01 April 2005

United States NOT involved in Lebanese assassination

Opposition to air base alleged reason

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Predictably, ever since former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated on February 14, 2005, there have been false claims of U.S. involvement. One theory claimed that Mr. Hariri was assassinated because he opposed construction of a U.S. air base in Lebanon. But U.S. policy since 1976 has expressly forbidden assassination, and there are no plans for such an air base.

On March 11, self-described investigative journalist Wayne Madsen claimed that the Hariri assassination was "authorized" by the United States because Mr. Hariri "was known to adamantly oppose the construction of a major U.S. air base in the north of Lebanon."

These claims have been repeated by others, including aljazeera.com, a deceptive look-alike Web site that pretends to be the English-language site of the Qatari satellite television station Al Jazeera.

These claims are false. U.S. policy has expressly forbidden assassination since 1976, when President Ford signed Executive Order 11905. The prohibition against assassination was reaffirmed by President Carter and President Reagan, the latter in Executive Order 12333, which remains in force. Executive Order 12333 states, "No person employed by or acting on behalf of the United States Government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, assassination."

Moreover, the U.S. military has confirmed that it has no plans for an air base in Lebanon.

Mr. Madsen has made unreliable claims in the past. On October 20, 2004, he claimed that, in order to win reelection, the Bush administration "has initiated plans to launch a military strike on Iran's top Islamic leadership, its nuclear reactor at Bushehr on the Persian Gulf, and key nuclear targets throughout the country." Needless to say, no such events occurred.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)