Rafik Hariri, Lebanese businessman and political leader, slain in 2005. (Wapedia)
The politics of assassination are a more decisive factor than ever in Middle East politics.
This week thousands commemorated the fifth anniversary of the death of Lebanese billionaire Rafik Hariri who was killed in a huge bomb blast in Beirut on February 13th, 2005. But the United Nations investigation of the crime has since stalled and the feeling that politics is trumping justice is hard to avoid. Hariri’s assassination gave rise to Lebanon’s so-called March 14th Cedar Revolution which brought Syria’s foes to power. Now the demographic and political realities of Lebanon have thwarted the movement and created a new status quo. Hariri’s son, Saad, who followed his father into politics, is calling for reconciliation with the government of Syria, the prime (but not the only) suspect in his father’s murder. As al Jazeera noted:
Re-emerging Syrian influence, the persistence of Hezbollah’s role and internal divisions have all dealt steady blows to the alliance that was brought together by opposition to Damascus.
Is justice possible? Continue reading »
The assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai was just one aspect of a wide ranging effort by the Zionist state to target its armed opponents, says The Times of London.
More details of the hit from Intelligence Online via Haaretz: ten agents participated including three women, all traveling on European passports.
As if in response to Frontline’s finding that nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi, killed by a remote control bomb last month, was a victim of the Iranian governmet, The Economist, leans the other way–to the West.
“It is no secret that America, Israel and European countries are seeking to impede Iran’s nuclear plans, overtly and covertly. Yet the assassination theory was widely dismissed. The professor’s known works on particle and theoretical physics did not seem central to Iran’s nuclear programme. And his name had appeared on a list of Iranian academics favouring Iran’s protest movement. So, ran the prevailing theory, Israel or America had little reason to kill him, though Iranian hardliners may have wanted to do so.
But listen to the whispers of Western spies and diplomats, and the Iranian regime may turn out to be right. Well-placed sources in two Western countries now say the professor was “one of the most important people involved in the programme.”
This is lightly sourced but The Economist is veddy conservative and wouldn’t indict Western powers lightly. This remains a most puzzling case.
Who killed Dr. Masoud Ali Mohammadi?
More than a few commentators, and the Iranian government, blamed Israel for the remote control bombing that killed an Iranian nuclear socientist in January. Friends of Israel did not seem bothered by the allegation. In Haaretz, Yossi Melman attributed his murder to “opponents of Iran’s nuclear program.”
Israel acted in a similar fashion during the 1960s against German scientists working to develop missiles in Egypt, and during the 1970s against various scientists. These included Egyptians and the Canadian scientist Gerald Bull who worked on Iraq’s nuclear and missile projects under Saddam Hussein.
But Frontline’s Tehran Bureau, came out with a better-sourced narrative last month, reportings that Ali-Mohammadi was supporter of the Iran’s reformist Green Movement, was knowledgeable about the dual-use technologies, and interested in visiting the West.
In sum, the new information on Professor Ali-Mohammadi’s background and the circumstances surrounding his murder, and the fact that he had turned against the hardliners and had become a strong supporter of the Green Movement, all point in one direction: the likelihood that he was killed by hardliners terrified by the prospect that he might disclose information on Iran’s nuclear program.
This is hardly the final word on a murky crime but it has more more convincing reporting to back it up.
What they’re saying about the violent death of Hamas commander Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the European press.
Israels has not denied responsibility and there’s no denying extrajudicial summary justice is a tool of U.S. and Israeli decisionmakers. Hamas says it is not effective.. DebkaFile, the voice of Zionist militarism, says 13 more Hamas leaders have been targeted. While Hamas debates whether it should get into the international assassination business, the group hopes the Dubai police will act.
People keep asking me, “What’s up with the lawsuit?”
Its a hurry up and wait type of deal. Judge Richard Leon, a Bush II appointee in the U.S. Circuit Court of the District of Columbia, will rule sometime this year on which, if any, of the JFK files of the deceased CIA officer George Joannides, must be made public. If you want regular updates, friend me on Facebook.
If you’re wondering, Who the hell was George Joannides and what is this story about, here’s how to find out.
I broke the story of Joannides’ curious role in the JFK story in the weekly Miami New Times back in 2001. I sued the CIA for his records in 2003. Many, if not most, of the serious JFK scholars agree with me that the CIA should comply.
If you want more detail about the Joannides investigation has evolved since, check out this video interview I did for the MaryFerrell.org, the most useful site on the Web for JFK scholars because it is more devoted to data than theories.
If you want diverse political perspectives on the Joannides story, Jacob Hornberger has applied the libertarian scapel. Blogger Machetera comes at the story from the perspective of the Latin left.
And if you are daunted by the mere idea of JFK details and polemics, you are not alone. For the K.I.S.S. version of the story, you only need to read my piece last spring in Talking Points Memo. It has an exclusive photo of Joannides getting a medal for his espionage.
One final point: If you Google “George Joannides” you will see a number of stories and blog posts linking him to the assassination of Robert Kennedy. I won’t comment on or link to these stories because they are based on a weak 2007 BBC report that proved to have no foundation in fact.
Some conspiracy theories are obvious b.s. and there’s no harm in saying so.
