Who killed Sunni Billionaire al-Hariri?

[Moses]

Who killed Rafiq al-Hariri?
by Christian Henderson
Monday 14 February 2005 3:53 PM GMT


The slain ex-prime minister was an important Sunni politician


Analysts were reluctant to point fingers after the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in Beirut, saying there were many parties who had an interest in killing him and stirring tensions in Lebanon




Commentators said Syria would most likely be blamed for the killing and as a result feel the repercussions hardest.
But many of them wondered what Damascus stood to profit from having a hand in al-Hariri's death.

"What exactly would the Syrians gain from this? Precisely because most people would say that this is the Syrians who have done this. It doesn't make any sense," Rime Allaf, Middle East analyst at the Royal Institute for International Affairs in London, UK, said.

"The first people who will be hurt by this is Syria. Given the chaos in Lebanon and the rising anger between the factions, analytically Syria loses a lot by this," Allaf told Aljazeera.net.

The killing was condemned by Syrian and Lebanese government officials.

Agency hand?

Although a previously unheard of outfit calling itself al-Nasir and Jihad Group in al-Sham claimed responsibility for al-Hariri's assassination, commentators said the magnitude of the blast suggested an intelligence agency was behind the explosion rather than a small group.

Public opinion is polarised over
Syria's 14,000-strong presence

Reuters reported security sources as saying the explosive device was sophisticated enough to evade jamming equipment so hi-tech that al-Hariri's passing convoy would interfere with cellphones and televisions.

So who plotted al-Hariri's violent death? Murhaf Jouejati a Syrian analyst at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told Aljazeera.net that it was too early to accuse anyone of being behind the killing.

"This is not good news. The Syrians are not crazy and they are not going to be assassinating Lebanese officials," he said.

"They (the Syrians) have been engaging in dialogue with the opposition ... I think there are many local parties who would have an interest in the destablisation of Lebanon."



Grave repercussions



Al-Hairiri had recently joined the opposition in their calls for Syria to withdraw the 14,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon. He resigned from his position as prime minister last October after President Emile Lahud had his term extended, a decision that many saw as being imposed by Syria.

A billionaire businessman who had played a key role in the post-war reconstruction process in Lebanon, Al-Hariri was a leader of Lebanon's Sunni Muslim community.

Al-Hariri had recently joined calls
for withdrawal of Syrian troops

Michael Young, a Lebanese political analyst and opinion editor of Lebanese newspaper the Daily Star, said the repercussions for Lebanon and Syria would be grave.

"It may very well strengthen the opposition to the Syria presence. There will be a fierce reaction from the Sunni community. I think the government is very embarrassed. They may have to pay for the backlash," he told Aljazeera.net.

Young said Damascus may be blamed for the killing and that this would have an effect on Syria's already tense relations with the US.

"It becomes a question of how much the US and France want to escalate against Syria. The Americans will hold Syria directly responsible. They will not seek conciliation over Resolution 1559. UN envoy Terje Roed-Larsen was seeking a delay in its implementation, but now I think there will be no delay," he said.

Plea for calm

Despite some suggestions that al-Hariri's killing could mean a return to the dark days of Lebanon's civil war that killed more than 100,000 people and raged uninterrupted between 1975 and 1990, Young was keen to make the point that he did not think there would be a resurgence in inter-communal violence.

"This is a political assassination. This is not the beginning of the civil war. We are not seeing Lebanese fighting each other," he said.

Lebanese opposition MP Boutros Harb echoed Young's view and said it was important now to ensure that calm prevailed in Lebanon.

Opposition MP Marwan Hamadeh
survived a car bombing last year

"Its our duty to avoid a choatic situation," he told Aljazeera.net.

"There are some parties who may have big interest in the disappearance of al-Hariri and disturbing the peace. They are expecting to create chaos. This is a very dangerous," he said.

However other analysts were more candid and pointed to the assassination attempt on Marwan Hamadeh. Hamadeh, a Druze MP, is a former minister who resigned in protest over the decision to extend Lahud's term and survived a car bomb attack in October.

"Whatever happens, the reaction will be against the Syrians. It's obvious. What happened with Marwan Hamadeh was also very obvious. Being obvious is the name of the game these days," a Lebanese observer told Aljazeera.net on the condition of anonymity.


Aljazeera
By Christian Henderson

You can find this article at:
english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/AA19EA2C-3683-4980-BFC6-666C15B07D41.htm

[Ropegun]

Sounds very much like a U.S. sponsored incident, what with the noises on the networks about Syria being one of the next targets of Bunutse aggression.

And it certainly would'nt be the first time amerika did something like this.

[Moses]

Blast cited by U.S. in anti-Syria move[/url]

By Steven R. Weisman[/b] The New York Times
Wednesday, February 16, 2005

WASHINGTON The Bush administration, condemning the assassination of the former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri, is suggesting that Syria is to blame and moving to get a new condemnation of Syria's domination of Lebanon at the UN Security Council.

U.S. and European officials also said the administration was studying the possibility of tougher sanctions on Syria, effectively tightening penalties imposed in May, when Washington said the Syrian government had failed to act against militant groups in Israel and against a supply line from Syria to the insurgents in Iraq.

Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, and other Bush administration officials said they had no concrete evidence of Syria's involvement in the killing of Hariri, a prominent opposition leader and critic of Syria's role in Lebanon, who died along with at least 11 others Monday when a car bomb blew up next to his motorcade in Beirut.

In fact, the Syrian foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa, speaking at a news conference in Damascus, also condemned the attack.
At the United Nations, the Security Council scheduled a meeting to discuss the bombing. In a resolution passed last year to condemn Syria's role in Lebanon, Syria's name was not mentioned; there was only a reference to foreign forces in Lebanon.

"We condemn this brutal attack in the strongest possible terms," McClellan said of the Hariri killing, adding that it was "a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political future free from violence and intimidation and free from Syrian occupation."[Whereeas the violence and intimidation of the Isreali occupation is A-OK!]

U.S. officials said the killing raised concern that Lebanon could plunge back into the civil war that it suffered throughout the 1980s. They also said it underscored growing U.S. impatience with the role played by Syria in the Middle East.[Whereas Israel has been such a stabilizing influence] Several officials condemned Syria's role in Lebanon as part of their comments on the attack.

"We're going to turn up the heat on Syria, that's for sure," a senior State Department official said. "It's been a pretty steady progression of pressure up to now, but I think it's going to spike in the wake of this event. Even though there's no evidence to link it to Syria, Syria has, by negligence or design, allowed Lebanon to become destabilized." [Whereas Iraq is highly stable, thanks to the US]

Syria has effectively controlled Lebanon since it moved troops into the country in 1976, at the outset of the civil war. In 1981 Syria forced the Beirut government to sign a treaty declaring that Syria would play the dominant role in its foreign policy.

In the view of U.S. analysts, Syria has in turn done the bidding of Iran, using Syrian territory to support Hezbollah, a major presence in Lebanon, and other Islamic groups that have attacked Israel. [Note Weisman's Usraeli language of this article-- if it were an anti-Syria group it would read: "resist the occupation"]

The United States has focused mounting attention on Iran in recent weeks.

It has been doing so because of suspicions that Iran might have a nuclear arms program and because of its support of groups trying to disrupt a peaceful resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. [Holy nuts! Weisman doesn't even hide his propaganda! peeuke!]

A Western diplomat said the United States, in condemning Syria's possible role in the Beirut attack, may also be trying to rebuke Iran, signaling that U.S. tolerance of such behavior was diminishing. On the other hand, there are few sanctions available that the United States has not already imposed on Syria.

Western diplomats have sometimes suggested that Syria is "low-hanging fruit" in the campaign against terrorists: a nation that could be punished by further isolation and sanctions because its economy is in poor shape. Iran, by contrast, is awash in oil revenues, and the difficulties of mounting an international campaign against it are becoming increasingly obvious as Europeans call for engagement with Iran rather than confrontation.

Some in the Bush administration have argued for the last two years that Syria's role has not always been destructive. In particular, some at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency have credited Syria with cracking down on some anti-Western militant groups ["anti-Western" is a neocon construct. The Times should recall Weissman and his wife-- this is disgusting for the top paper to have such a one assigned to the US State Dept] and with trying at least partly to stop the flow of arms and financing to insurgents in Iraq.

That more benign view of Syria has lost favor, however, administration officials say. Earlier this year, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage traveled to Syria and gave what a senior official said Monday was a very stern warning to do more to stop the Iraq insurgency and aid to militant anti-Israel groups.[right. That's what the US is all about-- Israel]

"He went with a pretty tough message, because pressure is building in the administration to do something," the official said. "We've seen some cooperation on the border with the Iraqis and some repatriation of some of the Iraqi money. But there's not been nearly enough action to make us satisfied."

Last May, President George W. Bush banned virtually all U.S. exports to Syria, except for food and medicine, and barred flights between Syria and the United States, except for emergencies. The Treasury Department also moved to freeze assets of Syrians with ties to terrorists, lethal weapons or the Lebanon occupation.
But these actions were described even in the administration as symbolic. Critics of Syria in Congress want a ban on exports or U.S. investments in Syria.

U.S. officials have raised the pressure on Syria since Bush's inaugural address and the congressional testimony of Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice during her confirmation hearings, when she called Syria one of several "outposts of tyranny" in the world.

[Ropegun]

This is all just so predictable.

If I were Assad, I'd be screaming about U.S. intervention and meddling.

As predictable as all this is, it's also hugely hypocritical.

What kind of place is this country turning out to be?

[Moses]

It looks like people holding Australian passports may be suspected:

Australians hunted over Hariri death[/size]

February 18, 2005


Twelve people wanted over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri are believed to be in Australia.

Lebanon's Justice Minister Adnan Addoum said authorities had contacted Interpol in Sydney over the departure from Beirut to Australia of 12 men - most bearded - on Monday, the day of the bombing that killed Hariri and 16 others.

Addoum said the 12 were among 14 men with Australian citizenship who tried to leave Lebanon, but two missed the flight for unknown reasons. Their whereabouts are unknown.

Interpol has agreed to interrogate the 12 in relation to the killing, Addoum said, adding that three have agreed to come forward.

Addoum did not elaborate and it was unclear what connection, if any, the men might have had in the attack.

No credible claims of responsibility have emerged, but the interior minister has said a suicide bomber backed by "international parties" may have killed Hariri.

Some also suggest rogue Syrian intelligence operatives or factions among Lebanon's different religious groups may be responsible.

Reports earlier this week said Australian authorities were helping Lebanon investigate the murder.

Lebanon's Syrian-backed regime is facing escalating calls to stand down over the death and Washington issued more stark warnings to Damascus.

Banks and shops in Lebanon reopened for business after a three-day mourning period for Hariri, whose murder in a massive bomb blast in Beirut sent shockwaves through the country and added to tensions with its political masters in Syria.

Lebanon's anti-Damascus opposition was to hold a meeting to try to rally a mass public mobilisation after the killing of the man behind the country's post-war revival, while Syrian-backed President Emile Lahoud was to hold a cabinet meeting.

"The regime ... should take the political initiative of opening up to the opposition by declaring its readiness to meet its demand in forming a special government to run and supervise the legislative elections (due in May)," said prominent former prime minister Salim Hoss.

Sixteen people were killed and about 100 more wounded in the massive bomb blast that ripped through Hariri's motorcade on Beirut's seafront on Monday, causing the worst carnage seen in Beirut since the 1975-1990 civil war.

[Moses]

Last update - 21:37 21/02/2005

IAF: Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran


By Haaretz Staff and The Associated Press


Israel Air Force Commander-in-Chief Major General Eliezer Shakedi said Monday that Israel must be prepared for an air strike on Iran in light of its nuclear activity.

But in a meeting with reporters, Shakedi wouldn't say whether he thought Israel was capable of carrying out such a mission alone, as it did when it bombed an unfinished Iraqi nuclear reactor near Baghdad in 1981.

When asked whether Israel has a plan for the Iranian nuclear program, Shakedi replied, "You know that for obvious reasons, I won't say even a word."

But when asked whether he was confident the air force could provide the answer to the Iranian threat, Shakedi replied, "I must be prepared for everything."

The Israeli air force commander also discussed the fluid situation in neighboring Lebanon.

The assassination of former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri "can create a new picture in Lebanon," Shakedi said. [As in "opportunity"? -- Like 9/11?]

With Syria, Hezbollah guerrillas and Hezbollah's Iranian benefactors all operating in Lebanon, "we understand who has interests" in Hariri being out of the picture, he said.

Asked whether the IAF has changed its deployment since the assassination, he replied, "Of course we won't let the other side hit us."

"We have a job to protect the citizens of Israel," Shakedi said. "I hope that there won't be a war - but you know, no one knows."

[Moses]

 Rafiq Hariri: Visionary for Lebanon[/size]
    Dr. James J. Zogby
    Arab American Institute

    Rafiq Hariri was larger than life. He was a political giant and a visionary whose accomplishments reflected both qualities-they were enormous in size and far-reaching in consequence.

    He also possessed a fierce will and a determination to focus his wealth and many talents in the pursuit of goals he set for himself and his country.

    Hariri had critics, to be sure. Great men of vision always do. As he single-mindedly pursued the physical restoration and political and economic revitalization of Lebanon, he had to make a difficult transition from businessman to politician. Wending his way through the many mine-fields of Lebanese politics required that Hariri master new skills-and he did.

    The terrorist blast that murdered Rafiq Hariri did more than kill him and kill and maim so many others, it also struck like a knife cutting deep into the heart of the fragile Lebanon that Hariri so loved.

    There was a profound irony in the place where the assassins struck. The rebuilding of the heart of Beirut out to the sea had been central to Hariri's dream of a restored Lebanon. And this is an element of Hariri's vision and leadership that was unique in modern Lebanese politics. Lebanon's war stole the childhood of a generation of young Lebanese. For many in this generation, Hariri had transcended the sectarian labels that plague the country's politics. For the youth born into war, or for the generation born abroad who had heard only stories of Beirut's splendor, Hariri had given them, for the first time in their lives, something to be proud of. The pictures of burned cars, dead and wounded, damaged buildings, and rubble helped the terrorists make a statement that they sought to kill not only the dreamer, but the dream itself.

    I had been to Lebanon a number of times in the 1970s, beginning with my visit in 1971, before the long war. Although I did not return in the 1980s, I remained close in other ways. We formed a humanitarian group to rescue and heal Lebanon's wounded children and we made an award-winning film of the horror that had transformed the glories of Beirut into a devastated war-zone.

    When I returned in the early 1990s and saw first hand what I had only previously seen on film, I wept. It was difficult to absorb the magnitude of the destruction-the barbarity, the randomness, the sin of such wanton waste.

    The historic center of the capitol lay in ruin, but the city and the country continued to move and grow around the ruins. A city and country, still divided, but sprawling to the north, south, and east, ignoring the city's dead heart.

    It was during this first return visit that I met Rafiq Hariri. As he discussed his plan to reconstruct Lebanon, which he always reminded me was "your country," I sat appreciative but not fully comprehending. It was so grand in scope, so all-encompassing, so visionary, and, it appeared to me, so impossible.

    With each successive visit, I saw the vision emerge, block by block. Beirut was coming back to life. Traces of war's scars were being erased. Vitality was returning.

    Some Lebanese complained that Hariri's vision for Beirut was misdirected or too extravagant. But what he knew was that if the country was to be reborn, its heart had to beat again.

    Each time I would see him, he spoke of the effort with pride. Because it was "my country" he wanted to share the progress and the plans that lay ahead.

    On one occasion, I suggested that the effort, though a marvel, troubled me for one reason. Was it not dangerous, I asked, to erase all memories of war? Should they not, I offered, leave one devastated block or destroyed building as a stark reminder-as if to say "Remember and don't let it happen again." He did not agree. Now the terrorists have brought back the horror and we've been reminded, in one bold stroke, what we had hoped to forget.

    Hariri was right to constantly remind me, "It's your country." I obviously feel an affinity to the country of my parents. But his words should apply more directly to all the people of Lebanon. "It is your country." There should be a resolve that emerges in the wake of this crime, not only to find and punish the murderers, but to deny them their goal of killing the dreamer's vision of a restored, revitalized, and unified Lebanon.

    Three generations ago, the great Lebanese American poet Kahlil Gibran wrote a simple verse with the repeating line "you have your Lebanon, I have mine." In it, Gibran chided the politicians of his day who defined Lebanon by their intrigue and their vain boastings. To Gibran the real Lebanon was its prophets and poets, its beauty and the vitality of its daily life.

    In this light, our Lebanon of today ought to be inspired by the vision of Rafiq Hariri-a nation free and united, vibrant and open, with its heart beating strong. So while the horrible vision of a black cloud over Beirut reminded many of the war they had hoped to forget, it also led to an outpouring of grief shared by Lebanese of all religions, sects, and political persuasions-a unity that many Lebanese have never before experienced.

    The dreamer may have been killed, in the city he loved, but his dream will live. That is "our Lebanon."

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