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Syria Lends a Hand

[Wall Street Journal, 21Nov06] Bret Stephens - On Sunday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem paid a visit to Baghdad to pledge his cooperation with the Iraqi government and urge a timetable for American withdrawal. On Friday, the New York Times reported that Moallem had met in New York with James Baker's Iraq Study Group to explain why it is in Syria's "national interest to try to help stabilize the situation in Iraq." Who is Walid Moallem? Would the U.S. be wise to "engage" him and his government in the cause of Mideast peace? According to last year's Mehlis Report, which details the preliminary findings of the UN investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and 22 others, Moallem met with Hariri two weeks prior to his assassination. Their exchange was secretly taped: Hariri: "I cannot live under a security regime that is specialized in interfering with Hariri and spreading disinformation about Hariri and writing reports to Bashar Assad....Lebanon will never be ruled from Syria." Moallem: "We and the [security] services here have put you into a corner. Please do not take things lightly." Moallem later falsely described the meeting to UN investigators as "friendly and constructive." He would thus seem to be guilty of obstructing an ongoing criminal investigation, if not actually of conspiracy to murder.
2006-11-21 01:00:00
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