At various times, blogs like Atlas Shrugs and Michelle Malkin hurl sundry invectives at the UN and its Secretary General for allegedly coddling terrorists in Lebanon. Invariably, these criticisms are always more bluster than fact-based, so I am hardly surprised that these two have been silent on a recent positive development in Lebanon.
The Lebanese government just approved a draft statute of a UN backed court to try the killers of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Harriri. Details of the Tribunal’s composition have not yet been released, but it is likely to be a hybrid court led by a combination of Lebanese and international jurists. It is also likely to build on the fact-finding missions of United Nations official inquiry into the car-bombing that killed Harriri and 22 others in February 2005.
The draft statute passed in the Lebanense Cabinet after representatives from the main pro-Syrian parties resigned earlier in the day. And if it gets off the ground, this tribunal will represent yet another way in which the United Nations is promoting transparency and long-term stability in the region.