Syrian Interior Minister Dead

Jeff Taylor | October 12, 2005

I'll let Reason's Mideast point-man Michael Young fill in the blanks, but for now the story is Ghazi Kanaan killed himself.

Comments

Damian P.|10.12.05 @ 11:34AM|#

To paraphrase an old Saturday Night Live line, his death was accidental. Some bullets he was chewing 'went down the wrong pipe'.

|10.12.05 @ 11:46AM|#

If you believe this, I've got a bridge over the Euphrates river to sell you.

|10.12.05 @ 11:51AM|#

"Hours before he died, Kenaan contacted a Lebanese radio station and gave it a statement defending Syria's role in the Lebanon. He ended with the words: "I believe this is the last statement that I could make." He asked the interviewer to pass his comments to other broadcast media." [Times UK]

By his hand or another's, it sounds as though he knew his time was short. Was this man a Muslim? If so, isn't it a grevious sin to commit suicide (not including martyrdom)?

Tom Scudder|10.12.05 @ 12:17PM|#

He committed suicide by shooting himself (twice) in the back of the head, yes?

|10.12.05 @ 12:29PM|#

Is this what they mean by "assisted suicide?"

|10.12.05 @ 12:56PM|#

I feel Kenaan's pain.

|10.12.05 @ 1:08PM|#

NoStar-
I'll take your deal in exchange for some ocean front property in Utah.

joe-
Someone might have come and said "Something bad is going to happen to you. We can have Mahmoud here do it the hard way or else you can use this handgun." I guess that is an assisted and encouraged suicide.

|10.12.05 @ 1:20PM|#

Herman,
I'd make that trade except I prefer Moslems over Mormons.

|10.12.05 @ 1:45PM|#

Aw, lighten up on the Mormons. They're just a bunch of hayseeds playing house out in the desert, they can't help how they are.

|10.12.05 @ 2:11PM|#

"Aw, lighten up on the Mormons. They're just a bunch of hayseeds playing house out in the desert, they can't help how they are."

And they're the only ones that will get into heaven. Unless Hell unleashes an all out assault, the likes of which have not been seen since the Fields of Pelennor, in which case God will adopt a more open immigration policy.

|10.12.05 @ 3:00PM|#

I read that he had a "small entrance wound in the roof of his mouth" with no mention of an exit wound, ie he probably shot himself in the mouth with a .22.

So, it sounds to me like it was a suicide.

|10.12.05 @ 4:31PM|#

Probably was a suicide. I know I always keep a .22 in the drawer beside my bed when I go to a hospital.

PS: I'll trade the bridge for some yellowcake.

|10.12.05 @ 4:36PM|#

So, it sounds to me like it was a suicide.

I thought so too. ...and he apparently made statements suggesting that he wouldn't be around for long, which should mean suicide.

...but then again, Martin Luther King said things suggesting he wouldn't be around for long, and his case was, most certainly, not a suicide. ...and, theoretically, it is possible for someone to have stuck a .22 in Kaanan's mouth and pulled the trigger.

...but, even if he did kill himself, do we really know what drove him to do it?

Is there anywhere else in the world where conspiracy theories seem more apropos than in Lebanon and Syria?

TallDave|10.12.05 @ 4:52PM|#

A non-explosive suicide in the Mideast?

That's suspicious.

TallDave|10.12.05 @ 4:54PM|#

I mean, logically, if he was going to commit suicide wouldn't he do it on an Israeli bus?

|10.12.05 @ 4:57PM|#

D'oh!!! TallDave, good call...

|10.12.05 @ 5:10PM|#

I mean, logically, if he was going to commit suicide wouldn't he do it on an Israeli bus?
I dunno TallDave, he sounds too depressed to even try and make the trip.

And while they're not omniscient, I would think that the Mossad might be able to track a high level Syrian minister, particularly if he were calling up radio shows and caterwauling while headed their way.

NoStar- Sorry, deal is off. I'm not much of a baker or nuclear technician.

|10.12.05 @ 8:06PM|#

No no, he's just pining for the fjords.

(Oh, come on, he's an official in the Syrian Baathist government.)