Lebanon: Brace For Impact
Detlev Mehlis, the German judge investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri, has confirmed what we all knew from the rumors: Assad had him whacked.
Mehlis revealed during the interview, which was carried by many local news agencies, that the main reason for the order was UN Resolution 1559, which took aim at Syria.
He said witness testimonies gathered by his commission indicate that "the structure of the Syrian regime does not allow such a crime to be carried out without explicit orders from Assad".
Mehlis stressed the importance of testimony given by Abdelhalim Kheddam, a former Syrian vice president who fled the country.
Meanwhile, Libération is reporting that his son, former Prime Minister Saad Hariri, has fled to France following US and Saudi intelligence warnings that he might be assassinated by the Syrian regime to trigger war in Lebanon. The plan, apparently, was to distract the world so better for Assad to continue shooting his own people.
Oh, Assad, what happened to you? We used to think you were just a wussy, mild-mannered, bewildered ophthalmologist. Now you're the Caligula of the Levant. Where did your parents go wrong?
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Dec '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
Claire Berlinski, Ed.:
Oh, Assad, what happened to you? We used to think you were just a wussy, mild-mannered, bewildered ophthalmologist. Now you're the Caligula of the Levant. Where did your parents go wrong? ·
What do you mean, Claire? His father is smiling up at him as we speak -- there's never been a prouder Papa in Hell.
The amazing byproduct of the chaos in Syria is that it is now safe for Mehlis to announce his findings, because Assad is a little too busy to supervise his Lebanese allies in a campaign of civil war in that country. It remains to be seen whether Hezbollah and all of the other pro-Syrian factions in Lebanon -- now collectively holding a majority of Cabinet seats in the Lebanese government, if I recall correctly -- will be significantly damaged either in the short or long run by this news.
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
At last.
Stuart, you're right (as usual). And Hezbollah's a bit wrong-footed right now, too, because the Syrian people have noticed that they're helping Assad crush the rebellion. This was just the window Mehlis needed.
Interesting about Saad. I'm not seeing it anywhere else yet.
Dec '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
The foreshock? From YaLibnan.com:
A seven-year old child , Abdel Rahman al-Habchiti, was killed as a result of the renewed clashes in Tripoli neighborhoods of Jabal Mohsen ( mainly Alawites who support the Syrian regime ) and Bab al-Tabbaneh ( mainly Sunnis who support the Syrian uprising ) in northern Lebanon on Friday, National News Agency reported.
Armed clashes erupted earlier in the day in Tripoli following a rally in support of Syrian protesters. The security official of the Arab Democratic Party, Ali Fares was killed and 2 other , one soldier and one civilian .at least 10 others were reportedly injured.
Jabal Mohsen and Bab al-Tabbaneh have been in recent years the scene of intense clashes between Sunni supporters of Lebanon’s former PM Saad Hariri and Alawite Muslims who are loyal to the Hezbollah-led coalition backed by Iran and Syria
Dec '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
Judith Levy:
Stuart, you're right (as usual).
I am reminded of Damon Runyon's dictum:
"The race is not always to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, but that's the way to bet."
Mar '11
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
I just read the transcript from the interview with Mehlis (unfortunately only in German). His answer to your question is that the earlier image of Bashar Assad as a mild-mannered technocrat was a "Wunschbild:" wishful thinking.
Westerners desperate to find a "moderate" in Syria projected their own hopes onto him, while in reality the malevolence he is now showing has been with him all along. Which in retrospect does not seem very surprising given his pedigree.
Dec '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
Mendel
Westerners desperate to find a "moderate" in Syria projected their own hopes onto him, while in reality the malevolence he is now showing has been with him all along. Which in retrospect does not seem very surprising given his pedigree.
Clearly Bashar did not read his Machiavelli. If he had, he would have done his brutalizing upon taking over for his father, in order to set the expectations of his people and establish his unassailable position. He then could have gradually offered them greater freedoms and prosperity, creating the impression that he was becoming a benevolent dictator, one who would make sure they had a comfortable standard of living and the illusion of modern freedoms so long as they didn't provoke him with demands for actual freedom.
Mar '11
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
"Assad had him whacked"
For everyone that isn't a naive idiot... or works at the State Department... the above statement falls into the "Duh" and "No ****" categories. The Obama Administration is shocked, just shocked, of course.
Oct '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
Really? Must be another Assad that Hillary assured us is a reformer.
She's so savvy!
Dec '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
AngloCon: Really? Must be another Assad that Hillary assured us is a reformer.
She's so savvy! · Jun 17 at 5:42pm
It's what Mendel pointed out: Hillary needed to believe Assad was a reformer in order for her foreign policy puzzle to fit together the way she had planned it. She and her boss engage in the dead opposite of Realpolitik, which above all seeks to deal with the world as it is. They prefer to look at outcomes, see what conditions have to obtain to get those outcomes, and then assume that those conditions are not only possible, but inevitable.
There is a joke about the mathematician, the physicist and the engineer stranded on a desert island with nothing to eat but a case of canned beans. The physicist figures that he can build a fire, put a can on and let it burst from steam pressure. The engineer figures he can rig a stone chimney so that the beans will fly out of the can when it bursts and land on a clean stone. The mathematician says, "you're going to too much trouble -- let's just assume a can opener!"
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
I was being dry, Stuart. That's just what I meant.
Dec '10
Re: Lebanon: Brace For Impact
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
I was being dry, Stuart. That's just what I meant. · Jun 18 at 2:00am
I knew that, Claire. I was playing off your dry joke with false misinterpretation.
(You didn't really think I thought you expected better from Bashar, did you?)