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?
If the force was slightly from the front unintentionally that is why that small front part on the left remains.
The front right appears so broken that the unattached part just behind would rattle when driven. dont u think?
Straw I always that that white mark on the roof was a bullet mark, it could well be related to the marks on the bonnet, someone standing up there & firing at another ?
If it is a bullet mark it appears to be almost directly from above……
Helicopter or the top of the trees. Unlikely though.
I guess they’re not so flimsy, but they do get nicked !
And if you lever one off crossbars, I think what you see, is what we are seeing. Bits left behind.
I suppose it could fit in a “jeep”. Certainly a long wheel base one.
But I don’t know if it was taken (if it was there) by the killer(s). Or if it was “partially” removed….but the getaway came first.
It could be that the Killer(s) have got it OR the French police.
Either way, there has been nothing mentioned…and yet the evidence (the photos) are pretty clearly show that “something” was there.
And that’s very odd.
Re: the the broken end rattling, I come back to the dust formation,had there been two poles on the drive there, the dust lines would match….. .
Again, you wouldn’t lever one off because one could not have been there.
That broken piece of tube prevents the fitting of a roof box, nor is it part of a roof box.
Then there’s the other protrusion in the rear centre.
With reflections causing some confusion, my earlier dust thought are wrong, I was assuming a part box only. Katie do you think that line you are seeing is the reflection of the remaining white strut and not dust?
James if we assume a roof-box is missing. Ignoring the query of contents.
BM said the car was running and admits breaking the drivers window. Either he broke it to get the key for the roofbox or he said he broke it to cover for the broken window. His blameless hero status is blown apart??
James is saying that what remains on the roof is the parts that fit the cross struts that are the stronger parts of the roofbox.
Looking at this the right front isnt broken :-
http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?num=10&hl=en&tbo=d&biw=966&bih=560&tbm=isch&tbnid=fKXnMgP7WgvDZM:&imgrefurl=http://www.davidicke.com/forum/showthread.php%3Ft%3D221659%26page%3D71&docid=FaTwM_sJDuwRcM&imgurl=http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y119/vtecthatbtch/P6230336.jpg&w=800&h=600&ei=GaHHULehEPDs0gXEpYGwDQ&zoom=1&iact=rc&dur=571&sig=112673049740154760789&page=1&tbnh=146&tbnw=171&start=0&ndsp=15&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:84&tx=127&ty=77
http://www.audizine.com/forum/showthread.php/386578-Thule-Velo-Vise-Pro-Fork-Mount-Mint-Condition!
Jeez !
I am saying that “the broken piece of tube” IS part of the box.
The box isn’t fitted ontop of that “tube”. That’s madness.
The media haven’t mentioned the broken roof rack.
WBM hasn’t said he saw the BMW.
The police haven’t mentioned the broken roofrack.
The problem is….the white mark is NOT consistent with a leverage mark !
You’d put a bar under the box and over the standard fitted roofbar, this giving you a good lever.
If the roofbar looks “collapsed” in some way, then that would be something. But as far as I can see, it doesn’t.
James I agree I think thats exactly where that mark is under the disappeared box but resting on the built in BMW side bars
That tubing photo is for a bicycle rack, Straw, which makes more sense. but if you look at box fittings they clamp onto horizontal bars & there’s nothing like that broken piece integral to a box.
If there were a bike up there too the box would be very slim.
http://www.thule-car-roof-boxes.co.uk/
I’m close:-
http://www.orsracksdirect.com/thule-racks-gear-carrier-compatibility-chart.html
Mix and match compatibility – it must be possible to go from MTB carrier to Roof box keeping the same fitment
Also, if you were levering off a box, would you not do so by the clips not in the middle ?
The broken piece is the same as the other pointed end.
Straw…
The thing is the rails (one and a bit rails !) look like the bike holder rails.
But the marks on the roof of the car look consistent with (your I think !) experience of a roof box.
Which one is it ! Box or bike ! (or both !!!)
If you were leaving off a box, you’d imagine it would have left “two” clamp bits…and maybe the long rail piece on the other side.
Here it just shows one clamp bit left (and the long rail piece on the other side)
It could have been levered off with the most force at the place where the missing “bit” is ?
I dunno !
But the MSM nor investigators have said anything about it. That’s odd.
And the “mud” on the roof. It’s not just the roof rack.
Both the “something on the roof” and the “mud” have to have something that is consistent with each other.
What that is… I don’t know. A roof box ?
How about a hang glider ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROba9wv_kQg
Or
Tanuki-gakure – The practice of climbing a tree and camouflaging oneself within the foliage. Falls under “wood techniques” (mokuton-no-jutsu).[68]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ninja
If it is a bullet mark it appears to be almost directly from above……
Helicopter or the top of the trees. Unlikely though.
I wasnt thinking that any roof box could incorporate what remains on the roof.
However, the dust on the roof (ignoring what fitments remain) suggest that something ie the roof box has prevented either rain or just normal driving cleaning the roof which is far far dirtier than the bonnet. The change on the very front of the roof from shiny to filthy is very sudden suggesting roof box.
The line on the roof near the remaining strut is confusing is it reflection of the strut or where the dirt ends. Which is why I went for a smaller box alongside the remaining strut.
If that is a reflection rather than a dust line there is also an anomaly where they shape changes in the middle of the roof.
To solve this we need to be able to find a roof box that incorporates what remains on the roof, otherwise what remains prevents anything other than a bike rack. The bike rack wouldnt suggest the dirty roof unless of course Saad couldnt ever wash around it while it is in position and there had been no rain.
They had only been away a few days we must have had rain here in August?!?
Thule Velo Vise is crap!
Here are the reviews mainly bad of how quickly and often it keeps breaking:-
http://www.mtbr.com/cat/accessories/bike-rack/thule/velo-vise/prd_350430_98crx.aspx#reviews
off topic
Person in photo of the ‘suicided’ nurse is very much still alive:-
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/121210/news-current-affairs/article/thank-you-i%E2%80%99m-okay-says-jacintha
Off topic reply to off topic subject !
Straw, it’s even worse for me.
My real name is George W Bush !
….and I have a Texas accent, odd eyes and a love of nuclear weapons !
What’s in a name !
A nurse might be dead but not the person in the photo. The same person is in a photo the ‘family’ are holding.
If he did have a “split box/bike rack” fitted, why is the dirt on the front of the car so even ?
Wouldn’t there be more on the box side (the over hang) and less in the bike side ?
I honestly can not work out a logical answer.
There must have been something up there. Roof rack and dirt markings…but does a roof box fit with what looks like bike rails ?
“Then there’s the other protrusion in the rear centre”
They all have it.
It’s the “shark fin” roof mounted aerial.
James
11 Dec, 2012 – 2:26 pm we know nothing about a roofbox. All we know is that one of the two longtitudinal supports is obviously missing insofar as evidence still exists that it WAS there at some time or other because the front bracket is still there. There is also clear evidence of damage (and dent?) to the roof which on a new car it is fairly reasonable to assume was caused at Martinet. It is not possible from distant photograph how this was caused but bullet or prizing something off the roof are the strongest contenders. If I was the policeman investigating policeman, Fillion-Laurent would be the person to ask don’t you think? Perhaps they already have?
@ straw44berry 11 Dec, 2012 – 10:13 pm
“off topic : Person in photo of the ‘suicided’ nurse is very much still alive:-”
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/121210/news-current-affairs/article/thank-you-i%E2%80%99m-okay-says-jacintha
Too funny. Hope she does sue the media who misidentified her. Luckily, she was only named as a dead victim and not as a “Fiend & Monster” then hunted down by locals.
Katie
11 Dec, 2012 – 5:24 pm In my view it is stating the obvious that a motor cyclist could not carry a roofbox and therefore superfluous and unnecessary. To use it as an argument against a roof box being there it is therefore fatuous and not worthy of consideration. Conversely it is a quite feasible proposition that it would fit in the back of a 4×4 loadspace and therefore a credible hypothesis.
Then you say (I will quote you so there can be no misunderstanding – “I’m saying IF there was one & IF it did fit inside the Pajero don’t you think the witness would have said something like it looked full or was carrying something large inside etc ?”) an even more incredible thing. Precisely what witness(es) are you referring to? Perhaps you know something I don’t?!!!!!!!!!!
Now if you had suggested a witness to the BMW prior to the attack, that would make sense. But you don’t. You talk about a witness of the Pajero. Perhaps you would be good enough to tell us to whom you refer?
Tim V
For sure. He would/should know. If he can recall it, that is.
He could have been asked not to mention anything (once the police had actually spoken to him ! There is a claim of a delay, made Laurent himself).
As a person employed in an area that requires “observation” during long periods of “boredom”, I (we, as an industry) are trained to “observe” even the mundane. Would Laurent be able to recall such a thing now (or even then) ? Maybe. Maybe not (sounds mad I know, but I have “seen” observations noted before, can often miss things…even bigger things that roofboxes !).
Goodness knows, if anything, what was up there….but it’s odd no comment has been made about it. I would expect at least “a” comment somewhere. (Hence I think it is important).
@Straw44berry:
Surely her own family would recognize a photo of her, which they had at their home. CT: So what did the dead nurse know, or what could not become public?
Remember this?
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57496277/nurse-who-treated-aurora-victims-drowns-in-iowa/
http://www.theendrun.com/batman-shooting-nurse-jenny-gallagher-dead-at-46-alleged-drowning