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?
From using bomb and bullet (also poison when appropriate) emphasis certainly seems to have moved to rocket attack from the air. Presumably the mode is determined partly by location and the impracticability of using air borne assets except over territory they control. Abroad they appear to favour booby trapped bombs or direct shooting, thought the Dubai operation illustrated their objective of disguised killing, which might be considered even more malign. We cannot escape the observation that in matters of drone killings, Israel and America appear to be the leading exponents of a deadly and frightening art that point to close co-operation in methods and philosophy.
@ Tim V: Revenge was served cold in Operation Wrath of God. Thinking back to the Nazi hunters, memories are long and some never give up. There are no lone nutters in the Black September/Munich Olympics retaliations. The various lists are not complete. And yes, methods have changed over the years. There are some obvious old reliables, though. Hotels are a frequent site for such matters, but opportunities are taken when presented.
@ Tim V: Regarding “40”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/40_%28number%29
Have the sons been punished for the sins of the fathers? A generation for a generation?
Could be Q
(31 Mar, 2013 – 4:52 am)!
Exodus 20:1-26 ESV / 58 helpful votes: “And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me. “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, …”
On the other hand…
“Deuteronomy 24:16 ESV: “Fathers shall not be put to death because of their children, nor shall children be put to death because of their fathers. Each one shall be put to death for his own sin.”
and Jesus puts a new spin on it …
John 9:1-3 ESV: “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”
From the list of Palestinian attacks, it is noticeable how they suddenly increase from 2001 to 2004 as follows:
2.6 1998 (2 bombings)
2.7 1999 (2 bombings)
3 2000s
3.1 2000 (5 bombings)
3.2 2001 (40 bombings)
3.3 2002 (47 bombings)
3.4 2003 (23 bombings)
3.5 2004 (17 bombings)
The sharp increase and subsequent decline mirrors the period from WTC attacks to the invasion of Iraq. Given what has now been proved to be conspiracy and fraud relating to the WTC and Pentagon outrages, and the lies and fraud relating to the two invasions, it makes you wonder who was really behind the Palestinian violence doesn’t it?
Incidentally Abbas al-Musawi Secretary-General of Hezbollah was killed in his car convoy by missiles launched from two Israeli helicopters on
June 8, 1992, fifty one years after the Allies invaded Syria and Lebanon in the Second World War in 1941 and twenty-five years to the day The Israeli army enters Hebron and the Cave of the Patriarchs in the Six-Day War in 1967.
And Atef Bseiso Palestinian official involved in Munich Massacre was assassinated on the 16th February 1992, exactly seven years to the day that Hezbollah was founded in Paris 1985. Both very tenuous links and probably quite co-incidental of course.
Thomas
That book could be very helpful to find Swedish-Iraqi connections. I am still sure that Swedish/UK Iraqis were involved in the Palme assassination and that Eva Rausing was killed in London (shortly before the al Hilli killings) for the reason that she was about to leak the mystery of the Palme assassination.
It would be very interesting to know the Iraqi and Lebanese names being mentioned in that swedish book. personally i believe that we could find the reason of the chevaline murder in that book.
When we search for “terror” revenge as tim v. does, then Saad was not the primary victim but just a bystander. I cannot find al Hilli links to Hezbollah, quite the contrary. However, the name “al Saffar” calls for “Hezbollah” whereever i can find links and work and history of family members. So when searching date coincidences like tim v. did, then kadhim and hashim would not be any suspects. Then he must search in sweden and for al Saffar and al Allaf (al Qallaf). There he would likely find connections. That book could solve some riddles and answer some questions.
@ Tim V: The Old Testament vs. New Testament, for consideration today.
Oh wow!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9964128/Armed-guard-on-Alp-victims-brother-Zaid-Al-Hilli.html
So, if the Telegraph is to be believed, the implication is that a couple of their hacks and a photographer try to doorstep Zaid, and he calls out an armoured response team from the Met and Surrey Police!
Now, does this help explain the apparent media blackout about the family, or just add to the mystery??
@BB
Here is a link to Ekmans book, with some free-reading. At the end, there is an index.
http://en.calameo.com/read/0011788119bbe4d84fa5e
Re Swedish links to Hezbollah:
2012: Hossam Taleb Yaacoub in Cyprus. Member of Hezbollah, recently sentenced to four years in prison, mapped Israeli tourists, flight, etc. Probably planning for an attack like in Burgas.
I find this interesting, a connection to Lyon in France:
“He revealed that before coming to Cyprus he delivered packages, whose content he was not aware of, he claimed, to Attalya in Turkey, Lyon in France and Amsterdam in Holland.”
http://www.cyprus-mail.com/ayman/lebanese-terror-suspect-says-he-was-member-hezbollah/20130221
This was published a few weeks ago:
“More recently, FBI investigations revealed the amazing extent to which Hezbollah forgers are producing counterfeit Euros and other European currency. Another investigation exposed Hezbollah robberies around the world and plans to launder and sell the stolen currency, including $2-million worth of stolen Swedish Krona.”
http://www.washingtoninstitute.org/policy-analysis/view/hezbollahs-european-enablers
There is also another Swedish-lebanese Hezbollah member waiting for trial in Bangkok since early 2012, Atris Hussein. Stored huge amount of substances for making bombs.
http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Foreigner-charged-over-bomb-making-materials-30176505.html
Both Yaacoub and Atris had moved from Sweden to Lebanon some years ago. In both cases, it is more or less confirmed that Mossad was giving the hints to the police in Cyprus and Thailand.
Otherwise, there is no established connections known of Atris and Yaacoub as far I know. But was is for sure, is that there are connections to Hezbollah and Sweden. And some money laundering seems to be going on.
As swedish press seldom writes anything re teroristrelated crimes, or re the two killed women in France, it´s hard to trace up any connections.
But, as Yaacoub delivered packages in France, there is money laundering going on in Hezbollah, there is Swiss acounts and Mossad is involved, I find it worth to mention.
Re Lyon:
“French police confirmed they are looking for a dark coloured Mitsubishi Pajero 4×4 vehicle with a tinted rear window.
A witness told police that a swarthy-skinned, “nervous” looking driver was speeding down the A39 motorway towards Lyon shortly after the crime.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9544647/Girl-in-Alps-attack-only-saw-one-gunman.html
The telegraph (see link above) reports that Zaid tried to access that account with an expired credit card.
Did we miss something or does the telegraph mix up zaid with the nigerian scammer? Or else had both of them tried to access the account?
Thomas
Thanks for the link of the book, but swedish isnt my language. Do you know whether or not this book is available in english and its english title? I for one would be very interested into reading the book.
@BB
Not yet, but it might be:
“I am working on an English version and would also like the book to be translated into Arabic. I am searching partners concerning the publishing in English and Arabic. Don´t hesitate to contact me, [email protected].
The target group for an English version is people with connections to Iraq and other Arab countries and those interested in intelligence. The book is also a reference works for studies about Iraq.”
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34131321/Blogg%202.pdf
There is a release soon of a Kurdish version, but that might not help you.
@BB
It was reported late October that Zaid had tried to withdrawel funds from the account.
It took the French investigators almost half a year to ask the questions to Zaid.
“French investigators want to question the brother of a British engineer murdered in the Alps over suggestions that he tried to use an expired credit card to withdraw money from a family account shortly before the massacre.”
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9639564/Alps-shooting-victims-brother-to-be-questioned-over-Swiss-credit-card.html
Note the time of that release! June 2012. Thats about the time when Saad became nervous. Whether as a leaker of secrets or as a blackmailer about to leak something. Leaking secrets of drug money laundering for Hezbollah or about to access such money that wasnt his own?
http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/politics/2012/06/the-us-treasury-takes-a-new-step.html
This is relating to the discussion of possible Swedish Hezbollah connections.
Mochyn
1 Apr, 2013 – 4:40 am – So just normal police response to send heavily armed police every time someone comes to the door? (I shall have to remember that next time Jehovah Witnesses call!) It looks suspiciously as if Zaid is almost being afforded the protection of the Diplomatic Protection Group which is rather indicative of the Al Hillis relationship with government if further proof were needed? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diplomatic_Protection_Group) So whoever is doing the killing isn’t finished? From whom are the children being protected – family or others? And it pretty well scotches one theory that SM was the target and the Al Hilli’s were merely killed as witnesses. Perhaps more intriguing is why it has taken over six months for our Eric to be allowed to gain access to Zaid. In normal circumstances the brother would have been interviewed almost immediately. Are the French authorities also seen as a threat?!! Any ideas anyone?
Some new Scandinavian traces of Al Hilli.
There is an al Hilli family in Turku/Finland with strong ties to Stockholm and Australia.
Zaid al Hilli (see his family ties) was the first Finnish al Hilli guy i could trace on fb.
He ties to the Australian al Hillis and to USA and Iraqi and Syrian al Hillis.
Interestingly enough, some members of the family are spelled differently:
al Heli, al Heely and alHely.
However, they are all al Hillis.
Zaid al Hilli from Turku caught my interest since there is one photo on his fb page where he is standing in front of a US highway patrol car. In that photo he looks exactly like Saad al Hilli in his photo released of younger age. There must be a genetic relation.
He links to Saad al Heli (al Hilli) from Stockholm. He got a fb page, too.
He has got friends of the al Rushdi family (mohaamed cartoons).
One “public figure” in his fb page caught my attention:
http://www.facebook.com/abdulrazzak.abdulwahid/info
http://www.abdulrazzak.com/
I used bing to translate 2 entries of him from sept 6th and one from a week later when he started to communicate with a woman from Sweden about a september event.
The Bing translations unfortunately do not make much sense. We need an Arabic speaker:
Ya smile my heart, don’t leave him door ___ and tear a ciliated, not tnzerf me and you keep hearing God’s voice shouting my lonely, __ and midnight there o financial papers of his blood ____ provided fancy shadow ACerS, love love love who describes what they mobilized their blood–it has bedeviled the Earth what has bedeviled by the newspapers love who no sound, no sermon ______ threw their deposits of Earth and walked (Translated by Bing)
Sept 6th: Baghdad a conclusion as Mustafa, p e m ha to the Hague, for a VV impact b deep and duck.At the u of a to c a l-o rack p not in SC! P l s d p e date as the yum in NA requites it sound as I t e l t are stretchable! T fancy watering.O Lord, by the hand aus b s it all h come here at khdodar! (Translated by Bing)
He was discussing information about a “september event” with a woman from this Swedish website:
http://www.alnoor.se/
This is all in Arab unfortunately. Are they Hezbollah?
This is the guy who links the swedish, finnish and australian al hillis:
http://www.facebook.com/marwan.alhilli/friends
It may be possible that you would have to login to fb to see his friends list.
http://sphotos-g.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/463831_486288418082019_1853689106_o.jpg
This is the highway patrol photo of the Finnish Zaid al Hilli fb page that led me to the swedish and australian al hilli family.
Any similarities with the young saad?
@ Thomas: Is “swarthy” the same as “from the Balkans”? Are Pajeros the preferred mode of transportation for “swarthy” people, and why do they drive so fast?
” They also have a responsibility of providing static guards to hospitals, if a person is deemed to be under threat, along with the guarding of some high risk prisoners. Over the last few years the command has diversified its responsibilities to provide VPOs (Venue Protection Officers) who are trained in Close Protection techniques and must undergo selection and 3 weeks additional training with both CO19 and SO1 Specialist Protection Command. These Officers bolster existing close protection team numbers for VIPs and diginitaries and the places they visit. In addition to these responsibilities, SO6 also have a Sniper team who must pass selections with both SO6 and CO19 separately before attending and passing the 6 week full National Sniper course to earn the right to wear the ‘Crossed Rifles’ emblem[citation needed]. They provide support to MPS wide deployments, CO19 requests, and ceremonial events. The Command also has a dedicated counter-reconnaissance team whose work is understandably secretive as it has close ties to the security services. Selection to this unit is tough, as is the SCD11 Advanced level Surveillance course that must be passed to join. On any given operational day, the Command will deploy several ARV’s (Armed Response Vehicles) as well as multiple armed response BMW R1200RT(P) motorcycles and armed proactive patrol vehicles in support of both static Officers and calls of assistance from the diplomatic community.
As of 2003, the DPG is known to operate 40 fixed posts and guard 160 diplomatic missions. It is also the biggest specialised armed unit within the United Kingdom, with eight hundred police officers.
Due to many of the premises the DPG guard being classed as “high risk” status, officers operationally deployed are routinely armed. The DPG also assist the Firearms Unit, when additional support is needed.
The DPG is negatively known amongst some circles as ‘Doors, Posts and Gates’ on account of their static site duties. This is however a rapidly evolving command and is moving more towards proactive counter terrorist policing activities.” WIKI
Is somebody able to translate this?
http://www.alnoor.se/article.asp?id=170078
Olifant? Felix?
I dont know whether or not this is relwvant, but the story is somehow linked on al Hilli fb accounts. If i just knew about why?
I found this on google, too (you can enter and search that string on google and you’ll get a result):
“Marwan al-Hilli, 18, and a resident of Baghdad, was parking his car near his flat in the”
(today marwan al hilli lives in australia).
Unvprtunately i cannot open the al jazeera article where it links to. Looks as if it had been deleted.
“Eric Maillaud, the Annecy prosecutor who is leading the enquiry into the murders, confirmed that the account was opened in 1984 and had barely been touched since that time.” So what was happening in Iraq?
“After the relatively unsuccessful Dawn Operations in 1983, Iran opened a new offensive in the lakes of the Hawizeh Marsh in Iraqi Tigris-Euphrates river system.
After heavy losses at the beginning due to human wave attacks, 15,000 casualties and little progress, Iran began developing new tactics, involving amphibious assault, and deployed a regular army division: The 92nd Armored Division. Although the Iranians suffered heavy losses against the Iraqi artillery, tanks, air strikes and gunboats, Iran eventually managed to invade the oil rich Majnoun Islands with Operation Kheibar and nearly break the Iraqi lines before being driven back to the marshes and Majnoon Island.”
“The Kurdish Rebellion of 1983 occurred during the Iran-Iraq war as Kurds of northern Iraq rebelled against Saddam Hussein, in an attempt to form their own autonomous country. The most violent stage of this rebellion was the al-Anfal campaign of the Iraqi Army against the Kurdish minority, which took place between 1986–1989 and included the Halabja poison gas attack”
“Parliamentary elections were held in Iraq on 20 October 1984.[1] The election was contested by 782 candidates,[2] and saw the Ba’ath Party win 183 of the 250 seats.[1]”
“Shaking Hands: Iraqi President Saddam Hussein greets Donald Rumsfeld, then special envoy of President Ronald Reagan, in Baghdad on December 20, 1983. The U.S. restored formal relations with Iraq in November 1984, but the U.S. had begun, several years earlier, to provide it with intelligence and military support (in secret and contrary to this country’s official neutrality) in accordance with policy directives from President Ronald Reagan.”
” State Department background paper dated November 16, 1984 said that Iraq had stopped using chemical weapons after a November 1983 demarche from the U.S., but had resumed their use in February 1984. On November 26, 1984, Iraq and the U.S. restored diplomatic relations. Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz, in Washington for the formal resumption of ties, met with Secretary of State George Shultz. When their discussion turned to the Iran-Iraq war, Aziz said that his country was satisfied that “the U.S. analysis of the war’s threat to regional stability is ‘in agreement in principle’ with Iraq’s,” and expressed thanks for U.S. efforts to cut off international arms sales to Iran. He said that “Iraq’s superiority in weaponry” assured Iraq’s defense. Shultz, with presumed sardonic intent, “remarked that superior intelligence must also be an important factor in Iraq’s defense;” Tariq Aziz had to agree”
“But we must also be able to comprehend what the information we receive means. Not allowing us access to information on the grounds that it may cause us to react in a way that the administration deems troubling is profoundly chilling. More chilling still is the inability to perceive these intentions and their likely consequences. We must begin not just to act, but to think, for there is no better slave than the one who believes his slavery to be freedom, and we are in no greater peril than when we cannot see the chains on our minds because there are yet no chains on our feet.
Michael Reid is an educator and writer in Washington State. He can be reached at [email protected]“
By 1984 Iraq started producing its first nerve agents, Tabun and Sarin. In 1986, a five-year plan was drawn up that ultimately led to biological weapons production. By 1988 Iraq had produced VX. The program reached its zenith in the late 1980s during the Iran-Iraq war. From August 1983 to July 1988 Iran was subjected to extensive Iraqi chemical attacks.
As part of Project 922, German firms such as Karl Kobe helped build Iraqi chemical weapons facilities such as laboratories, bunkers, an administrative building, and first production buildings in the early 1980s under the cover of a pesticide plant. Other German firms sent 1,027 tons of precursors of mustard gas, sarin, tabun, and tear gasses in all. This work allowed Iraq to produce 150 tons of mustard agent and 60 tons of Tabun in 1983 and 1984 respectively, continuing throughout the decade. All told, 52% of Iraq’s international chemical weapon equipment was of German origin. France also provided glass-lined reactors, tanks, vessels, and columns used for the production of chemical weapons. Around 21% of Iraq’s international chemical weapon equipment was French. 75,000 shells and rockets designed for chemical weapon use also came from Italy. About 100 tons of mustard gas also came from Brazil. The United States exported $500 million of dual use exports to Iraq that were approved by the Commerce Department. Among them were advanced computers, some of which were used in Iraq’s nuclear program. The United Kingdom paid for a chlorine factory that was intended to be used for manufacturing mustard gas.[3] Austria also provided heat exchangers, tanks, condensers, and columns for the Iraqi chemical weapons infrastructure, 16% of the international sales. Singapore gave 4,515 tons of precursors for VX, sarin, tabun, and mustard gasses to Iraq. The Dutch gave 4,261 tons of precursors for sarin, tabun, mustard, and tear gasses to Iraq. Egypt gave 2,400 tons of tabun and sarin precursors to Iraq and 28,500 tons of weapons designed for carrying chemical munitions. India gave 2,343 tons of precursors to VX, tabun, Sarin, and mustard gasses. Luxembourg gave Iraq 650 tons of mustard gas precursors. Spain gave Iraq 57,500 munitions designed for carrying chemical weapons. In addition, they provided reactors, condensers, columns and tanks for Iraq’s chemical warfare program, 4.4% of the international sales. China provided 45,000 munitions designed for chemical warfare” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iraqi_chemical_weapons_program
Europe was deeply implicated in Iraq’s development of chemical and biological agent which it knew and largely ignored when used against Iran during the war. It raises the possibility the the 800 0000 was deposited to secure elements of the programme. It also high lights the deeply disingenuous and hypocritical nature of Blair’s reasoning, leaving aside the fact that by 2003 Saadam no longer had them.
@Bluebird
1 Apr, 2013 – 1:29 pm
The time when Saad become nervous, also corresponds with the arrest of the Swedish-lebanese Hezbollah-member that was arrested in Cyprus early July. He arrived from Heathrow to Cyprus.
“A Lebanese man accused of plotting an attack on Israeli tourists in Cyprus pleaded not guilty on Friday before a criminal court in the southern city of Limassol, court sources said.
Hossam Taleb Yaacoub, who was arrested in the southern resort city some three months ago, appeared before the court under tight security.
The trial had been due to start in mid-September, but was delayed after the prosecution changed the charges against the suspect, reducing the original 17 charges down to eight and prompting requests for clarification from the defence.
Initially, police said the 24-year-old, who also holds a Swedish passport, was to be tried on terrorism charges, but these have since been changed to conspiracy and consent to commit a crime, and belonging to an unnamed criminal organisation.
The charges refer to two visits he made to Cyprus in November 2011 and July 2012, when police suspect he was tracking the movements and planned arrival times of Israeli tourists on the holiday island.
The court agreed that Yaacoub should remain in custody until the next hearing on Oct.25.
Cyprus police have refused to comment publicly on the case, describing it as a “sensitive political issue” but did say investigators have found no evidence to suggest he had any accomplices.
The suspect was reportedly arrested in a Limassol hotel room on July 7 after flying in from London’s Heathrow.
Reports said he was arrested after a tip-off from foreign intelligence agencies, including Israel’s Mossad spy service.”
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/component/content/article/81-news/25144-lebanon-suspect-pleads-qnot-guiltyq-to-cyprus-plot.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/crime/9964128/Armed-guard-on-Alp-victims-brother-Zaid-Al-Hilli.html
All tooled up but no cap. Perhaps he left it on the dash?