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.
Firstman…..observation,however it is a ‘distinguishing mark for I.D purposes. If he is who they say he is. BBC is virtually embedded in this ‘operation’like all other news outlets.
Mark. Brunt the c*nt….another embedded reporter.Remember the McCanns? More story changes as that went on.
@Kempe: generally inclined to agree with your sentiment. But it’s worth remembering that sometimes people are ridiculed, derided and slandered for holding opinions that run counter to the official line, but who might actually be ultimately vindicated. I refer to you to the families of the Hillsborough victims in one corner, versus South Yorkshire Police, the Sheffield Coroner, The Sun and the Thatcher government in the other corner!
Fleshing Mr Martin out a little more …
France | Silver Fern Sussex
france.silverfernsussex.co.uk/
Holiday home to rent in Haute Savoie, France. All enquiries to [email protected] · Home · Gallery · Activities · Location · House Facilities …
+
http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/51896/supplements/11594
SUPPLEMENT TO THE LONDON GAZETTE, IOTH OCTOBER 1989
ROYAL AIR FORCE VOLUNTEER RESERVE
(TRAINING BRANCH)
APPOINTMENT TO COMMISSION
As Flying Officer (four years):
William Brett MARTIN (S203888) 2nd Jul. 1989.
http://m3.licdn.com/mpr/pub/image-xFoYL5BJL41mnXOmLLrhF3kpiouT2Vo2lEubLOZplaunk6o2lv0m15ZXzweSZ2y/brett-martin.jpg
Silver Fern (Sussex) ‘s Registered Office is 55 Princes Gate, Exhibition Road, London SW7 2PN anything unusual about that?
… and the Mrs …
Theresa Martin
Cabin Crew at Silver Fern (Sussex) Limited Brighton, United Kingdom | Airlines/Aviation
Princess Gate….mmmm Foriegn Embassies everywhere.
Strawberry – likely to be his accountants. Lots of very varied businesses at that address, including a Gabriel Consultants which is an accountancy firm I believe.
PS – not implying the Gabriel firm is his accountants. There may be other accountancies at that address too
Silver Fern seems to share a building with …
http://www.ognisko.com/
Ognisko 55 Exhibition Road, London. SW7 2PN
Ognisko Polish restaurant in Kensington offers a great selection of European and Polish cuisine, and a great location for private parties.
1 Google review
Lots of companies registered at 55 Princes Gate SW7. There’s also a Polish club and restaurant in the building – can’t recommend it.
Harriet Alexander @h_alexander
Just dawned on me I need to leave my flat at 5am tomorrow. Happy days
11:53 AM – 5 Sep 12 ·
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/9530821/France-shooting-two-shots-to-the-head-the-killers-were-ruthless.html
[Foreign Correspondent, The Sunday Telegraph]
London
Strange.
@ Felix – re: sound of automatic gunfire – that interview is a great find!
As you say, the question is where was she when she heard those sounds?
The mountain bike she’s on is fitted with a shopping basket so likely to be used for local errands and not for a big tour of the area.
Interestingly, I can place the BBC interview with her right outside the Solitaire du Lac campsite. Note the distinctive sign on the wall behind the interviewer is located right outside the campsite. You can see it in Google street view. http://goo.gl/maps/YM08l
http://www.anorak.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/14476834.jpeg
The campsite is 17km by road to the crime scene.
Ognisko used to be called The Polish Hearth Club – maybe still is. Before they renovated the place it looked as if it hadn’t been decorated since the war. Lots of pictures on the walls of Polish airmen who joined the RAF during the war and memorabilia from that era. Awful food but interesting place – that was 25 years ago though.
Oops, Silver Fern site down for maintenance….
Apologies if someone has already picked up on this but why does an ex-RAF Pilot from ‘Surrey’ have an Australian accent?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-19587311
The site’s probably been taken down because of the huge increase of traffic ie from nos parkers like us.
If he spent 7 years in NZ studying he’s obviously gained and retained a slight twang. Maybe he spent some of his youth ie before college there too?
He was very smooth in that interview, like a typically smooth BA pilot in fact, but he did seem to over egg the pudding a tad with his explanations. He was better telling his story without interruption than he was in answering questions the interviewer put to him. I’d rather he’d been left to spout forth with his tale than interrupted in the middle of it, and questions then left to when he’d finished.
Ah thanks Dopey. Sorry. Missed the back story. NZ not Oz. Ok.
Yeah, not unusual to have loads of companies registered at a specific address, could be the offices of their accountants or solicitors or anything TBH.
Couple of interesting ones registered at the same address if anyone wants to get excited, specifically the choice of name use by one of the detective agencies…
Squadron Ltd – Detective Agencies
International Protection Services Ltd
Gwj 61 Ltd – Detective Agencies
Cokerest Ltd – Detective Agencies
http://www.192.com/places/sw/sw7-2/sw7-2pn/
And, International Protection Services has an interesting website:
“The experience of our operatives derive from backgrounds of elite units within the British Armed Forces (Including SAS, Parachute Regiment, Royal Military Police & Royal Marines) French Foreign Legion Civilian police and security services, this experience combined with commercial security knowledge, understanding and extensive practice has enabled us to focus and adapt to any given situation and to provide a solution quickly and effectively to security issues across the spectrum.”
http://www.internationalsecurity.co.uk/about.php
Mr Martin interview – things that make you go mmm
First thing to stand out was when he said when he first saw the older daughter he though she might just be playing with her sibling; not another child but sibling. Mmmm. Ok also the obvious – he says she was obviously badly injured while Philippe D says he saw no signs of injury despite checking for breathing and finding no sign. Also no question about hearing gunshots – surely one of the first questions to be asked. I’ve never been one to see a smoking gun in Mr Martin’s hand but this and Monsieur D’s stories together are getting very odd…. and the Hollywood scene stuff reference even weirder. Perhaps like a horror film would be a more natural comparison but Hollywood suggests artifice and glamour …
I’m out of what do, we sussed out the roof rack, we have an interview, a name, a face but I feel we are on the street of a movie set. Nothing behind the frontages.
I cant find his birth details on Ancestry which is all I have.
.. And the long winded explanation of why he did not see how many occupants were the car that passed by and what they looked like … ” It could have been one or ten” mmmm Bit touchy there
@ferret
One other thought… if RAFman (assuming he exists of course) didn’t actually see any of the kill squad at the scene, WHAT THE F**K IS HE SO AFRAID OF???
=====
Suggest his story has unravelled do badly that all these fake new witnesses have been parachuted in. Suggest if RAFman is not named, he is a spook. Suggest if RAFman ever makes the light of day, it will be a very smooth and skilled list from Legoland at Vauxhall Cross, suggest the bloke will have a tache and look like Douglas Bader! 🙂
Kempe: “The conspiracy theory surrounding this tragic event is based on nothing but vapours and the increasingly desperate attempts of the gullible to keep it aloft are becoming laughable.”
I can see your point. But nevertheless, it’s still not at all clear whether the killings were carried out by some country’s secret service, or by paid killers, or even revenge merchants.
In my mind I had dismissed the inheritance angle as ridiculous. Maybe it’s not, after all. But if you’re going to benefit from an inheritance, it seems a bit bloody stupid to blatantly arrange for the death of your rival(s).
Ex-RAF man seems to be in the clear. Or are some here still suspecting him?
Firstman, “But it’s worth remembering that sometimes people are ridiculed, derided and slandered for holding opinions that run counter to the official line ..”
Or the Anders7777 line 😉
“Why would al-Hilli still have links to Iraq? He was only a teenager when his parents fled the country for Britain in the late 1970s. Yet French police say his links with Iraq are high on their list of enquiries.”
http://www.theweek.co.uk/crime/annecy-shootings/49001/no-suspect-al-hilli-murder-solution-could-be-years-away
Anders watch the Interview with Mr Ex-Rag guy -William Brett Martin
u missed a lot
“Suggest if RAFman is not named, he is a spook.”
Anders, he’s been interviewed by the Beeb. It’s all over TV today.
Btw. Anyone who has problems with my FIDDLY iPhone links
Just paste in ask Jeeves or glooble the first few sentences and you will almost always get the link, unless it is sensitive
In which case to goes 404;)
@Vermillion
Suggests coaching to me.
“It could have been one or ten” mmmm Bit touchy there”
He’s seen the dead Sylvain. And he has children of his own. Give him a break.