Assad Lashes out at UN Criticism, Calls Saniora 'Helpless Slave.'
President Assad took a defiant stance toward the United Nations in connection with the Hariri assassination probe on Thursday, labeling chief investigator Detlev Mehlis as "intransigently biased" against Syria and calling Premier Saniora a "helpless slave of an obedient slave master."
Assad's own intransigence came in an address to the nation he made from a podium of the Damascus University auditorium in which he vowed anew that his regime was innocent of the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanon's 5-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
But the slanderous language he used against Saniora was seen as a rejection of U.N. chief Kofi Annan's advice to cooperate unconditionally with the Mehlis commission and to keep Syria's hands off Lebanon in order to avert U.S. military action.
"We will play their game" and cooperate -- for now -- but warned such cooperation could stop if Syria is going to be harmed.
Assad also disclosed that the U.N. investigator in the case has rejected the conditions that Syria set for cooperating with the investigation. That could set up a conflict with the United Nations and U.S., which have strongly pressured Syria to cooperate fully.
Assad said the latest events confirm that "no matter what we did and how much we cooperate, the result will be that Syria did not cooperate."
"Syria is innocent in the absolute sense," Assad said in his 90-minute speech about Syria's stance toward Hariri's murder. "Syria is not involved at the government level or at the individual level. The problem is merely a political one in the context of events."
Assad's defiance confirms media reports that he is on a collision course with Mehlis and perhaps the U.N. Security Council.
Clearly opting for confrontation with the international community, Assad Said "President Bashar will not be the president who will bow to anyone in this world. We bow only to almighty God,"
Assad's own intransigence came in an address to the nation he made from a podium of the Damascus University auditorium in which he vowed anew that his regime was innocent of the Feb. 14 assassination of Lebanon's 5-time Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
But the slanderous language he used against Saniora was seen as a rejection of U.N. chief Kofi Annan's advice to cooperate unconditionally with the Mehlis commission and to keep Syria's hands off Lebanon in order to avert U.S. military action.
"We will play their game" and cooperate -- for now -- but warned such cooperation could stop if Syria is going to be harmed.
Assad also disclosed that the U.N. investigator in the case has rejected the conditions that Syria set for cooperating with the investigation. That could set up a conflict with the United Nations and U.S., which have strongly pressured Syria to cooperate fully.
Assad said the latest events confirm that "no matter what we did and how much we cooperate, the result will be that Syria did not cooperate."
"Syria is innocent in the absolute sense," Assad said in his 90-minute speech about Syria's stance toward Hariri's murder. "Syria is not involved at the government level or at the individual level. The problem is merely a political one in the context of events."
Assad's defiance confirms media reports that he is on a collision course with Mehlis and perhaps the U.N. Security Council.
Clearly opting for confrontation with the international community, Assad Said "President Bashar will not be the president who will bow to anyone in this world. We bow only to almighty God,"
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