UN Hariri Report: Questions
After months of investigation, all the UN came up with was what we knew all along: That high-level Syrians were involved in the assassination of former Lebanon Premier Rafik Hariri.
Athough the report won't be released to the UN General Assembly and the media until Friday (tomorrow) morning, reporters at today's UN press briefing already knew it wasn't going to name names. The UN spokesperson neither confirmed or denied it.
Of course, the conclusion that the assassination was largely a Syrian operation -- an official Syrian government operation -- is enough to spell doom for Assad's government as we know it. He may hold on, he may concede to liberalizations, he may be the target of a war, but he won't get to play Daddy's Little Despot much longer.
Ambassador Bolton will start pushing immediately for strong sanctions against Syria, and in the face of the evidence, it will be hard for people to stand tall with Assad. Perhaps Hugo Chavez will be there, but it's hard to imagine too many others.
Why didn't Detlev Mehlis and the UN investigative team name names? Surely they have them. The most sympathetic scenario is that they couldn't assemble enough evidence to name Assad himself, so blaming the entire government was a better idea than giving him scapegoats to sacrifice.
It's also possible that they did have the goods on Assad, but decided not to name him -- and if that's the case, let's pray for some leaks from the investigative team.
The other unknown in all this is what will happen to the report between the moment that Mehlis handed it to Kofi Anan and its broader distribution. If Kofi were to change anything, how would we ever find out? It's a thought that was on the UN reporters' minds too.
Athough the report won't be released to the UN General Assembly and the media until Friday (tomorrow) morning, reporters at today's UN press briefing already knew it wasn't going to name names. The UN spokesperson neither confirmed or denied it.
Of course, the conclusion that the assassination was largely a Syrian operation -- an official Syrian government operation -- is enough to spell doom for Assad's government as we know it. He may hold on, he may concede to liberalizations, he may be the target of a war, but he won't get to play Daddy's Little Despot much longer.
Ambassador Bolton will start pushing immediately for strong sanctions against Syria, and in the face of the evidence, it will be hard for people to stand tall with Assad. Perhaps Hugo Chavez will be there, but it's hard to imagine too many others.
Why didn't Detlev Mehlis and the UN investigative team name names? Surely they have them. The most sympathetic scenario is that they couldn't assemble enough evidence to name Assad himself, so blaming the entire government was a better idea than giving him scapegoats to sacrifice.
It's also possible that they did have the goods on Assad, but decided not to name him -- and if that's the case, let's pray for some leaks from the investigative team.
The other unknown in all this is what will happen to the report between the moment that Mehlis handed it to Kofi Anan and its broader distribution. If Kofi were to change anything, how would we ever find out? It's a thought that was on the UN reporters' minds too.
posted by Laer at 9:56 PM
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