It will be difficult to prove who killed Mr. Hariri. But the gang ruling Syria had all the ability, experience and motive to murder the Lebanese statesman for the way he had teamed up with Paris and Washington to pass the recent U.N. resolution, 1559, calling for Syria's immediate withdrawal from Lebanon. Mr. Hariri pressed for that U.N. resolution, and resigned his office, after Syria perverted Lebanese democracy by forcing Lebanon's Parliament to accept a three-year extension for a Syrian puppet, Émile Lahoud, as Lebanon's president.So, when one side doesn't play by any rules, what are you supposed to do? Simple. Do the right thing and don't listen to those who want you to play by the rules in the hope that you'll convince the other side to play by rules that they've always ignored. It is futile to do so.
When Syria's Baath regime feels its back up against the wall, it always resorts to "Hama Rules." Hama Rules is a term I coined after the Syrian Army leveled - and I mean leveled - a portion of its own city, Hama, to put down a rebellion by Sunni Muslim fundamentalists there in 1982. Some 10,000 to 20,000 Syrians were buried in the ruble. Monday's murder of Mr. Hariri, a self-made billionaire who devoted his money and energy to rebuilding Lebanon after its civil war, had all the hallmarks of Hama Rules - beginning with 650 pounds of dynamite to incinerate an armor-plated motorcade.
Message from the Syrian regime to Washington, Paris and Lebanon's opposition: "You want to play here, you'd better be ready to play by Hama Rules - and Hama Rules are no rules at all. You want to squeeze us with Iraq on one side and the Lebanese opposition on the other, you'd better be able to put more than U.N. resolutions on the table. You'd better be ready to go all the way - because we will. But you Americans are exhausted by Iraq, and you Lebanese don't have the guts to stand up to us, and you French make a mean croissant but you've got no Hama Rules in your arsenal. So remember, we blow up prime ministers here. We shoot journalists. We fire on the Red Cross. We leveled one of our own cities. You want to play by Hama Rules, let's see what you've got. Otherwise, hasta la vista, baby."
A blog for all seasons; A blog for one; A blog for all. As the 11th most informative blog on the planet, I have a seared memory of throwing my Time 2006 Man of the Year Award over the railing at Time Warner Center. Justice. Only Justice Shall Thou Pursue
Thursday, February 17, 2005
Updating the Hama Rules
Tom Friedman coined the term Hama Rules in his bestselling book, From Beirut to Jerusalem. He's revisited the rules in the aftermath of the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Harari. He's pretty confident that Syria was behind the murder, and looks at how this is the Hama rule plays out.
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