| From Teheran Times. Which do you think it's gonna be? Fact or fantasy? |
By Hassan Hanizadeh
Finally, after four months, the committee investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri submitted its final report to United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan last week. In his 35-page report, chief UN investigator Detlev Mehlis has accused some high-ranking Lebanese and Syrian officials of being involved in the Hariri assassination in February 2005. However, the Syrian government rejected the report, calling it politically motivated, and demanded the investigation of the Hariri murder be continued.
| That might be because they were named in the report. They had two options: deny it or confess. Nobody's said "I dunnit" yet, except for the Paleo who made the tape with a gun held to his head. |
It seems that the Mehlis report was compiled based on a number of false assumptions and that political considerations were given priority.
| Proceding from false assumptions might negate the value of the report. The motivations of the investigation are immaterial, unless they effected the factual conclusions. |
This is a unique situation, since, despite the fact that many political figures have been assassinated across the globe over the course of history, neither the United Nations nor the international community has ever taken any measures to investigate such assassinations, until now.
| Perhaps more of them should have been investigated. The fact remains that this one was, apparently be a competent investigator... |
The fact that so much emphasis is being placed on solving the Hariri assassination puzzle indicates that an international conspiracy is being organized to politically besiege Syria and thus destroy the Tehran-Beirut-Damascus triangle.
| Ahah! I knew it! It's an insidious conspiracy, hatched in a smoke-filled back room by Bilderbergers and Masons and Templars and other such riff-raff! |
In fact, more damage has been inflicted on Syria following the assassination of Hariri because Hariri was an ally of Syria, so Damascus had no reason to plan his assassination.
| "As we all know, alliances in the Middle East remain rock-steady and consistent from moment to moment, month to month, and year to year. There are never fallings out, never disagreements, never betrayals. And certainly never assassinations." |
Some irrelevant issues, including a telephone conversation between Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and a member of the pro-Syrian Al-Ahbash Sunni Muslim group in Beirut a few minutes before the blast that killed Hariri, or the possibility of the participation of the Damascus-based Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), led by Ahmed Jibril, in determining Hariri’s destination on the fateful day, are cited in the Mehlis report.
| "We know them. They couldn't possibly be involved. Musta been Illuminati. Or maybe Zionists!" |
This report is legally null and void according to international law because one can not accuse individuals based on certain assumptions without arresting the suspects, recording their statements, and formally charging them in a local or international court.
| It's not a charge sheet. It's a report. Mehlis isn't the cop on the beat. It's up to the Lebs and the Syrians to arrest the perps. The Lebs seem to be in the process of doing so, quite to my surprise. |
In addition, certain points bring into question the legitimacy of the Mehlis report. For example, it is not clear if the United Nations is authorized to investigate the assassination of political figures in an independent country that possesses an independent judicial system. If it is, on the basis of which article of the UN Charter was the Mehlis committee formed?
| "They shouldn't have done the investigation in the first place, and anything they find out should be discarded." |
If the UN is authorized to investigate assassinations, why did it not establish special committees to investigate the assassinations of former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, former Swedish prime minister Olof Palme, former Hezbollah (Lebanon) secretary general Seyyed Abbas Musawi, and former Lebanese presidents Bashir Gemayel and Rene Muawwad?
Although the criminals involved in the Hariri assassination should be punished, the UN investigation should not be used as a means to pressure other countries or to get even with countries that are opposed to U.S. policies.
| But what if the perps are the selfsame leaders of those countries which are opposed to U.S. policies, caught carrying out a campaign of murder most foul? |
Undoubtedly, the Mehlis report will be a prologue for the ratification of United Nations resolutions against Syria and will also be used to provoke opposition groups in Lebanon to act against Emile Lahoud, which would not only exacerbate crises in the Middle East but would also pave the way for Israel to carry out propaganda and political maneuvers against independent countries in the region. Israel is satisfied with the Mehlis report more than any other country in the world because the political isolation of Syria would be to the benefit of the Zionist regime.
| See? Told you it's all a Zionist plot. |
Therefore, since regional countries must cooperate with each other to solve regional crises at this critical juncture, this report will not help efforts to establish stability and security in the Middle East. |