Author: Zaminian Bedik

US Buries the Truth
Saddam’s Execution Eliminates the Main Witness against Accomplices

Sunday, December 31, 2006 by the _Toronto Sun _
()

by Eric Margolis

On my first visit to Iraq in 1976, so-called "Israeli spies" were being
hanged in front of my Baghdad hotel.
While covering Iraq just before the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein’s secret
police threatened to hang me as an American/Israeli spy.
I always considered "President Hussein," who was hanged Friday, a sadistic
bully and a loathsome megalomaniac.
No one can accuse me of sympathy for Saddam or his fellow thugs who
terrorized Iraq. But I was thoroughly disgusted and ashamed by the kangaroo
court created and stage-managed by the U.S. that condemned Saddam.
It was a disgraceful farrago of Soviet-style show trial and judicial circus.
Washington, which claimed to be bringing the fruits of democracy to the
benighted Arab World, put on a sinister legal farce worthy of, ironically,
Saddam’s courts.
Iraq’s deposed president, whom Osama bin Laden called "the worst Arab
despot" should have faced real justice at an international legal tribunal
like the UN Hague Court. That would have served warning to other despots who
violated human rights and committed aggression.
The United States did right to hand over Serb tyrant Slobodan Milosevic to
the Hague. But Saddam had to be silenced before he told the world about his
long collusion with the United States. Dead men tell no tales.
Saddam’s biggest crime was not killing rebellious Kurds or Shia. As ruler of
the unnatural, British-created Frankenstein state Iraq, Saddam was forced to
keep putting down rebellions.
Saintly Winston Churchill authorized the RAF to bomb Iraq’s rebellious
Kurdish tribesmen with poison gas — exactly as Saddam later did. Saddam’s most
brutal repression of Kurds and Shia occurred when they revolted during Iraq’s
wars with Iran and the U.S.
Saddam should have faced trial for his unprovoked 1980 aggression against
Iran that ended up causing one million dead and wounded.
But in this crime, Saddam was covertly backed by his principal accomplices,
the U.S. and Britain. Donald Rumsfeld even went to Baghdad to offer Saddam
arms, finance and intelligence. Hanging Saddam eliminated the main witness.
Saddam was helped into power by the CIA, which stood by while he slaughtered
Iraqi communists and Nasserites.
The U.S. and Britain, as I discovered in Baghdad in 1990, supplied Saddam
with poison gas and germs to make battlefield weapons (these were not "weapons
of mass destruction." The germs were never successfully weaponized).
So long as Saddam was killing and torturing people America and Britain did
not like, he was "our SOB."
But when Saddam grew too big for his britches and invaded Kuwait, he went
from being the West’s regional bullyboy to devil No. 1.
Once he touched the West’s oil in Kuwait, he was marked for death.
Some of the tame U.S. media have been spinning Saddam’s execution as a
justification for the Bush/Cheney administration’s unprovoked invasion of Iraq,
without ever asking why Saddam was an ally in 1988 yet a devil in 1991 and
again in 2003.
Nor has there been much reporting that under Saddam, Iraq became the Arab
world’s most industrialized nation, a leader in women’s rights, medical care,
education, and public projects.
Back in 2003, I predicted that once the U.S. got rid of old pal Saddam, it
would look for another Saddam-clone to replace him. The mutant state of Iraq
and its feuding peoples can only be ruled by an iron fist. Saddam’s greatest
error was believing he had frightened Iraqis into a national unity that would
support invasions of his neighbours. He was dead wrong.
There are plenty of other brutal regimes that rival Saddam’s Iraq for
nastiness. Most are close U.S. allies. As Henry Kissinger once quipped, being
America’s ally is far more dangerous than being its enemy.
After jubilation among Shia and Kurds over Saddam’s execution subsides, Iraq
will return to its daily bloody chaos. Saddam called himself a martyr. In
years to come, many Arabs will forget his many crimes and remember him as a
flawed hero and martyr who dared challenge the United States and Israel, and
paid the price for his audacity.

NBCSports.com, MN
Dec 31 2006

What if Ara Parseghian had kept coaching?

By John Walters
NBCSports.com
The only thing gaudy about Penn State is its head coach’s victory
total.

Joe Paterno, now in his 41st season as the head coach in Happy
Valley, has a career record of 355-117-3. Paterno’s 355 victories
rank second in Division I history to Bobby Bowden of Florida State,
who has 359 (Paterno, by the way, is 7-1 versus the Dean of
Dadgummit, including last January’s triple-overtime win in the Orange
Bowl).

Paterno celebrated his 80th birthday on the final day of autumn
(December 21). And suddenly, for the first time since Amos Alonzo
Stagg roamed the sidelines at the College of the Pacific during World
War II, the term "octogenarian football coach" will be in vogue.

Malcolm Emmons/US PRESSWIRE
Ara Parseghian coached the Fighting Irish to two national
championships in just 11 seasons.Paterno’s legendary longevity got us
to wondering. There’s a legendary football coach living in South
Bend. Like JoePa, this coach is enshrined in the College Football
Hall of Fame. Like JoePa, this coach still has a full head of hair,
and he began coaching at the college level in 1950. And, like the
Nittany Lions’ full-maned master, he is an octogenarian.

So we asked Ara Parseghian, "How many victories might you have if
you’d never retired?"

"Well, first that’s a purely hypothetical question," replied
Parseghian, who is 83 and has lost nothing off his fastball. "And
second, I did not retire.

"I resigned the responsibility of coaching football at Notre Dame.
But, to answer your question, I don’t think I could have survived (he
means that in the literal sense) as long as Joe did. I would have
been gone a long time ago."

Parseghian resigned the responsibility, as he puts it, a long, long
time ago. He was just 52 years old when he left Notre Dame after the
1974 season.

He had spent 11 years in South Bend and guided the Fighting Irish to
a pair of national championships. However, he had been a head coach
nearly half his life by that point. In 24 seasons as a head coach,
first at Miami of Ohio, then at Northwestern and finally at Notre
Dame, Parseghian had compiled a record of 170-58-4.

At the same point in his life, Joe Paterno had been a head coach at
Penn State for 14 seasons. His record then, following the 1979
season, was 131-29-1. That mark was undeniably impressive — already
Paterno had put together three undefeated seasons as well as a trio
of 11-1 campaigns (like the one he had last year).

No doubt Joe Paterno is one of the greatest coaches who ever lived —
and outlived most all of his peers. But what if that one peer who is
still among us, Parseghian, had remained in coaching? After all, at
the same age (52) AraPa was already up on JoePa by 39 wins — at
least a four-season advantage.

I did the math so you don’t have to. Assume that Parseghian, whose
career winning percentage at Notre Dame was .836, had won only 75
percent of his games afterward.

Assume that Parseghian had remained at Notre Dame as the head coach
for the next 367 games, up to and including last Saturday’s win at
Georgia Tech.

Assuming all that, Parseghian would have 445 victories. His win total
would dwarf those of Paterno (355) and Bowden (366).

(Of course, there are other assumptions we could make had Parseghian
never left: Rudy would have gotten into a game a lot sooner; so would
have Joe Montana; the term "Oust Faust" would never have come into
vogue; the average sports fan would know a helluva lot more about
Armenia. But I digress.)

"I never thought about 400 wins," says Parseghian, who really only
spent one season as an assistant coach at Miami, and then succeeded
Woody Hayes when he departed to take the Ohio State job. "You sort of
move in the time frame that you’re in. You’re not thinking of the
future, not thinking about statistics. All you’re thinking about is
winning the next game."

The pressure-cooker that is Notre Dame was also an undeniable factor
in Parseghian’s decision to get out of football when he did. "You
look at some of the more successful Notre Dame coaches besides
Rockne," says Parseghian.

"Frank Leahy, Lou Holtz and myself. All of them left after 11
seasons.

You think there might be something to that?"

Parseghian, who ran every day at lunchtime during his coaching days,
was always vigorous. He’d been at Notre Dame about five seasons when
Francis Powers, an Irish alumnus who was a writer for Collier’s,
approached him at a golf outing. "So," asked Powers, "has it gotten
to you yet?"

"At the time," says Parseghian, "I didn’t know what he was talking
about. I was fine. But after five more years, I knew. This job ages
you."

Sometimes it ages you all in one afternoon. Parseghian recalls his
final regular-season game as the Irish head coach, at the Los Angeles
Coliseum against Southern Cal. Notre Dame had erupted for a 24-0 lead
late in the first half when it came time to punt the ball. "I
instructed my kicker to kick away from their returner, Anthony
Davis," Parseghian says. "If he was on the right side of the field,
kick it left. If he was on the left, kick it right. He kicked it
right to him."

Davis returned that punt for a touchdown and, as you probably know,
the Trojans scored the next 55 points.

"There are so many facets to the game you cannot control," says
Parseghian.

"You can’t control the officials. You can’t control the weather, nor
the turnovers, nor …"

Anthony Davis?

"We led in that damn game 24-0, for goodness sake," Parseghian barks.
"Yes, it’s frustrating."

Listening to him, you ascertain how coaching can age you. Then again,
Parseghian sounds as if he’s ready to coach ’em up this Saturday.

All of which, by the way, makes Paterno’s (and Bowden’s) perseverance
so incredible. Parseghian, in fact, has written him letters
congratulating Paterno on his longevity. "It’s one thing to say you
could have coached such and such years and won so many games," says
Parseghian. "But Joe’s done it.

That’s what matters."
detail.html

GENOCIDE VICTIMS’ MEMORIAL TO TAKE A SWEEPING APPROACH
Peter Hecht, Sacramento Bee

Scripps Howard News Service
SACRAMENTO, Calif.
December 26, 2006, Tuesday 4:18 PM EST

Assemblyman Lloyd Levine says he came to understand his Jewish cultural
roots and comprehend a horrific epoch in history on a trip to Israel
in 2004.

He was at the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, transfixed
by cubes stacked like children’s play blocks. Each depicted children
who died of Nazi genocide. A somber voice intoned their names as 1.6
million beams of light reflected the toll of young lives taken.

"For the next several hours, I had the abiding urge to throw up,"
Levine, D-Van Nuys, said. "It makes you sick knowing what happened."

Levine returned to California determined to make his own contribution
to the victims by seeking a "dignified and quiet" memorial outside the
Capitol to honor those who "perished and suffered" in the Holocaust.

But as the bill he sponsored was debated and amended in the Legislature
and then signed into law by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sept. 30,
Levine’s original vision grew markedly.

Under Assembly Bill 1210, which went into effect Monday, California
will begin a quest to construct a memorial at Capitol Park not only for
victims and survivors of the Holocaust, but for all people who faced
genocide and ethnic cleansing across the world and many generations.

On its face, the effort raises a poignant challenge by seeking to
bring together diverse peoples and histories to acknowledge acts of
inhumanity from the Holocaust of Nazi Germany to the killing fields
of Cambodia to the ongoing ethnic slaughter in Darfur.

Though still an ill-defined concept, the idea of such a memorial is
stirring emotional discussions among vast, varied communities affected
by genocide.

In Glendale, Haig Hovespian hopes the memorial will acknowledge the
mass murder of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey in 1915.

"A vast majority of Armenians who came to California were either
survivors or descendants of the victims of Armenian genocide,"
said Hovespian, community relations director for Armenian National
Committee of America. "If you want to boil it down, it is the reason
that they are Californians today."

In Sacramento, Zang Fang, 36, believes such a monument should
acknowledge Hmong refugees who fled wanton killings in Laos during 30
years of retaliations for the Hmong’s support of the United States’
secret war against communist Pathet Lao in the 1970s.

As a toddler, Fang lost his father, Joua Lue Fang, who fought alongside
U.S. forces and was killed in an explosives accident. As an 8-year-old,
he saw an uncle, Zong Chue Fang, executed and lost a cousin, Xialee
Fang, who was gunned down while collecting wild roots as Pathet Lao
forces sacked Hmong villages.

Thousands were ultimately killed or imprisoned, and 200,000 people
were forced into exile. Fang’s family attempted a perilous trek on
a mountain trail lined with bodies of Hmong victims. They eventually
made it to Thailand in a boat crossing the Mekong River, as 16 people
drowned when a second boat capsized.

"What the Hmong did to help the Americans needs to be acknowledged,"
Fang said of the Capitol memorial. "And the price they paid to help
the Americans needs to be acknowledged."

Under AB 1210, a nine-member International Genocide Commission,
including at least six survivors or descendants of genocide, will
be appointed to select a design and initiate private fundraising to
build the memorial.

"The construction of this memorial will help all Californians remember
the unimaginable suffering genocide survivors endured," Schwarzenegger
said in signing the legislation.

The bill declares that "California recognizes the atrocities of
all ethnic cleansing campaigns," including "the Holocaust, Kosovo,
Armenian genocide, Rwanda, African American slaves, Native Americans
and the plight of the Hmong in Southeast Asia."

If built, the memorial would be the 16th major monument at Capitol
Park, joining the Civil War Veterans Grove, the Father Junipero Serra
statue, and veterans, Vietnam War and firefighters memorials.

The planned genocide memorial’s attempt to meld such horrific events
from far corners of world history may prove particularly sensitive.

(Distributed by Scripps-McClatchy Western Service,
)

EXHIBITION DEDICATED TO HAKOB HOVNATANIAN’S 200th ANNIVERSARY OPENS AT NATIONAL LIBRARY OF ARMENIA

Noyan Tapan
Dec 26 2006

YEREVAN, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN. An exhibition dedicated to Hakob
Hovnatanian’s 200th anniversary opened on December 26 at the National
Library of Armenia. Articles about the painter published in press,
in magazines, as well as reproductions of his works are displayed at
the exhibition. In the words of Rima Hayrapetian, Head of Painting
and Cartographical Materials Department of National Library of
Armenia, Hovnatanians occupy a peculiar place in the history of
Armenian painting. In her words, over two centuries this family was
enriching the Armenian culture and left a certain trace in development
of national painting. R.Hayrapetian said that the painter’s first
teacher was his father with whom he illustrated some churches in
Tbilisi. But H.Hovnatanian’s talent was manifested in the sphere
of portrait-painting and it is not accidental that he was known as
"Tbilisi’s Rafael" in Tbilisi. In R.Hayrapetian’s words, the portraits
created by the painter that ravish the looker with both their inner
content and high technique can compete with the best samples of world
portrait-painting. It was also mentioned that according to some data,
H.Hovnatanian has created over 500 portraits, but only nearly 50 of
them have been preserved. Among the painter’s best works are portraits
of Nerses Ashtaraketsi, Shushanik Nadirian, Natalia Teumian. By the
way, N.Teumian’s portrait is also called "Armenian Gioconda."

ARMENIAN ECONOMY GROWS MORE THAN 13% IN 2006 – PRESIDENT

Interfax, Russia
Dec 26 2006

YEREVAN. Dec 26 (Interfax) – The Armenian economy grew more than 13%
in 2006, Armenian President Robert Kocharian said.

The year 2006 was one of the most fruitful for the country, he said
at a meeting with entrepreneurs on Monday. Construction and trade
attributed the most to economic growth and this made it possible to
completely fulfill the state budget, he said.

"Last year’s and this year’s economic growth is making it possible to
form a socially-targeted budget," Kocharian said. "We are increasing
spending every year on the social sector, for health, education and
to provide for a stable growth in wages. Next year we are planning
a 20% growth in budget revenue and it will grow 30% for several
sectors, such as science and education. Capital spending aimed at
developing infrastructures has grown significantly, which is a result
of an increase in the quality of life and the creation of necessary
conditions for economic activity," he said.

Among the problems in the country, Kocharian pointed out the income
gap between the rich and the poor and the difference in the rate of
development in Yerevan compared with the rest of the country. "We must
resolve the first problem by a stronger social policy and concentrate
on developing small and mid-sized business. Resolving the second
problem is connected with large budget transfers to the regions,"
he said.

TURKISH ARMENIAN PIANIST IS SENT BACK TO ISTANBUL FROM BAKU AIRPORT

Noyan Tapan
Dec 26 2006

ISTANBUL, DECEMBER 26, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. Pianist Purak
Petikian who went to Baku to perform a concert with singer Sertab
Erener, was badly treated at the airport and, after having been
examined and persecuted continuously for hours, was sent back by the
first Turkish plane. As Marmara states, quoting Milliyet, the pianist
was taken to a separate room and asked questions about his national
belonging. Purak Petikian said that he is a citizen of Turkey, an
Armenian by his father’s origin. He was very roughly treated at the
airport and was sent back by the first Turkish plane leaving Baku
for Istanbul. Purak Petikian criticized this chauvinist attitude and
addressed a complaint to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey. The
Foreign Ministry stated that an examination will be held on the issue,
probably, the airport officials acted wilfully in this issue.

AZERBAIJAN AMBASSADOR TO GERMANY MEETS WITH HEADS OF TURKISH COMMUNITIES

Azertag
December 26, 2006, 12:04:29

Azerbaijan’s Ambassador to Germany, Parviz Shahbazov, met in Berlin
with chairmen of Turkish communities.

The Ambassador spoke of the history of Azerbaijan’s independence
as well as its political and economic development, and the
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan oil and Baku-Tbilisi-Erzurum gas pipelines
projects.

Mr. Shahbazov described Azerbaijan as one of the region’s leading
countries, adding its worldwide prestige is rapidly growing today.

He welcomed the high level of Azerbaijan-Turkey cooperation.

On the Armenia-Azerbaijan conflict over Nagorno-Karabakh, the
Ambassador said international organizations, including the United
Nations, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, European
Union, Council of Europe and NATO passed resolutions on settlement of
the dispute in accordance with principle of Azerbaijan’s territorial
integrity.

The issues discussed during the meeting also included joint activity
and prospects of Azerbaijan and Turkish communities.

CEREMONY OF GLORIFYING PEOPLE OF WORLD OF SPORTS TAKES PLACE IN GYUMRI

Noyan Tapan
Dec 25 2006

GYUMRI, DECEMBER 25, NOYAN TAPAN. The New Year traditional event of
awarding sportsmen and trainers of the RA national teams took place
at the "Oasis" complex of Gyumri on December 23. They were conferred
titles, given government’s awards and monetary prizes. RA President
Robert Kocharian handed the prizes. High-ranking statesmen, heads of
sport organizations, trainers, sportsmen and journalists took part
in the ceremony. The ceremony was accompanied by a cultural program.

OVER 67 PERCENT GAVE BRIBES

A1+
[07:24 pm] 25 December, 2006

At the turn of the year each of us tries to analyze the events of
the passing year, and believes that 2007 will be much better.

We ask the readers of our website to answer the question; "What
changes would you like to see in Armenia in 2007?"

Last week we suggested our readers answering the following question;
"Did you have to give bribes?"

Over 290 people participated in the polling. 67 percent answered that
they gave money and 10 percent gave presents as bribe. 23 percent
of those surveyed answered, "No I haven’t given bribes at all. It is
beyond my principles"

None of the polling participants answered the variant, "No, I haven’t
come across such cases".

Press Release
Catholicosate of Cilicia
Communication and Information Department
Contact: V.Rev.Father Krikor Chiftjian, Communications Officer
Tel: (04) 410001, 410003
Fax: (04) 419724
E-mail: [email protected]
Web:

PO Box 70 317
Antelias-Lebanon

Armenian version:

THE SECOND EDITION OF "ARMENIAN CILICIA"

The Catholicosate of Cilicia’s Printing House in Antelias recently published
the second edition of Dr. Haroutyoun Der Ghazarian’s topographical work
"Armenian Cilicia" with the generous financial support of the Department of
Armenian Affairs of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

The first edition of this valuable topographical work on Cilicia was
published in 1966 also in Antelias. The author has dedicated his book to
"the eternal memory of passionate protector of the Armenian Church and the
Cilician See, Catholicos Zareh I."

This study is unique in its kind as the only topographical study of the
region. In 399 pages, it condenses valuable information, photographs and
topographical maps prepared by the author himself.

Dr. Der Ghougassian has authored the book based on his observations during
his journeys through Cilicia as a young man. The work was first prepared as
a personal self-interest on the part of the author and was later edited for
publication. It is particularly valuable for researchers interested in the
Cilician world.

##
View the photo here: #2
*****
The Armenian Catholicosate of Cilicia is one of the two Catholicosates of
the Armenian Orthodox Church. For detailed information about the books
published in the Printing House of the Cilician Catholicosate, you may refer
to the web page of the Catholicosate, The Cilician
Catholicosate, the administrative center of the church is located in
Antelias, Lebanon.