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Bush calls for UN action against Syria
(AP)
Updated: 2005-10-22 08:46
US President Bush on Friday said the U.N. should deal quickly and seriously
with a report implicating Syria in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime
minister, a killing that led to protests and withdrawal of Syrian troops from
Lebanon after nearly 30 years as overlord.
"The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination
could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said.
In Damascus, Syrian leaders dismissed the findings, and the government of
President Bashar Assad prepared to fight growing Western sentiment to punish it
with economic sanctions.
Imad Moustapha, Syrian ambassador to the United States, said the report was
baseless and the Bush administration was motivated by Syria's opposition to the
war in Iraq.
He said of the report, in Washington, "It will only help fuel anti-American
sentiment around the world."
The report was likely to worsen the divisions between Lebanon's pro- and
anti-Syrian groups. Syria's opponents in Lebanon welcomed the findings as the
long-awaited truth about the assassination and about Syrian interference in
Lebanese affairs. Pro-Syrian politicians vigorously criticized the findings.
The United Nations investigative report, which Bush called "deeply
disturbing," made a link between high-ranking Syrian officials and their
Lebanese allies in the car bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 others in
February.
The findings and the reaction to them marked the latest escalation in
tensions between the United States and Syria. U.S. officials have accused
Damascus of harboring terrorist groups and permitting fighters to cross into
Iraq to attack U.S., Iraqi and other forces there.
The report, issued Thursday to members of the U.N. Security Council, did not
implicate Syrian President Assad directly, but said his government did not
cooperate with the inquiry.
Bush spoke in California after helping dedicate a new pavilion at the Ronald
Reagan Presidential Library and Museum.
He said he had telephoned Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice earlier in the
day and instructed her to call on the United Nations to convene a Security
Council session "as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter."
Bush was not specific about what steps the international community should
take. He said the United States has started talking with U.N. officials and with
Arab governments about that.
"Today a serious report came out that requires the world to look at very
carefully and respond accordingly," Bush said.
The United States and France are readying Security Council resolutions
critical of Syria.
The Security Council, which can impose political and economic sanctions, was
already scheduled to meet next Tuesday to consider the report from German
prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. The U.S. mission said Friday it had no plans to call
for an earlier meeting time.
Separately, the U.N. will soon receive another report on Syrian compliance
with last year's U.N. demand that it quit Lebanon and allow political
self-determination there.
Rice, on a trip to Tuscaloosa, Ala., said, "Accountability is going to be
very important for the international community."
Rice and British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, with whom she was traveling,
called on Syria to show good will toward Lebanon by establishing diplomatic
relations with the country. Syria must "fully understand" that it must not
intervene in Lebanon and must respect its sovereignty, Rice said at a joint news
conference.
Rice gave no hint what plans the United States has for a Security Council
meeting on Syria. The issue must be thoroughly debated, she said.
The council "will have no real credibility if it does not take seriously the
implications of this report," Rice said.
In a similar vein, Straw said the council must show the international
community that "it is standing up for justice."
Separately, the head of the State Department's Near East Bureau said Hariri
was the victim of a "political crime."
"We would like to see those responsible for this crime and others in Lebanon
brought to justice," Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch said in
Washington.
Although Rice has refused to rule out military action against Syria, the Bush
administration stressed that it has no plans for military intervention.
"We are seeking a diplomatic solution to this problem," State Department
spokesman Adam Ereli said Friday.
Washington withdrew its ambassador from Damascus immediately after Hariri's
killing.
The French government, which joined with the United States to pressure Syria
to withdraw its troops from Lebanon, said it also was holding consultations in
the U.N. Security Council.
"The full consequences of this report must now be examined," the foreign
ministry said in Paris.
At the time of Hariri's assassination, Syria had about 14,000 troops in
Lebanon and essentially controlled the country along with its Lebanese
government allies.
Hariri, once partially allied with Syria, had broken with Damascus and begun
a political campaign to establish greater Lebanese independence.
The Mehlis report cited a witness who said Assef Shawkat, the president's
brother-in-law and Syria's military intelligence chief, forced a man to tape a
claim of responsibility for Hariri's killing 15 days before it occurred. The
report also said Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa lied in a letter to
the investigating commission.
Assad's government repeated its claim of innocence in the Hariri killing and
declared that the U.N. document was heavily politicized because of Syria's
staunch anti-Israeli position.
Information Minister Mahdi Dakhlallah said the report lacked hard evidence
and was based on witnesses "who are well known for their anti-Syria
stands."
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