The Zionist itch for bombs [Archives:2005/817/Opinion]

Surely, Scott McClellan, the White House Press Spokesmen finger pointing at Syria for the tragic bomb attack that did away with one of the most influential personalities of Lebanon, politically and economically, is somewhat hasty and even suspicious. The fires of the burning cars and edifices has not even been put out, and there is Scott McClellan telling the world that it was Damascus. Of course, as is usual with the Bush Administration, McClellan was unable to give any substantive reasoning for this outright accusation. McClellan said there was no evidence to substantiate his condemnation of Syria. The Bush Administration seems to think that its finger pointing is sufficient to be accepted as sound judgment, just like the random imprisonment of hundreds of people without having to revert to any due process of any kind or even a plausible argument to substantiate any links with “terrorism”. Ironically, most of these prisoners are no more than small fry, if they indeed do have links with “Al-Qaeda”, while the big fry are still enjoying their liberty and arms length distance from any American enforcement or military authority. Maybe, as one American friend suggested, Bin Laden's or Zerqawi's continued presence is actually essential to the Bush and friends agenda, even if they might not be even living anymore!

Whatever the case, it is just impossible that Washington has the magic crystal ball that allows it to incriminate anyone it wants to without even having to produce any shred of evidence. The observer is inclined to believe that, notwithstanding the position of Rafiq Al-Hariri, vis a vis the Syrian influence in Lebanon (and not necessarily the presence of Syrian troops), there is no plausible logic to suggest that Syria would undertake the killing of a prominent personality like Hariri, because the sensitivity of Syria's presence in Lebanon would dictate that Syria would not seek to raise any possible further Lebanese discontent with Syria's presence in Lebanon, which is already ignited by Israeli and American prodding. Furthermore, Hariri's position would not have really become so much of an influence in Syrian involvement in Lebanon, because Hariri never outright called for Syrian total withdrawal from Lebanon, which would mean a mean a retraction to the days when right wing Lebanese Christians sought to satisfy the Israeli agenda for Lebanon in the late 1970s and early 1980s. In fact, it was thanks to the Syrian presence in Lebanon that Hariri could find the peaceful climate to advance his business interests. Furthermore, Syria would not find favor in antagonizing the Saudis, with whom Hariri has a long established business and congenial relationship, Riaydh still maintain generally strong relations with Damascus and it was the Saudis who helped to create the venue for the Syrian presence by the Taif Agreement that stipulated for the Syrian deployment in Lebanon.

The messy explosions of the likes that hit Hariri are not far from the capabilities of the Israeli Mossad or supra-intelligence organ, whose activities in Lebanon have ample resources and an ugly record of explosions and abductions and outright murder like the Sabra and Shatilla massacre and the brutal death of even its own Lebanese allies, who have maybe turned sour in Tel Aviv's view. Starting with the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, in which the Israeli “terrorists”, as they were called in the days of the British Mandate over Palestine, did away with a number of British officers, in gratitude for the Balfour Declaration and all the facilities the British gave for Jewish immigration to Palestine, the Israeli state has undertaken several assassinations of prominent personalities including Secretary Generals of the United Nations. Why does not Washington first study a little history and ask what happened to Trigvele and Dag Hammarskjold? If Washington will continue to look at the Israeli state as the bastion of angelic behavior in the region, then we cannot expect the US to substantiate any hopes for orchestrating a truly genuine peace for the region. Israel would love nothing more than to unleash “ethnic” feuding again in Lebanon, because it wants to take advantage of its cozy relationship with the White House to settle scores with the Lebanese, for kicking them out of their turf so humiliatingly. They figure the death of Hariri would entice factional feud again in Lebanon and thus call for American or Israeli intervention under one pretext or another to “secure” Israel's northern border or whatever excuse. In fact, they would not even bother trying to make any plausible justification, since as one Israeli reporter for Haaretz said, Sharon and Bush see eye to eye on just about everything, especially the fight against Islamic terrorism. What about Israeli terrorism? That is not in the White House vernacular and will never be so, because the Americans have had to rely on several doses of Israeli intelligence in their misguided Iraqi adventure. The idea is that the Israelis are more versed in dealing with the Arabs and have an inkling of how to control Islamic terrorism, at least that is how George W. Bush sees it.

On another note, there has always been a strange pattern that has developed in the region. Whenever the situation is cooled down in the West Bank and Gaza, the heat is turned on in Lebanon. We have seen this quite often, especially when Sharon is at the helms.

The Loss of a Great Yemeni Educator

The death last week of Professor Sa'eed Qaid Al-Maktari, who headed the Al-Ahlia School for Basic and Secondary Education ever since its establishment in the early Seventies was a great loss to the education sector in Yemen. Any one who ever got to know Sa'eed would never forget his affection for children and his knack at nurturing children to be studious and disciplined. This observer once noted in this column that if Sa'eed Qaid was appointed Minister of Education, the state of our educational system would be far more closer to the way it should be then the nightmare it is now.
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