TrueBlueAmerican

It is all but certain that Imad Mughniyeh, the Hizbullah commander who was assassinated last week in Damascus, was done-in by an Israeli hit team - the latest victim of Israel's ‘targeted assassinations’ policy. There are several reasons why Israel utilizes this murderous tactic, says Patrick Seale.


Israel has made something of a specialty of "targeted assassinations" -- that is to say sending hit teams to kill its enemies abroad in the evident belief that the best way to deal with Arab resistance movements is physically to eliminate their leaders. Over the past several decades, scores of Arab activists, intellectuals and scientists have perished in this way.

There seems little doubt that Israeli agents were responsible for the car-bomb assassination in Damascus on 12 February of Imad Mughniyeh, a senior Hizbullah commander.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s office issued a lame denial, but the applause from Israeli ministers, the popping of champagne corks, and the jubilant reports in the Israeli press tell a different story. "The score has been settled,’ said Israel’s YNetnews website, in a clear suggestion that the killing was a response to the humiliation Hizbullah inflicted on the IDF in the 2006 Lebanon war.

But is that all there was to it? Israel is well aware that such murders invariably provoke revenge killings, as Hasan Nasrallah, Hizbullah’s secretary-general, was quick to warn. Speaking to a vast crowd of tens of thousands at Mughniyeh’s funeral in Beirut, he addressed Israel directly:

‘You killed Imad outside the battleground. Our battle was inside the Lebanese territory. You crossed the borders. Zionists, if you want open war, let it be an open war anywhere.’

Middle East Online

TrueBlueAmerican

And an interesting question, can Americans be targeted by Israeli hit teams as well under the targeted assasination strategy? It wouldnt be beyond them to harbor thoughts of eliminating Palestinian activists and the like, basicaly anyone they deem to be a threat.

VKMHVM2

FLASHBACK:

Israel to kill in U.S., allied nations

By Richard Sale
UPI Intelligence Correspondent
Published 1/15/2003 7:14 PM

Israel is embarking upon a more aggressive approach to the war on terror that will include staging targeted killings in the United States and other friendly countries, former Israeli intelligence officials told United Press International.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has forbidden the practice until now, these sources said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Israeli statements were confirmed by more than a half dozen former and currently serving U.S. foreign policy and intelligence officials in interviews with United Press International.

But an official at the Israeli Embassy in Washington told UPI: "That is rubbish. It is completely untrue. Israel and the United States have such a close and co-operative intelligence relationship, especially in the field of counter-terrorism, that the assertion is ludicrous."

With the appointment of Meir Dagan, the new director of Israel's Mossad secret intelligence service, Sharon is preparing "a huge budget" increase for the spy agency as part of "a tougher stance in fighting global jihad (or holy war)," one Israeli official said.

Since Sharon became Israeli prime minister, Tel Aviv has mainly limited its practice of targeted killings to the West Bank and Gaza because "no one wanted such operations on their territory," a former Israeli intelligence official said.

Another former Israeli government official said that under Sharon, "diplomatic constraints have prevented the Mossad from carrying out 'preventive operations' (targeted killings) on the soil of friendly countries until now."

He said Sharon is "reversing that policy, even if it risks complications to Israel's bilateral relations."

A former Israeli military intelligence source agreed: "What Sharon wants is a much more extensive and tough approach to global terrorism, and this includes greater operational maneuverability."

Does this mean assassinations on the soil of allies?

"It does," he said.

"Mossad is definitely being beefed up," a U.S. government official said of the Israeli agency's budget increase. He declined to comment on the Tel Aviv's geographic expansion of targeted killings.

An FBI spokesman also declined to comment, saying: "This is a policy matter. We only enforce federal laws."

A congressional staff member with deep knowledge of intelligence matters said, "I don't know on what basis we would be able to protest Israel's actions." He referred to the recent killing of Qaed Salim Sinan al Harethi, a top al Qaida leader, in Yemen by a remotely controlled CIA drone.

"That was done on the soil of a friendly ally," the staffer said.

But the complications posed by Israel's new policy are real.

"Israel does not have a good record at doing this sort of thing," said former CIA counter-terrorism official Larry Johnson.

He cited the 1997 fiasco where two Mossad agents were captured after they tried to assassinate Khaled Mashaal, a Hamas political leader, by injecting him with poison.

According to Johnson, the attempt, made in Amman, Jordan, caused a political crisis in Israeli-Jordan relations. In addition, because the Israeli agents carried Canadian passports, Canada withdrew its ambassador in protest, he said. Jordan is one of two Arab nations to recognize Israel. The other is Egypt.

At the time, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said, "I have no intention of stopping the activities of this government against terror," according to a CNN report.

Former CIA officials say Israel was forced to free jailed Hamas founder Sheikh Ahmad Yassin and 70 other Jordanian and Palestinian prisoner being held in Israeli jails to secure the release of the two would-be Mossad assassins.

Phil Stoddard, former director of the Middle East Institute, cited a botched plot to kill Ali Hassan Salemeh, the mastermind of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre. The 1974 attempt severely embarrassed Mossad when the Israeli hit team mistakenly assassinated a Moroccan waiter in Lillehammer, Norway.

Salemeh, later a CIA asset, was killed in Beirut, Lebanon, in 1976 by a car bomb placed by an Israeli assassination team, former U.S. intelligence officials said.

"Israel knew Salemeh was providing us with preventive intelligence on the Palestinians and his being killed pissed off a lot of people," said a former senior CIA official.

But some Israeli operations have been successful.

Gerald Bull, an Ontario-born U.S. citizen and designer of the Iraqi supergun -- a massive artillery system capable of launching satellites into orbit, and of delivering nuclear chemical or biological payloads from Baghdad to Israel -- was killed in Belgium in March 1990. The killing is still unsolved, but former CIA officials said a Mossad hit team is the most likely suspect.

Bull worked on the supergun design -- codenamed Project Babylon -- for 10 years, and helped the Iraqis develop many smaller artillery systems. He was found with five bullets in his head outside his Brussels apartment.

Israeli hit teams, which consist of units or squadrons of the Kidon, a sub-unit for Mossad's highly secret Metsada department, would stage the operations, former Israeli intelligence sources said. Kidon is a Hebrew word meaning "bayonet," one former Israeli intelligence source said.

This Israeli government source explained that in the past Israel has not staged targeted killings in friendly countries because "no one wanted such operations on their territory."

This has become irrelevant, he said.

Dagan, the new hard-driving director of Mossad, will implement the new changes, former Israeli government officials said.

Dagan, nicknamed "the gun," was Sharon's adviser on counter-terrorism during the government of Netanyahu in 1996, former Israeli government officials say. A former military man, Dagan has also undertaken extremely sensitive diplomatic missions for several of Israel's prime ministers, former Israeli government sources said.

Former Israel Defense Forces Lt. Col. Gal Luft, who served under Dagan, described him as an "extremely creative individual -- creative to the point of recklessness."

A former CIA official who knows Dagan said the new Mossad director knows "his foreign affairs inside and out," and has a "real killer instinct."

Dagan is also "an intelligence natural" who has "a superb analyst not afraid to act on gut instinct," the former CIA official said.

Dagan has already removed Mossad officials whom he regards as "being too conservative or too cautious" and is building up "a constituency of senior people of the same mentality," one former long-time Israeli operative said.

Dagan is also urging that Mossad operatives rely less on secret sources and rely more on open information that is so plentifully provided on the Internet and newspapers.

"It's a cultural thing," one former Israeli intelligence operative explained. "Mossad in the past has put its emphasis on Humint (human intelligence) and secret operations and has neglected the whole field of open media, which has become extremely important."

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It's All Here!

Dr. Albert Pastore: An Independent Investigation of 9-11 and the War on Terrorism

TrueBlueAmerican

How would the US government react to an Israeli hit job on American soil? Would they go along with it or would there be conseqeunces?

TrueBlueAmerican

Coming to a town near you...

Jonesy

Typical human flawed thinking. The black hole has no need for offense. If you engage in offensive behavior, it only proves your weakness.

hotair

Your theory has one very large whole in it. It does not fit any of the facts!!!

Mughniyeh was targeted at the Iranian school in Damascus? It could only have been done by Iran. Either directly (very unlikely), or more likely indirectly! (“Me thinks that the Lady doth protest too much!”) Mughniyeh is a moving target, and over the years he has become very good at what he dose best . . . Hiding. The only way that the bomber could find him, would be if he were somewhere where he could be found. The only people who could put him in a place where he could be found, are his Iranian handlers.

Then there is the issue of getting past security. The security with in Syria alone, is extremely tight. With the Iranian security forces working with the Syrian security forces, at the Iran school in Damascus, would make it impossible for even a fly to get near Mughniyeh’s car, much less plant any kind of bomb in or on it. No one could have been able to get anywhere near Mughniyeh’s car without the consent of the Iranian security people there at the school, and I seriously doubt that the Iranian, and/or Syrian security forces are going to allow any Israeli within a mile of the school. (There are some very good reasons why Israeli’s are forced to resort to air strikes when dealing with Syria.)

Some Facts:
With elections coming up in Iran, Ahmadinejad would like nothing more than another war between Hezbollah, and Israel. Nothing like a good war to bring out the voters!

The timing works, with the recent weapons testing going on in Iran. (Along with their new supply of processed uranium.) Another war would give Iran the chance to battle test their newest rocket for range, and accuracy.

Hezbollah is of course not very thrilled with the idea. Their situation in Lebanon is not very stable at the moment. Hezbollah’s main concern has to be that dragging Lebanon into another war with Israel, at this time, could be the last straw for the Lebanese people. But now, Hezbollah really no longer has a choice in the matter.

It also explains the breakout by Hamas, at the Egyptian boarder. Iran cannot afford to get their fingers caught in the cookie jar, at this time. In the event that anything should have gone wrong, Iran’s hands would be clean, if the bomber turned out to be from Gaza. The business at Dimona was bungled too bad, for the reactor to have been the primary target of the breakout. (Though, I admit . . . I always thought that Abbas was the primary target!)

A second Hezbollah-Israeli war, would be in the interest of Hamas as well. It would force the Israelis to lessen their control on Gaza, in order to provide the necessary man-power for their war on the Lebanese boarder.

Lastly: This could not come at a worse time for Israel! With the UN’s interference, trying to turn Gaza into a “humanitarian crisis”! The continued, daily shelling of Israel from Gaza. The boarder situation with Egypt unsecured, and who knows how many Hamas terrorist teams running around inside of Israel at this time. Bush trying to force a ‘peace’ agreement between Israel, and Abbas before he leaves office (so he can get a NPP too!!!). The UN with a new, and ‘still wet behind the ears’ Secretary General. The US elections coming up, and the increasing pressure to do something about Iraq, and Afghanistan. While lastly, but by no means least of all, with Israel still trying to find some way to pay for their last war with Hezbollah.

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So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!

TrueBlueAmerican

MOSSAD has already said they did it..

hotair

Aside from the fact that your theory cannot be supported by any established facts, it also defies any kind of logic.

Damascus is the terrorist capital of the world. This is because every single terrorist organization on the planet, has an enclave in Damascus. For most, though not all of these groups, these enclaves consist of the top leadership for each of these groups.

All of these groups have two things in common. 1.) They hate Jews! 2.) They really hate each other! The only reason that these people are not killing each other, is the fact that the Syrian security forces are very good at what they do! Even if they do not speak English!

With such a target rich environment, it makes no sense that the Israelis would waste such an opportunity on a third rate, rinky-dink, washed up, has-been like Mughniyah. In comparison to the other targets hiding out in Damascus, Mughniyah is so small a fish that he simply is not worth the effort.

Then there is the small matter of the Israelis denying that they had any part in the bombing. If the Israelis did have the ability to get to any of these leaders, hiding out in Damascus, they would be shouting it from the mountain tops. They would be telling the whole world that there is no place on this earth where these people can hide!!!

Then there is the small matter of the Syrian investigation of the matter. Or to be more precise, the lack of any action by the Syrian authorities. If there was even the smallest chance that the people responsible were Israelis, the entire country would have been locked down, until they had been caught.

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So long, and thanks for all of the fish!!!

TrueBlueAmerican

Your theory is nice, but im going to have to go with what various anonymous Israeli intelligence sources have said about the incident.

The right wing in Israel is already talking about the incident as a means of "sending a message" to Syria, Palestine, and Iran.

You raised an interesting point that they would be openly talking about it, but you have to remember that afterall, he was killed by a car bomb...