❊ “Zombie Tribunal”

Marc Lynch lays out the — rather reasonable — case against the STL:

Why should we consider the evidence now pointing to Hezbollah credible given the seeming collapse of the supposedly iron-clad case against Syria? Most discussion of this fairly obvious point that I’ve seen in the Western media has been framed around Hezbollah’s “efforts to discredit the STL.” […] from the outside, it really does look an awful lot like the STL is being used as a political weapon against Hezbollah at a time of mounting fears of its power and of allegedly rising Iranian influence in Lebanon.

It’s a seductive argument, but it remains unpersuasive to the multitude of Lebanese who are expecting justice from that body.

What Mr. Lynch (like many Hezbollah talking points) is implying is that somehow the Americans and Israelis have managed to steer a body of internationally recognized and respected jurists towards a politically convenient end. All this without initiating any whistle blowing from the STL’s numerous professional staff or the hundreds of journalists covering this affair. This, in my opinion, is a conspiracy too far.

Mr. Lynch chose to ignore the interconnected nature of Syria and Hezbollah. It is not yet set in stone that no Syrian elements are involved in the assassination, as they were the dominant force on the ground when the crime took place. It is still a possibility that some Syrians were involved behind their president’s back. We should also not discount Imad Mughnieh’s assassination which took place in Syria.

This is a large, and complex affair, one that doesn’t lend itself to political simplifications like “Syria did it” or “Hezbollah did it” or “Israel and America are behind it”. This requires the resourcefulness of the STL to methodically and calmly pick through the evidence and lay it out before the world public opinion in an open and transparent court.

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Note: Posts with titles starting with an ❊ (asterisk) are my opinion and article posts. I used this system to separate long posts from quick links and comments.