Monday - October 31, 2005

Let’s Get Ready To Rumble!

Key quote below: “the resolution was adopted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which is militarily enforceable”. Even the French (in the form of Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy) are actually showing a little intestinal fortitude over this one (see below). Brazil, China and Russia are sleazing out but it looks like the heat is on for Bashir Assad and the Syrian government (which, by the way, has been funneling foreign insurgents into Iraq for over a year now). Besides, I just don’t like Assad’s looks. The guy is a former eye doctor as well as just plain looking like a wanker ....

U.N. Security Council OKs Syria Resolution
NEW YORK (AP)

The U.N. Security Council unanimously adopted a resolution Monday demanding Syria’s full cooperation with a U.N. investigation into the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister and warning of possible “further action” if it doesn’t. The United States, France and Britain pressed for the resolution following last week’s tough report by the U.N. investigating commission, which implicated top Syrian and Lebanese security officials in the Feb. 14 bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 others. The report also accused Syria of not cooperating fully with the inquiry.

The three co-sponsors agreed to drop a direct threat of sanctions against Syria in order to get support from Russia and China, which opposed sanctions while the investigation is still under way. Nonetheless, the resolution was adopted under Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter, which is militarily enforceable. The resolution requires Syria to detain anyone the U.N. investigators consider a suspect and let investigators determine the location and conditions under which the individual would be questioned. It also would freeze assets and impose a travel ban on anyone identified as a suspect by the commission.

Those provisions could pose a problem for Syrian President Bashar Assad, as well as his brother, Maher Assad, and his brother-in-law, Assef Shawkat, the chief of military intelligence. The Syrian leader has refused a request from the chief U.N. investigator to be interviewed. Investigators also want to question his brother and brother-in-law. The U.S. invited foreign ministers of the 15 Security Council nations to attend the meeting to send a strong message to Syria to cooperate with the inquiry, and a dozen ministers showed up, including Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and ministers from Russia, China, Britain and France.

Rice told the council that Syria had been put on notice by the international community that it must cooperate with the inquiry by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis. “With our decision today, we show that Syria has isolated itself from the international community—through its false statements, its support for terrorism, its interference in the affairs of its neighbors, and its destabilizing behavior in the Middle East,” Rice said. “Now, the Syrian government must make a strategic decision to fundamentally change its behavior.”

“The Chapter VII resolution that we are passing today is the only way to compel the Syrian government to accept the just demands of the United Nations and to cooperate fully with the Mehlis investigation,” she said. British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said the Security Council is “putting the government of Syria on notice that our patience has limits.” “The people of the Lebanon have become all too acquainted with grief,” he said. “We owe them a better future, and this resolution is one way of providing them with that better future.”

France’s Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy stressed that the resolution has one aim: “the truth, the whole truth about Rafik Hariri’s assassination in order that those responsible for it answer for their crime.” By adopting the resolution, he said, the council showed solidarity with Lebanon, support for the Mehlis commission’s work which has been extended until Dec. 15, and demanded “firm and urgent cooperation” from Syria. Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, who flew to New York to attend the council meeting, listened to minister after minister demand his government’s cooperation. Several noted Damascus’ recent promises to cooperate.

Assad on Saturday ordered that a judicial committee be formed to investigate Hariri’s assassination. A presidential decree said the committee will cooperate with the U.N. probe and Lebanese judicial authorities. Brazilian Foreign Minister Celso Amorim, whose country has large Lebanese and Syrian communities, made clear that any further action against Syria would require Security Council approval. “Brazil will not favor hasty decisions that may lead to an undesirable escalation of the situation or further endanger the stability of the region,” he said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said the resolution was useful because it showed the council’s determination to discover the truth behind Hariri’s assassination. “The final text of the resolution, of course, is not ideal,” he said. Russia said last week it opposed sanctions against Syria, its longtime ally. Late Sunday, Lavrov criticized what he described as attempts to turn the Security Council into an investigative body, in comments broadcast by Russia’s Channel One television. Although the final text dropped the threat of sanctions, it said if Syria doesn’t cooperate “the council, if necessary, could consider further action.” That could, ultimately, include sanctions.

- Read The Rest Here

Posted by The Skipper     on 10/31/2005 at 01:53 PM   
Filed Under: • RoPMA • Terrorists • United-Nations •  
• Comments (4) • Trackbacks(0)  Permalink •  

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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

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It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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