthrob or 

because she put a life-size portrait of him 

on the wall of their bedroom or at least 

kept a miniature on her cell phone or 

computer or both. The end result being 

the husband felt trapped in a triangle 

where the third side is not really there yet 

is all over the place while the wife was left 

wondering a flesh-and-blood scoundrel 

was better than a non-existent chevalier. 

The fuss over Mohanad was playfully dealt 

with in a movie where the husband, an 

Upper Egyptian macho, almost shot his 

wife after finding out she had the man’s 

picture printed on her pillow. 

Let me first tell you that Mohanad is not 

the name of a person; it is the name of a 

character in a Turkish soap opera. It’s not 

even the original name of the character, 

Sayfa 45

ut the name given to him in the Arabicdubbed 

version. Let me also tell you that 

probably no one, and that includes me, 

knows the name of the actor. Even the 

billboard that announced the imminent 

release of his new series read, “And 

Mohanad is back.” 

who I later found on almost half the city’s 

billboards, was none other than Recep 

Tayyip Erdogan. 

In fact, it was this billboard, which I first 

saw one morning as I was driving across 

Cairo’s main flyover (and which I later 

found in several other places) that made 

me realize the craze is far from over: we 

were in for 100-plus episodes of what 

women should want and what men will 

never give and maybe another round of 

family squabbles and a couple more 

divorces. I did feel sorry for those Egyptian 

women who, like the rest of their 

compatriots of both sexes, seem to be 

always looking for something that turns 

out to be too far-fetched. 

I don’t know if Egyptian women forgot 

about Mohanad, but I know I did … until a 

few days ago when I was driving across 

the same bridge and looked up at the 

exact same billboard space to find another 

Turkish superstar also “coming soon” but 

with a less tantalizing picture and a rather 

sober motto: “Together hand in hand for 

the future.” The new Turk on the block, 

That same day, you would have been hard 

pressed to find a tweet or a Facebook 

status that did not in some way or another 

see the Turkish prime minister as the 

answer to every single problem Egypt has 

been facing before and after the ouster of 

the regime, and maybe since the 

beginning of time. Like Mohanad put all 

Egyptian men to shame as far as knowing 

how to treat a woman was concerned, all 

potential presidential candidates seemed 

absolutely incompetent compared to 

Erdogan and jokes about him winning the 

elections circulated with the speed of 

light. Once again everyone was glued to 

the screen, including men, to hear the 

champion of democracy in the Middle East 

lead Egypt’s first steps towards the postrevolution 

state it is striving to be and to 

crown Turkey the official Bon Pasteur of 

the Egyptian people. 

Sayfa 46

The majority of Egyptians made some 

connection or another between Mohanad 

and Erdogan if only because they share 

the same homeland but there were many 

who scoffed at the comparison. “So is it 

just because they both are from Turkey?” 

Well, to a great extent yes. Mohanad is 

not the only handsome actor Egyptians 

have seen, but how do you explain that 

the American Tom Cruise or the Australian 

Eric Bana or the Spanish Antonio Banderas 

— all possessing the main attributes of a 

“beau” and definitely not in any way 

similar to Egyptian men — have not been 

half as popular? He is also in no position 

to compete with award-winning actors, 

many of whom also happen to be 

handsome, like the British Colin Firth or 

the New Zealander Russell Crowe. What 

makes him that different then? He comes 

from a country with which Egypt shares 

historic and cultural ties that go back 

several centuries ago, a country from 

where dolmas and Turkish coffee come, a 

country whose language influences can 

still be seen in modern Egyptian Arabic. 

Another factor which undoubtedly plays a 

major role in this preference for a sizable 

portion of women is that he is Muslim. 

Mohanad is, therefore, more “next door” 

than any of those dudes who speak 

English, drink coffee from the percolator, 

or have pancakes for breakfast. If he were 

real, he would be called “available” or 

“eligible.” 

Erdogan is similarly not a superman. He is 

a politician, a good one for that matter, 

but certainly no Mandela or Gandhi and 

not even a Kemal Ataturk as far as the 

Turkish people are concerned. But like 

Mohanad, he is the most accessible option 

at the moment and an alliance with his 

country is the most practical at a time 

when any rapprochement with Israel will 

be seen as undignified and too much 

compliance with U.S. policies will be 

considered a sign of weakness. And as 

Mohanad is compared to Egyptian men, 

Erdogan is set in stark contrast with Arab 

leaders not only for being democratically 

elected, but also for his latest bravados 

with Israel, this last factor being of great 

significance for the Egyptian street and 

therefore capable alone of making 

Erdogan a hero of all times. 

And like Egyptian women who fantasize 

about a lover who brings them flowers on 

the anniversary of every single thing they 

shared during their first year together, 

who gets down on his knees to propose, 

and who plays the violin under their 

Sayfa 47

alcony to say he is sorry for something he 

said or did not say, the Egyptian people 

dream of a proper leader who assumes 

power because they want him to and who 

quits because it is time for him to go. 

Mohanad is fictional and Erdogan is real, 

yet both are equally a figment of the 

Egyptian people’s imagination: like the 

first will never alter through a soap opera 

the way Egyptian men view women, the 

second will not be capable of effecting 

from across the Phosphorous the change 

Egypt needs to create a real democracy. 

T.V. screens and political borders will 

remain in the way and billboards will 

never function as road signs. 

Fresh fighting breaks in Sudan oil 

state, police fire teargas to disperse 

protesters in east 

Tensions have been building up in several 

border regions to newly independent 

South Sudan where the army has been 

fighting armed groups. (Photo by Reuters) 




fighting armed groups. (Photo by Reuters) 

New clashes broke out on Thursday in 

Sudan’s main oil state South Kordofan, 

where the army has been fighting for 

months armed opposition groups for 

months, both sides said. 

So, while you lift your head up to see who 

the next billboard star is, bear in mind that 

not all that hits the billboard is the 

awaited Messiah. Otherwise, that man 

with the electric shaver or that woman in 

the pink baby doll would have been our 

next president and prime minister, 

respectively! 




In a separate development, police fired 

teargas to disperse a protest by hundreds 

of tribesmen in underdeveloped east 

Sudan, where dissent against Khartoum 

has been simmering. 



Sayfa 48


fighting armed groups. Clashes were also 

reported this week in the Western region 

of Darfur, scene of another insurgency. 

On Thursday, the opposition group SPLM- 

North in Sudan’s main oil state South 

Kordofan said its fighters had driven out 

the army from the Khuwar Dalib area near 

the border to South Sudan. 

A SPLM-North spokesman said 30 

government soldiers and two rebels had 

been killed. 

“Our troops are now in Khuwar Dalib,” he 

said. 

But a government official denied rebels 

had taken the area, saying the army had 

fought back the attack, the state-linked 

Sudanese Media Center (SMC) said. 

More than 30 rebels had been killed in the 

fighting, Rashad commissioner Khalid 

Mukhtar told SMC, adding that two rebels 

had been taken prisoners. 

Fighting broke out in June in South 

Kordofan which is home to large 

populations which sided with the south 

during decades of civil war with 

Khartoum. In September, violence spread 

to neighboring Blue Nile state where also 

many former southern rebels live. 

Khartoum accuses its former foe of 

supporting the armed opposition in the 

two border states. Juba denies the 

charges. 

Events in Sudanese border region are 

difficult to verify as most foreign media 

cannot travel there and aid agencies say 

they have no access to fighting areas. 

In Sudan’s east, police fired on Thursday 

teargas to disperse a protest of hundreds 

of tribesman who demanded the sacking 

of the local police chief after two residents 

were killed the day before, residents said. 

Shots could be heard in the town of 

Gedaref though it was unclear who had 

fired, a resident said by telephone. 

On Wednesday, clashes broke out in 

Gedaref near the border with Eritrea 

when police tried to execute an order 

from authorities to remove cattle and 

shelters built illegally, the interior ministry 

said. 

Anger has been simmering in the east with 

tribes complaining their region is 

underdeveloped despite its importance to 

the economy. The east is home to the 

country’s only port and oil export terminal 

and elements of the gold mining industry. 

Sayfa 49

Dissatisfaction in border regions is linked 

to development being concentrated on 

the capital, which has undergone a 

building boom in recent years. 




Egypt youth coalition to contest 

elections; says revolution is 

endangered 

Protesters shout slogans against Egypt’s 

military council at Tahrir Square in Cairo 

on Sept. 16. (Photo by Reuters) 

A political analyst warned, however, that 

the youth groups face an uphill battle 

against the old guard and those 

movements that may be better funded. 

“Youth groups do not have the money or 

the organizational ability or the keys to 

electoral constituencies that would allow 

them to reach seats that truly reflect the 

major role they played in Egypt's 

revolution,” Nabil Abdel Fattah of al- 

Ahram Center for Political and Strategic 

Studies said. 

Protesters shout slogans against Egypt’s 

military council at Tahrir Square in Cairo 

on Sept. 16. (Photo by Reuters) 

An Egyptian youth coalition that played a 

major role in ousting President Hosni 

Mubarak has said it will field candidates 

for parliamentary elections to counter 

organized Islamist groups and remnants of 

the former regime. 

Egypt’s Revolution Youth Coalition, 

formed in the early days of the uprising 

that toppled Mubarak on Feb. 11, said on 

a social networking site monitored on 

Thursday that it plans to field as many as 

200 independent candidates under a 

proportional list system with its name. 

“All the youth groups and those that 

participated in the revolution are still 

trying to catch up and they may not be 

able to compete against professional 

coalitions that know the secrets of the 

ballot box,” he added. 

The youth coalition, made up of activists 

from across the political spectrum, plays a 

pivotal role in organizing protests and has 

an active social networking profile. The 

group would be fielding the largest 

Sayfa 50

number of candidates under one list, 

competing with the well-organized 

Muslim Brotherhood and liberal 

opposition party al-Wafd. 

“The unity of revolutionary forces was the 

way for us to succeed in tearing down one 

of the most stubborn dictatorships of the 

world,” the coalition said on its Facebook 

page. 

“The coalition believes that our great 

revolution, in which thousands of youth 

sacrificed blood, is now in danger,” they 

added, explaining the decision to contest 

the parliamentary election. 

The poll for the lower house would start 

on Nov. 21 and the vote for the upper 

house would begin on Jan. 22, with each 

vote being held in three stages, state 

newspapers reported on Sunday. 

The interim military rulers have said the 

vote would be a mix between a 

proportional list and individual candidate 

system. 

Political groups have been pressuring the 

army council to make the vote exclusively 

based on the proportional list system, in 

an attempt to bar remnants of the ousted 

regime from using money and tribalism to 

win the election. 

The coalition said it was opposed to the 

current election law and added its weight 

to voices calling for the individual 

candidacy system to be cancelled. The 

statement also demanded a clearer 

timetable for elections, saying the 

presidential vote should not be held later 

than April 2012. 

“We invite all political forces to reject the 

Islamic-secular polarization that has been 

forced on Egyptian society and to create a 

new parameter where those who win are 

the ones who believe in continuing the 

goals and responsibilities of the Jan. 25 

revolution,” the group added. 

It did not announce the names of its 

candidates. 




Tantawi to testify in Mubarak trial on 

Saturday 

The court trying ousted president Hosni 

Mubarak will hear the testimony of 

Hussein Tantawi, president of the 

Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, on 

Saturday. 

Mubarak, together with his two sons, 

former Interior Minister Habib al-Adly and 

Sayfa 51

six of Adly's aides, are charged with killing 

demonstrators during the 25 January 

revolution. 

5. JORDAN and LEBANON / ÜRDÜN 

US embassy: Possible surge in 

demonstartion in Lebanon 

The US Embassy in Lebanon on Friday 

warned its citizens of the “possibility of a 

surge in demonstrations in Beirut and 

throughout Lebanon in the coming days.” 

The US warning coincides with the 

Palestinian bid to apply for UN 

membership at the UN Security Council 

Tantawi will tell the court what happened 

during a meeting that Mubarak held on 22 

January, and will testify as to whether 

Mubarak was responsible for the killing of 

demonstrators. He will also determine 

who was responsible for the 

communications blackout that started on 

28 January. 

A military source has confirmed that 

Tantawi will attend Saturday’s session to 

testify, after he declined to appear during 

a previous session due to his alleged 

preoccupation with the security situation 

in the country. 

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node 

/498445 

later in the day. 

Washington has opposed the Palestinian 

membership bid and said it would veto 

any such move in the Security Council. 

The US Embassy also advised US citizens 

to avoid large public gatherings or 

demonstrations as well as Palestinian 

refugee camps. 

http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/09/23/us 

-embassy-possible-surge-indemonstartion-in-lebanon/ 

Zahra: Change in Syria will reflect 

positively on Lebanon 

Lebanese Forces bloc MP Antoine Zahra 

told LBC television on Thursday that 

changes in Syria will reflect positively on 

Lebanon. 

Sayfa 52

“We know that the Syrian regime is 

witnessing its final phase and change in 

Syria will positively reflect on Lebanon,” 

Zahra said. 

While Hezbollah and its allies are 

supporting the Syrian regime the March 

14 alliance is supporting the Syrian people 

in their peaceful pro-democracy protests 

http://www.yalibnan.com/2011/09/23/za 

hra-change-in-syria-will-reflect-positivelyon-lebanon/ 

Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Sept. 

23, 2011 

The Daily Star 

Following are summaries of some of the 

main stories in a selection of Lebanese 

newspapers Friday. The Daily Star cannot 

vouch for the accuracy of these reports. 

Ad-Diyar 

Did Sarkozy tell Rai that Christians must 

emigrate from Lebanon to France? 

European Union plan to absorb 3 million 

Christians from Lebanon and Syria 

A member of the delegation that 

accompanied Maronite Patriarch Beshara 

Rai to Paris said that French President 

Nicolas Sarkozy asked the patriarch 

seriously: “Given that there are 1.3 million 

Christians in Lebanon and 1.5 million in 

Syria, why don’t Christians move to 

Europe, since Europe has absorbed 2 

million Christian immigrants from Iraq?” 

Sarkozy explained to Rai that in light of 

the culture war – particularly that 

between Christians and Muslims – there is 

no room for Christians in the Levant, and 

said that the best solution would be for 

them to come to the European Union. 

Rai was stunned. He asked Sarkozy: "How 

can something like this happen?,” 

prompting Sarkozy to present the 

patriarch with a document containing 

information revealing that more than 3 

million Christians had emigrated from 

Lebanon over the past twenty years, and 

that the Middle East is headed toward 

serious conflict. 

The patriarch returned to Lebanon and 

made statements contrary to the French 

position as Rai considered launching a 

new Arab stance in order to safeguard 

Christians. 

An-Nahar 

Sleiman at Security Council: International 

community must compel Israel to 

implement Resolution 1701 

Sayfa 53

Parliament ends battle over electricity 

plan by passing bill as Aoun voices 

reservations 

Maronite leaders meet in Bkirki [Friday] to 

study committee’s election law report 

Lebanon’s participation in the 66th 

session of the U.N. General Assembly 

Thursday took an extraordinary turn when 

President Michel Sleiman chaired the 

meeting on "preventative diplomacy" in 

the Security Council. It is the first time 

that a Lebanese head of state has 

presided over such a U.N. meeting. 

Meanwhile, on the domestic scene, 

Parliament put an end to the more than 

two-month battle over the electricity plan 

by endorsing a decision taken by Cabinet 

instead of the draft law that Energy 

Minister Jibran Bassil had insisted on 

passing. 

As-Safir 

Consensus in Parliament strengthens 

government ... protects opposition 

Suddenly there comes someone to 

“brighten” the minds of the country’s 

lawmakers, offering the Lebanese a 

magical solution – providing round-theclock 

power supply across Lebanon. 

Yes, the Lebanese are now able to 

celebrate the electricity plan approved by 

Parliament Thursday, a plan which was 

lost for two decades in the midst of the 

mafias’ oil and electricity considerations. 

Perhaps unanimity among lawmakers over 

the electricity bill – which until the final 

hour was stalled between rival political 

parties – has made approval of the plan 

take a particularly strong unanimous 

dimension, with both opposition and 

majority MPs, and those who stand 

between them, adopting this as a political 

“achievement." 

If Mikati’s government has registered an 

"achievement" in history, the "magic 

solution" offered by Berri made everyone 

meet halfway on the road. 

Al-Mustaqbal 

Ban reminds Sleiman of Lebanon’s 

commitment to STL … Maronites meet in 

Bkirki Friday 

Electricity bill approved … Only Aoun got 

‘electrified’ 

With Parliament’s ratification of the 

electricity bill by consensus – with the 

exception of MP Michel Aoun – the 

Sayfa 54

electricity reform plan has now become a 

reality, pending implementation. 

On Thursday, MP Aoun and his son-in-law 

Energy Minister Jibran Bassil were sternly 

defeated; triggering Bassil to come out in 

the evening directly attacking the Future 

Movement, while indirectly attacking 

Parliament and Parliament Speaker Nabih 

Berri. 

press-digest---sept-23- 

2011.ashx#axzz1YlDQvi2m 

Sleiman stresses peacekeeping 

importance 

By Van Meguerditchian 

The Daily Star 

Sleiman held talks with Erdogan in New 

York. 

Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban 

Ki-moon reiterated his support for the 

Special Tribunal for Lebanon in his 

meeting with President Michel Sleiman. 

He also reiterated his call for the 

government to implement its obligations 

with regard to the court. 

Al-Akhbar 

Electricity plan “illuminates” Parliament, 

debate shifts to [public] appointments 

Parliament Thursday approved the 

electricity plan by consensus. The page 

has been turned on the electricity bill only 

to move to the issue of administrative and 

judicial appointments, in addition to 

funding the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politic 

s/2011/Sep-23/149512-lebanons-arabic- 

Sleiman held talks with Erdogan in New 

York. 

BEIRUT: President Michel Sleiman said 

Thursday peacekeeping missions 

throughout the world are one of the key 

tools of preventive diplomacy. 

“Although it comes after the eruption of 

conflicts, it prevents the spread of the 

conflict,” said Sleiman. 

Speaking at the opening of the United 

Nations Security Council meeting in New 

York, the president also called on the 

Sayfa 55

international community to pressure Israel 

to respect U.N. resolutions and fully 

withdraw from Lebanese territories. 

Sleiman said that previous failures by the 

U.N. to pressure Israel to implement 

international resolutions resulted in the 

deterioration of the security situation 

between Lebanon and Israel. 

“The conflict between Lebanon and Israel 

wouldn’t have escalated following the 

U.N. Security Council resolution 425 in 

1978 … and the resistance wouldn’t have 

fought against the Israeli occupation, if 

the U.N. had forced Israel to comply with 

its resolutions,” said Sleiman. 

Days after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon 

in 1978, the U.N. Security Council called 

on Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanon, 

and established the United Nations 

Interim Forces in Lebanon under 

Resolution 425. 

Almost 28 years later, the U.N. Security 

Council adopted Resolution 1701 to end 

the devastating month-long war between 

Israel and Hezbollah in 2006. 

“Avoiding conflicts requires finding 

practical means to implement U.N. 

Security Council resolutions,” Sleiman 

noted. 

The president, who chaired the Security 

Council meeting on preventive diplomacy 

Thursday, will chair another meeting later 

Friday, during which the Palestinian bid 

for full U.N. membership will be put to a 

vote. 

According to Sleiman, combating 

terrorism is an important means to solve 

the roots of conflicts. 

Sleiman also said Lebanon is fully 

committed to fighting terrorism “in all its 

forms.” 

“Dialogue and openness to others is the 

most important weapon against 

fundamentalism and hatred,” said 

Sleiman, adding that all countries should 

emphasize the culture of peace. 

Sleiman stressed that culture of peace 

cannot be separated from the culture of 

justice. 

“There is no real and permanent peace 

without justice,” he said. 

At the end of his eight-minute speech to 

the Security Council, Sleiman called on 

world leaders to unite their efforts to 

strengthen the values of equality and 

justice throughout the world. 

Sayfa 56

Earlier Thursday, Sleiman held a series of 

meetings with heads of state in New York. 

A day after he spoke to the U.N. General 

Assembly, Sleiman held a meeting with 

the Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip 

Erdogan and Turkish Foreign Minister 

Ahmet Davutoglu. 

According to a statement from the 

president’s office at the U.N., Sleiman 

discussed ongoing developments in the 

Middle East with Erdogan and bilateral 

ties between the two countries. 

“Sleiman and Erdogan also discussed 

Turkey’s role through its peacekeeping 

forces in south Lebanon,” said the 

statement in reference to the United 

Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon. 

Sleiman held discussions Wednesday 

afternoon with Cypriot President Demetris 

Christofias at the U.N. 

“Sleiman and Christofias discussed the 

issue of the maritime economic zone 

between Lebanon and Cyprus,” said the 

statement. 

Both presidents emphasize the need to 

reach an agreement on the shared 

maritime border with Israel, added the 

statement from the president’s office. 

Addressing the U.N. General Assembly 

Wednesday, Sleiman told world leaders 

that Lebanon would defend its rights to its 

territorial waters and exclusive economic 

zone, against designs by the Jewish state. 

“We strongly uphold our full sovereignty 

and economic rights over our territorial 

waters and exclusive economic zone as 

well as the freedom of the exploitation of 

our natural resources, be they on land or 

in the deep sea, independently from any 

designs or threats,” Sleiman said. 

Also Thursday morning, Sleiman visited 

the Qatari delegation’s office in New York 

and held a meeting with Qatar’s Sheikh 

Hamad Bin Khalifa. 

“Discussions ranged from bilateral ties to 

the recent developments in the Arab 

world,” said the statement. 

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Politic 

s/2011/Sep-23/149495-sleiman-stresses- 

peacekeeping- 

importance.ashx#axzz1YlDQvi2m 

Lebanon approves bill to overhaul 

power sector 

Parliament ratifies a controversial bill 

calling for a $1.2 billion overhaul of the 

electricity sector in Lebanon. (NOW 

Lebanon) 

Sayfa 57

Lebanon's parliament on Thursday ratified 

a controversial bill calling for a $1.2 billion 

overhaul of the electricity sector in a 

country still plagued by daily power cuts. 

The bill, aimed at boosting Lebanon's 

power supply by 700 megawatts, was 

approved unanimously following weeks of 

debate between the ruling majority led by 

Hezbollah and the Western-backed 

opposition. 

Reform bloc – told Al-Jumhuriya 

newspaper. 

Asked whether he congratulates the 

Lebanese people on the energy law, 

Jumblatt said that, “it’s all about the 

implementation [of the law]. But at least, 

some restrictions were added for the 

management and the supervision of the 

project.” 

"The bill was approved and it represents a 

victory for all Lebanese," Hezbollah's 

Christian ally, General Michel Aoun, told 

reporters. 

The opposition had initially baulked at 

supporting the bill on the grounds that it 

did not ensure transparency as to how the 

money would be spent. 

Progressive Socialist Party leader MP 

Walid Jumblatt said in an interview 

published on Friday that the energy law 

was approved thanks to the efforts made 

by Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister 

Najib Mikati. 

“The *rule of the+ law triumphed *with+ 

the cabinet’s decision,” Jumblatt – whose 

ministers and MPs were at first against the 

power bill proposed by the Change and 

Of the $1.2 billion allocated for the 

project, $600 million would come from 

the government and the remainder from 

Arab states. Financing would be spread 

over four years. 

The bill calls for upgrading existing power 

plants and for the construction of new 

liquefied natural gas (LNG) power plants. 

Chronic power shortages since the end of 

Lebanon's 1975-1990 civil war have been 

a main source of grievance among 

Lebanese who must put up with daily cuts. 

Sayfa 58

Several plans had been proposed since the 

end of the war to boost the power supply 

and prevent people stealing from the 

electricity grid but to no avail. 

Electricity output in Lebanon reaches 

1,700 MW on average in the summer at a 

time when the demand stands at 2,500 

MW. 

The state power company's deficit 

represents three percent of the country's 

Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticl 

eDetails.aspx?ID=314392 

6. SYRIA / SURİYE 

Brutal response as Syrian children join 

protests 

By Bassem Mroue, AP 

Friday, 23 September 2011 

Students chanting for revolution marched 

after classes yesterday in a new tactic that 

brought a swift response from the Syrian 

security forces, who beat up or detained 

many of the young protesters. 

Children as young as 10 have been taking 

to the streets since the new school year 

started this week, according to witnesses 

and online videos posted by activists. It 

appears to be the first major attempt to 

bring out Syria's schoolchildren to join the 

six-month uprising. 

Girls chanting, "revolution is bright, the 

regime is dark", marched in the Damascus 

suburb of Zabadani, according to the Local 

Co-ordination Committees, an activist 

group. Another student protest in the 

north-western village of Mhambal came 

under attack by security forces and 

gunmen loyal to President Bashar al- 

Assad. The troops beat some students and 

detained parents, the group said. Students 

also were detained in the southern village 

of Dael. 

A video posted online by activists showed 

more than two dozen young students 

gathered in a street in the Damascus 

suburbs chanting, "the people want the 

President executed" and "we will only 

kneel to God". 

On Wednesday, dozens of protesting 

students were detained in the southern 

village of Jassem. On the same day 

security forces surrounded several schools 

in the Damascus suburbs of Harasta, 

Arbeen and Zamalka, according to the 

LCC. 

Sayfa 59

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wor 

ld/middle-east/brutal-response-as-syrianchildren-join-protests-2359359.html 

Israel faces 'regional tsunami' set off 

by Arab Spring 

By Tim Lister and Kevin Flower, CNN 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu, set to speak Friday at the 

United Nations, faces a much changed 

region. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin 

Netanyahu, set to speak Friday at the 

United Nations, faces a much changed 

region. 

(CNN) -- When Israeli Prime Minister 

Benjamin Netanyahu gets ready to 

address the U.N. General Assembly on 

Friday, he will look out at some not-sofamiliar 

faces. The neighborhood has 

changed since last year's global gathering, 

and Israel faces multiple challenges as a 

consequence of the unfinished business 

known as the Arab Spring. 

Israel's closest partner in the Arab world, 

former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, 

is now on trial. The military council that 

replaced him has distanced itself from 

Israel and allowed space to popular 

opposition to the peace treaty between 

the two countries. While Israel sheds no 

tears about Syrian President Bashar al- 

Assad's problems, it is apprehensive about 

what might follow should unrest 

eventually unseat him. Instability in Syria 

would inevitably spill into Lebanon, where 

Hezbollah has tens of thousands of 

missiles aimed at Israel. 

A once close relationship with Turkey is in 

tatters. And now the Palestinian Authority 

is dramatically raising the stakes over 

stalled negotiations on a peace settlement 

by looking to the United Nations to win 

statehood. 

Six months ago, Israeli Defense Minister 

Ehud Barak warned a diplomatic tsunami 

was headed in Israel's direction. He told 

the Institute for National Security Studies 

in Tel Aviv that the Palestinian plan for 

recognition was an attempt to push Israel 

into the same corner that apartheid South 

Africa once occupied. 

Barak also said that the Israeli government 

must come up with its own diplomatic 

initiative to counter such a move -- and be 

ready to tackle core issues, including 

security, borders, refugees and Jerusalem. 

In oblique criticism of his own 

government, he said that "for the last two 

years we haven't tried to put the core 

Sayfa 60

issues on the table." But there has been 

no progress on any of them, nor indeed 

any negotiations, since Barak made that 

speech. 

In an interview with CNN last month, 

Barak suggested the tsunami had become 

much more ominous for Israel. "Egypt is 

under major transition. The Saudis are 

kind of occupied -- I don't know how to 

call it -- in their place. Iran is hostile and a 

major threat to the whole stability, and 

we don't have to add Turkey into this 

array of uneasy choices," he said. 

But as Barak acknowledges, Turkey is now 

firmly added to that array, and given its 

growing influence and economic clout in 

the region, that's an unwelcome 

development for Israel. Not so long ago, 

the two countries were staging joint 

military maneuvers and had a fastdeveloping 

diplomatic and economic 

relationship. 

Then came the incident when Israeli 

commandos boarded the Mavi Marmara, 

a ship chartered by a Turkish 

nongovernmental organization taking 

supplies to Gaza, after repeated warnings 

it would not be allowed to complete its 

journey. Nine Turkish activists on board 

were killed. Turkey was furious; Israeli 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 

refused its demand for an apology for 

"operational mistakes" -- a formula 

worked out by months of U.S.-led 

diplomacy. Since then, diplomats have 

been expelled, angry words exchanged 

between Israel and Turkey. Turkish Prime 

Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan described 

Israel as "the West's spoiled child." One of 

Israel's main partners in the Muslim world 

is no longer answering the phone. 

This week Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet 

Davutoglu laid the blame exclusively at 

Israel's door while waxing lyrical about 

Ankara's burgeoning relationships with 

Egypt and Saudi Arabia. "Nobody can 

blame Turkey or any other country in the 

region for its isolation," he told The New 

York Times. 

Israel's relationship with Egypt, one of two 

Arab countries with which it has a peace 

treaty, is also less amicable. The military 

council now preparing the country for 

elections has allowed popular antipathy 

toward Israel to express itself, and 

according to a poll this year carried out by 

the Pew Trust, Egyptians wanted the 

peace treaty annulled by a margin of 54% 

to 36%. Even Egypt's caretaker prime 

minister has suggested the treaty is at risk. 

Sayfa 61

Speaking to a Turkish television network, 

Essam Sharaf said: "The Camp David 

agreement is not a sacred thing and is 

always open to discussion with what 

would benefit the region and the case of 

fair peace ... and we could make a change 

if needed." 

Border security has deteriorated, with 

Egyptian military officials acknowledging 

to CNN that al Qaeda and Salafist terror 

groups have established a presence in the 

Sinai desert. In August, a jihadist group 

based in Gaza used Egyptian territory to 

attack Israeli civilian targets in Negev -- 

killing eight civilians. Israeli troops 

mistakenly killed five Egyptian border 

guards while in pursuit of the terror cell. 

Days later, angry protesters overran the 

Israeli Embassy in Cairo. The entire staff 

was hastily withdrawn after U.S. President 

Barack Obama personally intervened with 

the Egyptians to secure their safe passage. 

It was a sequence of events that rapidly 

plunged relations between the Israeli and 

Egyptian governments into crisis. 

The Muslim Brotherhood, which wants the 

peace treaty with Israel torn up, is gaining 

strength in Egypt. In an August speech in 

Cairo's Tahrir Square, preacher Safwat 

Hegazi of the Brotherhood proclaimed: 

"We will show them anger." 

Egypt's ruling military council does not 

share Mubarak's visceral animosity 

toward Iran, and it allowed two Iranian 

navy vessels to transit the Suez Canal. 

Israel's relations with Jordan, where 

nearly half the population is Palestinian, 

have also deteriorated. On Wednesday, 

King Abdullah of Jordan told the U.N. 

General Assembly that "frustrations are at 

a peak. Even as we speak Israeli 

settlement activity is ongoing." The king 

told The Wall Street Journal this week 

there was increasing frustration among 

Jordanians because Israelis have been 

"sticking their heads in the sand and 

pretending there isn't a problem." 

Jordan's alienation does worry some 

Israelis. Amos Gilad, director of policy and 

political-military affairs at Israel's Defense 

Ministry, said peace with Jordan must be 

preserved. "(It) gives Israel strategic 

depth, and peace with them is so valuable 

it's out of the imagination to describe 

living without it," he told CNN. Earlier this 

month, Israel called home staff from its 

embassy in Amman for a day -- fearing 

that a planned anti-Israel protest could 

turn violent. On that day, Israel suddenly 

Sayfa 62

had no envoy in Cairo, Ankara or Amman. 

(The envoy to Jordan has since returned to 

his post.) 

now the only strategy is no strategy. ... 

The Israeli answer will be no: no to the 

Security Council, no to the General 

Assembly, and no to any resolution that 

will include any kind of statement that will 

include Palestinian statehood." 

While insisting he is ready for direct 

negotiations with the Palestinian 

The Israeli government is also concerned 

the unrest in Syria may ultimately 

threaten that country's integrity -- leading 

to sectarian conflict among Sunnis, 

Alawites and Kurds. Israel would of course 

welcome problems for Hamas and 

Hezbollah, both of which receive support 

from Damascus. But the al-Assad dynasty 

has at least guaranteed a stable border for 

nearly 40 years (despite saber-rattling 

rhetoric). It is "the devil you know." The 

prospect of Islamists gaining greater 

influence in Syria or a sectarian meltdown 

are not better alternatives, Israeli officials 

said. 

In the face of all these negative -- or at 

least unsettling -- developments, critics of 

Netanyahu say that his policy lacks 

urgency and dynamism. Barak Ravid, 

diplomatic correspondent of the leftleaning 

daily Haaretz, told CNN: "Right 

Authority, Netanyahu said this week it had 

"consistently evaded peace negotiations 

with Israel. When the Palestinian 

Authority will abandon these futile and 

unilateral measures at the U.N., it will find 

Israel to be a genuine partner for direct 

peace negotiations." 

Barak, speaking this week on CNN's "Piers 

Morgan Tonight," had a subtly different 

spin. "It's up to us and mainly to our 

counterpart, the Palestinian leadership, 

Abu Mazen (Palestinian Authority 

President Mahmoud Abbas) and (Salam) 

Fayyad (the Palestinian prime minister) 

and others, to shoulder the burden of 

leadership and start to move." 

For now, ordinary Israelis are not feeling 

the consequences of this fast changing 

environment. The Israeli Defense 

Ministry's Gilad said that despite the 

diplomatic and political uncertainty Israel 

was "living in the best security conditions 

Sayfa 63

ever," noting that the number of terror 

attacks was low -- and that tensions 

notwithstanding the peace with Egypt "is 

still stable." 

Barak said it's not the moment to be 

complacent. "You cannot just close your 

eyes, say the Lord is with us, and you 

cannot say, 'OK, nothing could be done,' " 

he told Piers Morgan. 

"We have to be active. We shouldn't be 

paralyzed like a rabbit under the lights." 

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/09/22/world 

/meast/israel-arabspring/index.html?hpt=wo_t2 

Kadınlar Birliği Kamplardaki Tecavüz 

Olaylarını Kınadı 

BM Genel Sekreteri Ban Ki Moon ve ilgili 

kurumlara dün yönlendirdiği beyanda 

Kadınlar Birliği böyle çirkin bir olayın 

yaşanmasını şiddetle reddettiğini 

belirterek 4. Cenevre anlaşmasının 

kadınların başta tecavüz ve zorla fuhuş 

yaptırmak gibi saldırılar olmak üzere kişisel 

onurlarını zedeleyecek saldırılardan 

korunması gereğini belirten 27 maddesini 

hatırlattı. 

Ülkede vatandaşların silahlı saldırılara 

maruz kalması aşamasına ulaşan terör 

saldırılarına işaret eden Kadınla Birliği bu 

saldırıların ülke dışından finanse edildiğine 

değinerek sığındıkları kamplarda Suriyeli 

annelerin çocuklarının gözleri önünde 

genç kızların da annelerinin gözleri 

önünde tecavüze uğramaları haberlerinin 

şok etkisi yarattığını ifade etti. 

Kadınlar Birliği; Kadın ve erkeklerin bütün 

haklarını koruyan Suriye Cumhuriyeti 

Anayasası ve kanunlarından hareketle BM 

Genel Sekreteri ve ilgili kurumlarına 

ŞAM – Kadınlar Birliği silahlı çetelerden 

kaçarak Türkiye’deki kamplara sığınan 

Suriyeli kadınların tecavüze uğramaları 

olaylarını kınadı. 

Suriyeli kadınların Türkiye’deki kamplarda 

tecavüze uğramalarını önlemeleri 

çağrısında bulundu. 

http://www.sana.sy/tur/236/2011/09/23/ 

371021.htm 

Sayfa 64

Saldırdık Kundakladık Onlarca Kişiyi 

Öldürdük 

Eylül 23, 2011 

ŞAM – Dışarıdan finans ve destek alan bir 

terör grubunun üyesi Abdülkadir Salah 

Hallak; üyesi olduğu terör grubuyla birlikte 

bir çok öldürme, dehşet saçma, sabotaj ve 

bozguncuk eylemine katıldığını itiraf etti. 

kaçırdıkları vatandaşları öldürüp 

yaktıklarını itiraf etti. 

Suriye Televizyonu’nda yayınlanan 

itiraflarında Terörist Abdülkadir Salah 

Hallak, şöyle konuştu: 

Terörist Hallak, Suriye televizyonunun 

yayınladığı itiraflarında, Homs 

yakınlarındaki el-Savda bölgesinden geçen 

demiryolu hattını sabote etmeleri sonucu, 

yaklaşık 500 yolcu taşıyan ve Şam-Halep 

seferini yapmakta olan trenin raydan 

çıkarılmasının yanı sıra demiryolu raylarına 

bir patlayıcı yerleştirerek gelecek olan 

trenin raylardan çıkması hedefiyle 

patlatmalarını katıldığı eylemler arasında 

saydı. 

Terörist Hallak ayrıca, birçok kamu binası 

ve karakola saldırı, yakma ve hırsızlık 

eylemi düzenleyip karakollardaki güvenlik 

güçlerini katlettiklerini, barikatlar 

kurduklarını, vatandaşları korkuttuklarını, 

Şam-Misyaf seferini yapan ve içindeki 

birçok yolcunun katledildiği otobüs dahil 

birçok araca saldırdıklarını, birçok 

vatandaşı kaçırarak tehdit altında yalan 

ifadeler söyleterek görüntüleri kışkırtıcı 

Cezire kanalına gönderdiklerini ve bu 

Homs ilinin Havel Teldo kentindenim. 

1983 doğumlu olup evliyim. İlköğretim 

altıncı sınıfa kadar okudum. 

Olaylar başladığında, Cami İmamı Şeyh 

Halit Abdülvahed’in kışkırtmasıyla 

gösterilere katıldım. Abdülvahed bizlere 

para ve silah dağıttı ve bizden, yönetim 

yanlısı gösterilerden birine saldırmamızı, 

göstericileri vurup öldürmemizi istedi. 

Lübnanlı el-Müstakbel Hareketi Bu İşin 

İçinde 

Paralar, Şeyh Abdülvahed’e Lübnan’dan 

el-Müstakbel hareketinden geliyordu. 

Ayrıca Şeyh Muhammet Ali Meşal da 

bizlere para veriyor, kışkırtıyordu. Paralar 

oğlu Usame’ye ulaşıyordu. Usame de 

paraları Ammar Bekkur’a ulaştırıyor, o da 

Sayfa 65

paraları bizlere dağıtan Halit Abdülvahed’e 

teslim ediyordu. 

Kardeşim Abdullah bana, Halit 

Abdülvahed’ten almış olduğu bir pompalı 

tüfek verdi. Kardeşim Heysem de, yine 

aynı kişiden aldığı Biksi marka silah 

taşıyordu. 

Kamu ve Güvenlik Binalarına Saldırılar 

Barikatlara çıkmadan önce Halit 

Abdülvahed bizlere Teldo bölgesindeki 

Askeri Güvenlik Müfrezesine saldırma 

talimatı verdi. Oraya gittik ve göstericilerin 

arasından ateş açmaya başladık. Saat üç 

civarı idi. İki saat orada kaldık ve iki saat 

boyunca ateş açmaya devam ettik. Daha 

sonra parti binasına saldırıp, binayı yaktık. 

Belediye binasına da saldırıp orayı da 

ateşe verdik. Yanımızda üç kardeşim 

Heysem, Abdullah ve Muhammet Hallak 

ile birlikte Adnan, Gassan ve Cafer 

Abdülkadir Hallak, Abdüllatif el-Akeş ve 

Abdüllatif Abbas vardı. 

15 kişiyi kaçırdık ve İmad Selame’nin 

aracıyla İmad Mellal’ın mezrasına 

götürdük. Onları linç etmeye başladık. 

“Dördüncü Tabur’dan ve Şebbihalardan” 

olduklarını ve ordudan koptuklarını zorla 

söylettik ve görüntülerini kaydettik. 

Görüntüleri Cezire ve Arabiya kanallarına 

gönderdik. Kardeşim Heysem görüntüleri 

gönderiyordu ve her bir kayıt için 5 Bin SL 

alıyorduk… 

Adnan ve Muhammet Hallak, içinde dört 

kişi olan bir araca ateş açtı. İçindekilerden 

üçü öldü, şoför de yaralandı. Şoför Hama 

iline bağlı bir beldeye götürüldü ve orada 

öldürüldü. Daha sonra aracı ateşe verip bir 

yolun kesilmesinde kullandılar. 

Müfrezeye Saldırı.. Otobüs Saldırısı… 

Devlet Güvenlik Müfrezesine saldırdık. 

Yedi güvenlik görevlisini öldürdük. 

Askerlerin müdahalesinde Telzeheb ile 

Akrab arasındaki bir barikata gittik. 

Oradan Şam-Misyaf seferini yapmakta 

olan bir otobüs geçti. Kardeşim Heysem ve 

Abdüllatif Akeş ve el-Zeheb beldesinden 

olan Ebu Hüseyin lakaplı ancak adını 

bilmediğim şahıs otomatik silahlar ve biksi 

marka silah ile ateş açtılar. Sekiz asker, 3 

sivil ve otobüs şoförü öldü. 

Otobüs yolcularından kaçırılan iki kişiyi 

Ebu Ömer’in çiftliğine kaçırdık. Darp ettik 

ve “şebbihalardan ve dördüncü taburdan” 

olduklarını, ordudan ayrılıp kaçtıklarını 

zorla söyleterek, görüntüye aldık. 

Görüntüleri Cezire ve el-Arabia kanallarına 

gönderdik. Daha sonra üzerlerine benzin 

Sayfa 66

dökerek, onları yaktık. Cesetleri Keferlaha 

beldesine bıraktık… 

Tren Eylemleri… 

Tren kazasından bir gün önce Halit 

Abdülvahed, Abdüllatif Akeş ve 

kardeşlerim Heysem, Abdullah ile 

Muhammet’le evimde toplandık. 

Ahdülvahed bizlere demiryolundan 

bahsetti ve patlatılması gerektiğini söyledi. 

Başka bir bölgede ise rayları sabote 

etmemiz talimatını vererek kendimizi 

hazırlamamızı ve her birimizin bu işin 

sonunda 6000 SL alacağını belirtti. 

Ertesi günün akşamı motosikletlerimizle 

Hurbatulsevda beldesine gittik. Orada bizi 

dört bedevi karşıladı. Motosikletleri onlara 

emanet ettik ve raylara kadar yürüdük. 

Orada, raylardan sekiz parça söktük. Tren 

geldiğinde raydan çıktı. Bu olay geçtiğimiz 

23 Temmuz’da gerçekleşti. 

Aradan iki hafta sonra İmad Selame’yi 

arayarak Keferlaha’dan gelip bizleri 

almasını istedik. Onunla gittik. Elimizde 

Şeyh Abdülvahed’ten aldığımız patlayıcı 

vardı. Abdülvahed patlayıcıları Lübnan’dan 

getirtmişti. Kefernan adlı bölgeye ulaştık. 

Heysem raylara çıktı ve patlayıcıyı 

yerleştirerek uzaktan kumanda ile havaya 

uçurdu. Raylar işe yaramaz hale gelmişti. 

Patlayıcılar bir naylon poşetin içinde idi. 

Motosikletlerimizi emanet ettiğimiz 

bedeviler, kardeşim Heysem’in tanıdıkları 

idi. Bu bölgeyi seçtik çünkü patlayıcıyı 

başına yerleştirdiğimiz köprünün 

yüksekliği 20 metre idi. Köprünün başını 

seçtik ki, tren ulaştığında aşağıya düşsün. 

Gelen trenin içinde güvenlik güçleri, polis 

ve askerlerin olmasını bekliyorduk. Ama 

tren gelmedi. 

İşkenceyle Güvenlik Güçlerine İftira 

Attırdılar 

İdlib ilinden Ziyad el-Seyyid adlı vatandaş; 

silahlı terör gruplarının daha başka 

gruplarla birlikte kendisini nasıl 

kaçırdıklarını ve Suriye'ye karşı savaş açan 

medya kanallarında yayınlamak amacıyla 

güvenlik güçleri tarafından işkenceye 

maruz kaldığını söylettiklerini anlattı. 

El-Seyyid dün Suriye televizyonuna yaptığı 

açıklamada; terör gruplarının kendisini 

kaçırmaları ardından işkence ettiklerini, ve 

bu işkenceyi güvenlik güçlerine yüklemek 

için zor ifade verdirdiklerini açıkladı. 

El-Ramiye ve Besamus köylerinden geçip 

50 metre uzaklaştıktan sonra araçlarının 

iki kişi tarafından durdurulduğunu belirten 

el-Seyit silahlıların kendilerinden kimlik 

istediğini ve ardından araçlarından 

Sayfa 67

indirdiğini anlatarak araçtan indikten 

sonra bütün para ve şahsi evraklarının 

silahlı kişiler tarafından gasp edildiğini 

aktardı. 

Daha sonra silahlı kişiler tarafından 

gözlerinin kapanarak bilmedikleri bir yere 

götürüldüklerini dile getiren el-Seyit; 

kendilerine ne iş yaptıklarını sorduklarını 

ve ardından vurmaya başladıklarını ifade 

etti. 

Çetenin kendilerini vurmayı sürdürdüğü 

sırada göz bağının düştüğünü ve 

etrafından 6 kişi gördüğünü belirten el- 

Seyit dayak attıktan sonra kendisini bir 

kameranın önünde konuşmaya 

zorladıklarını anlatı. 

açtığında kendini İdlib Devlet 

Hastanesinde bulduğunu sözlerine ekledi. 

http://www.sana.sy/tur/339/2011/09/23/ 

371070.htm 

Cabinet Approves Bill Exempting 

Loans of Agricultural Corporative 

Bank from Interests 

DAMASCUS, (SANA) - During a session 

held on Thursday under the chairmanship 

of Prime Minister, Dr. Adel Safar, the 

Cabinet approved a bill on exempting the 

loans of the Agricultural Corporative Bank 

from the due interests. 

El-Seyit;kameranın önünde “işime gittiğim 

sırada Hurbatulcavz kavşağında güvenlik 

güçleri tarafından durduruduğunu, 

üstünün arandığını ve cep telefonunda 

kayıtlı bulunan protesto gösterileri 

nedeniyle gözaltına alınarak şiddete maruz 

kaldığını” söylediğini açıkladı. 

Silahlı kişilerin zorla yaptırdığı kamera 

kaydının bitmesinin ardından bir araca 

bindirilerek ıssız bir yere bırakıldıklarını 

dile getiren el-Seyit; oradan geçen bir 

arabaya binerek Ariha’ya ulaşmadan bir 

süre önce bilincini kaybettiğini ve gözlerini 

The aforementioned procedure aims at 

supporting the agricultural sector in Syria 

and alleviating the repercussions of the 

harsh climatic changes in the country over 

the past few years. 

With the aim of supporting the national 

industry in face of the international 

economic changes, the Cabinet also 

approved a bill on rescheduling the loans 

Sayfa 68

and the due facilitations granted to the 

industrialists by the public banks, and 

exempting them from all the due interests 

and the outstanding fines, in addition to 

paying the deposits of the 

aforementioned loans in installments paid 

over five years. 

In the framework of protecting the 

national economy and the local products, 

the Cabinet approved a bill on temporarily 

suspending the import of some 

commodities whose customs duties are 

more than 5 percent except some of the 

basic goods needed by the citizens which 

are not produced by the local industry. 

Saudi Arabia recovering from a June 

assassination attempt. 

“Ali Abdullah Saleh, President of the 

Republic, returned this morning to the 

land of the nation safely after a trip for 

treatment in Riyadh that lasted more than 

three months,” an urgent news break on 

Yemen Television said. 

Al Arabiya correspondent from Sanaa 

reported that Saleh will chair a ruling 

party meeting within hours and that there 

were unconfirmed reports that he might 

announce his resignation. 

http://www.sana.sy/eng/21/2011/09/23/ 

370940.htm 

7. ARABIAN PENINSULA AND THE 

GULF OF BASRA / ARAP 

YARIMADASI VE BASRA KÖRFEZİ 

President Saleh returns to Yemen 

after 3-month absence as violence 

escalates 

By Al Arabiya And Agencies 

Sanaa 

President Ali Abdullah Saleh returned to 

Yemen on Friday, state television 

reported, after spending three months in 

Saleh has clung to power despite eight 

months of protests in which tens of 

thousands have taken to the streets to 

demand an end to his 33-year rule. 

His return Friday came amid bloody 

escalation of violence between his proand 

anti-government forces in the capital 

Sanaa, bringing the death count from five 

days of violence to more than 100. 

Sayfa 69

Protesters were due to return to the 

streets during Friday prayers, raising the 

risks of more confrontations between 

troops loyal to Saleh and activists 

demanding an end to his 33-year rule. 

The United States, Saudi Arabia and other 

powers fear al-Qaeda’s Yemen wing could 

exploit the growing lawlessness in the 

country. Al-Qaeda militants have already 

seized cities in a Yemeni province just east 

of a key oil shipping channel in recent 

months. 

Gun battles and shelling between state 

troops and soldiers backing the protest 

movement shook areas near “Change 

Square,” the name demonstrators have 

given the street where thousands have 

camped out for eight months. 

Protesters, inspired by uprisings across 

the Arab world, marched into parts of the 

city controlled by pro-Saleh forces on 

Sunday and were met by heavy gunfire. 

The clashes escalated when troops loyal to 

army defector General Ali Mohsen joined 

in on the side of the protesters. 

Overnight, one or two shells hit the 

southern end of the Change Square camp, 

killing at one person, a spokesman for the 

demonstrators said. 

At least six people were killed as fighting 

raged on Thursday and Friday with heavy 

explosions and gunfire in Hasaba, a 

neighborhood of Sanaa where the 

powerful anti-Saleh tribal leader Sadeq al- 

Ahmar lives, residents said. 

Snipers said to be lurking on the upper 

floors of buildings killed four protesters 

and wounded at least 14 around Change 

Square, a doctor at the square’s clinic said. 

Angry protesters set fire to a house where 

they believed snipers were hiding, while 

medics set up a blood donation campaign 

for the wounded. 

A guard at the house of an opposition 

figure also died when Saleh loyalists 

bombarded his house. 

The interior ministry said seven people 

were killed by late afternoon on Thursday, 

including two government soldiers and 

two armed tribesmen fighting alongside 

them. 

Negotiations on a peaceful transfer of 

power have stalled, and the U.N.’s Yemen 

envoy said the country on the south end 

of the Arabian Peninsula would be torn 

apart unless a political solution is reached 

soon between Saleh’s camp and his foes. 

Sayfa 70

“Unless there is a deal, or unless there a 

breakthrough to a political solution ... the 

country will continue to fall apart and 

violence will spread to other parts of the 

country,” United Nations envoy Jamal bin 

Omar told Reuters. 

“It’s very urgent that Yemenis make up 

their mind and agree on a reasonable way 

forward.” 

Window closing for negotiations 

Diplomats and analysts say the best 

chance of pulling the capital out of a 

descent into further violence is finalizing a 

deal for a transfer of power plan, which 

they say Yemeni politicians were just days 

away from finalizing when the fighting 

erupted. 

Saleh has on three occasions backed out 

of a plan brokered by Gulf neighbors for 

him to step down. Yemenis eager to get 

on with their lives said they feared that 

negotiators did not have much time left 

before violence spiraled out of control. 

“Today it’s fine, maybe tomorrow too,” 

said driver Mohammed, as he waited in a 

line of cars to pass a checkpoint. “They’ve 

got a few days, maybe a week to get some 

kind of political development. After that, I 

worry there will be a slaughter.” 

A truce called by Yemen’s vice president 

earlier this week broke down in just a 

matter of hours, highlighting the need for 

a political breakthrough. 

“There are some initiatives being 

discussed for a political solution under the 

supervision of Jamal bin Omar and we 

hope these efforts succeed. Their failure 

will push this country into more violence,” 

a high-ranking opposition official said. 

Gulf Cooperation Council Secretary 

General Abdbullatif al-Zayani flew into 

Sanaa this week to try and resurrect the 

deal but left after two days with nothing 

to show for his efforts. 

More than 400 have been killed since the 

grassroots revolt against repressive Saleh 

family rule began in January. 




UAE to hold second limited polls to 

choose 20 representatives at Federal 

National Council 

Voters chosen by the traditional rulers of 

the United Arab Emirates will cast their 

ballots Saturday in the second-ever polls 

to elect half the members of the toothless 

Federal National Council (FNC). 

Sayfa 71

Some 129,000 Emirati citizens are 

expected to elect 20 representatives out 

of 450 candidates, including some 85 

women, across the Gulf state whose 

leadership has promised a gradual political 

participation. 

The size of the electoral college has 

significantly been enlarged after it 

included only 6,600 voters in 2006, the 

first-ever elections since the FNC was 

formed in 1972, a year after 

independence from Britain. 

Running in the FNC polls is not open to all 

UAE citizens as candidates should come 

from within the lists of eligible voters 

named by the respective ruler of each of 

the seven emirates of the UAE. 

President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al- 

Nahayan who is also the ruler of wealthy 

Abu Dhabi. 

“We have to walk with a clear vision to 

empower the Federal National Council. 

The upcoming elections... are the perfect 

opportunity to take a major step towards 

this goal,” he said. 

UAE’s Vice President and Prime Minister, 

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashed Al- 

Maktoum, who is also the ruler of the 

bustling emirate of Dubai, described the 

polls as a “new chapter in the success 

story” of the country. 

Those rulers will also name the other half 

of FNC members. 

The leadership of the country that groups 

seven sheikhdoms, notably Dubai and oilrich 

Abu Dhabi, has urged voters to take 

part in the elections to achieve wider 

participation. 

“On this important national occasion, I call 

upon my sons and daughters, the 

members of electoral bodies, to 

participate actively in the elections so that 

we can achieve real participation,” said 

He also said the elections were “a test of 

the people of the UAE to exercise their 

right in electing the candidates whom 

they deem as good, competent and able 

to carry over their views into the council.” 

The FNC, however, is far from being a 

proper parliament. 

Sayfa 72

The Council has no legislative powers and 

acts merely as an advisory board to the 

Federal Supreme Council, the country's 

highest governing body, made up of the 

rulers of the federation's seven emirates. 

The National Council cannot overturn or 

block laws or decrees issued and ratified 

by the Supreme Council. 

Despite a wave of pro-democracy 

uprisings sweeping across the Arab world 

as people demand a say in the running of 

their countries ruled by undemocratic 

regimes, the UAE appears under no 

internal pressure to rush into speedy 

democratization. 

The rich nation provides most of its native 

population of some 950,000 people -- a 

minority in its foreign-dominated total 

population-- with a comfortable life and 

cradle-to-grave care. 

In addition to Abu Dhabi and Dubai, the 

UAE comprises the emirates of Ajman, 

Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and 

Umm al-Qaiwain. 

Abu Dhabi and Dubai are assigned eight 

seats each in the FNC, compared to six 

each for Ras al-Khaimah and Sharjah, and 

four each for the smaller emirates of 

Ajman, Fujairah and Umm al-Qaiwain. 




Bahrain king highlights need to 

resolve UAE islands issue 

Bahraini king stresses issue of occupied 

islands during his address to the United 

Nations General Assembly 

Manama: King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa 

on Thursday reiterated in front of the 

international community Bahrain's call for 

a solution to the United Arab Emirates 

occupied islands. 

"Based on our commitment to the security 

of the Arabian Gulf region, we emphasize 

the need to resolve the issue of the three 

occupied United Arab Emirates' islands, 

through direct negotiations or by referral 

to the International Court of Justice," King 

Hamad said in his address to the United 

Nations General Assembly. 

The Bahraini monarch stressed the issue 

of the occupied islands as he presented 

Bahrain's views on developments in the 

Arabian Gulf and the Middle East. 

"Today, more than any time in the past, 

the international community is offered a 

propitious opportunity to do justice to the 

brotherly Palestinian people to achieve 

Sayfa 73

their legitimate aspirations by recognizing 

their independent Palestinian state on 

their own national territory, with East 

Jerusalem as its capital," he said. 

"This would put an end to an era of bitter 

Arab-Israeli conflict, subject to a complete 

Israeli withdrawal from all occupied Arab 

territories to the lines of 4 June 1967 in 

Palestine, the occupied Syrian Arab Golan 

and the occupied territories in southern 

Lebanon, in accordance with the relevant 

resolutions of international legitimacy and 

the Arab Peace Initiative," he said. 

King Hamad said that "with regard to 

developments in the brotherly Yemen, the 

Kingdom of Bahrain supports the Gulf 

initiative to maintain the security, stability 

and unity of Yemen and achieve the 

aspirations of its people." 

"We also emphasize in this respect the 

importance of preserving the unity of 

Moroccan territory and resolving the issue 

of the Moroccan Sahara in accordance 

with the relevant Security Council 

resolutions," he said. 

King Hamad said that Bahrain did not 

hesitate to contribute to and participate in 

the Group of Friends of Libya to achieve 

the aspirations of the Libyan people and 

to ensure the unity and territorial integrity 

of the country. 

"Bahrain is also participating in the 

international peacekeeping forces in 

Afghanistan, in support of its stability and 

security in all political, economic, and 

security spheres, as well as in the fight 

against international terrorism and piracy 

on the high seas," he said. 

The Bahraini king said that Arabs - 

Muslims, Christians, Jews and followers of 

other religions and beliefs- can only 

coexist in a "Civil State" that is based on 

tolerance. 

"We speak here of the reality of the 

experience of our country, Bahrain, with 

its characteristic openness and its 

civilization deeply rooted in history which 

made it, from times immemorial, a symbol 

of coexistence and interaction between 

these human contributions," he said. 

"Hence its position as a cultural and 

spiritual centre of its natural and human 

environment in the Arabian Gulf region 

since early times, a position upon which it 

built its civil society and its modern 

renaissance in the field of administrative 

organisation, economic action, and 

educational and cultural revival," he said. 

Sayfa 74

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/b 

ahrain-king-highlights-need-to-resolveuae-islands-issue-1.872080 

Foreign minister welcomes Obama' 

remarks on Bahrain 

Country notes US support for reform 

process pursued by the Kingdom of 

Bahrain 

Manama: Bahrain's foreign minister has 

hailed the speech delivered by President 

Barack Obama at the United Nations 

general assembly. 

"The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Shaikh 

Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa, welcomed 

the United States' President Barack 

Obama speech before the United Nations 

General Assembly on September 21," the 

ministry said in a statement. 

"We note the US support for the reform 

process pursued by the Kingdom of 

Bahrain under the leadership of His 

Majesty King Hamad Bin Eisa Al Khalifa 

and stress its continuation in order to 

achieve the ambitions and aspirations of 

the people of the Kingdom of Bahrain." 

According to the statement, the foreign 

minister "noted the relations of friendship 

linking the two friendly countries and their 

growth and development in various 

fields". 

"The Minister also hailed the US 

supportive positions in strengthening and 

consolidating those ties and the common 

desire to boost cooperation between the 

two friendly countries in various areas," 

the statement said. 

In his speech, Obama said that steps have 

been taken in Bahrain towards reform and 

accountability. 

We are pleased with that, but more is 

required. America is a close friend of 

Bahrain, and we will continue to call on 

the government and the main opposition 

bloc - the Wefaq - to pursue a meaningful 

dialogue that brings peaceful change that 

is responsive to the people," he said. 

"We believe the patriotism that binds 

Bahrainis together must be more powerful 

than the sectarian forces that would tear 

them apart. It will be hard, but it is 

possible," he said. 

National Unity Rally 

However, the National Unity Rally, a 

recently formed group that claims to be 

the most representative in Bahrain, said 

Sayfa 75

that Obama should not have singled out Al 

Wefaq in the call for the dialogue. 

"President Obama should not adopt the 

stance of a group that refuses the other 

components of the Bahraini society," the 

Rally said in a statement following the US 

president's speech to the UN. "Siding with 

one side over all the others is ominous to 

the national unity that we are seeking." 

President Obama should not ignore the 

Rally, the main opposition formation and 

which groups people from all religions and 

sects as well as minorities and has been 

pushing for the consolidation of the civil 

society, the Rally said. 

http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/bahrain/f 

oreign-minister-welcomes-obamaremarks-on-bahrain-1.871550 

8. AFGHANISTAN - PAKISTAN / 

AFGANİSTAN - PAKİSTAN 

US to lose Pakistan as ally if 

accusations continue, says Khar 

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s foreign minister 

said on Thursday the United States risks 

losing an ally if it continues to publicly 

criticise Islamabad’s performance in the 

war against militancy. 

"We urge President Obama not to side 

with any specific formation, as any 

particular support would be a threat to 

our national unity," the statement said. 

Al Wefaq said that it welcomed Obama's 

call for dialogue and expressed readiness 

to engage in talks. 

The society in July walked out of the 

national dialogue, a forum for around 300 

figures to help shape the future of Bahrain 

following months of unrest and divisions 

within the Bahraini society, saying that it 

would not yield the anticipated results. 

“You will lose an ally,” Hina Rabbani Khar 

told a Pakistani television channel in New 

York. 

“You cannot afford to alienate Pakistan, 

you cannot afford to alienate the Pakistani 

people. If you are choosing to do so and if 

they are choosing to do so it will be at 

their (the United States’) own cost.” 

Khar was responding to Senate testimony 

by the outgoing chairman of the Joint 

Sayfa 76

Chiefs of Staff, Admiral Mike Mullen, who 

said Pakistan’s top spy agency was closely 

tied to the Haqqani network. 

Mullen said on Thursday that Pakistan’s 

Inter-Services Intelligence agency (ISI) 

played a role in the September 13 attack 

on the US embassy in Kabul, supporting 

militants known as the Haqqani network. 

That network, he said, is a “veritable arm” 

of the ISI. 

The embassy attack was the latest in a 

series of violent episodes that have set 

back US efforts to bring the Afghan war to 

a peaceful close. 

Mullen’s comments and Khar’s retort 

mark an unusual escalation of rhetoric 

between the allies in the struggle against 

militants and, at least in public, marks a 

low point in their relationship. 

US-Pakistani relations had barely begun to 

recover from the hostility triggered by an 

unannounced US Special Forces raid that 

killed Osama bin Laden in the city of 

Abbottabad in May. 

“At the operational level it will be 

appropriate to say that there are serious 

difficulties (between the two countries),” 

Khar told the television channel. 

In a separate interview with India’s NDTV, 

Khar added: “Pointing fingers at each 

other will not help. Finding scapegoats will 

not help…we want to be a mature, 

responsible country that is fighting 

terrorism with a lot of maturity.” 

The tensions could have repercussions 

across Asia, from India, Pakistan’s 

economically booming arch-rival, to China, 

which has edged closer to Pakistan in 

recent years. 

A complete break between the United 

States and Pakistan — sometimes friends, 

often adversaries — seems unlikely, if only 

because the United States depends on 

Pakistan as a route to supply US troops in 

Afghanistan, and as a base for unmanned 

US drones. 

Pakistan relies on Washington for military 

and economic aid and for acting as a 

backer on the world stage. 

Washington does not want to see further 

instability in the country. 

But support in the US Congress for curbing 

assistance or making conditions on aid 

more stringent is rising rapidly. And 

Mullen, CIA Director David Petraeus and 

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have all 

met their Pakistani counterparts in recent 

Sayfa 77

days to demand Islamabad rein in 

militants. 

http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/23/us- 

Karzai vows to continue Afghan peace 

effort 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai arrives for 

a press conference at the Presidential 

palace in Kabul on September 22, 2011. — 

Photo by AFP 

same time, we consider it our 

responsibility to fight the enemies of 

peace with determination”. 

Karzai spoke in a short speech at the state 

funeral for Rabbani, who was murdered 

by a suicide bomber wearing explosives in 

his turban who visited his Kabul home on 

Tuesday, claiming to be a Taliban 

emissary. 

Thousands gathered for Rabbani’s funeral 

on Friday with Kabul’s diplomatic zone on 

lockdown to protect the prayers and 

burial of the former president and 

chairman on Karzai’s hand-picked High 

Peace Council. 

The Taliban have not claimed 

KABUL: Afghan President Hamid Karzai 

vowed to continue efforts to make peace 

with Taliban-led insurgents in a speech on 

Friday at the funeral of the government’s 

assassinated peace broker Burhanuddin 

Rabbani. 

“The blood of the martyred (Rabbani) and 

other martyrs of freedom requires us to 

continue our efforts until we reach peace 

and stability,” Karzai said. 

But the president warned that while 

peace efforts would continue, “at the 

responsibility for the attack but officials 

have said they were behind it. 

Rabbani’s body was lying in state at the 

presidential palace where prayers were 

being offered ahead of the burial on a hill 

overlooking the Afghan capital. 

http://www.dawn.com/2011/09/23/karza 

to-lose-pakistan-as-an-ally-if-accusations- 

continue-says-fm-khar.html 

i-vows-to-continue-afghan-peaceeffort.html 

Rabbani's Killer Used Fake Peace 

Message to Gain Access, Karzai Says 

Burhannuddin Rabbani 

Sayfa 78

VOA News 

September 22, 2011 

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says the 

suicide bomber who killed former 

president Burhannuddin Rabbani used a 

fake peace message from the Taliban to 

gain access to the peace broker. 

Rabbani, the head of Afghanistan's High 

Peace Council, was killed Tuesday at his 

Kabul home when the attacker detonated 

explosives in his turban. Rabbani was 

leading efforts to find a political solution 

to the 10-year Afghan war. 

President Karzai said Thursday that the 

suicide bomber had presented officials 

with a CD of a purported Taliban peace 

offer. The president told reporters in 

Kabul that he had listened to the audio 

recording before leaving to attend this 

week's United Nations General Assembly 

in New York. Karzai cut short his U.S. trip 

after Rabbani was killed. 

The president said one of his advisors, 

Masoom Stanekzai, gave him the CD. 

Stanekzai was wounded in Tuesday's 

attack. Officials say the killer had waited 

at a guest house in the Afghan capital for 

four days to see former President 

Rabbani. 

At a separate news conference, a 

spokesman for the Afghan intelligence 

agency said officials believe Taliban's 

leadership body, the Quetta Shura, was 

behind the assassination. 

There is conflicting information regarding 

the claim of responsibility. 

A Taliban spokesman told Reuters news 

agency that the group carried out the 

attack, but another Taliban spokesman 

rejected that claim and said the insurgent 

group would not comment about 

Rabbani's assassination. 

In other news, NATO says a joint Afghan 

and coalition security force killed a Taliban 

commander who was the target of an 

earlier operation in which 30 American 

troops were killed in a helicopter crash. 

The alliance says Qari Tahir was killed in 

an air strike Tuesday in Afghanistan's 

central Wardak province. 

NATO says Tahir was the Taliban's top 

leader in Tangi Valley and the target of the 

August 5 operation, during which the CH- 

47 Chinook helicopter was shot down. 

The crash also killed seven Afghan troops 

and an Afghan interpreter. 

Sayfa 79

The insurgents responsible for shooting 

down the helicopter were killed days later 

in an airstrike. 

NATO says Tahir was responsible for 

coordinating attacks against Afghan 

fighters as well as kidnappings for ransom 

and hijacking of convoy vehicles. The 

statement says he was also known to use 

roadside bombs and rockets to intimidate 

the local population. 

http://www.aopnews.com/today.html 

Afghan president pays tribute to late 

Rabbani's role in peace efforts 

KABUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan 

President Hamid Karzai on Thursday 

described the late Burhanudin Rabbani as 

the "Martyr of Peace" and hailed his 

efforts in bringing about peace and 

national reconciliation in the militancy-hit 

country. 

"A terrorist disguised to be messenger of 

peace from Taliban side targeted 

chairmen of Peace Council professor 

Rabbani and martyred him. He sacrificed 

his life for peace in the country and so, the 

late professor Rabbani is 'Martyr of Peace' 

in Afghanistan, " President Karzai told at a 

press conference after returning home 

from New York. 

A man pretended to be a Taliban 

messenger entered the house of the 

chairman of the government-backed 

peace body, the High Peace Council and a 

former Afghan President Burhanudin in 

Kabul Tuesday evening and blew himself 

up leaving himself and Rabbani dead on 

the spot. 

Four more people sustained injuries, 

according to officials. 

President Karzai who was in New York to 

attend the United Nations General 

Assembly had canceled his visit and 

returned home. 

Taliban militants fighting Afghan and 

NATO-led troops have claimed of 

responsibility. 

The burial ceremony of late Rabbani is 

scheduled to be held amid tight security in 

Kabul on Friday. 

As sign of respect and paying homage to 

the services of late Rabbani, Afghan 

government has announced three-day 

national mourning from Thursday and the 

national flag would remain half- mast for 

three days. 


Sayfa 80

200 French troops to leave 

Afghanistan 

Press TV 


France will withdraw around 200 troops 

from Afghanistan next month as part of its 

plans for a phased withdrawal from the 

war-ravaged country. 

French military spokesman Colonel Thierry 

Burkhard told a press conference in Paris 

on Thursday that a company of soldiers 

numbering around 200 would leave 

Afghanistan by the end of October, AFP 

reported. 

“France will pull out the equivalent of a 

combat company and its support 

elements," he said. 

Colonel Burkhard said a second French 

detachment would leave Afghanistan 

before the end of the year, and that 

France would pull out a quarter of its 

troops deployed as part of the US-led 

International Security Assistance Force by 

the end of 2012. 

The French government plans to withdraw 

all its forces from Afghanistan in 2014, by 

which time they hope to have transferred 

responsibility to Afghan government 

forces. 

A total of 75 French soldiers have been 

killed in Afghanistan since October 2001, 

when the US-led invasion of the country 

began, according to a tally by Agence 

France-Presse. 

At least 2,730 US-led soldiers have been 

killed in Afghanistan so far. 

France reportedly has around 4,000 

military servicemen in Afghanistan, 

supporting the US-led operations in the 

war-torn country. 

President Nicholas Sarkozy has come 

under pressure from the opposition 

Socialists in recent weeks to accelerate 

the withdrawal of French troops from 

Afghanistan. 

The security situation has been 

deteriorating across Afghanistan over the 

past few years. 

Violence has also spread from 

Afghanistan's volatile south to relatively 

peaceful areas over the course of the past 

year despite the presence of some 

150,000 foreign troops. 


Sayfa 81

Pakistan rejects U.S. allegations 

against spy agency 

ISLAMABAD, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Pakistan 

Thursday dismissed U.S. accusations that 

the country's spy agency is using the al- 

Qaida- linked Haqqani network for a proxy 

war in neighboring Afghanistan. 

U.S. officials have accused Pakistan's Inter 

Services Intelligence (ISI for having links 

with the Haqqani network, which they 

blamed for the September 13 attacks on 

the U.S. embassy and NATO headquarters 

in Kabul. Five Afghan policemen and 10 

civilians were killed in the brazen attack. 

Speaking at the regular weekly briefing on 

Thursday, Pakistan Foreign Office 

spokesperson Tehmina Janjua said 

Pakistan has no cooperation with the 

Haqqani network and was not fighting any 

war through the Haqqanis in Afghanistan. 

Earlier U.S. officials had claimed that there 

was mounting evidence that the ISI had 

been encouraging the Haqqani network to 

attack targets in Afghanistan. 

The U.S. leveled the allegations at a time 

when the U.S. Senate Appropriations 

Committee passed a bill that makes "all" 

U.S. financial assistance to the 

Government of Pakistan privy to 

conditions of cooperation against the 

Hqqani network and other terror groups 

associated with al-Qaida. 

According to a press release issued by the 

committee, the Senate Thursday passed 

the Department of State, Foreign 

Operations and Related Programs 

Appropriations bill for the fiscal year 2012 

by a 28-2 vote in favor. 

The bill makes available 161.4 million U.S. 

dollars for State Department operations in 

Pakistan, but "does not specify amounts 

for assistance for Pakistan." The 

committee also voted to provide one 

billion dollars for the Pakistan 

Counterinsurgency Capability Fund. 

On the assassination of Afghan peace 

council head, Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, 

the Foreign Office spokesperson said with 

Rabbani's death, the people of 

Afghanistan had "lost a visionary leader 

and one of the strongest proponents of 

peace," while Pakistan had "lost a friend 

and a true partner for peace." 

"The people of Pakistan mourn with the 

Afghan government this tragic loss. 

Terrorism and violence only reinforce the 

resolve of the people of Afghanistan and 

Pakistan to defeat and eliminate terrorism 

Sayfa 82

and to continue to work for reconciliation 

and peace in Afghanistan," she said. 

A suicide bomber with explosives hidden 

in his turban killed Rabbani, the head of 

the Afghan High Peace Council, at his 

home in Kabul on Tuesday. 

Rabbani was the latest victim in a string of 

high-profile assassinations in Afghanistan 

and his death is being seen as a major 

blow to the nascent effort to begin 

negotiations with the Afghan Taliban. 


US Presses Pakistan for Action on 

Haqqani Network 

VOA News 


Phil Ittner | Islamabad 

Since last week's brazen 20-hour attack on 

the U.S. Embassy, NATO headquarters and 

other buildings in Kabul, one issue has 

topped the agenda in meetings between 

high-level U.S. and Pakistani officials: How 

to deal with the Haqqani network, a group 

closely allied with both the Taliban and al- 

Qaida that U.S. military commanders have 

called "most resilient enemy network" 

fighting against coalition forces in 

Afghanistan. 

The group is named after the ethnic 

Pashtun father and son who lead it. The 

elder Jalaluddin Haqqani fought Soviet 

forces in Afghanistan and later sided with 

the Taliban during the Afghan civil war. 

Since NATO forces became involved in 

Afghanistan following the September 11, 

2001 terrorist attacks, the network has 

reportedly set up bases in North 

Waziristan, a region of Pakistan along the 

Afghan border where there is a large 

Pashtun population. 

The issue of Pakistan's relationship with 

the Haqqanis has been a sensitive topic 

between Washington and Islamabad for 

years. Speaking recently on Pakistani state 

radio, U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan 

Cameron Munter said Washington is 

losing patience with Pakistani support for 

the group. 

"We have said in the past that there is 

evidence linking the Haqqani network to 

the Pakistani government," he said. "This 

is something that must stop. We have to 

make sure that we work together to fight 

terrorism, to recognize the common 

enemy, the people who attack Pakistanis, 

the people who attack Americans, the 

people who [orchestrated] events like 

what happened in Kabul." 

Sayfa 83

According to some observers, Pakistani 

authorities do not view the Haqqanis as a 

threat because they do not attack 

Pakistani interests. Analysts also believe 

Pakistan is using the Haqqanis as a 

"strategic hedge" in Afghanistan, with an 

eye to the eventual pullout of U.S.-led 

coalition forces from the country. 

Punjab University Professor Hassan Askari 

says Islamabad fears that if it bows to U.S. 

pressure to attack the Haqqanis, it will stir 

up a virtual hornet's nest that the 

impoverished and militarily-stretched 

country can ill afford. 

"The worry is that if they go into North 

Waziristan, they may not quickly succeed, 

and there will be more suicide attacks and 

other terrorist activities within Pakistan 

that will destabilize the country or 

undermine whatever reputation still exists 

for the government," he said. 

On dangerous ground 

Another problem is that the North 

Waziristan territory from which the 

Haqqanis operate is mountainous and 

remote. A very difficult terrain on which 

to wage military campaigns, the region's 

local population is fiercely independent 

and resentful of any control, even by 

Islamabad. Its border with Afghanistan is 

long and porous. 

Pakistan's former ambassador to 

Afghanistan, Ayaz Wazir, says the 

international forces in Afghanistan have 

the resources to go after Haqqani fighters 

when they cross over, but when asked 

about sealing the border itself, he poses a 

rhetorical question. If the superpowers 

who came to Afghanistan can’t control the 

border, how can Pakistan be expected to? 

"This porous border which the Soviets 

could not seal, which the Americans 

cannot seal, which NATO and American 

forces together cannot seal," he said. "The 

might of the world is sitting in the small 

country called Afghanistan, and if they 

cannot stop [the group] from entering into 

the country and creating problems, [how 

can] a poor country like Pakistan with little 

resources?" 

Still, U.S. pressure to end support for the 

Haqqani network is mounting. A day after 

Ambassador Munter made his comments 

on Pakistani state radio, U.S. Secretary of 

State Hillary Clinton pressed Pakistan to 

take action against the network during a 

meeting with her Pakistani counterpart, 

Hina Rabbani Khar, on the sidelines of the 

Sayfa 84

annual U.N. General Assembly in New 

York. 

Mullen accuses Pakistan of waging 'proxy 

war' 

Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the 

Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that during a 

meeting with his Pakistani counterpart, 

General Ashfaq Kayani, he had discussed 

support given to the Haqqani network by 

Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence 

agency, or ISI. 

"We covered a full range of issues 

focusing on the danger of the Haqqani 

network, specifically the need for the ISI 

to disconnect from Haqqani and from this 

proxy war that they’re fighting," he said. 

Also on Tuesday, Secretary of Defense 

Leon Panetta said the U.S. would “take 

whatever steps are necessary" to protect 

its forces in Afghanistan from attacks by 

the Haqqani network. 

The Washington Post, citing unnamed U.S. 

and Pakistani officials, reported 

Wednesday that Obama administration 

officials have indicated the U.S. will act 

"unilaterally" if Pakistan does not cut ties 

with the Haqqani network and "help 

eliminate its leaders." 

According to AFP and The Associated 

Press, U.S. officials who did not want to be 

named reported the U.S. has agreed to 

limit the number of military personnel 

stationed in Pakistan. Immediately after 

the U.S. raid on Osama bin Laden's 

compound in Abbottabad, Pakistan, in 

May, Pakistani officials called for U.S. to 

withdraw personnel who were helping 

train Pakistan's military in 

counterinsurgency tactics. 


Drones: Pakistan Has No Leg To Stand 

On 


Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty 

By Bashir Ahmad Gwakh 

The recent drone attack that reportedly 

killed Al-Qaeda leader Abu Hafs al-Shahri 

in Waziristan is the latest result of a 

Central Intelligence Agency campaign that 

began in 2004. Pakistan has protested 

against U.S. drone attacks, considering 

them a violation of its sovereignty. 

Such protests have been ineffective. 

Strikes by the pilotless predators have 

increased since President Barack Obama 

took office in 2008. The United States 

Sayfa 85

considers them so effective that it is 

seeking a further expansion of drone 

operations in Pakistan, "The Washington 

Post" reported. 

Many Pakistanis say the drones kill too 

many civilians and therefore should be 

stopped. On September 19, Mustafa 

Nawaz Khokhar, an adviser to Pakistan’s 

prime minister, told reporters that in 

order to build diplomatic pressure against 

drone attacks, the federal Ministry of 

Human Rights has decided to bring the 

issue before the United Nations. 

In April, speaking to parliament hours 

after dual drone strikes killed six 

suspected militants in Waziristan, Prime 

Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani condemned the 

raids and said the Foreign Ministry had 

lodged a complaint with the U.S. Embassy, 

reiterating its stance that such attacks are 

counterproductive. 

Sophisticated, Accurate 

However, drones are considered one of 

the most sophisticated of modern-day 

weapons -- more precise than regular 

missiles -- and have the ability to verify 

targets without risking the lives of pilots. A 

recent study conducted by the New 

America Foundation shows that the 270 

reported drone strikes in northwestern 

Pakistan from 2004 to the present day 

have killed between 1,661 and 2,601 

individuals, of whom around 1,368 to 

2,130 were described as militants in 

reliable press accounts. Thus, the civilian 

casualty rate since 2004, according to this 

analysis, is approximately 20 percent. The 

report states further that 35 militant 

leaders were among the killed insurgents. 

This study proves two points. 

One, civilian deaths are not as high as 

Pakistani media, religious leaders, 

politicians, and other analysts have been 

claiming. The analysts question the claims 

of high civilian casualties because no 

media outlet or organization has ever 

published the names of those killed, their 

villages, dates, and the locations of the 

drone attacks. According to analysts, in a 

bid to minimize their losses, the 

insurgents try to conceal the identities of 

their associates killed in the attacks. They 

collect their comrades’ bodies and, after 

burying them, issue statements that all of 

the victims were innocent residents. 

Secondly, Pakistani complaints about 

drone attacks would carry more weight if 

the Pakistani government showed more 

concern over the Haqqani network and Al- 

Sayfa 86

Qaeda safe havens in North Waziristan, 

where most of these drone attacks have 

occurred. Despite repeated American 

demands to launch a sincere military 

operation to eliminate these hideouts, 

Pakistan has refused to do so. 

U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta 

recently said the Haqqani network, 

blamed for carrying out deadly attacks on 

coalition and Afghan forces in 

Afghanistan, will not be tolerated and that 

Pakistan should eradicate it. However, 

General Ashfaq Perviz Kayani will continue 

to resist going after the Haqqanis as they 

are a long-term asset of Pakistan’s 

powerful intelligence agency, the ISI. 

Talking with Radio Pakistan, Cameron 

Munter, the U.S. ambassador to Pakistan, 

openly said they have evidence of Haqqani 

ties to the Pakistani government. The 

bottom line is that Islamabad does not 

seem to show any flexibility toward 

changing its strategic stance on these 

issues. In a situation like this, the only 

option the United States has is drones. 

No Leg To Stand On 

The fact that Al-Qaeda leaders (including 

Osama bin Laden, who was living in the 

garrison city of Abbottabad just a couple 

of hours' drive from Islamabad), foreign 

fighters, and Haqqani-led Afghan Taliban 

all live in Pakistan damages Pakistani 

credibility when it asks that drone attacks 

be stopped in respect of the country’s 

sovereignty. If American drone strikes 

violate Pakistani sovereignty, what about 

all of the foreign militants who not only 

launch attacks across the border into 

Afghanistan but are also a huge security 

threat to the people of Pakistan? 

Farhat Taj, a Pashtun doctoral research 

fellow at the University of Oslo and author 

of the newly published book "Taliban And 

Anti-Taliban," believes that “the people of 

Waziristan are suffering a brutal kind of 

occupation under the Taliban and Al- 

Qaeda. It is in this context that they would 

welcome anyone -- Americans, Israelis, 

Indians, or even the devil -- to rid them of 

the Taliban and Al-Qaeda. Therefore, they 

welcome the drone attacks.” 

Drone attacks obviously come with costs, 

but they are the best of a bad set of 

options. 

Bashir Ahmad Gwakh is a broadcaster with 

RFE/RL's Radio Mashaal. The views 

expressed in this commentary are the 

author's own and do not necessarily 

reflect those of RFE/RL 

Sayfa 87


11 insurgents killed, 9 injured in 

Afghanistan's restive south 

KABUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan police, 

backed by NATO-led forces, eliminated 11 

insurgents in the country's Zabul province, 

some 340 km south of the capital city 

Kabul, Interior Ministry said in a statement 

here on Thursday. 

"Afghan National Police (ANP) during a 

joint military operation with Coalition 

forces killed 11 insurgents including their 

commander named Mullah Nabi in 

Nawbahar district of Zabul province 

Wednesday night," said the statement. 

Nine other armed insurgents were injured 

and two were captured by ANP during the 

operation, it said. 

"During the raid ANP also discovered and 

seized two Rocket Propelled-Grenades 

(RP-Gs) along with 30 rounds, two heavy 

machine guns, five guns and 30 rounds of 

motor," said the statement. 

In another development, Afghan and 

NATO security forces completed a twoday 

cleanup operation against militants in 

country ' s eastern Kunar province, 

provincial governor Sayed Fazlullah 

Wahidi told Xinhua. 

"A cleanup operation launched by Afghan 

police, army and coalition forces against 

Taliban on Tuesday morning in Chapa Dara 

and neighboring Manogai district was 

concluded on Wednesday night, "Wahidi 

told Xinhua. 

He added a total of 23 armed insurgents 

were killed and seven others were 

captured by forces during the operation. 

The Taliban stepped up their attacks on 

Afghan and about 140, 000 NATO-led 

troops stationed in the country since a 

spring rebel offensive was launched in 

May this year in the insurgency-hit 

country. 

Afghan officials often use the word 

"insurgents" for referring to Taliban, 

however, the insurgent group has yet to 

make comments. 


Taliban local leader killed, 2 NATO 

drone crashed in E. Afghanistan 

KABUL, Sept. 22 (Xinhua) -- Afghan and 

NATO-led forces killed a significant Taliban 

leader in Sayyidabad district of Wardak 

province, some 35 km west of capital city 

of Kabul, NATO said Thursday. 

Sayfa 88

"In Sayyidabad district, Wardak province, 

a combined Afghan and coalition security 

force killed a significant Taliban leader and 

one of his associates during a security 

operation Tuesday," said a statement 

issued by NATO-led International Security 

Assistance Force (ISAF) here. 

"A precision air strike killed a significant 

Taliban leader, Qari Tahir, after the 

security force located Tahir and an 

associate in a dry riverbed in Sayyidabad 

district," it said. 

Tahir was the Taliban's top leader in Tangi 

Valley and was the target of a previous 

combined operation on Aug. 5, 2011, that 

resulted in the loss of the CH-47 Chinook 

last month. He led a group of insurgent 

fighters throughout the valley and was 

known to use roadside bombs and rockets 

to intimidate the local populace, the 

statement added. 

A total of 30 U.S. soldiers, seven Afghan 

army commandos and an Afghan 

translator were killed when insurgents 

shot down the CH47 Chinook in 

Sayyidabad district on Aug. 5. 

Afghan and the ISAF forces have 

conducted more than 40 security 

operations in the Sayyidabad district and 

killed 35 insurgents and detained more 

than 80 suspected insurgents since 

beginning this year, according to the 

statement. 

In another development, two NATO 

drones have crashed in eastern 

Afghanistan over the past 24 hours, ISAF's 

Regional Command-East confirmed in a 

separate statement on Thursday morning. 

"Two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) 

crashed in the Pul-E-Alam District of Logar 

Province and the Behsud District of 

Nangarhar Province because of 

mechanical problems. Both UAVs were 

recovered and there was little to no 

enemy activity in the area prior to the 

crash," the statement said. 

The Taliban stepped up their attacks on 

Afghan and NATO-led troops since a 

spring rebel offensive was launched in 

May this year in the war-ravaged country. 


Bomb kills Afghan district police chief 

Press TV 


The police chief of a district in 

Afghanistan's eastern province of Ghazni 

Sayfa 89

has been killed after unidentified militants 

detonated a bomb by remote control, 

Press TV reported. 

“Mohammad Juma, the police chief of the 

Waghaz district in Ghazni Province, was 

killed late on Tuesday as police were 

conducting a search operation for 

militants in an area building,” provincial 

police chief Zarawar Zahid told Press TV 

on Wednesday. 

He added that nine other policemen were 

also killed in the incident. 

No group has yet claimed responsibility 

for the bomb explosion. 

The security situation continues to 

deteriorate in Afghanistan with foreign 

and Afghan forces falling prey to Taliban 

militants on a near-daily basis. 

The developments come as fighting 

between militants and foreign forces has 

recently intensified in the southern and 

eastern provinces of Afghanistan. 

Insecurity continues to rise across 

Afghanistan despite the presence of 

nearly 150,000 US-led forces in the warravaged 

country. 


Today's Afghan Headlines 

UNAMA 

22 September 2011 - Afghan cabinet 

declares three days of national mourning; 

Wali Massoud says foreign hands behind 

Rabbani’s assassination; Raheen says body 

of Rabbani to be buried on Friday in Kabul; 

Obama, Karzai strongly condemn Rabbani 

assassination; Hekmatyar blames US 

intelligence network for Rabbani 

assassination; Afghan forces recapture 

Waigal district of Nuristan; Rabbani’s 

assassin was Taliban ex-deputy agriculture 

minister; Oxfam calls for food assistance 

for needy Afghans before the onset of 

winter. 

AFGHAN TV NEWS 

Tolo TV Headlines 

A number of experts said that 

assassination of Burhanuddin Rabbani will 

put an end to the ongoing peace talks with 

militants. Meanwhile, Government 

officials attributed Rabbani’s assassination 

to Pakistan’s ISI. 

In order to mourn slain former president 

and head of the High Peace Council 

Burhanuddin Rabbani, the Cabinet on 

Wednesday declared three days starting 

Thursday as “national mourning” and the 

Sayfa 90

country’s flags will be at half-mast. 

Meanwhile, Information and Culture 

Minister Sayed Makhdom Raheen said 

that the body of Burhanuddin Rabbani will 

be buried on Friday morning in the Wazir 

Akbar Khan hill. 

Chairman of Ahmad Shah Massoud 

Foundation, Ahmad Wali Massoud said 

that foreign hands were behind Rabbani’s 

assassination and the Taliban played a role 

as means to assassinate him, adding that 

Rabbani met the suicide bomber, who 

introduced himself as representative of 

the Taliban’s Quetta Shura, based on 

President Karzai’s order, and the 

Government is responsible for this and 

should answer it. 

President Karzai on Wednesday arrived 

back in Kabul and expressed his 

condolences to the Rabbani family. 

Head of the Coalition for Change and 

Hope, Dr Abdullah Abdullah called the 

assassination of Rabbani as big loss to 

Afghans, adding that Rabbani had made 

increased efforts for the country’s stability 

and peace. 

Mohammad Younis Qanooni strongly 

condemned the assassination of 

Burhanuddin Rabbani, saying that the 

Taliban proved that peace is not 

acceptable for them by killing Rabbani. 

The Lower House of Parliament called the 

assassination of Rabbani as a big loss for 

the country. Meanwhile the Support for 

the Law parliamentary group also 

condemned the assassination of Rabbani. 

The Upper House of Parliament asked the 

Government to order the Information and 

Culture Ministry to closely monitor visual 

media outlets during the three days of 

national mourning. Meanwhile, a number 

of senators urged the Government to give 

Burhanuddin Rabbani the title of “Peace 

Hero”, and to dissolve the High Peace 

Council. 

President Barack Obama, President Karzai, 

the head of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff 

Mike Mullan and Balkh Provincial 

Governor Atta Mohammad Noor strongly 

condemned the assassination of Rabbani. 

Ariana TV Headlines 

Hundreds of residents of Badakhshan 

staged a huge demonstration in protest 

against Rabbani’s assassination, warning 

that they’ll continue their demonstrations 

unless designers of Rabbani’s 

assassination are identified and arrested. 

Sayfa 91

Meanwhile, Governors of Badakhshan, 

Kunduz and Takhar provinces strongly 

condemned Rabbani’s assassination. 

Shamshad TV Headlines 

Political analysts say the responsibility of 

Ustad Burhanuddin Rabbani’s killing goes 

to the intelligence circles of powerful 

foreign countries because the armed 

opposition is not able to resort to such 

terror. They have also asked the Afghan 

Government to investigate the issue. 

During his meeting with President Karzai, 

President Obama said Ustad Rabbani’s 

killing created a political vacuum in 

Afghanistan. 

The Head of European Union in Kabul has 

also condemned the killing, saying that 

the terrorists, by killing Ustad 

Burhanuddin Rabbani, want to create 

obstacles on the road to peace the way of 

peace process. 

Among other political figures, Head of 

Junbishi Milli Afghanistan Gen Dostum 

condemned the killing of Burhanuddin 

Rabbani. 

Women organization, Shamshad TV, 

Afghan Millat Party and Gulbuddin 

Hekmatyar, in their separate declarations, 

have condemned the killing of Prof 

Burhanuddin Rabbani. 

Further, armed Taliban declared that it 

has no involvement in the killing. 

The Lower House dedicated its 

Wednesday’s session to condemn the 

killing of Burhanuddin Rabbani, suggesting 

that the title of “Peace Hero” should be 

conferred to Late Prof Burhanuddin 

Rabbani. The Lower House also said the 

breakthrough from the present situation 

in Afghanistan can be nothing but peace 

efforts. 

Security forces in Helmand detained two 

kidnappers red hand. 

AFGHAN PRINT MEDIA 

Outlook Afghanistan 

The funeral ceremony of Burhanuddin 

Rabbni, head of High Peace Council, is 

scheduled on Friday. 

Afghan forces, backed by the international 

troops, recaptured the Waigal district of 

Nuristan from the Taliban on Wednesday. 

Two children were killed when a mine 

detonated in Pul-e-Alam, the capital of 

Logar. 

Sayfa 92

Police district chief of Waghiz district of 

Ghazni and 10 policemen were killed by an 

improvised explosive device in the 

province. 

Oxfam called for international donors to 

step up food and water deliveries to 

vulnerable Afghans in several provinces of 

the country before the onset of the 

winter. 

The Taliban shadow chief of Kahsan 

district of Herat shunned insurgency and 

joined the peace process along with his 

nine associates. 

The Hezb-e-Islami led by Gulbuddin 

Hekmatyar blamed the US intelligence 

network for the killing of former president 

and head of the High Peace Council, 

Burhanuddin Rabbani. 

Afghanistan Times 

Rabbani’s assassin was Taliban ex-deputy 

agriculture minister, said officials of the 

Ministry of Interior. 

Three militants were arrested while 

planting landmines in Logar. 

State Media Editorials 

The state-run print media and most of the 

private newspapers are not published 

today as the Government declared three 

days of national mourning, starting 

Thursday following the assassination of 

Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the High 

Peace Council and former Afghan 

President. 

Private Media Editorials 

Outlook Afghanistan 

Following Burhanuddin Rabbani’s 

assassination, the editorial says that the 

people have once again started believing 

that the solution to their problems lies in 

violence, not through political wisdom and 

that is a very negative tendency and can 

prove very much detrimental for the social 

psychology as a whole. Appropriate and 

urgent measures have to be taken in this 

regard before it is too late and the country 

once again falls prey to civil wars. 

Afghanistan Times 

Burhanuddin Rabbani’s assassination 

would end up on political stalemate and 

cornering of the Taliban. In the future, 

countrymen would think 100 times 

whether to trust the Taliban in negotiating 

peace or not. 

REGIONAL MEDIA 

Nangarhar (RTA) Headlines 

Sayfa 93

International Day of Peace was celebrated 

in Kunar province, with participation of 

officials, tribal elders, civil society and 

youth. 

Kunar (RTA) Headlines 

conducted by the foreign forces at Otor 

Khail area in Zormat district of Paktya 

province, an official said on Wednesday. 


In recognition of the International Day of 

Peace, students of Kunar University and 

Kunar Teacher Training Center played 

peace cricket in Asad Abad city, supported 

by the UN Assistance Mission in 

Afghanistan (UNAMA). 

Nangarhar (Radio Kilid Nangarhar) 

Headlines 

According to the local officials in Nuristan, 

security forces recaptured Waigal district, 

which had fallen into the hands of the 

Taliban. 

Paktya (Khost RTA) Headlines 

The construction work of the new civil 

airport has commenced in Khost province, 

provincial officials said. The US and Afghan 

Government will fund the project that 

costs US$ 2.5 million. 

Paktya (Ghag Radio) Headlines 

Thirteen Taliban militants including a 

prominent Haqqani network commander 

was killed in a military operation, 

*This media summary is prepared by ORSAM 

Middle East Research Assistants Nebahat 

Tanrıverdi O and Sercan Doğan. It covers news 

and commentaries as reported by the national 

media sources publishing in the Middle 

Eastern countries. The views expressed are not 

those of ORSAM and their inclusion does not 

imply factual accuracy. 

*Bu bülten ORSAM Ortadoğu Uzman 

Yardımcıları Nebahat Tanrıverdi O ve Sercan 

Doğan tarafından hazırlanmaktadır. Bülten 

Ortadoğu ülkelerinin yerel haber 

kaynaklarından derlenmektedir. Belirtilen 

görüşler bölge ülkelerinin haber kaynaklarına 

ve ismi geçen yazarlara ait olup ORSAM’ın 

görüşünü yansıtmamaktadır. 

Sayfa 94

Sayfa 95

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