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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (47823)	2/16/2005 6:16:01 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Tens of thousands of Lebanese have taken to the streets to mourn the death of their ex-prime minister Rafik Hariri who was assassinated in a massive car bomb earlier this week. About 150,000 mourners joined the funeral procession as it weaved its way along the three-mile journey from his home in Beirut to a mosque in central Beirut for burial. The funeral procession of Rafik Hariri Many in the crowd used the funeral cortege as a chance to accuse the opposition of his killing and to call on Syria to leave Lebanon. It is still unclear who carried out Monday's bomb attack on Beirut's waterfront, in which 14 other people died and 135 were injured. Fingers have been pointed at Syria, but Damascus has condemned the suspected suicide bombing. "We want to say the truth, we don't want Syria," the mourners had shouted. "Syria out, Syria out." Men wept uncontrollably as the procession wound through Beirut streets plastered with posters of the Sunni Muslim billionaire. The bombing revived memories of the 1975-90 civil war and brought into focus Lebanon's troubled ties with its powerful neighbour Syria. It has also led to renewed international pressure led by the United States and France for Syria to quit Lebanon. Mr Hariri's coffin, draped in a Lebanese flag, was loaded into an ambulance at his house to thread its way through crowds of flag-waving mourners. He was later buried in an unfinished mosque which he had financed in the heart of the capital. Once a shattered battlefield, the area was rebuilt in a reconstruction drive that Mr Hariri had led. Several European and Arab ministers, along with Javier Solana, the EU's foreign policy chief, and William Burns, US assistant secretary of state, are among foreign dignitaries who are in Beirut to pay their respects for Lebanon's best-known politician. Jacques Chirac, the French president, who is a personal friend of Mr Hariri, is also flying to Beirut to present condolences and "pay tribute to the person who always personified Lebanon's will for independence, freedom and democracy", his office said. The family had made clear that Syrian-backed officials such as Emile Lahoud, the president, Omar Karami, the prime minister, and Suleiman Franjieh, interior minister, would not be welcome. Hariri's emotional supporters declared allegiance to his businessman son Bahaa, urging him to take his political mantle. Washington has recalled its ambassador to Damascus for consultations to show its anger at Syria's military and political domination of Lebanon. US officials said they were considering new sanctions on Syria because of its refusal to withdraw its 14,000 troops from Lebanon and Washington's belief that Damascus lets Palestinian militants and Iraqi insurgents operate on its soil. "The Syrian government is unfortunately on a path right now where relations are not improving, but are worsening," Condoleezza Rice, US secretary of state, said in Washington. "We will continue to consider what other options are at our disposal." The White House said it was too early to tell who assassinated Mr Hariri. The UN security council has asked Kofi Annan, its secretary-general, to look urgently into the killing, a measure the United States hopes will lead to further action by the world body. Lebanese opposition figures did not hesitate to point an accusing finger at Damascus. Mr Hariri was the driving force behind an ambitious postwar reconstruction programme that left Lebanon heavily in debt. He resigned as prime minister in October after falling out with Syria over its role in extending the presidential term of Mr Lahoud. He then joined opposition leaders in calling for Syria to withdraw its troops and stop interfering in Lebanese affairs, as demanded by the UN security council.