«--Previous Post | Blog Index | Next Post--»
How He Went Down: Mugniyah Assassination Plot Follow Up
As a tense south Beirut buried assassinated Hezbollah militant Imad Mugniyah Thursday and Israel and the region braced for feared retribution and an escalation of tensions, analysts continued to speculate on who killed the elusive terror suspect. (See this piece for a primer).
Former CIA officer Robert Baer, who served in Beirut and extensively researched Mugniyah, offered a model about how things might have gone down. "An old friend of mine," Baer emailed. "Friend may not be the word. Anyhow the Israelis persuaded him to set off a car bomb in a Damascus bus station. He used the Guardians of the Cedars, paid them something like $200,000. Bomb went off as requested."
"Point two is Syria these days is completely corrupt," Baer added. "You buy what you want."
Former Defense Department analyst and Levant expert David Schenker, now at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, ruled highly unlikely the Syrians doing it themselves. "The Syrians feel perfectly comfortable to kill their own and they do," Schenker said in a telephone interview. "But they don't do it like that. They render them," as they did Kurdish Workers' Party leader Abdullah Ocalan, as Turkish troops amassed on the the Turkish-Syrian border threatening an invasion.
"This is not a case like Ghazi Kanaan, who was the Syrian viceroy in Lebanon," Schenker continued. "In Arabic, they say, 'He was suicided.' He 'killed himself' with two shots to the head. He knew too much about the Hariri assassination."
"They looked at this guy [Mugniyah] as an Iranian official of sorts," Schenker continued. "You think the Syrians are going to kill an Iranian official in their own capital?"
"Sometimes the simplest explanation is the best explanation," Schenker replied, when asked then about the Israelis. "Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar."
(You can catch Schenker and other colleagues from various perches blogging on the issue and all things Middle East here).
Israel has denied it carried out the Mugniyah assassination. "Israel rejects the attempt by terrorist elements to ascribe to it any involvement whatsoever in this incident," the office of prime minister Ehud Olmert said in a statement.
"They consider him a terrorist," one mourner at Mugniyah's funeral, Zahra, told the Washington Post's Anthony Shadid. "For us, he is a hero who was fighting our enemy."
Comments
What is utterly amazing to me is that almost all of these so-called experts in the U.S. are acting as if Imad Mougania had been found guilty as charged, where the allegations against him(and even Hezbollah) have been brought before a "neutral" court of justice and equally defended against.
For the sake of the rights of all involved, justice has never been served through the assassination of Imad Mougania. And I for one happen to believe that this was the primary purpose behind his assassination, to avoid the actual truth coming out concerning the verdict based on the allegations.
Posted by: Marion on 02/14/08 at 9:54 AM Respond
This post could be more correctly titled "How He Went Up."
-AF
Posted by: Anacher Forester on 02/14/08 at 11:51 AM Respond
Israel does have it problems. A civil rights group in Israel has released a report which claims racism is rife in Israel and highly damaging to those it touches.
The Association for Civil Rights in Israel said Israel was seeing a new level of racism that was damaging privacy and freedom of expression.
The report pointed to a large percentage rise in the number of racist incidents against Arabs, sometimes brought about by Jewish youths who see Arabs as “unclean”.
Social analysts reported only half of Israel’s Jewish population believed that Jews and Arabs should have full equal rights.
Among Jewish respondents, 55 percent supported the idea that the state should encourage Arab emigration from Israel while 78 percent opposed the inclusion of Arab political parties in the government.
The report concluded the results were the consequence of a racist campaign and anti-Arab racist policies led by political and military leaders.
Posted by: Nissim on 02/15/08 at 3:24 PM Respond
The CIA has many people who could pull off a hit like this (The CIA's SAD paramilitary branch, is considered one of the best in the world at these types of Ops). The questions isn't could the CIA have done it, but would the CIA's leaders have authorized it. The CIA has never lacked talent, they have lacked leaders who would authorize the use of said talent.
Mossad has both the talent and the neccessary leadership. But it may also have been a joint Mossad/CIA op. The CIA has proven quite capable of killing terrorist leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq, Yemen, and Somalia...I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss them.
Posted by: devin on 02/16/08 at 2:28 AM Respond
Israel has been criticized for "discrimination in personal and civil status matters against non-Orthodox Jews.” Israel only recognizes Orthodox Rabbis for the purpose of marrying couples, not allowing Reform or Conservative Rabbis to perform the ceremony
In 2003, the Knesset made an amendment to the Nationality and Entry into Israel law which prohibited Palestinian married to Israelis from gaining Israeli citizenship or residency. Critics argue that the law is racist because it is targeted at Israeli Arabs who are far more likely to have Palestinian spouses than other Israelis. The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination unanimously approved a resolution saying that the Israeli law violated an international human rights treaty against racism. The Association for Civil Rights in Israel filed a petition to have the law struck down but it was upheld by a High Court decision in 2006. In June 2006, the United States Department of State issued a report which stated that "the Government of Israel does not fully comply with the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking and has failed to show efforts to address conditions of involuntary servitude allegedly facing thousands of foreign migrant workers. Israel has been criticized for its policies and enforcement of laws on sex trafficking. Women from the former Soviet Republics are brought into the country by criminal elements for forced labor in the sex industry. Amnesty International cites hardships placed on women in the Occupied Territories by the State of Israel .
Posted by: Debbie on 02/16/08 at 10:41 AM Respond
ARCHIVE
April 13, 2008 - April 19, 2008
April 6, 2008 - April 12, 2008
March 30, 2008 - April 5, 2008
March 23, 2008 - March 29, 2008
March 16, 2008 - March 22, 2008
March 9, 2008 - March 15, 2008
February 24, 2008 - March 1, 2008
February 17, 2008 - February 23, 2008
February 10, 2008 - February 16, 2008
February 3, 2008 - February 9, 2008
January 27, 2008 - February 2, 2008
January 20, 2008 - January 26, 2008
January 13, 2008 - January 19, 2008
January 6, 2008 - January 12, 2008
December 30, 2007 - January 5, 2008
December 23, 2007 - December 29, 2007
December 16, 2007 - December 22, 2007
December 9, 2007 - December 15, 2007
December 2, 2007 - December 8, 2007
November 25, 2007 - December 1, 2007
November 18, 2007 - November 24, 2007
November 11, 2007 - November 17, 2007
November 4, 2007 - November 10, 2007
October 28, 2007 - November 3, 2007
October 21, 2007 - October 27, 2007
October 14, 2007 - October 20, 2007
October 7, 2007 - October 13, 2007
September 30, 2007 - October 6, 2007
September 23, 2007 - September 29, 2007
September 16, 2007 - September 22, 2007
September 9, 2007 - September 15, 2007
September 2, 2007 - September 8, 2007
August 26, 2007 - September 1, 2007
August 19, 2007 - August 25, 2007
RECENT COMMENTS
Hillary's Prayer, Revisited (18)
Zola Daniels wrote:
The only way to rid this fascist administration is to rem...
[more]
In Open Letter, Journalists Slam ABC Debate (3)
Puppsie wrote:
Bill Nigh: Not much of a "thinker" are you?...
[more]
The Smallness of Our Politics on Display at the ABC Debate (44)
unidiotic wrote:
Bill,
Give me some substance. Not a sigle idea or viewp...
[more]
New "Pro Israel, Pro Peace" Political Group Launches: J Street Hopes to Prod Washington MidEast Policy Towards Center (78)
bozhidar bob balkas wrote:
Trollstein. You are a historian who asserts that your writ...
[more]
Clinton Bashes Obama's Weathermen Connection, But What About Her Own? (59)
Eddie wrote:
David Corn, first rule of journalism, get your facts right...
[more]
Prominent Irish Historian: Clinton Is "Silly" To Say She Was Instrumental in Peace Accords (27)
misha wrote:
If HR helped bring peace to Ireland then she must've been...
[more]
A Feminist Hears a Who (139)
joe wrote:
You pushed out a fetus?? what a lovely description of givi...
[more]
A Very Serious, Very Thoughtful Debate Live Blog (8)
Jessica wrote:
Okay, so here's some substantive commentary, since it was ...
[more]
Nebraska Teacher Taken Out Of Classroom For Showing Iraq Documentary (37)
free video wrote:
Teachers always seem to take the brunt of things like this...
[more]
Black Intelligentsia: Holla If You Hear Obama (87)
norris wrote:
It seems as though the obama hating is not going to stop i...
[more]
Movable Type 3.33


RECENT ENTRIES
Right Wing Hackery the Same the World Over
Popular Vote Musings on a Friday Afternoon
John McCain and the NRA Make Nice
Waxman to EPA Official: When You Appear Before Me, You Shall Bring Documents
Devastating Article by Israel's Top Journalist on Casino Mogul Sheldon Adelson
Bush's Politicking at Israel's Knesset Neglects His Role in Hamas' Election Win
Embryos Up for Personhood in Colorado, Even the Gay Ones?
And Now, the Honeymoon
Students Think Liberating Lab Animals Is Lame