Posted on 10/21/2005 6:28:07 PM PDT by blam
Syria will pay for murder of Hariri, vow America and Britain
By Alec Russell on Air Force Two and Harry de Quetteville in Damascus
(Filed: 22/10/2005)
America and Britain promised last night that Syria would be held to account for its role in the murder of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri.
President George W Bush called on the United Nations to convene a session as soon as possible to deal with a "deeply disturbing" UN investigative report implicating Syrian officials in the assassination on Feb 14.
A huge poster of Rafik Hariri on a building in Beirut
"The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Mr Bush said.
Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, and Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, emphasised Syria's complete isolation following the publication of the report.
The killing provoked an anti-Syrian uprising and led to the withdrawal of its forces from the country after a 30-year stay.
America, France and Britain are demanding an end to Syrian meddling and trials for the Syrians and Lebanese who are accused.
Miss Rice said that "even an initial reading" of the report was deeply troubling.
She added: "You have clearly a case in which there is an implication that Syrian officials were involved in the assassination."
George Bush: 'Deeply disturbing'
Most worryingly for Damascus, she said that America wanted action against those responsible.
"Accountability is going to be very important for the international community," Miss Rice said. "You cannot have the spectre of one state apparatus having participated in or having been involved in the assassination of the former prime minister of another state."
The UN sanctioned a two-month extension of the inquiry yesterday and investigators are focusing on the role of Assef Shawkat, the head of Syrian military intelligence and Mr Assad's brother-in-law.
Syria's UN representative Faisal Mekdad said the report was "a big lie" and accused the inquiry led by the respected German anti-terrorist investigator Detlev Mehlis of indulging in politics.
In a press conference on board Air Force Two on their way to Alabama for a tour of Miss Rice's home state, the secretary of state and Mr Straw said they wanted suspects to face justice in Lebanon.
Mr Straw called the report "very disturbing". He added: "It is further evidence of the extraordinary view that the Syrian elite has held for the Lebanon. That is that they regard it as a subordinate territory and not as an independent state.
"It was that arrogance that seems to have led to people … very close to the top of the Syrian regime being implicated in the murder of Hariri."
In Damascus, members of Syria's fragmented opposition welcomed the report, but warned America against using it to attack the country, or impose wide-ranging sanctions.
Riad al Turk, who spent 18 years in jail for opposing the Assad regime, said: "Now the whole world will see the crimes of this regime. But they must know that the Syrian people have suffered so many crimes against humanity that they would fill 20 Mehlis reports."
In New York, Mr Mehlis denied that the staff of Kofi Annan, the UN secretary general, had removed references to senior Syrians from the report.
Here is the question, confronted with almost certain destruction, will Bershar ASSad, flip, pull a Khadaffi and point out exactly where he stashed the Saddam WMDS in the Bekaa valley?? Not even Putin can protect him now...
Just wondering.
Of course when Saddam tried to asassinate former president Bush under Clinton's watch there was a big NOTHING
The chain reaction in the Middle East is still underway, and it looks like Syria played right into our hands through their sheer arrogance. If the international community (specifically Europe), the regime in Syria could fall without a huge American presence.
It will be interesting to see how Iran tries to deal with this situation because a truly democratic regime in Syria along with Iraq will not be welcomed change in Tehran.
America and Britain, together again ping.
If the international community (specifically Europe) STEPS UP, the regime in Syria could fall without a huge American presence.
what I meant to say
L
I've already had that fantasy, lol.
Syria will pay for murder of Hariri, vow America and Britain
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