Amnesty accuses Lebanon of torture

Amnesty International has accused Lebanon of torturing and unfairly trying two men jailed 10 years ago for politically-motivated killings and called for their release or prompt retrial.

Former Christian militia leader Samir Geagea and militia member Jirjis Khury have been held in "cruel, inhuman and degrading conditions" at the Ministry of Defence Detention Centre (MDDC) in Beirut since 1994, Amnesty said.

Geagea, leader of the Lebanese Forces (LF), was jailed for crimes including assassinating Christian and Muslim leaders during the 1975-1990 civil war. Khury was found guilty of involvement in a 1994 church bombing that killed 11 people.

Amnesty said Khury confessed under torture, that both men were unfairly tried, that the Justice Council that tried them had not investigated the allegations of torture and that both have been held for more than 10 years in solitary confinement.

Unfair trial

"Samir Geagea and Jirjis Khury, like scores of other LF members, may have been victims of human rights violations committed in a climate of political repression and intimidation," Amnesty said in a report released on Tuesday.

"The organisation is calling for (the men) to be released or promptly retried, before an ordinary and independent criminal court, in proceedings that conform with international fair trial standards, and for allegations of torture to be investigated."

An Amnesty spokesman told Reuters there had been problems at the MDDC for many years. The report said former detainees had reported mistreatment including being stripped, blindfolded, beaten, having toes crushed and hair pulled out.

"The problem in Lebanon has been there for a long time," Ordesse Hamad, an Amnesty International official said.

"People have been in detention in this place since 1994. So many people were taken there, so many people spoke about torture and ill treatment. And there are also other detention centres."

The London-based rights group said legal problems also went beyond the Justice Council, Lebanon's highest court.

"In this case we are dealing with the highest court in the country but there are also serious flaws in other courts, I think the whole judicial system needs an overhaul," Hamad said.

Reuters: Monday 22 November 2004 7:42 PM GMT

Amnesty International Seeks Geagea's Immediate Release

Human rights group Amnesty International has called for the release or retrial of Lebanese Forces commander Samir Geagea, contending he is jailed in degrading conditions and was convicted in an unfair trial. Amnesty called on Lebanese authorities to immediately release Geagea and Jirjis al-Khoury, who are both serving life sentences in solitary confinement at the defense ministry jail in Yarze on charges of killing political opponents. "Both men suffered serious violations and irregularities in pretrial detention" and are being held in "cruel, inhuman and degrading" conditions, Amnesty said in a statement released in London Tuesday. "They are not allowed to communicate with other detainees, are denied access to newspapers, radio, TV and any literature of a political nature," said the report. The rights group said al-Khoury told the judges at his trial that he confessed under torture, yet the confession was accepted as the main evidence against him. Lebanon denied the allegations. In a statement faxed to The Associated Press, the Lebanese Army said both men had regular visitors from their families and lawyers. Geagea , who was arrested in 1994 when the government outlawed the LF, is serving four life terms totaling 120 years on charges of murder, attempting to rekindle the Lebanese civil war and partitioning Lebanon into sectarian mini-states. Right-wing Christian politicians and Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir had stubbornly argued that the court verdicts were politically motivated because Geagea refused to join the pro-Syrian cabinets that were formed after the civil war guns fell silent in 1990.(AP-Naharnet)

DELTA WATCH: Syrian Bank Funded Insurgency with Saddam's Millions

The United States has concluded that Syria helped finance the Sunni insurgency in Iraq.
Officials said the regime of President Bashar Assad used the state-owned Commercial Bank of Syria to relay hundreds of millions of dollars to Saddam Hussein loyalists in Iraq. They said the money has been deployed to finance the insurgency against the U.S.-led coalition primarily in Iraq's Sunni Triangle.
The Commercial Bank of Syria held more than $1 billion in Saddam regime accounts on the eve of the U.S.-led war in Iraq in March 2003, officials said. Most of that money stemmed from Iraqi arms and oil smuggling as well as illegal commissions obtained from Iraqi oil sales overseen by the United Nations.
During a hearing by the Senate subcommittee on Nov. 15, Treasury Assistant Secretary Juan Carlos Zarate asserted that Syria has disbursed $600 million to unidentified Iraqis. Zarate, responsible for terrorist financing and financial crimes at Treasury, said a U.S. team was auditing the Commercial Bank of Syria in an attempt to trace the transfer of funds.
"What we found was when we sent our investigators to Damascus, upon review of the documents and review of the transactional data, it became clear that the Syrians had, in fact, paid out the vast bulk of the amount that had existed in that particular account," Zarate said.
Officials said that over the last 18 months Damascus transferred up to $800 million of Saddam's assets to senior aides of the former president, several of whom have been based in Syria. They said much of the money was believed to have been transferred to ex-Iraqi Vice President Izzet Ibrahim Al Douri, identified as the chief financier of the Sunni insurgency.
"We have folks on the front line right now that are sacrificing their lives, that are under fire, and somewhere, somehow, there's money being used to fuel that insurgency," Sen. Norm Coleman, chairman of the permanent investigations subcommittee of the Senate Government Affairs Committee, said. "And I would just hope that a very strong message is delivered to the Syrians, that we get their cooperation, that we track this down and we figure out what's what."
Officials said Syria has asserted that the money was relayed to Iraqi brokers and traders. They said Treasury was seeking to examine these claims, but said Damascus has failed to cooperate.
"I would have to say poor," Zarate said in his description of Syrian cooperation with Washington.
The United States has identified the Commercial Bank of Syria as a primary money-laundering concern. Officials said the bank, which has come under threat of U.S. sanctions, facilitated illicit activity with Iraq, including the financing of the insurgency war in Iraq.
"This issue has been front and center in terms of the dialogue with the Syrian government," Zarate said. "It's been part of the dialogue at the highest levels. So we are very much concerned, as you are, that the amounts paid out were either not paid out to legitimate claimants or were paid out to people who are attempting to do us harm now."
Officials said Damascus has failed to honor its assurances to the United States regarding Iraq. They said Damascus has also refused to relay any of Saddam's assets to help develop Syria's eastern neighbor.
The Bush administration has been under pressure from Congress to impose additional sanctions on Syria for its failure to halt the flow of weapons, money and fighters to the Sunni insurgency in Iraq. Officials said this would comprise a key issue when Congress begins its new session in 2005.
Zarate said Treasury was working with other U.S. government agencies to trace U.S. currency seized in Iraq to determine the flow of funds to the insurgency. He did not elaborate.
"We also have assets within Iraq, and that's why the Department of Defense, our soldiers on the ground, the FBI and others are working so hard to try to find those caches of cash within Iraq," Zarate said. "And then finally you have traditional sources of terrorist funding in the region which are mobilizing for the Iraqi jihad, in essence."

Source: WORLD TRIBUNE.COM - Friday, November 19, 2004

U.S. Dead Serious about Getting Syria Out, Removing Hizbullah off N. Israel

The Bush administration is 'seriously determined' to get Syria out of Lebanon and will redouble pressure on the Beirut government to deploy The Lebanese army along the border with Israel to remove Hizbullah's irregulars off the last active Arab-Israeli warfront, U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Feltman says. The ambassador spelled out the hardened U.S. stance during what An Nahar labeled in its page-one banner-line Thursday as "Feltman's day on Beirut podiums," which came just two days after Bush swore in hawkish Condoleezza Rice as Secretary of State during his second term in the White House, replacing dovish Colin Powell. Feltman spoke at four rostrums Wednesday, one after meeting with Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir in Bkirki, secondly at Lebanon's Press Association in Raouche, then at the Journalist's Association in Ashrafiyeh, and finally at a question-and-answer session with a packed audience in the Lebanese press Club in downtown Beirut. He made these major statements: 1- Syria must withdraw its army from Lebanon in compliance with U.N. Security Council resolution 1559 to enable Lebanon to be a "sovereign, independent state." The U.S. and its world partners are dead serious about 1559's implementation and the Syrians must be "careful not to misread us." 2- The U.S. wants to see a positive and constructive relationship created between Lebanon and Syria on a basis of mutual respect, non-intervention in each other's domestic affairs, and the establishment of normal diplomatic ties between the two governments. "Lebanon's sovereignty deserves respect." 3-The Beirut government is required to quickly deploy the Lebanese army along the Blue Line and disarm Hizbullah and Palestinian militias operating on Lebanese territory. "The Lebanese army is a professional fighting machine capable of deploying throughout South Lebanon and the rest of the Lebanese territories." 4- The United States wants to see "credible and transparent" elections for a new Lebanese parliament in spring according to international norms . "The United States will be extremely supportive for a new electoral law that enables the people of Lebanon to express their will at the polls."

U.N. Probes Syria's Disobedience as Hizbullah's Drone Lands in NY

The U.N. Security Council convenes Monday to discuss the post-Arafat Middle East, with a particular focus on Syria's refusal to withdraw its army from Lebanon and Hizbullah's recent penetration of Israeli airspace by a spy plane without a pilot.
"Hizbullah's drone lands at Security Council," exclaimed an inspired page-one headline of a Beirut daily about the undetected espionage air foray into Israel's northern skies Nov. 7, which kindled fears of potential attacks on Israeli population centers by booby-trapped Hizbullah aircraft.

The Bush administration was reported to have conveyed to the 15 Security Council member-states "profound alarm" over the drone affair, a move that set the stage for closed-doors debate at the Council's regular monthly session at the U.N. headquarters in New York Monday evening.

The newly started 13th Beirut daily Al Balad said the U.S. was "seriously following up" the lack of any process on the ground to implement resolution 1559, which demands immediate total Syrian military pullout from Lebanon and a timetabled disarmament of Hizbullah.

It said the Americans were also keen about the new electoral law Premier Omar Karami's government has promised to promulgate upon the turn of the year. "The U.S. is bent on making sure the new law would not be tailored to Syria's measurements," Al Balad said.

The report came a day after An Nahar said the Western countries had made it plain to Lebanon and Syria that they would not be able to wriggle out of dictates of resolution 1559, calling the implementation of the resolution 'inescapable."

Iran Reportedly Pays out $500 for Every U.S. Soldier Killed in Iraq

Iran has spies, weapons and attackers in Iraq, and may have a 500 dollar bounty on the head of each U.S. soldier there, according to intelligence reports, a U.S. news magazine said Sunday.
"Iran ... poses the greatest long-term threat to U.S. efforts in Iraq," wrote an analyst with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations in December, 2003, according to a report published in the Monday edition of U.S. News and World Report.

"Iranian intelligence agents are conducting operations in every major city with a significant Shia (Muslim) population," a U.S. Army's V Corps analyst wrote in a 2003 document examined by the news weekly.

"The counterintelligence threat from Iran is assessed to be high, as locally employed people, former military officers, politicians, and young men are recruited, hired, and trained by Iranian intelligence to collect (intelligence) on coalition forces," the V Corps analyst wrote.

The magazine said that "raw" intelligence indicated that Iran may have a 500 dollar bounty on each U.S. soldier, and the repeated interception of such information, from various sources, led analysts to believe it may be true.

U.S. News also reported that Iran appeared to be behind a plan to kill Paul Bremer, then the top U.S. administrator in Iraq, as a grim two-year anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks.

The plan was quite well along, according to intelligence documents, and detailed down to the make of taxi, a Toyota Corona, to be used in a bombing and the name of a planner, Himin Bani Shari, a top member of Ansar Al-Islam and known to associate with Iranian spies, the magazine said.

An assessment by the U.S. Army's V Corps, which then directed all Army activity in Iraq, said, "Iranian intelligence continues to prod and facilitate the infiltration of Iraq with their subversive elements while providing them support once they are in country," according to the Washington-based newsmagazine

DELTA WATCH: Issam Fares, Hillary Clinton and Tufts University

By Benjamin Gedan, Globe Correspondent  |  November 11, 2004

 

MEDFORD -- Hillary Clinton didn't exactly announce her candidacy for president last night in a speech at Tufts University. But just a hint of her ambitions in 2008 sparked applause and laughter from a crowd of 5,000, when Clinton praised the Afghan woman who recently ran for president.

''A remarkable feat considering the history," Clinton said of Massouda Jalal, 41, as the crowd erupted. ''One that put Afghanistan's women ahead of America's women."

In a speech about Middle East politics, the New York senator said she had hoped to discuss ''President Kerry's" new hope for the volatile region.

But the crowd that had stretched a city block and waited in icy air to hear her speak was more interested in Clinton's star power and the possibility she would run in four years than in her comments on Kerry's loss or Middle East politics.

Students repeatedly showered Clinton with applause before she spoke her first word. And Lawrence S. Bacow, the Tufts president, drew another round when he praised Clinton for attracting 300 more spectators than her husband did during his visit two years ago.

Issam M. Fares, the deputy prime minister of Lebanon and the event's sponsor, said he does not interfere in US domestic politics.

But, Fares said in an interview, participants in his annual lecture frequently add to their global credentials.

''This has been a good omen," he said, referring to Colin L. Powell, who lectured at Tufts just months before being appointed secretary of state. ''When they come here, they do go somewhere."

Clinton made no direct references to a possible presidential run, but her hour-long speech sought to display her foreign policy credentials, pushing for Turkey's admission to the European Union, warning of Iran's nuclear ambitions, and casting doubt on the potential value of the fighting in Fallujah, Iraq.

For Yasser Arafat, the Palestinian leader who died in Paris later last night, Clinton had no kind words.

Before Arafat died in a French hospital, Clinton assailed the 75-year-old, who many say squandered her husband's legacy when he failed to sign a peace agreement with Israel during the waning moments of President Clinton's presidency.

''Yasser Arafat could not make the transition from guerrilla leader to national leader," Hillary Clinton said. ''At the end of the day, Mr. Arafat was unwilling or unable to take that leap of faith."

Clinton said Arafat's widely expected death offers an opportunity for renewed negotiations in the Middle East and for Palestinians to rein in terrorist groups and organize a free election.

She also criticized President Bush for what she called ''disengagement" from the conflict.

''We withdrew from engagement at the beginning of the Bush administration," Clinton said.

Her remarks about Arafat stood out in an otherwise cautious speech, said James M. Glaser, a political science professor at Tufts.

''I was surprised, given that he [was] on his deathbed," Glaser said.

In discussing Arafat, Clinton echoed the views of her husband, who also used his speech at Tufts to blame the longtime Palestinian leader for choosing a bloody uprising over a peace agreement.

That decision, ending the Camp David negotiations, cost Clinton an enduring foreign policy achievement.

''That was going to be one of Clinton's great legacies, and it got spoiled," Glaser said.

Senator Clinton also took aim at Bush, saying that many of his predecessors had negotiated with the Soviet Union, yet he insists on isolating North Korea and Iran.

She argued that the United States should join European countries in talks to persuade Iran to end its nuclear program.

Iran, Clinton said, sponsors terrorism, is seeking nuclear weapons, and ''resembles the place many people in the administration believed Iraq was."

''This time," she added, ''the weapons of mass destruction and the threats they pose are very real."

Clinton spoke as part of an annual lecture series at Tufts funded by Fares, a former trustee and a major donor.

 

The Olive Branch

BY Gebran Tueni

"Abu Ammar", Yasser Arafat, the "old man" died.But do the great men really die? Irrespective of our own opinion – in fact we were at odds with Arafat during the war on Lebanon – did John Kennedy, Che Guevara, Abd El Nasser, Khrushchev and De Gaulle die?The great men do not die because they lay the foundations of the future, and their deeds remain alive after their death.Yasser Arafat may be the last giant of the Arab world or even of this age!Men like him are great whether you like them or not, you agree with them or not.He was the man of contradictions who bore the olive branch in one hand and the rifle in another. All his life, he dreamt of return, and he returned to Palestine to lay the foundations of the independent Palestinian state. It is not easy to write now about Yasser Arafat especially if you belong to the war generation – our generation – who used to dream during the youth age about the Palestinian revolution and all revolutions, a generation that used to wear a Kaffiyeh because it was the symbol of rage and permanent revolution.However, that generation soon abandoned the Kaffiyeh and the Palestinian revolution in the beginning of the seventies and later on when the war started in Lebanon and "Abu Ammar" became a major party in this war, and was responsible with many others for the bloodshed and the death of the Lebanese dream.Our generation went from blind support to Arafat and his revolution to blind enmity, not to say irrevocable hostility towards him and his revolution.In that time, our generation pulled out weapons against those who were supposed to liberate Palestine but used their weapons to build the road to Palestine through Jounieh, Beirut, Mount Lebanon and Damour at the detriment of Lebanon and its people.Throughout the war in Lebanon, we were in conflict with Abu Ammar because we did not want Lebanon to become a substitute homeland, another Palestine – or a consolation prize in exchange of a land that may never be recovered – and we considered that Abu Ammar is the one who gave up his dream, his land and his cause!After Abu Ammar left Lebanon with his militants and weapons, I met him in Jordan. The interview started with a verbal attack behind the barricades that stood between us for minutes, but he soon returned to the language of reason and spoke about the dream of the sixties and the revolution he launched in his youth.The second meeting was in his Tunisian exile and the conversation was warm and deep.The third meeting was in Baghdad after the assassination of "Abu Jihad", and Abu Ammar was hoping that the Intifada would introduce the required change.The other meetings were with the man who bore the olive branch in Davos where Arafat went from being the first fighter to becoming the first negotiator and peace advocate.In all our meetings, Abu Ammar used to talk about Lebanon with tears in his eyes and a twinge of sorrow. He used to acknowledge that the Palestinian resistance has fallen into the trap and said more than once that he regretted the mistakes of the past and that he was eager to gain the trust of the Lebanese people and open a new page in his relations with them.Irrespective of all considerations and our opinion about Arafat, he succeeded in creating a resistant and united Palestinian society. There was no distinction between one Palestinian and the other, or between Christians and Muslims. That's why Abu Ammar succeeded in his revolution.The real threat nowadays is that the Palestinian split would deepen due the propagation of fundamentalism and Islamist extremism that Abu Ammar had always refused because he wanted to spare the Palestinian society and the revolution the consequences of dissension and division, on the basis of the lessons learned from the Lebanese war.I always remember what he said to me once "Do not fall again in the trap of dissension. Do not get divided over your loyalty to your country. Do not commit the same errors we, the Palestinians, committed in the forties when we lost the land… you have the most precious treasure in the world. You have Lebanon, do not loose it. Protect it and forgive us". He added "my dream is to go back to Palestine, any Palestine, even if it was the size of a matchbox. The most important thing is to start from a certain place and to hoist the Palestinian flag on the Palestinian land. It would start small then expand. That's why I'm ready to accept any draft solution that will allow us to start our journey back to Palestine".Abu Ammar returned to Palestine and started working for peace. However, the "old man" soon returned to his former position as a man of contradictions. After fighting for democracy, he became afraid of it. And the man who once called for a peaceful solution started to hesitate. The journey stopped and the solution became the problem…!Maybe Abu Ammar wanted, for the last time, to avoid making the error that would be fatal to the Palestinian cause, thus learning form his mistakes in Lebanon and the mistakes of most, not to say all Arab leaders who are obsessed with domination and monopolization of power. He left but this time returned to his final resting place in the hope that his death would be the "olive branch" that will hold peace for Palestine and the region.

Arafat has only hours to live

The Associated Press has quoted a Palestinian source as saying Arafat has only hours to live.The AFP quoted Mahmoud Abbas as saying Arafat is in very grave condition.

Three Dead in Baghdad Church Bombing

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Masked men detonated a bomb near an Orthodox church in southern Baghdad on Monday, and police at the scene said three people were killed and 34 wounded.
A guard at the St. Bahnam and Sheik Matti Orthodox Church in the capital's Doura neighborhood said the militants drove up in a pickup truck.
"They were all armed," said Khalaf Enad. "They quickly poured out of the car, pointed their weapons at me and said 'Get in.' They opened fire for over a minute and then I heard a big explosion."
The blast created a crater over 12 feet wide and 3 feet deep.
Church deacon Matti Qeryaqos, who lives nearby, said the explosion shattered church windows and blew the doors off their hinges, collapsing the outer wall. He said there was no service at the church at the time of the blast, and that the dead and wounded were mostly neighbors.
Mohammed Aziz said strong explosions rocked the area. "I felt my house shaking three times and then saw the fire set in the church."
Police sealed off the area and fired bullets in the air to disperse the crowd, according to another witness, Lyon Emad Elias, whose home faces the church.

Israel Digs Extra Tank Foxholes Along S. Lebanon

Engineering corps units are buttressing the forward lines of the Israeli army along south Lebanon's borders, sparking a state of alert by Hizbullah fighters coupled with air and ground patrols by the U.N. peacekeeping force known as UNIFIL, the Beirut media reported Tuesday.
The Israelis were seen conducting maintenance all along the barb-wired fence spanning the common border as bulldozers were digging extra tank foxholes, provoking Hizbullah into placing its fighters on alert, according to media reports.
UNIFIL scrambled helicopters for air surveillance of the Israeli military movements and Hizbullah's response as mechanized patrols toured the U.N.-carved Blue Line on the ground, An Nahar said. It carried a picture of two UNIFIL peacekeepers watching developments by binoculars.

Kerry Calls Bush to Concede

Wednesday, November 03, 2004
By Liza Porteus
Sen. John Kerry has called President Bush to concede the 2004 race for the White House, FOX News has confirmed.
News late Wednesday morning of a Bush win in Nevada pushed the president over the 270 Electoral College vote threshold he needed to win re-election, giving him a total of 274 votes. The president is expected to publicly speak at 3 p.m.
"Congratulations, Mr. President," Kerry said in the conversation described to The Associated Press by sources as lasting less than five minutes. One of the sources was Republican, the other a Democrat.
The Democratic source said Bush called Kerry a worthy, tough and honorable opponent. Kerry told Bush the country was too divided, the source said, and Bush agreed. "We really have to do something about it," Kerry said according to the Democratic official.
The Massachusetts senator will meet with reporters around 1 p.m. EST at Faneuil Hall in Boston to make some sort of formal announcement about the future of his campaign.
News of the phone call came at 11:10 a.m. EDT Wednesday. Earlier in the morning, the Bush campaign declared victory, despite claims by Kerry's campaign that the fight is not yet over in Ohio.
"I want to thank all of you for staying up so late with us, and good morning," White House Chief of Staff Andy Card told haggard supporters at the Ronald Reagan Building, speaking at 5:45 a.m. EST. "We are convinced that President Bush has won re-election with at least 286 Electoral College votes."
Although Iowa, Nevada and New Mexico had not yet then made their results officials, Card said the GOP camp was counting those states in its column. Card also declared victory in Ohio, despite claims by Kerry's campaign that the fight is not yet over in The Buckeye State.
"This all adds up to a convincing victory," Card said. "President Bush decided to give Senator Kerry the respect of more time to reflect on the results of this election."
Democrats had insisted Kerry was still in contention for Ohio's decisive cache of 20 electoral votes. At issue were the more than 100,000 provisional ballots that still had to be counted.
Republican Party Chairman Marc Racicot said the president put off declaring victory temporarily as a courtesy to Kerry, "to allow the opportunity to look at the situation in the cold hard light of day."
Democratic strategist Elaine Kamarck said the idea of not changing horses in midstream helped Bush win.
"I think it probably was the desire of people in uncertain times to stick to the person they know best -- that is always an incumbent advantage," she said. "There's a lot of insecurity about the world in which we live today … inertia does win, particularly when people aren't really sure what the world's going to look like."
Before both sides retired for an hour or two of sleep, one top Kerry adviser said the Democrat's chances of winning Ohio, and with it the White House, were difficult at best. Advisers planned one last look for uncounted ballots that might close the gap before meeting with the candidate Wednesday to determine whether he should concede or fight on.
One senior Democrat familiar with the discussions had said Kerry's running mate, Sen. John Edwards, was suggesting to Kerry that he shouldn't concede. The official said Edwards, a trial lawyer, wanted to make sure that all options were explored and Democrats pursued them as thoroughly as Republicans would if the positions were reversed.
At the Polls
Polls closed Tuesday night in all 50 states and the nation's capital in a race that was called one of the most hotly contested in American history. Iowa, New Mexico and Wisconsin were too close to call at 11:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday. As of that time, Bush had 269 electoral votes; Kerry had 242. The victor needs 270 to win. An electoral tie would throw the race to the GOP-led U.S. House of Representatives to decide.
Bush won Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Nebraska, Nevada, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, FOX News projects.
Kerry won California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, FOX News projects.
So far, New Hampshire is the only state to switch parties from the 2000 election outcome.

If Nevada and New Mexico had been called for the president, it was expected that Bush would have spoken Wednesday morning, but as dawn neared, the president went to bed. Vice President Dick Cheney also called it a night before daybreak, saying he wanted to sleep and eat some breakfast before starting the new day.
Around 4 a.m. EST Wednesday, New Mexico's secretary of state and election staff went home for the night. They were to resume ballot counting around 9 a.m. Before they left, they said thousands of absentee ballots have to be examined by hand, not to mention the many provisional ballots which they will go through regardless of the outcome.
Republican National Committee Chairman Ed Gillespie said the Election Day results show the country is not as divided as suspected.
"I think we saw obviously tonight a decisive win in the popular vote. I suspect that when everybody wakes up tomorrow, the Republicans will have 55 seats in the United States Senate as a result of the president's strong push across the country, and we will gain seats in the House of Representatives as well. So, I'm not sure the country is as closely divided as is made out to be," Gillespie said around 3:30 a.m. EST. "It looks to me a very decisive win today."
Fight for Ohio
Allegations of voter suppression abounded in The Buckeye State. Kerry campaign manager Mary Beth Cahill said the challenger's camp was not buying the projected tally in the crucial battleground state.
"The vote count in Ohio has not been completed. There are more than 250,000 remaining votes to be counted. We believe when they are, John Kerry will win Ohio," a statement read.
Around 2:30 a.m. Wednesday, Edwards took the stage at Copley Square in Boston to give supporters a brief pep talk.
Introduced as the "next vice president of the United States," the North Carolina senator told Democratic supporters gathered for a victory rally to go home.
"It's been a long night but we've waited four years for this victory - we can wait one more night," Edwards said. "John and I are so proud of all of you who are here with us and all of you throughout the country who have stood with us through this campaign ... [We] promised every vote would count and every vote would be counted. Tonight, we are keeping our word and we will fight for every vote. You deserve no less. Thank you."
But one Bush-Cheney strategist said Kerry had no chance of pulling a win out of Ohio.
"Impossible ... he can't make up for his margin of defeat. This is a desperate ploy," he said.
Ohio Secretary of State Kenneth Blackwell told FOX News early Wednesday morning that about 5.8 million to 5.9 million people voted this year - about 1 million more than in 2000. He projected about a 72 percent voter turnout this year, as compared to 63 percent in 2000.
"This is a real spike," he said. "We're going to count every vote that was cast today and we're going to do it in a bipartisan system … that represents the true will of the people."
Provisional ballots are not counted until about 11 days after election. If the margin of victory for one candidate or another is comprised of fewer votes than the number of provisional ballots they have, Blackwell said, "that could stretch it out … [But] if it takes two more days, if it takes two more weeks," they will be counted.

Blackwell released provisional vote numbers for 78 of Ohio's 88 counties, showing a total of 135,149 provisional ballots, according to Blackwell's Web site. It appeared that the difference in the number of votes for the two candidates was greater than the number of outstanding ballots.
In Ohio alone, the Kerry camp had 3,200 lawyers and paralegals on standby. Meanwhile, 27,843 volunteers were on standby statewide, 2,829 out-of-staters were in Ohio driving voters to the polls and the campaign had 270 full-time paid staffers in Ohio, as compared with 40 for Al Gore four years ago.
Bush: 'I Believe I Will Win'
Bush, watching the returns at the White House residence with first lady Laura Bush on election night, his parents, daughters Jenna and Barbara, sister Dorothy and her husband Bobby, brothers Neil and Marvin and sister-in-law Margaret, said the Bush clan was "very upbeat."
"I believe I will win, thank you very much. I feel good about it," Bush said. "I'm glad to be able to watch the returns here with my family and friends. It's going to be an exciting evening."
Bush, voting earlier in the day at a local firehouse in Crawford, Texas, made reference to the last presidential election.
"I think it's very important for it to end tonight," Bush told reporters, referring to the expected legal challenges in some districts. "The world watches our great democracy function."
The senator from Massachusetts cast his ballot in Boston. "I am very confident that we have made the case for change for new leadership for a fresh start," Kerry said.
Upon his return to Massachusetts from Wisconsin for a last-chance stop, Kerry bent over and touched the ground. He ate his traditional Election Day lunch of littleneck clams and a dark beer at his lucky restaurant, Boston's historic Union Oyster House.
Cheney and his wife Lynne cast their votes Tuesday morning in Wilson, Wyo. Edwards voted in his home state of North Carolina.
Fight for the Battlegrounds
Late into Tuesday night, Republicans were feeling much better about their position, and said their numbers were much more accurate than the exit polls.
One strategist was asked by FOX News just how bad they felt when they saw the early exit polls. "I bought a box of Kleenex, but didn't open them," he said.
"At the beginning of the night, we were asking how we could have been so far off," the strategist said. Now, they say the actual numbers are far closer to their projections than the early exit polls.
But Independent candidate Ralph Nader told FOX News Tuesday night that no matter who wins -- Bush or Kerry -- voters will lose. The goal of his campaign was to "put the progressive agenda before the public," he said.
"It's a winner-take-all mindset of most people," Nader said of why he didn't get farther than he did in this presidential election. "[Voters] know that only one of the two, Republican or Democrat, is going to win. The system is very rigged against" other candidates, he added. "The problem is, the two parties keep saying to us, 'vote for the winner' and they keep losing" to corporate interests, he continued.
FOX News' Jim Angle, Steve Brown, Carl Cameron, Mike Emanuel, Wendell Goler and Kelly Wright contributed to this report.

Karami Crosses Swords with Bush Administration over Syria

Premier Omar Karami has urged the United States to leave Lebanon alone, saying the campaign for the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon "deserves gratitude, but we know better how to work for our own interests." Karami dropped the remark during a visit to his hometown of Tripoli Monday, responding to a demand by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield that the time has come for Syria to withdraw its army and end its 28-year-old tutelage over Lebanon, An Nahar reported Tuesday. "Satterfield will be better off if he concerns himself with the affairs of his country, leaving Lebanon to its own people," Karami said as drummers in white flowing robes greeted him at his north Lebanon power base. State Minister Albert Mansour took Karami's defiance of the U.N. resolution that calls for Syria's departure,1559, a notch up at a mass rally held at his hometown of Ras Baalbek in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Monday. "When the conflict becomes a focus on the fate of Lebanese-Syrian relations, I prefer one thousand times to lose with Syria than to win with America and Israel," Mansour said, according to An Nahar. "And when the problem spirals up to a U.S.-Israeli demand to shed Hizbullah's blood, I prefer to fall a martyr within the ranks of the Party of God," said Mansour, a Catholic, of resolution 1559 stipulation that Hizbullah be disarmed. The 1559 resolution took only two lines in an 8-page policy statement submitted to parliament Monday by Karami's newly formed cabinet, seeking a vote of confidence. "Our government will deal with resolution 1559 in line with the messages sent by Lebanon's Foreign Ministry to the United States," the statement said. The messages had insisted that Syria's military presence in Lebanon concerns only the governments of the two countries.

Beirut, Updated 02 Nov 04, 09:44

Karami Crosses Swords with Bush Administration over Syria

Premier Omar Karami has urged the United States to leave Lebanon alone, saying the campaign for the withdrawal of the Syrian army from Lebanon "deserves gratitude, but we know better how to work for our own interests."Karami dropped the remark during a visit to his hometown of Tripoli Monday, responding to a demand by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern affairs David Satterfield that the time has come for Syria to withdraw its army and end its 28-year-old tutelage over Lebanon, An Nahar reported Tuesday."Satterfield will be better off if he concerns himself with the affairs of his country, leaving Lebanon to its own people," Karami said as drummers in white flowing robes greeted him at his north Lebanon power base. State Minister Albert Mansour took Karami's defiance of the U.N. resolution that calls for Syria's departure,1559, a notch up at a mass rally held at his hometown of Ras Baalbek in east Lebanon's Bekaa Valley on Monday."When the conflict becomes a focus on the fate of Lebanese-Syrian relations, I prefer one thousand times to lose with Syria than to win with America and Israel," Mansour said, according to An Nahar."And when the problem spirals up to a U.S.-Israeli demand to shed Hizbullah's blood, I prefer to fall a martyr within the ranks of the Party of God," said Mansour, a Catholic, of resolution 1559 stipulation that Hizbullah be disarmed.The 1559 resolution took only two lines in an 8-page policy statement submitted to parliament Monday by Karami's newly formed cabinet, seeking a vote of confidence."Our government will deal with resolution 1559 in line with the messages sent by Lebanon's Foreign Ministry to the United States," the statement said. The messages had insisted that Syria's military presence in Lebanon concerns only the governments of the two countries