Thursday, March 24, 2005

Who is Guilty (or who is not) in Lebanon? If Lahhud does not resign, he will confirm my suspicions that his intelligence service and/or the Syrian intelligence service in Lebanon may be behind the bombing that killed Hariri. They are looking increasingly guilty, for sure. The fact that they do not ask for, nay welcome, an international investigation, does not put them in a good light. (I certainly disagree with Hasan Nasrallah's suggestion that an Arab investigation would suffice. An Arab investigation would only conclude that Hariri died from high blood pressure. And an international investigation can include countries other than US and France). When I read that Rustum Ghazali (head of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon) told the head of the international fact-finding mission that his role in Lebanon only covers the "protection of Syrian troops in Lebanon" and not involvement in Lebanese affairs, my suspicions increased. The recent bombings in Christian areas point out a deadly path: they may become what Stalinist-turned millionaire, George Hawi, calls "sabotage of Lebanon as a political option." The gangs that are mere clients of Syrian intelligence in Lebanon (like Ba`th party organizations in Lebanon) may pursue that "option" to show that Lebanon would explode without Syrian troops, and, right-wing Christian-oriented groups may also pursue that "option" to invite or drag an international military intervention in Lebanon--and they have a long of history of doing just that.