backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon of four members of Hezbollah in the 2005 assassination of Lebanese President Rafik Hariri met with the expected response from Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. He rejected the charges out-of-hand, and vowed that the four would never be arrested. “It will not get to us nor to you,” Nasrallah told his followers of the possibilities of arrests of the four men. The result of the current impasse will be familiar to the Lebanese people, who have struggled for decades to form a coherent central government that would rule the country as one sovereign nation. It not only throws into disarray the Doha Accords that drew guidelines for a power-sharing administration that would grant specified seats to all of the country's interest groups, but it raises the ugly head of Hezbollah functioning as an autonomous government within a government, placing itself above and beyond the legal dictates of the Lebanese government. This, of course, should come as no surprise. Hezbollah and its supporters pulled out of the government in protest of its fellow legislators' acceptance of the international tribunal investigating the assassination, and has said repeatedly that it would not give credence to any indictments handed down. Hezbollah sees the tribunal as a tool for manipulation by the US and Israel and it fully expected to be targeted in the investigation. The outright shunning of the tribunal, however, begs the question of whether Hezbollah members were involved in the bombing that killed Hariri. International tribunals are not immune from outside influence and, certainly, are liable to make mistakes, just as any other investigation. This particular investigation was truly international in nature and as closely watched as any international investigation has ever been. It may seem terribly elementary, but the approach to such a situation can only be: if you are innocent, go to trial and show it. Outright rejection and complete refusal to cooperate only casts additional suspicion on the accused. Nasrallah has said by refusing to present the four men for prosecution, they will be tried in absentia and the verdict arrived at will be a predetermined one. Unfortunately, by not presenting the four men for a fair trial, the verdict in the court of public opinion will be arrived at before the trial even starts. Hezbollah's refusal to cooperate advances the cause of no one in Lebanon. __
