US embassy cable - 05AMMAN9329

C O N F I D E N T I A L AMMAN 009329 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 12/01/2010 
TAGS: PREL, SY, LE, JO 
SUBJECT: JORDANIAN EMISSARY CARRIES CONFIDENTIAL MESSAGE TO 
ASAD 
 
REF: AMMAN 9029 
 
Classified By: Ambassador David Hale, Reasons 1.4 (B) & (D) 
 
1.  (C) As previewed with us (reftel), Maarouf Bakheet ) 
then the King's acting National Security Advisor, now the 
Prime Minister-designate ) made an unpublicized trip to 
Damascus during the last week of November to carry a sober 
message to President al-Asad.  Bakheet briefed G-8/EU 
ambassadors gathered for lunch with the King on December 1 on 
the trip.  He said he told Asad the Syrian regime had no 
choice but to cooperate fully with the Mehlis investigation 
and to carry through full implementation of all relevant 
Security Council resolutions.  Jordan's King, he pointedly 
said, personally wanted to know who killed his friend, Rafiq 
al-Hariri. 
 
2.  (C) Asad reportedly responded that he wanted to cooperate 
fully but needed Jordan's help with the "legal procedures," 
an apparent reference to the then-pending issues related to 
Mehlis, access to Syrian officials.  Bakheet said he gave 
Asad no opening to believe he could offer anything less than 
full cooperation, and the secrecy of Bakheet's visit 
prevented the Syrians from publicly miscasting the trip as a 
sign of Jordanian support for Syria. 
HALE