An Assassination, Yes, but Kanaan was the Assassin
As a follow-up to the death of Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kanaan, two Syrian officials made notable slips of the tongue in calling Kanaan's grand departure an "assassination" rather than a "suicide."
Perhaps the most amusing aspect of this entire affair was the official Syrian explanation for the "suicide", namely that Kanaan was depressed by Lebanese media campaigns against him. In fact the Lebanese media virtually did not mention Kanaan in recent months, except for a recent report on Lebanon's NTV television station linking him to payoffs by former Lebanese PM Rafik Hariri. I have few doubts that the gist of the report was true, and agree with those who believe it was leaked to the station by the Syrian regime, which was seeking to discredit Kanaan before offing him.
Meanwhile, CNN's Christiane Amanpour has interviewed Bashar Assad, who of course denies all on Hariri.
Editor's Note: As of February 29, 2024, commenting privileges on reason.com posts are limited to Reason Plus subscribers. Past commenters are grandfathered in for a temporary period. Subscribe here to preserve your ability to comment. Your Reason Plus subscription also gives you an ad-free version of reason.com, along with full access to the digital edition and archives of Reason magazine. We request that comments be civil and on-topic. We do not moderate or assume any responsibility for comments, which are owned by the readers who post them. Comments do not represent the views of reason.com or Reason Foundation. We reserve the right to delete any comment and ban commenters for any reason at any time. Comments may only be edited within 5 minutes of posting. Report abuses.
Please
to post comments
"[Chief UN investigator] Detlev Mehlis may make such a raucous alternative unnecessary, as numerous reports have suggested that the four Lebanese intelligence chiefs are talking. That doesn't quite square with information this week that they are suffering from various forms of psychological and physical breakdown, making imminent suicide probable (though one of the prisoners did bang his head against a wall)."
-- Michael Young, Beirut Daily Star, September 15, 2005
I realize the party line changes, according to which story puts Syria in the worst possible light, but doesn't Michael Young even remember what he wrote a month ago?
Justin, maybe someone will pay attention if you start blogging at MichaelYoungWatch.blogspot.com. It's still available, you know.
That would be pointless, when apparently not even Micahel Young is watching Michael Young...
I'll add my bit, though...Michael, did you HEAR these slips of the tongue yourself? Do you have another source for the story? How 'bout video? Why isn't YOUR newspaper reporting this?
Geeze.
That would be pointless, when apparently not even Micahel Young is watching Michael Young...
Um...Justin, that's sort of the point, really. YOU get to watch him, both b/c he's sloppy and b/c you care.
So how's that "Hizbollah just made itself a political irrelevancy in Lebanon" thing working out?
antiwra.com is a pretty crappy site.
antiwra.com is a pretty crappy site.
I agree. I went there and there was nothing but ads and a sign asking if I wanted to buy the domain.