UN Team 'In Danger' As Inquiry Blames Syria For Assassination

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 10-26-2005 | Anton La Guardia

[blam]

UN team 'in danger' as inquiry blames Syria for assassination

By Anton La Guardia Diplomatic Editor
(Filed: 26/10/2005)

The chief UN investigator into the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri warned yesterday that his team's lives were in danger after it pointed the finger of blame at Syria.

As Washington demanded tough action against Syria and Damascus pleaded its innocence, Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the inquiry, said his team now faced "credible" threats.

Detlev Mehlis' report suggested President Bashar as a likely plotter

"It should be noted that despite all the precautionary measures, the level of risk, which was already high, will increase further, particularly after the issuance of the report," he told the UN Security Council.

In his explosive report last week Mr Mehlis said he had found "converging evidence" of senior Syrian officials and their allies in the Lebanese security forces being involved in the suicide car bombing that killed Mr Hariri last February.

Deleted parts of his report named President Bashar al-Assad's brother Maher and his brother-in-law Asef Shawkat as possible plotters.

The US and France were expected to table a UN resolution demanding Syrian co-operation last night or today.

John Bolton, the US ambassador to the UN, said: "We want a very strong signal from the council to the government of Syria that its obstructionism has to cease immediately."

However, Mr Mehlis suggested Syria had a second chance to come clean. Extending his investigation to Dec 15, he said, "would provide yet another opportunity for the Syrian authorities to show greater and meaningful co-operation, and to provide any relevant substantial evidence on the assassination."

Damascus could face another blow today when the UN special envoy, Terje Roed-Larsen, issues his own report on Syria's compliance with UN demands that it stop interfering in Lebanon after the withdrawal of its troops earlier this year.

The Syrian ambassador to the UN, Fayssal Mekdad, tried to discredit Mr Mehlis, saying his report was politically biased and filled with "speculation rather than evidence".

[maro]

I hope the US is sending the following message to Syria via back channels: if any of the UN investigators so much as sprain their ankles, Marines will end the Dentist Assad's regime, and he and Saddam get to be bunk mates.

[JAWs]

At leas the original Murder Inc. had the decency not to whack civilians. Bashar is really the Fredo of the Muslim Mafia.

[wvobiwan]

I wonder if Syrians hunger for a little democracy in their very lovely, and easily liberated country...

[bubman]

So is it worth going to war against these monsters?

[hang 'em]

Funny thing is, Assad's dad whacked thousands of Muslim Brotherhood types in the Syrian town of Hamma (with chemical weapons, no less).

And the Assad clique is of the obscure Allawite sect, considered to be apostates and heretics by the Sunnis and Shias.

Weird politics in that region.

[Moose Dung]

We really don't have much choice in the matter. Perhaps, however, we won't have to go it alone this time around. But, the Baathist regime in Syria is running a tight race with the Iranian mullahs for biggest threat to world safety.

dung.