By Barry Schweid, Associated Press | October 22, 2005 WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday said the UN should deal quickly and seriously with a report implicating Syria in the assassination of Lebanon’s former prime minister, a killing that led to protests and the withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon after nearly 30 years as overlord.”The report strongly suggests that the politically motivated assassination could not have taken place without Syrian involvement," Bush said.In Damascus, Syrian leaders dismissed the findings and the government of President Bashar Assad prepared to fight growing Western sentiment to punish it with economic sanctions.Imad Moustapha, Syrian ambassador to the United States, said the report was baseless and the Bush administration was motivated by Syria’s opposition to the war in Iraq.He said of the report, in Washington, ”It will only help fuel anti-American sentiment around the world."The report was likely to worsen the divisions between Lebanon’s pro- and anti-Syrian groups. Syria’s opponents in Lebanon welcomed the findings as the long-awaited truth about the assassination and about Syrian interference in Lebanese affairs. Pro-Syrian politicians vigorously criticized the findings.The United Nations investigative report, which Bush called ”deeply disturbing," made a link between high-ranking Syrian officials and their Lebanese allies in the car bombing that killed Rafik Hariri and 20 others in February.