Chamber Delegation dines with DHS Chief

WEST BLOOMFIELD, MI - John Akouri, Chairman & CEO of the Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce dined last night with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff at the home of Dr. Yahya Basha in suburban Detroit. At the dinner, the Secretary discussed issues relating to Homeland Security, spoke briefly with guests in attendance and posed for pictures. The dinner was organized by the Department's Officers for Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Daniel Sutherland & George Selim who are frequent visitors to the area building relations and accepting input. Earlier in the day, the Secretary announced a major policy iniative saying that US and Canadian children will be exempt from new rules that require travelers to show passports when entering the US at land or sea borders, a move aimed at helping families and school groups. Secretary Chertoff discussed the relaxation in rules at a speech to the Detroit Economic Club before touring the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, a link with Windsor, Ontario under the Detroit River. Mr. Chertoff told dinner guests that he would be leaving for Canada to join other Senior officials from the United States, Canada and Mexico for talks today. According to the AP: talks include ways to to thwart cross-border security threats, cope with a potential bird flu outbreak and boost North American trade. With growing Mexican and Canadian concerns about U.S. border restrictions imposed since the terror attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Chertoff, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez were meeting their counterparts from the two countries to consider cooperation on the issues. Hosted by Canadian Foreign Minister Peter MacKay, the gathering of the two-year-old Security and Prosperity Partnership is expected to result in recommendations for President Bush, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Mexican President Felipe Calderon to consider at a summit later this year in Canada.

Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce Leadership Luncheon welcomes US Congressman Thaddeus McCotter

DETROIT, MI - The Lebanese American Chamber of Commerce today hosted US Representative Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) to kick-off their Winter Leadership Luncheon series. Special guests included Tarik Daoud, President/Owner of Al Long Ford; Julie Oldani of the State Department's International Visitor's Council; retired Textron Executive Nabil Yousif; Steve Hagar, Past President of the Michigan Mortgage Brokers Association; Attorney Kevin Elias; Builder/Developer Aziz Harridy of Galaxy Homes; Abe Karam of AXA/Equitable Life Assurance & Trustee of the Eastern Michigan University Foundation Board; Samar Ghorayeb, Junior Executive with Chase Bank; Sam Baki of Keller Williams Realty; Emmett Thalman, Oakland County Young Republicans; and Philip Tayah, President of Oakland Macomb Construction. Also joining the Congressman was his Press Secretary & Spokesman Robert Jackson. Taking questions from the audience, Congressman McCotter addressed topics that included the 'War on Terror' which he states is clearly a 'War for Freedom', the situation in Lebanon and the Middle East, the 2008 Presidential Election, the current economic woes in Michigan and the influence of Michigan leadership in the US House of Representatives.

Lebanese Druze Leader Walid Jumblatt on Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad: "An Ape Unknown to Nature, a Creature That Is Only Half-Man."

Following are excerpts from an address delivered by Lebanese Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, aired on Al-Jazeera TV on February 14, 2007.

WALID JUMBLATT: We have come to Freedom Square to tell you, oh tyrant of Damascus, you ape unknown to nature, you snake from which even the snakes have fled, you whale vomited by the ocean, you wild desert beast, you creature that is only half-man, you Israeli product at the expense of the corpses of the South Lebanese, you liar and arch-killer in Iraq, you criminal blood-shedder in Syria and Lebanon – we have come to say that the words of the great poet Nizar Qabani apply to you. He said: “Every twenty years comes an armed man to slaughter unity in its cradle and to kill the dreams.” This year, however, the [international] tribunal will come, bringing with it punishment, justice, and the death sentence. Long live Lebanon.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

RIP MR. LEBANON

WASHINGTON, DC - The late former Prime Minister of Lebanon Rafic Hariri poses with former U.S. Congressional Press Secretary & Senior Advisor John Akouri following a luncheon in the PM's honor on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC in 2001. Also pictured in the photo are American University of Beirut President John Waterbury, former US Ambassador to Lebanon Vincent Battle, current Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora, and Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation International (LBCI) Television correspondent Tania Mehanna. A Maronite priest stands behind Hariri. The photograph was taken by Dr. George Cody, executive director of the American Task Force for Lebanon.

IN MEMORIAM "If Lebanon is dying today, it is not a natural death it is an assassination" - L'Osservatore Romano