contain himself. ‘It defies basic common sense and is a gross misjudgment of social forces inside Iran. Any kid on the streets will tell you that the Iranians would consistently rally behind a wartime government against foreign aggression and the entire Middle East is likely to go up in flames.’
‘Whatever….’ Rao returned to his sequence of events. ‘A fortnight later, American, Israeli and Turkish forces began joint military exercises just off the Syrian coast. They described them as routine, but extensive aerial activity was noticed during these manoeuvres. It was obvious that considerable efforts were being expended to map all the regional air defence networks, especially the Iranian one.
‘A fortnight later, in accordance with the decision taken at Brussels in November 2004, for the first time Israeli armed forces participated in military exercises with NATO. Surprisingly, these exercises also included several Arab countries. Yet again, no information was divulged about the objective of the manoeuvres, though a careful observer would have noticed that there was a concrete effort by all participants to coordinate defensive activity in case of missile strikes against any of them. Please note how the tempo of events has begun to escalate.’
‘This is amazing!’ the Defence Minister commented. ‘How come no one took note of all this?’
‘Unfortunately, not many people were observing these events or analysing them to clearly understand the horrendous implications. That is why I always refer to these as the years of unreason. And what happened next at Beirut was even more shocking.’
Beirut
14 F EBRUARY 2005
THE CLOCK WAS ON THE VERGE OF ANNOUNCING THE TENTH hour of another beautiful morning when the motorcade, with the imposing black car at its centre, turned onto the road surfing along the sea front. The line of vehicles had just about reached the derelict St George Hotel on the Beirut seafront when one of the several nondescript cars parked on the side of the road exploded. Over a thousand kilograms of TNT had been stuffed into it. Nine people died instantly. Over a hundred were injured.
‘Among those killed was the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri whose motorcade had been driving past. The bomb appeared to have been directed against it,’ the smart young journalist in Beirut battle fatigues told her audience. ‘Hariri, a self-made billionaire and business tycoon, headed five cabinets during his decade long tenure. He had resigned as the Prime Minister and joined the Opposition on 20 October 2004 and was hoping to make a comeback in the legislative elections the following May.’
A few hours later she was back on air, reading out a statement that had been issued by a little known group called Victory and Jehad in Greater Syria, which claimed responsibility for the killing. ‘The operation was carried out by one of our suicide bombers,’ the statement concluded.
‘However,’ the reporter added, ‘investigators doubt the veracity of this claim by the barely known group. Things are unclear at this stage, but both the US and the UK are pushing for and sponsoring a United Nations probe into this assassination. We promise to keep you updated about this shocking event.’
A few days later she was back with the latest.
‘The UN probe sponsored by America and Britain has implicated several officials of the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services for the Hariri killing. However,’ she said emphatically, ‘no one has been officially charged till now.’
‘We had nothing to do with it’ – Syria immediately issued strong and persistent denials.
‘They definitely did!’ an American spokesperson countered, without bothering to explain why or how she knew. ‘Such acts cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Syria must withdraw all its troops from Lebanon immediately. Lebanon should be allowed to pursue its political future, free from violence and free from Syrian
‘Whatever….’ Rao returned to his sequence of events. ‘A fortnight later, American, Israeli and Turkish forces began joint military exercises just off the Syrian coast. They described them as routine, but extensive aerial activity was noticed during these manoeuvres. It was obvious that considerable efforts were being expended to map all the regional air defence networks, especially the Iranian one.
‘A fortnight later, in accordance with the decision taken at Brussels in November 2004, for the first time Israeli armed forces participated in military exercises with NATO. Surprisingly, these exercises also included several Arab countries. Yet again, no information was divulged about the objective of the manoeuvres, though a careful observer would have noticed that there was a concrete effort by all participants to coordinate defensive activity in case of missile strikes against any of them. Please note how the tempo of events has begun to escalate.’
‘This is amazing!’ the Defence Minister commented. ‘How come no one took note of all this?’
‘Unfortunately, not many people were observing these events or analysing them to clearly understand the horrendous implications. That is why I always refer to these as the years of unreason. And what happened next at Beirut was even more shocking.’
Beirut
14 F EBRUARY 2005
THE CLOCK WAS ON THE VERGE OF ANNOUNCING THE TENTH hour of another beautiful morning when the motorcade, with the imposing black car at its centre, turned onto the road surfing along the sea front. The line of vehicles had just about reached the derelict St George Hotel on the Beirut seafront when one of the several nondescript cars parked on the side of the road exploded. Over a thousand kilograms of TNT had been stuffed into it. Nine people died instantly. Over a hundred were injured.
‘Among those killed was the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri whose motorcade had been driving past. The bomb appeared to have been directed against it,’ the smart young journalist in Beirut battle fatigues told her audience. ‘Hariri, a self-made billionaire and business tycoon, headed five cabinets during his decade long tenure. He had resigned as the Prime Minister and joined the Opposition on 20 October 2004 and was hoping to make a comeback in the legislative elections the following May.’
A few hours later she was back on air, reading out a statement that had been issued by a little known group called Victory and Jehad in Greater Syria, which claimed responsibility for the killing. ‘The operation was carried out by one of our suicide bombers,’ the statement concluded.
‘However,’ the reporter added, ‘investigators doubt the veracity of this claim by the barely known group. Things are unclear at this stage, but both the US and the UK are pushing for and sponsoring a United Nations probe into this assassination. We promise to keep you updated about this shocking event.’
A few days later she was back with the latest.
‘The UN probe sponsored by America and Britain has implicated several officials of the Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services for the Hariri killing. However,’ she said emphatically, ‘no one has been officially charged till now.’
‘We had nothing to do with it’ – Syria immediately issued strong and persistent denials.
‘They definitely did!’ an American spokesperson countered, without bothering to explain why or how she knew. ‘Such acts cannot be allowed to go unpunished. Syria must withdraw all its troops from Lebanon immediately. Lebanon should be allowed to pursue its political future, free from violence and free from Syrian
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