Mehlis Report - Commentaries (Updated)

*Image: Armand Homsi - Annahar

I provide below a list of links that have been posted to date by various bloggers, besides myself, on the Mehlis Report. The links below are the most recent entries by the various bloggers. If there are any others, let me know.

Angry Arab: What did Mehlis Know, and How did He know it?

Kais: Mehlis Report Summarized

Mustafa: Arab Public Opinion

Firas: Wow

Lebanon.Profile: The Quiet Streets of Beirut

Michael Totten: Assad’s Brother-in-law Named

Ramzi: Time Zones, Watson

Vox Populi: Justice for Hariri... and the others

In addition to these various bloggers, below are links to various news outlets.

The Washington Post has this blog entry.

Joseph Samaha has his take on the report. (The link will be updated once the pdf file has been uploaded).

The Christian Science Monitor has not yet published about the report - but it does have this. It remains to be seen if such things will influence international opinion/action. It has also published this compilation of different news sources.

Haaretz quotes Rice to have said "Accountability is going to be very important for the international community", and also provides an analysis.

Al-Jazeera provides some more on the Syrian response to the report. The english version provides more details on a few other things. A new article discusses Bush's response.

BBC continues to write up the different attitudes, quoting Dakhlallah as saying ""It is a political statement against Syria that is based on a set of stories by some witnesses who are known for their anti-Syria positions, including media and political figures". It also profiles the key figures, and provides a forum for public reaction.

Here is the Washington Post article, that most of you have probably already read. I'm linking to it because they have added links to different videos in the past few months. (I believe you need a username for this).

CNN also provides Bush's reponse, and quotes him as saying "The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement".

Updated 1:05 pm

Two days ago, Kofi Annan said the following (about the politicization of the Mehlis Report): Yesterday I indicated that this is a technical exercise, a juridical exercise, and we need to keep it pure. And I was going to keep it that way. There may be politicization of the issue by others in the region or elsewhere, but I don't think it should be my business as Secretary-General to be engaged or encourage politicization. So I would give a technical and judicial report – a prosecutorial report – done by Mehlis to the Council. And, of course, Mehlis's report is the beginning, not the end, because the magistrates and others will have to follow through on that report and decide whom to charge and whom to bring to the dock. But you are right that you can't prevent people from politicizing it and implying all sorts of – I've read things in the papers, in the press, which has really surprised me, and some of it is pure fiction, honestly.

Updated 1:46 pm

From Al-Jazeera:


In addition, you can listen to the different leaders commenting on VDL. (Note: This link will only last a week).

Updated 2:36 pm

Thanks to Mustapha my attention has been pointed to a poll being taken on Al-Jazeera. It asks for your opinion on the Mehlis Report - do you find it fair or one-sided? When Mustapha posted his image, it was 2/3 versus 1/3.

Now, it is 51.2 % and 48.8%.

You can watch Bush's reaction on CNN. (Scroll down)

Updated 6:09 pm

This will be the last update of the post. Enough have been posted here - and anything new will probably deserve a more comprehensive treatment.

Dailystar discusses Mr. X.

BBC looks at motives and the Beirut link.

Joseph Samaha has another article - the link will be updated to pdf within a day.

And, as I had thought, the Al Jazeera poll, with a total of 21,000+ votes, now has reached 49.5% and 50.5% (See above for more detail). It will go on for another 2 days - and at this rate, it does not look promising.

LA Times also has an article on Bush's response.

The Independent provides us with it's own piece - although I am waiting for Robert Fisk's view.


*Image: Armand Homsi - Annahar

posted by Lazarus, 10:11 AM