President Bush called on the U.N. Security Council yesterday to move quickly on a report that senior Syrian and Lebanese officials probably plotted the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
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Calling the report "deeply disturbing," Bush said it "requires the world to look at it very carefully and respond accordingly." He said he had asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to urge the Security Council to convene immediately, but did not describe what sort of action he had in mind.
The article goes on to explain that France is apparently interested in sanctions, but this whole thing sounds like saber-rattling to me. Seems like this may be a bit of wag-dogging in its most preliminary stages, what with Plamegate simply not going away.
Stay tuned...
From SeattleTimes.com, WaPo and LATimes.Com:
Saturday, October 22, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 AMBush wants action on Syria
By Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post
UNITED NATIONS — President Bush called on the U.N. Security Council yesterday to move quickly on a report that senior Syrian and Lebanese officials probably plotted the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
The U.N. report did not implicate Syrian President Bashar Assad, but it described an August 2004 encounter in which he threatened Hariri, and cited a witness describing meetings between members of his inner circle planning the assassination over the course of several months.
"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.
Calling the report "deeply disturbing," Bush said it "requires the world to look at it very carefully and respond accordingly." He said he had asked U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to urge the Security Council to convene immediately, but did not describe what sort of action he had in mind.
France, with the support of the United States, is preparing a resolution that might urge sanctions against Syrian leaders implicated in the report, U.N. diplomats said yesterday.
Syrian officials rejected the report as unfair and politically motivated. In Damascus, the Syrian capital, Information Minister Mehdi Dakhlallah said in a statement that the report "contradicts the simplest essential conditions and methods of investigation."
Analysts said Syrians probably would rally around the government and resist foreign pressure. Opponents of Assad's government predicted the report would be used for political purposes, but added that the government eventually would have to provide details rather than just a blanket denial.
In Beirut, the Lebanese capital, people largely stayed off the streets and kept their children home from school, fearing a violent backlash. But angry protesters gathered at Hariri's grave chanting "Let the Syrians burn in hell!" and demanding the resignation of the pro-Syrian president, Emile Lahoud.
Many predicted Lahoud's days as president were numbered.
"He is a stubborn man, but he is isolated," said Adnan Iskander, a former professor of political science at the American University in Beirut. "I think popular and foreign pressure will force him out."
The report was delivered to the Security Council on Thursday and chief investigator Detlev Mehlis will brief the council Tuesday. Mehlis' report strongly suggests the involvement of three senior Syrian officials and a Lebanese security official, but he deleted their names hours before the report was released.
He denied that he was pressured by Secretary-General Kofi Annan or anyone else, but dropped the names after learning that the report would be circulated beyond the members of the Security Council. He said that the witness claim was credible, but because it had not been corroborated, "It could give the wrong impression" of guilt, he said.
A word-processing tool recovered the changes embedded in the publicly released version, showing that key suspects in the assassination included Assad's brother Maher; his brother-in-law and head of Syrian military intelligence Assef Shawkat; and his close friend Bahjat Suleyman, along with a Lebanese ally, former security chief Jamil Al-Sayyed.
Britain yesterday called for the world body to consider punitive sanctions against Syria. The Security Council is expected to meet Tuesday to consider possible actions for two new resolutions, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.
Ideas under discussion range from a ban on Syrian international flights and trade limitations to an embargo on goods that can be used for military purposes, Western officials familiar with the diplomacy told The Washington Post. Envoys also are considering demanding that Assad, who inherited power from his father in 2000, require those named in the report to help in the investigation — or take action himself against them.
At the United Nations, U.S. Ambassador John Bolton said pursuing the investigation is the first priority for the Security Council. "In the absence of serious Syrian cooperation on substantive matters, the mission can't get to the ultimate truth," Bolton said. "That is what it seems to me the focus [of] the U.N. Security Council should be. ... We need to look at other steps to obtain Syrian cooperation."
Copyright © 2005 The Seattle Times Company
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