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TUNISNEWS<\/strong><\/span> <\/font> <\/div>\n 7\u00a0\u00e8me\u00a0ann\u00e9e, N\u00b0\u00a02470 du 25.02.2007<\/span><\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n
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\u00a0archives : <\/font> www.tunisnews.net<\/font><\/a><\/blink><\/span><\/b> <\/font> <\/div>\n
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Voix libre: URGENT PRISONNIERS EN GREVE<\/strong><\/font><\/span><\/div>\n
Association Internationale de Soutien aux Prisonniers Politiques: Communiqu\u00e9<\/span> la liste Maghreb des Droits de l\u2019Homme :FMVJ : soutien aux D\u00e9mocrates Tunisiens:Forum Marocain pour la V\u00e9rit\u00e9 et la Justice <\/span>Appel – Participez \u00e0 la plus grande mobilisation des citoyens contre la dic.tat.ure de Be.nA.li & Co.<\/span> Salah zeghidi : A propos du groupe islamiste arm\u00e9 de Slimane: La clart\u00e9 et la pr\u00e9cision s’imposent <\/span>Ahmed Ouna\u00efes : EN REPONSE AU DISCOURS SUR L\u2019ETAT DE L\u2019UNION<\/span> Abdo Maalaoui: Lion Club est une branche de la franc ma\u00e7onnerie et de l\u2019Illiminiti ! <\/span>Le Temps : Des quantit\u00e9s de viandes rouges avari\u00e9es saisies par la Douane de Sousse<\/span> l\u2019agence de presse koweitienne KUNA:After Tunisia, Vorontsov to visit Jordan soon to recuperate Kuwait spare parts — UN <\/span>SEYMOUR M. HERSH: THE REDIRECTION<\/span><\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n
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Voix libre vient d\u2019apprendre que 16 prisonniers politiques tunisiens incarc\u00e9r\u00e9s \u00e0 la prison Mournaguiya, parmi lesquels Sadok CHOUROU, Ahmed LABIYAD, Abdelkerim HAROUNI, Sahbi ATIG, Ali CHNITER et Lotfi SNOUSSI, \u00a0viennent d\u2019entamer une gr\u00e8ve de la faim \u00a0et ce en protestation contre l\u2019agression subite par le prisonnier politique Ridha BOUKADI.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Ce dernier s\u2019est fait rouer de coups \u00a0par un agent de l\u2019administration p\u00e9nitentiaire en r\u00e9ponse \u00e0 sa demande du r\u00e9gime alimentaire prescrit par le m\u00e9decin suite au diagnostic d\u2019une insuffisance r\u00e9nale.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Les coups port\u00e9s au prisonnier Ridha BOUKADI sont d\u2019une violence telle que ses yeux et son visage sont compl\u00e8tement couverts d\u2019h\u00e9matomes.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Encore un prisonnier politique est agress\u00e9, humili\u00e9 et priv\u00e9 de soin.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Des informations compl\u00e9mentaires et plus des pr\u00e9cisions seront donn\u00e9es ult\u00e9rieurement.<\/font><\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Restons vigilant et attentif afin que cette agression ne passe pas inaper\u00e7u. <\/font> <\/span> Voix Libre<\/font> <\/font><\/span><\/strong> <\/span><\/b> ONG oeuvrant pour les droits de l’Homme contact@voixlibre.org<\/font><\/a><\/span><\/strong> Tel: 06 26 37 49 29 – Fax : 01 43 63 13 52 www.voixlibre.org <\/span> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Association Internationale de Soutien aux Prisonniers Politiques <\/font><\/strong>33 rue Mokhtar Atya, 1001 Tunis Tel\/fax : 71 354 984 Le 23 f\u00e9vrier 2007 Communiqu\u00e9<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n
** Les forces de police ont emp\u00each\u00e9 la tenue de la r\u00e9union pr\u00e9vue le 23 f\u00e9vrier 2007 au local du Parti D\u00e9mocratique Progressiste, appel\u00e9e par le Comit\u00e9 du 18 octobre pour les Droits et les Libert\u00e9s, avec la participation de l\u2019AISPP, sous le slogan \u00ab journ\u00e9e du prisonnier politique en Tunisie, pour la promulgation d\u2019une amnistie g\u00e9n\u00e9rale \u00bb.<\/div>\n
** De nombreuses forces de police ont encercl\u00e9 le si\u00e8ge du parti, interdisant \u00e0 des figures embl\u00e9matiques du mouvement du 18 octobre pour les droits et les libert\u00e9s d\u2019y p\u00e9n\u00e9trer, tandis qu\u2019\u00e9taient arriv\u00e9s de nombreux invit\u00e9s, notamment des familles de prisonniers politiques venus en masse en bravant les entraves. Il \u00e9tait pr\u00e9vu que Ma\u00eetre Mohammed Nouri prenne la parole pour parler des souffrances des prisonniers politiques et de leurs familles ainsi que des brimades et provocations subies par les ex prisonniers, mais la police lui a interdit l\u2019entr\u00e9e dans le local.<\/div>\n
** Messieurs Mohammed N\u00e9jib Laouati et Ajmi Lourimi<\/font><\/strong> observent une gr\u00e8ve de la faim depuis trois jours pour protester contre les mauvais traitements auxquels ils sont soumis, l\u2019administration p\u00e9nitentiaire ayant bouch\u00e9 l\u2019unique source d\u2019a\u00e9ration de leur cellule. N\u2019en pouvant plus de suffoquer, ils ont d\u00e9cid\u00e9 de mener une gr\u00e8ve de la faim pour que soit mis un terme \u00e0 ces brimades et pour exiger leur lib\u00e9ration. Messieurs Mohammed N\u00e9jib Laouati et Ajmi Lourimi<\/font><\/strong> sont incarc\u00e9r\u00e9s \u00e0 la prison de Sfax o\u00f9 ils effectuent une peine d\u2019emprisonnement \u00e0 perp\u00e9tuit\u00e9. Ils ont d\u00e9j\u00e0 pass\u00e9 plus de seize ann\u00e9es dans diff\u00e9rentes prisons tunisiennes.<\/div>\n
** Le prisonnier d\u2019opinion Hassam Rihan<\/font><\/strong> a \u00e9t\u00e9 agress\u00e9 et mis au cachot \u00e0 la prison de Mornaguia, rien que pour avoir voulu faire ses ablutions et sa pri\u00e8re. Pour le Comit\u00e9 directeur de l\u2019Association Ma\u00eetre Mohammed Nouri<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n (traduction ni revue ni corrig\u00e9e par les auteurs de la version en arabe, LT) \u00a0<\/div>\n
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Mezri Haddad Et Sihem Bensedrine (Vid\u00e9o)<\/font><\/h2>\n
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http:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/visited-week\/se…e-lislamisme-ii<\/a><\/div>\n
(Source : lien publi\u00e9 par \u00ab Lassad \u00bb le 25 f\u00e9vrier 2007 \u00e0 04h17 PM sur le forum \u00ab Taht Essour \u00bb de nawaat.org)<\/font><\/strong> http:\/\/www.dailymotion.com\/visited-week\/se…e-lislamisme-ii<\/a> <\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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Participez \u00e0 la plus grande mobilisation des citoyens contre la dic.tat.ure de Be.nA.li & Co.<\/font><\/p>\n
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Je lance un appel solennel \u00e0 tous les citoyens patriotes pour se mobiliser contre la mafia Be.nal.ienne (au pouvoir de pillage, de spoliation des richesses et de terrorisme contre la population) en luttant symboliquement et en pr\u00e9parant la r\u00e9sistance active et pacifique : <\/div>\n
Eteignez vos lumi\u00e8res pendant 7 minutes de 21h \u00e0 21h07 (heure de Tunis, en hiver) tous les 7, 17 et 27 de chaque mois \u00e0 partir du 7 f\u00e9vrier 2007.<\/font><\/strong><\/div>\n
Cette action symbolique est un avertissement du peuple prisonnier d’une dictature (mafieuse et terroriste) et refusant toute violence d’o\u00f9 qu’elle vienne (pouvoir politique, extr\u00e9mistes religieux et autres). C’est un signe de refus et de combat contre l’\u00e8re noire du 7 novembre 1987 et ses dramatiques cons\u00e9quences (politiques, \u00e9conomiques, sociales, culturelles) pour le pays.<\/div>\n
Faisant de l’ann\u00e9e 2007, l’ann\u00e9e de la fin de la dictature par la r\u00e9sistance pacifique.<\/div>\n
Citoyennes, Citoyens patriotes, n’oubliez pas : Eteignez vos lumi\u00e8res pendant 7 minutes de 21h \u00e0 21h07 (heure de Tunis, en hiver) tous les 7, 17 et 27 de chaque mois \u00e0 partir du 7 f\u00e9vrier 2007.<\/div>\n
Merci de diffuser tr\u00e8s largement via les mass m\u00e9dias.<\/div>\n
Tunisie3Republique@yahoo.com<\/a><\/div>\n
http:\/\/3rep-tn.blogspot.com<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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Import\u00e9es clandestinement d’un pays fr\u00e8re <\/font><\/p>\n
Des quantit\u00e9s de viandes rouges avari\u00e9es saisies par la Douane de Sousse<\/font><\/h2>\n
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Tunis – le Temps – Notre cons\u0153ur \u00ab Assabah \u00bb a appris de sources inform\u00e9es qu’une quantit\u00e9 de viandes rouges avari\u00e9es , ramen\u00e9e clandestinement d’un pays fr\u00e8re, a \u00e9t\u00e9 saisie \u00e0 Sousse par les services douaniers.<\/div>\n
Selon les m\u00eames sources, un camion venant dudit pays, arr\u00eat\u00e9 pour un contr\u00f4le de routine, et cens\u00e9 transporter du poisson, s’av\u00e9ra lors de sa fouille par les agents, contenir des quantit\u00e9s de viande rouge, planqu\u00e9es sous les cageots de poissons.<\/div>\n
La v\u00e9rification des documents d’importation de ces viandes, permit de d\u00e9voiler l’ill\u00e9galit\u00e9 de cette op\u00e9ration qui \u00e9tait effectu\u00e9e d’une mani\u00e8re clandestine. Elle ne r\u00e9pondait pas , en effet, aux conditions requises, pour lesquelles les quantit\u00e9s \u00e0 importer ainsi que les intervenants sont pr\u00e9alablement d\u00e9finis. La m\u00eame source pr\u00e9cise que le probl\u00e8me en l’occurrence concerne notamment les conditions dans lesquelles ces viandes ont \u00e9t\u00e9 import\u00e9es et introduites dans le territoire. La Douane tunisienne a d\u00e9j\u00e0 commenc\u00e9 \u00e0 instruire ce dossier qui sera soumis \u00e0 la justice.<\/div>\n
Quant aux viandes concern\u00e9es, (plus d’une tonne), ce sont des viandes congel\u00e9es, d’origine latino-am\u00e9ricaine, introduites d’abord en totalit\u00e9 au pays voisin et dont une partie a \u00e9t\u00e9 ramen\u00e9e en Tunisie, d’une mani\u00e8re clandestine. Par ailleurs, il est pr\u00e9cis\u00e9 que la quantit\u00e9 saisie appartient au conducteur du camion (bien que d’autres personnes aient \u00e9t\u00e9 \u00e9galement cit\u00e9es). Le m\u00eame chauffeur indiqua qu’une autre quantit\u00e9 de ces viandes d\u00e9compos\u00e9es se trouvent dans une chambre frigorifique destin\u00e9e pour les produits de la mer. En outre, il est \u00e9galement sp\u00e9cifi\u00e9 que ces viandes seraient plut\u00f4t p\u00e9rim\u00e9es et ont \u00e9t\u00e9 confi\u00e9es pour l’analyse aux laboratoires de contr\u00f4le d’hygi\u00e8ne afin de se prononcer d’une mani\u00e8re officielle. Sachant que les viandes qui ont \u00e9t\u00e9 distribu\u00e9es dans certains points de vente ont \u00e9t\u00e9 saisies dans leur totalit\u00e9 par les agents du contr\u00f4le d’hygi\u00e8ne. Quant au conducteur du camion, il a \u00e9t\u00e9 d\u00e9f\u00e9r\u00e9 aux instances judiciaires dans le cadre de l’instruction dans cette affaire.<\/div>\n
S.R (Source : \u00ab Le Temps \u00bb (Quotidien \u2013 Tunis), le 25 f\u00e9vrier 2007)<\/font><\/strong> \u00a0<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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FMVJ : soutien aux D\u00e9mocrates Tunisiens <\/font><\/p>\n
Forum Marocain pour la V\u00e9rit\u00e9 et la Justice<\/font><\/h2>\n
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Le 23 f\u00e9vrier 2007<\/font><\/div>\n
Membre de la Coordination Marocaine de soutien aux D\u00e9mocrates Tunisiens, le FMVJ apporte son soutien entier et sans r\u00e9serve \u00e0 la lutte des d\u00e9mocrates tunisiens dans leur lutte juste et acharn\u00e9e contre un r\u00e9gime d’un autre \u00e2ge dont toutes les d\u00e9cisions et initiatives ont pour seul but de faire souffrir la Tunisie, la claquemurer et l\u2019isoler du monde de la libert\u00e9 et du droit. Les d\u00e9mocrates tunisiens c\u00e9l\u00e8brent aujourd\u2019hui, pour la sixi\u00e8me fois, la journ\u00e9e internationale pour la lib\u00e9ration des prisonniers politiques et pour r\u00e9clamer une loi d\u2019amnistie g\u00e9n\u00e9rale en faveur de toutes les victimes de la r\u00e9pression du r\u00e9gime de Ben Ali. Aux c\u00f4t\u00e9s des d\u00e9mocrates Tunisiens et avec l\u2019ensembles des organisations de d\u00e9fense des Droits Humains, maghr\u00e9bines ou internationales le FMVJ r\u00e9clame – La lib\u00e9ration de tous les d\u00e9tenus politiques et la promulgation d\u2019une loi d\u2019amnistie – La pr\u00e9servation, la protection et la garantie de tous les droits internationaux relatifs aux organisations et aux citoyens, dont les droits de r\u00e9union, d\u2019expression et de repr\u00e9sentation. Parmi nos pr\u00e9occupations et inqui\u00e9tudes, la campagne d\u2019agression men\u00e9e par les services tunisiens dirig\u00e9s par Ben Ali et son groupe mafieux, contre la grande LIGUE TUNISIENNE DE DEFENSE DES DROITS DE L\u2019HOMME. Nous saluons le long combat et le courage de toutes les organisations politiques, syndicales, humanitaires et civiles tunisiennes et exigeons du pouvoir antid\u00e9mocratique tunisien qu\u2019il respecte les textes internationaux relatifs aux droits humains. Nous appelons l\u2019opinion publique maghr\u00e9bine et internationale \u00e0 agir – aupr\u00e8s des autorit\u00e9s tunisiennes et aupr\u00e8s de toutes les institutions qui traitent avec ce r\u00e9gime – fortement et tr\u00e8s vite afin de soulager les d\u00e9fenseurEs des droits de la personne et afin d\u2019obliger le r\u00e9gime r\u00e9trograde de BEN ALI \u00e0 respecter l\u2019immunit\u00e9 des citoyens et \u00e0 en finir avec les agressions contre cette soci\u00e9t\u00e9 s\u0153ur dont l\u2019avenir nous concerne au premier chef. Tr\u00e8s cherEs amiEs, Sachez combien notre lien dans le combat pour la Libert\u00e9 , la V\u00e9rit\u00e9 et la Justice est primordial et combien nous voulons que notre lutte soit commune pour un Maghreb respectueux du droit. Pour l\u2019av\u00e8nement d\u2019un Maghreb D\u00e9mocratique. Sachez que nous avons aussi besoin de vous et de nos amis nombreux \u00e0 travers le monde pour que la vigilance l\u2019emporte dans notre pays qui traverse une p\u00e9riode difficile o\u00f9 les enl\u00e8vements, tortures et emprisonnements continuent de marquer la sc\u00e8ne politique, en d\u00e9pit de toutes les d\u00e9clarations fallacieuses de nos dirigeants. Le Maroc poursuit sa lutte pour l\u2019av\u00e8nement de l\u2019Etat de Droit et compte sur tous les d\u00e9fenseurs des droits humains pour le soutenir dans sa qu\u00eate de la d\u00e9mocratie, de la v\u00e9rit\u00e9, de la justice et de la libert\u00e9. Notre solidarit\u00e9 est totale. Le Bureau Ex\u00e9cutif du FMVJ<\/font> (Source : Texte diffus\u00e9 par Larbi Maaninou sur la liste Maghreb des Droits de l\u2019Homme le 25 F\u00e9vrier 2007 \u00e0 11h22mn 13s)<\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n
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A propos du groupe islamiste arm\u00e9 de Slimane <\/font><\/p>\n
La clart\u00e9 et la pr\u00e9cision s’imposent<\/font><\/h2>\n
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Salah zeghidi<\/font><\/strong> <\/div>\n
C’est unanimement que les diverses composantes des soci\u00e9t\u00e9s politique et civile se sont d\u00e9marqu\u00e9es de l’aventure terroriste engag\u00e9e par un groupe islamiste arm\u00e9 ayant ses soutiens politiques et logistiques aupr\u00e8s du G.S.P.C. bas\u00e9 en Alg\u00e9rie et devenu depuis quelques mois \u00ab\u00a0la branche maghr\u00e9bine\u00a0\u00bb d’ \u00ab\u00a0Al Qu’A\u00efda\u00a0\u00bb..<\/div>\n
Cette unanimit\u00e9 est positive et doit \u00eatre appr\u00e9ci\u00e9e \u00e0 sa juste valeur. Il \u00e9tait essentiel que toutes les forces vives, mais surtout les mouvements d\u00e9mocratiques, associatifs ou politiques, expriment haut et fort leur d\u00e9nonciation ferme et sans \u00e9quivoque de toute vell\u00e9it\u00e9 d’action de groupes terroristes islamistes ..<\/div>\n
Cela n’emp\u00eache, car la rigueur est de ..rigueur .Il ne suffit pas de d\u00e9noncer ou de se d\u00e9marquer.. Il faut dire tr\u00e8s clairement et tr\u00e8s pr\u00e9cis\u00e9ment de quoi on se d\u00e9marque, et qui on d\u00e9nonce. Et l\u00e0, les choses ne semblent pas tout \u00e0 fait \u00e9videntes.<\/div>\n
1- Il ne s’agit pas de d\u00e9noncer \u00ab\u00a0la violence\u00a0\u00bb, en termes g\u00e9n\u00e9riques. Ce qui, du reste, n’a aucun sens politiquement : la violence (qui n’est pas le terrorisme) a \u00e9t\u00e9 l’un des instruments l\u00e9gitimes des mouvements de lib\u00e9ration nationale ou antifascistes.. Certaines d\u00e9clarations ont parl\u00e9 de \u00ab\u00a0rejet de la violence\u00a0\u00bb, comme s’il s’agissait de n’importe qu’elle violence. Or, la confusion n’est pas de mise. Il s’agit bel et bien de terrorisme et pas de n’importe lequel! <\/div>\n
2- Il faut appeler un chat un chat. Or, de ce point de vue, plusieurs d\u00e9clarations ont trouv\u00e9 le moyen de NE PAS PRECISER QU’IL S’AGIT d’un groupe terroriste ISLAMISTE ! <\/div>\n
Le Gouvernement lui-m\u00eame, et qui n’est pas \u00e0 une bavure pr\u00e8s \u00e0 propos de cette affaire, a cru bon de se contenter de parler de groupe \u00ab\u00a0salafiste jihadiste\u00a0\u00bb comme si ses communiqu\u00e9s s’adressaient \u00e0 des th\u00e9ologiens! Les partis politiques se sont-ils dits: nous n’allons pas \u00eatre plus royalistes que le Gouvernement?(1) Seul celui qui refuse de se d\u00e9marquer de l’int\u00e9grisme islamiste peut rechigner \u00e0 dire clairement que les \u00e9v\u00e8nements de Slimane sont une op\u00e9ration politique et terroriste organis\u00e9e et men\u00e9e par UN MOUVEMENT ISLAMISTE INTEGRISTE..<\/div>\n
3- Ce qui nous s\u00e9pare et nous oppose \u00e0 ce groupe li\u00e9 au G.S.P.C. et \u00e0 AL QUA\u00ceDA, disons-le clairement, sans laisser la moindre place \u00e0 l’\u00e9quivoque: Ce n’est pas seulement le recours de ce groupe aux pratiques terroristes, c’est le projet fondamentalement r\u00e9trograde et obscurantiste dont il est porteur, \u00e0 l’image de tous les mouvements se r\u00e9clamant de l’islamisme politique int\u00e9griste, quelles que soient les nuances ou les divergences importantes qui les s\u00e9parent\u2026 Et l\u00e0, il est r\u00e9confortant de constater la pertinence et la grande justesse de la d\u00e9claration publi\u00e9e par l’ATFD., et dans une moindre mesure, celle de la LTDH. (1) la d\u00e9claration publi\u00e9e par le PND pr\u00e9cise bien qu’il s’agit d’un groupe islamiste et -d\u00e9nonce en m\u00eame temps le projet r\u00e9trograde et pass\u00e9iste dont il est porteur.<\/div>\n
(Source : \u00ab Attariq Al Jadid \u00bb (Revue mensuelle \u2013 Tunis), N\u00b0 57 \u2013 F\u00e9vrier 2007)<\/font><\/strong> Lien : http:\/\/fr.blog.360.yahoo.com\/blog-bawT19A8eqfODSt0dUg5c6DCYQU-?cq=1&p=118 \u00a0<\/div>\n
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EN REPONSE AU DISCOURS SUR L\u2019ETAT DE L\u2019UNION<\/font><\/h2>\n
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Ahmed Ouna\u00efes<\/font><\/strong> <\/div>\n
Le discours sur l\u2019Etat de l\u2019Union prononc\u00e9 par le Pr\u00e9sident Bush le 23 janvier devant le Congr\u00e8s des Etats-Unis ne saurait \u00eatre compris sans r\u00e9f\u00e9rence au r\u00e9sultat des \u00e9lections de mi-mandat du 7 novembre dernier, o\u00f9 le parti r\u00e9publicain a perdu la majorit\u00e9 dans les deux Chambres et, d\u2019autre part, au rapport du Groupe de Travail sur l\u2019Irak rendu public le 7 d\u00e9cembre, o\u00f9 les co-pr\u00e9sidents du Groupe, James Baker et Lee Hamilton, au nom des partis R\u00e9publicain et D\u00e9mocrate, appellent l\u2019Administration \u00e0 changer de politique en Irak et dans l\u2019ensemble de la r\u00e9gion. Dans son discours du 23 janvier, le Pr\u00e9sident Bush s\u2019en tient \u00e0 sa politique et pousse \u00e0 l\u2019extr\u00eame la logique de la force, aussi bien en Irak que dans sa politique arabe en g\u00e9n\u00e9ral.<\/div>\n
Trois grandes conclusions dominent le rapport du Groupe de Travail bipartisan sur l\u2019Irak. D\u2019abord, la priorit\u00e9 donn\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019action politique de pr\u00e9f\u00e9rence \u00e0 l\u2019action militaire. A ce titre, le groupe recommande une Nouvelle Offensive Diplomatique, en particulier en direction de la Syrie et de l\u2019Iran \u00ab afin d\u2019obtenir leur engagement dans une politique constructive \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9gard de l\u2019Irak et des autres questions r\u00e9gionales. \u00bb D\u2019autre part, \u00ab toutes les questions cl\u00e9s du Moyen Orient \u2013 le conflit isra\u00e9lo arabe, l\u2019Irak, l\u2019Iran, le besoin de r\u00e9formes politiques et \u00e9conomiques, ainsi que l\u2019extr\u00e9misme et le terrorisme \u2013 sont inextricablement li\u00e9es. \u00bb De ce fait, \u00ab l\u2019Irak ne peut pas \u00eatre trait\u00e9 efficacement en ignorant le contexte r\u00e9gional. \u00bb Enfin, en contrepartie de l\u2019engagement syrien, \u00ab les Isra\u00e9liens devraient restituer le Golan, tout en obtenant de la part des Etats-Unis une garantie de s\u00e9curit\u00e9 qui pourrait inclure une force internationale sur la fronti\u00e8re, y compris des troupes am\u00e9ricaines si les deux parties le demandent. \u00bb <\/div>\n
Ces recommandations sont coh\u00e9rentes. Elles s\u2019appuient sur le constat que la r\u00e9gion souffre d\u2019une accumulation de conflits non r\u00e9solus et d\u2019une militarisation excessive qui s\u2019est aggrav\u00e9e avec le d\u00e9clenchement de la guerre contre l\u2019Irak en 2003 et tout au long des trois derni\u00e8res ann\u00e9es. La guerre du Liban, en juillet-ao\u00fbt 2007, n\u2019a fait qu\u2019exacerber cette logique. Les r\u00e9ponses politiques sont insuffisantes et, dans tous les cas, pr\u00e9d\u00e9termin\u00e9es par la politique de la force et par le jeu des menaces militaires et des sanctions \u00e9conomiques. L\u2019extr\u00e9misme et la violence sont la r\u00e9sultante de cette militarisation o\u00f9 les victoires des armes n\u2019ont jamais \u00e9t\u00e9 suivies d\u2019aucune paix. L\u2019apaisement et la paix requi\u00e8rent un changement de strat\u00e9gie.<\/div>\n
Le Pr\u00e9sident Bush ne retient aucune des recommandations essentielles et ne change pas de strat\u00e9gie. Il annonce un surcro\u00eet de troupes en Irak, en m\u00eame temps qu\u2019un accroissement substantiel, \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9chelle nationale, des Corps d\u2019infanterie et de marine ainsi que la cr\u00e9ation d\u2019un corps de r\u00e9servistes civils mobilisables \u00e0 des fins militaires. Il continue de diviser les pays arabes en entit\u00e9s alli\u00e9es et entit\u00e9s hostiles, comme si les pays arabes n\u2019\u00e9taient pas unis pour la m\u00eame cause, n\u2019\u00e9taient pas solidaires des pays victimes de l\u2019occupation, solidaires des pays menac\u00e9s dans leur int\u00e9grit\u00e9, dans leur souverainet\u00e9 et dans leur dignit\u00e9. Il continue de diaboliser la Syrie et l\u2019Iran, ignorant que ces pays sont l\u2019objet de sanctions injustes et discriminatoires, et qu\u2019ils sont n\u00e9anmoins debout, capables de relever le d\u00e9fi, d\u00e9vou\u00e9s \u00e0 la cause de la lib\u00e9ration des peuples victimes de l\u2019occupation, qu\u2019ils luttent contre la perp\u00e9tuation de l\u2019occupation isra\u00e9lienne des territoires palestinien, libanais et syrien et qu\u2019ils s\u2019acquittent effectivement de cette obligation. Le Pr\u00e9sident Bush dissimule les vraies causes du rejet du soldat am\u00e9ricain. Le tableau qu\u2019il dresse du Moyen Orient est illusoire : le fait m\u00eame de l\u2019occupation est occult\u00e9. Il ne se soucie gu\u00e8re de l\u2019embarras o\u00f9 il plonge ses alli\u00e9s dits \u2018\u2018mod\u00e9r\u00e9s\u2019\u2019 et de l\u2019impuissance o\u00f9 il les enferme pour s\u2019acquitter \u00e0 leur tour de leur obligation nationale arabe.<\/div>\n
Le Pr\u00e9sident Bush continue de penser victoire militaire simplement parce qu\u2019il dispose d\u2019une arm\u00e9e m\u00e9caniquement puissante. C\u2019est la m\u00eame erreur et le m\u00eame aveuglement qui ont conduit Isra\u00ebl \u00e0 ignorer la doctrine de paix arabe et \u00e0 dresser des plans qu\u2019il croit pouvoir imposer par la force. Une puissance d\u00e9pourvue du sens politique peut toujours d\u00e9truire et ruiner, elle ne saurait remporter des victoires durables et ne saurait jouir de la paix. A son tour, le Pr\u00e9sident Bush s\u2019obstine \u00e0 ignorer le contexte r\u00e9gional r\u00e9el, \u00e0 rejeter les droits l\u00e9gitimes des peuples arabes et \u00e0 leur opposer des plans qu\u2019il croit pouvoir imposer par la force. L\u2019\u00e9chec de sa politique irakienne est r\u00e9v\u00e9lateur de l\u2019\u00e9chec de sa politique arabe. <\/div>\n
L\u2019\u00e9chec s\u2019est symboliquement mat\u00e9rialis\u00e9 dans une cascade de faits accablants, en novembre et d\u00e9cembre derniers : quand le Pr\u00e9sident Bush a enregistr\u00e9 la perte de la majorit\u00e9 r\u00e9publicaine dans les deux chambres du Parlement ; quand il a r\u00e9alis\u00e9 l\u2019imprudence de se hasarder sur le sol irakien en d\u00e9pit de la pr\u00e9sence massive de ses soldats sur place et qu\u2019il se r\u00e9signa \u00e0 rencontrer ses interlocuteurs irakiens, le Premier Ministre et le chef de la communaut\u00e9 chiite, \u00e0 Amman et \u00e0 Washington ; quand il a d\u00fb se s\u00e9parer de son Secr\u00e9taire \u00e0 la D\u00e9fense ; quand l\u2019Italie, apr\u00e8s l\u2019Espagne, d\u00e9cida de retirer ses troupes de la coalition ; quand, au nom des deux partis, Jim Baker et Lee Hamilton lui ont d\u00e9clar\u00e9 qu\u2019il n\u2019\u00e9tait plus convenable de parler de victoire militaire et qu\u2019il suffisait d\u2019assurer le retrait des troupes am\u00e9ricaines d\u2019Irak \u00ab en toute responsabilit\u00e9 \u00bb. En a-t-il d\u00e9duit pour autant que la force militaire n\u2019\u00e9tait pas tout et qu\u2019il \u00e9tait n\u00e9cessaire d\u2019avoir aussi une politique ? Une politique, il est vrai, suppose le respect des principes du droit, la foi dans les valeurs de justice et d\u2019\u00e9galit\u00e9, et le respect des nations.<\/div>\n
Le peuple am\u00e9ricain pratique la d\u00e9mocratie. Quand l\u2019Administration \u00e9choue, le vote populaire sanctionne le mauvais choix et en appelle \u00e0 une nouvelle majorit\u00e9 pour redresser la barre. A l\u2019int\u00e9rieur m\u00eame de son propre parti, le Pr\u00e9sident en exercice n\u2019\u00e9chappe pas \u00e0 la critique. Gr\u00e2ce \u00e0 la r\u00e9sistance arabe sur tous les fronts, en Irak, au Liban, en Palestine, en Syrie et d\u00e9j\u00e0 en Iran, la nation am\u00e9ricaine d\u00e9couvre qu\u2019elle a \u00e9t\u00e9 abus\u00e9e. La guerre d\u2019Irak \u00e9tait absurde : elle ne reposait sur aucun fondement et n\u2019avait aucune raison d\u2019\u00eatre. L\u2019esp\u00e8ce de victoire que l\u2019Administration Bush concevait pour le peuple irakien, nul n\u2019en veut, encore moins le peuple irakien. Ailleurs au Moyen Orient, les plans am\u00e9ricains se succ\u00e8dent et s\u2019embourbent sans jamais trouver la voie du succ\u00e8s ni parvenir \u00e0 la paix. <\/div>\n
En fait, le Pr\u00e9sident Bush ne r\u00e9ussit gu\u00e8re \u00e0 relativiser le coup du 11 Septembre. Captif de cette fixation, il y voit toujours un acte fondateur, sans pouvoir saisir le long processus dramatique o\u00f9 il s\u2019inscrit et dans lequel la part de responsabilit\u00e9 des Etats-Unis est lourdement engag\u00e9e. Le Pr\u00e9sident Bush n\u2019entend pas la voix profonde de la communaut\u00e9 qui s\u2019\u00e9l\u00e8ve contre l\u2019agression, l\u2019ali\u00e9nation, la d\u00e9possession et la domination qui qualifient l\u2019ing\u00e9rence am\u00e9ricaine et qui font du soldat am\u00e9ricain tout le contraire d\u2019un lib\u00e9rateur. <\/div>\n
Si, au nom du peuple am\u00e9ricain, un Pr\u00e9sident voulait servir la cause de la paix et de la libert\u00e9 au Moyen Orient, comme Roosevelt et Truman avaient pu le faire dans l\u2019Europe occup\u00e9e, nous, peuples arabes, sommes persuad\u00e9s qu\u2019il saura parfaitement ce qu\u2019il aura \u00e0 faire. Ainsi que l\u2019affirmait Mme Condoleezza Rice le 2 f\u00e9vrier dernier \u00e0 Washington parlant de la Syrie, nous pouvons lui assurer \u00e0 notre tour que les Etats-Unis savent ce qu\u2019ils doivent faire pour \u00eatre une force de paix, de libert\u00e9 et de stabilit\u00e9. Nos ambassades fonctionnent \u00e0 Washington et ne rompent gu\u00e8re le contact, nous n\u2019avons jamais cess\u00e9 de rechercher le dialogue et d\u2019attirer l\u2019attention des Administrations successives sur ce qu\u2019il y a lieu de faire et surtout d\u2019\u00e9viter. <\/div>\n
Il est vrai que nous n\u2019avons pas une arm\u00e9e suffisamment comp\u00e9titive avec les arm\u00e9es am\u00e9ricaines, mais nous avons une politique. Nous sommes aussi soucieux d\u2019\u00e9pargner au peuple am\u00e9ricain des \u00e9checs et des humiliations que d\u2019\u00e9pargner \u00e0 nous-m\u00eames davantage de destructions et de catastrophes \u00e9vitables. Nous sommes fond\u00e9s \u00e0 r\u00e9sister \u00e0 l\u2019agression, \u00e0 d\u00e9fendre nos droits territoriaux et politiques, \u00e0 revendiquer le respect de notre souverainet\u00e9 et de notre dignit\u00e9, tout en offrant par ailleurs une doctrine de paix fond\u00e9e en droit et appuy\u00e9e par notre capacit\u00e9 de lutte et de r\u00e9sistance. La r\u00e9sistance est l\u2019expression d\u2019une civilisation tr\u00e8s ancienne qui force le respect mais qui ne c\u00e8de pas \u00e0 la force.<\/div>\n
(Source : \u00ab Attariq Al Jadid \u00bb (Revue mensuelle \u2013 Tunis), N\u00b0 57 \u2013 F\u00e9vrier 2007)<\/font><\/strong> Lien : http:\/\/fr.blog.360.yahoo.com\/blog-bawT19A8eqfODSt0dUg5c6DCYQU-?cq=1&p=119<\/div>\n
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OPINION<\/p>\n
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Lion Club n\u2019est pas une association humanitaire\u00a0: <\/p>\n
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Lion Club est une branche de la franc ma\u00e7onnerie et de l\u2019Illiminiti !<\/p>\n
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Abdo Maalaoui, <\/p>\n
Montr\u00e9al, Canada<\/p>\n
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Un grand merci \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9quipe de Tunisnews qui n\u2019a jamais cess\u00e9 de nous informer sur les bizarreries de ce qu\u2019il se passe en Tunisie et \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tranger. <\/p>\n
Maryam OMAR, jeune journaliste int\u00e8gre de Webmanagercenter<\/b> a march\u00e9 inconsciemment sur la queue d\u2019un cobra. Maryam, n\u2019est pas islamiste, ni capitaliste, ni gauchiste, elle est jeune journaliste tout court. Elle voulait involontairement d\u00e9noncer des actes qu\u2019elle a trouv\u00e9 \u00abpolitically incorrect\u00bb et voil\u00e0 l\u2019ouragan Katrina s\u2019abat sur elle et peut-\u00eatre elle perdra son emploi dans un avenir proche parce qu\u2019elle a touch\u00e9 sans le savoir au temple mafieux du pouvoir politique et financier en Tunisie. <\/p>\n
Je fais appel \u00e0 la solidarit\u00e9 et le soutien urgent \u00e0 Melle Maryam OMAR, ils vont faire d\u2019elle un exemple de sacrifice et de mobilisation, les Clubs Lions, Rotary ainsi que les Jeunes chambres sont pire que les KKK. Je suis t\u00e9moin de leurs m\u00e9faits et la puissance politique et financi\u00e8re qu\u2019ils ont eu en Afrique centrale, ils sont capables des pires crimes crapuleux. Ce sont des loges sataniques et pour acc\u00e9der au top du pouvoir, le futur candidat doit obligatoirement faire un sacrifice devant les membres de sa loge \u00abClub\u00bb m\u00eame au prix d\u2019un de ses enfants ou de sa femme. Je vous certifie que Melle Maryam Omar sera dans l\u2019\u0153il du cyclone parce que je parle en connaissance de cause. <\/p>\n
Seulement notre solidarit\u00e9 de militants pour la libert\u00e9 d\u2019expression peut la sauver, il est de notre devoir de se mobiliser pour d\u00e9noncer publiquement ces \u00abLoges \u2013 Clubs\u00bb et de les faire d\u00e9loger de la Tunisie. Est-ce que nous avons besoin d\u2019eux pour nous apprendre comment s\u2019entraider ? <\/p>\n
Pourquoi Monsieur Rejeb Elloumi, \u00able Satanique gouverneur du District 414\u00bb ne dit pas la v\u00e9rit\u00e9 sur la mission camoufl\u00e9e du Lion Club Tunisie ? Monsieur Rejeb Elloumi, tu es un simple tra\u00eetre \u00e0 ton pays, tu travailles les int\u00e9r\u00eats des organisations occultes qui te commandent de l\u2019\u00e9tranger. <\/p>\n
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Pourquoi tu ne nous \u00e9cris pas un petit r\u00e9sume de l\u2019histoire de ta franc ma\u00e7onnerie ? <\/p>\n
Le roi Hassan II, Bourguiba, \u00e9taient franc-ma\u00e7on, et aujourd\u2019hui presque la grande majorit\u00e9 des pr\u00e9sidents et politiciens influents africains (du Nord, de l\u2019Ouest, de l\u2019Est, du Centre ou du Sud) sont des francs ma\u00e7ons, les noms des ma\u00e7ons africains les plus connus publiquement sont les ou ex- pr\u00e9sidents Idriss Deby du Tchad, Denis Sassou Nguesso du Congo, Mamadou Tandja du Niger, Gnassingb\u00e9 Eyad\u00e9ma du Togo, Paul Biya du Cameroun, Blaise Compaor\u00e9 du Burkina Faso, Joseph Kabila de la RCD, Omar Bongo du Gabon et consorts sont francs-ma\u00e7ons, tous membres de la Grande Loge Nationale Fran\u00e7aise (Glnf) ou d\u2019ob\u00e9diences africaines affili\u00e9es \u00e0 cette derni\u00e8re. Le g\u00e9n\u00e9ral Robert Gue\u00ef, auteur du coup d\u2019\u00c9tat de d\u00e9cembre 1999 en C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, \u00e9tait \u00e9galement initi\u00e9.<\/p>\n
Les autres ob\u00e9diences fran\u00e7aises, Grand Orient de France (Godf) et Grande Loge de France (Glf) sont aussi implant\u00e9es en Afrique francophone, soit directement soit par ob\u00e9diences africaines affili\u00e9es ou alli\u00e9es. <\/p>\n
Ainsi, l\u2019ancien pr\u00e9sident du Congo, Pascal Lissouba, avait \u00e9t\u00e9 initi\u00e9 au Grand Orient. La Glnf a op\u00e9r\u00e9 une perc\u00e9e sp\u00e9ciale en Afrique francophone. Si la franc-ma\u00e7onnerie est fortement implant\u00e9e au Maghreb par l\u2019interm\u00e9diaire des \u00abLions clubs\u00bb, \u00abRotary Clubs\u00bb, \u00abJeunes chambres\u00bb et autres soit disant associations charitables. En Afrique francophone, mais aussi en Am\u00e9rique latine (Pinochet et tous les membres des juntes militaires latino-am\u00e9ricaines) \u00e9taient des francs-ma\u00e7ons et aux Etats-Unis, le pr\u00e9sident Franklin Roosevelt l\u2019\u00e9tait \u00e9galement, Reagan, Bush p\u00e8re et fils et tous les membres de l\u2019Illuminati, sont des franc-ma\u00e7ons sans parler du r\u00e9seau europ\u00e9en. <\/p>\n
La cr\u00e9ation de la premi\u00e8re loge en Afrique francophone, par le Grand Orient, remonte \u00e0 1781, \u00e0 Saint-Louis du S\u00e9n\u00e9gal. En sont membres des Fran\u00e7ais expatri\u00e9s, pour la plupart militaires et commer\u00e7ants li\u00e9s \u00e0 la Compagnie du S\u00e9n\u00e9gal, aucun Africain n\u2019y figure. Il s\u2019agit d\u2019une franc-ma\u00e7onnerie \u00ab\u00a0coloniale\u00a0\u00bb et non pas d\u2019une franc-ma\u00e7onnerie africaine.<\/p>\n
L\u2019objectif primordial de Lion Club de Tunisie ou d\u2019ailleurs est d\u2019\u00eatre introduit un jour dans les hauts sph\u00e8res du pouvoir afin de le contr\u00f4ler et de s\u2019en servir pour pr\u00e9server leur influence politique et financi\u00e8re. Beaucoup de simples membres ne sont pas au courant de la r\u00e9alit\u00e9 de leur soi-disant haut dirigeant de leur club, ces jeunes sont membres par arrivisme, int\u00e9r\u00eat professionnel et \u00e9motif mais la direction est tr\u00e8s active aupr\u00e8s du pouvoir qui l\u2019appui et le finance occultement pour mieux le contr\u00f4ler. Les grandes d\u00e9cisions ne se prennent pas en Tunisie, malheureusement, elles se prennent au Pentagone (USA) ou \u00e0 sa branche francophone aux Quais d\u2019Orf\u00e8vres (France).<\/p>\n
Lions clubs, Rotary clubs ainsi que les Jeunes chambres sont des nids propices pour recruter des jeunes hauts cadres dipl\u00f4m\u00e9s, dociles et ob\u00e9issant au quart de tour aux ordres d\u2019en haut et de l\u2019\u00e9tranger. Les hauts dirigeants de ces clubs rendent des services \u00e9normes en contre partie, ils n\u2019ont aucun probl\u00e8me d\u2019obtenir un visa ou trouver les frais de s\u00e9jour \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tranger ou devenir un membre tr\u00e8s influent aupr\u00e8s du pouvoir de son pays. Ce sont eux qui sont entrain de nous gouverner, les politiciens, d\u00e9put\u00e9s ou s\u00e9nateurs ou ministres ou gouverneurs, maires ne sont que des pions \u00e0 leur service, ils peuvent les interchanger ou les \u00e9jecter.<\/p>\n
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Abdo Maalaoui<\/p>\n
Montr\u00e9al, Canada<\/p>\n
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maalaoui@yahoo.com<\/p>\n
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Good Directions in Tunisia<\/font><\/h2>\n
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Op-ed columnist Anne Applebaum’s perspective on developments in Tunisia [\u00ab\u00a0A Good Place to Have Aided Democracy,\u00a0\u00bb Feb. 13] is flawed. Home-grown reforms introduced during the past two decades by President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali have incrementally anchored the bases of democratic pluralism, the rule of law and human rights in Tunisia. There are today nine opposition political parties that express themselves freely on all issues. Opposition candidates regularly take part in presidential and legislative elections. Comprehensive development policies have also allowed Tunisia, despite its limited natural resources, to achieve constant economic growth of about 5 percent a year since 1987 and to ensure progress and prosperity for all. It is no coincidence that about 80 percent of Tunisian society belongs to the middle class, that poverty has been reduced to less than 4 percent of the population, and that more than 99 percent of school-age children of both sexes go to school. Such efforts, along with the promotion of the rights of women, the pursuit of educational reform, and the dissemination of the values of tolerance and dialogue have made it possible to curtail extremism. Tunisia has repeatedly called for awareness and concerted action by all nations to combat extremism and terrorism effectively. TAOUFIK CHEBBI Press Counselor Embassy of Tunisia Washington <\/font>(Source : \u00ab Courrier des lecteurs \u00bb in The Washington Post (Quotidien \u2013 USA), le 24 f\u00e9vrier 2007) <\/strong><\/font>Lien : http:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/wp-dyn\/content\/article\/2007\/02\/23\/AR2007022301687.html<\/font><\/div>\n
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After Tunisia, Vorontsov to visit Jordan soon to recuperate Kuwait spare parts — UN<\/font><\/h2>\n
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official UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 (KUNA) —<\/font> UN Coordinator Yuli Vorontsov will soon lead a Kuwaiti-Iraqi delegation to Jordan to recuperate a number of spare parts belonging to Kuwait aboard six Iraqi planes stationed in Jordan since the 1990 Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, a UN official told KUNA late Saturday. Vorontsov is the UN’s high-level coordinator for the return of Kuwaiti detainees and property. \u00ab\u00a0Preparations are underway,\u00a0\u00bb the official said, who preferred to remain unnamed, adding that the delegation would travel to Jordan in the next seven to ten days. Vorontsov led a similar delegation to Tunisia late last year where Kuwaiti spare parts were flown back home while the Iraqi planes were still stationed in Tunisia. Iraqi planes were grounded by the Governments in Tunisia, Jordan and other countries in compliance with UN Security Council resolutions which ordered member states to impose a freeze on Iraqi assets abroad to punish the Saddam regime at that time for invading neighbouring Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Vorontsov’s bi-annual report on both the detainees and property issues is scheduled for next June. (Source : l\u2019agence de presse koweitienne KUNA, le 25 f\u00e9vrier 2007) <\/strong><\/font>Lien : http:\/\/www.kuna.net.kw\/home\/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=955566<\/a><\/font><\/div>\n
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THE REDIRECTION <\/font>Is the Administration\u2019s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?<\/font><\/strong><\/font><\/div>\n
by SEYMOUR M. HERSH<\/font><\/strong> Issue of 2007-03-05 Posted 2007-02-25<\/div>\n
A STRATEGIC SHIFT<\/strong><\/div>\n
In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The \u00ab\u00a0redirection,\u00a0\u00bb as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.<\/div>\n
To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has cooperated with Saudi Arabia\u2019s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.<\/div>\n
One contradictory aspect of the new strategy is that, in Iraq, most of the insurgent violence directed at the American military has come from Sunni forces, and not from Shiites. But, from the Administration\u2019s perspective, the most profound\u2014and unintended\u2014strategic consequence of the Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran. Its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made defiant pronouncements about the destruction of Israel and his country\u2019s right to pursue its nuclear program, and last week its supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on state television that \u00ab\u00a0realities in the region show that the arrogant front, headed by the U.S. and its allies, will be the principal loser in the region.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
After the revolution of 1979 brought a religious government to power, the United States broke with Iran and cultivated closer relations with the leaders of Sunni Arab states such as Jordan, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. That calculation became more complex after the September 11th attacks, especially with regard to the Saudis. Al Qaeda is Sunni, and many of its operatives came from extremist religious circles inside Saudi Arabia. Before the invasion of Iraq, in 2003, Administration officials, influenced by neoconservative ideologues, assumed that a Shiite government there could provide a pro-American balance to Sunni extremists, since Iraq\u2019s Shiite majority had been oppressed under Saddam Hussein. They ignored warnings from the intelligence community about the ties between Iraqi Shiite leaders and Iran, where some had lived in exile for years. Now, to the distress of the White House, Iran has forged a close relationship with the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.<\/div>\n
The new American policy, in its broad outlines, has been discussed publicly. In testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in January, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said that there is \u00ab\u00a0a new strategic alignment in the Middle East,\u00a0\u00bb separating \u00ab\u00a0reformers\u00a0\u00bb and \u00ab\u00a0extremists\u00a0\u00bb; she pointed to the Sunni states as centers of moderation, and said that Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah were \u00ab\u00a0on the other side of that divide.\u00a0\u00bb (Syria\u2019s Sunni majority is dominated by the Alawi sect.) Iran and Syria, she said, \u00ab\u00a0have made their choice and their choice is to destabilize.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Some of the core tactics of the redirection are not public, however. The clandestine operations have been kept secret, in some cases, by leaving the execution or the funding to the Saudis, or by finding other ways to work around the normal congressional appropriations process, current and former officials close to the Administration said.<\/div>\n
A senior member of the House Appropriations Committee told me that he had heard about the new strategy, but felt that he and his colleagues had not been adequately briefed. \u00ab\u00a0We haven\u2019t got any of this,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0We ask for anything going on, and they say there\u2019s nothing. And when we ask specific questions they say, \u2018We\u2019re going to get back to you.\u2019 It\u2019s so frustrating.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The key players behind the redirection are Vice-President Dick Cheney, the deputy national-security adviser Elliott Abrams, the departing Ambassador to Iraq (and nominee for United Nations Ambassador), Zalmay Khalilzad, and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national-security adviser. While Rice has been deeply involved in shaping the public policy, former and current officials said that the clandestine side has been guided by Cheney. (Cheney\u2019s office and the White House declined to comment for this story; the Pentagon did not respond to specific queries but said, \u00ab\u00a0The United States is not planning to go to war with Iran.\u00a0\u00bb)<\/div>\n
The policy shift has brought Saudi Arabia and Israel into a new strategic embrace, largely because both countries see Iran as an existential threat. They have been involved in direct talks, and the Saudis, who believe that greater stability in Israel and Palestine will give Iran less leverage in the region, have become more involved in Arab-Israeli negotiations.<\/div>\n
The new strategy \u00ab\u00a0is a major shift in American policy\u2014it\u2019s a sea change,\u00a0\u00bb a U.S. government consultant with close ties to Israel said. The Sunni states \u00ab\u00a0were petrified of a Shiite resurgence, and there was growing resentment with our gambling on the moderate Shiites in Iraq,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0We cannot reverse the Shiite gain in Iraq, but we can contain it.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
\u00ab\u00a0It seems there has been a debate inside the government over what\u2019s the biggest danger\u2014Iran or Sunni radicals,\u00a0\u00bb Vali Nasr, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, who has written widely on Shiites, Iran, and Iraq, told me. \u00ab\u00a0The Saudis and some in the Administration have been arguing that the biggest threat is Iran and the Sunni radicals are the lesser enemies. This is a victory for the Saudi line.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Martin Indyk, a senior State Department official in the Clinton Administration who also served as Ambassador to Israel, said that \u00ab\u00a0the Middle East is heading into a serious Sunni-Shiite Cold War.\u00a0\u00bb Indyk, who is the director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, added that, in his opinion, it was not clear whether the White House was fully aware of the strategic implications of its new policy. \u00ab\u00a0The White House is not just doubling the bet in Iraq,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0It\u2019s doubling the bet across the region. This could get very complicated. Everything is upside down.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Administration\u2019s new policy for containing Iran seems to complicate its strategy for winning the war in Iraq. Patrick Clawson, an expert on Iran and the deputy director for research at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, argued, however, that closer ties between the United States and moderate or even radical Sunnis could put \u00ab\u00a0fear\u00a0\u00bb into the government of Prime Minister Maliki and \u00ab\u00a0make him worry that the Sunnis could actually win\u00a0\u00bb the civil war there. Clawson said that this might give Maliki an incentive to co\u00f6perate with the United States in suppressing radical Shiite militias, such as Moqtada al-Sadr\u2019s Mahdi Army.<\/div>\n
Even so, for the moment, the U.S. remains dependent on the co\u00f6peration of Iraqi Shiite leaders. The Mahdi Army may be openly hostile to American interests, but other Shiite militias are counted as U.S. allies. Both Moqtada al-Sadr and the White House back Maliki. A memorandum written late last year by Stephen Hadley, the national-security adviser, suggested that the Administration try to separate Maliki from his more radical Shiite allies by building his base among moderate Sunnis and Kurds, but so far the trends have been in the opposite direction. As the Iraqi Army continues to founder in its confrontations with insurgents, the power of the Shiite militias has steadily increased.<\/div>\n
Flynt Leverett, a former Bush Administration National Security Council official, told me that \u00ab\u00a0there is nothing coincidental or ironic\u00a0\u00bb about the new strategy with regard to Iraq. \u00ab\u00a0The Administration is trying to make a case that Iran is more dangerous and more provocative than the Sunni insurgents to American interests in Iraq, when\u2014if you look at the actual casualty numbers\u2014the punishment inflicted on America by the Sunnis is greater by an order of magnitude,\u00a0\u00bb Leverett said. \u00ab\u00a0This is all part of the campaign of provocative steps to increase the pressure on Iran. The idea is that at some point the Iranians will respond and then the Administration will have an open door to strike at them.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
President George W. Bush, in a speech on January 10th, partially spelled out this approach. \u00ab\u00a0These two regimes\u00a0\u00bb\u2014Iran and Syria\u2014\u00a0\u00bbare allowing terrorists and insurgents to use their territory to move in and out of Iraq,\u00a0\u00bb Bush said. \u00ab\u00a0Iran is providing material support for attacks on American troops. We will disrupt the attacks on our forces. We\u2019ll interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria. And we will seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and training to our enemies in Iraq.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
In the following weeks, there was a wave of allegations from the Administration about Iranian involvement in the Iraq war. On February 11th, reporters were shown sophisticated explosive devices, captured in Iraq, that the Administration claimed had come from Iran. The Administration\u2019s message was, in essence, that the bleak situation in Iraq was the result not of its own failures of planning and execution but of Iran\u2019s interference.<\/div>\n
The U.S. military also has arrested and interrogated hundreds of Iranians in Iraq. \u00ab\u00a0The word went out last August for the military to snatch as many Iranians in Iraq as they can,\u00a0\u00bb a former senior intelligence official said. \u00ab\u00a0They had five hundred locked up at one time. We\u2019re working these guys and getting information from them. The White House goal is to build a case that the Iranians have been fomenting the insurgency and they\u2019ve been doing it all along\u2014that Iran is, in fact, supporting the killing of Americans.\u00a0\u00bb The Pentagon consultant confirmed that hundreds of Iranians have been captured by American forces in recent months. But he told me that that total includes many Iranian humanitarian and aid workers who \u00ab\u00a0get scooped up and released in a short time,\u00a0\u00bb after they have been interrogated.<\/div>\n
\u00ab\u00a0We are not planning for a war with Iran,\u00a0\u00bb Robert Gates, the new Defense Secretary, announced on February 2nd, and yet the atmosphere of confrontation has deepened. According to current and former American intelligence and military officials, secret operations in Lebanon have been accompanied by clandestine operations targeting Iran. American military and special-operations teams have escalated their activities in Iran to gather intelligence and, according to a Pentagon consultant on terrorism and the former senior intelligence official, have also crossed the border in pursuit of Iranian operatives from Iraq.<\/div>\n
At Rice\u2019s Senate appearance in January, Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, of Delaware, pointedly asked her whether the U.S. planned to cross the Iranian or the Syrian border in the course of a pursuit. \u00ab\u00a0Obviously, the President isn\u2019t going to rule anything out to protect our troops, but the plan is to take down these networks in Iraq,\u00a0\u00bb Rice said, adding, \u00ab\u00a0I do think that everyone will understand that\u2014the American people and I assume the Congress expect the President to do what is necessary to protect our forces.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The ambiguity of Rice\u2019s reply prompted a response from Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, a Republican, who has been critical of the Administration: Some of us remember 1970, Madam Secretary. And that was Cambodia. And when our government lied to the American people and said, \u00ab\u00a0We didn\u2019t cross the border going into Cambodia,\u00a0\u00bb in fact we did.<\/div>\n
I happen to know something about that, as do some on this committee. So, Madam Secretary, when you set in motion the kind of policy that the President is talking about here, it\u2019s very, very dangerous.<\/div>\n
The Administration\u2019s concern about Iran\u2019s role in Iraq is coupled with its long-standing alarm over Iran\u2019s nuclear program. On Fox News on January 14th, Cheney warned of the possibility, in a few years, \u00ab\u00a0of a nuclear-armed Iran, astride the world\u2019s supply of oil, able to affect adversely the global economy, prepared to use terrorist organizations and\/or their nuclear weapons to threaten their neighbors and others around the world.\u00a0\u00bb He also said, \u00ab\u00a0If you go and talk with the Gulf states or if you talk with the Saudis or if you talk with the Israelis or the Jordanians, the entire region is worried. . . . The threat Iran represents is growing.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Administration is now examining a wave of new intelligence on Iran\u2019s weapons programs. Current and former American officials told me that the intelligence, which came from Israeli agents operating in Iran, includes a claim that Iran has developed a three-stage solid-fuelled intercontinental missile capable of delivering several small warheads\u2014each with limited accuracy\u2014inside Europe. The validity of this human intelligence is still being debated.<\/div>\n
A similar argument about an imminent threat posed by weapons of mass destruction\u2014and questions about the intelligence used to make that case\u2014formed the prelude to the invasion of Iraq. Many in Congress have greeted the claims about Iran with wariness; in the Senate on February 14th, Hillary Clinton said, \u00ab\u00a0We have all learned lessons from the conflict in Iraq, and we have to apply those lessons to any allegations that are being raised about Iran. Because, Mr. President, what we are hearing has too familiar a ring and we must be on guard that we never again make decisions on the basis of intelligence that turns out to be faulty.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Still, the Pentagon is continuing intensive planning for a possible bombing attack on Iran, a process that began last year, at the direction of the President. In recent months, the former intelligence official told me, a special planning group has been established in the offices of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, charged with creating a contingency bombing plan for Iran that can be implemented, upon orders from the President, within twenty-four hours.<\/div>\n
In the past month, I was told by an Air Force adviser on targeting and the Pentagon consultant on terrorism, the Iran planning group has been handed a new assignment: to identify targets in Iran that may be involved in supplying or aiding militants in Iraq. Previously, the focus had been on the destruction of Iran\u2019s nuclear facilities and possible regime change.<\/div>\n
Two carrier strike groups\u2014the Eisenhower and the Stennis\u2014are now in the Arabian Sea. One plan is for them to be relieved early in the spring, but there is worry within the military that they may be ordered to stay in the area after the new carriers arrive, according to several sources. (Among other concerns, war games have shown that the carriers could be vulnerable to swarming tactics involving large numbers of small boats, a technique that the Iranians have practiced in the past; carriers have limited maneuverability in the narrow Strait of Hormuz, off Iran\u2019s southern coast.) The former senior intelligence official said that the current contingency plans allow for an attack order this spring. He added, however, that senior officers on the Joint Chiefs were counting on the White House\u2019s not being \u00ab\u00a0foolish enough to do this in the face of Iraq, and the problems it would give the Republicans in 2008.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
PRINCE BANDAR\u2019S GAME<\/strong><\/div>\n
The Administration\u2019s effort to diminish Iranian authority in the Middle East has relied heavily on Saudi Arabia and on Prince Bandar, the Saudi national-security adviser. Bandar served as the Ambassador to the United States for twenty-two years, until 2005, and has maintained a friendship with President Bush and Vice-President Cheney. In his new post, he continues to meet privately with them. Senior White House officials have made several visits to Saudi Arabia recently, some of them not disclosed.<\/div>\n
Last November, Cheney flew to Saudi Arabia for a surprise meeting with King Abdullah and Bandar. The Times reported that the King warned Cheney that Saudi Arabia would back its fellow-Sunnis in Iraq if the United States were to withdraw. A European intelligence official told me that the meeting also focussed on more general Saudi fears about \u00ab\u00a0the rise of the Shiites.\u00a0\u00bb In response, \u00ab\u00a0The Saudis are starting to use their leverage\u2014money.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
In a royal family rife with competition, Bandar has, over the years, built a power base that relies largely on his close relationship with the U.S., which is crucial to the Saudis. Bandar was succeeded as Ambassador by Prince Turki al-Faisal; Turki resigned after eighteen months and was replaced by Adel A. al-Jubeir, a bureaucrat who has worked with Bandar. A former Saudi diplomat told me that during Turki\u2019s tenure he became aware of private meetings involving Bandar and senior White House officials, including Cheney and Abrams. \u00ab\u00a0I assume Turki was not happy with that,\u00a0\u00bb the Saudi said. But, he added, \u00ab\u00a0I don\u2019t think that Bandar is going off on his own.\u00a0\u00bb Although Turki dislikes Bandar, the Saudi said, he shared his goal of challenging the spread of Shiite power in the Middle East.<\/div>\n
The split between Shiites and Sunnis goes back to a bitter divide, in the seventh century, over who should succeed the Prophet Muhammad. Sunnis dominated the medieval caliphate and the Ottoman Empire, and Shiites, traditionally, have been regarded more as outsiders. Worldwide, ninety per cent of Muslims are Sunni, but Shiites are a majority in Iran, Iraq, and Bahrain, and are the largest Muslim group in Lebanon. Their concentration in a volatile, oil-rich region has led to concern in the West and among Sunnis about the emergence of a \u00ab\u00a0Shiite crescent\u00a0\u00bb\u2014especially given Iran\u2019s increased geopolitical weight.<\/div>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The Saudis still see the world through the days of the Ottoman Empire, when Sunni Muslims ruled the roost and the Shiites were the lowest class,\u00a0\u00bb Frederic Hof, a retired military officer who is an expert on the Middle East, told me. If Bandar was seen as bringing about a shift in U.S. policy in favor of the Sunnis, he added, it would greatly enhance his standing within the royal family.<\/div>\n
The Saudis are driven by their fear that Iran could tilt the balance of power not only in the region but within their own country. Saudi Arabia has a significant Shiite minority in its Eastern Province, a region of major oil fields; sectarian tensions are high in the province. The royal family believes that Iranian operatives, working with local Shiites, have been behind many terrorist attacks inside the kingdom, according to Vali Nasr. \u00ab\u00a0Today, the only army capable of containing Iran\u00a0\u00bb\u2014the Iraqi Army\u2014\u00a0\u00bbhas been destroyed by the United States. You\u2019re now dealing with an Iran that could be nuclear-capable and has a standing army of four hundred and fifty thousand soldiers.\u00a0\u00bb (Saudi Arabia has seventy-five thousand troops in its standing army.)<\/div>\n
Nasr went on, \u00ab\u00a0The Saudis have considerable financial means, and have deep relations with the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafis\u00a0\u00bb\u2014Sunni extremists who view Shiites as apostates. \u00ab\u00a0The last time Iran was a threat, the Saudis were able to mobilize the worst kinds of Islamic radicals. Once you get them out of the box, you can\u2019t put them back.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Saudi royal family has been, by turns, both a sponsor and a target of Sunni extremists, who object to the corruption and decadence among the family\u2019s myriad princes. The princes are gambling that they will not be overthrown as long as they continue to support religious schools and charities linked to the extremists. The Administration\u2019s new strategy is heavily dependent on this bargain.<\/div>\n
Nasr compared the current situation to the period in which Al Qaeda first emerged. In the nineteen-eighties and the early nineties, the Saudi government offered to subsidize the covert American C.I.A. proxy war against the Soviet Union in Afghanistan. Hundreds of young Saudis were sent into the border areas of Pakistan, where they set up religious schools, training bases, and recruiting facilities. Then, as now, many of the operatives who were paid with Saudi money were Salafis. Among them, of course, were Osama bin Laden and his associates, who founded Al Qaeda, in 1988.<\/div>\n
This time, the U.S. government consultant told me, Bandar and other Saudis have assured the White House that \u00ab\u00a0they will keep a very close eye on the religious fundamentalists. Their message to us was \u2018We\u2019ve created this movement, and we can control it.\u2019 It\u2019s not that we don\u2019t want the Salafis to throw bombs; it\u2019s who they throw them at\u2014Hezbollah, Moqtada al-Sadr, Iran, and at the Syrians, if they continue to work with Hezbollah and Iran.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Saudi said that, in his country\u2019s view, it was taking a political risk by joining the U.S. in challenging Iran: Bandar is already seen in the Arab world as being too close to the Bush Administration. \u00ab\u00a0We have two nightmares,\u00a0\u00bb the former diplomat told me. \u00ab\u00a0For Iran to acquire the bomb and for the United States to attack Iran. I\u2019d rather the Israelis bomb the Iranians, so we can blame them. If America does it, we will be blamed.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
In the past year, the Saudis, the Israelis, and the Bush Administration have developed a series of informal understandings about their new strategic direction. At least four main elements were involved, the U.S. government consultant told me. First, Israel would be assured that its security was paramount and that Washington and Saudi Arabia and other Sunni states shared its concern about Iran.<\/div>\n
Second, the Saudis would urge Hamas, the Islamist Palestinian party that has received support from Iran, to curtail its anti-Israeli aggression and to begin serious talks about sharing leadership with Fatah, the more secular Palestinian group. (In February, the Saudis brokered a deal at Mecca between the two factions. However, Israel and the U.S. have expressed dissatisfaction with the terms.)<\/div>\n
The third component was that the Bush Administration would work directly with Sunni nations to counteract Shiite ascendance in the region. Fourth, the Saudi government, with Washington\u2019s approval, would provide funds and logistical aid to weaken the government of President Bashir Assad, of Syria. The Israelis believe that putting such pressure on the Assad government will make it more conciliatory and open to negotiations. Syria is a major conduit of arms to Hezbollah. The Saudi government is also at odds with the Syrians over the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, in Beirut in 2005, for which it believes the Assad government was responsible. Hariri, a billionaire Sunni, was closely associated with the Saudi regime and with Prince Bandar. (A U.N. inquiry strongly suggested that the Syrians were involved, but offered no direct evidence; there are plans for another investigation, by an international tribunal.)<\/div>\n
Patrick Clawson, of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, depicted the Saudis\u2019 co\u00f6peration with the White House as a significant breakthrough. \u00ab\u00a0The Saudis understand that if they want the Administration to make a more generous political offer to the Palestinians they have to persuade the Arab states to make a more generous offer to the Israelis,\u00a0\u00bb Clawson told me. The new diplomatic approach, he added, \u00ab\u00a0shows a real degree of effort and sophistication as well as a deftness of touch not always associated with this Administration. Who\u2019s running the greater risk\u2014we or the Saudis? At a time when America\u2019s standing in the Middle East is extremely low, the Saudis are actually embracing us. We should count our blessings.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Pentagon consultant had a different view. He said that the Administration had turned to Bandar as a \u00ab\u00a0fallback,\u00a0\u00bb because it had realized that the failing war in Iraq could leave the Middle East \u00ab\u00a0up for grabs.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
JIHADIS IN LEBANON<\/strong><\/div>\n
The focus of the U.S.-Saudi relationship, after Iran, is Lebanon, where the Saudis have been deeply involved in efforts by the Administration to support the Lebanese government. Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is struggling to stay in power against a persistent opposition led by Hezbollah, the Shiite organization, and its leader, Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah. Hezbollah has an extensive infrastructure, an estimated two to three thousand active fighters, and thousands of additional members.<\/div>\n
Hezbollah has been on the State Department\u2019s terrorist list since 1997. The organization has been implicated in the 1983 bombing of a Marine barracks in Beirut that killed two hundred and forty-one military men. It has also been accused of complicity in the kidnapping of Americans, including the C.I.A. station chief in Lebanon, who died in captivity, and a Marine colonel serving on a U.N. peacekeeping mission, who was killed. (Nasrallah has denied that the group was involved in these incidents.) Nasrallah is seen by many as a staunch terrorist, who has said that he regards Israel as a state that has no right to exist. Many in the Arab world, however, especially Shiites, view him as a resistance leader who withstood Israel in last summer\u2019s thirty-three-day war, and Siniora as a weak politician who relies on America\u2019s support but was unable to persuade President Bush to call for an end to the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. (Photographs of Siniora kissing Condoleezza Rice on the cheek when she visited during the war were prominently displayed during street protests in Beirut.)<\/div>\n
The Bush Administration has publicly pledged the Siniora government a billion dollars in aid since last summer. A donors\u2019 conference in Paris, in January, which the U.S. helped organize, yielded pledges of almost eight billion more, including a promise of more than a billion from the Saudis. The American pledge includes more than two hundred million dollars in military aid, and forty million dollars for internal security.<\/div>\n
The United States has also given clandestine support to the Siniora government, according to the former senior intelligence official and the U.S. government consultant. \u00ab\u00a0We are in a program to enhance the Sunni capability to resist Shiite influence, and we\u2019re spreading the money around as much as we can,\u00a0\u00bb the former senior intelligence official said. The problem was that such money \u00ab\u00a0always gets in more pockets than you think it will,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0In this process, we\u2019re financing a lot of bad guys with some serious potential unintended consequences. We don\u2019t have the ability to determine and get pay vouchers signed by the people we like and avoid the people we don\u2019t like. It\u2019s a very high-risk venture.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
American, European, and Arab officials I spoke to told me that the Siniora government and its allies had allowed some aid to end up in the hands of emerging Sunni radical groups in northern Lebanon, the Bekaa Valley, and around Palestinian refugee camps in the south. These groups, though small, are seen as a buffer to Hezbollah; at the same time, their ideological ties are with Al Qaeda.<\/div>\n
During a conversation with me, the former Saudi diplomat accused Nasrallah of attempting \u00ab\u00a0to hijack the state,\u00a0\u00bb but he also objected to the Lebanese and Saudi sponsorship of Sunni jihadists in Lebanon. \u00ab\u00a0Salafis are sick and hateful, and I\u2019m very much against the idea of flirting with them,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0They hate the Shiites, but they hate Americans more. If you try to outsmart them, they will outsmart us. It will be ugly.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Alastair Crooke, who spent nearly thirty years in MI6, the British intelligence service, and now works for Conflicts Forum, a think tank in Beirut, told me, \u00ab\u00a0The Lebanese government is opening space for these people to come in. It could be very dangerous.\u00a0\u00bb Crooke said that one Sunni extremist group, Fatah al-Islam, had splintered from its pro-Syrian parent group, Fatah al-Intifada, in the Nahr al-Bared refugee camp, in northern Lebanon. Its membership at the time was less than two hundred. \u00ab\u00a0I was told that within twenty-four hours they were being offered weapons and money by people presenting themselves as representatives of the Lebanese government\u2019s interests\u2014presumably to take on Hezbollah,\u00a0\u00bb Crooke said.<\/div>\n
The largest of the groups, Asbat al-Ansar, is situated in the Ain al-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp. Asbat al-Ansar has received arms and supplies from Lebanese internal-security forces and militias associated with the Siniora government.<\/div>\n
In 2005, according to a report by the U.S.-based International Crisis Group, Saad Hariri, the Sunni majority leader of the Lebanese parliament and the son of the slain former Prime Minister\u2014Saad inherited more than four billion dollars after his father\u2019s assassination\u2014paid forty-eight thousand dollars in bail for four members of an Islamic militant group from Dinniyeh. The men had been arrested while trying to establish an Islamic mini-state in northern Lebanon. The Crisis Group noted that many of the militants \u00ab\u00a0had trained in al-Qaeda camps in Afghanistan.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
According to the Crisis Group report, Saad Hariri later used his parliamentary majority to obtain amnesty for twenty-two of the Dinniyeh Islamists, as well as for seven militants suspected of plotting to bomb the Italian and Ukrainian embassies in Beirut, the previous year. (He also arranged a pardon for Samir Geagea, a Maronite Christian militia leader, who had been convicted of four political murders, including the assassination, in 1987, of Prime Minister Rashid Karami.) Hariri described his actions to reporters as humanitarian.<\/div>\n
In an interview in Beirut, a senior official in the Siniora government acknowledged that there were Sunni jihadists operating inside Lebanon. \u00ab\u00a0We have a liberal attitude that allows Al Qaeda types to have a presence here,\u00a0\u00bb he said. He related this to concerns that Iran or Syria might decide to turn Lebanon into a \u00ab\u00a0theatre of conflict.\u00a0\u00bb The official said that his government was in a no-win situation. Without a political settlement with Hezbollah, he said, Lebanon could \u00ab\u00a0slide into a conflict,\u00a0\u00bb in which Hezbollah fought openly with Sunni forces, with potentially horrific consequences. But if Hezbollah agreed to a settlement yet still maintained a separate army, allied with Iran and Syria, \u00ab\u00a0Lebanon could become a target. In both cases, we become a target.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Bush Administration has portrayed its support of the Siniora government as an example of the President\u2019s belief in democracy, and his desire to prevent other powers from interfering in Lebanon. When Hezbollah led street demonstrations in Beirut in December, John Bolton, who was then the U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., called them \u00ab\u00a0part of the Iran-Syria-inspired coup.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Leslie H. Gelb, a past president of the Council on Foreign Relations, said that the Administration\u2019s policy was less pro democracy than \u00ab\u00a0pro American national security. The fact is that it would be terribly dangerous if Hezbollah ran Lebanon.\u00a0\u00bb The fall of the Siniora government would be seen, Gelb said, \u00ab\u00a0as a signal in the Middle East of the decline of the United States and the ascendancy of the terrorism threat. And so any change in the distribution of political power in Lebanon has to be opposed by the United States\u2014and we\u2019re justified in helping any non-Shiite parties resist that change. We should say this publicly, instead of talking about democracy.\u00a0\u00bb Martin Indyk, of the Saban Center, said, however, that the United States \u00ab\u00a0does not have enough pull to stop the moderates in Lebanon from dealing with the extremists.\u00a0\u00bb He added, \u00ab\u00a0The President sees the region as divided between moderates and extremists, but our regional friends see it as divided between Sunnis and Shia. The Sunnis that we view as extremists are regarded by our Sunni allies simply as Sunnis.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
In January, after an outburst of street violence in Beirut involving supporters of both the Siniora government and Hezbollah, Prince Bandar flew to Tehran to discuss the political impasse in Lebanon and to meet with Ali Larijani, the Iranians\u2019 negotiator on nuclear issues. According to a Middle Eastern ambassador, Bandar\u2019s mission\u2014which the ambassador said was endorsed by the White House\u2014also aimed \u00ab\u00a0to create problems between the Iranians and Syria.\u00a0\u00bb There had been tensions between the two countries about Syrian talks with Israel, and the Saudis\u2019 goal was to encourage a breach. However, the ambassador said, \u00ab\u00a0It did not work. Syria and Iran are not going to betray each other. Bandar\u2019s approach is very unlikely to succeed.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Walid Jumblatt, who is the leader of the Druze minority in Lebanon and a strong Siniora supporter, has attacked Nasrallah as an agent of Syria, and has repeatedly told foreign journalists that Hezbollah is under the direct control of the religious leadership in Iran. In a conversation with me last December, he depicted Bashir Assad, the Syrian President, as a \u00ab\u00a0serial killer.\u00a0\u00bb Nasrallah, he said, was \u00ab\u00a0morally guilty\u00a0\u00bb of the assassination of Rafik Hariri and the murder, last November, of Pierre Gemayel, a member of the Siniora Cabinet, because of his support for the Syrians.<\/div>\n
Jumblatt then told me that he had met with Vice-President Cheney in Washington last fall to discuss, among other issues, the possibility of undermining Assad. He and his colleagues advised Cheney that, if the United States does try to move against Syria, members of the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood would be \u00ab\u00a0the ones to talk to,\u00a0\u00bb Jumblatt said.<\/div>\n
The Syrian Muslim Brotherhood, a branch of a radical Sunni movement founded in Egypt in 1928, engaged in more than a decade of violent opposition to the regime of Hafez Assad, Bashir\u2019s father. In 1982, the Brotherhood took control of the city of Hama; Assad bombarded the city for a week, killing between six thousand and twenty thousand people. Membership in the Brotherhood is punishable by death in Syria. The Brotherhood is also an avowed enemy of the U.S. and of Israel. Nevertheless, Jumblatt said, \u00ab\u00a0We told Cheney that the basic link between Iran and Lebanon is Syria\u2014and to weaken Iran you need to open the door to effective Syrian opposition.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
There is evidence that the Administration\u2019s redirection strategy has already benefitted the Brotherhood. The Syrian National Salvation Front is a coalition of opposition groups whose principal members are a faction led by Abdul Halim Khaddam, a former Syrian Vice-President who defected in 2005, and the Brotherhood. A former high-ranking C.I.A. officer told me, \u00ab\u00a0The Americans have provided both political and financial support. The Saudis are taking the lead with financial support, but there is American involvement.\u00a0\u00bb He said that Khaddam, who now lives in Paris, was getting money from Saudi Arabia, with the knowledge of the White House. (In 2005, a delegation of the Front\u2019s members met with officials from the National Security Council, according to press reports.) A former White House official told me that the Saudis had provided members of the Front with travel documents.<\/div>\n
Jumblatt said he understood that the issue was a sensitive one for the White House. \u00ab\u00a0I told Cheney that some people in the Arab world, mainly the Egyptians\u00a0\u00bb\u2014whose moderate Sunni leadership has been fighting the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood for decades\u2014\u00a0\u00bbwon\u2019t like it if the United States helps the Brotherhood. But if you don\u2019t take on Syria we will be face to face in Lebanon with Hezbollah in a long fight, and one we might not win.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
THE SHEIKH<\/strong><\/div>\n
On a warm, clear night early last December, in a bombed-out suburb a few miles south of downtown Beirut, I got a preview of how the Administration\u2019s new strategy might play out in Lebanon. Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, the Hezbollah leader, who has been in hiding, had agreed to an interview. Security arrangements for the meeting were secretive and elaborate. I was driven, in the back seat of a darkened car, to a damaged underground garage somewhere in Beirut, searched with a handheld scanner, placed in a second car to be driven to yet another bomb-scarred underground garage, and transferred again. Last summer, it was reported that Israel was trying to kill Nasrallah, but the extraordinary precautions were not due only to that threat. Nasrallah\u2019s aides told me that they believe he is a prime target of fellow-Arabs, primarily Jordanian intelligence operatives, as well as Sunni jihadists who they believe are affiliated with Al Qaeda. (The government consultant and a retired four-star general said that Jordanian intelligence, with support from the U.S. and Israel, had been trying to infiltrate Shiite groups, to work against Hezbollah. Jordan\u2019s King Abdullah II has warned that a Shiite government in Iraq that was close to Iran would lead to the emergence of a Shiite crescent.) This is something of an ironic turn: Nasrallah\u2019s battle with Israel last summer turned him\u2014a Shiite\u2014into the most popular and influential figure among Sunnis and Shiites throughout the region. In recent months, however, he has increasingly been seen by many Sunnis not as a symbol of Arab unity but as a participant in a sectarian war.<\/div>\n
Nasrallah, dressed, as usual, in religious garb, was waiting for me in an unremarkable apartment. One of his advisers said that he was not likely to remain there overnight; he has been on the move since his decision, last July, to order the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid set off the thirty-three-day war. Nasrallah has since said publicly\u2014and repeated to me\u2014that he misjudged the Israeli response. \u00ab\u00a0We just wanted to capture prisoners for exchange purposes,\u00a0\u00bb he told me. \u00ab\u00a0We never wanted to drag the region into war.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
Nasrallah accused the Bush Administration of working with Israel to deliberately instigate fitna, an Arabic word that is used to mean \u00ab\u00a0insurrection and fragmentation within Islam.\u00a0\u00bb \u00ab\u00a0In my opinion, there is a huge campaign through the media throughout the world to put each side up against the other,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0I believe that all this is being run by American and Israeli intelligence.\u00a0\u00bb (He did not provide any specific evidence for this.) He said that the U.S. war in Iraq had increased sectarian tensions, but argued that Hezbollah had tried to prevent them from spreading into Lebanon. (Sunni-Shiite confrontations increased, along with violence, in the weeks after we talked.)<\/div>\n
Nasrallah said he believed that President Bush\u2019s goal was \u00ab\u00a0the drawing of a new map for the region. They want the partition of Iraq. Iraq is not on the edge of a civil war\u2014there is a civil war. There is ethnic and sectarian cleansing. The daily killing and displacement which is taking place in Iraq aims at achieving three Iraqi parts, which will be sectarian and ethnically pure as a prelude to the partition of Iraq. Within one or two years at the most, there will be total Sunni areas, total Shiite areas, and total Kurdish areas. Even in Baghdad, there is a fear that it might be divided into two areas, one Sunni and one Shiite.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
He went on, \u00ab\u00a0I can say that President Bush is lying when he says he does not want Iraq to be partitioned. All the facts occurring now on the ground make you swear he is dragging Iraq to partition. And a day will come when he will say, \u2018I cannot do anything, since the Iraqis want the partition of their country and I honor the wishes of the people of Iraq.\u2019 \u00ab\u00a0<\/div>\n
Nasrallah said he believed that America also wanted to bring about the partition of Lebanon and of Syria. In Syria, he said, the result would be to push the country \u00ab\u00a0into chaos and internal battles like in Iraq.\u00a0\u00bb In Lebanon, \u00ab\u00a0There will be a Sunni state, an Alawi state, a Christian state, and a Druze state.\u00a0\u00bb But, he said, \u00ab\u00a0I do not know if there will be a Shiite state.\u00a0\u00bb Nasrallah told me that he suspected that one aim of the Israeli bombing of Lebanon last summer was \u00ab\u00a0the destruction of Shiite areas and the displacement of Shiites from Lebanon. The idea was to have the Shiites of Lebanon and Syria flee to southern Iraq,\u00a0\u00bb which is dominated by Shiites. \u00ab\u00a0I am not sure, but I smell this,\u00a0\u00bb he told me.<\/div>\n
Partition would leave Israel surrounded by \u00ab\u00a0small tranquil states,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0I can assure you that the Saudi kingdom will also be divided, and the issue will reach to North African states. There will be small ethnic and confessional states,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0In other words, Israel will be the most important and the strongest state in a region that has been partitioned into ethnic and confessional states that are in agreement with each other. This is the new Middle East.\u00a0\u00bb In fact, the Bush Administration has adamantly resisted talk of partitioning Iraq, and its public stances suggest that the White House sees a future Lebanon that is intact, with a weak, disarmed Hezbollah playing, at most, a minor political role. There is also no evidence to support Nasrallah\u2019s belief that the Israelis were seeking to drive the Shiites into southern Iraq. Nevertheless, Nasrallah\u2019s vision of a larger sectarian conflict in which the United States is implicated suggests a possible consequence of the White House\u2019s new strategy.<\/div>\n
In the interview, Nasrallah made mollifying gestures and promises that would likely be met with skepticism by his opponents. \u00ab\u00a0If the United States says that discussions with the likes of us can be useful and influential in determining American policy in the region, we have no objection to talks or meetings,\u00a0\u00bb he said. \u00ab\u00a0But, if their aim through this meeting is to impose their policy on us, it will be a waste of time.\u00a0\u00bb He said that the Hezbollah militia, unless attacked, would operate only within the borders of Lebanon, and pledged to disarm it when the Lebanese Army was able to stand up. Nasrallah said that he had no interest in initiating another war with Israel. However, he added that he was anticipating, and preparing for, another Israeli attack, later this year.<\/div>\n
Nasrallah further insisted that the street demonstrations in Beirut would continue until the Siniora government fell or met his coalition\u2019s political demands. \u00ab\u00a0Practically speaking, this government cannot rule,\u00a0\u00bb he told me. \u00ab\u00a0It might issue orders, but the majority of the Lebanese people will not abide and will not recognize the legitimacy of this government. Siniora remains in office because of international support, but this does not mean that Siniora can rule Lebanon.\u00a0\u00bb President Bush\u2019s repeated praise of the Siniora government, Nasrallah said, \u00ab\u00a0is the best service to the Lebanese opposition he can give, because it weakens their position vis-\u00e0-vis the Lebanese people and the Arab and Islamic populations. They are betting on us getting tired. We did not get tired during the war, so how could we get tired in a demonstration?\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
There is sharp division inside and outside the Bush Administration about how best to deal with Nasrallah, and whether he could, in fact, be a partner in a political settlement. The outgoing director of National Intelligence, John Negroponte, in a farewell briefing to the Senate Intelligence Committee, in January, said that Hezbollah \u00ab\u00a0lies at the center of Iran\u2019s terrorist strategy. . . . It could decide to conduct attacks against U.S. interests in the event it feels its survival or that of Iran is threatened. . . . Lebanese Hezbollah sees itself as Tehran\u2019s partner.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
In 2002, Richard Armitage, then the Deputy Secretary of State, called Hezbollah \u00ab\u00a0the A-team\u00a0\u00bb of terrorists. In a recent interview, however, Armitage acknowledged that the issue has become somewhat more complicated. Nasrallah, Armitage told me, has emerged as \u00ab\u00a0a political force of some note, with a political role to play inside Lebanon if he chooses to do so.\u00a0\u00bb In terms of public relations and political gamesmanship, Armitage said, Nasrallah \u00ab\u00a0is the smartest man in the Middle East.\u00a0\u00bb But, he added, Nasrallah \u00ab\u00a0has got to make it clear that he wants to play an appropriate role as the loyal opposition. For me, there\u2019s still a blood debt to pay\u00a0\u00bb\u2014a reference to the murdered colonel and the Marine barracks bombing.<\/div>\n
Robert Baer, a former longtime C.I.A. agent in Lebanon, has been a severe critic of Hezbollah and has warned of its links to Iranian-sponsored terrorism. But now, he told me, \u00ab\u00a0we\u2019ve got Sunni Arabs preparing for cataclysmic conflict, and we will need somebody to protect the Christians in Lebanon. It used to be the French and the United States who would do it, and now it\u2019s going to be Nasrallah and the Shiites.<\/div>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The most important story in the Middle East is the growth of Nasrallah from a street guy to a leader\u2014from a terrorist to a statesman,\u00a0\u00bb Baer added. \u00ab\u00a0The dog that didn\u2019t bark this summer\u00a0\u00bb\u2014during the war with Israel\u2014\u00a0\u00bbis Shiite terrorism.\u00a0\u00bb Baer was referring to fears that Nasrallah, in addition to firing rockets into Israel and kidnapping its soldiers, might set in motion a wave of terror attacks on Israeli and American targets around the world. \u00ab\u00a0He could have pulled the trigger, but he did not,\u00a0\u00bb Baer said. Most members of the intelligence and diplomatic communities acknowledge Hezbollah\u2019s ongoing ties to Iran. But there is disagreement about the extent to which Nasrallah would put aside Hezbollah\u2019s interests in favor of Iran\u2019s. A former C.I.A. officer who also served in Lebanon called Nasrallah \u00ab\u00a0a Lebanese phenomenon,\u00a0\u00bb adding, \u00ab\u00a0Yes, he\u2019s aided by Iran and Syria, but Hezbollah\u2019s gone beyond that.\u00a0\u00bb He told me that there was a period in the late eighties and early nineties when the C.I.A. station in Beirut was able to clandestinely monitor Nasrallah\u2019s conversations. He described Nasrallah as \u00ab\u00a0a gang leader who was able to make deals with the other gangs. He had contacts with everybody.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
TELLING CONGRESS<\/strong><\/div>\n
The Bush Administration\u2019s reliance on clandestine operations that have not been reported to Congress and its dealings with intermediaries with questionable agendas have recalled, for some in Washington, an earlier chapter in history. Two decades ago, the Reagan Administration attempted to fund the Nicaraguan contras illegally, with the help of secret arms sales to Iran. Saudi money was involved in what became known as the Iran-Contra scandal, and a few of the players back then\u2014notably Prince Bandar and Elliott Abrams\u2014are involved in today\u2019s dealings.<\/div>\n
Iran-Contra was the subject of an informal \u00ab\u00a0lessons learned\u00a0\u00bb discussion two years ago among veterans of the scandal. Abrams led the discussion. One conclusion was that even though the program was eventually exposed, it had been possible to execute it without telling Congress. As to what the experience taught them, in terms of future covert operations, the participants found: \u00ab\u00a0One, you can\u2019t trust our friends. Two, the C.I.A. has got to be totally out of it. Three, you can\u2019t trust the uniformed military, and four, it\u2019s got to be run out of the Vice-President\u2019s office\u00a0\u00bb\u2014a reference to Cheney\u2019s role, the former senior intelligence official said.<\/div>\n
I was subsequently told by the two government consultants and the former senior intelligence official that the echoes of Iran-Contra were a factor in Negroponte\u2019s decision to resign from the National Intelligence directorship and accept a sub-Cabinet position of Deputy Secretary of State. (Negroponte declined to comment.) The former senior intelligence official also told me that Negroponte did not want a repeat of his experience in the Reagan Administration, when he served as Ambassador to Honduras. \u00ab\u00a0Negroponte said, \u2018No way. I\u2019m not going down that road again, with the N.S.C. running operations off the books, with no finding.\u2019 \u00a0\u00bb (In the case of covert C.I.A. operations, the President must issue a written finding and inform Congress.) Negroponte stayed on as Deputy Secretary of State, he added, because \u00ab\u00a0he believes he can influence the government in a positive way.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The government consultant said that Negroponte shared the White House\u2019s policy goals but \u00ab\u00a0wanted to do it by the book.\u00a0\u00bb The Pentagon consultant also told me that \u00ab\u00a0there was a sense at the senior-ranks level that he wasn\u2019t fully on board with the more adventurous clandestine initiatives.\u00a0\u00bb It was also true, he said, that Negroponte \u00ab\u00a0had problems with this Rube Goldberg policy contraption for fixing the Middle East.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The Pentagon consultant added that one difficulty, in terms of oversight, was accounting for covert funds. \u00ab\u00a0There are many, many pots of black money, scattered in many places and used all over the world on a variety of missions,\u00a0\u00bb he said. The budgetary chaos in Iraq, where billions of dollars are unaccounted for, has made it a vehicle for such transactions, according to the former senior intelligence official and the retired four-star general. \u00ab\u00a0This goes back to Iran-Contra,\u00a0\u00bb a former National Security Council aide told me. \u00ab\u00a0And much of what they\u2019re doing is to keep the agency out of it.\u00a0\u00bb He said that Congress was not being briefed on the full extent of the U.S.-Saudi operations. And, he said, \u00ab\u00a0The C.I.A. is asking, \u2018What\u2019s going on?\u2019 They\u2019re concerned, because they think it\u2019s amateur hour.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
The issue of oversight is beginning to get more attention from Congress. Last November, the Congressional Research Service issued a report for Congress on what it depicted as the Administration\u2019s blurring of the line between C.I.A. activities and strictly military ones, which do not have the same reporting requirements. And the Senate Intelligence Committee, headed by Senator Jay Rockefeller, has scheduled a hearing for March 8th on Defense Department intelligence activities. Senator Ron Wyden, of Oregon, a Democrat who is a member of the Intelligence Committee, told me, \u00ab\u00a0The Bush Administration has frequently failed to meet its legal obligation to keep the Intelligence Committee fully and currently informed. Time and again, the answer has been \u2018Trust us.\u2019 \u00a0\u00bb Wyden said, \u00ab\u00a0It is hard for me to trust the Administration.\u00a0\u00bb<\/div>\n
(Source: \u00ab\u00a0The New Yorker (Magazine Mensuel \u2013 USA), Mars 2007, mis en ligne le 25 f\u00e9vrier 2007)<\/font><\/strong> Lien : http:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/fact\/content\/articles\/070305fa_fact_hersh<\/div>\n
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Home – Accueil – \u0627\u0644\u0631\u0626\u064a\u0633\u064a\u0629 \u00a0 TUNISNEWS 7\u00a0\u00e8me\u00a0ann\u00e9e, N\u00b0\u00a02470 du 25.02.2007 \u00a0archives : www.tunisnews.net Voix libre: URGENT PRISONNIERS EN GREVE Association Internationale de Soutien aux Prisonniers Politiques: Communiqu\u00e9 la liste Maghreb des Droits de l\u2019Homme :FMVJ : soutien aux D\u00e9mocrates Tunisiens:Forum Marocain pour la V\u00e9rit\u00e9 et la Justice Appel – Participez \u00e0 la plus grande […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[54,38,29],"class_list":["post-17279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-54","tag-38","tag-fr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17279"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17279\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22040"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tunisnews.net\/ar\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}