The Danger of Uncertainty - The Mehlis Report, and the Future to Come

The Mehlis Report has been out for more than five hours now …

I’m waiting for the effects it will have in Lebanon, the inevitable internal repercussions that this report, and the resulting international opinion, will bring.

The next few days will be telling. Already, on this blogosphere, people have already taken different sides. Interpretations of less than absolute statements have been, and always will be, based on personal indoctrination, and there is nothing any of us can do about that. Let the arguments begin, and continue, and construct. Only then will this truth, whatever it may actually represent, be of any use. Otherwise, the only definite result of this report is danger.

But there are things that can most definitely be taken away with a degree of almost absolute certainty.

Lebanon, and its institutions, can learn. They have to learn – if only for the higher aim of becoming better. The investigative botches outlined in the report – the ones that we have heard about repeatedly – are unforgivable. These are some of the things that CAN be restructured. It remains to be seen whether we will build ourselves up.

According to a friend Y (as opposed to the bastard Lebanese politician X, in the conversation with Ghazali), who was in Phoenicia at the time of the assassination, who is part of the Red Cross, who was literally one of the first people on the scene, who tried to help the injured, and to sort out the corpses – according to her, the army, and others that were involved, had no sense of organization (of course, you can argue that they were organized, but for another reason). Y admitted that the Red Cross itself did not really have a plan for this type of terrorist activity, where one of the main fears is that of having another bomb near by.

What did she do? Y did her research and wrote a report about possible techniques on how to organize the necessary forces in such times, on where to place the injured and the corpses for minimum risk, etc. This is what we need for the Lebanese government to do in the long run.

But there is no point discussing this right now. There are much more important things to worry about. I almost don’t want to go to sleep – watching this play through is even worse in some aspects than just waiting for it.

To sign off, I’m going to quote my sister during our MSN chat session, that is going on as I type this:

“Inno I don’t understand why these Lebanese and Syrian leaders kill other leaders … mum is worried … the situation is not comfortable”

And then my mother continues …

“today is confusing we dont know what will happen … some parents have started taking their children from school”

What do you say to that?

Anyway, I am “glad” this investigation has happened. The precedent it sets is provoking. However, I hope that all it provokes, especially in the coming days, are thoughts and words.

I offer this moment as a tribute to all those that were assassinated in the past year. May the future be built with their fallen blood. It would be a shame to see all that disappear in vain.

posted by Lazarus, 11:14 PM