The U.N. Security Council has overcome some of its divisions on Syria and expressed its united support for the mission of the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan.
The Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah may have hundreds of operatives based in the United States, according to the Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King.
Wracked by militant attacks, political divisions, sectarian tensions, and economic troubles, Iraq is expected to host Arab leaders next week in a summit it hopes will be a positive play on the diplomatic stage.
Libya's deputy prime minister is meeting with authorities in Mauritania to urge them hand over Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, who has been in custody there since last week
Details after the break.
The U.N. Security Council has overcome some of its divisions on Syria and expressed its united support for the mission of the U.N.-Arab League envoy Kofi Annan. The call for Syrian cooperation comes after months of deadlock within the council on how to respond to the year-old Syrian crackdown on dissent.
After two vetoes from Russia and China in the past five months blocking council action on Syria, Wednesday’s pronouncement had the air of a breakthrough about it.
The Security Council backed a French-drafted statement which includes language that had been previously contentious, including references to a “political transition” in Syria, and a commitment to “further steps” by the council if necessary.
Known as a presidential statement, it requires consensus of all 15 members but does not carry the legally binding weight of a Security Council resolution. It is viewed as a serious message from the council.
British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant, who holds the council presidency this month, told reporters the statement is an “important sign” that the council is united behind Mr. Annan’s efforts.
“This sends precisely the strong and united message to the Syrian government and all other actors in Syria that they need to respond - and respond quickly and immediately - to the six-point plan that has been presented by Mr. Kofi Annan in Damascus,” said Lyall Grant.
Iran/Hezbollah
The Republican chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, said the Iranian-backed militant group Hezbollah may have hundreds of operatives based in the United States, and he said Hezbollah, and not al-Qaida, poses the greatest terrorist threat to Americans. King held a hearing Wednesday with former government officials testifying.
House Homeland Security Committee Chairman Peter King of New York takes U.S. national security very seriously, and he says the terrorist threat to the United States may be shifting.
"Now, as Iran moves closer to nuclear weapons, and there is increasing concern over war between Iran and Israel, we must also focus on Iran's secret operatives and their number one terrorist proxy force, Hezbollah, which we know is in America," said King.
King said there are 84 Iranian diplomats in New York at the United Nations and in Washington, some of whom he said are likely to be spies.
One of the witnesses to the panel, Mitchell Silber, is the New York Police Department's director of intelligence analysis. He said since 2005, New York law enforcement officers have interviewed at least 13 people with ties to Iran's government who were seen taking pictures of New York City landmarks. Police consider the activity to be pre-operational surveillance.
Another one of the witnesses, former FBI official Chris Swecker, agreed that Hezbollah poses a real threat.
"While al-Qaida has gained attention and notoriety with a series of sensational attacks, Hezbollah has quietly and strategically operated below the radar screen by avoiding overt terrorist attacks in the U.S.," said Swecker. "But, nevertheless, Hezbollah is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of U.S. citizens, and including 241 Marines in the bombing of the Beirut barracks" [in 1983].
A former drug enforcement official, Michael Braun, said he fears the confluence of terrorist groups such as Hezbollah and global drug cartels. He said Hezbollah and members of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard are working with cartels.
"They are now operating and working in close proximity and collaborating with Mexican and Colombian drug trafficking cartels, not only in the Western Hemisphere, but other locations such as Guinea Bissau in West Africa," Braun said.
Several witnesses said Tehran may now be prepared to carry out proxy attacks on U.S. soil. They cited a failed plot, allegedly by Iran, to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the U.S. last October in a Washington restaurant.
The ranking member on the committee, Democrat Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, urged caution, especially addressing those lawmakers who are calling for tougher action on Iran's nuclear program. He said, "But we should not engage in a public discussion that creates fear and delivers misinformation."
Thompson said if lawmakers have concerns about Iran, they should invite National Intelligence Director James Clapper to testify in front of them in a classified setting.
Iraq
Wracked by militant attacks, political divisions, sectarian tensions, and economic troubles, Iraq is expected to host Arab leaders next week in a summit it hopes will be a positive play on the diplomatic stage.
Those efforts were complicated on Tuesday when at least 12 near-simultaneous explosions struck across Iraq, killing and wounding dozens.
The bombings came despite a massive security push ahead of the Arab League summit set for March 29 in Baghdad.
The Iraqi government says it is determined to show it can keep the nation secure after U.S. troops left in December. Islamic insurgents from the group Ansar al-Islam have warned they intend to disrupt the meetings and show the country is not safe from violence.
The summit is the first of the 22-member Arab League since the winds of Arab Spring revolutions unfolded last year. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is expected to attend.
Tens of thousands of security forces will be deployed. Baghdad hotels are being refurbished and streets spruced up. Save for arriving delegations, the Baghdad airport will be closed to traffic.
After nearly a decade of war and billions of dollars in foreign aid, Iraq is struggling in its bid for nationhood. But if the meeting of Arab leaders takes place, analysts say Baghdad could take a big step forward.
"It is an important milestone for Iraqis in their return to normalcy," said Daniel Serwer, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington.
Iraq has not hosted Arab leaders since May 1990, shortly before former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and caused upset in the Arab world that led to the Gulf War.
Baghdad was to hold the Arab League conference last year. But it was postponed due to security concerns and political and social upheaval in the Mideast.
As demonstrated by Tuesday's carnage, those concerns - and others - persist.
"There are huge political problems inside Iraq," Hani Ashour, an adviser to the Iraqiyya political bloc, told The National, a newspaper in Abu Dhabi. "The various political groups here can't agree on much, which makes it difficult to host such a meeting. On top of that there is a storm of political problems in the Arab world."
Iraq has invited 21 leaders to attend the summit. Some key former Arab League participants no longer have their place.
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, who spearheaded the Arab League cause for 30 years, is jailed after having resigned last year in a popular uprising. Tunisia's Zine El Abidine Ben Ali is in exile after 23 years in power.
In Yemen, the decades-long rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh ended with vice-president Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi taking over in February. And in Libya, strongman Moammar Gadhafi met his death in civil war.
While those nations and Iraq forge new paths, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia have experienced protests that are leading to modest reforms.
Syria, meanwhile, is torn by a popular uprising and is expected to dominate the Arab League talks.
The Arab League suspended Syria's membership in November after President Bashar al-Assad failed to fulfill a pledge to bring an end to his government's violent crackdown on dissent.
The League has failed in efforts to broker an end to the year-long violence in Syria that has left more than 8,000 people dead.
Iraq has been one of the least vocal of League members about its neighbor Syria.
"These are problematic subjects for Iraq," analyst Serwer said. Iraq has been "less than completely committed to taking down Bashar al-Assad."
And Iraq too is struggling to find its diplomatic tone on another neighbor, Iran, which in a dispute with the West over its controversial nuclear program.
Iraq historically has had a "highly problematic relationship" with Iran, Serwer said.
Relations between the two countries have improved since the end of the Iran-Iraq war in 1988. However, tensions remain concerning the status of ethnic minority Kurds, who have regional autonomy in Iraq.
Kurdish militants seeking increased political and civil rights in Iran and Turkey have waged deadly attacks.
In the lead-up to the summit, Iraq paved the way for smoother relations with a southern neighbor, Kuwait.
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki visited Kuwait earlier this month in a bid to boost ties that have remained strained since Iraq's 1990 invasion.
During talks, Iraq and Kuwait agreed on a $500 million deal that settles a decades-old legal dispute involving Iraq's state-owned airline. The dispute stemmed from Kuwait's accusations that Saddam Hussein stole 10 airplanes and millions of dollars in equipment from Kuwait during the invasion.
Kuwait's emir, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, is expected at the Baghdad summit.
The summit too will mark a religious milestone. Iraq is now Shi'ite-led. With the exception of Maliki, leaders attending the summit are Sunni Muslims.
Iraq has long struggled under the sectarian divide. Khattar Abou Diab, who teaches political science at the University of Paris, says Tuesday's bombing attacks are probably a barometer of a growing divide between Iraq's Sunni and Shi'ite factions.
Abou Diab says the attacks also might have been timed to discredit the government before next week's Arab League summit in Baghdad.
On Monday, hundreds of thousands of followers of Iraqi Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr took to the streets in Basra, not only to mark the anniversary of the 2003 U.S. intervention, but also as a show of power ahead of the summit.
Sadr, a member of Maliki's ruling coalition, vows to ban protests during the summit as a show of "hospitality."
Libya
Libya's deputy prime minister is meeting with authorities in Mauritania to urge them hand over Moammar Gadhafi's intelligence chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, who has been in custody there since last week. Libya is likely to face a diplomatic tug of war with France and the International Criminal Court over custody of the fugitive Libyan leader.
Mauritanian authorities arrested Abdullah al-Senussi late Friday as he tried to enter the country on a flight from Morocco using a fake Malian passport.
Arriving Monday in Nouakchott, Libyan Deputy Prime Minister Mustafa Abu Shagour says they have come to visit their brothers in Mauritania with whom they share many common interests. Shagour says they are determined to leave with al-Senussi. He says al-Senussi has committed crimes against Libya and its people and he must return there to be judged.
Interpol issued an international warrant for al-Senussi on Sunday at Libya's request, for offenses including "embezzling public funds and misuse of power for personal benefit."
Libya is not the only country that wants al-Senussi.
France wants al-Senussi extradited there to serve a life sentence handed down in absentia for his role in the 1989 bombing of a French commercial airliner that killed 170 people.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) wants al-Senussi delivered to the Hague to face trial on two counts of crimes against humanity that were allegedly committed by forces under his control in Benghazi during last year's revolt in Libya.
Mauritania has not yet announced if, or where, it plans to extradite al-Senussi.
Amnesty International says Libya cannot provide a fair trial and Mauritania should hand al-Senussi over to the ICC. Amnesty's senior crisis response advisor, Donatella Rovera, says Libya's justice system is "all but paralyzed" and crimes against humanity are not covered by Libyan law.
"The courts have not resumed working," she said. "Investigations into serious abuses committed by the former opposition fighters who are now organized in militia, abuses are rife and the judiciary has not had any role. It has not investigated. It has not brought to justice any of those responsible. So, against that background, there are concerns about what might happen if he [al-Senussi] were to be transferred to Libya."
Mauritania is not a signatory to the ICC. A U.N. Security Council resolution that urges all states to cooperate with the ICC; however, it is unclear what consequences Mauritania would face if it does not.
Al-Senussi was Gadhafi's right-hand man and is thought to hold some of the best-kept secrets of the Gadhafi regime. He has been on the run since October when rebels captured and killed the toppled dictator.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said the United States wants al-Senussi brought to justice.
"Abdallah al-Senussi's capture is a crucial step towards justice and accountability and another welcome step away from the dark 40-year history of Libya," she said. "He's been accused of crimes against humanity and acts of terrorism, and the international community has been very clear that he needs to be held to account."
Nuland said the United States is in contact with the government of Mauritania. She declined to offer further details but did say that the United States has "always been interested in what he [Senussi] has to say" about the 1988 bombing of a U.S. airliner over Lockerbie, Scotland. The attack killed all 259 people on board and was linked to Libyan intelligence.
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