Who killed Hariri ?

[kentuck]

the popular Prime Minister of Lebanon was assassinated by unknown assassins. Many people think he was killed by the Mossad? But why? They say it was to de-stabilize the Lebanese government? But why? Any thoughts?

[jarnocan]

1. wow, nothing would surprise me at

this point. the PNAC/Likud plans are foremost???? I don't know.

[originalpckelly]

2. The UN investigation claimed Syria did it...

and they had good motivation because Hariri was moving Lebanon away from Syria's control.


I am completely against this action taken by Israel, but I do believe that this suggestion is out of place.

[Joanne98]

3. I don't think it was Bushco. The chimp was visibly upset at the

very idea a "billionaire" could be assassinated. Of course he's a pretty good actor so anything is possible.

[etherealtruth]

4. You're right ...

in the Chimps world one dead billionaire is worth far more than thousands (millions) of deaths in the "masses"

[Baselinereality]

5. I Don't Think It Was BushCo, Either, But Then Again...

Dumbya doesn't know half the crap that's going on in his name, so the fact that he looks surprised is never a good indicator about anything. I think he looked surprised when he recently found out how large China was geographically.

I don't know about you, but I start to get nervous when Bush DOESN'T look surprised. For example, Hariri's assassination aside, he seems INCREDIBLY calm about the events taking place in Lebanon today. THAT scares the shit out of me.

[scarletwoman]

6. Well, one thing I've wondered -- would Israel be bombing Lebanon

if the Syrian army were still there?

Assassinating Hariri and pointing the blame at Syria was a twofer: further demonize Syria (as part of the long-term project to set Syria up as the next target country for "regime change") AND effect the removal of the Syrian military.

sw

[Baselinereality]

7. Would Israel Be Bombing Lebanon If We Weren't In Iraq?

I'm thinking no.

This is just the next phase in Bush's War on Terror.

[EFerrari]

8. That's what I tend to believe but don't know enough to have

an opinion. It's also the explanation that I've heard from several people here in the neighborhood. Decapitate the government, blame Syria, oust Syria, invade.

[Solo_in_MD]

15. Never happen

Syria would have bugged out. Asssad is more than willing to poke at Israel through a surrogate, but knows he can not stand up to the IDF and a loss would make him vunerable to a coup.

[scarletwoman]

16. I'm not talking about Syrian capabilities to take on the IDF

I'm merely wondering if the presence of the Syrian military would have had an effect on Israel's policy decisions. Would Israel have been as quick to begin a bombing campaign?

It is one thing to engage in hostilities with a non-state entity like the Hizballah military wing, it is another thing to engage in hostilities with an official state military -- then it becomes a war of one state upon another.

While Syria is on the PNAC short list, I don't think Israel was/is ready to take it that far just yet.

sw

[Solo_in_MD]

26. Israel knows better than the US that regime change in the ME is tricky

business, you might end up worse than you started with, like Iran. Assad is marginal in many ways, is a primany supporter of the Hezbollah, but his replacement could be an Islamofacist. A defeat would make him vunerable, so Israel is not likely to strike Syria unless Syrian units enter the fray.

If Syria had been in Lebanon, its less likely that the IDF would have gone in, but it is also less likely that Nasarallah would have gone as overboard as he has. His Syrian masters would have brought him to heel.

[scarletwoman]

27. Syrian "MASTERS"?

If Hezbollah truly takes orders from Syria, then it wouldn't make any difference whether Syrian forces were in Lebanon or not. They would be obeying Syria's orders.

It would be more accurate to say that Syria (and Iran) provides financial and armament support -- that makes them sponsors but not necessarily "masters".

From all the reading I've been doing lately, I do not get the impression that Hezbollah is a puppet organization for an outside state power -- neocon propaganda to the contrary.

sw

[Solo_in_MD]

30. Without military and financial support from Iran and Syria

Hezbollah would not exist. Its certainly not gettng is funding from Lebanon. If Nasrallah was cut off, Hezbollah would dry up and blow away in the desert wind. That makes Syria and Iran the masters of Hezbollah at any practical level.



"The power to destory a thing is absolute control over it" Paul Atreides

[malaise]

9. So they could blame Syria

chase them out and facilitate this moment.

[Poppyseedman]

10. May I suggest something?

Why don't you actually read the history of what happened instead of making up wild and irresponsible assertions?

I have no doubt the Mossad could have and would have assassinated Hariri if it was in Israel interest to do so, but just a small cursory reading of what Hariri wanted for Lebanon will show that his interests were very much aligned with Israel interests, not to say that they were allies, but finally getting Syria out of Lebanon and Hizbollah under control served both countries interest.

Israel killing him would be monumentally stupid, as opposed to Syria needing him to be removed.

It isn't hard to connect the dots

[alcibiades_mystery]

11. I don't know who did it...but if I was in black ops for Israel

I would think it could only be good, in that it serves as a catalyst to get the Syrians out of Lebanon, thus opening up the space for the current campaign. If Syrian troops were still in Labanon, the current campaign would have been impossible.

[oberliner]

12. Syrian officials...who are the "many people" who think it was Mossad?

Are they the same people who think Mossad was behind 9/11 as well?

http://www.aljazeera.com/me.asp?service_ID=10295

Second UN report implicates Syria in Hariri’s killing
12/12/2005 10:00:00 AM GMT

Mehlis delivered the Hariri report to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on Monday

A second UN report on the assassination of Lebanese former Prime Minister RAFIQ HARIRI implicated Syrian officials and criticized Syria’s co-operation with the inquiry, BBC reported.

The report, by German investigator Detlev Mehlis, demanded the Syrian government to detain Syrian suspects.

Here's the UN report:

http://www.un.org/News/dh/docs/mehlisreport/

[allemand]

13. The current UN investigator is Serge Brammertz, not Detlev Mehlis.

His reports are much more cautious.

Third UNIIIC report (14 March 2006):
http://www.securitycouncilreport.org/atf/cf/{65BFCF9B-6D27-4E9C-8CD3-CF6E4FF96FF9}/Lebanon%20S2006%20161.pdf

Fourth UNIIIC report (10 June 2006):
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N06/382/59/PDF/N0638259.pdf?OpenElement

[oberliner]

22. thanks for posting those nt

[The Stranger]

14. The grassy knoll. Or gnoll. I forget.

[Lefty48197]

17. Absolute f*cking BULLSH*T

The Syrians killed Hariri. That's why the Lebanese ran the Syrians out of Lebanon earlier this year.

http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/paperchase/2005/10/un-hariri-assassination-report.php

"A report, submitted Thursday to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, on the results of an independent UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri links high-ranking Syrian officials and top pro-Syrian Lebanese officials to the crime. According to the 60-page report prepared by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, the evidence suggests that both Syria and Lebanon were involved in the assassination plot which was planned for several months. The commission also concludes that it is highly unlikely that Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services were not aware of the plan to assassinate Hariri."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/02/21/international/i063538S45.DTL

"Tens of thousands of opposition supporters shouted insults at Syria and demanded the resignation of their pro-Syrian government in a Beirut demonstration Monday, marking a week since the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.


Beating drums and waving Lebanese flags, those of their own parties and portraits of past leaders killed during the 1975-90 civil war, the protesters gathered at the site where Hariri was killed Feb. 14 in a bombing that the opposition blames on Damascus.


Some in the crowd yelled "Syria out!" and "We don't want a parliament that acts as a doorkeeper for the Syrians," competing with loud insults shouted against Syrian President Bashar Assad.


In Damascus, Arab League chief Amr Moussa said Syria will "soon" take steps to withdraw its army from Lebanese areas in accordance with a 1989 agreement. It was not clear whether that meant Syria would completely leave Lebanon as demanded..."

[allemand]

18. The Mehlis Report is outdated. n/t

[Lefty48197]

20. Oh, the Syrians DIDN'T kill him? Why did they get run out of the country?

Too much spice in their hummus?

[allemand]

24. Because the anti-Syrian elements seized the opportunity to get them out

of the country.

Why would the Syrians kill Hariri and then after just one week announce their withdrawal? That doesn't make much sense.

[scarletwoman]

28. Yes. I've never seen a logical explanation as to what their motive was

supposed to be. To foment wide-scale anti-Syria sentiment and get pushed out of Lebanon? What sense does that make?

sw

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Look to ahem Syria for your answer

[Igel]

21. I found interesting a recent report

concerning the Hamas/JI peace deal that they were discussing (getting on the same page, without involving Israel).

Mesh'al ditched it.

But reports were that Syria could possibly be persuaded to pressure Mesh'al, were the UN to drop all aspects of its Hariri investigation that involve Syria. Drawing inferences is a risky business, but certainly one possible inference is that Syria doesn't think it can bear close scrutiny. (Others are, indeed, possible.)

[Octafish]

23. At the time, the first suspects to come to mind were BushCo

At the time, everybody on ABCNNBCBSFauxNoiseNutwork was blaming "Bashad."

From 20 Feb 2005:

I Suspect the BFEE, not Syria, is behind Hariri assassination

NUTJOB WARMONGER

[Yupster]

25. Many people think the Mossad killed him?

That's news to me, though I guiess 28 people out of the world's 6 billion could be referred to as "many."

Honestly, the idea that every single thing in the world has to be Bush's fault or Israel's fault is pretty lam.

The other lame thing you see on DU al the time is that no matter what happens, it is "suspiciously timed." Well with all the things going on in the world, everything is suspiously timed if one is suspicious enough.

[NNN0LHI]

29. This dispute may have had something to do with the demise of Mr. Hariri?

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9905E4D7103BF93BA35753C1A9649C8B63

Senior officials from the United States Embassy in Beirut met Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri to try to defuse a dispute with Israel over Lebanon's plans to use water both countries say they need. Israel has said it takes a ''grave view'' of Lebanon's plan to pipe water to southern villages from the Wazzani Springs, three miles north of the Israeli border. The springs feed the Hasbani River, a tributary of the Jordan River, which is a major source of Israel's fresh water. Lebanon says that it is within its rights under international law and that it plans to open a pumping station soon.