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Syria-Lebanon-Iran
Assad vows to punish any Syrian found involved in Hariri's murder
2005-10-14
President Bashar al-Assad vowed Wednesday that Syria would punish as a traitor any national implicated in the murder of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri. Speaking in an interview with CNN, Assad denied suspicions that Syria was involved in the death of Hariri, saying his death was against Syria's interests.

Asked if any Syrians had played a role, Assad said: 'I don't think so. If that happened then this is treason.' He added that Syria would be prepared to see any eventual suspects hauled before a world court: 'They should be punished internationally or in Syria ... if they are not punished internationally they will be punished in Syria.'

Speaking in English to CNN's Christiane Amanpur in Damascus, ...
... so that he could say something entirely different in Arabic ...
... Assad strongly denied that he had played any personal role in the assassination. 'This is against our principles and my principle. I am a quiet person and i would never do such a thing,' Assad replied. He stressed that 'we do not have a system of assassinations in Syria.'

CNN's interview was done a few hours before Damascus announced that Syria's interior minister Ghazi Kenaan, Syria's intelligence chief in Lebanon from 1982 to 2003, had committed suicide. Kenaan's death comes just two weeks before a U.N. commission of inquiry into the Hariri assassination is due to release a report on its findings. Syria and its allies in Lebanon have been widely blamed as being behind the Hariri murder, something Damascus has strongly denied. Hariri's assassination last February caused an uproar in Lebanon which led to massive demonstrations which along with international pressure forced Syria to withdraw all its troops from its neighbour, thus ending a 30-year military presence in the country.
Posted by:Fred

#11  Christiane "war whore" Amanpour - married to Jamie Rubin, former US State Dept tool

Christiane has way better mustache.
Posted by: Red Dog   2005-10-14 17:21  

#10  With the "suicide" of Kenaan, it looks like they already started.

"He stressed that 'we do not have a system of assassinations in Syria."

All of Syria's assasinations are non-systematic.
Posted by: Tibor   2005-10-14 16:43  

#9  Christiane "war whore" Amanpour - married to Jamie Rubin, former US State Dept tool
Posted by: Frank G   2005-10-14 16:34  

#8  "He stressed that 'we do not have a system of assassinations in Syria."

Hoekeedoakee then.
Posted by: DepotGuy   2005-10-14 14:44  

#7  [from an earlier post]

Ah, sir, it's the American ambassador inquiring about your interest in the Dictators-r-Us estates in American Samoa for you and your family. He said the offer was ending soon and the recently available Saddam model was about to be offered to some oil pumper from South America.
Posted by: Crack Groling5040   2005-10-14 12:27  

#6  Sad to say but I don't think Assad did have anything to do with Hariri's murder. He's a weak puppet but knows too well what happens in very slooowwww deaths, I mean suicides. He's carefully wording his response to "any national" but foreign terrorists that can tear him apart one limb at a time should be "hauled before the world court". He should have taken the deal. A very deep probe by the USMC could help him root out the traitors, with assistance from a third party, say Britain...and he could vacation in France until the housecleaning is over.
Posted by: Danielle   2005-10-14 11:27  

#5  Um, could someone please clarify one thing for me. To what was Nixon referring with that "I'm not a crook" line?

I got to vote for him in '72 and while he turned out to be a "little" short of ethical, I don't remember him stealing anything. (Unlike Billy)
Posted by: AlanC   2005-10-14 09:55  

#4  Suicide rate in Syrian intel should be way up this month.
Posted by: mhw   2005-10-14 09:42  

#3  He'll lop off the chin of everyone involved.
Posted by: Jake-the-Peg   2005-10-14 08:19  

#2  Put that right next to - "I'm not a crook", R. Nixon. "I did not have sex with that woman", B. Clinton.
Posted by: Angaimble Gravish2306   2005-10-14 07:21  

#1  Assad vows to punish any Syrian found involved in Hariri's murder

BWAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHHAHAHAAAAAHAHAHAAA!!!!!!
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2005-10-14 01:30  

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