UN-Truth

And a damning comment, it is:  “The owner of a restaurant I frequent in Gemmayze told me that Detlef Mehlis, the earstwhile UN investigator, will return to finish the job. “It will be our Christmas present,” he said crossing himself. In case you haven’t been following this, Mehlis has been leaking very serious allegations against Brammertz to the German press. According to an exclusive report in Der Stern, Brammertz has intentionally de-railed the investigation over the past year, instead of following up on Mehlis’ claims that al-Assad, Ghazali & co. ordered Hariri’s assassination. Now if I was going to choose between believing Mehlis or Brammertz I would bear in mind the following points:

1) Mehlis was on the job for six months, during which he waltzed around in a trench coat, kicking in doors, gave press conferences and made bold accusations, which –admittedly–was fun to watch on TV. I remember my Sunni Beiruti landlord, in a fit of infatuation, saying, “You look like Mehlis when you smile.” A misguided compliment, to say the least. Brammertz has been in charge of the investigation for twice that time– twelve months. During his tenure, he has discreetly pursued various leads, re-examined all the forensic evidence, and for some reason, the Syrians seemed happy to cooperate with him.

2) Mehlis is a well-known friend of American intelligence services. Ask any German. He has botched judicial precedings in the past– incidentally– by jumping to hasty conclusions which were later discredited. In the late 1980s he was the presiding prosecutor on the La Belle case– the bombing of a West Berlin nightclub in which dozens of disco-dancing American GIs perished.

Mehlis, at the time, hastily blamed Libya for the bombing and Reagan went ahead and bombed Gaddafi’s presidential palace in Tripoli. A few years later, an investigative report on ZDF Frontal alleged that the actual suspect was a deranged CIA/Mossad agent who had been hiding in Malta, and that Mehlis had in fact questioned him but chose not to indict him, despite the fact that all the evidence pointed towards his involvement. Oops!

3) If Mehlis claims any impartiality and respect for the due process of law, how does he know that Syria assassinated Pierre Gemayel? He is sitting in his office in Berlin, twiddling his thumbs, having returned to his rather unglamorous job as prosecutor of petty thieves and drug dealers. If he merely suspects Syrian involvment, why did he jump the gun and publicize his opinion?

Furthermore, why were Mehlis’ investigators flying around in Hariri’s private jets? Why has Mehlis’ second-in-command, a German intelligence agent who is simultaneously embroiled in the CIA kidnapping and “extraordinary rendition” of one German-Lebanese Khalid Masri, been spotted in Beirut and rumored to be working as an adviser for the Hariri dynasty? Slightly unprofessional, no?

… I dare say we will never know who killed Rafiq Hariri. It’s shameful, I know.
http://anecdotesfromabananarepublic.blogspot.com/  - This blog offers satire, news, commentary, media analysis and anecdotes from Lebanon.  (linked from angryarab.blogspot.com)

From Angry Arab:
Thursday December 14, 2006
Detlev Mehlis is very unhappy with the report of Brammertz on the assassination of Rafiq Hariri (the well-known saga). He also is eager for to play a role in the trial phase. He wants to speak to the Lebanese media. He will appear on May Shidyaq’s show on LBC-TV next Tuesday. He also contacted at least one Lebanese newspaper to interview him.
http://angryarab.blogspot.com/

Filed under: Hariri Commission of Inquiry, Israel, Lebanon, UN Security Council