Obama told me so: 10/23/14

Thursday, 23 October 2014

West Wing Week 10/24/14 or, "A Chip and PIN"

This week, the President took action to make consumers' credit transactions more secure, voted early at the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center in Chicago, welcomed the new Ebola Response Coordinator on his first day on the job, and talked science and tech with some of his top advisors. That's October 17th to October 23rd or, "A Chip and PIN"

Why You Don't Need to Worry About Canada

Part of the shock of yesterday’s shooting in Ottawa was that it seemed so unlike us. We don’t murder each other often, certainly not our soldiers and certainly not with guns, and we don’t make breaking news in other countries, and we don’t get locked down in our offices and our schools, and we don’t associate our beautiful Parliament with bullets. Yesterday morning, we didn’t look the way we like to think we look to the rest of the world. But I hope you can see us now, because today, we have been extraordinarily Canadian. Today is who we really are.

By now terror has given us a big enough sample size for patterns to emerge. There are the initial whispers of something awful going down. Then there is a period of almost atomic expansion, when, even if things are very bad, they seem worse than they are. Incidents and panic are not isolated but widespread. There isn’t one shooter but many. Then the truth begins to filter out of the fog. We don’t always wait for that truth to surface before we cast our judgments. Someone wins the race to say that nothing will ever be the same, that our days of innocence are over. Then we make that person a prophet by responding in emotional and irrational and even destructive ways far out of scale to the terror itself.

Yesterday, Canadians followed those patterns like mice. First crackles came in texts from family and friends: “Not sure you’ve heard the news, but I’m safe.” Safe from what? Of course you’re safe. Then we saw videos of gunfights on Twitter and scenes of our unfamiliar and frightened capital on TV. Then there were reports of a shooting at a nearby mall, three or more catastrophes unfolding, that this wasn’t just one lonely domestic lunatic’s cowardly crusade but the invasion of some sinister foreign army. We felt angry and rattled and began writing eulogies for our quiet little country. And then—and then we woke up to a beautiful blue-sky day, and we broke the pattern. We chose to follow Norway’s noble lead in the face of the unimaginable. We chose grief, not vengeance. We chose resolve, not boots.

The scene that settled it came this morning in the same hallways that rang with gunfire only twenty-four hours before. Yesterday, Kevin Vickers, the silver haired sergeant-at-arms of our House of Commons, did his job. This morning, he did it again. He walked out in his flowing black garb, with his funny hat, and with our shining ceremonial mace over his shoulder, the way he has before every session of Parliament he has protected. He received a standing ovation from the rows of grateful politicians and more applause in living rooms and offices across the country. Vickers—a former Mountie from the New Brunswick town of Miramichi, because of course that’s who he is—nodded, took off his hat, and walked out.

For much of the more republican world, he must have looked arcane in those moments, like some visitor from a distant and impossibly high-minded past. For us, he was a glimpse into our future, murky yesterday, crystal clear today: Vickers was and is exactly who we needed him to be. A day like yesterday might have made us less Canadian. Now it seems as though it will make us more.

The death of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, the twenty-four-year-old soldier who didn’t stand a fighting chance against one man’s insanity, is a tragedy. In the days and weeks ahead, certain small people will use his death as an instrument for whatever cynical gains they seek; Canada is no more uniform in its politeness than anywhere else. But more of us, most of us even, understand that it would be more of a tragedy if the country he loved and defended became something different in his name.

Instead we will fight with him in our hearts to preserve it. We will express gratitude that his murderer couldn’t get his hands on an automatic weapon or a thousand rounds of ammo. We will see that Kevin Vickers and the lines of defenses he represents worked. We will send notes of thanks to our police and military and public broadcasters for their careful watching over us. We will gather at the National War Memorial on Remembrance Day in a few weeks, the way we always do, and we will honor our lost soldiers and hope that no more will join them.

And then, like Kevin Vickers, the Mountie from Mirimachi, we will go back to the good work of being us.

Army captures key ‘terror’ suspect

BEIRUT/TRIPOLI, Lebanon: The Lebanese Army captured one of its highest value terror suspects yet in a dramatic pre-dawn raid and gunbattle Thursday that led to the arrest of a senior ISIS-linked man accused of recruiting young Lebanese to fight with the group.

Three gunmen were killed during the raid to arrest the suspect, who is also a relative of a jihadist involved in the beheading of a captive Lebanese soldier, the military said.

In a statement, the military said “terrorist” Ahmad Salim Mikati, who was being monitored by Army Intelligence, was arrested in the Dinnieh region of north Lebanon during a raid on his apartment.

It said a Lebanese soldier was slightly wounded in the operation.

Dubbed a “delicate security operation,” the Army said the apartment housed a “group of terrorists” but also said it had yet to determine their identities.

The statement described Mikati, 46, as “one of ISIS’ most important cadres” in north Lebanon. Moreover, according to the Army, Mikati had set up cells affiliated with ISIS in the north.

Mikati also planned a “massive terrorist act” in coordination with his son, Omar, who is fighting with ISIS on the outskirts of the northeastern town of Arsal, according to the Army.

It said Mikati is also accused of maintaining contact with ISIS commanders inside Syria and of recruiting young Lebanese men to join ISIS on the outskirts of Qalamoun, including his son Omar, nicknamed Abu Huraira, and his nephew Bilal Mikati, who is implicated in the beheading of 1st Sgt. Ali Sayyed. Sayyed was the first of three Lebanese soldiers to be executed by Islamist militants, who are still holding 27 servicemen who were taken in a five-day battle with the Army in Arsal. They are believed to want to swap them with Islamist inmates held at Roumieh prison.Mikati has a warrant out for his arrest for his involvement in Tripoli battles last year after being released from jail in 2010. He had served six years for “masterminding a terrorist attack against diplomatic facilities and foreign interests,” the statement said. Furthermore, Mikati was linked to the 2003 bombing of the American fast-food outlet McDonald’s in the northern city of Tripoli. He also took part in the eight-day gunbattles against the Lebanese Army on the outer edge of Dinnieh in 1999 after which he fled to the Palestinian refugee camp of Ain al-Hilweh in south Lebanon. He belonged to a group known at the time as Takfir wal Hijra.

The statement said troops confiscated light and medium weapons, ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades, hand grenades, bombs, explosive belts as well as military equipment, including uniforms belonging to the Army.

Security sources told The Daily Star the Army clashed with terror suspects during an early morning raid on a two-story house in the Dinnieh town of Asoun. They said two men, including a Syrian, were killed in the 5 a.m. raid and a Lebanese soldier was wounded in the exchange of gunfire.

Mikati was reportedly wounded during the operation and had escaped through a back door into nearby groves, according to the sources. But he was soon arrested by the Army and taken in an armored personnel carrier to a hospital outside north Lebanon where he was being kept under military guard.

The Army statement said Mikati was being interrogated by the military.

The security sources said prior to the raid that the Army arrested Abdel-Kader al-Akoumi, a soldier who had recently defected to ISIS.

The Daily Star’s security sources said the Asoun apartment was inhabited by a “terror ring” made up of Lebanese and Syrian gunmen wanted by authorities. They said among the fatalities was a Syrian national whose name was not immediately revealed and a charred body. The body of the Syrian man was taken to Asoun’s public hospital. The raid came as the military reassured soldiers that it stands stronger than ever in its fight against terrorism, and warned the small handful of defectors that Lebanon can do without them.

Later Thursday the National News Agency reported that two masked men on a motorcycle opened fire at retired soldier Khaled Youssef on Ibn Sina Street in the Qibbeh neighborhood of Tripoli. Youssef was rushed to hospital in critical condition after being hit by several shots.

In its first public statement that directly addresses the issue of the hostages abducted during the Arsal battle, the Army Command sought to boost the morale of its troops, committing to free the captives.

“Today, your institution is stronger and remains steadfast in attempts to undermine its unity and its role,” the statement, addressed to soldiers, said.

“The Army remains open in the ongoing confrontation against terrorism,” it added, assuring soldiers that military measures taken along the eastern border with Syria, particularly in the Arsal region, have “besieged terrorist groups spread across the mountains and cut their supply routes.”

The statement said that while troops stand ready to confront any infiltration attempt into Lebanese towns and villages, the Army has made “huge achievements” in dismantling terrorist cells and arresting its members.

Terrorists will never be safe in Lebanon, the statement vowed, and said the Army Command was committed to the liberation of the captives.

Addressing the minority of soldiers who have defected to join Islamist militants, the statement said: “There is no room for traitors ... the Army does not need the services of any soldier who betrays his oath.”

Berri supports extending term of Parliament

BEIRUT: Speaker Nabih Berri is more convinced of the need to extend Parliament’s term in light of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s opposition to holding parliamentary polls before electing a president, his visitors said Thursday.

Berri, who earlier strongly opposed extension, said that holding parliamentary elections in November amid a boycott by the Future Movement, the major representative of the Sunni sect in Lebanon, would be a violation of the National Pact, which is an unwritten arrangement that laid the foundation of Lebanon as a multi-confessional state.

He added that with elections not possible without the Future Movement, extension was necessary now to ensure that a Parliament would elect a new president.

“We cannot but support extension now because the vacuum in Parliament means that electing a president will become no longer possible,” Berri said. “Parliament elects the president. So who will elect him if there is no Parliament?”

Parliament’s term expires on Nov. 20. However, Berri said that he would only set a date for a Parliament session to approve extension after determining the stance of all political parties on the issue, particularly Christian groups, which have more than one opinion. The speaker added that the session should be held in accordance with the National Pact.

The Free Patriotic Movement and the Kataeb Party oppose extension, while the Lebanese Forces has yet to take a final stance. “The absence of all Christian parties would mean that the extension session would be violating the National Pact,” Berri said. The speaker added that any party had the right to challenge the extension law before the Constitutional Council.

“In this case, the group filing the challenge and the Constitutional Council will bear a joint responsibility [in case the challenge was approved] because this will throw Parliament into a vacuum,” Berri said. The speaker voiced fears that some parties wanted to drag the country into a total power vacuum as a prelude to calling for a conference to reconsider the Lebanese political system.

“I say from now that the Amal Movement and Hezbollah back extension,” Berri said.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on October 24, 2014, on page 1.

Cabinet moves to restrict Syrian entry into Lebanon

BEIRUT: The Cabinet Thursday restricted Syrian refugees from entering Lebanon, save exigent cases, in the first serious attempt to address a mounting crisis that has put immense pressure on Lebanon’s feeble infrastructure. “No more refugees will be allowed to cross the border except for extreme humanitarian cases,” Information Minister Ramzi Joreige said after a Cabinet session at the Grand Serail.

Syrians entering Lebanon would be required to explain their reasons for entry at the border, in order to ensure that the measure was being properly implemented.

From now on, the UNHCR will also require approval from the Social Affairs Ministry before registering any Syrian national as a refugee, Joreige said.

He added the government would “encourage Syrian refugees to return home or to go to another country by all possible means.”

A nation of 4 million before the Syria crisis, Lebanon has now 1.2 million registered Syrian refugees. Unofficial figures are estimated to be much higher.

Scattered across Lebanon in informal camps, the refugees are exerting substantial pressure on the country’s resources, and the international community is failing to honor its pledge for financial assistance.

According to the new policy, refugee status would be revoked from any Syrian who set foot on Syrian territory or violated Lebanese laws and conditions for entering Lebanon.

Security forces will carry on implementing security measures related to refugees and municipalities too will be required to regularly count refugees and command municipal police to maintain order.

Separately, at the outset of the session, Prime Minister Tammam Salam said that the government was contiuing negotiations to secure the release of 27 servicemen held captive by militants from ISIS and the Nusra Front in the outskirts of Arsal.

Ministerial sources told The Daily Star that a crisis cell formed by the government to follow up on the issue had received the demands of the captors in a written form. The sources refused to disclose what they entailed.

Head of the Higher Relief Committee Maj. Gen. Mohammad Kheir visited the families of the kidnapped servicemen Thursday at their protest site at Riad al-Solh Square near the Grand Serail.

After the meeting, the families told reporters that they had received positive news from Kheir. They said it was the first time they had felt assured about the fate of their loved ones since they were abducted nearly three months ago.

The government also extended the contracts with Lebanon’s two mobile-operating companies touch and Alfa for seven months.

The Cabinet session was the first to be held after a war of words erupted over the weekend between Hezbollah and Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, who accused the party of foiling the nationwide security plan.

Ministerial sources said that a “calm discussion” had taken place between Machnouk and Hezbollah ministers Hussein Hajj Hasan and Mohammad Fneish during the Cabinet session.

Hajj Hasan and Fneish stressed that Hezbollah strongly backed the security plan and that it did not protect violators in areas where it enjoys support.

The discussion ended in a “positive manner,” the sources said, adding that an agreement had been reached among Cabinet members to refrain from exchanging accusations via media outlets.

The security plan was launched in April, shortly after the formation of the government, in a bid to restore law and order in Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley.

Security to be boosted ahead of Ashoura

NABATIEH/BEIRUT: Precautionary security measures will be boosted ahead of Ashoura next week, particularly in Shiites areas of Beirut and south Lebanon. South Lebanon Governor Judge Mahmoud al-Mawlawi headed a security meeting Thursday at his Nabatieh office, which included over 20 security and military figures, to discuss necessary security measures to be taken during Ashoura.

It was agreed that measures should be coordinated with the Lebanese Army, Internal Security Forces, General Security and the municipal police.

The measures in question will be implemented Thursday, with road closures, barriers and checkpoints erected, and cars forbidden from accessing certain areas.

It was also agreed on the need to ban motorcycles from moving into Nabatieh and Tyre from 5 p.m. until 6 a.m. for 13 days. Foreigners seeking entry into Nabatieh would also have to request an entry permit during that time.

The governor also called on the education minister to cancel classes in private and public schools as well as universities for the last three days of Ashoura. As for the movement of refugees, it was agreed to leave the matter to municipalities.

In Beirut’s southern suburbs, sisters Aya and Malak Sultan picked out flags to hang in front of their homes.

“We don’t wear headscarves, but we participate in Ashoura ceremonies in painful remembrance of the martyred Hussein,” Aya said, referring to the Prophet’s grandson, who was decapitated by the army of the caliph Yazid in A.D. 680 in Karbala, Iraq.

Shiites commemorate the death of the venerated imam every year by beating their chests and at times self-flagellating for 10 days, starting Oct. 25 this year.

Ghobeireh’s mukhtar, Hasan Sleem, told The Daily Star that due to security, most Ashoura events had been cancelled.

One large event would take place at an unidentified center in Beirut’s southern suburbs, he said, adding that the event would be subject to strict security measures, including surveillance and bomb detection devices. Attendees would also be thoroughly searched.

A security guard manning one of several posts at the entrance of the Iranian Embassy in Bir Hasan, said that security concerns would not disrupt this year’s commemoration ceremonies, but that the area would witness heightened security with several check points erected on key roads.

Both the Army and Hezbollah will reinforce their positions with extra recruits, he said. This year’s beefed up precautionary measures come as no surprise after two suicide bombings rocked Iran’s embassy last November.

In Burj al-Barajneh, which is routinely under tight security, security measures will be boosted only during commemoration events, security sources said, clarifying that such measures would be enacted around 8 p.m. Side streets near the Rassoul al-Aazam Hospital will blocked and the Hezbollah checkpoint facing the hospital will be reinforced with extra troops.

In south Lebanon Hezbollah and the Amal Movement decided to implement precautionary measures across towns and villages in the wake of threats posed by ISIS and the Nusra Front.

In the southern town of Nabatieh, renowned for holding ceremonies from the first day of Ashoura to the last, cars will be barred from accessing Nabatieh’s Husseiniya, a Shiite religious center that hosts Ashoura commemoration events. Attendees will also be scanned with explosive detection devices before being allowed to enter.

Media spokesperson for the Husseiniya, Mehdi Sadeq, said that he was not worried about terrorist attacks during Ashoura. “It is not unusual for this city to commemorate Ashoura in the midst of several threats,” he said. The spokesperson recalled the burning of Israeli tanks in 1983 during a ceremony in the town, saying Nabatieh was resilient in the face of threats.

The predominantly Sunni city of Sidon however, is not expected to witness the same ritualistic display. Hezbollah called on citizens in the southern capital to abstain from raising Ashoura-related flags and banners outside their homes and from blasting speeches and chants from their cars, especially in the areas of Abra, Ain al-Hilweh and Mieh Mieh, in order to prevent altercations.

Two years ago, Salafist Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir provoked clashes during an Ashoura event in Ain al-Hilweh which left three dead and several wounded.

Earlier Thursday, Hezbollah and Amal Movement representatives held a joint meeting in the former’s office in the southern town of Tyre, where the need for coordination during Ashoura was discussed.

A statement was issued after the meeting, in which both parties expressed their hopes that “the occasion [Ashoura] would be a chance to further cohesion and unity, in accordance with the noble values preached by Imam Hussein.”

In an attempt to avoid fueling sectarian tensions, Amal requested that all sermons focus on Islamic unity and nationalism as well as the memory of Hussein, while urging speakers to refrain from referencing internal political problems.

Bodies recovered from plane crash off Cyprus

BEIRUT: The bodies of a Lebanese businessman and his Greek Cypriot flight instructor were found Thursday after their plane crashed Wednesday, following a distress call to Cypriot ground control about an apparent mechanical failure. A statement from the family of George Obagi, 47, confirmed that his remains had been found in Cypriot territorial waters. Obagi, who managed the Wadi al-Akhdar brand of canned foods, was a member of a large family of traders who trace their roots back to Aleppo. He was also on the board of directors for Peugeot dealerships for Lebanon and Syria.

Obagi and his companion Afghastinos Afghostine took off from Beirut’s airport at 6:20 p.m. Wednesday in a twin-engine Diamond DA 42 plane, according to a statement released by Lebanon’s Directorate of Civil Aviation.

Forty-four minutes into the 80-minute flight, while the plane was over Cypriot waters, it disappeared from Lebanese radar.

“Beirut ground control immediately contacted their Cypriot counterparts to ask about the reason for the plane’s disappearance from our radar screens,” the directorate’s statement said.

“They told us the plane had also disappeared from their radar and that they had lost radio contact two minutes after the last call between ground control and the pilot, who informed them of a technical problem in the plane.”

Captain Majed Assaf, a pilot and flight instructor, said small planes like the one that crashed Wednesday did not contain black boxes, and so it would be difficult to determine exactly what had happened in the plane’s final moments.

Based on his experience, however, he said the most likely scenario for a small multi-engine plane like the DIAMOND DA42 was that the critical motor had malfunctioned, sending the plane into a flat spin, which is nearly impossible to recover from, even for experienced pilots.

“There is always a risk of mechanical failure,” he said, adding that contrary to common assumptions, smaller planes were actually safer than large ones because they weighed less and could land almost anywhere in case of an emergency.

“Training cannot prepare you for a flat spin; it is only by chance you would recover,” he added.

Aviation authorities in Lebanon and Cyprus cooperated on an emergency plan of action that was supported by UNIFIL, which tasked three ships with search and rescue operations, the statement said. The Israeli navy also joined UNIFIL in the search.

Pieces of wreckage were found late Wednesday night, and both bodies just after noon Thursday, some 83 kilometers from Larnaca.

The Associated Press quoted the chief of Cyprus’ aircraft accidents board as saying that a German warship attached to the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon would transport the wreckage to Cyprus for investigation.

Working together for Lebanon’s stability

When I arrived in Lebanon in February 2012 to take up my position as the secretary-general’s special coordinator for Lebanon, the Arab world was already in the throes of extraordinary change. It was a period of hope and of trepidation. But few of us could have predicted that events would lead to the turbulence and pattern of brutal and escalating conflict that we see today. Lebanon’s unique brand of pluralism, lessons learnt from the past and the vigilance of its security services have served to shield it. But the pressure of spillover from the war in Syria continues to grow. Now, more than ever, the international community must stand with Lebanon. Most Lebanese I talk to share with me their concerns – worries about security and institutional deadlock and about deepening socioeconomic difficulties, partly as a result of the conflict in Syria, and in particular the influx of refugees. These are critical and complex challenges. On this United Nations Day the message of the U.N. family in Lebanon in the face of them is very clear. We are here to help Lebanon and the Lebanese people. The commitment of the United Nations, and of the international community we represent, to Lebanon’s stability, security and wellbeing has never been stronger.

Lebanon’s relationship with the U.N. extends back to the organization’s beginnings. Sixty-nine years ago, on this day in 1945, Lebanon helped to found the United Nations to strengthen peace and security and promote development for future generations. In 1948 Lebanon helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Beirut has long been a hub for the United Nations, providing a home for regional offices including that of the U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia. Over the years the U.N.’s presence here has expanded to include 24 U.N. agencies with mandates that include peacekeeping, development and humanitarian and human rights work. But at the heart of almost all of their work in Lebanon is the concern for its stability.

The priority the U.N. Security Council has long attached to Lebanon’s stability, sovereignty and territorial integrity is evident in the united positions it has repeatedly adopted concerning them. In the face of the impact of the Syrian conflict on Lebanon, this has been particularly evident. Over the past year or more, it has also been reflected in the activity of the International Support Group for Lebanon, which the secretary-general again convened in New York this September and which will meet once more in the presence of Prime Minister Tammam Salam in the margins of next week’s ministerial conference in Berlin on the Syrian refugee situation.

I am very conscious of the deep anxiety many in Lebanon feel about the impact here of the Syrian refugee presence. The greatest number of them live in Lebanon’s poorest areas, and the strains imposed on the communities hosting them are very great indeed. That tensions have at times arisen must come as no surprise. Yet I have to say that I also encounter in those communities I have visited an understanding that, overwhelmingly, the refugees are vulnerable people who have suffered greatly in being displaced from their homes; the great majority of them are women and children. I am always impressed by what I see of the work of local institutions in assisting them. All the refugees I have met have spoken eloquently of their wish to return home in safety and dignity.

I am also impressed by what I see of the work of Lebanon’s international partners in this field. In the past 24 months nearly $2 billion has been raised to assist refugees and the communities hosting them. More is certainly needed, and my U.N. colleagues and I will continue to work with regional and international partners to raise new resources. At the same time, the U.N. is working closely with the Lebanese authorities to manage the refugee presence more effectively. We must increasingly focus our assistance on the neediest refugee families, and provide much more support to host communities and government programs affected by the crisis.

The effects of Syria’s civil war on Lebanon’s security are serious indeed. The resolve of the Lebanese Army and security forces, and the personal sacrifices of soldiers, policemen and their families in upholding security and in confronting the extremist threat on the eastern border are recognized by all. Here too, international partners – with the support and encouragement of the United Nations – are mobilizing significant resources for the Lebanese Armed Forces and accelerating the supply of critical arms and equipment to better secure the borders and strengthen domestic security.

And of course, under Resolution 1701, the U.N. continues to work in the closest possible way with the LAF to ensure continued calm and stability in the south. UNIFIL remains among the largest U.N. peacekeeping missions in the world. On U.N. Day we also commemorate the U.N. peacekeepers, humanitarian personnel and others who risk or give their lives around the world, and I recall here the 275 UNIFIL personnel who have fallen in south Lebanon over the years in the service of peace and security.

At the heart of all of this activity is partnership in support of Lebanon’s stability between the United Nations and the government and people of Lebanon. For Lebanon’s partners in the international community, as for the people of Lebanon, the continuity and effective functioning of state institutions is therefore vital. This is critical at times like the present, when the multiple challenges require these institutions to work effectively and in unity. In that spirit, Lebanon’s international partners immediately welcomed the formation of the present national unity government earlier this year.

Equally of course, we have been deeply concerned at the continued vacancy in the Presidency of the Republic, and the Security Council, the International Support Group and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon have repeatedly called for redoubled efforts on the part of Lebanon’s leaders to resolve the issue.

At almost 70 years of age, the U.N. is the world’s most enduring and most ambitious experiment in collective peace, security and development. Lebanon has been a full partner in this experiment. The U.N. will continue to work with Lebanon, as elsewhere, in common cause for the common good.

Derek Plumbly is the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon.