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From Syria to U.N.: FU!
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| josh4 |
| quote: | Syria rejects U.N. resolution
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Syria has angrily rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that demands Damascus cooperate fully in the investigation into the killing of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri or face "further measures."
The United States, France and Britain had sponsored the resolution after a U.N. report published in October blamed Syrian security forces and its Lebanese allies for the bombing that killed Hariri and 20 others in Beirut on February 14. Syria denies the accusations.
Last-minute diplomatic haggling between on Monday deleted a direct reference to the threat of sanctions on the Syrian government.
Still, tensions spilled over in a rare public argument at the Security Council table on Monday.
Syria's Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa said the U.N. report convicted Syria before it faced trial, and he wondered why the United Nations had assumed its forces were guilty just because they were in Lebanon at the time of the bombing. (Full story)
He said accusing Syria of having advance knowledge of the killing was tantamount to charging that U.S. officials knew about the September 11 attacks on America.
"We would have to point out accusations at the U.S. security organs as having been aware of terrorist attacks that were perpetrated in 9-11-2001," said al-Sharaa.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw was quick to respond to his comment, calling it "as the most grotesque and insensitive comparison." Other diplomats said it underscored Syria's isolation and the need for a warning.
Buthaina Shaavan, Syria's Minister of Expatriates, told CNN: "I assure you Syria wants to cooperate and wants to know the truth about Hariri's death.
"In the end I hope the world will know the truth that Syria did not have anything to do with this terrible crime."
The assassination of Hariri, a veteran Lebanese politician who had become a critic of Syria's military occupation of Lebanon, triggered massive protests that eventually led to Syria's withdrawal from Lebanon.
The resolution is under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which holds open the ultimate possibility of the Security Council considering the use of force with failure to comply.
Speaking in Monday's meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the resolution "made it clear that failure to comply with these demands will lead to serious consequences from the international community." She called the Chapter 7 resolution "the only way to compel the Syrians" to cooperate.
The resolution calls for U.N. investigators to report to the Security Council on Syrian cooperation by December 15 or "anytime before" if the investigation sees a lack of cooperation.
It also calls for sanctions on people suspected of involvement in the "planning, sponsoring, organizing or perpetrating" the assassination -- including travel bans and freezing of assets.
A Security Council committee will be formed to help designate those individuals along with the Lebanese government and the U.N. investigative commission.
The resolution requires suspects to be arrested and detained for questioning by the U.N. inquiry commission led by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. He and his investigators have the authority, according to the resolution, "to determine the location and modalities" for any interviews.
Both Russia and China -- which had opposed the threat of sanctions against Syria -- warned against hasty moves to sanctions against the Syrian government. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the final resolution "not ideal" but said it showed the "determination of all members of the council to find the truth."
Eleven of the 15 Security Council members were represented by their foreign ministers -- including all five veto-holding permanent members -- underlining the importance placed on the vote.
The resolution also allows a further extension beyond December 15 if the Lebanese or the U.N. inquiry deem necessary.
CNN's Richard Roth contributed to this report.
Find this article at:
http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/m...a.un/index.html |
When in trouble speak of 911 and point fingers. My My they've certainly caught on how to play this game. |
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| Sunsnail |
| haha you got suspended for two weeks :stongue: |
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| Lepanto |
| The all powerfull UN surely showed Syria who's boss in this world. "Further measures"? What a joke. |
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| malek |
good read:
No easy way out for Assad
Tue Nov 1, 2005 8:37 AM ET
By Nadim Ladki
BEIRUT (Reuters) - Syrian President Bashar al-Assad knows what he must do to avoid a potentially disastrous showdown with the United Nations -- move against powerful members of his inner circle, analysts said on Tuesday.
But any such sacrifice could spell trouble at home, where Assad has never dominated Syria's political, military and security apparatus as his late father Hafez al-Assad did.
Options are narrowing for the young Syrian leader after the Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution demanding Damascus cooperate with a U.N. investigation into the February 14 killing of Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
Full cooperation would probably require Syria to detain and question Assad's brother and brother-in-law, and maybe eventually hand them over to face international justice.
"This is a big test for Assad," Murhaf Jouejati, a scholar at the Middle East Institute in Washington, told Reuters.
An unedited version of the October 20 report by chief U.N. investigator Detlev Mehlis named Assad's brother Maher and brother-in-law Assef Shawkat as suspects in Hariri's killing.
The official version deleted their names, though Shawkat was mentioned in connection with a cover-up attempt.
"Does Assad want to give up major pillars of support for his regime and abide by the Mehlis investigation? Or stick by his family and face the wrath of the U.N.?" Jouejati asked.
Maher al-Assad commands a key military unit, while Shawkat is military intelligence chief, the top security post in Syria.
Assad may prove unwilling or unable to move against them, analysts and diplomats say, putting him on a collision course with the United Nations over the resolution adopted on Monday and opening the door for further action, including sanctions.
Yet Patrick Seale, British biographer of Assad's father, believes the Syrian leader could turn crisis into opportunity.
"For the first time since he came to power in 2000, he has a unique chance to impose his authority on rival power centers and emerge as the real ruler of Syria," Seale wrote in Beirut's English-language newspaper Daily Star.
STARK CHOICE
"The choice before Assad is clear: either continue to claim that Syria is innocent of the murder of Hariri ... or recognize that mistakes have been made and carry out a purge of the top security officials."
Seale said the first option would condemn the Syrian government to international isolation and tough sanctions.
"A destabilised Syria would then be vulnerable to attempts at 'regime change' by its enemies," he said.
Abandoning his top aides would win Assad support at home and abroad, but to ride out the storm he would need to display "unusual qualities of courage and political acumen", Seale said.
Assad, who has public opinion largely behind him on Lebanon, Iraq and the Palestinian issue, could also act decisively to broaden political support by embarking on long-delayed reforms.
"What Assad could do, and he is probably moving in that direction, is to make concessions to society, to emerging civil rights and civil society organizations to open up the system more, to have increased political participation," Jouejati said.
"He is in far more trouble than he has ever been. It may be his last chance to shore up domestic opinion."
In one effort at damage control, the president has ordered a judicial committee to be set up to probe Syrians suspected of involvement in Hariri's killing -- as Mehlis had suggested.
Assad is also seeking Arab support, but Arab diplomats said he had so far failed to get the full backing of Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which were both outraged by Hariri's assassination.
U.S. officials have in the past urged Assad to take the "Gaddafi option", referring to the Libyan leader who assuaged U.S. wrath by abandoning of his unconventional arms programs and paying compensation to victims of terrorist attacks.
Jouejati said Washington might not let Assad off the hook no matter what, given its array of accusations that Damascus is still meddling in Lebanon, allowing insurgents to cross its borders into Iraq and supporting militant Palestinian factions.
"Wherever the Americans can poke fingers into the Syrian eye, they will," he said, although he added that Washington had not yet decided to push for "regime change" in Damascus.
But Lebanon's anti-Syrian Druze leader Walid Jumblatt warned that Assad and Syria's Baathist party rule could face the same fate as Iraq's former Baathist dictator Saddam Hussein.
"If he acts like Saddam did, yes, we are heading to a situation similar to what happened in Iraq," Jumblatt said.
"But if he acts to preserve Syria's national unity and interest before the brother-in-law, a brother or anybody, he can save Syria," he told Al-Arabiya television on Sunday.
(Additional reporting by Alistair Lyon in London)
© Reuters 2005. All Rights Reserved. |
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| bass drive |
malek you are christian right?
why are you happy about this?
from what I understand, the current Syrian gov is secular. I have been told by Syrians if they remove the current gov, there is a big possibility of a radical gov. to take over. |
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| Lepanto |
| quote: | Originally posted by bass drive
malek you are christian right?
why are you happy about this?
from what I understand, the current Syrian gov is secular. I have been told by Syrians if they remove the current gov, there is a big possibility of a radical gov. to take over. |
he is a westerner :) |
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| bass drive |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lepanto
he is a westerner :) |
then why doies he have the Syrian flag?
btw, the article is very badly worded
| quote: | "Syria rejects U.N. resolution
UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Syria has angrily rejected a U.N. Security Council resolution that demands Damascus cooperate fully in the investigation into the killing of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik Hariri or face "further measures."" |
first, Syria didn't reject the UN security council resolution, they rejected being labled as guilty without good prof or explenation in the Mehlis report.
Second, I think the Syria's PM comparision between their situation and 911 is valid... |
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| Lepanto |
because he lives in montreal maybe? lol
can Syrians PM not read? the UN wanted their cooperation for an investigation. |
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| bass drive |
| quote: | Originally posted by Lepanto
because he lives in montreal maybe? lol
can Syrians PM not read? the UN wanted their cooperation for an investigation. |
1-well that's the point. if he's a montréalais, then why does he have a Syrian flag? he must care for Syria.. well I don't know heh
2- Syria agreed to cooperate with the investigation |
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| Lepanto |
| quote: | Originally posted by bass drive
1-well that's the point. if he's a montréalais, then why does he have a Syrian flag? he must care for Syria.. well I don't know heh
2- Syria agreed to cooperate with the investigation |
maybe he's just from there? It doesn't mean much, mate.
2. then Syria need not worry. Fighting what UN wants isn't too advisable. |
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| malek |
i'm Christian from Syria, but alas, there's not much hope for them in Syria.
Most have fled, and the rest want to get the hell out.
So, if secular Syria is good for Christians (and other minorities) why are they fleeing?
For visiting syria last year I have come to the conclusion (my own) that I have nothing to be proud of. And the only solution is the removal of the mafia at the top, be it by diplomacy (ya right) or force (bomb the ******s).
I still have family over there, I don't care if there's collateral damage its for the greater good. Their lives aren't worth much anyways. |
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| bass drive |
^
I got told by Christian Syrian friends, and they say there is no discimination against them. that's why they are worried for radicals to take over.
are you saying you want Syria to get bombed with your relatives there?
:wtf: |
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