U.N. investigator concedes mention of Syrian leader's relatives deleted from Hariri report

Asharq Al-Awsat / AP ^ | 10/22/05

[Valin]

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The lead investigator in the assassination of a top Lebanese politician acknowledged that he deleted references from his report implicating two relatives of Syria's president, raising questions about whether the U.N. tried to soften the inquiry's findings. The report, which accused key Syrian and Lebanese security officials of orchestrating the Feb. 14 bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 20 others, was nonetheless a stinging rebuke of Damascus' regime.

The findings caused an uproar in the region and brought swift denials of involvement from the government of Syrian President Bashar Assad. In an embarrassment for the United Nations, a version of the report sent to journalists late Thursday included text that had been deleted for the final draft.

The most significant change came in a paragraph that cited a witness as saying Assad's brother, Maher Assad, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, were among those who decided to kill Hariri.

Detlev Mehlis, the chief investigator, told reporters Friday that he deleted the names when he learned his report to the U.N. Security Council would be made public. He said he did not want to suggest the men were guilty when they had not faced trial. "It could give the wrong impression that this was an established fact, and for that (reason) these names never appeared in the conclusions," Mehlis said. The deletions included a time stamp that suggested they were made midday Thursday, around the time Mehlis gave the report to U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. That raised questions of whether Annan sought to tone down the report's conclusions about Syria. Annan's spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, said the U.N. secretariat wasn't involved in the changes. "I can't be clearer. He at no time made any effort to influence what's in the report," Dujarric said. Underscoring the sensitivity of the issue, both Mehlis and Annan released statements later Friday reaffirming their earlier statements. In his statement, Mehlis insisted the changes were his and said he decided not to name anyone in the report unless they had been charged with a crime in Hariri's assassination.

The final report cited a Syrian witness living in Lebanon as saying Lebanese and Syrian officials decided to assassinate Hariri about two weeks after the Security Council adopted a resolution demanding Syria end a three-decade military occupation of Lebanon. That final draft makes a single reference to Shawkat, saying he set up a false confession to Hariri's murder 15 days before it took place.

Yet the earlier version said two weeks after the adoption of the resolution, "Maher Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleiman and Jamil Al-Sayyed decided to assassinate Rafik Hariri." Khalil was Shawkat's predecessor as Syria's chief of military intelligence, Suleiman was the head of internal security and was removed about two months ago, and Sayyed is chief of the General Security Department.

Diplomats at the United Nations said the release of the earlier draft with the names could strengthen the Security Council's hand against Syria. The council is expected to meet Tuesday to discuss it, and it is possible the members will consider sanctions for Syria.

U.S. Ambassador John Bolton sought to keep the focus on the report's findings, rather than the debate over which version of the report was released to reporters. "I think this is really distracting us from the main point of the report itself, the substance of which doesn't change no matter what version you have or how good you are at software, or whatever," Bolton said.

British Foreign Minister Jack Straw said the official report was damning enough as it was. "It is further evidence of the extraordinary view that the Syrian elite have held that the Lebanon is a kind of fiefdom," Straw said. "It is an unpleasant story which the international community will take very seriously indeed."

Meanwhile, President George W. Bush said the U.N. should deal quickly and seriously with the report that implicates Syria in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister. "The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said. Bush spoke in California after helping dedicate a new pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum. He said he had telephoned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the day and instructed her to call on the United Nations to convene a session "as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter."

Bush was not specific about what steps the international community should take. He said the United States has started talking with U.N. officials and with Arab governments about that. "Today a serious report came out that requires the world to look at very carefully and respond accordingly," Bush said. The United States and France are readying U.N. Security Council resolutions critical of Syria. The Security Council, which can impose political and economic sanctions, already is to meet next week to consider the report from German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis.

Separately, the U.N. will soon receive another report on Syrian compliance with last year's U.N. demand that it quit Lebanon and allow political self-determination there. Rice, on a trip to Alabama said, "Accountability is going to be very important for the international community." Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, with whom she was traveling, urged Syria to show good will toward Lebanon by establishing diplomatic relations with its neighbor. Syria must "fully understand" that it must not intervene in Lebanon and must respect its sovereignty, Rice said at a joint news conference. Rice gave no hint what plans the United States has for a Security Council meeting on Syria. The issue must be thoroughly debated, she said. The council "will have no real credibility if it does not take seriously the implications of this report," Rice said.

[ncountylee]

Kofi is a scum who thinks he rules the world.

[Doogle]

UN...oh were we suppose to mention names?

Doogle

[Eagles Talon IV]

How sweet it is to see the slimy UN operatives get it stuck to them. I really love it when we hold their feet to the fire like we have been doing.

Next we need to throw the organization out of the country and use that prime real estate for something useful, like generating a cash flow instead of having it house self aggrandizing, pontificating, quiche eating buffoons.

[Terpfen]

The League of United Nations.

Get rid of this organization already. Move the HQ to Mecca, Paris, or Rwanda.

[Dutch Boy]

Why is this guy not fired and put in jail? This is a CYA plain and simple. Can't let anything like the facts get in the way of the truth.

[DannyTN]

This is Syrious.

[McGavin999]

Syria is in some real trouble here. I wonder if they're smart enough to realize just how much trouble they are in?

[Valin]

Actually I have a better place for them

Bassas da India Top

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/bs.html

Background:
This atoll is a volcanic rock surrounded by reefs and is awash at high tide. A French possession since 1897, it was placed under the administration of a commissioner residing in Reunion in 1968.
Geography Bassas da India Top of Page
Location:
Southern Africa, islands in the southern Mozambique Channel, about one-half of the way from Madagascar to Mozambique
Geographic coordinates:
21 30 S, 39 50 E
Map references:
Africa
Area:
total: 0.2 sq km
land: 0.2 sq km
water: 0 sq km
Area - comparative:
about one-third the size of The Mall in Washington, DC


(I understand it's just lovely this time of year.)

[Valin]

and HUGE

[Terpfen]

In that case, why not just put them in the areas of New Orleans now merged with Lake Ponchartrain?

[calex59]

raising questions about whether the U.N. tried to soften the inquiry's findings.

Trust AP to spin it. Raising questions? Hell it answers the question. Yes they tried to cover it up! Why else would you delete the names?

[AD from SpringBay]

The UN is UNAccountable. After the admission what will be the punishment? Koffi will find a scapegoat - he will claim he was unaware - and will then plead for the ability to tax the world, control the internet, and get rid of all privately owned guns. Beast with ten horns and all that...

[mmercier]

casus belli.