(AP) -- President George W. Bush on Friday called on the United Nations to convene a session as soon as possible to deal with a U.N. investigative report implicating Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. "The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said after helping dedicate a new pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum in Southern California.
The U.N. investigative report, which Bush called "deeply disturbing," established a link between high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in Hariri's murder February 14 in Beirut.
Earlier Friday, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she was deeply troubled by the U.N. report. She said the international community must find a way to hold Syrian authorities accountable.
Rice spoke to reporters in Birmingham, Alabama, after the release of a report by U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis that established a clear link between Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies to the assassination.
In Washington, another top State Department official said Hariri was the victim of a "political crime" that could not have been carried out without the involvement of senior Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials. (Full story)
Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch said in Washington said "we would like to see those responsible for this crime and others in Lebanon brought to justice."
The United Nations' exhaustive report linked the brother and brother-in-law of Syria's president to the February 14 car bomb that killed Hariri and 20 others, and said Lebanese intelligence officials helped organize it.
The report stopped short of fingering Syrian President Bashar Assad or his inner circle. But it accused the regime of failing to cooperate in the inquiry. The report also alleged Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa lied in a letter to the investigating commission.
Rice declined to discuss next steps beyond saying that some kind of international mechanism must be established to ensure that Syria is held accountable.
She said there is strong support among U.N. members for an extension of Mehlis' mandate, perhaps until December 15.
"Accountability is going to be very important for the international community," she said.
Welch, speaking at the Foreign Press Center, said the Bush administration had begun discussions at the United Nations and with Arab and other governments on how to act on the report.
Welch said some Arab governments share the administration's concern about Syria's "destabilizing" actions in Lebanon, but he declined to identify with whom the United States was finding initial support.
Welch, who said he had read the report, said it contained "amazing evidence."
"The report concludes there is probable cause to believe the (assassination) decision could not have been taken without the collusion of top Syrian and Lebanese intelligence officials," Welch said