By Hassan Ismail Ghazi Kanaan's suicide, just days before Detlev Mehlis is due to present his findings in the enquiry into Rafik Al-Hariri's assassination, gave rise to much speculation. People wondered if Kanaan really committed suicide or was killed. It wasn't a far-fetched question. The same question was asked when Syrian prime minister Mahmoud Al-Zoabi took his life years ago. Fortunately, the Syrian attorney-general, whose reputation is beyond blemish, investigated the case and put everybody's mind at ease. Yet the questions continued. People are still wondering why Kanaan killed himself. Did he know too much? Was he afraid of a possible trial? Was he trying to exonerate the regime? Was he afraid the regime would use him as a scapegoat? Between 1982 and 2002 Kanaan was in charge of security and intelligence in Lebanon. Both during and after the civil war he was effectively the Syrian high commissioner in Beirut. As such he helped bring Syria's loyalists into both parliament and government. But we must not forget that Kanaan only did the bidding of the Syrian regime. Kanaan's ways mirrored those of the totalitarian regime he worked for. Kanaan's mindset was the mindset of control and domination typical of the Syrian regime. People say that Kanaan abused his power, that he interfered in Lebanon's affairs, and I tend to agree. But I also wish to remind everyone that Kanaan did exactly what Damascus sent him to do. The Syrians wanted certain things to happen, and Kanaan made them happen. Let me recall a couple of good things about Kanaan. I once contacted him, on behalf of the Lebanese opposition, to discuss the case of 14 activists who had been detained for listening to a lecture on emergency laws. He had them released without delay. I called him again to demand the release of three members of the board of the National Society for the Support of Iraq and Palestine. He got them out in no time. This week's Soapbox speaker is secretary-general of the Democratic Arab Socialist Union and spokesman of the Democratic National Alliance in Syria.
