Tribunal Update: Let's Hope it Won't be Used For This...

In Lebanon, nothing is innocent. And when the foreign press starts focusing on one issue, it becomes an omen for the worse. Yesterday, the foreign press has expressed fears of a sectarian strife between Sunnis and Shiites as it is predicting that the tribunal is likely to indict Hizbullah members in the assassination of Prime Mnister Rafik Hariri even though no investigation report has indicated any possible involvement of Hizbullah.

BEIRUT – No one knows when an international court will issue its first indictments in the assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister, but Lebanese are already afraid it could spark a wave of violence between its Shiite and Sunni communities.
The Netherlands-based tribunal has kept silent on who it might charge in the 2005 slaying of Rafik Hariri. The fear in Lebanon is that it will accuse members of the powerful Shiite militant group Hezbollah.

By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer Bassem Mroue, Associated Press Writer –
Wed Aug 26, 4:43 am ET


After exhausting all the resources that can be used to wipe Hizbullah out of the Lebanese map, including a military conflict and highly-corrupt elections, it seems the tribunal would be ready to play a role in another attempt to reach the same political objective. Such a scenario would have disastrous consequences as it would happen at a very delicate timing in Lebanon where a caretaker government has limited prerogatives and cannot make major decisions.
The only hope remains that the tribunal not be used and abused, as it has been for the last four years. And the forthcoming days or months will tell if the tribunal is yet again to be used as a political tool rather than a judiciary instance whose mission is supposed to transcend politics and interests.