Assaad ChaftariThe New York Times ran a major feature, 16 April, 2010, on As'ad Shaftari (Assad Chaftari), who is now part of the Initiatives of Change team in Lebanon working to heal the country's ravaged past.

The paper's Saturday Profile carries the headline '10 Years After a Mea Culpa, No Hint of a Me, Too'.  It tells how, as Beirut commemorates the April 1975 massacre that sparked the 15 year civil war, Shaftari is the only leading Militia member to have publicly admitted his wrong-doing and repented.

'His conversion began towards the end of the war,' the article says, 'when he encountered members of an international group called Moral Re-Armament that preached peace through personal change.

'The group, which has since changed its name to Initiatives of Change, shares roots with Alcoholics Anonymous, and Mr Shaftari sometimes sounds like a recovered addict when he talks about his change of heart.'

Read the full article here