The international committee headed by German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis investigating the assassination of former Premier Rafik Hariri has been running into strong opposition from the family of Rafiq Hariri. They were most outraged when Mehlis in his one press conference confirmed that the car exploded above the ground, which contradicted the official Hariri family version. I was told that the family was so outraged, that Mehlis followed the press conference by leaking to the press the news of his search of Mustafa Hamdan's house (the head of the Republican Guards--Oh, yes, even Lebanon has republican guards, and like in other countries they are not for the protection of the border, but for the protection of the regime). It is also noteworthy that the international team last week moved from a hotel in Beirut that is owned by Prince Al-Walid (who was a rival to Hariri) to another hotel in Matn. Here, Mehlis talks about the "innocent" help provided by the Israeli government to his team: "Les Israéliens sont réputés pour avoir de bons renseignements, notamment technologiques. Nous les avons approchés pour qu'ils nous livrent des informations sur l'attentat. Ils nous ont donné de bons renseignements." Is this not touching? Is this not charitable?