 Another outspoken critic of Syrian involvement in Lebanon, lawmaker and newspaper magnate Gebran Tueni, was murdered yesterday in a mountain road bombing. The crime had many of the hallmarks of previous murderous attacks, which have been blamed on the Syrians, not least the murder of Rafik Hariri in February. Yet because this is Lebanon, all need not necessarily be what it seems to be.
| In days of old, the Lebs used to go to Byzantium to relax. They liked it because everything was so straightforward and uncomplicated. |
The United Nations investigation has already concluded that Damascus was behind the Hariri assassination. Even as Tueni was slain, the latest report into the earlier crime was on its way to the UN Security Council.
| Hence, presumably, the timing of Tueni's departure from this vale of tears... |
It is believed to set out in great detail the involvement of top Syrian officials in the politician’s death. Why would the Syrians compound their problems now by assassinating yet another of their Lebanese opponents?
| It's called churning the pot. You keep a lot going on at once so no one can concentrate on the main issue. It's also typical of the stupidity and brutality of the Syrian regime. Pencil Neck's not the man his father was. |
Since the Hariri murder, 13 other anti-Syrian Lebanese have been assassinated.
| Strangely enough, there hasn't been a single person implicated that we've heard of. Out of 13 murders. |
The first crime brought about the end of Syria’s military presence in Lebanon. Subsequent killings have only embittered many Lebanese who, while they may be grateful for Syria’s earlier interventions, now wish Damascus to leave its neighbor alone.
| Someday, when the Baathists are all gone and Middle Eastern politix resemble the relations current among the Scandinavian countries, someone will actually research the Leb civil war, and — surprise of surprises! — they'll discover Syrian fingerprints all over it. |
Why should Syria make its international problems worse by another murder?
| Because it regards Lebanon as its property that it somehow hasn't been able to take title to more than temporarily for 5000 years? Because there is no word for "subtle" in Syrian Arabic? |
On the face of it, Damascus can only lose because of suspicions that it is again implicated. Therefore suspicions must turn to those who wish to see the Syrians further discomfited.
| That'd be the Zionists, of course... |
Yet, for anti-Syrian elements to organize the barbarous murder of one or more of their own number, to drive home their campaign against Damascus, would be as repugnant as it is cynical.
| See? It couldn't possibly be Lebs, and it surely couldn't be Syrians... |
In the looking-glass world of Lebanese rivalries, however, this need not be the only explanation. There are bitter personal enmities and shadowy criminal gangs — who profited immensely from the long years of civil war — and finally, nihilist elements prepared to destroy the Lebanon’s hard-won stability and plunge it back into political chaos.
| Whoa! An Arab writer who didn't come up with Zionists as the first suspects! I'm impressed. And he is correct. The alliances and counteralliances among the Leb oligarchy change on a near daily basis. Not all car booms in the country can be traced to Damascus — HE is merely another way of doing business. Paying off a life insurance policy is usually cheaper than compromising, since once the policy's paid off you're done with it and that compromise can be expected to be merely the first in a long line. And there is always that dog-eat-dog undertone that's left over from the civil war, the elephant in the Beirut living room. |
Then of course there is the double bluff. Renegade Syrian elements may be carrying out these assassinations in the belief that no one would think them so stupid as to continue such a campaign when the eyes of the world are fixed so sternly upon Syria.
| And that'd still be my guess. |
Such a strategy would have the added benefit of sowing fear among anti-Syrian Lebanese who see old scores being settled by such ruthless bloodshed.
| As I pointed out earlier, the Syrian hand was not only present but influential in the civil war... |
We have to assume that the Lebanese police are doing their utmost to investigate each of these dreadful crimes with as much care and detail as possible.
| Inspector Clouseau and his men have no doubt been diligent in their duties. They haven't been successful, despite 13 corpses to comb for clues. One really has to wonder why that is, since Mehlis swept in, talked to a few people, swept out, and made his case. |
If necessary, perhaps the UN should offer extra resources.
| Perhaps a few of Mehlis' investigators? |
Far more important, however, is the attitude of ordinary Lebanese. These murders are clearly meant to foster suspicion, anger and, if possible, despair. Outrageous though the attacks are, the Lebanese will be the only losers if they allow themselves to be provoked, to abandon the pluralist political fabric that they have put in place and revert to their former communal alliances. Grim though the present campaign of assassination may be, it is nothing compared to the violent past from which the country has finally managed to escape. |