Documenting Halliburton “Frack-Quakes” In Northeast Ohio

Earthquakes Induced by Hydraulic Fracturing in Poland Township, Ohio

1. Robert J. Skoumal,
2. Michael R. Brudzinski, and
3. Brian S. Currie

+ Author Affiliations

Abstract

Felt seismicity induced by hydraulic fracturing is very rare, with only a handful of reported cases worldwide. Using an optimized multistation cross‐correlation template‐matching routine, 77 earthquakes were identified in Poland Township, Mahoning County, Ohio, that were closely related spatially and temporally to active hydraulic fracturing operations. We identified earthquakes as small as local magnitudes (M_L) ∼1 up to 3, potentially one of the largest earthquakes induced by hydraulic fracturing in the United States. These events all occurred from 4 to 12 March 2014, and the rate decayed once the Ohio Department of Natural Resources issued a shutdown of hydraulic fracturing at a nearby well on 10 March. Using a locally derived velocity model and double‐difference relocation, the earthquakes occurred during six stimulation stages along two horizontal well legs that were located ∼0.8  km away. Nearly 100 stimulation stages in nearby wells at greater distances from the earthquake source region did not coincide with detected seismicity. During the sequence, hypocenters migrated ∼600  m along an azimuth of 083°, defining a vertically oriented plane of seismicity close to the top of the Precambrian basement. The focal mechanism determined for the M_L 3 event had a vertically oriented left‐lateral fault plane consistent with the earthquake distribution and the regional stress field. The focal mechanism, orientation, and depth of hypocenters were similar to those of the 2011 Youngstown earthquake sequence that occurred 18 km to the northwest and was correlated with wastewater injection instead of hydraulic fracturing. Considering the relatively large magnitude of the Poland Township events and the b‐value of 0.89, it appears the hydraulic fracturing induced slip along a pre‐existing fault/fracture zone optimally oriented in the regional stress field.

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

The Invasion of America

[FOR MY GREAT-GRANDMOTHERS]

The story of Native American dispossession is too easily swept aside, but new visualisations should make it unforgettable

by Claudio Saunt

USA. Mount Rushmore, South Dakota. August 1, 2012. US Presidents plus nine Sioux leaders (l to r): Sitting Bull, One Bull, Rain-in-the-Face, Crow King, Gall, Red Horse, Fool Bull, Low Dog, Spotted Eagle and Red Cloud. Photo by Larry Towell/Magnum Photos

Between 1776 and the present, the United States seized some 1.5 billion acres from North America’s native peoples, an area 25 times the size of the United Kingdom. Many Americans are only vaguely familiar with the story of how this happened. They perhaps recognise Wounded Knee and the Trail of Tears, but few can recall the details and even fewer think that those events are central to US history.

Their tenuous grasp of the subject is regrettable if unsurprising, given that the conquest of the continent is both essential to understanding the rise of the United States and deplorable. Acre by acre, the dispossession of native peoples made the United States a transcontinental power. To visualise this story, I created ‘The Invasion of America’, an interactive time-lapse map of the nearly 500 cessions that the United States carved out of native lands on its westward march to the shores of the Pacific.

By the time the Civil War came to an end in 1865, it had consumed the lives of 800,000 Americans, or 2.5 per cent of the population, according to recent estimates. If slavery was a moral failing, said Lincoln in his second inaugural address, then the war was ‘the woe due to those by whom the offense came’. The rupture between North and South forced white Americans to confront the nation’s deep investment in slavery and to emancipate and incorporate four million individuals. They did not do so willingly, and the reconstruction of the nation is in many ways still unfolding. By contrast, there has been no similar reckoning with the conquest of the continent, no serious reflection on its centrality to the rise of the United States, and no sustained engagement with the people who lost their homelands.

Demography in part explains why slavery and its legacy are part of America’s national conversation (even if whites sometimes participate in bad faith), while the dispossession of indigenous peoples is not. Since 1776, black Americans have made up between 12 and 19 per cent of the total US population. By contrast, in 1800, though Native Americans accounted for about 15 per cent of the inhabitants in the territory that would later become the United States, they constituted a much smaller fraction of the residents in the 16 states that then made up the union. A century later, in 1900, they represented only approximately half of one per cent of the US population, making them a small and politically insignificant minority in their own lands.

Today, over one per cent (3.8 million) of Americans identify as native, an increase that reflects not a substantive demographic shift but a newfound willingness and desire to identify as indigenous. Of this self-identified population, only a fraction are visible minorities, subject to the discrimination that shapes identity and forges political movements. Small in number with limited power at the polls, they have not led the national news since 1972-73, when the American Indian Movement took over the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the FBI laid siege to Wounded Knee on the Pine Ridge Reservation.

Yet native peoples are central to the nation’s history. As late as 1750 – some 150 years after Britain established Jamestown and fully 250 years after Europeans first set foot in the continent – they constituted a majority of the population in North America, a fact not adequately reflected in textbooks. Even a century later, in 1850, they still retained formal possession of much of the western half of the continent.

Native peoples may be a small minority, but their history poses a fatal challenge to triumphalist narratives of the US

The final assault on indigenous land tenure, lasting roughly from the mid-19th century to 1890, was rapid and murderous. (In the 20th century, the fight moved from the battlefield to the courts, where it continues to this day.) After John Sutter discovered gold in California’s Central Valley in 1848, colonists launched slaving expeditions against native peoples in the region. ‘That a war of extermination will continue to be waged between races, until the Indian race becomes extinct, must be expected,’ the state’s first governor instructed the legislature in 1851.

In the Great Plains, the US Army conducted a war of attrition, with success measured in the quantity of tipis burned, food supplies destroyed, and horse herds slaughtered. The result was a series of massacres: the Bear River Massacre in southern Idaho (1863), the Sand Creek Massacre in eastern Colorado (1864), the Washita Massacre in western Oklahoma (1868), and a host of others. In Florida in the 1850s, US troops waded through the Everglades in pursuit of the last holdouts among the Seminole peoples, who had once controlled much of the Florida peninsula. In short, in the mid-19th century, Americans were still fighting to reduce if not to eliminate the continent’s original residents.

Native peoples may be a small minority, but their history poses a fatal challenge to triumphalist narratives of the United States. The most jingoistic of Americans strive to put a positive spin on the nation’s century-long investment in slavery and equally long commitment to white supremacy. After the police shooting of an unarmed black man in Ferguson, Missouri, in August this year, one white woman took the opportunity to chide a group of African American protesters. She yelled, ‘We’re the ones who f***in’ gave all y’all the freedom that you got!’ Imagine a corresponding affront shouted at an assembly of indigenous people: ‘We’re the ones who took all of your land but introduced you to Christianity.’ Many Americans share a deeply held conviction that the United States embarked in 1776 on an as-yet unfinished journey to attain the universal ideals of freedom and equality. The history of US-native relations simply does not fit into this national narrative.

Europe’s 20th century atrocities are easier for most people to envision than the dispossession of Native Americans. Stalin’s gulags destroyed millions of people in the 1930s and ’40s; Germany systematically murdered two-thirds of the continent’s Jews during the Second World War; Yugoslavia devolved into a bloodbath of so-called ‘ethnic cleansing’ in the early 1990s. Accounts of those episodes describe the victims as men, women and children. By contrast, the language used to chronicle the dispossession of native peoples – ‘Indian’, ‘chief’, ‘warrior’, ‘tribe’, ‘squaw’ (as native women used to be called) – conjures up crude stereotypes and clouds the mind, making it difficult to see the wars of extermination, forced marches and expulsions for what they were. The story, which used to be celebratory, is now more often tragic and sentimental, rooted in the belief that the dispossession of native peoples was unjust but inevitable.

Some of the cessions cover as much territory as France, others no more than a hundred acres

The most familiar and celebrated Indian images that circulate today reinforce this conviction. They come first and foremost from Edward Curtis’s monumental 20-volume collection of photographs, entitled The North American Indian. Plate 1 in volume 1 pictures Navajos mounted on ponies, heading off into the distance towards the bleak horizon. It is entitled ‘The Vanishing Race’.

The Vanishing Race by Edward Curtis

‘The Invasion of America’ captures not the vanishing Indian but the expansionist United States, from its origins in 1776 as a slender band of states pressed along the Atlantic to its coast-to-coast incarnation as the fourth-largest nation in the world. The site allows users to move through the land cessions chronologically or to search by Indian nation (eg. ‘Cherokee’), and to click on any tract to pull up details of the land transfer. Some of the cessions cover as much territory as France, others no more than a hundred acres.

US title to the land depends on legal fiction, crafted by the colonists to benefit themselves. Under the ‘Doctrine of Discovery’, which had its origins in the Crusades and underpinned the pioneering navigators of the 15th century, ultimate sovereignty over any pagan land belonged, courtesy of the Vatican, to the first Christian monarch who discovered it. Embraced by imperial powers around the world, the doctrine was adopted by the US Supreme Court in 1823. The US did not rely on Papal Bulls alone, however. It also extinguished the land title of the continent’s first peoples by treaty, executive order, and federal statute.

As pictured in ‘The Invasion of America’, native land cessions seamlessly blanket the continent, but this tidy arrangement is a fantasy devised in 1899 by the government-chartered Bureau of American Ethnology. In that year, with the assistance of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, it produced 67 maps that plotted every cession since the founding of the nation. In truth, cession boundaries were neither well-defined nor contiguous. On paper, they traced watersheds that no 19th century surveyor could determine with any precision; they extended to foothills (exactly where they were located was anyone’s guess); and they took direct paths to mountain tops that could not be accurately identified. Sometimes it was easier for federal officials to describe not the cession itself but the reduced tract reserved for the indigenous nation. In 1823, for example, the Seminoles relinquished ‘all claim or title which they may have to the whole territory of Florida’ in exchange for a much smaller, clearly delineated area where they were to be ‘concentrated and confined’.

Negotiated under duress or facilitated with bribes, treaties were often violated soon after ratification, despite the language of perpetuity

It is appealing to imagine, as the Bureau of American Ethnology did, that the entire country came into the possession of the United States through consistent and well-defined legal mechanisms. But in fact, sometimes it was not clear even to the federal government by what right it owned the land. In 1851, for example, three federal commissioners headed off to California (acquired from Mexico only three years earlier) with vague instructions ‘to conciliate the good feelings of the Indians, and to get them to ratify those feelings by entering into written treaties, binding on them, towards the government and each other’.

Congress remained uncertain whether native Californians constituted a formidable opposition of 300,000, as some said, or a pitiful remnant of 40,000, as others asserted. Nor could it decide whether the United States came into full possession of the land by the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed with Mexico, or whether indigenous peoples still had title. The commissioners entered into a series of treaties with small groups and even single families, satisfying neither the advocates of California natives nor the speculators who desired their land. Congress refused to ratify the agreements and instead simply concluded that title no longer rested with native peoples.

Elsewhere, the United States employed three legal instruments to dispossess residents. Treaties predominated until 1871, when Congress voted to end the practice. Negotiated under duress or facilitated with bribes, they were often violated soon after ratification, despite the language of perpetuity. Nonetheless, they presume a nation-to-nation relationship, which still informs US Indian policy today. Less well-known are the two other tools of dispossession: federal legislation and executive order.

Both Congress and the president can create reservations and take them away, and the president used this power extensively in the 19th century. In July 1864, for example, President Abraham Lincoln created a reservation within present-day Washington state for the Chehalis people, reducing their once extensive homeland of 5,000,000 acres (by the measure of the Bureau of American Ethnology) to ‘about six sections, with which they are satisfied’ (according to a letter from the Office of Indian Affairs; the measure of ‘satisfaction’ must be judged by the alternative, which was removal and joint occupation of another reservation). As a section is 640 acres, ‘about six’ would have come to about 4,000 acres. Twenty-two years later, President Grover Cleveland with the stroke of a pen further reduced the reservation to three fractional sections – a piddling 471 acres.

There was some irony to this land seizure. When the Federal government created the Chehalis reservation in 1864, it paid a squatter named D Mounts $3,500 – a sum which he considered ‘not unreasonable’ – for title to his overlapping land claim, though of course the true owners were the Chehalis themselves. When President Cleveland further reduced the reservation in 1886, the Chehalis received nothing. (Since the 1990s, the Chehalis have been buying up adjacent land and in 2010 the ‘reservation’ was 4,215 acres, according to the chehalistribe.org website.)

It is high time for non-Native Americans to come to terms with the fact that the United States is built on someone else’s land. Their 19th century counterparts wrestled more deeply with the dispossession that underlay the nation than most people do today. Native peoples were ‘benighted’ and in a ‘degraded state’, wrote one Kentucky resident to the editor of the Western Recorder in 1825, expressing the widespread condescension that whites felt towards native peoples at the time. But, he continued, ‘This continent is their home. It is the land of their fathers. We are foreign intruders.’ The writer, informed by Christian universalism, was no modern-day multi-culturalist. Nonetheless, the presence of native peoples in Kentucky forced him to reconcile their dominion over the land – ‘from time immemorial’, as colonists often said – with the imperious claims of the United States.

Five years later, in 1830, President Andrew Jackson signed into law ‘an Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi’. Popularly known as Indian removal, the act authorised the federal government to deport 100,000 men, women and children from their homelands, an operation that took most of the decade and cost the lives of thousands of native people. This massive state-sponsored forced migration, which passed by a mere five out of 199 votes in the House of Representatives, marked a turning point, when white Americans abdicated their moral responsibility towards the continent’s indigenous peoples. The deportation, according to many whites and even some native activists, was in the best interests of those who were rounded up and driven out. If that was the case, it was because white Americans made it so by defrauding or killing those who wanted to stay. After removal, most indigenous Americans were situated a thousand miles distant from the centre of US population and power on the Atlantic coast. Out of sight and out of mind, Native Americans became relics of the past for most whites.

What would American history look like if native peoples had been kept in sight and in mind? ‘The Invasion of America’ visualises one possibility. Compare it with a map of ‘Territorial Acquisitions’ produced by the US Geological Survey in 2014:

The large single-hued areas of land on the USGS map represent exchanges between imperial powers, with no reference to the longtime residents who also claimed title.

There are many reasons to favour a more inclusive history of the United States that places the dispossession of native peoples at its centre. Such a history erases the artificial distinctions that earlier generations drew to discount the presence of native peoples, does not privilege the rise of the nation-state, and better reflects the makeup of today’s US population, which will soon be majority non-white. Its themes also resonate with 21st century concerns, including state-sponsored social engineering, large-scale population displacement, environmental degradation, and global capitalism.

But perhaps the best reason is that it is more faithful to the past. I teach in the state of Georgia, where the legislature mandates that graduates of its public universities fulfill a US history requirement, a law born of the belief that an informed populace is essential to democracy. Good history makes for good citizens. A history that glosses over the conquest of the continent is partial, in both senses of the word. It misleads people about the past and misinforms their debates about the present. In charting a course for the future, Americans would do well to put the dispossession of native peoples back on the map.

“Unless oil prices recover, absolutely, this is the end of the drilling boom”

Oil Drillers Bail on U.S. Boom, Idle Most Rigs Since 1991

By Lynn Doan

A worker prepares to lift drills by pulley to the main floor in the Permian basin outside of Midland, Texas, U.S  Photographer: Brittany Sowacke/Bloomberg

After six straight months of plunging oil prices, U.S. shale drillers have sent the clearest signal to date that they’re retreating.

Thirty-five horizontal rigs, their weapon of choice for reaching oil deposits in tight-rock formations such as North Dakota’s Bakken shale and Texas’s Permian Basin, were idled last week alone. It was the biggest single-week drop since a drilling boom touched off six years ago that propelled domestic production to the highest level in three decades and eventually helped trigger the global price war that the U.S. and OPEC find themselves in today.

The decline, the largest in a decade and the seventh in a row, threatens to halt U.S. oil production growth by slowing drilling in tight-oil plays that make up virtually all of the nation’s new output. Bending to the pressure of crude below $50 a barrel, the country’s explorers idled the most rigs last quarter since 2009.

“The message from the market, that drillers need to start changing their behavior, has now been received by the big boys in the shale plays,” Harold York, vice president of integrated energy at consulting company Wood Mackenzie Ltd., said yesterday by telephone from New York. “The tight-oil players have received the message, and they’re taking action.”

Horizontal rigs made up more than half of this week’s decline in the U.S. oil count, which fell by 61 to 1,421, Baker Hughes Inc. (BHI) said on its website yesterday. The 61-rig drop was the largest since February 1991, which also followed a tumble in prices before the start of the Persian Gulf War.

1,000 Rigs

“Unless oil prices recover, absolutely, this is the end of the drilling boom,” James Williams, president of energy consulting company WTRG Economics in London, Arkansas, said by telephone yesterday. “The total rig count should hit 1,000 by March or April, and oil production growth should be flat or declining by mid-year.”

West Texas Intermediate for February delivery fell 43 cents to $48.36 a barrel yesterday on the New York Mercantile Exchange, down 47 percent in the past year and 55 percent from June. Brent, the international benchmark, dropped 85 cents to $50.11 on the London-based ICE Futures Europe Exchange.

While rigs are sliding, the U.S. is still on track to yield the most oil this year in more than three decades. Production averaged 9.13 million barrels a day in the four weeks ended Jan. 2 and will increase to 9.5 million this year, York said.

“You won’t start seeing a slowdown in growth until the second half of 2015, and it takes until 2016 before you really start seeing the effect,” he said.

Biggest Basin

The Permian Basin of Texas and New Mexico, the biggest U.S. oil field, lost the most rigs this week, sliding by 28 to 502, Baker Hughes data show. The Williston Basin, home of North Dakota’s prolific Bakken shale formation, lost eight rigs, and Texas’s Eagle Ford play dropped by three to 197.

As oil drilling slowed, the number of rigs seeking natural gas gained by one to 329. Gas-directed rigs now make up 18.8 percent of the total count, the highest share since March.

At least three contract drillers, Helmerich & Payne Inc. (HP), Pioneer Energy Services Corp. (PES) and Ensign Energy Services Inc. (ESI), have had clients terminate rig contracts early. Ensign, based in Calgary, told California regulators last month that it was dismissing as many as 700 workers after an “early and unexpected termination” of drilling contracts.

Spending Cuts

Barclays Plc (BARC) said in a report yesterday that North America’s energy producers will cut capital spending by as much as 30 percent this year if oil remains near $50 a barrel. U.S. production is at risk of falling at a price under $60, Evercore ISI analysts including James West in New York said in an outlook Jan. 6.

“Lower commodity prices put marginal barrels at risk, even superior risk-adjusted U.S. shale oil,” West said.

The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, responsible for 40 percent of the world’s oil supply, has meanwhile resisted calls to cut output since deciding in November to maintain a collective target. United Arab Emirates won’t curb production, no matter how low prices fall, Yousef Al Otaiba, the nation’s ambassador to the U.S., said at a Bloomberg Government lunch in Washington Jan. 8.

“Saudi Arabia and their allies has been very clear about not giving up market share,” R.T. Dukes, an upstream analyst at Wood Mackenzie, said by telephone from Houston. “It’s making development in the U.S. and other places sub-economic. There’s not much in the world that looks good at $50 oil.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Lynn Doan in San Francisco at ldoan6@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: David Marino at dmarino4@bloomberg.net Richard Stubbe

Leb. Int. Min. Names ISIS In Tripoli Bombing NOT “Al-Qaeda” Nusrah

BEIRUT: Preliminary information suggests that ISIS was behind Saturday’s twin suicide bombing that left nine people dead in Tripoli, Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk said Sunday.

“Preliminary information indicates that ISIS is behind the explosion,” Machnouk said during a press conference held after a security meeting in Tripoli Sunday, despite Nusra claiming responsibility for the attack which also wounded 30.

“These operations are neither separate nor discontinuous and the suicide bombers are members of [ISIS],” he added.

The Lebanese Army identified the two attackers as Taha Samir al-Khayal, 22, and Bilal Mohammad al-Mariyan, 29. Both were Lebanese.

The Al-Qaeda-linked Nusra Front claimed responsibility for the attack that targeted the Omran cafe in the majority Alawite neighborhood of Jabal Mohsen Saturday in online posting.

“A suicide operation targeted a cafe [belonging to] the Alawite Arab Democratic Party,” the Nusra Front said on its social media pages, in reference to Jabal Mohsen’s dominant group the ADP.

Recurring violence in Tripoli took on an increasingly sectarian nature with the beginning of the war in Syria nearly four years ago. The ADP is an ally of President Bashar Assad, while Bab al-Tabbaneh’s residents largely support the rebels fighting to oust him.

According to Machnouk, the suicide bombers “might” have been tied to Monzer al-Hasan – a militants suspected to have been tied to other suicide bombings in the country. Hasan was killed when security forces raided his apartment in the posh City Complex building in Tripoli last July.

Security forces had intelligence that Hasan provided explosive belts and material to a terrorist cell that was planning to carry out major attacks in Lebanon. Hasan is also suspected of being the main supplier of a Saudi suicide bomber who blew himself up in Beirut’s Duroy Hotel in June.

Machnouk also noted that he was contacted by former Prime Minister Saad Hariri who pledged to pay for the rehabilitation of the area damaged in Saturday’s explosions.

“This generous and patriotic move from Hariri serves to turn the page of the past and to move forward towards national consensus and support for the state,” Machnouk, who belongs to Hariri’s Future Movement, said.

Head of the Higher Relief Commission Maj. Gen. Mohammad Khair visited the site of the attack Sunday, saying he hoped the incident would be the last of its kind for Lebanon.

He also pledged support for the families of those killed and wounded.

Saturday’s suicide bombings came hours after Lebanon’s judiciary issued a new arrest warrant against the the leader of the ADP after he did not show up for a hearing Saturday.

The judiciary had withdrawn the previous arrest warrant, issued in February 2014 against former MP Ali Eid, last week, after he had fled to Syria and remained on the run with his son Rifaat since last June.

Eid has been charged with aiding a suspect in a twin bombing that targeted the Al-Taqwa and Al-Salam mosques in Tripoli, killing 47 people and wounded dozens of others.

Eid and his son fled to Syria when the Lebanese Army imposed a security plan in Tripoli.

– See more at: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Lebanon-News/2015/Jan-11/283698-reports-suggest-isis-behind-north-lebanon-suicide-attack-interior-minister.ashx#sthash.uBr7I42z.dpuf

Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah Speech On Birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH)

http://www.alahednews.com.lb/105847/7

Word Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah at a ceremony supply the Islamic Charitable Association on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (p)

The positions of Secretary General of Hezbollah

alahed news

Full floor to His Eminence the Secretary General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a ceremony supply the Islamic Charitable Society on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (p)

Samaha word of the Secretary-General of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, in a ceremony supply the Islamic Charitable Society on the occasion of the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (p) In the name of God the Merciful, Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master Seal of the Prophets Abu Kassim Mohamed bin Abdullah, and The God of the good and virtuous and good guys Almentajabin his family, and all the prophets and messengers. Peace be upon you all, and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you, and I salute and peace to all who share this ceremony blessed, both in this hall Aalchrima in the southern suburbs or in the city of Baalbek, or in the city of Hermel, or in the city of Nabatieh or in the town of Hanawiyeh, and to all who see and hear, peace to all of you and God’s mercy and blessings be upon you. I initially extend my sincere congratulations and blessing for all Muslims and all mankind on the anniversary of the birth of the Messenger of Allah the Great Seal of the Prophets and the Messengers of Abu al-Qasim Muhammad may Allah bless him and his family, as well as on the occasion of the anniversary of the birth of his grandson, a professor of imams and scholars Imam Jafar Sadeq peace be upon him.

And also in our blood blessed the birth of Jesus Christ, who also go on holiday birthday holy to all Muslims and Christians congratulations and blessing this kind of remembrance and fragrant and the beginning of a new AD by the atmosphere.

First must congratulate them and go to them and look forward to them at this moment are all those stationed in the hills and in the mountains and on the border of the officers and soldiers of the Lebanese army and security forces and the Mujahideen resistance guarding the country’s borders and believe in security and peace, whether in the face of attacks or Israeli threats or in the face of attacks or incitements and terrorist threats, these days, especially in the past days and nights, and the situation continues to now, those who defend their country and their people, from the border and on both sides of the border inside Lebanese territory and also on the edge of the border inside Syrian territory, in snow, in the cold, in the frost, in high positions, in the high hills, at an altitude of two thousand meters and two thousand and five hundred meters, and in this harsh and difficult circumstances and insist on staying on the stability and to withstand this national responsibility and legitimacy major ethical, thank them, because they are followers of the true Messenger of Allah Great (Allah bless him and his family) and the true protectors of the Lebanese and the Lebanese people and humanity in this country, and also to the families of the martyrs who are not sacrifices and the blood of martyrs for Lebanon and the region was in a different location.

Also in the beginning before we get into the speech addresses, you should stop at the incident departure of large national stature, and I mean the State of Prime Minister Omar Karami God’s mercy, which was a national locations great locations nationally and bond real issues of the nation, and the resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine in the face of the project Zionist, and a model of patriotic and political Sharif and honest and committed and sacrifice. I ask Almighty God to have mercy on him, and that inspires his family a decent patience and fortitude, and his son Aziz Excellency Faisal Karami tuned to continue his path, carrying its secretariat, which is worth it.

Also on the occasion of this ceremony and a week to ensure that the orphan I go to all the brothers and sisters in the supply of Charity, the committee Imam Khomeini supply (Jerusalem secret Sharif), whether in Lebanon or in the central administration of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and I thank them on behalf of all, especially the male and female workers and volunteers for their efforts and for their interest and welfare of the noble families that do not look after her, and especially care for orphans morally and educationally, emotionally and physically, and this is one of the greatest and supervised work that pleases God and bring them to the Almighty.

Dear brothers and sisters, in this ceremony Karim In the time available I would like habit to put a small index: a speech at the occasion, the word for orphans and supply, and the word for the situation in Lebanon and the word in the development of the region, and God all within the shortcut is possible and within the time available wills.

First, on the occasion, we chose this year even in the logo and in the appropriate title of “Mohammed the Prophet of mercy,” There is no doubt that the Messenger of Allah Muhammad (Allah bless him and his family) was one of the greatest manifestations of Divine Mercy in this presence, and on the human level, and the level of his companions.

God Almighty when addressing him, “but as a mercy to the worlds”, everything the Prophet (Allah bless him and his family) in reality and in essence and in spirit is the mercy of God Almighty for humans and for the people and for the creations, in this world and in the hereafter as well. Since upbringing and since the beginning of Prophet Muhammad (may Allah bless him and his family) the face of his companions and his followers and believers throughout history to the time, to raise themselves and Asbgua their lives and themselves dye God, which is the nature of compassion, and invited them to be Atkhalqgua morality of God Almighty, and therefore Of course, we do not need to infer, but unfortunately at this time we are forced to infer, so we know the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and his family) and we know that we start this in all the words, and when all the work, and to educate our children and to forge generations, it is mustahabb confirmed when Muslims in the religion of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and his family) that the human starts all the words and all the work this to say: “In the name of God the Merciful”, with that God beautiful names, all to God, but the central advocacy and main to call God Barahman and Barahim and implore him mercy, opening our Quran and the first sura in the Quran Muhammad (Allah bless him and his family) name of God: “Praise be to Allah, the Merciful,” When God who wanted Muhammad (Allah bless him and his family) that introduces us to Accordingly, these inter functions prophets, that mankind know the Lord and Creator and Mogdam and to be devoted to the hand guardians and Noasihm and livelihoods, age and Ajalhm and destinies, and we knew God the Merciful, the education, the focus of this guidance is not on the level of logo or say, but To apply this to say in our hearts and in our souls and in our behavior and in our work and in our bodies and ourselves, because repeating this to say that the male, who by the way is mustahabb to little if at all, even if you say anything or did not do something, but sitting, and there are some hadiths, this is and also the opinion of some senior scientists who say that the best male is “In the name of God the Merciful,” or one of the best male “In the name of God the Merciful,” and repeating this word goal that this requirement applies in our souls and in our souls to be from the people of compassion. We will find compassion in his behavior (Allah bless him and his family), with his wives and his family, however Erhamh With his friends and with his enemies and with those around him, his mercy in peace and mercy in war, mercy, humility and morals, you will find this in every detail of his life blessed, in his In his words In his teachings and in the provisions of the Sharia, compassion is in force in all of this, if at all, this was the characterization of Muslim women for hundreds of years, and we did not need no I’m not one to stand to talk about Muhammad (Allah bless him and his family) as a prophet of mercy, but Unfortunately at this time we are in dire need of it, because of the behavior of some terrorist groups and incitements attributed themselves to Islam and the Prophet of Islam and to the banner of Islam, and this through their words and actions, and practices outrageous and heinous and violent, inhuman and brutal, abused to the Messenger of Allah and to the religion of Allah, and to the prophets of God and to the Book of Allah and the Muslim nation more than it offended him by his enemies, even those who are assaulted on the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and his family) through authored books depicting the Prophet or making offensive films of the Prophet, or draw cartoons of the Prophet, those abused to the Messenger of Allah more, all Msaion, but when they cut the heads and make their breasts and shed hearts and livers and committed Majazruivbh thousands in minutes and in hours, and portrays this world, when people are killed in Yemen and is Yemen because they live birth of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and his family) only because they live birth of the Prophet, and those that consider this Hamlet, and that this departure from the religion, Is it correct to present themselves as defenders of those Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and his family) ?! Or they express the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and his family) ?! This day is one of the biggest threats and tribulations faced by our religion, and facing our nation, unfortunately, the pain that overcomes all the joy and all the happiness in such an occasion, and helped to these abuses and the magnitude of these abuses, means the effect of these abuses a combination of factors:

First, the size and type of cruel practices and repulsive and savage, geographical reach means in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Pakistan, Afghanistan and Yemen, and all over the world, and has now reached the Nuba to the countries that issued them to us and gave them a visa and provided them with the facilities, and this was expected and was told ago the first few days.

Second, the media transporting these atrocities and enter every house.

Third, cunning enemies lurking in this Prophet and this religion and this nation.

This among other factors through which to say that those in this abused to the Messenger of Allah (r) and no abuse of the Messenger of God throughout history, on my responsibility, you can investigate and Tdqqon and you can see the history since the Messenger of God Mission (r), the size of the insult offered these groups is a big and serious and unprecedented throughout history, and this one of the biggest challenges today in front of the Islamic nation, against Muslims, against the Muslim scholars, in front of the Islamic movements, and must bear all the responsibility.

In this context, do not doubt that there are tasks that dumped on us all must be reminded by the anniversary of the Messenger of Allah generator (r), including responsibility definition Balnbouap the Koran and the religion and its teachings and morals and his biography and presented to the world in all shapes available and possible, but also of course the positive side. There is something else you should pay attention to him and has very carefully, which come together in the Islamic nation and the followers of Islamic schools, and we are in unity week among Muslims, that all join together in the face of these practices, to deny any connection to Islam them, and also in the face of these incitements terrorist groups and work on isolate and work on the siege, but quite frankly, work on the termination.

Today I would like to tell you very clearly that these groups were constituted and still pose a threat to the region’s peoples and countries of the region and the map of the area, blood, money and symptoms and dignities and destinies and the future and the present, everything is true, but also has become clear that it has become a threat to what is above politics, above Security and above the dignity and above all, which is Islam itself, the Prophet, the Koran, these constitute the greatest threat to Islam as Islam, as a religion, as a message, but the Messenger of Allah (r) and the status of the Messenger of Allah (r) and this dear book, gentlemen scientists know that when you reach the Nuba and the stage to defend Islam as Islam, religion as a religion, for the message of heaven as a message sky, fall down a lot of conditions and considerations and constraints that are taken on the issue of the necessity of confrontation and take responsibility, but it could be up to a level that went to him Abu Abdullah Hussein, peace be upon him in Karbala lack of Nasser and designated and potential modest because the battle of Karbala in the first place, as we say in all Alashouraúah occasions, the defense of Islam. Today, Muslims and Muslims are all scientists in front of this benefit in the face of incitements to terrorist groups, the issue is no longer only in defense of the regions and peoples and minorities or majorities and the moderates and the governments and the political map and the future of the region, it is the highest of the highest, and became a defense of Islam those threatened by the behavior of the logic of these practices and those at the level of the whole world and not on the level of a country or a region, this responsibility should we all bear.

Second: In the orphans and supply: from Massadik compassion in this divine religion is this high interest certain social chip, the poor and needy, especially orphans, although it is not the task of the Koran is the exposure to all the details, especially the legislative details, which were the primary responsibility of the Prophet and the Prophet ( r), but we find confirmation Qur’anic honest in the subject of this slide On the subject of orphans in particular. In the Qur’an orphans and orphans mentioned 23 times in the 12 Surah 22 verse means at different times and occasions.

This little thing mentioned in the framework of the basic directions and not in the context of marginal or detailed or sideways directions, but in the context of the central Altoggiot and Alossayash which addressed by the Almighty God through the Holy slaves, and when, God Almighty says, “Worship Allah and join none with Him and parents Ahsan and relegated kin and the orphans, “parents and kinship and directly comes orphans,” and the needy and the neighbor of kin, the neighbor side and Saheb says, and the wayfarer and proprietary, that God does not like the swaggering “, and on this there are many Quranic verses precious confirmed recommended orphans, save dignity, spiritual attention to their situation, their future social, Ptzoejehm. Among the most important things that is also recommended by the Quranic verses are keeping wealth of the orphan to the extent that God Almighty has vowed to eat wealth of the orphan, Tuadh fire, Look at this keen interest, I mean, it’s not just a directive morally and indicative, both, for the level of indicative terms and at the level of mandatory and also on the level of preaching heaven and menacing fire anyone who touches the money this orphan or hurting this orphan.

Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) who was an orphan, too, had a careful consideration of this matter through the hadiths, through his behavior and his biography and his emphasis on this sense, and when now talking about sponsoring an orphan, of course, do not mean just the financial sponsorship or feeding, school or side health, but bail comprehensive sense and the public. Orphan in need of moral and spiritual care, is when there is no father did not lose the breadwinner only, but also has compassionate Father, shelter and sanctuary, which is directed and mentor, and takes his hand in the difficulties of this life, care here required that attention be moral, spiritual and educational guidelines. Yes, part of the sponsorship is the financial and physical side and secure living requirements for these orphans, for emphasis on the meaning of the commandment of the faithful peace be upon him before death: “God is God in the orphanage, there Tgboa their mouths do not miss you finally, I have heard the Messenger of Allah (r)” From here the witness of the Messenger of God transmitted by Ali peace be upon him, follows and says “the high orphan even dispense enjoined God Almighty has so Paradise also enjoined to eat the wealth of the orphan of Fire”, and directs the Prophet saying, “Be an orphan father Rahim”, then lifted carrot level in this kind of business or tasks in this novel exist when all Muslims, that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: I tutor Orphan Khatin in paradise, if fearing God Almighty, and pointed index finger and the middle. This means talking what to say? He does not just mean access to paradise, and also says that his place in paradise in the vicinity of the shrine Messenger of Allah (r), which is the highest dignitaries and the highest standings in that house, and it is pointed Balasbaan, I mean is close to the place of the Messenger of Allah (r), this shrine Orphan, and rarely the subject of the topics mentioned analogy of this type or an expression of the degree or the shrine of this type, there may be other resources, but these are rare and private resources, but more than that, brought to the Messenger of Allah (r) even hardens his heart At this time, this modern benefit us a lot, because the hardhearted, many, many, many, we are in need to soften our hearts, in our homes and our families and our children and our wives and Erhamana and neighbors and the people of our country and around us, all the Prophet (R) addresses the man, “Do you like that softens your heart and realize your need ? “ I mean on the one hand softens the heart, the thing that softens the heart? Now must psychologists to work on this subject, but more than that assigns to recognize your need, if you need, when God Almighty, the need for a minimum needed for the Hereafter, absolute need, and find that closed it in front of you and Mosr, and in front of you a dead end, Among the means that will help you to realize your need, Would you like to soften your heart and realize your need? Mercy orphan, see, it’s not just money and Masary® eating, drinking and drugs, “have mercy orphan and clear his head and foods from your diet,” Let them come by to your home, to your table, and made him sit between your spouse and your children, and foods from your diet Whelan heart and understands your need. “This is the required level, Of course we are through all this guidance, we understand that the parent is to ensure the orphan and look after orphans, is to take care of them in the homes of their families, if we can keep an orphan when his mother and primary when his mother, and sponsored by the Education and care for him and give him the affection and help this mother and help this orphan and help this family, this is an absolute priority because this ensures the care and custody of the different aspects, and here you must pay tribute to all mothers, the mothers who lost their husbands, both of testimony or natural death, or for any reason, and martyrs’ wives and mothers of orphans, absolute orphans, not only orphans of martyrs, we draw them greeting, I know that many, many of these mothers Dhan even Bmstqublhen personal, personal lives, to raise these orphans, and this is one of the greatest acts of worship to God Almighty, and the greatest jihad in the sake of Allah (SWT) that can be played by a woman and a woman or a mother or wife, if we can not leave it at his mother, must remain at his parents, grandfather, grandmother, and his relatives, or if we can not at the house (family), it is important to be in the family, orphanages should be an exception are necessary and needed no alternative to it at some stage, but it should be the last location the last fortress, and must have all the charities that care for orphans program, to comply with these priorities because they are the priorities of the guidance it clearly through the content of the conversations and stories honest.

There are a large number, thankfully, associations and institutions that sponsor orphans, in the forefront come Logistics Association, which boasts such privacy, that its founder is Imam Khomeini and it grew and grew up in the care of Imam Khomeini and is continuing its work in Iran, Lebanon and many countries in the world sponsored directly from Mr. Imam Khamenei (long live Sharif) and still also affiliated with the name “Committee for the supply of Imam Khomeini.” The hope of all believers, men and women, and all the good and the good things people, to provide assistance and support to the Association of supply similar and associations to be able to assume this responsibility on behalf of all of us, because this collective and social endurance of this responsibility brings us all of God Almighty and makes our society and our families under consideration, and the mercy of God Almighty .

Brothers and sisters in the supply Association fired or called for a campaign and I Osandem and I pray also for their support to the campaign to ensure that 4050 orphan, and each one as he can and as able to do, this should not keep the pregnancy was left, should we carry all of us and all work together, and hopefully also of brothers and sisters in the supply Foundation, God willing, as they always were, and indeed the level of the Secretariat and the level of responsibility and the moral and behavioral, spiritual, procedural and executive earlier level and now, also to bear and continue to bear this responsibility means all families who do not look after her, especially orphans because these commandment of our Prophet ( r).

The subject of a number of Lebanese quick points.

The first point: the issue between Hizbullah and the Future Movement dialogue under the patronage of the state House Speaker Nabih Berri. This dialogue I want to assure and reassure the Lebanese that runs required from both sides seriously, and the great interest of the country.

Enough that we are all, of the day to start talking about this dialogue that has already begun, the country greatly relieved. Do not pretend that there is no political tension or there is no congestion, but there came a minimum and minimum limits do not doubt that the interest of the country the benefit of all Lebanese. Some tried onset, when he was called for dialogue, that question obtaining dialogue or do not get, answer it happened, but some still continues questioning result, feasibility, interest, up to a result or does not reach the result. I’m telling you through the two obtained the nature of the points that were discussed dialogue atmosphere, the atmosphere of the parties in dialogue, I can speak about a big positive, for access to the results, and this is the strongest and is likely, and we are all involved in this dialogue, we are realists of the day First, we did not come and “bathrobe Bishop,” We did not come and we agree on the agenda, we know, we all know, it is difficult to reach a conclusion on these issues in the current circumstances, is written us that there is a principle at the origin of agree with him we as Lebanese either agree everything must either we fight and Ntkhasam and attack each other in the media and interrupt each policy and Notre our own and our country and our nation, there are only two alternatives? Is not there a third option? “What is the” third option is to talk and Ntqarb and we communicate, what we agree upon to go and work, and what we disagree Nnzation, Nagelh, we find a mechanism for the continuation of the dialogue? Is not this logic and reason, “says Heck” religion, “says the heck” and ethics, “says Heck” national interest, “says Heck.” Of course there are people who do not suits them, there are people in the country, I would not accuse forces or possible people, to talk, possible up to people, maybe they do not have the benefit of that Iltm Lebanese to each other, not sitting Shiites and Sunnis to understand each other and talk to each Shiites, Sunnis generally or as agents political, because we do not claim that we alone represent the Shiites, and no one claims not supposed to be a claim that the future stream alone represents the year. But do not doubt that this dialogue leaves a good and positive effects on public religious climate in Lebanon, there are people who probably do not bear that Muslims and Christians sitting in Lebanon and understand each other and Athaoroa and find solutions to it somewhere in the world, not only in Lebanon or in the region, there are those who want an Islamic war Christian its reference to the first point, which we talked. There are a Christian who wants an Islamic war, and is assisted by these fools of terrorist groups and incitements. There are people who do not suits them, there are countries that do not suit, but we are in our interest, as Lebanese, as a people, Lebanese, but the interest of all the peoples of the region that the powers contained in it, the parties, the actors and the actors sit and sit down and engage in dialogue and find solutions to their problems through dialogue and wisdom and good counsel and by peaceful means, that’s what we We went to him. Therefore we did not raise the ceilings, no one came to say that this dialogue will solve the dispute is located on the strategic defense theme or weapons of the resistance or the presence in Syria, or, etc. We came from the very beginning, we said that there was a country called Lebanon in an area where a snowstorm passed but is one of the four years living in the heart of the storm in the heaviest security, political, military, economic, cultural, psychological, mental and intellectual storms .. we have to preserve this country, we could prevent his fall, to prevent its collapse. If there are areas of understanding can we do it, if there are areas that our understanding them we can reach out to a national understanding and confidence in the God. So all of you you look at the agenda, the agenda should be to arrive at this conclusion, this roof. Is this possible ceiling? Yes possible and certainly if I stayed serious ongoing on both sides, and apparently also certainly could get to satisfactory results. On the other hand, this dialogue is not the place of not acting on behalf of the rest of the political forces in Lebanon at all. This dialogue between the two parties, but this is not a substitute for a national dialogue or national understanding, but this is through national dialogue and understanding this national arrive. You remember, on the occasion of occasions, I said that if we can not meet at the same table now, there is no President of the Republic, and we can not have a conversation nationally or if there are difficulties on the dialogue in this capacity table, ok let’s dialogue bilateral, tripartite dialogue, of course I did not dare to say quadrant dialogue so as not to say one (I’m talking about) alliance quadrant. Ok, are by two or three sides sitting (representatives) with each other, maybe sometimes ten points sitting on eight table do not have two problem with each there is a problem, to sit Both aside if they can solve their problems well, later meets ten and say, my brother, we have reached these results if you you agree to confidence in the God. So, we are not talking about this dialogue as a substitute for a national dialogue and also as a substitute for the political forces dialogue and we support and support all forms bilateral dialogue and triple between any currents and Lebanese political forces or any other destinations in Lebanon. In the past when he opened the door to dialogue between the FPM and the Future Movement came some people write in, inter alia, that Hezbollah upset as well, never did not upset the contrary, we talked with our allies and we them we support this dialogue and support this dialogue and call him a success because if you arrived at as a result of this blessing and interest will accrue to all Lebanese. Today also any dialogue between political parties, between political forces, between the political currents, Muslims, Christians on both sides of this surely we need him to the level of Lebanon, and these dialogues if built could pave the way for dialogue and inclusive national, comprehensive and productive and fruitful and lead to results certainly, not to fruitless sessions may lead to more frustration and despair rather than lead to the results required. When a person trusts himself and trusts his allies should he go to dialogue and if he went any of his allies to the dialogue must be happy and reassured and confident and encouraging and this is really our day. The Lebanese also previous occasions, Kano media situation down and very high always recall, you say kept the line forever, no one raises the ceiling much discourse and political tension, because we We are Lebanese, we have no choice but to sit down and live together and talk and build our country together and complete together. Consequently high ceiling Whatever up will come down, all the people go back and sit down with some humble to some and take and give with some seeking to reach the results. This also brings us to the presidential elections under the preoccupation of State and Territory us. We certainly from parties who also insist on holding presidential elections as soon as possible but the endeavor of Capricorn is in the internal dialogue, and any internal dialogue, especially Christian Christian dialogue or between the Christian forces is definitely can help to achieve this benefit, and today is able to deliver the Lebanese to Election of the President say this to all concerned with this file are the Lebanese themselves. Do not wait for something from the outside. abroad could not do anything to us, not international understanding and regional understanding, is required to reach an internal understanding, internal understanding is that can be connected to the completion of this benefit. in internal affairs is also an invitation to the Government and people of Lebanese cooperation and all public and private institutions to deal with the repercussions and consequences of the snowstorm on the people, especially the people of the areas affected by the right of the agricultural damage, and so of course this needs attention from the state and also to social coming together. People help each other because sometimes inadequate or deficient state may be. Three : the thing that’s grandfather yesterday because of the dispute over the waste file, and finally lifted the government and the Prime Minister session said he would not hold a hearing anymore before the government this file handles. We hope to interfere with the political authorities influential and sincere, and that does not leave this file. I mean no one sits down and Imitrs a result of the dispute is located inside the cabinet, and the dispute became known on why and among those, here’s someone who works barricade and here someone who works Earthworks, and take the story for days and weeks and months, I mean, sinking the country in another place, now there is no need to separate these expressions, they took the country to the other place, and that the harm caused to all the Lebanese, all Lebanese regions, and this will be severe. It is shameful that a waste or paper waste is used in a battle no matter what the nature of this battle. hoped the prime minister, ministers and also from the political authorities because these ministers have references, that does not leave the subject to react and take his time on the Lebanese way, everything extend our six months, years. This subject does not assume nor deserve the government break down for him and hang the country for him, and the whole area where, at the time we do not have the President of the Republic want our government to break down, because some political parties and some ministers disagree on waste treatment file in the country, also this must We raise a loud cry. As for the issue of security and the threat of the border, there is no doubt that during the past few months, the security situation is good too much, thanks to the achievements of the Lebanese army and security forces, and here again a tribute to the martyrs of all the wounded and all those who have made ​​significant and strenuous efforts to achieve this security at the domestic level and also on the border level, but caution remains required. Now every period of time, I like to draw a little bit also, we do not want to restrict the media do not want to limit their freedom, but sometimes we are helping our country, means that the terrorist groups waging psychological warfare on the country, such as working in the abducted file, military detainees, all for the duration graduated leaks that they want to attack Aldaa, they want to or attack, they want to occupy, want, want, want .. some of the media considers this scoop, and works on the subject . Can the angle of angles someone says this we have an interest in it, because this gives the argument and evidence that there is a real threat and the world must step up to the mountains and inventories and to the hills and carry weapons and defend faces. We both do not have the benefit of this, we are real in our interest that people live in peace and security and stability, even myself at peace, and stability of myself. Lebanese army and security forces and Mujahideen resistance taken it upon themselves to carry them this burden, they are sitting in the mountains, as they sat in the snow, as they sat in the risk, as they sat in the challenge, they are those who are suffering, who are injured, who cite the ones who get injured. But as far as we can to let people mind at ease, calm Khater, do not shake her nerves, Notrha not be this good. , this (speech) there is a lot of it has no basis, there is a lot of it is psychological warfare, those too weak to do operations and wide, such as those we are faced with sometimes some of the media. In a lot of information, which also publishes, is wrong incorrect unfounded, some of which are unfounded, and some of them are amplified, because of course the armed groups, especially in inventories and on the eastern border is in need of any gain moral, and you know that every effort over the past months in Kalamoon area centered by armed groups to restore even one town, one town, the town Vlaith for example, or robe or Assal al-Ward, and all this accumulated groups and possibilities available to them were not able to do so, and this does not mean they will not try, they are always in the case of a bid. In all cases, I’m at this point I just want to say to our people in the Bekaa specifically, in the Bekaa villages in the border villages, and also for all the Lebanese people, that in the face of this Lebanese danger are not helpless, are not are vulnerable, and do not need to help one, Bqguana self, the army and the people and the resistance, as we defeated the Israelis defeat terrorists and extremist groups and defeat all of the thinking that assaults on Lebanon or that affects the dignity and pride and security of the Lebanese people. At this point there is reassurance, no snow and cold nor blizzards nor martyrs and sacrifices nor the surgeon nor pain nor burdens and accusations that could change something from the will and resolve and determination of these Jimiaa especially those Mujahideen to protect their people and their country and their families and their villages, and they have done and carried out and fenced and ready to assume this responsibility to another line. In this point I wish, attributed the stress, that no one involved in the hype, no one frightens people, now in the end no one can guarantee that you do not get the process here or process there, this is happening now in any country, now France, Britain and Spain, Now asses all countries in the world. But what is said about the military action and widely, if at all people did not die and the country is full of men and Bcdjaan and even women men, there is no problem in that subject at all, and we, God willing, in the face of the most powerful forces and armies in the world, we’ve endured and we are victorious, how in the face of these groups terrorist “Almlzkh sticking.” This local relevance. A final word of regional subject matter do not want to dwell on you, of course, a large and very important region events, from Palestine and developments in Palestine, developments on the high degree of risk, while the means of the Palestinian people or the means of the Palestinian cause, or Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, or the Gaza Strip or prisoners in prisons, to Syria to Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain to other places in our region and in the world. Now is the time does not help to enter the regional subject matter, but I have an interview in the coming days, God willing, with satellite channels, Ventkelm God willing in the regional situation, who likes to listen to us, listen to us at the time. But in the remaining minutes, the time available, I find myself duty on that dwell on the subject of Bahrain. In the past few days, the authorities in Bahrain to arrest the Secretary General of the Islamic National Accord Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, may God protect him and his bodyguards God. Of course this was a very serious step, and continue to arrest and in custody is a very serious matter. But in semantic whatever spoke person of conviction would be remiss in taking such a step there is something very important should we stop at a the arrival of the Bahraini authorities to a dead end and the fall of all bets, despite everything I have done over the past years, and there are people in Bahrain demanding their rights and the rights of legitimate and can not be discussed by one, and the simplest legitimate rights at that time that all of the people speak a democracy to have a parliament elected, and that the Council, which enacted laws is to be elected council, not that there should be an elected and appointed the number of members elected members share their means appointed by the government to participate enactment of laws and the political process. This people what demanding? 1 Bahraini people says he wants council seats elected, of course, wants election law intact and true, and wants council seats elected has full powers. 2 this people since The first day of peaceful chose in his movement can tell me which one of you, O Lord speaks of Bahrain and there are movements in other countries, here we are talking about a country, people said it since the first day of these rights is a natural, logical and proper rights, the rights group, but this is the most prominent, and secondly have chosen peaceful. were shot and did not shoot, and killed in the streets and did not take the initiative to murder, not that they did not use a weapon, explosives or brought fighters or fighter groups from abroad, but even the knife did not use, and they insist on a peaceful movement and this which embarrassed the more power during these years. leadership Alalmaúah opposition, and political leadership are all in agreement on the peaceful movement, led by Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem, may God protect him, led by Al-Wefaq Society, led by His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, may God protect him. You know, we Lebanese know , that the peace is hard work, the lesser of the things that turn a person in case he was beaten or shot him or angry or band to carry a gun and starts shooting, if he had a weapon in the event does not have to go and buy a weapon, and comes with weapons and become think about at night and during the day with weapons, right? These people are assaulted on their homes and on their symptoms, and scholars in the prisons, and symbols in prison, and their leaders in prison, their wives in prison, and you know who gets in prison, were killed on the roads and did not resort to violence, did not resort to any and the means of violence, they continued to insist on the protest, demonstration and celebration and speech and peaceful means, but the most peaceful means, I mean, maybe there is some means of peaceful may be classified or categorized violent, even this did not resort to it often. The salads were always talking about a formal dialogue or intervention in a real and serious dialogue, and this opposition was always ready for dialogue, because the alveolar movement carried out by the alveolar its goals by peaceful and natural fit into the way of dialogue and a means of dialogue. But always the power avoids any dialogue and the results of any dialogue, bet power was through the years the past that people are tired at the end, but with the first day of the passage, the second day, the first month, second month, the first year, second year, third year we are in Lebanon tired of demonstrations in two months three and say that the demonstrations would not have reached the place and there People in Bahrain pretends 4 years ago, and marching 4 years ago, and practiced popular peaceful movement four years ago, of course, this distinctive model different world. In all arenas descended these squares or most of the violence is fast, but this scene did not descend into violence. Not because there are no men in Bahrain, but there are men in Bahrain, the people of Bahrain are known masculinity and courage and magnanimity and enthusiasm and daring, this is history. not because it does not One can use the weapon in Bahrain, let me I speak these things and come Al Khalifa and take me to jail and not because no one is able to deliver arms to Bahrain, not because no one can afford to send fighters to Bahrain, nay, not so, Bahrain Like any country in the world. more controlled country, it enters the weapon, it enters fighters, it enters gunmen, and can enter to anyone, and can small groups to subvert any country. The real issue that the will of scientists and leaders, politics and the people in Bahrain are prevented from doing so It is insisting on a peaceful path. They bet that the people Saaos, but the people did not give up after 4 years, with the world has to leave, and the world has let them down, and the international community, and state and government, even many of those who stood with the Arab Spring when they arrive at the Bahrain stop, and classified the subject of Bahrain wrongfully the subject of sectarian and doctrinal, which is not the case at all. Now is no time even lighter subject of Bahrain and subjected to these people, you know what there is in Bahrain, I did not want to use this phrase, but not a problem even for once, there are similar project project Zionist, I mean, no settlement in Bahrain, no invasion, no naturalization of his first and does not have another rapidly, brought people from all over the world, give them citizenship, provide them with jobs and pension cream and security, respect and dignity, and the son of the country of origin, in which fathers and forefathers of hundreds of years. of thousands of years they are in this country, is not given, robs him basic rights and to any political position expelled or imprisoned or remove him citizenship, and there is hard work, day and night to change the identity of the Bahraini people, I mean come on, who lives in Bahrain is not the Bahraini people, other people, and who works his Zionists in Palestine is that Day, who lives in Palestine in which Jews who were brought from all over the world to come, not this injustice, is not an act of aggression. Well, these people continued to mobility, in spite of all this abandonment, is not despair, the state sees them they did not despair. Second: bet on the surrender of the state Alalmaúah and political leaders, that eventually people will be prompted scientists prompted political leaders. Well, pretend the first year, second year, third year, fourth year, ok Wayne, the last thing that policy leaders say we finished. However, this Alalmaúah and political leaders determined to continue the way, bet power, and belongs to me, and I hope from our people in Bahrain to hear estimate of the situation this to me, bet Authority to pay Bahraini youth to violence, through its repressive practices, the interest that people go to violence because, in the shadow of violence when he accuses the opposition or practiced by the opposition will come power and talking about national security and national security, and to hit the opposition and the expulsion of its leaders and crushed and thus terminate this opposition. power worked in four years to drag the opposition in Bahrain to an armed clash and to the practice of violence and failed. And come back and say: hold of the most important factors as peaceful Bahraini people is their culture and also his leadership, because even if there was a command and then insistence on peaceful but people of different culture, culture, culture hasten to fight, even these leaders will work miracles mean. This culture of the people and the leadership of this people is that arrived to complete the peaceful mobility. Well, how do you understand the subject of the arrest of His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, because it is one of the symbols and leaders of the peaceful movement that insists on peaceful, and we could see, and this is what you should pay attention to him everyone, that every sphincter leaders on the peaceful movement in order to hit the peaceful movement is taken to prison, from in order to hit the movement in general, then what are the charges against the brother Sheikh Ali incitement to violence, I mean, if someone wants to accuse people for looking at something, let us tell my people, “the charge Ptzbt, the charge Petrkp”, all Bahrainis and all the people Learn brother Sheikh Ali Salman, peaceful, peaceful, Ihty interrupted him self to the extent that he even agrees peaceful says to him, Sheikh You “Mthaglha” I mean, this Sheikh and this leader and this fighter accused of what? That incites violence, or calls or incites violence for what? In order to bring down the regime, with the knowledge that Sheikh Ali, you know, in the opposition there is talk there of adopting the idea of overthrowing the regime and there are those who embrace the idea of means to overthrow the regime Alal Khalifa mean, there are those who adopt certain reformist idea, an elected council says, an elected government, as it exists in the literature of the opposition, and Sheikh Ali of the second part, did not ask do not topple the regime did not incite violence, these false and illegitimate argument has been invoked. Cetkchwh who discovered and yet the government of Bahrain and the Bahrain regime that committed the folly and T. A final word of regional subject matter do not want to dwell on you, of course, a large and very important region events, from Palestine and developments in Palestine, developments on the high degree of risk, while the means of the Palestinian people or the means of the Palestinian cause, or Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, or the Gaza Strip or prisoners in prisons, to Syria to Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain to other places in our region and in the world. Now is the time does not help to enter the regional subject matter, but I have an interview in the coming days, God willing, with satellite channels, Ventkelm God willing in the regional situation, who likes to listen to us, listen to us at the time. But in the remaining minutes, the time available, I find myself duty on that dwell on the subject of Bahrain. In the past few days, the authorities in Bahrain to arrest the Secretary General of the Islamic National Accord Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, may God protect him and his bodyguards God. Of course this was a very serious step, and continue to arrest and in custody is a very serious matter. But in semantic whatever spoke person of conviction would be remiss in taking such a step there is something very important should we stop at a the arrival of the Bahraini authorities to a dead end and the fall of all bets, despite everything I have done over the past years, and there are people in Bahrain demanding their rights and the rights of legitimate and can not be discussed by one, and the simplest legitimate rights at that time that all of the people speak a democracy to have a parliament elected, and that the Council, which enacted laws is to be elected council, not that there should be an elected and appointed the number of members elected members share their means appointed by the government to participate enactment of laws and the political process. This people what demanding? 1 Bahraini people says he wants council seats elected, of course, wants election law intact and true, and wants council seats elected has full powers. 2 this people since The first day of peaceful chose in his movement can tell me which one of you, O Lord speaks of Bahrain and there are movements in other countries, here we are talking about a country, people said it since the first day of these rights is a natural, logical and proper rights, the rights group, but this is the most prominent, and secondly have chosen peaceful. were shot and did not shoot, and killed in the streets and did not take the initiative to murder, not that they did not use a weapon, explosives or brought fighters or fighter groups from abroad, but even the knife did not use, and they insist on a peaceful movement and this which embarrassed the more power during these years. leadership Alalmaúah opposition, and political leadership are all in agreement on the peaceful movement, led by Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem, may God protect him, led by Al-Wefaq Society, led by His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, may God protect him. You know, we Lebanese know , that the peace is hard work, the lesser of the things that turn a person in case he was beaten or shot him or angry or band to carry a gun and starts shooting, if he had a weapon in the event does not have to go and buy a weapon, and comes with weapons and become think about at night and during the day with weapons, right? These people are assaulted on their homes and on their symptoms, and scholars in the prisons, and symbols in prison, and their leaders in prison, their wives in prison, and you know who gets in prison, were killed on the roads and did not resort to violence, did not resort to any and the means of violence, they continued to insist on the protest, demonstration and celebration and speech and peaceful means, but the most peaceful means, I mean, maybe there is some means of peaceful may be classified or categorized violent, even this did not resort to it often. The salads were always talking about a formal dialogue or intervention in a real and serious dialogue, and this opposition was always ready for dialogue, because the alveolar movement carried out by the alveolar its goals by peaceful and natural fit into the way of dialogue and a means of dialogue. But always the power avoids any dialogue and the results of any dialogue, bet power was through the years the past that people are tired at the end, but with the first day of the passage, the second day, the first month, second month, the first year, second year, third year we are in Lebanon tired of demonstrations in two months three and say that the demonstrations would not have reached the place and there People in Bahrain pretends 4 years ago, and marching 4 years ago, and practiced popular peaceful movement four years ago, of course, this distinctive model different world. In all arenas descended these squares or most of the violence is fast, but this scene did not descend into violence. Not because there are no men in Bahrain, but there are men in Bahrain, the people of Bahrain are known masculinity and courage and magnanimity and enthusiasm and daring, this is history. not because it does not One can use the weapon in Bahrain, let me I speak these things and come Al Khalifa and take me to jail and not because no one is able to deliver arms to Bahrain, not because no one can afford to send fighters to Bahrain, nay, not so, Bahrain Like any country in the world. more controlled country, it enters the weapon, it enters fighters, it enters gunmen, and can enter to anyone, and can small groups to subvert any country. The real issue that the will of scientists and leaders, politics and the people in Bahrain are prevented from doing so It is insisting on a peaceful path. They bet that the people Saaos, but the people did not give up after 4 years, with the world has to leave, and the world has let them down, and the international community, and state and government, even many of those who stood with the Arab Spring when they arrive at the Bahrain stop, and classified the subject of Bahrain wrongfully the subject of sectarian and doctrinal, which is not the case at all. Now is no time even lighter subject of Bahrain and subjected to these people, you know what there is in Bahrain, I did not want to use this phrase, but not a problem even for once, there are similar project project Zionist, I mean, no settlement in Bahrain, no invasion, no naturalization of his first and does not have another rapidly, brought people from all over the world, give them citizenship, provide them with jobs and pension cream and security, respect and dignity, and the son of the country of origin, in which fathers and forefathers of hundreds of years. of thousands of years they are in this country, is not given, robs him basic rights and to any political position expelled or imprisoned or remove him citizenship, and there is hard work, day and night to change the identity of the Bahraini people, I mean come on, who lives in Bahrain is not the Bahraini people, other people, and who works his Zionists in Palestine is that Day, who lives in Palestine in which Jews who were brought from all over the world to come, not this injustice, is not an act of aggression. Well, these people continued to mobility, in spite of all this abandonment, is not despair, the state sees them they did not despair. Second: bet on the surrender of the state Alalmaúah and political leaders, that eventually people will be prompted scientists prompted political leaders. Well, pretend the first year, second year, third year, fourth year, ok Wayne, the last thing that policy leaders say we finished. However, this Alalmaúah and political leaders determined to continue the way, bet power, and belongs to me, and I hope from our people in Bahrain to hear estimate of the situation this to me, bet Authority to pay Bahraini youth to violence, through its repressive practices, the interest that people go to violence because, in the shadow of violence when he accuses the opposition or practiced by the opposition will come power and talking about national security and national security, and to hit the opposition and the expulsion of its leaders and crushed and thus terminate this opposition. power worked in four years to drag the opposition in Bahrain to an armed clash and to the practice of violence and failed. And come back and say: hold of the most important factors as peaceful Bahraini people is their culture and also his leadership, because even if there was a command and then insistence on peaceful but people of different culture, culture, culture hasten to fight, even these leaders will work miracles mean. This culture of the people and the leadership of this people is that arrived to complete the peaceful mobility. Well, how do you understand the subject of the arrest of His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, because it is one of the symbols and leaders of the peaceful movement that insists on peaceful, and we could see, and this is what you should pay attention to him everyone, that every sphincter leaders on the peaceful movement in order to hit the peaceful movement is taken to prison, from in order to hit the movement in general, then what are the charges against the brother Sheikh Ali incitement to violence, I mean, if someone wants to accuse people for looking at something, let us tell my people, “the charge Ptzbt, the charge Petrkp”, all Bahrainis and all the people Learn brother Sheikh Ali Salman, peaceful, peaceful, Ihty interrupted him self to the extent that he even agrees peaceful says to him, Sheikh You “Mthaglha” I mean, this Sheikh and this leader and this fighter accused of what? That incites violence, or calls or incites violence for what? In order to bring down the regime, with the knowledge that Sheikh Ali, you know, in the opposition there is talk there of adopting the idea of overthrowing the regime and there are those who embrace the idea of means to overthrow the regime Alal Khalifa mean, there are those who adopt certain reformist idea, an elected council says, an elected government, as it exists in the literature of the opposition, and Sheikh Ali of the second part, did not ask do not topple the regime did not incite violence, these false and illegitimate argument has been invoked. Cetkchwh who discovered and yet the government of Bahrain and the Bahrain regime that committed the folly and T. A final word of regional subject matter do not want to dwell on you, of course, a large and very important region events, from Palestine and developments in Palestine, developments on the high degree of risk, while the means of the Palestinian people or the means of the Palestinian cause, or Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque, or the Gaza Strip or prisoners in prisons, to Syria to Iraq, Yemen, Bahrain to other places in our region and in the world. Now is the time does not help to enter the regional subject matter, but I have an interview in the coming days, God willing, with satellite channels, Ventkelm God willing in the regional situation, who likes to listen to us, listen to us at the time. But in the remaining minutes, the time available, I find myself duty on that dwell on the subject of Bahrain. In the past few days, the authorities in Bahrain to arrest the Secretary General of the Islamic National Accord Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, may God protect him and his bodyguards God. Of course this was a very serious step, and continue to arrest and in custody is a very serious matter. But in semantic whatever spoke person of conviction would be remiss in taking such a step there is something very important should we stop at a the arrival of the Bahraini authorities to a dead end and the fall of all bets, despite everything I have done over the past years, and there are people in Bahrain demanding their rights and the rights of legitimate and can not be discussed by one, and the simplest legitimate rights at that time that all of the people speak a democracy to have a parliament elected, and that the Council, which enacted laws is to be elected council, not that there should be an elected and appointed the number of members elected members share their means appointed by the government to participate enactment of laws and the political process. This people what demanding? 1 Bahraini people says he wants council seats elected, of course, wants election law intact and true, and wants council seats elected has full powers. 2 this people since The first day of peaceful chose in his movement can tell me which one of you, O Lord speaks of Bahrain and there are movements in other countries, here we are talking about a country, people said it since the first day of these rights is a natural, logical and proper rights, the rights group, but this is the most prominent, and secondly have chosen peaceful. were shot and did not shoot, and killed in the streets and did not take the initiative to murder, not that they did not use a weapon, explosives or brought fighters or fighter groups from abroad, but even the knife did not use, and they insist on a peaceful movement and this which embarrassed the more power during these years. leadership Alalmaúah opposition, and political leadership are all in agreement on the peaceful movement, led by Ayatollah Sheikh Issa Qassem, may God protect him, led by Al-Wefaq Society, led by His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, may God protect him. You know, we Lebanese know , that the peace is hard work, the lesser of the things that turn a person in case he was beaten or shot him or angry or band to carry a gun and starts shooting, if he had a weapon in the event does not have to go and buy a weapon, and comes with weapons and become think about at night and during the day with weapons, right? These people are assaulted on their homes and on their symptoms, and scholars in the prisons, and symbols in prison, and their leaders in prison, their wives in prison, and you know who gets in prison, were killed on the roads and did not resort to violence, did not resort to any and the means of violence, they continued to insist on the protest, demonstration and celebration and speech and peaceful means, but the most peaceful means, I mean, maybe there is some means of peaceful may be classified or categorized violent, even this did not resort to it often. The salads were always talking about a formal dialogue or intervention in a real and serious dialogue, and this opposition was always ready for dialogue, because the alveolar movement carried out by the alveolar its goals by peaceful and natural fit into the way of dialogue and a means of dialogue. But always the power avoids any dialogue and the results of any dialogue, bet power was through the years the past that people are tired at the end, but with the first day of the passage, the second day, the first month, second month, the first year, second year, third year we are in Lebanon tired of demonstrations in two months three and say that the demonstrations would not have reached the place and there People in Bahrain pretends 4 years ago, and marching 4 years ago, and practiced popular peaceful movement four years ago, of course, this distinctive model different world. In all arenas descended these squares or most of the violence is fast, but this scene did not descend into violence. Not because there are no men in Bahrain, but there are men in Bahrain, the people of Bahrain are known masculinity and courage and magnanimity and enthusiasm and daring, this is history. not because it does not One can use the weapon in Bahrain, let me I speak these things and come Al Khalifa and take me to jail and not because no one is able to deliver arms to Bahrain, not because no one can afford to send fighters to Bahrain, nay, not so, Bahrain Like any country in the world. more controlled country, it enters the weapon, it enters fighters, it enters gunmen, and can enter to anyone, and can small groups to subvert any country. The real issue that the will of scientists and leaders, politics and the people in Bahrain are prevented from doing so It is insisting on a peaceful path. They bet that the people Saaos, but the people did not give up after 4 years, with the world has to leave, and the world has let them down, and the international community, and state and government, even many of those who stood with the Arab Spring when they arrive at the Bahrain stop, and classified the subject of Bahrain wrongfully the subject of sectarian and doctrinal, which is not the case at all. Now is no time even lighter subject of Bahrain and subjected to these people, you know what there is in Bahrain, I did not want to use this phrase, but not a problem even for once, there are similar project project Zionist, I mean, no settlement in Bahrain, no invasion, no naturalization of his first and does not have another rapidly, brought people from all over the world, give them citizenship, provide them with jobs and pension cream and security, respect and dignity, and the son of the country of origin, in which fathers and forefathers of hundreds of years. of thousands of years they are in this country, is not given, robs him basic rights and to any political position expelled or imprisoned or remove him citizenship, and there is hard work, day and night to change the identity of the Bahraini people, I mean come on, who lives in Bahrain is not the Bahraini people, other people, and who works his Zionists in Palestine is that Day, who lives in Palestine in which Jews who were brought from all over the world to come, not this injustice, is not an act of aggression. Well, these people continued to mobility, in spite of all this abandonment, is not despair, the state sees them they did not despair. Second: bet on the surrender of the state Alalmaúah and political leaders, that eventually people will be prompted scientists prompted political leaders. Well, pretend the first year, second year, third year, fourth year, ok Wayne, the last thing that policy leaders say we finished. However, this Alalmaúah and political leaders determined to continue the way, bet power, and belongs to me, and I hope from our people in Bahrain to hear estimate of the situation this to me, bet Authority to pay Bahraini youth to violence, through its repressive practices, the interest that people go to violence because, in the shadow of violence when he accuses the opposition or practiced by the opposition will come power and talking about national security and national security, and to hit the opposition and the expulsion of its leaders and crushed and thus terminate this opposition. power worked in four years to drag the opposition in Bahrain to an armed clash and to the practice of violence and failed. And come back and say: hold of the most important factors as peaceful Bahraini people is their culture and also his leadership, because even if there was a command and then insistence on peaceful but people of different culture, culture, culture hasten to fight, even these leaders will work miracles mean. This culture of the people and the leadership of this people is that arrived to complete the peaceful mobility. Well, how do you understand the subject of the arrest of His Eminence Sheikh Ali Salman, because it is one of the symbols and leaders of the peaceful movement that insists on peaceful, and we could see, and this is what you should pay attention to him everyone, that every sphincter leaders on the peaceful movement in order to hit the peaceful movement is taken to prison, from in order to hit the movement in general, then what are the charges against the brother Sheikh Ali incitement to violence, I mean, if someone wants to accuse people for looking at something, let us tell my people, “the charge Ptzbt, the charge Petrkp”, all Bahrainis and all the people Learn brother Sheikh Ali Salman, peaceful, peaceful, Ihty interrupted him self to the extent that he even agrees peaceful says to him, Sheikh You “Mthaglha” I mean, this Sheikh and this leader and this fighter accused of what? That incites violence, or calls or incites violence for what? In order to bring down the regime, with the knowledge that Sheikh Ali, you know, in the opposition there is talk there of adopting the idea of overthrowing the regime and there are those who embrace the idea of means to overthrow the regime Alal Khalifa mean, there are those who adopt certain reformist idea, an elected council says, an elected government, as it exists in the literature of the opposition, and Sheikh Ali of the second part, did not ask do not topple the regime did not incite violence, these false and illegitimate argument has been invoked. Cetkchwh who discovered and yet the government of Bahrain and the Bahrain regime that committed the folly and T.

GET ARRESTED PROTESTING AT THE WAR CRIMINALS’ HOMES

THE CHENEY MANSION–1126 Chain Bridge Rd., McLean, VA

G W BUSH PRESIDENTIAL LIBRARY, CRAWFORD RANCH

[SEE:  A decent nation would have impeached Bush and Obama ]

Two anti-torture protesters arrested at Dick Cheney’s house

(Reuters) – Two protesters were arrested at the McLean, Virginia, home of former Vice President Dick Cheney on Saturday after 20 demonstrators, some in orange prison jumpsuits, walked onto his property to mark the 14th anniversary of the opening of Guantanamo Bay prison.

The protesters from the anti-war group Code Pink walked up to the house before police arrived and asked them to leave, said Fairfax County police spokesman Roger Henriquez. Two members who refused to go were arrested on trespassing charges, he said.

Police identified the two as Tighe Barry, 57, and Eve Tetaz, 83, both of Washington DC. The pair face misdemeanor charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct, police said.

Another Code Pink group demonstrated without incident outside the home of CIA Director John Brennan, also in the Washington, D.C. suburb of McLean, as part of its “Guantanamo Anniversary Weekend Torturers Tour.”

A U.S. Senate report last month said the CIA misled the White House and public about its torture of detainees after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and acted more brutally and pervasively than it acknowledged.

Cheney has defended the CIA’s use of harsh interrogation techniques on terrorism suspects in the aftermath of al Qaeda’s hijacked plane attacks, which killed more than 3,000 people in New York and Washington.

The prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, was opened in January 2002 to house suspected militants and still holds 127 detainees, despite President Barack Obama’s pledge to close the facility. Obama continues to face obstacles posed by Congress to the goal of emptying the prison before he leaves office, not least of which is a ban on transfer of prisoners to the U.S. mainland.

(Reporting by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Alan Crosby)

 

Connections Between Jeb Bush and Murdered Drug-Smuggler?

[SEE:  Jeb Bush and the Murder of CIA Drug Smuggler Barry Seal in 1986]

Barry Seal murder in Baton Rouge 25 years ago helped expose Iran-Contra debacle

February 14, 2011

By Tom Aswell

Saturday, February 19, will mark the 25th anniversary of one of the most sensational high-profile killings to rock Baton Rouge since the 1935 assassination of U.S. Sen. Huey Long.

The brutal murder of Barry Seal, 46, at a Baton Rouge halfway house in 1986 would send shock waves up and down the political spectrum. It would focus the glare of the media spotlight on not only the Colombian Medellin Cartel, but also on the FBI and CIA as well as such political icons as then-Vice President George H.W. Bush and Oliver North.

Most of all, Seal’s murder would lay bare for all the world to see the seamy underbelly of America’s duplicitous war on drugs, and how drug smuggling was in fact sanctioned by powerful men in order to advance a hidden agenda. That agenda would turn up in the sordid details of the Iran-Contra scandal.

Seal’s life—and death—would seem a perfect fit for Hollywood. In fact, there was a made-for-cable movie, Double Crossed, that starred Dennis Hopper as Seal.

Seal, who began flying at age of 15, flew weapons to Fidel Castro in 1958 when Castro was fighting to overthrow Fulgencio Batista. It was only after Castro succeeded in overthrowing Batista in 1959 and declared himself a Marxist that other forces then began their efforts to overthrow Castro.

In 1964, Seal went to work for TWA and became their youngest 707 captain and later their youngest 747 captain. He was fired by TWA after his 1972 arrest in New Orleans on charges of flying explosives to anti-Castro Cubans in Mexico. The buyer, it turned out, was a federal agent. Soon after that, Seal turned to drug smuggling and subsequently was arrested in Honduras with 40 kilos of cocaine worth a reported $25 million.

He spent nine months in a Honduran prison and while there, met William Roger Reeves, a fellow prisoner who worked for the Ochoa family of Medellin, Colombia. Reeves, Ochoa’s New Orleans business manager, brought Seal into what in 1982 officially became the Medellin Cartel after Jorge Ochoa and Pablo Escobar joined forces to form a 2,000-man army to destroy M-19, the Marxist revolutionary group that was causing problems for the Colombian drug barons.

By 1982, Seal was making regular runs on behalf of the Medellin Cartel, bringing tons of cocaine into the U.S. It was at this time that he moved his operations from Baton Rouge to Mena, Arkansas. Whether known or not at the time by Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton, the use of the Mena airport by Seal and others would be used by detractors in efforts to tie Clinton to drug smuggling conspiracies, especially during his first four years as President.

In 1984, Seal was indicted in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on charges of smuggling Quaaludes and money laundering. Facing a 10-year prison sentence, he decided to flip but federal prosecutors were not interested in a deal so he simply went over their heads. He flew to Washington and met with two members of Vice President George Bush’s Task Force on Drugs.

In secret testimony before the task force, Seal said the Medellin Cartel had cut a deal with the Marxist Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The agreement, Seal said, called for the cartel to give a cut of drug profits to the Sandinistas in exchange for use of an airfield in Managua as a trans-shipment point for narcotics.

That news proved too enticing for President Reagan who was eager to wage an all-out war on the Sandinistas. Because Reagan feared another communist regime in the Western Hemisphere, Seal was enlisted as an undercover informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

By this time, Seal had purchased a C-123. The larger transport plane, which he affectionately referred to as The Fat Lady, was needed to haul tons of cocaine for the cartel. As part of his agreement with DEA, he rigged the C-123 with a hidden camera and was able to photograph Pablo Escobar helping Nicaraguan soldiers load 1,200 kilos of cocaine at the Managua airport. Reagan was ecstatic and went on national television shortly afterwards, waving the photograph given to him by Col. Oliver North and denouncing the Sandinistas as “drug smugglers corrupting American youth.”

As a result of Seal’s cooperation, the judge in his Florida case praised Seal and reduced his sentence to six months probation.

North, meanwhile, was busy orchestrating a complicated arms deal with Iran in negotiations to obtain Iran’s help in freeing seven American hostages held by pro-Iranian terrorists in Lebanon. The U.S. would conceal the transactions by selling the weapons first to Israel and then re-selling them at significant “off the books” markups to Iran’s Islamist government for use in its war with Iraq. Despite several such transactions, it would take years to obtain freedom for all the prisoners.

Part of the $48 million paid by Iran to the U.S. for the Hawk and TOW missiles was in turn used to fund the Contras in their fight against the Marxist Sandinistas. This was in direct violation of a 1984 law banning such aid.

In December of 1984, Seal was arrested in Louisiana for flying a cargo of marijuana into the state. U.S. District Judge Frank Polozola was bound by the Florida plea agreement and was furious at being powerless to put Seal away.

Polozola on December 20, 1985, invoked the sentence handed down by the Florida judge and sentenced Seal to six months supervised probation, taking the occasion to say that people like Seal were “the lowest, most despicable people I can think of.” A condition of the sentence was that he had to spend every night, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., at the Salvation Army halfway house on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge. Polozola further stipulated that Seal could not carry a gun or hire armed bodyguards.

Seal’s attorney, Lewis Unglesby, told Polozola his ruling amounted to a death sentence for his client. Seal told friends that the judge “made me a clay pigeon.”

At 6 p.m. on February 19, 1986, Seal promptly drove up to the Salvation Army in his white Cadillac. As he parked his car, he was approached by a man carrying an assault weapon. Two quick bursts riddled Seal’s head and chest, killing him instantly.

On March 27, a state grand jury in Baton Rouge indicted Miguel Velez, Bemardo Antonio Vasquez, Luis Quintero, and Jose Renteria-Campo for the murder. In May of 1987, a jury found Vasquez, Velez, and Quintero guilty of first-degree murder and sentenced all three to life in prison without parole. Renteria-Campo was extradited to Miami to be tried on federal weapons charges.

Unglesby said the Medellin Cartel killed Seal to prevent the extradition of Medellin Cartel co-leader Jorge Ochoa from Spain, where he was hiding. U.S. authorities wanted to put him on trial for drug smuggling. “It worked,” Unglesby said. “Ochoa wasn’t extradited.”

But even in death, Seal would not go away easily.

On March 3, 1986, only two weeks after Seal was murdered, Louisiana Attorney General William Guste hand-delivered a five-page letter to U.S. Attorney General Edwin Meese. In his letter, Guste made a formal request for a complete investigation with respect to the government’s relationship with and handling of Seal.

“In October, as Chairman of the Subcommittee on Narcotics and Drug Interdiction of the President’s Commission on Organized Crime, I had presided over a seminar at which Barry Seal had testified,” Guste continued.

“His purpose there was to inform the commission and top United States officials of the methods and equipment used by drug smugglers….and (he) was scheduled to be a key witness in the government’s case against Jorge Ochoa-Vasques, the head of one of the largest drug cartels in the world. WHY WAS SUCH AN IMPORTANT WITNESS NOT GIVEN PROTECTIOIN WHETHER HE WANTED IT OR NOT?” Guste asked, using all capital letters.

There was no word as to whether or not Meese ever responded to Guste’s letter.

Seven months after Guste delivered his letter to Meese, on October 5, 1986, a Sandinista patrol shot down a C-123 cargo plane that was supplying the Contras. Eugene Hasenfus, who was on board the plane, survived the crash and told his captors that he thought the CIA was behind the operation to supply the Contras.

It proved to be the singular event that blew the Iran-Contra scandal wide open. The C-123 that had been shot down was The Fat Lady, Seal’s beloved cargo plane. Somehow, the plane had fallen into the hands of Oliver North and his covert operation.

Hasenfus said that was by sheer coincidence.

That’s not likely. Seal’s offshore bank accounts disappeared and the IRS filed a multi-million dollar lien against his assets. His property, including his home and all his airplanes, were seized. Seal’s wife was said to have found George Bush’s private phone number in Seal’s wallet. The C-123 was ultimately sold to a company with connections to the CIA and was shot down soon afterwards.

In 1993, Colombian and U.S. authorities cornered Pablo Escobar at a house in Medellin and killed the drug kingpin in a shootout.

The CIA, DEA, and State Department have each been implicated in various drug trafficking enterprises that were used to fund illegal covert operations in nations all over the globe.

A quarter-century later, America’s war on drugs continues at a cost of $52 billion per year, or $1600 for every second of every day. That investment includes not only the cost of preventative measures, but also the cost of housing fully 20 percent of all federal and state prison inmates (more than 400,000) for drug-related offenses.

the CIA-Mossad-LTTE link, in the Rajiv Gandhi killing

Finally All Fingers Point To A  Foreign Hand

The Jain Commission’s final report focuses on a larger international conspiracy, and the CIA-Mossad-LTTE link, in the Rajiv killing

Charu Lata Joshi

 

FOR seven rambling years, the Jain Commission of Inquiry—set up to unravel the larger conspiracy behind Rajiv Gandhi’s May 21, 1991, assassination—has stumbled from one controversy to another. The Commission’s interim report, tabled in Parliament last year, led to the fall of the United Front government—it had pointed fingers at its coalition partner, the DMK, for harbouring the LTTE, thus creating conditions which facilitated the assassination.

“The possibility of a foreign hand behind the LTTE in the Rajiv assasination is trengthened.”

It had also come down heavily on the V.P. Singh government for ignoring the security threat to Rajiv.The final report charts a markedly different course. Volume II, covering chapters I to VI, widens the ambit beyond the immediate circumstances to emphasise a larger, international plot. Foreign intelligence agencies like the CIA and Mossad, and leaders of some Sikh extremist organisations step in as the new dramatis personae. The report says they actively collaborated with the LTTE and key Indian individuals in the period immediately preceding the assassination. The eight-volume set, 14 chapters in all—accessed by Outlook—was submitted to the home ministry on March 7 this year.

Curiously, even as he lambasts the work of the CBI’s Special Investigation Team—devoting an entire volume to its investigational lapses—Jain appears to have considerably toned down his earlier stand on the complicity of the DMK and has instead concentrated on the ‘foreign’ angle. But there are specific recommendations for the prosecution of certain members of the DMK, PMK, and DK, who were earlier chargesheeted in the assassination of EPRLF chief K. Padmanabha in Chennai in 1990.

The report is not without its Indian angle. Startling depositions and intelligence intercepts included in the report indicate that Dr Subramanian Swamy and former prime minister Chandra Shekhar, in different ways, may have had prior knowledge of a threat to Rajiv but did not react in a “timely manner”.

“CIA seems to have a track record of destabilising governments while indulging in assassination plots.”

At the same time, Jain appears to have pulled his punches in recommending any further probe into the charges against these two politicians.What emerges finally is a picture of a well-networked international plot and certain key Indians, cast in varying degrees of complicity, who had ‘knowledge’ of the plan. Whether Home Ministry officials, who are studying the report, will be able to take any action on these findings for presenting the Action Taken Report in Parliament during this session remains in the realm of speculation. For now, the report, with its explosive annexures and wild-card theories, has the potential of stirring up yet another political maelstrom.

THE FOREIGN HAND: What is the foreign hand referred to in the final report? The depositions and intelligence inputs from RAW and IB have led Justice Jain to infer that the Tamil Tigers couldn’t have operated in isolation. In fact, he barely stops short of concluding that it was just the hired executor—a point Jain had touched upon in his interim report. Notes Jain: “The LTTE may be having its own financial resources but to acquire such high-tech weaponry, financial help and help in the form of shipment of arms, which are referred to in IB reports, cannot be ruled out. The possibility of a foreign hand behind the LTTE in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi can’t be ruled out, rather it is strengthened.” The wireless intercepts (see box) clinches the fact that LTTE operatives like K.

“…there were moves to remove Rajiv and the hand of Chandraswami has been established.”

Padmanabha had links with the CIA and that the US intelligence agency assisted the Tigers in arms procurement and other operations. The LTTE was networked with international agencies and these could have helped them in the plot to kill Rajiv.To establish the foreign link, the report quotes telegram No. 24 (CCB)/20537 of September 11, 1991—sent to the Ministry of External Affairs by the Indian Ambassador in Tunis, containing a key tipoff he got from PLO president Yasser Arafat. It was conveyed that “Yasser Arafat had information that Rajiv’s enemies would use the election period to get rid of him. He got this information from inside Israel and his European sources. These sources mentioned that the LTTE and Sikh extremists would try to harm Rajiv Gandhi. Besides the above three, hostile forces from outside India may also make an attempt.”

A recorded note on the talk between the then foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey and the Palestinian ambassador in India, dated June 6, 1991, included in the final report reads: “The Palestinian ambassador told me that they had seen the movement of Mos-sad agents in India, including towards Madras. He said that if one was looking for a link, it was the CIA/Mossad/LTTE link. He further stated that the culprit could have been one of the women related or associated with the five LTTE leaders who had killed themselves after taking cyanide soon after the commencement of the IPKF operation.”

Justice Jain gives considerable import to the Arafat input.

“Swamy spoke of the possibility of Prabhakaran having been financed for the job…”

“I find the information furnished by Yasser Arafat genuine and there is no reason to disbelieve it…. From the note of Shri Muchkund Dubey and the CCB telegram, it is amply borne out that there was an international plot to assassinate Rajiv Gandhi and that it was a Mossad/LTTE/CIA link.”Statements from Dubey’s successor J.N. Dixit, Sonia Gandhi as well as details gleaned from RAW and IB have been woven into the report to shore up the information the PLO chief had passed on to Indian authorities. Dixit’s deposition finds prominence in the report: “Arafat is right in stating that he had sources within Israel and well-established sources in Europe. This information conveyed in the telegram must have been cross-checked by the field units of RAW under directives of their headquarters.”

“There must have been operatives of the CIA and Mossad in India during 1990-91…. The likelihood of Rajiv coming back to power might have been viewed with some reservations, not so much by the US government itself but by segments of the US defence and Intelligence establishment in the context of Rajiv Gandhi’s opposition regarding refuelling facilities provided by India for US Air Force planes during the Gulf War,” adds the ex-foreign secretary.

Similarly, in her statement to the Commission, Sonia Gandhi confirms that “it is a fact that Arafat sent my husband messages through the Palestinian mission in India saying that they had learnt of the threats to his life. This was reconfirmed to me and my children personally by Arafat when he met us soon after my husband’s funeral. There were several other occasions when he received similar information.”

RAW too provided the Commission with inputs, which it had shared with IB, on the activities of Mossad and CIA in India in the year immediately preceding the assassination. The final report mentions Amos Radia and Giorce Betchar as agents operating for the Israelis in India. As regards CIA activities in India, RAW had informed the IB that two suspected US intelligence officers were in India in the months preceding the killing.

A study of the post-Gulf war scenario in West Asia conducted by RAW, which was communicated to the PMO, then cabinet secretary Naresh Chandra, then foreign secretary Muchkund Dubey, IB, the Naval Headquarters and then Air Force chief S.K. Mehra, clearly stated: “International terrorism will get a fillip and we can expect terrorist strikes against soft targets in India. Considerable vigil will have to be exercised.”

While Jain has gone to great lengths to establish the foreign hand, he has also indicted intelligence agencies like RAW for not taking a serious view of information that came its way. The report says: “RAW’s conclusion on Arafat’s information requires deeper examination. Nothing has been said about the possible involvement of the CIA which may operate through Mossad in the light of Rajiv Gandhi’s utterances during the Gulf War opposing refuelling facilities to the US.”

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Further, Jain writes, “the CIA seems to have a track-record of covert operations for desta-bilising governments while indulging in assassination plots or otherwise as reported in the print media…. It is in this background of the CIA’s alleged track-record that Arafat’s utterances have to be evaluated.”

THE report notes that, “Kumaran Padmanabha’s (KP) account in BCCI, Bombay branch, prima facie establishes links of the LTTE with the bank. Unless material from the Senate subcommittee is gathered, it will not be proper to conclude that the BCCI funds were not made available in connection with the Rajiv Gandhi assassination…. The material which has come before the Commission raises a very strong possibility of such help from some individuals and agencies since it is well established that KP was the LTTE’s international arms procurer.”

Despite all the information pieced together, the report is short on specifics and does little to flesh out the precise manner in which the foreign hand purportedly worked. The veil of mystery that shrouds the Rajiv killing remains. Jain indicates how the LTTE conspired with foreign agents/agencies to carry out the assassination, but provides only a vague delineation of possible motives. As things stand, it is doubtful whether the MEA (which has been given charge of investigating the international link) will be able to come up with anything.

THE INDIAN CONNECTION: Justice Jain has devoted separate chapters to three key Indian players who are suspected, one way or the other, to have had prior knowledge of the assassination. Nothing definitive or conclusive here, but Jain has woven in intriguing loops of circumstantial evidence—quoted and contained in the annexures—around godman Chandraswami, Janata Party leader Dr Subramanian Swamy and former PM Chandra Shekhar. The three are bracketed, prima facie, as either having a link with those who allegedly conspired with the assassins or at least having been privy to the fact of a plot.

The link between Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy has been taken seriously by Jain in the light of Chandra-swami’s deposition: “I know Chandra Shekhar and Subramanian Swamy have been very thick for the last 7-8 years. Dr Swamy told me that I (Chandraswami) may persuade Rajiv Gandhi to make Chandra Shekhar the PM.” Working within this framework, the Commission has read much into the independent testimonies of a host of witnesses—wherever they overlap—and arrived at certain conclusions.

For instance, Justice Jain concludes that Akali leader Mahant Sewa Dass’s deposition stands corroborated by evidence provided by RAW. Dass was sent as Chandra Shekhar’s emissary to meet Khalistan proponent Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan in London. He had deposed that at the meeting a plot to eliminate Rajiv was being hatched jointly by Babbar Khalsa militants and a representative of the LTTE (R.M. Pradi)—and that the project was to be financed by Chandraswami. Jain says: “It is fully established that Mahant Sewa Dass went to London, met Dr Chohan in the presence of some persons, conveyed the message of Chandra Shekhar and brought back a letter from Dr Chohan addressed to Shri Chandra Shekhar.”

The letter also finds a place in government records and reads:

“Dear Mr Chandra Shekharji,
Namaskar!
Mahantji discussed quite a few but very important things with me. I very much appreciate your initiative in Punjab. I am sure it will help to pacify the violence in Punjab. Mahantji will give you the details of our discussion on various aspects. Talks are the only way to resolve the problems.
More on hearing from you. Yours sincerely, Dr Jagjit Singh Chohan”
According to the report, “RAW confirms the meeting and that almost all the active pro-Khalistan groups were represented in the meeting. It also says that the main purpose of Mahant Sewa Dass’s sojourn was to find out the pro-Khalistani elements on a possible peace package acceptable to them which could then be projected as an achievement of the Government of India as a successful attempt to bring back the Sikhs abroad into the national mainstream…. However, a contemporary inquiry should have been made and the report should have been sent to the PM.”

The Commission also has on record a communication UO.No 3/5/88-VS, dated July 21, 1988, in which RAW mentioned reports indicating that Dr Chohan was trying to establish contact with the LTTE in the UK. Also, “government records show that Mahant Sewa Dass was sent by the government as an emissary of Chandra Shekhar to meet Dr Chohan. His arrangements for travel were made by the government.”

According to Jain, “From the perusal of various statements, it is evident that the relations of Chandraswami did exist, not only with Rao but also with Chandra Shekhar, Subrama-nian Swamy and O.P. Chautala. However, no inference of complicity can be drawn, although the surveillance at 10, Janpath and the statement of Saifullah may give rise to some doubts.”

As for Chandraswami, the circle of suspicion is wider. His links with the LTTE as well as international arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi (see box) have been established. Notes Jain: “The evidence and material does point an accusing finger at Chandraswami and circumstances which have come before the Commission raise a doubt regarding his involvement in the assassination. Taking the entire evidence, material and circumstantial, brought on record, a serious doubt arises regarding Chandraswami’s complicity and involvement. So the matter requires a further probe…. There is a plethora of evidence on record in the form of testimony of Buta Singh, S.S. Mahapatra, B.G. Deshmukh and others which proves that there were moves to remove Rajiv Gandhi and the hand of Chandraswami in these moves has been clearly established.”

Many witnesses have attested to the godman’s dubious links with international agencies. Ramesh Dalal, BJP activist, deposed that he knew “Shri Chandraswami has relations with the CIA, Mossad and the LTTE. He took the help of these agencies in assassinating Rajiv Gandhi…. In the core group of Chandraswami, Rajendra Jain, Babloo Srivastava, K.N. Aggarwal, Subramanian Swamy, Chandra Shekhar, O.P. Chautala and Pinaki Misra were there. The people of this core group used to meet Chandraswami in his bedroom. Chandraswami told me he had been financing the LTTE…”

The report says: “It is noteworthy that when he (Ramesh Dalal) had expressed his doubts regarding the involvement of Chandraswami as early as August 1991, investigations should have been conducted. Outrightly rejecting his testimony would not be a proper course and a thorough investigation is required to be made about the truth or otherwise of his testimony. Some support is available…from the deposition of Mahant Sewa Dass Singh.”

As for Swamy, the Commission interweaves various independent depositions and pieces of evidence to flesh out his links with the god-man and international agencies as well as his role as an intermediary. The report notes that Swamy had made a trip to London in 1995 with Chandraswami—they both stayed at Halkin Hotel and the bill was picked up by the godman.

Going back to the period before the killing, Jain cites the then cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah’s statement that “there were some intercepts emanating from Israel for information to Chandraswami and Swamy for Jaffna. These intercepts have not come before the Commission. If Saifullah’s statement is correct, then the intercepts would have thrown much more light on the question of complicity.”

THE report adds: “A serious doubt has also been cast by E. Velusami who has filed an affidavit before the Commission…” Velusami, then general secretary of the Janata Party in Tamil Nadu, had deposed that his party president had arrived “in the morning at Madras airport by a flight from Delhi on Sunday, May 19, 1991.” Elections in the state were set for May 26. “Swamy’s whereabouts became unknown on May 21 morning. He subsequently learnt he had spent May 21 morning in a hotel called Trident near the airport and that he had met some persons there….

It is not clear why he made this secret stay in Madras on May 21, 1991, that too, after suddenly cancelling his pre-settled programme of going to Delhi from Madras and without any information to his colleagues…” Swamy’s itinerary was confirmed by the personal secretary to the ex-minister, writes Jain. He gives credence to the testimony of Aziz Haniffa, Washington bureau chief of India Abroad, in which he states that “during an interview with Swamy, the latter claimed it was he who was instrumental in introducing the LTTE to the Israelis, which led to their training by Mossad.”

Similarly, former Rajya Sabha MP Rajani Ranjan Sahu deposed that in 1994 Dr Swamy told him and two others at the Tamil Nadu governor’s house that the LTTE was hired for the job. He claimed Prabhakaran ordered the assassination after entering into a Rs 100-crore deal. He also revealed that “one W. Anderson, first secretary in the American Embassy, was anti-Rajiv” and that intelligence officials had got wind of the plot. Jain, at the same time, seems to suspend judgement on the episode: “From the statements of Sahu, Jitendra Prasada and Rajiv Shukla, it is borne out that they happened to meet Dr Swamy in the drawing room of the Governor’s house and that… Dr Swamy spoke of the possibility of V. Prabhakaran having been financed for the job which might have motivated him for the assassination.

… If that’s what transpired on May 29, 1994, and if it has any bearing while taking conspectus of the view in relation to any conspiracy, this event can be taken into account but if examined independently, nothing would turn on it.”

However, Jain reserves some sharp comments for the Janata Party chief. “Dr Swamy cannot be believed when he changes his versions and when he is indefinite and when he does not support his version by any corroboratory evidence. The divergence in the statements of Chandraswami and Dr Swamy on the purpose of their joint visit to London in 1995 does raise suspicions.”

On the explanation of D.R. Karthikeyan, special director, CBI, regarding the international ramifications, Jain writes that it “does not completely rule out the possibility of involvement beyond the LTTE. If the SIT had investigated Chandraswami, Mahant Sewa Dass and interrogated Chandra Shekhar, Swamy, T.N. Seshan and Narasimha Rao, it would have helped the Commission….”

In the final analysis, Jain has shifted the focus from Indian players. But it remains a fuzzy piece of detective work. His conclusions are tentative, provisional—the report does not contain the last word on the killing, nor any actionable leads for investigating agencies to pick up. What impact will it have, beyond being a source of embarrassment for some individuals? That, like the core question—who ordered the Rajiv killing?—the final report leaves exactly where the interim report left off: an open-ended question.

(This article is issued in public interest.)

Syrian Opposition Splits Over Moscow Peace Talks

[SEE:  Syrian deputy PM dismissed after U.S. talks]

Syrian Opposition Groups Divided Over Moscow Peace Talks

BEIRUT

 

A Syrian opposition group announced Saturday it will attend a proposed peace conference in Moscow later this month, further highlighting the splits between those opposing President Bashar Assad’s government amid the country’s grinding civil war.

The announcement by the Popular Front of Change and Liberation of former Deputy Prime Minister Qadri Jamil, which called the talks “a glimmer of hope,” came only a day after leading opposition politician Mouaz al-Khatib declined to go to Moscow.

A-Khatib, the former president of the western-baked Syrian National Coalition, said in a statement posted on his Facebook page Friday that he turned down the Russian invitation because there could be no talks with the government “without releasing detainees, especially women and children.”

“The circumstances that we believe are necessary to make the meeting successful are not available,” al-Khatib said.

On Thursday, the Damascus-based Building the Syrian State party of imprisoned politician Louay Hussein also said it would not participate in the Moscow talks. Last week, the Syrian National Coalition elected Khalid Khoja as its new leader, who announced Monday that his group is not yet willing to go to Moscow.

The fractured opposition’s opposing decisions make it unclear whether anything will come of the Russian proposal to hold talks after Jan. 20. Assad’s government had said it is prepared to participate.

Russia is a staunch ally of Assad. The Western-backed Syrian opposition has insisted that any negotiated settlement include the formation of a transitional governing body with full executive powers, a demand rejected by Assad’s government.

Syria’s nearly four-year conflict has killed over 200,000 people. It also gave birth to the Islamic State group, which now controls a third of Syria and neighboring Iraq.