US warns Syria to let U.N. interview its president

[allemand]

By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The United States warned Syria on Tuesday that its president and other top officials should submit to interviews by U.N. investigators probing the murder of a former Lebanese prime minister. (...)

"No one is immune the obligation to provide evidence to a legitimate judicial inquiry," U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters.

He said that Syria's "record to date has been one of obstructing the investigation, of tampering with the evidence and not making witnesses available in a timely fashion."

Bolton warned Damascus that the Security Council had made clear it expected "full and unconditional compliance" with the U.N. investigation and that "additional measures could be taken if need be."

More:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060103/ts_nm/syria_lebanon_usa_dc_1

So can Bolton really predict the future or is it all part of a plot?

[JuniperLea]

1. Uh oh

Fekking bullies need to keep their noses out of other country's business until we have dealt with out own investigations!

[efhmc]

2. Why and how do we have the power to decide this?

Answer: We do not!!!!

[NYC Liberal]

3. LMAO at the IRONY of Bolton's "obligation to provide evidence" comment!

This, from the guy whose nomination was held up because they refused to provide documents! :rofl::rofl:

[doublethink]

7. Pathetic Hypocrites aren't they ....

and remember Bolton's nomination to the U.N. was NEVER approved by the Senate, not that I can remember. Bush abused his so called 'emergency power' by appointing him (in that congress recess back in August). And the documents on him were probably never furnished, were they? But who's doing follow-up on the daily abuse of power by these Neo-Cons anyway? Peace.

Story link for memory here ... http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/08/01/bolton.appointment/ :)

[saigon68]

18. He is a War Criminal Enabler

A slug

[appleannie1]

4. Why don't they

PRACTICE WHAT THEY PREACH?

[LisaM]

5. "No one is immune the obligation to provide evidence to a legitimate judic

Well said. Now Mr. Bush, regarding Mr. Abramoff.....

[Malva Zebrina]

6. Yup, , y'all better look out or we will send Condi in her high heeled boot

to snap ya'll back into subservience. Yup. The US has shot it's load and has no credibility at all anywhere. The only thing left is our military machine--and even that is corroding under the AWOL , absolute insane wannabee dictator, George Bush, whose next bullying tactic seems to be a repeat of the lies aimed at Iraq as we hear more and more of the plans to bomb Iran (according to PNAC plans and tactics)

Beat that flabby chest George. That is all you can do in order to preserve your image of yourself as a great war president. You love it that you have the power over life and death of our youngest who you send, although you avoided it yourself, into battle to kill and to be killed. Yippee for you you slimy, cowardly punk! No one is buying it, especially those world wide. You, AWOL CIC, you coward of a little, petulant, childish adolescent man, is laughed at all over the world and you invited it and you have put us all, your own people, into jeapardy because of your vindictive and stupid foreign policies.

Go take another vacation and hide from all responsibility you coward.

You will be impeached.

[arewenotdemo]

15. couldn't have said it better

[stepnw1f]

8. Here We Go Again

More shit from the GOP. The American Nazi Party.

[DELUSIONAL]

9. Only if the world court can interview bushie

[TheGunslinger]

10. Oh, *now* the UN is pertinent. *I* seeee.....

:eyes:

[wordpix2]

11. yes, now that * has bankrupted US, will the UN pls. step up and help * out

[bemildred]

12. I am so sick of that feeble twit.

Dolton the long-range mouth fighter.
He did all of this same shit with N. Korea and got nothing.
N. Korea made a hobby of telling him to self-sodomize.
Iran is now telling us much the same.
Syria, it they have a clue, will do the same too.
It's embarassing watching this.

[David__77]

13. Since when do the Bush fascist recognize "international law?"

Syria is totally foolish if they capitulate to this nonsense. The UN has no right to engage in judicial proceedings on this matter. The right is attempting to lay the pretext for US aggression by luring Syria into a trap of "concessions." The only fitting response is one of complete non-cooperation.

[allemand]

14. Law professor: Assad has no legal obligation to answer the invitation

«Il n'y a en effet pas de précédent, c'est un événement totalement nouveau», analyse Andrea Bianchi, professeur de droit international à l'Institut des hautes études internationales de Genève. Mais innovation ne signifie pas forcément révolution: «La portée juridique de cet événement restera malgré tout très limitée. Certes, la commission a émis le souhait d'entendre Bachar el-Assad. Mais elle a besoin du consentement de ce dernier, qui n'a aucune obligation juridique de répondre à l'invitation. Et on peut d'ailleurs bien imaginer qu'il n'y répondra pas! La Syrie rejette les conclusions de la commission, l'accuse depuis longtemps d'être manipulée politiquement. En témoignant, le président perdrait la face.»
http://www.lapresse.ch/vqhome/le_journal/monde/syrie_040106.edition=nv.html

Babelfish translation:
"There is indeed no precedent, it is a completely new event", analyzes Andrea Bianchi, professor of international law to the Institute of the high international studies of Geneva. But innovation does not mean revolution inevitably: "the legal significance of this event will remain despite everything very limited. Admittedly, the commission emitted the wish to hear Bachar el-Assad. But it needs the assent of this last, which does not have any legal obligation to answer the invitation. And one can imagine well besides that it will not answer it! Syria rejects the conclusions of the commission, for a long time shows it to be handled politically. While testifying, the president would lose the face."

Andrea Bianchi is Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International Studies in Geneva.
http://hei.unige.ch/index_f.html

[HuffleClaw]

16. what the hell business is it of bush?

if it were HIM being called before the un, he would jump up and down, SCREAMING and wailing about 'foreign interference', count on it. what a complete joke.

[allemand]

17. Washington Post: Jumblatt calls for US intervention in Syria

Jumblatt argues that the only stable outcome will be regime change in Syria -- a "Milosevic solution" that will bring Assad to justice through the United Nations.

What makes the Syria-Lebanon situation especially volatile, Jumblatt explained, is that it is linked to the radical new Iranian regime of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He argued that Iran is using its alliance with Assad and Hezbollah in its larger strategic battles against Israel and the United States. "It's as if we are defending Iranian nuclear facilities from the border of Lebanon," he said.

Jumblatt says he hopes America will stand by the Cedar Revolution. "If Bush considers Lebanon one of his major achievements, now is the time to protect Lebanon," he told me. When I asked what he wanted from America, he answered: "You came to Iraq in the name of majority rule. You can do the same thing in Syria."

Mob War In the Mideast
By David Ignatius
Wednesday, January 4, 2006; Page A17
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/03/AR2006010301277.html

[allemand]

19. Former Syrian Vice President working towards forming a government-in-exile

Kuwait's as-Seyassah daily reported Wednesday that former Syrian Vice President Abdel Halim Khaddam was working towards forming a government-in-exile after he spoke out against the Syrian regime in a televised interview from Paris. The pro-government paper quoted unidentified sources close to Khaddam as saying he has started consulting with former Syrian military officers who had defected to "end the bad situation, of which (President Bashar) Assad is responsible." It said the former officers accused Assad of having "abandoned them and took unilateral control of power along with his brother Maher and brother-in-law, Asef Shawkat." The sources told the Kuwaiti daily the government-in-exile would bring Khaddam to a leadership role in a transitional period in which "a democratic, pluralistic and modern system will be set up." They said this system would respect human rights and draw up a new constitution calling for free general elections "for a democratic parliament and government." They added that a new president will be elected by the people for a four or six-year term.
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060104-073510-5230r

Clearly, the accusations Khaddam made against President Assad in the al-Arabiya interview were not driven by a personal motive (like becoming president himself).

:sarcasm: