Cynical Nation

It's corruption and ineptitude! I don't think many people were surprised that Syria had a hand in the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and I guess we probably shouldn't be too surprised that the U.N. would try to whitewash the involvement of top-level Syrian government officials. Fortunately, they were as inept with their coverup as they are with everything else, so they got busted.

THE United Nations withheld some of the most damaging allegations against Syria in its report on the murder of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister, it emerged yesterday.

The names of the brother of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and other members of his inner circle, were dropped from the report that was sent to the Security Council.

The confidential changes were revealed by an extraordinary computer gaffe because an electronic version distributed by UN officials on Thursday night allowed recipients to track editing changes.
...
The final, edited version quoted a witness as saying that the plot to kill Mr Hariri was hatched by unnamed "senior Lebanese and Syrian officials". But the undoctored version named those officials as "Maher al-Assad, Assef Shawkat, Hassan Khalil, Bahjat Suleyman and Jamal al-Sayyed".

The deleted names represent the inner core of the Syrian regime.
...
Mr Annan had pledged repeatedly through his chief spokesman, Stephane Dujarric, that he would not change a word of the report by Detlev Mehlis, a German prosecutor. But computer tracking showed that the final edit began at about 11.38am on Thursday -- a minute after Herr Mehlis began a meeting with Mr Annan to present his report. The names of Maher al-Assad, General Shawkat and the others were apparently removed at 11.55am, after the meeting ended.

At a press conference yesterday Herr Mehlis insisted that Mr Annan had not pressurised him into making changes. "No one outside of the report team influenced these changes and no changes whatsoever were suggested by the Secretary-General," he said.

The Jersusalem Post doesn't seem to be buying that last bit, however.

The last-minute alterations made to the Detlev Mehlis report on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri may have been made under pressure by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Israel Radio reported Friday afternoon.

A diplomatic source reported that Annan had an interest in removing the name of Syrian President Bashar Assad's brother and brother-in-law, along with other important Syrian officials, from the list of suspects in the Hariri killing. ...

Annan, according to speculations, was concerned that the harsh report could cause political instability in Syria, perhaps even leading to an overthrow of the Assad regime, and thus preferred a watered-down version of the report.

Par for the course for this bunch, I suppose. But it sure does make you wonder who they're trying to protect... and why.

(Hat top: Ace)