 BEIRUT: One of the four former security chiefs currently facing charges connected with the assassination of Rafik Hariri has started opening up to members of the international investigating committee, according to highly placed sources close to the inquiry. The general is said to be filling in many of the details of the involvement of Syrian intelligence officials and providing members of the United Nations team probing the murder of the former Lebanese Prime Minister with much new information.
| He who talks first gets to cut a deal |
 The UN team, under German magistrate Detlev Mehlis, presented a report to the Security Council, which is due to discuss a follow-up resolution Monday. The four arrested former Lebanese security chiefs are Major General Jamil Sayyed, of the Surete Generale, Major General Ali Hajj, of the Internal Security Forces, Mustapha Hamdan, of the Presidential Guards, and Raymond Azar, of military intelligence. They are all known to be close to President Emile Lahoud although the four are not noted for being particularly close to each other.
| Which is why one of them is ratting out the others |
They were formally charged on Saturday, September 3 with "murder, attempted murder and carrying out a terrorist act." The talkative general has also been speaking to Mehlis' men about the possible involvement of other high-ranking members of the Lebanese political and military elite in the February 14 assassination.
| Meaning it wasn't just the Syrians, which comes as no suprise whatsoever... |
Mehlis himself has said in public that President Emile Lahoud is not a suspect in the events surrounding Hariri's murder.
| Meaning that particular link in the chain is broken... |
However, given the still not satisfactorily explained affair of the famous cellular call to the Presidential Palace at Baabda minutes before the explosion that killed Hariri and 22 others, it is still not clear how much, if anything, the president knew about the plot to kill Hariri.
| My guess is lots, but that might just be because Emile's such an unattractive toady. Hariri's falling out with the Assad mob was over having Emile foisted on them for yet another term... |
According to paragraph 200 of the Mehlis report, "Mahmoud Abdel-Al's telephone calls on 14 February are also interesting: he made a call minutes before the blast, at 1247 hrs, to the mobile phone of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and at 1249 hrs had contact with Raymond Azar's mobile telephone." Abdel-Al, a member of Al-Ahbash (Association of Islamic Philanthropic Projects), is, like the former security chiefs, currently in custody charged with complicity in Hariri's murder.
| They've got a bunch of them in custody, with the exception of Emile and the Syrians. Prior to Mehlis showing up that had nobody in custody and the generals who're singing now were trying to hold on to their jobs. |
A Lahoud spokesman denied that Lahoud received a call from Abdel-Al, saying the number was one of several used by Baabda for calls from the public who wanted to make complaints or seek help.
| "Hello, Baabda? This is Abdel-Al. I gotta complaint: where the hell is that truck bomb? It ain't gone off yet!" |
According to a report in the daily An-Nahar, the number is not among those publicized by the palace as available for public use.
The general is helping the Mehlis team to form a view, even if not definitive, of exactly how much Lahoud did know.
| If the guy singing is Azar, Emile may be gone pretty quick... |
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