More on the U.N. and Hariri

Before we get too excited (see Chris’ post here) about the U.N.’s wonderful effectiveness in the investigation of Harari’s death, it is worth pointing out that allegations of high level U.N. interference have been circulating almost from the moment the report was released. In particular, the electronic version of the U.N. Harari report contained embedded text of last-minute changes. According to the Times of London, these changes removed”[t]he names of the brother of Bashar al-Assad, President of Syria, and other members of his inner circle . . .” and instead pointed to “unnamed Syrian officials.” Obviously, the U.N. may have good reasons for redacting the report, but its intervention here to protect the current Syrian president also points to one of the problems with investigations run by international organizations – they tend to try to avoid pointing fingers and end up with muddy, often useless conclusions in an attempt to avoid rocking the boat.