The Report, The Dark Ages, And Moving Forward

It took me half a day to read the report, to digest it; but only seconds to react and feel so much anger. And if I wrote right when I finished the report, I would have probably used foul language to reflect the anger.

Let me say this: the report is not "politicized". And whomever says that has not read the report. You think Wiam Wahhab has read it, Raja, when he regurgitated what the Syrian offical line is saying?

And guess who killed Hariri afterall? Not a surprise: Not the Zionists; the Syrian regime and all the pathetic Lebanese puppets are the culprits.

I am disgusted of Mr. X; may HE rot in hell and not Rafiq Hariri. It is disgusting how those who lived with blood on their hands, do not mind death whatsoever, except for themselves; they are cowards!

The steam of anger has crystallized my stance towards the whole issue: Now I not only ask for the continuation of the investigation until the details are complete and an international tribunal to bring the perpetrators to justice, but I ask for the following:

• I ask for the Syrian regime to cooperate fully with the UN investigative team (UNIIC) to move forward with the Hariri investigation;
  
• I ask for an international tribunal that looks into the crimes that the Ba'ath Syrian regime has perpetrated against the Lebanese people over 30 years;
• To ask for reparations for all the death and loss in life that they have caused for many Lebanese families (starting with the 22 who have died alongside Hariri on February 14, 2005);
  
• To ask for Ahmad Abu Adass's body to be returned to his family alongside all the other bodies of Lebanese who have been detained and then have disappeared (heck, perhaps they have used the tens of those Lebanese as decoys, just like Abu Adass, that's why the Syrian regime keeps on saying that those Lebanese missing do not exist....this is where I am so angry most by the way...); and
• To ask finally all Syrians to start moving forward in asking for a Syria that is modern, democratic, that respects its citizens' consitutitional and human rights, and upholds the rule of law (everyone deserves all that)
  

It's time for the light to shine on all the darkness, on that Dark Age the Arab world has been immersed in for so long.

And let me tell you something: I believe that the Syrian President Bashar Assad has shown everyone not only his short-sightedness (he needs to prescribe new glasses for himself), but his lack of intelligence. Number one: it started when he said to Amanpour on CNN that there is no history of assassinations in Syria. This was the lamest statement an Arab President can ever say to the world. What did he want to portray to everyone when he rushed that fast to be interviewed by CNN? He made a fool of himself and of his regime.

Number two: Assad and his intelligence entourage's order to get rid of Hariri was the biggest mistake they have ever made. Assad threatened then Hariri that he will break Lebanon over his and Jumblatt's heads. But they eventually decided to go for Hariri.

Tell me: what were they thinking when they did that? That on that same night they can bulldoze over the bomb scene and move on? That Chirac, Hariri's friend, and whose country has great leverage in not only the UN, but also the Security Council, will sit and watch? That Saudi Arabia, Hariri's second home, will sit and watch as well? What a HUGE faux-pas, Mr. Assad!

I won't go close to Lahoud, because I think he is really nothing in all of this. He is NOTHING! He needs to leave right now; he did not rule whatsoever. He told Rustom Ghazale that he's sick of Hariri. Mr. Lahoud: Please step out of Baabda. This Presidential Palace is not for you! It should be occupied by a real President of the Republic of Lebanon. Please spare us the talk of protecting the Constitution. You are marring our Constitution. Please LEAVE NOW!

And Mr. X is no one but Berri. No one has 1) the respect of Ghazaleh (as the conversation shows), and 2) has the power/jurisdiction to tell Hariri to resign "God dammit!".

Two more points about the report itself: One, it is apparent that Mehlis's report is in no way politicized because it is HONEST; the report points out clearly to areas that require more work, that are not clear; so how could it be then politicized when there is humility in admitting the gaps and the shortcomings? The report was technical, relied on analysis based on many times on reconstruction of events, on interviews with hundreds and documents, on regression and statistical projections, on extensive research and data probing.

Do you all recall Colin Powell on the eve of Iraq's war in the UN Security Council? Yes, his report was politicized; because it did not say that the Americans were not sure, they were not humble enough to admit that; but on the contrary said that with no doubt Iraq possesses WMD's. This time around, it's different. The Mehlis report IS different; not politicized; just read it.

The second point is that I was proud of the report's recognition of the "praiseworthy" efforts of the Lebanese judicial and security component in helping the UNIIC with its mission of finding the truth. More striking was the report's concluding statements that the Lebanese judicial and security authorities are able with some help from the international community to move forward with further investigating the Hariri case as well as others, such as the other assassinations and assassination attempts that took place after Hariri's murder and the Bank Al-Madina case which in their assessment plays a pertinent role in funding the massacre of February 14.

Of course I'll write more in time. This is my piece of mind for now. Very charged!

"Nobody knows how many rebellions, besides political rebellions, ferment in the masses of life which people earth."