Wahhab: Saudi suicide bomber killed Hariri

Source: Agencies, 14-04-2008
BEIRUT: Former Minister Wiam Wahhab claimed on Sunday that Saudi Arabia, not Syria, was implicated in former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's 2005 assassination. Wahhab said that a "Saudi suicide bomber" killed Hariri by blasting his motorcade in Beirut on February 14, 2005. He blamed Prime Minister Fouad Saniora for launching a "15-year war of economics against the Lebanese people."
The Former Minister also commented on Prime Minister Fouad Saniora's address Sunday to the Lebanese public on the 33rd commemoration of the civil war which tore the country between 1975 and 1990.
"Fouad Saniora is (the) person who most waged economic war on the Lebanese for fifteen years," Wahhab said, questioning the difference between "the death squad and death as a result of poverty."
"Saniora and Hariri, together, are to blame for economic hardships. Hariri's martyrdom does not mean that he shouldn't be criticized," Wahhab said in an interview with New TV.
Wahhab said Saniora was responsible for the details of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri's finances. "The martyrdom of Hariri does not preclude criticism, and the (national) debt is a result of treasury bonds by Hariri and Saniora," he added.
In an interview with NEW TV, Wahhab categorically denied the possibility of civil war in Lebanon, adding that the divisions in the country were political and not doctrinal or sectarian, "an advantage obtained in the last three years."
"Recently, the army has been moving more effectively to control any disturbance by either of the two teams," Wahhab remarked. "This is commendable."
Wahhab said the basic problems around the electoral law were rooted in the ruling team's inability to decide on one formula, adding that the political dispute was around Beirut.
Wahhab called for the formation of a "neutral government presided over by former Prime Minister Najib Mikati or former minister Layla Solh, to propose a new electoral law and organize early elections."