“HUMAN TSUNAMI” COVERS BEIRUT

Publius Pundit ^ | 3/14/2005 | Robert Mayer

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

U.N. 'Steel-Hard' Ultimatum to Assad to Quit Lebanon
Special U.N. envoy Terje Roed-Larsen will give President Assad an ultimatum when they both meet Saturday in Damascus, threatening political and economic isolation if he does not withdraw his troops quickly and completely from Lebanon, The Washington Post said Friday, quoting U.N. and U.S. officials.

"If he doesn't deliver, there will be total political and economic isolation of his country. There is a steel-hard consensus in the international community," a senior U.N. official said.

Assigned by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to ask Assad for a definite withdrawal Roed-Larsen trotted back to the Middle East this week. He met Thursday with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, and will hop to Beirut Friday before traveling to Damascus.

A U.N. official said Roed-Larsen had found "remarkable" support for a tough stance with Syria over its failure to comply with U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559 calling for an end to Syria's tutelage over Lebanon.

The U.N. envoy on Saturday will tell the Syrian president that he must take four steps if he wants to avoid sanctions, U.N. and U.S. officials told The Washington Post.

First, he must respect Lebanon's sovereignty and not undermine its upcoming legislative elections.

Second, he must provide a complete timeline for a full pullout of troops. A phased withdrawal or "sequencing" would be accepted, but must be expeditious, the sources said.

Third, Assad must also provide a timeline for the withdrawal of some 5,000 intelligence agents in Lebanon.

Finally, other requirements will be discussed, including the need to disarm and dismantle foreign and domestic Syrian-supported militias in Lebanon, although the sources said the U.N. is prepared to wait until after Lebanon's legislative elections to deal with this problem.

The post also quoted U.S. State Department spokesman Adam Ereli as saying "Clearly the presence of Syrian forces and Syrian intelligence agents is incompatible with a fully fair election, untainted by outside interference. And that's the basis of 1559."(AFP-Naharnet)

Beirut, Updated 14 Mar 05, 09:01

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks, got that one in the package also.

[Fred Nerks]

You little beauty! I'm speechless. For once.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

These Demonstrators were getting harassed by the Syrians as they made there way to the location of today's rally.

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Opposition Stages Biggest Show of Muscle, Accuses Regime of Murdering Hariri
Lebanon's national opposition front is staging a massive show of force at Rafik Hariri's graveside in downtown Beirut Monday amid outspoken charges that President Lahoud's Syrian-backed regime was behind the billionaire ex-premier's assassination.
Endless bus convoys were pouring into the capital from all over Lebanon to take part in the mid-afternoon sit-in at the Martyrs Square, waving a sea of Lebanese national flags and chanting 'Truth, Sovereignty and Independence.'

Bussed protestors from the Christian heartland north of Beirut complained that army checkpoints were purposely slowing the drive to Beirut by insisting on frisking each traveler bodily. They said many had switched to boats and were heading by sea to Beirut beaches.

Thousands of opposition activists from all political and sectarian shades of Lebanon's spectrum spent the night at a make-shift metropolis of blue tents erected just across the street from Hariri's grave at the courtyard of Al Amin Mosque and in cars and buses parked nearby.

They maintained a nightlong candle light vigil at the grave and drew with burning candles the word 'Truth' in Arabic and English, which Hariri's sister, Bahia, said it means "we want the full truth about who conspired, planned and executed the assassination."

Roaring chants rang out from the crowds at midmorning, demanding that State Prosecutor Adnan Addoum and commanders of all six major security and intelligence departments of the country be sacked for allowing Hariri's assassination to happen exactly one month ago.

"This is a demand we shall keep alive in non-strop graveside sits-in," said Hariri's parliament bloc member Walid Ido. "The secret services have become a death machine, a death mill toiling without letup."

Ido spoke on Hariri's Future-TV network screen a few hours after ex-Defense Minister Mohsen Dalloul directly accused the Lahoud regime of involvement in Hariri's assassination, revealing that a police unit assigned to protect the ex-premier was withdrawn a few days before the crime.

"Hariri had worked out an agreement with President Lahoud to have the police unit assigned to protect and escort him as a former prime minister. The force was actually put on the job and it functioned from Hariri's Koreitem mansion," Dalloul said in an interview aired by the F-TV Sunday night.

"When Hariri's aides managed to reach the official responsible for the protection unit, he said Hariri has plenty of money and he can hire his own security apparatus," said Dalloul, a parliament member who served as defense minister in one of Hariri's governments.

"The crime took place a few days later and now officials are boasting that 'the crime is behind us,' which means they have committed the crime," Dalloul added.

Beirut, Updated 14 Mar 05, 17:08

[jan in Colorado]

Thanks for the ping and Ernest thanks for posting this!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

That Blog lead me to the Website which is an eyeopenor....and post #25 has some detail I haven't seen before, about withdrawing Hariri's protection a few days before the bombing!

Local Website here:

naharnet.com

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

just for you:

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

For those interested :

democraticunderground.com

One Comments that he thinks this is all faked!

[Fred Nerks]

For me? All of her? There's no doubt about it, the Lebanese ladies are delicious. Thanks very much. Freedom!

[Fred Nerks]

Thanks for the link. The cat's well and truly out of the bag in Lebanon, isn't it?
GO FREEDOM!

[Fred Nerks]

Hey, I heard someone in the street (in Australia) say that the demo was all about keeping the Syrians IN Lebanon.

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

You are welcome,this is a momentous happening!

More from naharnet.com:

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U.N. Investigators Reportedly Revealing 'Devastating Cover Up' in Hariri's Murder
A United Nations investigation into the death of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri will report that Lebanese and Syrian authorities are behind a cover-up of evidence from the February 14 blast, The Independent newspaper said on Monday.
"The U.N. investigators have become convinced that there was a cover-up of evidence at the very highest levels of the Lebanese and Syrian intelligence authorities," the British daily said.

Veteran Middle East correspondent Robert Fisk, based in Beirut, quoted no sources for his report but said that members of Hariri's family had been warned the U.N. report on the death would be "devastating".

The U.N. team, comprised of Irish, Egyptian and Moroccan investigators and recently joined by Swiss bomb experts, has discovered that many of the vehicles from Hariri's convoy were moved from the scene of the blast only hours after it happened, Fisk said.

The Independent also published a photo of the bomb site taken 36 hours before the bombing, and suggested that a "mysterious object" seen near a drain pipe indicated that explosives could have been planted beneath the avenue.

This would contradict initial reports that Hariri was killed by a car bomb, Fisk said.

"If (investigators) successfully recover parts of (one remaining destroyed) vehicle, they may be able to discover the nature of the explosives," he wrote.(AFP)

Beirut, 14 Mar 05, 18:14

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Some of the posters on DU are claiming that the Joos really did it. That Bush & Sharon are trying to start a civil War , so that they may move in peace keeping Soldiers....then we could check out the Bekaa Valley,...

[Fred Nerks]

Nice going, and they managed to get two million people all to agree at the same time and show up with banners and hang off buildings? Yep. The joooooss did it. And it's all Bush's fault, may God Bless him!

Onward, Bekaa Valley beckons...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Condi is doing her job:

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Rice Tells Syria: 'Beware Deepened Isolation'
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has warned Syria not to deepen its "own isolation," insisting in an unrelenting daily pressure of the Assad regime to make an immediate and total pullout.
"I would hope that the Syrians would not continue to deepen their own isolation," Rice said, noting that several Arab states have also urged Syria to withdraw its forces from neighboring Lebanon, including Saudi Arabia, the Middle East financial titan.

"I would certainly hope that the Syrians are getting the message, that this is a completely different situation," she said, referring to U.N. Security Council resolution 1559.

Rice's stance was backed by State Department spokesman Richard Boucher. "Resolution 1559 says immediate and full withdrawal. That's what we are looking for," he said. "We are looking for action from Syria. We are not looking for excuses or rhetoric."

Rice and Boucher's statements underscored Bush's recent assertion in public that getting Syria out of Lebanon had become his day-to-day obsession.(AFP-Naharnet)

Beirut, Updated 14 Mar 05, 09:01

[jan in Colorado]

Freedom ping!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

They are having some Thuggery incidents now:

Syria's Loyalists Beat up Lebanese Opposition Youth

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Another resource:

For Lebanon

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Late night ping.