WarSclerotic

The man who fights Iran – Israel News, Ynetnews.

Mark Dubowitz dedicates himself to defending US against global terror, Iranian threat

Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON– While Iran takes pleasure in seeing the US and the world focusing on recent developments in the Arab world, one man ensures that the Iranian nuclear threat remain on the agenda. His name is Mark Dubowitz, the executive director of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) and head of the independent organization’s Iran Project.

The FDD (www.defenddemocracy.org) was established following the September 11 attacks and is sponsored by private donors and foundations concerned with defending the US against global terror and the Iranian threat.

Dubowitz’s group employs 32 professionals and his project website, www.iranenergyproject.org, has turned into a user’s manual on any issue pertaining to sanctions against Iran, ranging from various pieces of legislation to the monitoring their implementation and presenting the list of companies that no longer do business with the Islamic Republic.

Iran’s nuclear reactor (Photo: AFP)

In the framework of his campaign to raise awareness for the Iranian threat, Dubowitz utilizes any available means. For example, he may arrive at a meeting in Canada’s Prime Minister Office, and on the way there stop by a local TV studio and bluntly urge Ottawa to shift from talk to action.

While Dubowitz is soft spoken, his words reach deep. This modest man’s TV appearances and the articles he writes for leading US newspapers are not meant to promote him personally, but rather, to embarrass and warn anyone still doing business with Iran.

At the age of 42, Dubowitz has turned into an authority on the Iranian issue, and the US Administration is eager to hear what he has to say about the sanctions imposed on Tehran. He appears at Congressional hearings and briefs US military officials, as well as senior Western officials.

Popular in Washington

One is amazed to discover that the US, a superpower boasting 16 intelligence agencies, nonetheless relies on the information and ideas of a man who heads an independent organization.

Dubowitz himself told Ynet that he was uncomfortable being the subject of the article, lavishing praise on officials in the National Security Council, State Department, Treasury and Congress throughout the interview. These officials are working around the clock to address this highly important issue, he said.

“These are the real heroes who do not get the credit,” he said.

So why does the US Administration need Dubowitz and his people? A senior aide in an important Congressional committee told Ynet that “nobody in this town dedicates so much time and effort to one issue. Mark and his research team do an excellent job. If we have a question, they are the first ones we turn to.”

Sought after by Congress (Photo: Reuters)

The aide said that receiving such information from intelligence officials takes time and requires plenty of paperwork, while Dubowitz’ people “work quickly and are accessible.”

“They come to us with information and with ideas. In order to pass legislation on the matter, we need good ideas,” he said

Shining star in business world

Dubowitz’ personal history may be the factor that makes the difference. He arrived from the business sector, where the bottom line matters most and was on the fast track to major success, working in the venture capital industry and focusing on fundraising for early-stage technology companies. He also served as director of international business development for DoubleClick, later acquired by Internet giant Google.

Business, investment and the law are major milestones in Dubowitz’s life journey. He was born in Johannesburg and grew up in Canada, completing his law degree in Toronto and graduating with honors with a master’s in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University. On top of that, he also studied in Jerusalem’s Hebrew University and in Paris.

However, despite his great business success, Dubowitz chose to focus on realizing his true dream.

Turning point: September 11 (Photo: AP)

“I was a strange kid with an obsession with terrorism and plane hijackings. On September 11th it turned out that terrorism is not just an international problem, after it hit us at home,” he said. “I was deeply fearful for the future and decided to quit the private sector and come to Washington, to see if I could make a small difference. In 2003 I joined a small organization (FDD) despite not having any relevant political or policy experience and coming from a wholly different background.”

Quick response time

Dubowitz does not produce thick studies that gather dust at research institutes, but rather, responds quickly to immediate needs, provides information and offers solutions.

“We closely monitor international companies that do business with Iran, invest in Iran’s energy sector and provide important equipment and technologies to this sector,” he said, adding that his organization also monitors the movement of commercial vessels coming into and leaving Iran.

“We look for ships that arrive from North Korea and are interested in suspicious vessels that change their flag more than once,” he said. “We also follow ships that take suspicious routes and transfer uranium from Africa or arms, for example…we have no way of knowing what’s inside these ships, but we provide information about the movement of suspicious vessels to the US Administration.”

Dubowitz says that his organization’s goal is not only to closely monitor companies doing business with Iran, but also to analyze Tehran’s response to the sanctions.

“It’s a chess game. Iran seeks loopholes in US legislation and opportunities to circumvent it,” he said. “When we discover something that we deem to be of great significance, we write about it in the press, talk about it on television, or quietly approach our friends in the Administration and in Congress.”

Military strike? Not now

Dubowitz does not think that now is the right time for military strikes on Iran.

“The sanctions are working by putting pressure on the regime, although they have not secured their objective and may never do so – putting an end to Iran’s nuclear program. The best way is to work towards changing the regime. Any deal cut with this regime will be violated.”

Dubowitz notes that the US and Europe have failed in providing moral and material support that could have been decisive during the Iranian protests of June 2009.

Striking Iran? Not now (Photo: AFP)

“The Administration realizes this, and has started to change its tone,” he said, adding that the next measures against Iran will take the form of tighter personal sanctions against senior Islamic republic officials and their supporters, a move that got underway a few days ago after the European Union blacklisted 32 senior Iranian officials. The US also extended its own list, including 10 more senior figures in Ahmadinejad’s regime.

“This is an important step. The Administration is changing its policy and now comes the phase of exerting direct pressure on those who carry out the regime’s decisions in the area of human rights,” Dubowitz said. “This is a key move. The objective here is to single them out personally, to isolate and alarm them. From now on they must think twice before murdering and torturing their own people.”

“I believe that in the coming weeks, Congress will present comprehensive human rights and democracy promotion legislation that will target individuals and international companies involved in oppressing Iranians,” Dubowitz summed up.” “These sanctions will help to undermine Iran’s moral legitimacy and hopefully turn it into a pariah state. and the members of congress and their hard working staff behind all these measures deserve the gratitude of all people who are threatened by this brutal and dangerous regime.”

Britain calls on Assad to stop attacks on protesters.

  LONDON – Britain said on Tuesday it was working with its international partners on possible further measures against Syria and called on Syrian President Bashar Assad to stop attacks on anti-goverment protesters.

“The United Kingdom is working intensively with our international partners to persuade the Syrian authorities to stop the violence and respect basic and universal human rights to freedoms of expression and assembly,” Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague said.

“This includes working with our partners on the United Nations Security Council to send a strong signal to the Syrian authorities that the eyes of the international community are on Syria, and with our partners in the European Union and the region on possible further measures.”

US President Barack Obama on Monday spoke by phone with Turkish Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan telling him the US expressed deep concern about the violence in Syria.

“The leaders agreed that the Syrian government must end the use of violence now and promptly enact meaningful reforms that respect the democratic aspirations of Syrian citizens,” the White House said.

Human Rights Watch calls on UN to probe Syria violence

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast rejected Obama’s words on Iranian interference in Syria, calling them “unfounded and baseless,” Press TV reported.

Mehmanparast warned the US that they should “think about their words.”

“Regional nations will never forget the White House’s unilateral support for the illegitimate Zionist regime (Israel) and its occupation and crimes against the oppressed people of Palestine and Lebanon over the past six decades,” he noted.

Security forces arrested some 500 pro-democracy sympathizers across Syria after the government sent in tanks to try to crush protests in the city of Deraa, the Syrian rights organization Sawasiah said early Tuesday.

The independent organization said it had received reports that at least 20 people had been killed in Deraa since tanks moved in on Monday, but communications with the southern town where the protests against President Bashar al-Assad began on March 18 had been cut making it hard to confirm the information.

“Witnesses managed to tell us that at least 20 civilians have been killed in Deraa, but we do not have their names and we cannot verify,” said a Sawasiah official, adding that two civilians were confirmed dead in the Damascus suburb of Douma, which forces entered earlier in the day.

At least 500 were arrested elsewhere in Syria, it said.

Amateur video showed soldiers and tanks deployed on the outskirts of Deraa early on Monday. In one clip, residents are heard saying of the troops, “Instead of fighting on the Golan, they’re fighting their own people.”

Syrian government officials accused Deraa residents of wishing their region to be annexed to Israel, Channel 2 reported.

The US announced Monday that it was considering sanctions against Syrian government officials to increase pressure on Assad to end the violent crackdown on protesters, a US official said.

The measures, which could freeze the officials’ assets and ban them from doing business in the United States, would likely come in an executive order signed by US President Barack Obama, the US official said on condition of anonymity.

But a final decision has yet to be made and there was no word on whether Assad might be a target, the official said.

Britain, France, Germany and Portugal also asked the UN Security Council to condemn Syria’s violent crackdown against protesters and to urge restraint by the government, council diplomats said on Monday.

But it was unclear whether Russia and China would support the idea. The two permanent veto-wielding council members have become increasingly critical of the UN-backed intervention to protect civilians in Libya, which UN diplomats say Moscow and Beijing worry aims at ousting Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

Oren Kessler and JPost.com staff contributed to this report.

DEBKAfile, Political Analysis, Espionage, Terrorism, Security.

DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis April 26, 2011, 9:08 AM (GMT+02:00)

Obama and Erdogan let Syria off the hook

US President Barack Obama continues to avoid direct action against Bashar Assad’s increasingly savage crackdown on dissidents by cultivating a partnership with Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan. After talking on the phone early Tuesday April 26, the two leaders voiced “deep concern over the unacceptable use of violence” in Syria and went on to say: “The leaders agreed that the Syrian government must end the use of violence now and promptly enact meaningful reforms that respect the democratic aspirations of Syrian citizens.”
There was no condemnation of Bashar Assad, his brother Maher Assad or their use of tank artillery and troops to pound entire city blocks, shoot civilians at random or mass arrests. Early Tuesday, Washington recalled nonessential US embassy staff and diplomats’ families from Damascus.
These actions, rather than reining in the Syrian ruler, will have told him he has at another 48-72 hours at least to use the army for polishing off his violent purge of protesters in towns where they have swept up entire districts. In the coming hours, those towns will be condemned to the same fate as the southern city of Daraa, the first to rise up against the Assad regime last month, where Monday, tanks and snipers began massacring the population after shutting down its electricity and telephone communications with the outside world.

Obama and Erdogan have therefore given the Assads a precious lease of life for reasserting their grip on power by brute force.
debkafile‘s Washington sources report that Obama’s decision to engage Assad through the Turkish leader did not come out of the blue. He has been in continuous discreet dialogue with Erdogan by phone since the first protesters took the streets of Syria almost six weeks ago. President Obama was well aware that Erdogan was also on the phone almost daily to Bashar Assad to transmit enormously valuable information: The state of affairs in Syrian towns based on data coming in from Turkish National Intelligence (MIT) undercover agents in the field. He also kept Assad abreast of where the White House stood on different Middle East issues, including Syria.
The secret three-way channel linking Washington, Ankara and Damascus was first uncovered by DEBKA-Net-Weekly 488 on April 8. It then came to light without stirring much notice on April 17 when the Turkish MIT chief Hakan Fidan visited Damascus and was received by the Syrian president.
But the Obama-Erdogan bid to keep the Syrian pot under control blew up under twin pressures: the explosion of long pent-up popular resentment of life in a police state and the extremes to which its heads were willing to go to crush any internal threat to their survival.

The opposition was not impressed by Assad’s show of abolishing the 48-year old emergency laws on April 19 because it was not a genuine concession to demands for reform but a meaningless gesture meant only to get the US and Turkish leaders off his back. The midnight arrests and street shootings of demonstrators went on regardless, with or without the draconian regulations.

After getting away with that charade, Assad felt free Sunday night, April 24 to unleash his tank columns against the populace. And now, the Obama-Erdogan statement gives him more leeway for following through on his bloody crackdown for at least another couple of days until his regime is safe and its opponents crushed.
According to debkafile‘s intelligence sources President Obama knew the Syrian ruler was about to deploy his entire army against the protest movement. He could have tried to hold his hand with a stern official warning of serious consequences, even without Erdogan. But the US president chose to cement his partnership with the Turkish prime minister rather than try seriously to stem the violence against Syria’s pro-democratic movement.
The Obama-Erdogan statement on Syria oddly contained two unrelated elements: It called on Muammar Qaddafi to “step down and leave Libya permanently” and expressed a hope for better Turkish-Israeli relations.

‘Let Israel come and take Syria’ – Israel News, Ynetnews.

As Syrian security forces step up crackdown against demonstrators, desperate citizens plead for international intervention. ‘Let the Jews come – anything is better than Bashar Assad,’ says Daraa resident

News agencies

The Syrian government continues to crack-down on pro-reform protesters, with Monday’s death toll reaching between 11 and 25 people during a demonstration in Daraa, according to varying reports.

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks poured Monday into the city where the five-week-old uprising began, opening fire indiscriminately on civilians before dawn and killing at least 11 people, witnesses said.

The offensive was planned in detail with electricity, water and mobile phone services cut off and knife-wielding security agents conducting house-to-house sweeps.

Witnesses said busloads of troops poured in before dawn and snipers took up positions on the roofs of houses and high buildings while other security agents searched houses for suspected protesters.

“We need international intervention. We need countries to help us,” a witness in Daraa told the Associated Press on the phone, adding that he saw five corpses after security forces opened fire on a car.

“Let Obama come and take Syria. Let Israel come and take Syria. Let the Jews come – anything is better than Bashar Assad,” he said, playing on Syria’s hatred for Israel to highlight how much town residents despise their leader.

Meanwhile, the White House stepped up its condemnation of President Bashar Assad’s regime, but stopped well short of demanding the ouster of a leader some US Democrats had considered a potential reformer and peace broker.

The US State Department on Monday told American citizens to leave Syria as soon as they can and ordered some personnel at the US Embassy in Damascus to depart the country.

Is Assad interested in international condemnation of crackdown? – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

The gloves come off in Syria as Assad goes to war with his own people.

By Avi Issacharoff

The Syrian army yesterday entered several cities in the country, reportedly massacring civilians along the way, in what appears to be Syrian President Bashar Assad’s great counterattack against his opposition. The massive operation is meant to transfer control of these cities to the hands of the military, and to put a stop to the protests by sheer force, including fire from tanks and snipers.

Dozens of opposition activists were arrested in raids, just a week after Assad canceled Syria’s emergency laws.

	In this image from Syrian state television President Bashar Assad makes a speech in front of his cabinet in Damasus, Syria Saturday April 16, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

The casualty count on Friday was the highest yet – more than 100 dead – and another 12 people were shot dead at funerals held Friday for protesters killed earlier.

For the Syrian president and the Alawite military elite around him, this is a war for survival. As his father Hafez Assad did in 1982, in Hama, Assad decided to take off the “kid gloves” and suppress the protest at any price, including equally unprecedented public criticism.

U.S. President Barack Obama’s direct attack on Assad’s regime did little to deter the Syrian president, who apparently decided to escalate violence against the opposition on the assumption that the international community will not take dramatic steps against Syria – that is a similar move to the bombing campaign in Libya.

Assad is, in effect, mocking his international critics. He clearly has little interest in the international community’s condemnation. He has understood that the reforms he offered the Syrian public not only did not quell the unrest, but may have even added fuel to the fire.

The Syrian Interior Ministry announced that the protests were being led by radical Islamist forces seeking to harm Syrian security, and the green light was given for the military to lash out against any attempts at protest.

Until last night, the political leadership and the military rank and file have shown remarkable restraint. While opposition websites carried rumors that the commander of the third division of the Syrian army was arrested after protesting against the military’s intervention in the city of Dara’a, there are are few signs of extensive defections among the military.

Alawite silence

Time Magazine reported on Sunday that Assad mainly relies on the fourth armored division, commanded by one of his brothers, and on the Presidential Guard; but the general army so far has shown scarce hesitancy in firing on unarmed protesters – even if it’s unclear how long this discipline will hold.

Meanwhile, little protest is heard from the Ba’ath Party leadership or the Alawite elite.

Two members of parliament and the mufti of Dara’a resigned, but widespread defection or even criticism from within the party is nowhere to be seen.

Assad can also draw encouragement because Syria’s two major cities, Damascus and Aleppo, have not joined in the protests seen in other cities. The few protests seen in Aleppo weeks ago soon died out.

Events in Syria are being watched with concern across the Middle East. Apart from Israel, which occasionally voices concern that one hostile ruler may be replaced with an even more hostile ruler or group, there is the worry of Assad’s three natural allies, Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas.

The Hamas leadership enjoys funding and hosting by Syria, and any change in Assad’s status does not bode well for it.

Hezbollah and other forces operating in Lebanon understand that the Syrian president’s fall could undermine the infamously fragile power equation in Lebanon, where so many have died at the hands of Syrian operatives, under both Assads.

In Iran, the specter of Assad’s fall is a real concern, not only because Tehran is an important ally, but also because of the ramifications this would have for future protest against the Iranian regime.

One of Iran’s leading human rights activists, Nobel Prize laureate Shereen Abadi, said on Saturday that “democracy in Islamic and Arab countries, especially in Syria, will surely have an effect on democracy in Iran. If Syria becomes democratic, Iran will lose its puppet.”

At least 11 killed as thousands of Syrian soldiers, tanks occupy major cities – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News.

U.S. recalls embassy staff as major troop movements signify Assad’s intention to use force to crush protests.

By The Associated Press

Thousands of soldiers backed by tanks and snipers moved in before dawn on Tuesday to the city where Syria’s anti-government uprising began, causing panic in the streets when they opened fire indiscriminately on civilians and went house-to-house rounding up suspected protesters. At least 11 people were killed and 14 others lay in the streets – either dead or gravely wounded, witnesses said.

The U.S. State Department said on Monday it has ordered some non-essential U.S. embassy officials in Damascus and all embassy dependents to leave Syria because of the “uncertainty and volatility” in the country.

	Amateur video released by Sham News Network, a Syrian Freedom group, shows a tank in the Daraa, Syria, April 25, 2011.
	Photo by: AP

The White House said Monday that it was considering sanctions against the Syrian government in response to the brutal crackdown, the first time officials had said publicly that sanctions were possible. Syria already is subject to numerous penalties as it is deemed a state sponsor of terrorism by the State Department.

The military raids on the southern city of Daraa and at least two other areas suggested Syria is trying to impose military control on the centers of protests against President Bashar Assad, whose family has ruled Syria for four decades. Residents and human rights activists said the regime wants to terrify opponents and intimidate them from staging any more demonstrations.

The offensive was meticulously planned: Electricity, water and mobile phone services were cut. Security agents armed with guns and knives conducted house-to-house searches, neighborhoods were sectioned off and checkpoints were erected before the sun rose.

“They have snipers firing on everybody who is moving,” a witness told The Associated Press by telephone. “They aren’t discriminating. There are snipers on the mosque. They are firing at everybody,” he added, asking that his name not be used for fear of retribution.

The massive assault on Daraa appeared to be part of new strategy of crippling, pre-emptive strikes against any opposition to Assad, rather than reacting to demonstrations. Other crackdowns and arrest sweeps were reported on the outskirts of Damascus and the coastal town of Jableh – bringing more international condemnation and threats of targeted sanctions by Washington.

Razan Zeitounia, a human rights activist in Damascus, said the widespread arrests – including of men along with their families – appear to be an attempt to scare protesters and set an example for the rest of the country.

The attack on Daraa, an impoverished city on the Jordanian border, was by far the biggest in scope and firepower. Video purportedly shot by activists showed tanks rolling through streets and grassy fields with soldiers on foot jogging behind them.

Witnesses said busloads of troops poured in before dawn and snipers took up positions on the roofs of houses and high buildings while other security agents searched houses for suspected protesters.

“They are entering houses. They are searching the houses,” said one witness. “They are carrying knives and guns.”

He said people were crying out over mosque loudspeakers for doctors to help the wounded and there was panic in the streets.

“We need international intervention. We need countries to help us,” shouted another witness in Daraa, who said he saw five corpses after security forces opened fire on a car. He spoke to the AP by telephone.

“Let Obama come and take Syria. Let Israel come and take Syria. Let the Jews come,” shouted one Daraa resident over the phone. “Anything is better than Bashar Assad,” he said, playing on Syria’s hatred for Israel to highlight how much town residents despise their leader.

All witnesses spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Daraa, a drought-parched region of 300,000 in the south, has seen some of the worst bloodshed over the past five weeks as the uprising gained momentum. The area was ripe for unrest: The grip of Syria’s security forces is weaker on the border areas than around the capital, Damascus, and Daraa hasn’t benefited from recent years of economic growth.

Meanwhile, Daraa has absorbed many rural migrants who can no longer farm after years of drought.

The city of Daraa was where Syria’s uprising began in mid-March, touched off by the arrest of teenagers who scrawled anti-government graffiti on a wall.

A relentless crackdown since mid-March has killed more than 350 people throughout the country, with 120 alone dying over the weekend. But that has only emboldened protesters, who started with calls for modest reforms but are now increasingly demanding Assad’s downfall.

State-run television quoted a military source as saying army units entered the city. Rattling, heavy gunfire could still be heard late Monday. Soldiers, masked men in black uniforms and plainclothes security forces were manning checkpoints made from mounds of dirt throughout the area, a resident said.

In Jableh, men who tried to leave their houses were shot at by soldiers and thugs, three residents said, and only women were allowed onto the streets to buy food. Some quietly managed to bury seven men and a woman who were killed by security forces the day before, witnesses said.

Security forces banned them from conducting funeral marches that frequently morph into protests.

Syria has banned nearly all foreign media and restricted access to trouble spots since the uprising began, making it almost impossible to verify the dramatic events shaking one of the most authoritarian, anti-Western regimes in the Arab world.

Syria is a close ally of Iran and a backer of the militant groups Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

There were conflicting reports about whether authorities sealed the Syrian border with Jordan, although the head of Syria’s Customs Department said crossings at the frontier were open as normal.

A Jordanian taxi driver said the border was open, but the main highway linking Syria with Jordan was blocked.

“The situation on the highway is scary,” he said. “Protesters are burning tires and hurling stones at the army, which is responding with live fire, shooting randomly at civilians.”

Assad has blamed most of the unrest on a foreign conspiracy and armed thugs, and has used state media to push his accusations.

The violence has exacerbated sectarian tensions that had largely been kept in check under Assad’s iron rule and secular ideology. The majority of the population is Sunni Muslim, but Assad and the ruling elite belong to the minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Islam’s Shiite branch that dominates in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain.

On Monday, Syrian TV repeatedly ran lingering, gruesome close-ups of dead soldiers, their eyes blown out and parts of their limbs missing, to back up their claims that they were under attack. The channel then turned to showing soldiers’ funeral marches, with men waving red, black and white Syrian flags and hoisting photos of Assad.

Unrest in Syria has repercussions well beyond its borders.

Syria has a pivotal role in most of the flashpoint issues of the Middle East – from the Arab-Israeli peace process to Iran’s widening influence. Instability has thrown into disarray the U.S. push for engagement with Damascus, part of Washington’s hopes to peel the country away from Hamas, Hezbollah and Tehran.

In recent days, there had been signs that the regime was planning to launch a massive push against the opposition.

Last week, Assad fulfilled a key demand of the protest movement by abolishing nearly 50-year-old emergency laws that had given the regime a free hand to arrest people without cause. But he coupled the concession with a stern warning that protesters would no longer have an excuse to hold mass protests, and any further unrest would be considered sabotage.

When protesters defied his order and held demonstrations Friday – the main day for protests around the Arab world – they were met with gunfire, tear gas and stun guns.

At the United Nations, France, Britain, Germany and Portugal were urging the UN Security Council to strongly condemn the violence against peaceful demonstrators.

In Geneva, the UN human rights chief, Navi Pillay, said Syria has turned its back on international calls to stop killing its own people.