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?
Ferret…and (Oh !) Kathy
Re the marraige. Could be “arranged”.
Then again think “Tehrangeles” !
Dubai has quite a vibe. And you’re young there…for longer !
A melting pot ! And damn good fun.
@ kathy
He wasn’t young, and neither was she. I find her age upon marrying (and having kids in her 40’s)the more interesting.
I do still wonder about her DOB being listed on company info as 1970 too.
@ james
Dubai has quite a vibe. And you’re young there…for longer !
A melting pot ! And damn good fun.
………….
Yep, but a woman who wants kids body clock starts ticking. Hers must have been ticking like mad I would imagine. A first kid at 40 has its risks. Another at 43 has even greater risks.
@ Dopey
Yeah but don’t forget the horrific time Iraq has been through so things don’t go according to plan for the Iraqis what with wars and sanctions etc. Their lives have truly been blighted.
Ferret.
“But… what are his links to “nuclear weapons research”?”
See my above.
He’s there (Mr Mollier) in his professional capacity.
He can explain to an “aero Engineer” the science of fuel rods.
I do believe “Brett Martin” saw a 4×4 and a motorbike.
And I believe it was “a team”
I just think it was “different”.
Remember these aren’t “James Bond’s” here.
Saad meeting a guy he knows “possibly” from his Dubai days.
And he is “advising” or “collecting” information on what there is or what there is to do.
@ Anders
I choose No.1
Dopey…
I agree.
But in DXB you seldom meet the right women (or men) but you have a hell of a great time trying.
…and I speak from experience there !
Hence I love going back. (and many do).
James, maybe it’s that brown Volvo 😉
Pilot = + 100 brownie points
Brown volvo = – 100 brownie points
@James
I think you might be on to something there…
Recruited in Dubai by CIA to infiltrate Iranian smuggling (poss specifically nuclear), now needed again for a mission at short notice…???
But but but… why him as an intermediary between Mollier and an Iranian? He’s an ex-Iraqi not ex-Iranian? Or is that the Sunni/Shia thing, would a Shia so would be trusted by Iranians despite being from Iraq? And if so what about language… Farsi? Arabic? What?
@ ferret
re Iranians – maybe that’s why he took his wife?
The above about an extraction possibility was for Steawberry, ref the Dubai paradise.
If that was indeed the intention, it has been a monumental failure.
Which only fits point 1 in the above, and point 4 in the DA notice.
KISS
Keep it simple folks. 🙂
@James
Re the D Notice, it’s not about nuclear power, it’s nuclear weapons research… that what’s puzzling me… Mollier… Ugine… R&D lab… connection? How?
@Anders
Re extraction, Peter (though I hate to say it) put up what I thought was a good objection in that surely it would have been easier to pretend they’d all died of something a little less dramatic than bullets eg asphyxiation from a disposable BBQ as has been in the media earlier this year… do you think anyone who was looking for them would buy that? It’s swayed me away from #2, and towards #1.
@Dopey
re Iranians – maybe that’s why he took his wife?
Bingo!
Now we just need to find a role for Mrs AH’s mother in all this…
Babysitting?
Dopey !
I love my brown V !
I also have a giallo orion mic 2ct coloured car ! But that’s because my boss likes me ! X
Ferret….
And spot on. Why him ??
I think it is he that knows the “Iranian”. From Dubai (hold on, I can find info on that..as in Dubai and Iran).
Anyway, the Iranian wouldn’t meet Mollier on his own (but things have changed…the Iranian has already been caught out by Iran).
Mollier is there just as an “advisor” in fuel rods.
Now I have looked…and I am trying to find several things.
Mollier’s link to the “security services”.
Saad in Dubai.
…and any “notices” from Iran about a highly liked…but recently deceased “nuke engineer” !
Ferret, Dopey
That’s a quick search. And that article goeas back to 2009.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/dubai/6218606/US-embassy-in-Dubai-is-a-recruiting-ground-for-Iranian-spies.html
Let me find more, two ticks.
Iran guy gets swept to The States !
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/iran/7871255/Iran-puts-forward-evidence-that-nuclear-scientist-was-abducted-by-CIA.html
Ferret….
Now your earlier comment about me “wanting to take everyone off to Dubai” !
I have no idea if I am right….but with all this in mind, watch the postman interview agian.
It makes sense…but not if you watched it on that Thursday morning !
Thanks James – good link, explains recruitment to CIA in Dubai.
That could finger CIA, if SAH had turned. (CIA have a big base in Geneva just 20 mins away.)
But what if Mollier was indeed inside the R&D dept at Ugine as we have speculated, and was selling nuclear weapons tech (Hafnium?) to Iran — with SAH to help as tech advisor, and Iqbal as interpreter?
Fingering… DGSE?!? (Feuk you, neeking our secrets nucleaire… blam blam blam blam blam…)
DGSE use 7.65mm as previously posted.
This could explain immediate French clampdown on media* and joke crime scene, frozen for 8 hrs, reporters allowed up after 2 hrs etc etc.
???
* Clampdown on media in France: Sylvain Mollier was described initially as a Metallurgist but all later reports omit this crucial detail. No details were later given about what he did at Ugine.
Or, if Mossad found out… blam blam blam from them too.
BUT
Mossad could not clamp down crime scene or turn it into a joke or clamp down on French media.
So… my #1 culprit right now for consideration is…
FRANCE
“Recruited in Dubai by CIA to infiltrate Iranian smuggling (poss specifically nuclear), now needed again for a mission at short notice…???”
Forgot my last bit.
Not smuggling in. Blowing up !
Siemens have already been “blamed” for some destruction. (I’ll find the link to that)
Question is….why Siemens ?
Were they selling (and allowed to sell) nuclear reactor “things” to Iran ?
Re extraction, Peter (though I hate to say it) put up what I thought was a good objection in that surely it would have been easier to pretend they’d all died of something a little less dramatic than bullets eg asphyxiation from a disposable BBQ as has been in the media earlier this year… do you think anyone who was looking for them would buy that? It’s swayed me away from #2, and towards #1.
=====
Yes, he proves my point.
Must be dozens of agencies picking all this apart – no way would an extraction fly now. Or ever.
Mossad.
Which would explain why it happened in France and not the UK, and why it happened near Ugine, and why Mollier was involved… and and and.
BM would be watching from a distance to make sure all was well but hadn’t counted on someone (perhaps a mole at Cezus/Areva in Ugine) ratting on SM or setting him up, so les boys were waiting in the bushes.
BM is outnumbered and cannot take them on or is too far away to do anything other than radio London to alert them to the f*ck up – hence D Notice.
Why Israel in D Notice? That is problematic to my theory… perhaps they just didn’t want speculation of an obvious (but not guilty) party?
Otherwise this is quite a good theory, non?
@ Ferret
Molliere’s workmates were reported to have received counseling after his death except they were also instructed not to attend his funeral according to news reports. I find that very odd to say the least.
Yep ! France.
Or Iran (message back)
Or Mossad Or CIA.
But the first two make more sense.
Depends if Saad was a trusted paid up member. If he wasn’t a turn coat.
As in would Mollier be dealing with him if he was.
I doubt that.
My “numero uno” is that it has to be Iran.
And why it is a clamp down…is the security let it happen.
They f***ed up big time.
Now they have to invent something…but what. Tick tock tick tock.
Family feud ? Lone nut ?
They are struggling…and delaying.
Question is… why Siemens ?
Were they selling (and allowed to sell) nuclear reactor “things” to Iran ?
Not over the counter, no – probably black market.
Via… Dubai?
What do you think of my french-wot-dunnit theory?
“Why Israel in D Notice?”
Why not. It’s gone the shape of a pear already.
They know it.
If you make it more confusing, then that’s good.
I don’t believe BM is involved…but if he is (as in, can you pop along a keep an eye on…etc) the things gone haywire. What can he do !
My “numero uno” is that it has to be Iran.
And why it is a clamp down… is the security let it happen.
They f***ed up big time.
No way Jose!!
With what’s going on at the moment they want everything they can get media-wise against Iran!!!
And they certainly wouldn’t trash the crime scene, they’d want to find out who the ops were, what the MO was, etc etc etc… for use in other missions…
I’ll find the Siemens thing…but they have taken the blame.
Well some.
But there are no questions like “hold on, what’s Iran doing with Siemens equipment ???”
Sun Tzu… fight a battle before it’s fought.
Thanks Kathy, that is odd, isn’t it? Like he was disloyal or something so they shouldn’t go?
“With what’s going on at the moment they want everything they can get media-wise against Iran”
Again, Sun Tzu.
The US cannot fight a confict as big as “Iran”. Iran can’t either.
Nor can Israel.
They all know that. So this war is being fought “under hand”.
On that point…could you imagine if the US said, right we’re having a fight with Iran !!!
…and look at Syria. You want a war, just send UN Peace troops (from the US) into there. But everyone knows what woild happen then.
@ Ferret
Yes or the company wanted to distance themselves for some reason.