Another slow Pearl Harbor: Bad boy Syria and its like-minded partner, Hezbollah

Yesterday, I posted an article on "slow Pearl Harbors".

Here is a perfect example of one from the OpinionJournal. Gebran Tueni was a Lebanese newspaper man, inheriting the family newspaper, An-Nahar, that was started by his grandfather in 1933. Tueni has been an outspoken advocate for freedom in Lebanon and demanding Syria leave.

He was assassinated hours before the latest release of the UN report by Detlev Mehlis who is investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Hariri.

The slow Pearl Harbor scenario is being played out as Syria is being given time to come to its senses and join the international community.

It won't. With democracy threatening its own bedroom chambers, Syria is not wont to throw the barn doors wide open.

update, from the LA Times, U.N. Weighs Next Move on Syria:

But U.S. Ambassador John R. Bolton said that details in the report about disappearing documents, grudging testimonies and witness intimidation made it clear that Syria was trying to block the inquiry and should be pressured to comply with investigators' demands.

"On the part of the United States there is absolutely no wavering from the proposition that Syria is not going to get away with obstructing this investigation," he said. "It's not going to cover up the actions of its senior officials, and it's not going to escape the consequences."

France introduced a draft resolution Tuesday evening seeking an extension of the investigation beyond its six-month mandate, which expires Thursday. It also proposes establishing an international tribunal to try suspects in the assassination and expanding the investigation to include political killings in Lebanon since October 2004, at the discretion of the commission. Since then, four prominent Lebanese critics of Syria have been killed by car bombs, including newspaper publisher and politician Gibran Tueni on Monday.

and so it goes ...