Mehlis Report Blogging

More bloggers weigh in on the Mehlis Report:

Democracy Arsenal: “With all the uproar about UN investigator Detlev Mehlis’ report implicating the highest levels of the Syrian government in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, we should not lose sight of the UN’s accomplishment in carrying out the investigation and issuing the findings it did. It remains to be seen what the Security Council will do with Mehlis’ report, but the people of Lebanon already feel some sense of satisfaction that the facts they all suspected have been brought to light by an objective source. Here’s another example of why – if we are ever shortsighted enough to abandon or significantly scale back the UN – we will find ourselves with the impossible task of having to recreate what we destroyed.”

Political Animal: “IN DEFENSE OF THE UNITED NATIONS – Suzanne Nossel suggests that UN bashers should take a look at its role in investigating the murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri … She’s right. The UN report has given a huge boost to calls for reform in both Lebanon and Syria, and it wouldn’t have happened if the report had come from anywhere else.”

Austin Bay: “I’ve found Michael Young’s Beirut Daily Star commentaries to be both fact-filled and courageous. This essay on the UN Mehlis report appears in the OnLine Journal. Everyone knows Assad’s Syrian regime had Lebanon’s Prime Minister Rafik Hariri murdered. However, in the corrupt autocracies of the Middle East either (1) no one is supposed to say (2) or if someone says it they get killed or a relative disappears. The toppling of Saddam has begun to change this terrible, terrifying code. Mehlis has written a tough, accurate, and courageous report.”

Michael Totten: “Fear and apprehension turned to anger and relief in Beirut after the Mehlis report named Syrian President Bashar Assad’s brother-in-law as the chief suspect, and Lebanese President Emile Lahoud as a possible accomplice, in the assassination of Rafik Hariri. … There was a rally that night at Martyr’s Square and across the street at the grave site of Rafik Hariri. Thousands gathered, sang patriotic songs … But for the most part the mood was jubilant. The truth was out after 250 days. U.N. special prosecutor Detlev Mehlis is a hero in Lebanon.”