The mainstream media for the most part has moved on. But there are a few more gleanings to be had, of perhaps the most interesting comes from the Daily Mirror, which labels al-Hilli an extremist on the grounds that he was against the war in Iraq, disapproved of the behaviour of Israel and had doubts over 9/11 – which makes a great deal of the population “extremist”. But the Mirror has the only mainstream mention I can find of the possibility that Mossad carried out the killings. Given Mr al-Hilli’s profession, the fact he is a Shia, the fact he had visited Iran, and the fact that Israel heas been assassinating scientists connected to Iran’s nuclear programme, this has to be a possibility. There are of course other possibilities, but to ignore that one is ludicrous.
Which leads me to the argument of Daily Mail crime reporter, Stephen Wright, that the French police should concentrate on the idea that this was a killing by a random Alpine madman or racist bigot. Perfectly possible, of course, and the anti-Muslim killings in Marseille might be as much a precedent as Mossad killings of scientists. But why the lone madman idea should be the preferred investigation, Mr Wright does not explain. What I did find interesting from a man who has visited many crime scenes are his repeated insinuations that the French authorities are not really trying very hard to find who the killers were, for example:
the crime scene would have been sealed off for a minimum of seven to ten days, to allow detailed forensic searches for DNA, fibres, tyre marks and shoe prints to take place.
Nearby bushes and vegetation would have been searched for any discarded food and cigarette butts left by the killer, not to mention the murder weapon.
But from what I saw at the end of last week, no such searches had taken place and potentially vital evidence could have been missed. House to house inquiries in the local area had yet to be completed and police had not made specific public appeals for information about the crime. No reward had been put up for information about the shootings.
Behind the scenes, what other short cuts have been taken? Have police seized data identifying all mobile phones being used in the vicinity of the murders that day?
The idea that the French authorities – who are quite as capable as any other of solving cases – are not really trying very hard is an interesting one.
Which leads me to this part of a remarkable article from the Daily Telegraph, which if true points us back towards a hit squad and discounts the ides that there was only one gun:
Claims that only one gun was used to kill everybody is likely to be disproved by full ballistics test results which are out in October.
While the 25 spent bullet cartridges found at the scene are all of the same kind, they could in fact have come from a number of weapons of the same make.
This throws up the possibility of a well-equipped, highly-trained gang circling the car and then opening fire.
Both children were left alive by the killers, who had clinically pumped bullets into everybody else, including five into Mr Mollier.
Zainab was found staggering around outside the car by Brett Martin, a British former RAF serviceman who cycled by moments after the attack, but he saw nobody except the schoolgirl.
Her sister, Zeena, was found unscathed and hiding in the car eight hours later.
Both sisters are now back in Britain, and are believed to have been reunited at a secret location near London.
There are of course a number of hit squad options, both governmental and private, which might well involve iraqi or Iranian interests – on both of which the mainstream media have been very happy to speculate while almost unanimously ignoring Israel.
But what interests me is why the Daily Telegraph choose, in the face of all the evidence, to minimise the horrific nature of the attack by stating that “Both children were left alive by the killers”? Zainab was not left alive by design, she was shot in the chest and her skull was stove in, which presumably was a pretty serious attempt to kill a seven year-old child. The other girl might very well have succeeded in hiding from the killers under her mother’s skirts, as she hid from the first rescuers, and then for eight hours from the police.
The Telegraph article claims to be informed by sources close to the investigation. So they believe it was a group of people, and feel motivated to absolve those people from child-killing. Now what could the Daily Telegraph be thinking?
The Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant…..I wonder who will be the first here to blame Mossad ???
Kookie !
you clearly you don’t read your own posts ! Bizarre !
Typing and on the “blueberry” !
Always a problem.
@Tim V: “At a briefing for the CIA and Denmark’s PET in Malaga, Southern Spain, he was introduced to an officer from MI6 for the last time.”
From: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/9699783/MI6-told-agent-they-could-not-kill-al-Qaeda-leader.html
Yes, I think it might be: Malaga is the meet-up place for these CIA-PET spy types. And it was the home of Kadhim al-Hilli until his death last year.
I see I have some catching up to do again:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2241767/Alps-shooting-latest-Social-services-staff-wont-let-orphaned-al-Hilli-girls-live-surviving-relatives.html?ito=feeds-
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/alps-massacre-social-services-cut-1470223
I would have thought the first thing the women would do was try and raise an alarm and the fact that this new phone system is available and that Saad had enabled tracking means in theory he may have had the other functions available ,there were two phones in the car I don’t suppose he would take them both out with him .
I know in this day and age it’s assumed everyone knows about phones so bear with me as I am a novice , does this new system rely on a phone signal or a satellite or both for the panic button or emergency services call?
With the tracking what does the phone track,is it the movement of the phone?
What had happened with this tracking that the friend was alerted to something wrong wouldn’t it just show the location of the phone had not changed as would happen if you left it at home one day ?
Sorry in advance if this a stupid question and its obvious I have not grasped it .
Pink agreed, when travelling with your family, knowing you are in danger, being a satellite expert, I think it perfectly feasible for Saad to have one of the sat phones which does the lot which is the Thurya which is beamed to the satellite not a tower.
Secondly I would be surprised if he hadn’t told the women what to do should the worst happen.
As for tracking by his friends I have no idea how that is done apart from Geo-tagging taken from photos.
@Katie
Does the Thurya give a speed it can send an emergency signal
to the services as 90 minutes would be a bit useless and is it a small device like a mobile phone ?
I don’t imagine there would have been time for any conversation or texting it would have to be something pretty quick.
Pink..
“does this new system rely on a phone signal or a satellite or both for the panic button or emergency services call?”
Unlike a phone network a satellite phone has to “get” a signal from the low orbit satellite.
This “can” take a few seconds…or longer.
Kookie forgets this crucial fact !
It is not “instant”.
The main selling “USP” of a satellite phone is that you can use it anywhere (anywhere that has “LOS” “passing” overhead).
So that’s “probate” within English Law. Fail.
Satellite phones. Fail.
What next Kookie. Stop misleading people.
Next !
Pink, it’s better for you to read about them, this will save others sneering time. 😉
http://www.thuraya.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuraya
Pink
True. check it out. This is the user tests on Sat Phones.
( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SCwCkjsnPw0 )
Note test one. Getting a signal !
Note the last test, Number of Sat’s in orbit for “your” phone !
So now Kookie will not only say Sa’ad HAD a sat phone, but she will confirm the “brand” of Sat Phone he had !
Lots of leaps there !
good point Straw44berry
2 Dec, 2012 – 11:56 pm but remember this was at the BOTTOM of the hill so not much can gleaned on reception at Martinet. Nor for that matter are the police communication systems necessarily directly comparable.
Take note Pink that test in the desert is nearly 2 years ago……. a long time in satellite technology, I think the model Saad would have had is probably this one, an all rounder, watch the video.
http://www.thuraya.com/XT-DUAL/index.php#!prettyPhoto%5Bgallery%5D/0/
re pink and photo at
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/hearse-drives-past-french-gendarmes-standing-guard-on-the-news-photo/151323917
can anyone who knows about French registrations, explain what this one means given the strange co-incidence already referred to?
“I think the model Saad would have had is probably this one”
You are clearly nuts !
1 Did sa’ad have any type of Sat Phone (no proof)
2 You say he used it to contact “Paris” IF he had one (no proof)
3 Now you’re actually saying it’s probably this one he used (no proof whatsoever !)
@ sorry Pink
3 Dec, 2012 – 5:52 pm I’m not sure who I am supposed to have called “It”? If it came out like that I apologise and have to put it down to typing skills. Thing is I didn’t know about that site and haven’t ever written on it so somewhere I think there must be a misunderstanding. I.m glad I have not been alone in flagging up the discrepancies in the time line that still haven’t been answered though it seems subtle attempts have been made subsequently to make it fit. Martin and Didierjeans meeting has been progessively brought forward and the story changed from Martin making the call to Didierjean but it still does not fit. Similarly Mollier passing Martin has been pushed back and now not even passing. Again it just doesn’t work for reasons given. I wonder if “Max” agrees?
Gps emergency helper allows you to send coordinates via sms to pre determined numbers at a push of a button .
Not sure that I am any the wiser but the advert worked I fancy one now I reckon Saad would have gone for that 🙂
Yes the size looks as though it’s the same as my Skype phone Pink, chunkier than the mobile,similar principle, mine’s wi-fi that’s satellite.
Pink.
Christmas is coming you can get one here. 😉
http://www.gtc-usa.com/satphone/Thuraya-XT-Dual-Satellite-Phone.html
yup Q
3 Dec, 2012 – 7:15 pm spies, spy masters, criminals, dodgy bankers and drug runners all friends together enjoying the sea, sun and sangria.
LOL Tim don’t worry its not a big deal Marilyn Tomlins who runs the site I call MZT is lovely and was remarking on a comment you made here earlier as follows .
“I *never* go on to Craig Murray, but did so this afternoon. I found the following comment left there today
“”@ NR: 3 Dec, 2012 – 2:43 am May I ask “What is MZT and where might one find it?””
I find this highly amusing. Fame at last? I’ve been called a few things in my life, but never an ‘it’.”
Katie
3 Dec, 2012 – 8:39 pm you’re all over the place! You vehemently deny any suggestion that any of the “actors” in this drama used sat phones or alarms then you say:
“Take note Pink that test in the desert is nearly 2 years ago……. a long time in satellite technology, I think the model Saad would have had is probably this one, an all rounder, watch the video.”
So yet again you CONTRADICT yourself. You sure you don’t work for Eric?
Presumably you would agree this is pure CONJECTURE or do you have hard evidence of anyone having one of these devices, admitting to having one, someone seen them using one, a salesman who sold them one, a communication confirmed using one or one being found in the BMW or on any of the bodies or in the bushes. Mmmmmmmmm… thought so.
Nothing wrong with suggesting an hypothesis but it helps to distinguish between something based on fact and that which is devoid of supporting evidence.
I’m spending my day apologizing:
@ Tim V
Sorry it was my fault for not putting a link to MZT, assuming everyone knew of it like they do Ickes.
I’ve already apologized to Marilyn. “I thought you were already world-famous, like Drudge or the BBC and people didn’t need the link. Somebody already added the link before I saw the comment. Remember, there’s no such thing as bad publicity, as celebrities and politicians know.”
And I apologized to people at MZT for my sexist remark about women not commenting because they were busy with holiday shopping and cooking: “Marilyn, I suspected it might be taken as sexist, but it true where I am. The women are in Holiday overdrive and the men are idling along as usual. (Now there will be complaints from the men, “What do you mean idling – that’s sexist!”)”
And I apologized to Marilyn at MZT for porting Peter’s Times link over here, causing much confusion: “I did not know it was a time limited link, and have already apologized to Peter, which he has accepted, so there’s no danger of an outbreak of mindless violence here, with innocent, bystanding commenters harmed.” (25 7.65 calibre words fired into the crowd?)
Tim v
Regarding photo. What registration do you mean? The cars?
This is a funeral car from ugine belonging to a private funeral company.
http://www.societe.com/societe/pompes-funebres-pech-378900963.html
The french have subsequential registrations. That BM code means that the car was registered in Oct. 2011 for the first time and the 73 on the right side of the plate means that it is registered in Haute Savoie (dept 73).
Pink
3 Dec, 2012 – 9:20 pm Ahhhhhhhh right Gotchya now! Thanks. We never do know who s checking this stuff out do we?
Oh dear…….. TIm…….not again…….where have I denied Saad using a SATELLITE PHONE ?
You are one very , very confused person indeed .
I DENIED the suggestion that SAAD called EMERGENCY SERVICES… geddit , see the difference ?
For the fifth time….. I said he MAY have called PARIS to let them know things had gone wrong !!!
Sorry but I’ve spent the day trying to get you up to speed. I now give up. Goodnight .
@Tim on timings .
Max has tried everyone out as the murderer he has no preference and tried to fit them into a timeline based on what he can gather so far in way of times and distances and who saw what , currently he is favouring the motorbike ,that may have changed again with the new Times article as when new bits come along he can tweak it a bit more and like everyone he is working with what he’s got ,the important thing for me is that he is sticking with it and so he is a point to follow and he obviously will be keeping track of timings and their changes much more as it affects what he’s doing I just see a blur of information that changes depending on where I am reading at the time and I lose track 🙂
@ Bluebird
3 Dec, 2012 – 10:05 pm
http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/hearse-drives-past-french-gendarmes-standing-guard-on-the-news-photo/151323917
Reg No BM 4.11 PD of hearse!!!!
Pink
3 Dec, 2012 – 2:13 am Well spotted Pink. Even I am gobsmacked at that one.
“BM 411 PD” How WIERD is that? “(Brett Martin) (Time he met) (Phillipe Dididierjean)” I must be taking LSD. Purely coincidental I’m sure.
@ Katie3 Dec, 2012 – 6:48 pm
“The Duchess of Cambridge is pregnant…..I wonder who will be the first here to blame Mossad ???”
Or what if the baby was conceived* before 5 Sept. and Her Royal Majesty the Queen found out one of the dudes up at Martinet was papa? Then she would order MI-6 to take care of matters, like she did with Princess Diana. [There’s another apology coming, someone is sure to object, “How dare you say such rubbish about The Queen.]
* I don’t know how to count backward from morning-sickness time. Where I was, the women were experts in the counting backward biz – and it was a big, big biz. [Another sexist remark – I’ll apologize later.]
@Q
Maybe Malaga is like Vienna was in the old days, a neutral ground, by gentleman’s rules, where spies could enjoy their Sacher Tortes without fear of a spy at the next table slipping Polonium into their tea. Had the SAHs made it there they would be safe.
Two links of possible interest:
Obama To Speak on ‘Loose Nukes’…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-to-speak-on-nuclear-non-proliferation/2012/12/03/1648da2a-3d6c-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html
Drones for journalists
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/2/inside-the-beltway-drones-for-journalists/
Tim v
Yes i know. A “hearse” is a funeral car transporting dead bodies. I gave you the company address of that funeral car from ugine.
Tim glad you liked my number plate I spotted that this morning when searching photo’s on a link Strawberry put up to a photographer and thought wow how odd is that almost spooky, I also noticed that a lot of the plates are blanked out for some reason so I couldn’t see if anyone else got a mention.
I pity anyone reading this page tonight I am going to go off in search of the builders before the complaints break out but it has made me smile after a hard day at work 😉
7x? =63 scratches head