The Al-Hilli Conundrum 6629

 in Uncategorized by

My post on the shootings in France has brought tens of thousands of people to this site – but not to read my dull contribution. People are coming to read the comments from other readers.

Today’s development of the bomb squad descending on the al-Hilli house does not in itself worry me enormously. You may recall the massive terror scare that was ramped up when some Muslim students in Manchester were found to own a bag of sugar.

In fact we have the opposite phenomenon today, with the spook-fed “security correspondents” on TV lining up to tell us it is probably just everyday household stuff. This deviation from the standard Islamophobic “Muslims = bombs” narrative is so startling it makes me wonder why the “move along, nothing to see here” line is being taken so quickly.

My own security services sources insist that al-Hilli was not a person of current interest to the UK intelligence agencies and was not involved in anything clandestine. I have no reason to disbelieve them. On the other hand, the limited and confusing information in the media is almost entirely from official sources. I find it very strange indeed how little attention has been paid to the murdered French cyclist, and how easily it is presumed he was just a passerby. Surely it is as likely he was the intended victim and the al-Hillis the accidental witnesses?

Please do read the comments on my first entry on the subject to see the debate unfettered by the censorship in the mainstream media. This is perhaps my favourite comment:

From Janesmith101

All comments regarding Sylvain, Al-Hilli and a possible nuclear link are being removed from sites I’ve posted on in The Guardian, Independent and Huffpo UK.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/sep/09/alps-killer-motive-baffles-police

Here was my comment, I added as a point of fact it was completely speculative and an unproven theory in a later comment, also removed.

Sylvain Mollier, the ‘passing’ cyclist, was in fact a nuclear metallurgist who worked for a french nuclear company called Cezus (a subsidiary of Areva). Cezus fabricates and processes zirconium into metal and nuclear grade zircoaloy for nuclear fuel assemblies – it also has other applications in aerospace such as components and ceramics for missiles and satellites. Mr Al-Hilli was also a skilled aerospace engineer, on what looks to be his first camping holiday.

What is the probability that two highly skilled engineers managed be at the same remote place, at the same time, yet still managed to end up dead as a result of what looks to be a military style assasination?

As someone else pointed out in The Independent comments, the deceased were found by a ‘retired’ RAF officer who, we assume, will recieve perpetual anonymity as a witness. If the police are looking for a motive, try an intercepted rendevous by a security service fixated on denying a hostile power illicit nuclear technology.

http://wrmea.org/component/content/article/162-1995-june/7823-israel-bombs-iraqs-osirak-nuclear-research-facility.html

The Huffington Post UK reports that this wasn’t the family’s first trip to the camp site. An earlier report had asked other camp site visitors whether they had seen the family before and they had replied they hadn’t. If this isn’t wasn’t the first visit by Al-Hilli, it might slightly increase the odds that he knew or had met Mollier before, this being the last in a series of rendevous of a transactional nature. Mollier lived and worked locally.

Again, I’m not sure of the truth of these reports, there is some very sloppy journalism, as there is always seems to be. I’ve read for example Mollier’s company Cevus descirbed as a steel firm something which it is patently not, but perhaps it may have been a detail lost in translation.

An interesting comment summing up some of the strange coincidences, at least, surrounding these murders. My other favourite comment calls me a “macchiavellian shill”.

I have only one thought of my own I want to add at the minute. Al-Hilli was a Shia muslim and had been on pilgrimage to Qoms in Iran. What if it is indeed true that he was in possession of no especial nuclear or defence secrets to pass on to the Iranians, but the Israelis thought that he was? The Israeli programme of assassination of scientists involved in Iran’s nuclear programme is a definite fact. It makes as much sense as anything else at the moment, as a possibility.

I am not saying that is what happened. But the directions in which the mainstream media is being so strenuously pointed by official sources, like the massacre of an entire family over an inheritance, are certainly no more inherently probable. Certainly as we are now told all the shots were from one gun, for the assassin to get each victim in the head with none of them being able to escape, indicates real proficiency with the weapon and a very high level of training.

Allowed HTML - you can use: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

6,629 thoughts on “The Al-Hilli Conundrum”

1 … 187 188 189 190 191 … 221
  • Peter

    1. Over at http://www.marilynztomlins.com/articles/chevaline-the-forgotten-victim-sylvain-mollier/
    someone calling himself Max did some enhancing on the crime-scene photos, then claimed to have received a call “from IC” and took down the relevant section of his HP as well as the most interesting enhanced photo. He could just be talking through his hat, of course, and I have no idea what he could mean by “IC”? Intelligence circles?

    Anyway, make of that what you will.

    2. DA-Notice or not (my journo contact is not aware of any, and he *would* tell me if he were), it is abundantly clear that both the victims’ families and potential witnesses have been warned not to talk to the media. Probably journalists as well, because, on the face of it, this story could be a reliable page-filler for weeks or months to come. Moreover, what I find particularly striking is the lack of emotional furor in the media. Usually, whenever little children become victims of crime, the UK media in particular will whip themselves into a frenzy. Where are all those foaming-at-the-mouth front-page articles angrily demanding “justice for little Zeena and Zainab”?

    As no such media interest is forthcoming, I invite you to join me in contacting a few journalists who have covered this story before and ask them why they have ceased doing so. Their answers could be quite illuminating.

  • Mochyn69

    @
    Straw44berry
    26 Sep, 2012 – 8:36 am

    Looks like they have conflated the al Hilli shooting with the Toulouse and Montauban shootings in March.

  • Ricki Tarr

    @Blue this is clearly bigger and not caused by a rant on a message board, he was working with British Intelligence I think (that probaly why he got his Citizingship so late) I wouldnt be surprised if Mi5 use SSTL for their own work/means – as they did with Marconi before them! I think they used SSTL to draw in other states and companies so that Mi5 could sting, wether SSTL knew or not is a different story!

    The article Ferret posted yesterday was full of clues and I really dont know where this info came from I may email Steven Swinford at the Telegraph! It is simply and by far the best information we have had in the MSM at any point in this investigation!

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9531436/France-shooting-was-Saad-Al-Hilli-assassinated-over-secret-defence-contract.html

    A bit more on AMS:

    http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/local/9915834.Dead_Alps_massacre_dad_was_company_secretary_for_Swindon_firm/

  • Ferret

    @Bluebird

    Thanks for the info on AMS 1087.

    It sounds to me like AMS 1087 – and its identikit siblings – are what’s known as “off-the-shelf” companies, usually for contractors who can’t be bothered/have no interest in registering their own limited company.

    Investigation reveals that SAH is merely the Company Secretary of AMS 1087, and the Director is one James Barnett (46), who holds the only share.

    So perhaps SAH was doing James Barnett a favour by being his Company Secretary, while having no financial interest in the company.

    James Barnett is described as a Contractor, and the company shows very modest but regular turnover.

    Nothing suspicious in any of that.

    James Barnett might warrant further investigation though as clearly he is linked to SAH in some capacity.

  • Blue_Bear

    Peter,

    I’ve got some time. But no contacts. I don’t think there’s any research I can do from home that’s not either been done or would be speculative.

    Also, I’m messing around with that Photo 3 in Photoshop. Different filters etc. Will see what happens.

  • James

    James…on James !

    James. Business chap. Classic Scooters. Surrey area.
    AMS 1087 “OTS Co”. AMS abrev of accountants (check incorp info)

    You’re missing the point here.
    Where is the “other company” ????

  • Ferret

    @Katie

    I have no idea what you’re getting at here

    OK, let me spell it out for you.

    You were wrong when you said that SAH came over to the UK as a child.

    You were wrong when you said that because SAH attended Pimlico School in the UK, he could not have come over to the UK as a teenager. (Teenagers do go to school as I am sure you know.)

    Is that clear enough now?

    Would it kill you to admit you were wrong?

    Now you compound this mistake by two further errors.

    1. You claim that because SAH came over to the UK as a teenager, he could not have been a nuclear engineer at the time, and therefore could not have helped Saddam with his nuclear project.

    And

    2. You claim that because his uncle was allegedly tortured, causing the family to flee, he would not have wanted to help Saddam with his nuclear project.

    In answer to (1), you are forgetting or ignoring SAH’s frequent return visits to Iraq as an adult, which would have given him ample opportunity to assist Saddam’s nuclear programme.

    And in answer to (2), although he did not support Saddam, he may have wanted to help his country of birth defend itself from Iranian/US/Israeli agression, or simply to help it get a nuclear deterrent against Israel which is widely thought to have nuclear weapons.

    It is also of course possible (in fact, quite conceivable) that Saddam, having tortured SAH’s uncle, wouldn’t hesitate to torture SAH’s remaining family members (or threaten to) in order to get SAH to comply.

    So… your arguments that SAH could not/would not have taken part in Saddam’s nuclear program do not stand up to scrutiny, and the original point that SAH may well have helped Saddam’s nuclear ambitions is still a viable theory.

  • James

    If this was the work of a “nutter”, where is “the manhunt” ???
    Where is the “Foriegn Office” warning to tourists ???

    If this is an IR35 contaractor….then where is the company ?
    And where is the client ?

    I believe from my digging…”somebody” is covering for “somebody” else.

    At the mo, I am unwilling to say.
    Mainly as it sounds “cranky”.

  • Ferret

    @Trowbridge

    As ever, and excellent and well-worded analysis.

    I think, after some reflection, that it might be a little more complicated than you suggest, and I’ll tell you why.

    If this was a state-sanctioned hit by the UK, France, and Israel working in cahoots, there would not have been any need for a UK spook-scramble from Paris in response, and no need to freeze the crime scene for 8 hours.

    They would have been prepared in advance.

    On the other hand, if the UK were not involved at all, what the bleep is Brett Martin doing there?!

    I do think the UK were *facilitating* the meeting (hence Brett Martin on the scene, with his house just down the road) but something went wrong – and there was a hasty need to cover up.

    Do you see what I’m getting at?

    The thing is that I cannot get myself to accept BM as an accidental bystander, nor dismiss the reported spook-scramble, so I have to find some scenario that accommodates both.

    People who disagree with either or both of the above won’t, of course, have the same logical problem.

    🙂

  • Ferret

    @Blue Bear

    I’ve got some time. But no contacts. I don’t think there’s any research I can do from home that’s not either been done or would be speculative.

    You could try calling Gary Aked and see if he’ll talk. But from a payphone! (Unless you want MI5 putting you under surveillance too, that is.) What made him so sure SAH wouldn’t get clearance, and that he wasn’t working on defence projects? Did SAH ever work on satellites?

    Or you could chase up the James Barnett who is the director of AMS 1087 and give him a call, what did he know about SAH, who is (was) his Company Secretary?

  • Katie

    Morning Ricki.

    I have this pic on my blog & it stays with me around WordPress sites. Open a WP blog & there’s a simple upload for your profile.

    But there’s another way to get one called a Gravatar go here :

    http://en.gravatar.com/

  • James

    Ferret…

    “Did SAH ever work on satellites ?”

    Why do you say that ? Because it came out he worked for someone ???

  • Ferret

    @Ricki

    Thanks for the link on AMS 1087 – note the “no comment” from James Barnett, Director of AMS 1087.

    Interesting that AMS 1087 is described as a “Swindon-based aerial photography firm”, I’d forgotten that link to SAH and aerial photography…

    I agree with you about the wealth of info in that Telegraph article from Sept 9 – think I’ll repost a bit here now for the benefit of any daytime readers… sorry if I’m boring anyone!

    Detectives investigating the shooting in the alps massacre are looking into whether Saad Al-Hilli could have been targeted over links to the defence industry.

    Mr Al-Hilli was killed alongside his wife and mother-in-law last week. His daughters Zainab, seven, and Zeena, four, survived the killing.

    There is growing speculation over the motives for the killings. French detectives are reportedly keen to question work colleagues of Saad after discovering that he was killed while working on a secret contract for one of Britain’s biggest defence companies.

    Mr Al-Hilli worked for Surrey Satellites Technology Limited (SSTL) near Guildford, and detectives are expected to ask colleagues about whether his work may have made him a target for assassination.

    Mr Al-Hilli was part of a team involved in an undisclosed project linked to European Aeronautic Defence and Space. The company designs and launches satellites for clients who want an “eye in the sky” for commercial, civil or security purposes.

    However, friends and colleagues said his work was routine and not secret.

    Shtech, the aeronautical business which he ran with his wife Iqbal and which had sub-contracted with SSTL, registered profits of just £8,330 last year. Derek Reed, who worked at SSTL, told The Sunday Times: “He would not have had to sign the Official Secrets Act for what he was doing.”

    It also reported that Mr Al-Hilli had worked at the internationally-renowned Rutherford Appleton research centre in the 1980s.

    According to an ex-colleague at the Rutherford lab in Didcot, Oxon, Saad worked on a giant particle accelerator which can make radioactive material, The People reported.

    – Daily Telegraph, Sept 9, 2012

    http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9531436/France-shooting-was-Saad-Al-Hilli-assassinated-over-secret-defence-contract.html

  • Ferret

    Re the Iranian drone clone, the wikipedia article I read yesterday said that the downed US drone did not use GPS or satellite guidance as these are easily spoofed, instead it uses its own internal guidance systems.

  • Katie

    Ferret.

    “You claim that because his uncle was allegedly tortured, causing the family to flee, he would not have wanted to help Saddam with his nuclear project.”

    Torture ???
    Please bring proof of that comment …….you maybe sometime!!

    I did say he was not a teenager, maybe that is wrong but you cannot prove it because we have no definitive dates when AH & HIS FATHER left Bagdad.

    As for the rest of your gibberish ,I’m not getting into yet another of your spats.

  • Ferret

    “Did SAH ever work on satellites ?”

    Why do you say that ?

    Because, according to the Mirror on Sept 15th, Gary Aked said that SAH had *not* worked on nuclear, and *not* on defence contracts. But he didn’t say SAH hadn’t worked on *satellites*.

    But Gary dismissed these as nonsense. “I would rule out work. He wasn’t into anything nuclear, he wasn’t into any defence contracts,” he said.

    “In any case he wouldn’t have got the clearance for sensitive defence contracts because of his Iraq background. It was definitely not the cause of his death.”

    http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/french-alps-shooting-islamic-rants-1326315

  • bluebird

    @ferret, james

    Of course OTS company (ams 1087). It is a letterbox address because there is no business activity on such addresses where 1000 companies reside in a single office only.

    I agree, he could have made a friend a favour.

    Often ots companies aee used for money laundering. E.g. You have an income from a source that should be kept secret while you need some kind of company to give a reason for that income. So you create fantasy projects and fantssy invoices for giving that income any reason. Not all but many ots companies are created for that only reason.

    @ricki tarr:
    I agree, there must be much more than just ranting anti-israel in a chatroom.
    Hezbollah or else being a threat for national security. No othrr reason thinkable if it was related to governments. However we could never rule out organised crime or some kind of retaliation (blood retaliation) of something that happened perhaps very ling ago. We simply dont know and searching on “who did it?” is useless. We should rather collect evidence about the possible reasons.

  • James

    The Co said he was a “long term” contractor there ?
    Was he ??
    If he was, why did a “long term contractor” with such skills, never get paid !!!!

    Who owns that company ?

    SAH never had “satellites” in his CV dd he ?
    He did have “aeroplanes” tho.

1 … 187 188 189 190 191 … 221

Comments are closed.