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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Bashar rattles cabinet |
| 2006-02-12 |
| Syria's president ordered a major Cabinet shake-up Saturday, signaling he has no plans to cave under growing U.S. and international pressure over the assassination of a former Lebanese leader and alleged failure to stop militants from crossing into Iraq. President Bashar Assad named his hard-line Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa as vice president and replace him with his deputy, Walid Moallem, a former ambassador to the United States and United Nations. Al-Sharaa was also put in charge of implementing Syrian "foreign and information policies." The U.N. investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri has accused both men of giving false information to the probe. Hariri died in a truck bombing that killed 20 other people in Beirut on Feb. 14, 2005. Syria has denied involvement, although U.N. investigators said the assassination could not have occurred without Damascus' knowledge. Hariri's murder spurred demonstrations in Beirut and intense international pressure that prompted the Syrians to comply with a standing U.N. resolution to pull its troops out of Lebanon after dominating the country for nearly three decades. A U.N. report in October said Assad threatened Hariri at an August 2004 meeting over the extension of the term in office of Lebanese President Emile Lahoud, Hariri's political foe. Syria's former vice president Abdul-Halim Khaddam, a close friend of Hariri who resigned and later defected, has said Assad had threatened Hariri at a meeting months earlier. Al-Sharaa, in a letter to the U.N. commission, said the August 2004 Assad-Hariri meeting was "in the framework of the ongoing political consultation between the Syrian and Lebanese leaders." The former chief U.N. investigator, Detlev Mehlis, accused Moallem of giving the commission false information about a meeting in Beirut with Hariri 13 days before he was killed. According to a taped conversation of that meeting, Moallem told Hariri that "we and the (security) services here have put you into a corner." He continued, "Please do not take things lightly." The Mehlis report said the recorded conversation "clearly contradicts" Moallem's witness account taken in September "in which he falsely described the Feb. 1 meeting as 'friendly and constructive' and avoided giving direct answers to the questions put to him." Syria also repeatedly has rejected accusations from Washington and Baghdad that it is lax in efforts to close its border with Iraq to foreign fighters entering the country to join the insurgency. The Syrians claim they are doing all they can to clamp off the flow of militants. The U.N. commission has asked to interview both Assad and al-Sharaa. Syria has not responded directly, but Assad rejected an earlier request. Syrian political analyst Imad Shuaibi said that naming al-Sharaa as vice-president had been expected "but it was delayed until now in order to show that Syria does not bow to foreign pressures." Al-Sharaa served as foreign minister since 1984, and becomes one of two vice presidents, the other — Zuhair Masharqa — was named to the post under the late President Hafez Assad, father of the current leader. In all, the reshuffle brought in 15 new ministers to the 34-member Cabinet. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 shuffling the chairs. When the music stops, the one without a chair is designated as "he who ordered the bombings" |
| Posted by: Frank G 2006-02-12 16:10 |
| #1 They probably appreciate the last-minute opportunity top up their Swiss Bank Accts. But they should keep in mind that You can't Wait for Good Timing, cuz that's an oxymoron... |
| Posted by: .com 2006-02-12 15:17 |