ALWATAN DAILY

2 world saturdAY, january 1, 2011

NEWS IN BRIEF Abbas seeks US backing in US frustrated with Egypt military, show Wikileaks UN settlement condemnation : Egypt’s military, the biggest recipient of Egypt has its own complaints, too. RIO DE JANIERO: Palestinian Author- US military aid after Israel, is in decline, according Egyptian military officials don’t welcome -pres ity President Mahmoud Abbas said his to American diplomats, who blame the Arab nation’s sure by the Americans to change the doctrine of their new attempt to get the United Nations top brass for failing to modernize and adapt to deal armed forces. They also complain that Washington to condemn Israeli settlements was spe- with new threats. has increased annual military aid to Israel - growing cifically designed to win US support, in US diplomatic memos leaked this month show from 2.55 billion US dollars in 2009 to an expected a Thursday speech in Brazil. The Palestin- previously unknown friction between the two al- $3 billion in 2011. ians have drafted a proposal and are lob- lies over military assistance and strategy. Military Since its peace deal with Israel, Egypt has re- bying for a Security Council resolution cooperation has always been seen as an unshakable ceived nearly $36 billion in military assistance - an that would declare West Bank settlements link between Egypt and the US, even as the political annual installment of $1.3 billion. illegal and an “obstacle to peace.” The US has said it does not support the move. Is- side of the alliance has gone through public ups and With an estimated 1 million active and reserve rael says it’s an attempt by the Palestin- downs over Washington’s on-and-off pressure on re- personnel, the Egyptian military’s last combat mis- ians to avoid negotiations. Abbas says the form and human rights. sion was in the 1991 Gulf War, when it fought as part Palestinian draft used the “same words” The disagreements, the memos show, are over of a US-military alliance to liberate Kuwait from as US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham a wide range of topics, with the US pressing Egypt Iraqi occupation. Clinton has in criticizing settlements, and to focus its military toward terrorism, halting cross- According to the leaked US memos, Egyptian he “doesn’t see why” the US would veto border smuggling and helping out in regional crises. officials told visiting US defense officials they must the move. -AFP They also suggest that, to the dismay of the Ameri- convince Congress that Egypt was worth more than cans, the Egyptian military continues to see Israel, the $1.3 billion a year it is getting in military aid, ac- its enemy in four wars spanning 25 years in the last cording to a memo dated Feb. 28, 2010. Turkish police century, as its primary adversary 31 years after the In the memos, US diplomats lament that the two neighbors signed a peace treaty. Egyptian military has a “backward” posture and has detain 10 Al-Qaeda suspects “The United States has sought to interest the been resistant to US efforts to “adjust its focus to re- ISTANBUL: Turkish police have detained Egyptian military into expanding their mission in flect new regional and transnational threats.” 10 suspected Al-Qaeda militants who ways that reflect new regional and transnational se- They also criticize the military for assuming a di- they believe were planning an attack curity threats, such as piracy, border security, and rect role in the Egyptian economy, saying it “stifles ahead of New Year, state-run Anatolian counterterrorism,” said a memo dated Dec. 21, 2008, free market reform” with large military-owned com- news agency reported. The agency said the released by WikiLeaks. panies active in industries like retail, construction suspects, eight of whom were detained in “But the aging leadership, however, has resisted and hospitality. anti-terror raids in the northwestern city of Bursa on Wednesday, were expected our efforts and remained satisfied with continuing to One memo specifically singles out Egyptian De- to be brought before a court on Friday. do what they have done for years: train for force-on- fense Minister Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, in office A further two people were detained in force warfare with a premium on grounds forces and since 1991, as the “chief impediment” to US efforts Istanbul and taken to Bursa, the agency armor.” to develop military ties between the two allies. said. Bursa police said in a statement that The memos exposed that public talk of shared “During his tenure, the tactical and operational eight suspects linked to a terror group had goals between the US and Egyptian military is just readiness of the Egyptian Armed Forces has decayed,” been detained. Turkish police often arrest rhetoric, says Steven Cook, a fellow at the New York- a memo addressed to U.S. Gen. David Petraeus ahead suspected Islamist militants and describe based Council on Foreign Relations and the author of of a visit he made to Egypt in 2008. Petraeus is now them as having links to Al-Qaeda, though a book on the Egyptian military. the top commander of the NATO force in Afghani- details seldom emerge. - “There doesn’t seem to be much more and there stan. Egypt has resisted sending troops to Iraq and hasn’t been much for a while,” he said. “The US criti- Afghanistan and only recently started training mili- cism further reinforces what the Egyptian military tary personnel from the two nations where US forces Iran threatens is all about — the ultimate instrument of political are fighting stubborn insurgencies. control. They are not there to project power, but to Instead, the memos say, Egypt places emphasis on trial for opposition leaders protect the regime.” trying to achieve military parity with Israel through TEHRAN: Tehran’s chief prosecutor said The military is the power base of the regime of the acquisition of modern conventional arms such as Friday it was only a matter of time before President Hosni Mubarak, himself a former air force aircraft and tanks. opposition leaders are put on trial for the pilot. The army ousted the monarchy soon after it One US diplomatic memo said Congressional unrest following the disputed 2009 presi- dential election, the latest sign that Ira- seized power in a 1952 coup and all of the country’s debate to review - and attach conditions to - aid to nian authorities may make a potentially our presidents since have come from the ranks of the Egypt may act as a pressure tool to force the Egyptian An Egyptian soldier watches from his tank as a US marine corps Cobra helicopter explosive escalation of their crackdown. military. military to change its doctrine. -AP flies overhead during Bright Star war games on Egypt’s north west coast. (AP) Hundreds of opposition supporters have been arrested and tried in the fierce crack- down that crushed opposition protests in the wake of the election, which the oppo- sition claimed hard-line President Mah- moud Ahmadinejad won by fraud. So far, January a decisive authorities have stopped short of trying to jail the reform movement’s top lead- Rain exposes poor drainage in Jeddah month, says ers - Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to JEDDAH: Parts of the western region of ly 10,000 vehicles. said spokesman of the Civil Defense in Makkah have been the real victor in the election, Saudi Arabia were once again struck by heavy “Civil Defense helicopters rescued four province Maj. Abdullah Al-Amri. fellow candidate Mahdi Karroubi and downpours on Thursday morning that wreaked women and five children in the Umm Al-Khayr According to an official source in the Civil Lebanon Parliament former President Mohammad Khatami - apparently out of concern it could spark havoc and raised concerns of flash-flooding. Jed- residential complex in the Quwaiza district,” said Defense, the flood waters gushing in from out- a new wave of protests and fuel the op- dah’s roads were clogged with traffic as drivers Commander of the Civil Defense Helicopter Di- side collected in Wadi Marikh and caused power Speaker Berri position. -AP navigated through raging rivers of rainwater that vision Maj. Gen. Muhammad Al-Harb. failure in the Umm Al-Khayr residential complex BEIRUT: January is “a decisive exposed the city’s drainage problems. Traffic was halted on Haramain Expressway in the Quwaiza district and also inundated the month” for Saudi-Syrian efforts to find a Trees fell and manhole covers popped up as to the north after the roads close to the Palestine lower stories of buildings. solution for Lebanon’s months-long po- the existing drainage network quickly reached Overpass and the Harazat district became lakes Jeddah Mayor Hani Abu Ras visited flood-hit litical stalemate, the Parliament Speaker capacity in some parts of the city. of water deep enough to submerge vehicles. spots including Madinah Road, King Abdul Aziz said Thursday. Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal said The Civil Defense declared emergency in the Street, Al-Andalus, King Abdullah Underpass Speaker Nabih Berri told visitors that ‘Mossad, US, UK the situation in Jeddah and other parts of the area in the afternoon. A number of dinghies were and neighborhoods in the east of the Haramain a solution for the Lebanese crisis had al- province is under control. “The floods caused the brought out to help in rescue operations in the Expressway. most been completed before Eid Al-Adha cooperating to death of a man and three children in the suburbs Wadi Qaus. Municipal authorities were busy pumping out in November. of Makkah, the collapse of many houses in Al- The underpass of King Abdullah Street was surface water in many neighborhoods. “But (Saudi) King [Abdullah] fell ill, sabotage Iran nukes’ Sawaed and Umm Al-Khayr districts and serious once again under water as it was during the No- In Taif, police closed down Al-Kar and Al-Ha- so the solution fell ill. Now, the king has PARIS: US and UK intelli- injuries to a security man in Jeddah,” he said. vember 2009 floods when the problem of lack of da roads for more than one hour because of fallen recovered, so the solution has recovered,” gence services are cooperating The man and the three children died when drainage was identified as the cause. debris. The road was reopened to traffic later. Berri said. He added that now that Abdul- with the Mossad to sabotage Tehe- the car they were traveling in was swept away by “I wonder why the municipal officials did not Part of an old three-room house in Al-Jarif lah was recuperating in New York follow- ran’s nuclear program in exchange a torrent in Wadi Al-Bajidi. learn from the experience just a year ago,” a by- district in Madinah collapsed due to heavy rains. ing back surgeries, a solution was being for Israel agreeing not to launch a The body of a drowned child was recovered stander near the waterlogged underpass told Arab None of the 13 inhabitants was hurt or injured. refloated. A source “very close” to Berri military strike on Iran, the French from a large pool of rainwater in Al-Ais, north of News. Last year, dozens of washed-away vehicles “Our monthly income is 1,700 riyals so we said a Saudi-Syrian-mediated settlement weekly Le Canard enchaîné re- Madinah. were retrieved from the completely submerged are unable to move,” said Um Abdul Hamid, the to break the Lebanese deadlock over an ported on Thursday, quoting Several women and children were airlifted underpass, but no bodies were discovered. owner of the house, who is in her 60s. impending indictment into former Pre- French intelligence sources. from a marooned residential building in Jeddah’s “Rubber boat teams rescued 190 people in Civil Defense Maj. Khaled Al-Johani said the mier Rafik Hariri’s killing was now in its Acts of sabotage carried out Quwaiza district, which was one of the worst the Al-Harazat district while ground teams res- situation in rain-soaked areas was under control. final stage. in the past year in Iran were con- flood-devastated areas of the Nov. 25, 2009 flash cued seven members of a family in a car that sub- “A number of cars were stuck on the flooded “The settlement is ready. It is being ducted by Israel with the help floods that killed at least 123 and destroyed near- merged in the water in the midst of the wadi,” streets but this has been overcome and traffic is promoted at the local, regional and inter- of the CIA and MI6, the sources back to normal,” he said Thursday afternoon. national levels,” the source told The Daily said. Ahmadinejad admits centri- Huge traffic jams were seen on Makkah’s Star. fuges damaged by virus main streets. The traffic department had a hard Meanwhile, the ambassadors of Saudi The sabotage included, accord- time clearing the jams. Floods caused by the Arabia and Syria, trying to broker a set- ing to the report, the introduction downpour dragged a number of cars and blocked tlement acceptable to both the March 8 of the Stuxnet computer virus roads. Some roads were totally blocked as ve- and March 14 factions, said Thursday that into 30,000 computers in Iran’s hicles drove in the opposite direction to avoid dialogue and cooperation among rival nuclear reactors and explosions in traffic. parties were essential for any solution. October in which 18 Iranian tech- Makkah Municipal Council members con- Despite the Saudi-Syrian mediation nicians were killed at a factory in ducted field trips to number of neighborhoods to bid launched in July, Saudi Arabia’s am- the Zagros mountains that manu- examine conditions there. The members were try- bassador to Lebanon, Ali Awad Osseiri, factured Shihab missiles. ing to find out whether the recent water drainage stressed that the the feuding Lebanese According to the sources, the projects were working. parties should take the initiative to break assassination of five Iranian nu- In what has become a driving tradition in the deadlock over the indictment. clear scientists were also carried Jeddah, the “shebab” (youths) came out in force, “All the (Lebanese) parties must re- out by the Mossad in cooperation plowing through water-filled roads in 4x4 vehi- turn to the dialogue table ... The initia- with the American and British in- cles creating bow-waves that both soaked pass- tive (for a solution) should be taken by telligence agencies. ersby and flooded slow moving cars’ engine com- the Lebanese,” Osseiri told MTV. He said The sources said the coopera- partments. Among the young ones could also be Riyadh and Damascus were continuing tion continues, and more joint ac- seen adult members of the driving fraternity in their efforts to promote a solution for the tions aimed at stopping Iran from expensive SUVs. Many drivers in smaller vehicles Lebanese crisis. Osseiri added that Saudi completing its nuclear program miscalculated the depths of the pools, flooding Arabia does not interfere in the work of are expected. -AP Like a triumphal arch, this traffic light, uprooted by the combination of rain loosening the founda- their engines and leaving them stranded with no the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Leba- tions and high wind tearing at it, lies across a road in Jeddah. (AP) immediate hope of rescue. -AP non (STL), whose upcoming indictment is threatening to destabilize the country. The indictment is widely expected to accuse some Hezbollah members of involvement in the bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. Hezbollah has denied involvement Iraq Christians bury their dead after more attacks Obama names temporary in Hariri’s assassination. BAGHDAD: Iraqi Christians are bury- For his part, Syrian Ambassador Ali ing their dead after fresh attacks hit the ambassadors to Syria, Turkey Abdel-Karim Ali voiced optimism that country’s dwindling Christian community HONOLULU: US President took the rare Saudi Arabia and Syria would eventu- that had even toned down Christmas cel- step on Wednesday of temporarily appointing US ambassadors ally clinch a deal to defuse political ten- ebrations in fear of more violence. to Syria, Turkey and Azerbaijan, restoring a top US envoy to sion over the STL’s indictment, but em- Father Mukhlis - a priest at Baghdad’s Damascus after an absence of nearly six years. All three coun- phasized that cooperation and dialogue Our Lady of Salvation church where 68 tries are seen as vital to US interests - Azerbaijan for its gas among rival Lebanese parties were essen- people died during the October siege by reserves, Turkey as a NATO ally and frontline state in effort to tial for a solution. Islamic extremists - says as many as 12 vi- contains Iran, and Syria, which Obama has sought to engage de- “We hope that the New Year will be olent incidents occurred against Christian spite conflicts over its role in Lebanon, for its ties to Iran and its an occasion for reconciling views to con- Coffins of slain homes across the capital Thursday night. support for Hamas. The White House announced Obama would solidate national unity and end divisions Christians, Fawzi Police said militants targeted at least make “recess appointments” of Robert Stephen Ford as ambas- for the good of Lebanon,” Ali told report- Rahim, 76, and Janet four Christian homes, killing two people sador to Syria, Francis “Frank” Ricciardone as ambassador to ers after meeting with Foreign Minister Mekha, 78, are seen in a combination of grenades and bomb Turkey and Matthew Bryza as ambassador to Azerbaijan. All Ali Shami. Asked if reports that a Saudi- during their funeral attacks. three are career diplomats whose nominations would ordinarily Syrian agreement has been finalized were Mass at St. George The attacks were the first since Al- be expected to move through the US Senate - which under the true, Ali said, “We are optimistic, God Chaldean Church in Qaeda-linked militants last week threat- constitution has the right to reject the president’s nominations - willing. But this depends on the efforts of Baghdad, Iraq, Dec. ened a wave of violence against Chris- without controversy. -AP the Lebanese parties and their coopera- 31. (AP) tians in Iraq. -AP tion and dialogue.” -AFP