The Mehlis report was released today, and it was the historic bombshell that everyone knew it would be. It implicated Syrian and Lebanese intelligence chiefs and military generals, all the way up to members of Assad’s family. The commission was also extended up until December in order to allow for further investigations into more recent developments and leads. And, speaking of those leads, Mehlis deleted the names of some of those suspected of conspiring in Hariri’s murder for reasons not yet known, though I can imagine it has to due with following up with evidence by December. Here’s what happened:

U.N. officials are defending themselves against allegations that they tried to conceal the identities of senior Syrian officials implicated in the plot to assassinate former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The suspects’ names were included in earlier drafts of a report on the killing, but were deleted from the version released to the public.

The Hariri assassination report German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis gave to Secretary-General Kofi Annan Thursday named as suspects several high-ranking Syrian officials.

The names included Maher al-Assad, younger brother of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as well as his brother-in-law, Syrian military intelligence chief Assef Shawkat. In one of its most explosive sections, the report says both men attended a September 2004 meeting at which the Hariri assassination was planned.

But Mr. Mehlis says he went back and deleted the suspects’ names Thursday, after learning the report was to be made public. Copies of the document received by most news agencies did not identify the suspects.

The attempt to suppress their names failed, however, when earlier drafts of the report were leaked to reporters. The deletions raised suspicions that Secretary-General Annan had pressured Mr. Mehlis to protect the suspect’s identities.

The Washington Post has the entire report without the deletion here. It makes for incredible reading. In fact, it reads like a spy/conspiracy novel, because that’s exactly what it is. A real life, high level conspiracy. One of the most interesting portions is mentioned in the above news excerpt, which is the meeting after Resolution 1559 was passed in which they decided that Rafiq Hariri needed to be killed. Check this out.

95. The structure and organization of the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services in Lebanon at the time of the blast, including protocols for reporting, shows a pervasive impact on everyday life in Lebanon. Good examples of this are documents collected from the former Syrian Intelligence post, Villa Jabr, at Bologna Forest, Lebanon and an intercepted telephone conversation between General Ghazali and a prominent Lebanese official on 19 July 2004, at 0945 hrs (excerpt):

???????Ghazali:I know it is early but I thought we should keep up you posted. The President of the Republic told me this morning that they are two to rule the country the Prime Minister and him. He said that things cannot continue this way. The Prime Minister is always irritating him and we are always shutting him up and yelling at him. He made it clear he cannot continue this way.
(…)
X: Take it easy on me. Can you appoint a new Government at this time?

Ghazali: Yes we can appoint one. What could be the problem? We can name Botros Harb.
(???????)
Ghazali: Let me tell you one thing. Let the worker????????s movement take the street on the 20th in Solidere and Koraytem.

X: Let????????s speak it over. Take it easily. I have to take into consideration the best interests of Syrian and Lebanon.

Ghazali: We are keen on Syria????????s best interest but I am now talking about Rafik Hariri.

X: So, the decision is taken.

Ghazali: I wish to tell you one thing. Whenever we need to speak to Hariri we have to suck up to him and he does not always answer.

X: To hell with him. What do I care about him?

Ghazali: What do I care about him? The President can????????t stand him so why should I?

X: Fine, may he rot in hell ???????
(???????)
Ghazali: No. Let him be the laughing stock and be pointed at as the person who ruined and indebted the country. Let the people take the street in Koraytem and Solidere; let the manifestations continue until he is forced to resign like a dog.

X: What about another option. I send him a message saying: Resign God damn it.

Ghazali: No, don????????t send him a message or else he will say they forced me to resign. Let the street ??????? you know what I mean. Or else he will use this as a bargaining card with his American and French masters.

X: So shall we leave things to the street?

Ghazali: This is better.
X: Let????????s go for it.???????

96. One witness of Syrian origin but resident in Lebanon, who claims to have worked for the Syrian intelligence services in Lebanon, has stated that approximately two weeks after the adoption of Security Council resolution 1559, senior Lebanese and Syrian officials decided to assassinate Rafik Hariri. He claimed that a senior Lebanese security official went several times to Syria to plan the crime, meeting once at the Meridian Hotel in Damascus and several times at the Presidential Place and the office of a senior Syrian security official. The last meeting was held in the house of the same senior Syrian security official approximately seven to 10 days before the assassination and included another senior Lebanese security official. The witness had close contact with high ranked Syrian officers posted in Lebanon.

97. At the beginning of January 2005, one of the high ranked officers told the witness that Rafik Hariri was a big problem to Syria. Approximately a month later the officer told the witness that there soon would be an ???????earthquake??????? that would re-write the history of Lebanon.

98. The witness visited several Syrian military bases in Lebanon. At one such base, in Hammana, he observed a white Mitsubishi van, with a white tarpaulin over the flatbed. The observations were made on 11, 12 and 13 February 2005. The Mitsubishi left the Military base in Hammana on the morning of 14 February 2005. The Mitsubishi Canter van, which was used as the bomb carrier, entered Lebanon from Syria through the Bekaa border and a military hot lane on 21 January 2005, at 1320 hrs. It was driven by a Syrian Colonel from the Army Tenth Division.

99. On 13 February 2005, the witness drove one of the Syrian officers to the St. George area in Beirut on a reconnaissance exercise, as he subsequently understood it to have been after the assassination took place.

100. Regarding Mr. Abu Adass, the witness has stated that he played no role in the crime except as a decoy. He was detained in Syria and forced at gunpoint to record the video tape. Subsequently, he was killed in Syria. The videotape was sent to Beirut on the morning of 14 February 2005, and handed over to Jamil Al Sayyed. A civilian with a criminal record and an officer from the S????ret???? G????n????rale were tasked with putting the tape somewhere in Hamra and then calling Ghassan Ben Jeddo, an Al-Jazeera TV reporter.

101. General Jamil Al-Sayyed, according to the witness, cooperated closely with General Mustapha Hamdan and General Raymond Azar in the preparation of the assassination of Mr. Hariri. He also coordinated with General Ghazali (and, among others, people from Mr. Ahmad Jibreel in Lebanon). General Hamdan and General Azar provided logistical support, providing money, telephones, cars, walkie-talkies, pagers, weapons, ID-cards etc. Those who knew of the crime in advance were among others, Nasser Kandil and General Ali Al-Hajj.

102. Fifteen minutes before the assassination, the witness was in the vicinity of the St. George area. He received a telephone call from one of the senior Syrian officers, who asked the witness where he was. When he answered, he got the advice to leave the area immediately.

103. Another witness approached the Commission and stated that he had met with General Hamdan in the middle of October 2004. General Hamdan talked very negatively about Mr. Hariri accusing him of being pro-Israeli. General Hamdan ended the conversation by stating: ???????We are going to send him on a trip, bye, bye Hariri???????. After the assassination, the witness was strongly reminded not to discuss this conversation with anyone.

From Beirut to the Beltway has a summary of the report which is quite good, and a summary of the main conclusions.

The most crucial part about this report is the level of depth in which the Syrian government and their imposed security apparatus are implicated. It officially goes all the way up to President Assad’s little brother and brother-in-law (Assef Shawkat, who is the Syrian intelligence chief, and considered the main culprit), which means it obviously goes all the way up to Bashar Assad himself. There should now be no doubt of that whatsoever, and I can only imagine that the December findings will be all the more damning. President Lahoud may also be condemned, as he apparently received a sketchy phonecall from the Syrians just minutes after the explosion that killed Hariri.

This investigation has been, by far, the most effective action the United Nations has carried out in the past several years. It just goes to show what can be done when the United States and France, and the free world as a whole, work together. What will happen now largely depends on actions taken by the Security Council against Syria, as well as actions taken by individual nations like the United States, France, and Lebanon to the same effect. This is, believe it or not, the beginning of the end for Syria’s dictatorship. No amount of lies, deceit, or even bombs can save them now.