Term Paper on "Assassination of the Former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri"

Term Paper 16 pages (4528 words) Sources: 1+

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Assination of Rafik Hariri: Extinguishing a Light in the Middle East

Lebanon is an oddity in the Middle East; a diverse cultural mixture that were it not for outside influences vying for power and control of the country might perhaps achieve a culturally and economically successful society. It has on more than one occasion in its war torn history attempted to do that. To become a Singapore of the Middle East; or at least such was the vision held by Lebanon's late former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri (he had resigned in 2004), who was assassinated in February, 2005 (Denoeux and Springborg, 1998, p. 158). "Consciously striving to emulate its putative Phoenician heritage, Lebanon was the only truly cosmopolitan Arab country (Denoeux and Springborg, 1998, p. 158)." Under the leadership of the business wise Rafik Hariri, the vision was manifesting itself into reality. Then, in the instant it took for a car bomb attack to occur, the future of Lebanon became, once again, violent, uncertain, and a tumultuous struggle for control over the country. Geographically and strategically located on the Mediterranean, north of Israel, with Lebanon's southern most tip bordering Israel along the region of the Golan Heights; and Syria to its west. Lebanon's own internal groups resumed the tug of war for the country with Israel and the United States standing close and on alert. Heeding the United Nations order for an investigation to sort out the myriad of interested parties who might be responsible for the death of Lebanon's prime minister, and the Lebanese hope for the future, an international investigator was assigned to sort out the pieces of evidence and information surrounding the assassination. The questions to be answered stand as complex as the man himself had been, and would entail unraveling political, business, investment banking, and personal interests entwined like a ball of tangled yarn in order to find who had murdered Lebanon's former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

Hariri was born Lebanese, a Sunni Muslim sect in Lebanon. He was an entrepreneur who saw beyond religious and political restraints and who envisioned creating an economy in Lebanon that involved rebuilding the remaining impoverished and run down sections of Beirut with glistening high rises and prospering businesses was assassinated (1998, p. 166). Research authors Guilain Denoeux and Robert Springborg lend insight into why Hariri's vision was embraced by the Lebanese people in this excerpt published in Middle East Policy prior to the assassination of the Prime Minister (1998, p. 158):

Both inside and outside Lebanon, this vision for the future of the country has been widely accepted. This is in part because it is consonant with Lebanon's previous economic rule, in part because it seems consistent with the country's resource endowment and comparative advantage, and in part because no other compelling model has been put forward - be it by the Lebanese themselves or by those in the World Bank, IMF and bilateral aid agencies who are involved in translating into its Lebanese variant the "Washington consensus" on neoclassical economic reform.

By default, therefore, it has been more or less agreed that those in charge of Lebanon's reconstruction, and especially its hard-driving prime minister, have the right model in mind, even if its implementation is viewed as inadequate or flawed. The slowdown in economic growth since 1994, the spectacular increase in the indebtedness of the state, persistent unemployment, spreading poverty, rampant corruption, rising sectarian tensions and various signs of deepening political malaise have all been dismissed by Lebanese politicians and more neutral observers alike as stemming primarily from factors beyond Lebanon's control (1998, pp. 158-159)."

In 1992, when Hariri assumed the role of Lebanon's prime minister, the country was in an economic crisis (1998, p. 159). Hariri brought to the table with him a plan and connections in business, investment banking and on the international level that helped support his vision for Lebanon as a potentially successful one (1998, pp. 159-160). Nor was he empty-handed, since Hariri was able and willing to garner convincing confidence in his goals with significant investment dollars from his own personal fortunes. Even before that, in the early 1980s while Lebanon was still in the grips of war, Hariri, who had been successful in Saudi Arabia, sent his company's heavy construction equipment into Lebanon to begin work repairing the roads that had been almost destroyed by bombing during the war (1998, p. 160). It seemed as though Hariri wanted to instill in the people a sense of hope for the future even then as his company worked to repair and remove war damage. He also created a charitable foundation that would help impoverished Lebanese young people attend college and for impoverished families to receive aid (1998, p. 160). Hariri proved his determination in seeing his country move away from war and warring into an era prosperity that would flourish in a new and different Lebanon. More importantly, he proved he had the resources and pertinent international support and connections to make that goal a reality (1998, p. 160).

Denoeux and Springborg describe Hariri's model for Lebanon this way (1998, p. 160):

After he became prime minister, Hariri focused on rebuilding the two pillars that had supported Lebanon's economic success prior to 1975: a stable currency and the infrastructure capacity to provide services more competitively than any other Arab country. He quickly implemented the IMF (International Monetary Fund) stabilization measures which, in combination with the general optimism his presence instilled, resulted within two months in a revaluation of the currency by some 1,000 pounds to the dollar and a sharp decline in inflation to 29% in 1993. Coupled with macroeconomic stabilization measures was the unveiling and immediate launching of a reconstruction plan, Horizon 2000. Its centerpiece was the building of an entirely new central business district for Beirut. According to the scheme's backers, this new district would serve as the symbol of the country's revitalization and would house its financial sector, which was to be the engine of Lebanon's economic reconstruction (1998, p. 160)."

The plan and model is criticized by the authors and others as being one focused on the stability of the currency and construction vs. rehabilitation of existing buildings; and that it did not include an agricultural component (1998, p. 160). As such, critics said, the plan failed to include Lebanon as a whole (1998, p. 160). Especially if it was Hariri's goal to create a Singapore of the Middle East, it was essential that Hariri's plan include the country as a whole, and that it facilitate institutions to bring about good governance (1998, p. 160). Hariri's plan, critics charged, was one of "laissez faire (1998, p. 160)."

The same critics agree that Hariri's background as an entrepreneur, a self-made man who achieved success and wanted to bring that same success home to his country (1998, p. 161). Authors Denoeux and Springborg suggest that this explains why Hariri would be less focused on the state in its totality and total functioning - although they do not offer any real evidence to suggest that that was in fact Hariri's frame of mind or personal thinking. Also, the time from Hariri's assuming the role of prime minister, to the date that he was assassinated, was just six years; much too short a period of time to test Hariri's model, or any model as to its long-term success since the model was abandoned with Hariri's assassination.

The authors contend, too, that Hariri saw the state, as a whole, as an obstacle (1998, p. 161). This might be correct, in consideration of the fact that Lebanon is an Islamic state, and there is no separation of powers in an Islamic state. This, the authors point out, was Hariri's legacy when he assumed office as prime minister (1998, p. 161). This, they suggest, would have worked against Hariri because the state, as whole, given the infrastructural relationship of the urban centers to the rural regions of the country is "an assemblage of conflicting interests and leaders with widely different and often irreconcilable objectives and priorities (1998, p. 161)." The authors to concede that Hariri probably knew he could not reform the state as a whole - at least not for that period in time - because of embedded interests in the state, and because of the Syrian factor. The imbedded interests being the "fiefdoms" which were under the control of certain chieftains and sect leaders, wherein the "bureaucracy operates primarily as a dispenser of patronage to sectoral interests, while public offices and public funds are use to promote the objectives of sectarian institutions and leaders (1998, p. 161)."

Understanding somewhat now the Rafik Hariri model and the dynamics as they existed in Lebanon, we can turn our attention to the investigation and the body of evidence compiled during the investigation of the assassination of Rafik Hariri that led to the arrests of persons accused with the crime of his assassination.

The Investigation of the Assassination of Rafik Hariri

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