Original source URL: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1418516,00.html Why 'Mr Lebanon' had many enemies Diplomats doubt that Syria would kill its former ally as evidence points to the billionaire being victim of an 'ordinary bomb' Peter Beaumont in London and Mitchell Prothero in Beirut Sunday February 20, 2005 The Observer In death, the world feted Lebanon's former Prime Minister, Rafiq Hariri, assasinated on Valentine's Day. Obituaries spoke of a grand statesman and 'Mr Lebanon'. But in Beirut Hariri was hated and distrusted by many in equal measure - not for his politics, but for his controlling interest in the giant post-war Lebanese reconstruction company Solidere, which has been accused of carrying out forcible evictions, corruption and wholesale political graft. Last week as British officals voiced doubts over US and Israeli-backed allegations that Syrian intelligence agents were behind the bombing of Hariri's motorcade on Beirut's Corniche, a picture began to emerge of a deeply flawed billionaire with as many foes as friends. It is a story of murky dealings and personal enrichment on a grand scale; a tale of politics and the judiciary suborned to business interests, and of multiple motives for Hariri's slaying. It is a very different picture from that presented by a Lebanese opposition campaigning for the withdrawal of the Syrian army, by Hariri's family and by Tel Aviv and Washington: that Hariri, splitting with Damascus and the pro-Damascus government of Emile Lahoud, had been taken out by the Syrians. 'It does not make sense,' said one European official, 'it is not really Syria's modus operandi. It is such a gift for the anti-Syrian lobby in Lebanon and internationally. Why would they do it? Not only that, but the Syrians would not want to upset the Saudis, who they are cautious in their relations with and who regard Hariri [who has a Saudi passport] as being very much their own.' And despite Hariri's split with his old friends in September over Lebanon's future governance, senior Syrian officals saw him as 'a moderating influence' with other opposition figures who could 'put across Syria's point of view'. If Syria was not the culprit, who are the other candidates and what was the motive? A previously unheard-of jihadist group has already claimed responsibility saying Hariri was 'an agent of Syria' as well as closely linked with the Saudi royal family. This was rejected by Lebanese authorities, but the attack - far from the sophistication claimed as evidence of foreign intelligence involvment - bears hallmarks of a jihadi attack: a car bomb denonated by the suicide bomber. Lead investigator Rachid Mezher says the explosion that killed Hariri was from 'an ordinary bomb', a view endorsed by some in the diplomatic community. 'Not all the jihadi groups in Lebanon are under tight control,' said the western official. 'They don't have brass plaques on their door saying where they are, and given that foreign fighters have been going through Lebanon and Syria en route to Iraq, there has been for some time a risk of backwash in the countries they are travelling through. For these groups, his connection with the Saudi royal family and his lavish lifestyle may have made him an attractive target.' Then there are Hariri's business interests and Solidere itself. He was dogged throughout his career by allegations of wrongdoing. The schoolteacher turned contractor in Saudi Arabia and gained his entrée in Saudi royal circles in the 1970s by building the hotel for an Islamic summit in months. As his wealth and power grew, Hariri began to pour money into Lebanon through the Al-Hariri Foundation which he established in 1979, supporting education, reconstruction and other projects. But there were dark rumours that he also funded the militias which were tearing his country apart. By the mid-1980s Hariri saw that the future of power in his country lay with Damascus and began courting President Hafaz al-Assad's government, spending the last war years mediating between the Syrians and the Lebanese warlords which culminated in his key role - brokering the Taif Accords in 1989 which ended the civil war. He began work on the project that would fix his grasp on Lebanese politics for much of the next 15 years, the rebuilding of Beirut. But last year the post-war city dominated by Hariri was characterised by Charles Adwan, executive director of the Lebanese Transparency Association, as 'a textbook case of legitimised corruption' as wartime organisations were incorporated into new public institutions while former militia members integrated into the administration. Hariri's private and public functions became dangerously tangled. The new Prime Minster was not only the biggest shareholder in Solidere, the company set up to rebuild Lebanon's wrecked capital, but also the moving force behind a law that allowed properties to be compulsarily purchased at knockdown prices. Judges valuing the properties were allegedly bought through widespread bribes paid by Solidere. While the shiny new Beirut looked good, by the late 1990s Hariri's political leadership was under attack. High unemployment, public disgust at the corruption and the biggest per capita debt in the developing world all took away the shine. Beneath the gloss, Mr Lebanon's economic problems and his enemies were multiplying. None of which matters in a febrile Lebanon after Hariri's murder. Regardless of whoever ordered the killing, ordinary Lebanese believe it was Syria. George Haddad, an official with a banned opposition group, the Free Patriotic Movement, says the killing has unified a previously fractious opposition to Syria's dominance in Lebanon's affairs. He argues that this dominance has always been protected through violence and that Syrian intelligence services would fail to see the downside to killing such a popular figure. Haddad says the killing has allowed the opposition parties - Christian, Druze and Sunni - to set aside their differences and plan 'to surround the government in Beirut with people until the current government resigns and the Syrians end their role in Lebanese affairs'. -- -------------------------------------------------------- Escaping the Matrix website http://escapingthematrix.org/ cyberjournal website http://cyberjournal.org Community Democracy Framework: http://cyberjournal.org/DemocracyFramework.html subscribe cyberjournal list mailto:•••@••.••• Posting archives http://cyberjournal.org/show_archives/