President Bush Friday called on the international community to deal with a United Nations report that implicates Syrian officials in the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri.
He called on the United Nations to quickly deal with the report, which he says strongly suggests that Syrian officials were involved in killing Mr. Hariri and 20 others in an explosion in Beirut February 14.
Mr. Bush said the report, which he called deeply disturbing, suggests the assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement. He said he has taken up the matter with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. "I called secretary Rice this morning and instructed her to call upon the United Nations to convene a session as quickly as possible to deal with this very serious matter," he said.
He made the remarks in California at the Ronald Reagan Library to help dedicate a pavilion that holds the aircraft known as Air Force One. The Boeing 707 served the former U.S. president through his two terms in the White House in the 1980s.