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Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/15/international/middleeast/15syria.html
U.S. Blames Syria for Lebanese Leader's Assassination
(New York Times) Steven R. Weisman - The Bush administration, condemning the assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri Monday in Lebanon, suggested that Syria was to blame and moved to get a new condemnation of Syria's domination of Lebanon at the UN Security Council. White House spokesman Scott McClellan called the killing "a terrible reminder that the Lebanese people must be able to pursue their aspirations and determine their own political future free from violence and intimidation and free from Syrian occupation." American officials said the killing underscored growing American impatience with the role played by Syria in the Middle East. "We're going to turn up the heat on Syria, that's for sure," said a senior State Department official. "It's been a pretty steady progression of pressure up to now, but I think it's going to spike in the wake of this event. Even though there's no evidence to link it to Syria, Syria has, by negligence or design, allowed Lebanon to become destabilized."