This cricket was taking a nice snooze because I don't tend to get a "holy freaking crap" response from a single article. So it is necessary, once again, to do the homework that seems lacking in posts of this kind. Ya know, actually reading the material offered?
Quote:
|
Here is the UN report in full.
|
If you bothered to read this 54 page report in full, you would have learned that the investigation is incomplete but has come to the end of the time period allotted for it.
Four pro-Syrian generals have been arrested, but further leads remain to be investigated that point to Syrian officials. All information relevant to the investigation has been turned over to Lebanon, and additional time has been requested to pursue what Syrian involvement can be determined.
It is an ongoing investigation and you can't name suspected individuals when you currently have no substantive data to back up your claim. The report states that Syrian officials are providing false information and that they should be compelled to be more forthcoming.
Quote:
|
The final, edited version quoted a witness as saying that the plot to kill Mr Hariri was hatched by unnamed “senior Lebanese and Syrian officials”. But the undoctored version named those officials as “Maher al-Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleyman and Jamal al-Sayyed”.
|
Sayyed is in jail, and the rest are beyond Lebanon's reach. Does a single witness's claim rise to a level of proof needed for prosecution? The final report also speaks to that:
Quote:
|
210. As a result of the Commission's investigation to date, a number of people have been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit murder and related crimes in connection with the assassination of Mr. Hariri and twenty-two others. The Commission is of course of the view that all people, including those charged with serious crimes should be considered innocent until proven guilty following a fair trial.
|
There is that last little bit in the article bear provided:
Quote:
|
At a press conference yesterday Herr Mehlis insisted that Mr Annan had not pressurised him into making changes. “No one outside of the report team influenced these changes and no changes whatsoever were suggested by the Secretary-General,” he said.
|
We are left with one thing, and that is the "extraordinary computer gaff." Rather than viewing this as a "mistake", it seems equally likely that this was a subtle diplomatic signal to Syria that certain government officials are in the headlights of this investigation. Perhaps Syria thought it would all go away with the unfortunate suicide ::cough:: of Ghazi Kanaan, former head of Syria's military intelligence in Lebanon.
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/...yria.minister/
Quote:
Syrian minister commits suicide
Thursday, October 13, 2005; Posted: 9:46 a.m. EDT (13:46 GMT)
Ghazi Kanaan's death was reported Wednesday, days before the expected release of a United Nations report into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a prominent opponent of Syria's presence in Lebanon.
The 63-year-old Baathist major general died in a Damascus hospital of a gunshot wound to the head, according to the interior ministry and other government ministers.
The head of the intensive care unit at the hospital told CNN's Brent Sadler a small-caliber bullet went through the roof of Kanaan's mouth and exited through the back of his head.
Hours before his death, Kanaan had been interviewed by a Lebanese radio station after he called in to refute allegations that aired on Lebanese television Tuesday night that he had accepted bribes and payoffs while in the Lebanon post.
Kanaan told the anchorwoman at the Voice of Lebanon, a Christian radio station, that he had chosen to speak with her because he trusted her and wanted to clear his name after the report on NewTV, an independent television station.
"I want to clarify that what is being reported is baseless and all untrue," the interior minister said in a calm, firm voice.
Kanaan said he had nothing but good intentions for Lebanon and nothing against Hariri.
"I want to clarify that we have affection and mutual respect for our brethren (in) Lebanon and that was for everyone's advantage in order to pull out Lebanon from its crisis at that time," he said.
"We have served the interests of Lebanon with honor and all honesty."
Kanaan noted that Syria made sacrifices of blood for the cause of Lebanese unity and that Lebanon's liberation would not have been possible without Damascus.
And as if he already knew his fate, the interior minister told the anchorwoman that he was giving her this exclusive statement and he wanted her to pass it on to other Lebanese media "because I believe this is the last statement I can make."
Less than two hours later, he was dead.
An important political figure in Syria for more than 35 years, Kanaan was one of the most senior government officials to be interviewed by a German prosecutor heading the U.N. investigation into Hariri's killing.
Those interviews took place about a week ago.
In his radio comments, Kanaan said he objectively answered all the questions posed to him by the investigators.
Many Lebanese said Syria ordered the car bombing that killed Hariri in February 2005 but Damascus has repeatedly denied any links.
The assassination sparked a wave of protests in Beirut that helped lead to Syria's announced withdrawal from the country in April.
Four pro-Syrian Lebanese generals have been arrested and charged in connection with Hariri's murder.
A report from the U.N. probe is expected to be released within the next 10 days, and while it will mainly deal with the assassination itself, it is also expected to address the millions of dollars alleged to have changed hands in the corruption scandal.
Just before news of Kanaan's death, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an exclusive interview that Syria had no involvement in Hariri's death, and it was impossible for him to have ordered it.
But, he said, if the U.N. probe concluded that Syrians were involved, then they would be regarded as traitors and should be charged with treason and face punishment, either through the Syrian judicial process or by an international court.
"If indeed there is a Syrian national implicated, he would be considered as a traitor and most severely punished," Assad said.
Kanaan was the head of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon from 1982 till 2002. He was appointed interior minister in 2004.
In July, the U.S. Department of the Treasury said it had frozen Kanaan's U.S. assets, alleging he was involved in Syria's military and security presence in Lebanon.
CNN's Sadler said Al-Assad's government was extremely shaken by the Kanaan's death. "Officials were incredulous at the news. He was the lynchpin of the Syrian security apparatus for more than two decades."
|
It is my guess that Kanaan may have been the witness that pointed to top Syrian government officials. It's a tad difficult to keep that claim in the UN report, if your witness is dead.