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?
@ Mochyn
Wait, you’re saying AH Snr passed away in a care home used by RAFA!?
…………………..
Yes.
Not sure if the SAR one is, but the Jacaranda one was an “all British” one.
@ Thomas 13 Oct, 2012 – 7:15 pm
Ah, and I think there is another cousin (brother of Hasan) called Yasser?
It’s not surprising that Sylvain Mollier’s occupation would be downplayed now. The importance of metallurgy and metallurgists in the study of alloys used for nuclear reactors has been duly noted and explained earlier in these threads.
It’s kind of like the babble about Lachlan Cranswick not being an atomic physicist, therefore being of no importance to anyone, so no one would have done him in. Never mind the Iranian and Indian scientists who have worked at nuclear reactors, and were not atomic physicists (chemical engineers, etc.), who perished by curious drownings, or suspicious laboratory fires, or those strange car explosions. When all else failed, they said Lachlan Cranswick was not a PhD., and had no secrets because he published every bit of research he did. Never mind that he was an international expert in his field. Never mind that any work he did that was paid for and done on behalf of private interests was never made public. Never mind that he was known to have completed a report to send overseas on the day he vanished, and that work was never made public. We don’t know if the report ever arrived at its destination, or what it contained. He either left it on his desk at work, or took it with him to mail that fatal day.
This is what is happening with the story of Sylvain Mollier. And, like Cranswick, there is stone cold silence from his friends and co-workers about the real nature of his work. What are they afraid of?
How many times have I said it: “The devil is in the materials science.” Metallurgists, mechanical engineers and beamline operators study materials, the ins and outs of metals, and why metals fail, right down to the subatomic level.
There is a subset of metallurgy dedicated to welding and coatings, including alloys, and ziraloy in specific.
In order to downplay a metallurgist’s high level of knowledge and skill, he could be called a “welder”, because he spends his days studying welding and coatings. Too late. We’re not taking the bait.
Can anyone tell me the birthplaces of the al-Hilli girls? That would establish provide the whereabouts of Iqbal, at least, at the time of their births, assuming that they weren’t adopted.
Do the children have passports for various countries, and dual citizenship?
hi!,I love your writing so a lot! proportion we be in contact more approximately your post on AOL?
I need an expert in this area to resolve my
problem. Maybe that’s you! Taking a look ahead to look you.
James, the background buzz about the BAE/EADS merger is part of the context of this story. Timing is curious.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/international-business/european-business/money-politics-and-fear-what-the-bae-eads-fiasco-says-about-europe/article4609492/
Money, politics, fear. There will be no “BEADS” for now, but what and who fell along the way?
“I don’t reckon it is police sloppiness. They know what it was about, and are just going through the motions.
The biggest clue “this won’t be solved in ten years” – you don’t get much more apathetic than that, or so early into a case.” Dopey, 13.10.12, 4:36pm.
Yes, I also immediately thought that comment was very odd.
Now, one needs to ask oneself, if this was a ‘legacy’ Iraqi or contemporary Iranian ‘hit’, or an organised crime hit, or a family feud hit, or a robbery-gone-wrong, or a local gun-nut, why would French and British police seem – or at least might be argued – to be engaging in a cover-up? If, on the other hand, it was a MOSSAD/French/UK hit, then a cover-up makes sense.
@ norfolkeagle 13 Oct, 2012 – 7:43 pm
Hadn’t come across him before… it is a fairly common surname (incl UAE, Saudi etc), westernised as Saffar in some cases. Allawi has since been sidelined although there in the background… not sure if SAH’s cousin Balsam is in the same or a different political grouping – shifting sands there. Allawi is a longtime Kingston, Surrey resident and his wife and children continued to live there – surely with official protection. The UK Iraqi community since 1970 – and their relationshiups with the intelligence services – has the makings of a rather large book… except no one would talk. Just like they’re keeping mum about the Al-Hilli murders.
@NR, Katie and Dopey:
Curious, this business of golf courses. I notice in the agenda for those old RAF vets that a social event was scheduled at a golf course.
Akeel is also mentioned here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/sep/04/iraq.rorymccarthy
@ Suhayl Saadi 13 Oct, 2012 – 8:12 pm
Yes, I agree. And perhaps the cover-up is a bit grudging on the French side?
When you read of Allawi supposedly shooting 7 suspected terrorists in the head, it does make you think that this has all the hallmarks of a revenge attack. I wonder if it all comes down to what AH retrieved from the safety deposit box.
http://www.bglgolf.co.uk/our_courses/
http://www.raf.mod.uk/rafgolf/contacts/aroundthestations.cfm
See any overlaps?
@ norfolkeagle 13 Oct, 2012 – 8:29 pm
Allawi (a trained neurologist) had all the signs of becoming one of those new heads of state/dictators annointed by western ‘intelligence’ services… in ten years time there’d be another war to try to depose him.
My read is that very many expatriate Iraqis in the UK including Allawi, the Al-Hillis and others were determined to regain their property and position in Iraq and did whatever they deemed necessary to achieve that end, including getting into bed with the CIA, and SIS. It was a very dirty and corrupt ‘war’ and, I have no doubt, the ‘peace’ is every bit as dirty and corrupt.
Q.
Yes I checked out Burhill but as its privately owned couldn’t see anything untoward there.
Zaid is a qualified accountant so he’s probably an asset to them. I wonder if had any jobs before that post ?
I found this quite interesting, there are two blogs both written by Sunnis about Shiites & Dawa :
“Iraqis who studied in UK during the 70s were divided into four main groups:
Iraqis of affluent and middle class backgrounds who sent their children to study abroad from their own funds.
The few Iraqis who obtained scholarships from British and American universities and became eligible to study abroad.
The other few Iraqis who had limited funds, traveled abroad and worked their asses off on several minimum wage jobs to finance their study.
Then there were Iraqis who obtained scholarships from the Iraqi government to study abroad.
The majority of Iraqi students who studied in UK or USA/Canada belonged to the final category and were scholarship students sponsored by the Iraqi government.
Joining the Baath Party was more than just listing your name down on a piece of paper, but it meant full commitment to that party and Saddam’s intelligence and agenda. ”
http://sarahchronicle.wordpress.com/2012/08/22/the-road-less-traveled-iraq/
Excuse me if this has been posted previously:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2151781/British-golf-course-owner-stabbed-death-drunken-handyman-following-row-dream-retirement-estate.html
It’s another tale of a Brit in France, a caravan, a golf course, Dordogne, gardening, mayhem and murder. There’s even oil in this bizarre story.
Eagle/CD.
Some of those papers were in Arabic, you can bet your life there were some from the fathers days in Iraq.
He would surely retain evidence on what happened & why he fell out of favour with the Ba’athists……..names of those who enacted Saddams orders of sequestering properties [ killings ?] would be very incriminating, once AH had read them he would be a threat, a threat because some of them would be living in the UK……….
@ Katie 13 Oct, 2012 – 8:39 pm
Interesting, but wouldn’t cover the ex-pat community already in the UK from the early 70s… although it might have applied initially to Allawi who was a staunch Ba’athist and working for Saddam when he initially arrived.
“It’s another tale of a Brit in France, a caravan, a golf course, Dordogne, gardening, mayhem and murder. There’s even oil in this bizarre story”.
….sounds like the script for an episode of “Midsummer Murders”
@ Dopey: It is the setting for this book:
http://www.amazon.com/Murder-In-Dordogne-Diplomatic-Mystery/dp/059535081X
The “French White House” is now owned by five Dutch families. It would be too much of a stretch to imagine that any of them were involved with SSTL’s Dutch operation. That would be the stuff of novels.
Right.
Ikbal, and her mother. Can we revisit this again?
Why no photos of them?
We know the cops have some. So why aren’t they airing them?
What’s so significant about the identities of these two women?
Because I’m certain they ARE significant.
Any theories or ideas?
One other thing Burhill does is “Housing for Assisted Living and Retirement” as well as “Estate Management.”
Don’t see any connection to “Centro Residencial Torrequebrada” but it might be once removed via a subsidiary.
Agreed Dopey.
A thing that assassins do…is kill the target.
They don’t tend to bother with “covering up” too much.
Mossad even wave at the cameras !
@Dopey: Could it be that the previous discussion on this thread is correct? Are both Iqbal and her mother people whose identities have long been hidden, but who would easily be recognized if their photos were revealed in the international media?
Q
13 Oct, 2012 – 9:05 pm
I’m leaning strongly towards that yes. I can’t think of any other reason.
@Katie: Maybe I’m thinking too much of ex-colonel Russell Williams, who dumped a victim’s body at a golf course near his home. He was known to frequent golf courses in the area, and play in tournaments, as did that female victim. A lawsuit is now pending from his neighbor, who also golfs in the area and owned a home and hunting property near the golf course. The neighbor was investigated by police, whereas RW was not, initially.
RW was in charge of a large air base that houses a WMD unit, and had an SAS-type unit in the process of relocation at the time. He authorized a helicopter unit to search for the victim, but they were unable to find her.
@NR: Thanks.
@dopey 13 Oct, 2012 – 8:56 pm
I’ve an open mind on this issue – the French are a bit more circumspect, so they may not release photos as a matter of course, out for respect for the dead and their families.
I’m more curious as to why the UK MSM haven’t come up with any pictures – which suggests to me that the families are not letting them have any.
And this brings me to someting else… at this stage why are the families and wider Iraqi community not demanding justice, and results from the police in the UK and France?
I’ve been searching for ‘wanted’ Iraqi women, the only ones I found were here,but ages don’t match.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rihab_Taha
“In December 2005, 22 so-called “high-value” prisoners, including Rihab Taha, were released without charge two days after Iraq’s national elections, following over 30 months in confinement.[12] Another woman scientist, Huda Salih Mahdi Ammash, nicknamed “Mrs. Anthrax” by the U.S., was also among those released after what the U.S. said was a standardized process of review and an agreement with the interim Iraqi government.”
Q.
That’s spooky what a dark underworld we are living in.