There was good news on Thursday for those Lebanese who are courageously taking to the streets to demand true political reform. U.S. Undersecretary of State for Political Affairs David Hale announced that the FBI will join the investigation into the Aug. 4 explosions in Beirut.
Those explosions occurred in and around a Beirut port ammonium nitrate storage facility, killing at least 200 people and wounding thousands more. The port was wrecked, and billions of dollars in damage was caused to surrounding neighborhoods.
There are two particular advantages that the FBI’s involvement will bring to the Lebanese people. First, the FBI’s explosives investigation and analysis capabilities are unparalleled. Assuming the FBI is granted necessary access to the port site and debris field (and that’s a big assumption), its team will likely be able to build a picture of why and how the explosion occurred. The FBI will then be able to compare collected evidence to the testimony of officials responsible for the warehouse in question and the general operation of the port. This will support any successful prosecutions. The broader benefit the FBI brings, here, is its professionalism. The Lebanese government and security forces leading this investigation lack the trust of their people. The FBI’s participation allows it to either confirm or repudiate any future findings by Beirut authorities.
Then there’s the FBI’s utility as a key member of the U.S. intelligence community. FBI agents and analysts assigned to the Beirut investigation will be able to request access to any intelligence material of relevance. Of particular utility will be the FBI’s liaison with the CIA station at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut. The NSA’s significant signal intelligence coverage of Lebanese politicians and the Lebanese Hezbollah, in particular, will also be valuable. After all, Hezbollah is known to have had a major role in the operation of the Beirut port. If Hezbollah officials have been talking about the explosion, the FBI will, or should, get access to the NSA’s reporting. What matters here is the FBI’s position of trust within the U.S. government. It’s one thing, after all, for a Lebanese investigator to request access to sensitive U.S. intelligence. It’s a very different thing for FBI agents with top clearances to request access to that information.
Time is of the essence.
Even before these disastrous explosions, Lebanon was mired in an economic and political crisis. That crisis is now at a boiling point, risking a new civil war. Making the situation worse, the corrupted Lebanese political elite seem determined to drive their nation into the abyss. Parliament on Thursday extended a state of emergency granting the army wide powers of detention and public dispersal.
Also on Thursday, the exceptionally corrupt parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri showed he has zero interest in the political reforms protesters are necessarily demanding. He did so by ludicrously claiming that the “fundamental reason” for Lebanon’s present economic and political crisis is that its government is being punished by foreign powers for embracing “the aspirations of the Palestinian people, their right to self-determination on their land, their commitment to fully liberating their soil.” It’s just another example of politicians using the Palestinians as a distraction for their own failings. Considering the terrible conditions in Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon, it’s an ironic excuse as well as a false one.
Still, it speaks to why the FBI’s involvement is so critical. Hopefully, the bureau can deliver some measure of truth and justice for Lebanon’s people.
