UN approves tribunal, March 14 to the streets, and some reactions

The UN security council has approved the plan for the international tribunal that will try suspects in the Hariri assassination (the Syrian regime and its Lebanese cohorts being the only suspects).

The plan will be submitted to the Lebanese cabinet for approval- if the Assad regime doesn’t finish off all the ministers before the cabinet can convene.

Meanwhile, March 14 issued a statement urging massive turnout on Thursday at Pierre Gemayel’s funeral in downtown Beirut. Thursday was the day Hizbullah and Aoun were scheduled to topple the government. Hizbullah condemned the assassination, but there’s no word on when they will hold their street protests, and whether they will hold their own protests. After Hariri’s assassination last year, they held a massive rally to thank Syria. Aoun looked subdued in his condemnation statement today, as it is after every assassination, until he turns rabid again and starts defending Syria. He must have heard some of the screams outside the hospital where Pierre lay dead.

“Michel Aoun, you are the ally of murderers," those outside the hospital screamed, telling Hizbullah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah to "go to Iran."

Here’s an excerpt from the March 14 statement, courtesy of Ya Libnan:

"The entire world will hear in the next few days the real voice of Lebanon, the voice of freedom, sovereignty and independence," said former MP Fares Sahed, reading the statement. "The March 14 forces calls on their followers and friends ... to participate massively in the popular burial of the heroic martyr Pierre Gemayel," it said. They also called for a total shutdown of businesses across Lebanon.

The group said "sadness has turned into anger" after today's assassination. "We will go after the criminals and all those who cover this crime ... the blood of Pierre Gemayel will not go in vain," it said. But "the March 14 forces also call on all their followers ... to stay away from any sign of discord which only serves the objectives of the evil criminals".

Pro-Syrian minister Suleiman Franjieh, who was interior minister when Hariri assassination, has practically accused Pierre Gemayel of assassinating himself during an interview with NBN.

In Syria, the press is still being told to highlight of the importance of “dealing” with Syria. Here are some of the latest headlines from SANA as of 7:15 pm EST.

Iraqi President Receives Verbal Message from President Assad by Foreign Minister
Blair calls on Washington to open dialogue with Syria and Iran
Annan stresses the necessity of dealing with Syria and Iran
Syria, Iraq Sign Declaration on Resumption of Diplomatic Relations between them
Italian Premier calls for dialogue with Syria and Iran to establish regional peace, stability

SANA only covered Lahoud’s, Franjieh’s, Aoun and Hizbullah “condemnations” of the killing.  They also quoted Charles Ayoub, the editor of the pro-Syrian paper Ad-Diyar, who reportedly told Hizbullah’s al-Manar that it’s an “American-Israeli attempt to divide Lebanon” and that “Lebanese people have nothing to do with these crimes”, adding that  “it’s the responsibility of the ruling March 14 to reveal who did it."

Comments

[fubar]

The full text of UN Security Council presidential statement S/PRST/2006/46:

The Security Council unequivocally condemns the assassination in Beirut on 21 November 2006 of Industry Minister Pierre Gemayel, a patriot who was a symbol of freedom and of the political independence of Lebanon. The Security Council expresses its deepest sympathy and condolences to the family of the victim and to the people and Government of Lebanon.

The Security Council condemns any attempt to destabilise Lebanon through political assassination or other terrorist acts. The Security Council is gravely concerned by this assassination and its possible impact on ongoing efforts by the Government and people of Lebanon to solidify democracy, extend the authority of the Lebanese Government throughout its territory and complete the reconstruction process.

The Security Council calls upon all parties in Lebanon and the region to show restraint and a sense of responsibility with a view to preventing any further deterioration of the situation in Lebanon. The Security Council urges all States, in accordance with its resolutions 1373 (2001), 1566 (2004) and 1624 (2005), to cooperate fully in the fight against terrorism.

The Security Council welcomes the determination and commitment of the Government of Lebanon to bring to justice the perpetrators, organizers and sponsors of this and other assassinations, and underlines its determination to support the Government of Lebanon in its efforts to this end.

The Security Council reaffirms its previous calls upon all parties concerned to cooperate fully and urgently with the Security Council for the full implementation of all relevant resolutions concerning the restoration of the territorial integrity, full sovereignty and political independence of Lebanon, in particular resolutions 1559 (2004), 1595 (2005), 1664 (2006), 1680 (2006) and 1701 (2006).

The Security Council requests the Secretary-General to continue to follow closely and report regularly to the Council on the situation in Lebanon. The Security Council underlines its readiness to continue to act in support of the legitimate and democratically elected Government of Lebanon.

[laysh]

From Intelligence Expert and former NSA member:

November 10/11/12, 2006 -- The impending partial purge of the Bush 43 neo-cons by the incoming cadre of Bush 41 officials is already having an effect on U.S.-Syrian relations. Intelligence sources report that the Bush 41 team, still grateful for Syrian President Hafez al Assad's support for Operation Desert Storm, is working to exonerate Bashar Assad, Assad's son, for his government's alleged role in the February 2005 car bomb assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. WMR has previously reported that Hariri's assassination was ordered by neo-cons in Israel and the United States who wanted to implement their "Clean Break" policy in order to drive Syrian occupation troops out of Lebanon and then engineer wars with the Lebanese Hezbollah, Syria, and Iran. With the Iraq Study Group led by Bush 41 Secretary of State James Baker and including Defense Secretary-designate Robert Gates engaged in negotiations with Syria to work out an American military withdrawal from Iraq, the neo-con charges against Syria for the Hariri assassination are being cast aside, according to U.S. intelligence sources.

Assad off the hook on Hariri assassination probe as a result of new Bush administration "realpolitik" on Iraq extrication.

The behind-the-scenes negotiations with Damascus reportedly will curtail moves by chief UN investigator Serge Brammertz to convene a UN "Lebanon Special Tribunal" to try members of the Lebanese and Syrian governments for the Hariri assassination. In fact, the incoming "realpolitik" advisers to the Bush administration are already taking steps to lay blame for the assassination on operatives linked to notorious Russian-Israeli Mafia weapons smuggler and Defense Department air transport contractor Viktor Bout. Such an assignment of blame is designed to send a friendly signal to Damascus while signaling to Jerusalem that the blame for the Hariri assassination is being laid very close but not actually on the doorstep of Israel's Mossad and their neo-con allies in the Bush administration. Not only has Bout enjoyed the largesse of Pentagon logistics contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan but when she was National Security Adviser, Condoleezza Rice rejected a Sharjah police offer to arrest Bout at Sharjah International Airport. Rice told U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies that when it came to Bout they should "look but don't touch."

Brammertz's proposed tribunal has had the strong backing of unconfirmed, recess appointed US ambassador to the UN John Bolton and Secretary of State Rice but with the Bush 41 group taking over the reins at the Pentagon with a mandate to purge most of the neo-con elements nested there, the State Department will soon find its plans for the Lebanon tribunal spiked by Iraq Study Group members determined to patch up relations with Syria and pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud in return for their help in extricating the United States from the Iraq quagmire. Attempts by Bush to push through Bolton's permanent nomination as UN ambassador in the lame duck Senate are reportedly "dead on arrival."

The detente with Syria and its Lebanese allies is sure to irritate the neo-cons loyal to Vice President Dick Cheney but as the article below suggests, Cheney's days as well as those of his allies may be numbered. With Cheney's mentor Rumsfeld now out of the Pentagon, the Cheney wing of the administration is extremely vulnerable.

[fubar]

Laysh,

LOL. But Damn, I just blew coffee all over my keyboard.

[fubar]

Don’t stop with laysh’s rather lengthy snippet. Read all the hogwag at the Wayne Madsen Report, including this recent jewel: “Iraq Study Group veterans of Reagan and Bush 41 realize they are dealing with an irresponsible drunk.” That would be Bush 43, of course.

http://www.waynemadsenreport.com/

/Somehow, I’m pretty sure all the Reagan/Bush 41 veterans didn’t get that memo. LOL.

[charlie]

Fubar,

May be Laysh is reaching some...But lets face it, some hand shaking went down between Baker and the
Syrians. Moalem doesn't just decide, pick up and go to Baghdad to meet an Iraqi government that is under US protection all on his own and the following day the midget of Iran announces plans for an Iranian, Syrian and Iraqi summit. It sure looks fishy... I hope it is all unfounded. If it is not, that will be the worst message we can send to our enemies...

[Chris]

Not that I disagree with the UN's action, but isn't it just going to force the issue to a violent end?

[fubar]

Well at least Gemayel's murder hasn't lowered Ahmadinejad's spirits any. But why should it, Lebanon is merely one step closer to Ahmadinejadisation.

Tehran, 21 Nov. (AKI) - by Ahmad Rafat - Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says his recent trips abroad have accelarated what he describes as the world's "Ahmadinejadisation". The Iranian leader made the remarks in a meeting with state radio and television journalists in Tehran, the daily Entekhab reported. "Many of the world's countries are waiting for our signal to follow our example of good governance," Ahmadinejad said in a recent speech, apparently also a reference to "Ahmadinejadisation".

The president's conviction of the importance of his international stature seems to have grown through forays such as letters he wrote to US President George W. Bush and Gernam Chancellor ANgeal Merkel.

The Iranian president has repeatedly described himself as the "saviour of the world" and the "spokesman of the disenfranchised". At a dinner gathering to mark the breaking of the day-time fast during the recent Muslim holy month of Ramadan, he told those with him that he has a direct linel of communication with God, or Allah.

In September 2005 returning from the United Nations General Assembly in New York, he said he felt surrounded "by a halo of light," another apparent reference to his standing in the divine grace.

The former Mayor of Tehran, who earned the nickname 'Streetsweeping Mayor' after he appeared at dawn armed with a broom to clean up a street in one of the capital's districts, seems increasingly certain that he is on a divine mission to, in his own words, save the world from "Western decadence" and bring it back "on the path of True Faith."

*******

What next, Lebanon is renamed Ahmadinejadistan?

[Amir from Tel Aviv]

So what is happening in Beirut tomorrow?
Pierre Gemayel’s funeral; what about HZB? are they going to march too ?
.

[Amir from Tel Aviv]

I hear there are tensions within the Gemayel family ; between brothers, uncles and cousins.
This was always a militant family of warriors.
.