Article

2005-02-14 Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Hariri's killer is Palestinian linked to al-Qaida

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Posted by Steve 2005-02-14 2:52:06 PM|| || Front Page|| [9 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 riiigghhhttt - where'd this pinhead get the boom materials? The tech training? State sponsorship.....

Posted by Frank G 2005-02-14 3:25:06 PM|| 2005-02-14 3:25:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#2 Is there any way we could drop a jetload of "Baby Names for the 21st Century" books on pan-Arabia? It's absurd-you have a 50/50 shot of guessing a complete stranger's name correctly if you just shout out Ahmed or Mohammed.

Posted by Jules 187 2005-02-14 3:28:05 PM|| 2005-02-14 3:28:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#3 where'd this pinhead get the boom materials?

Given the availability of it in the ME, I was under the impression that Arabs excrete it through their skin - perhaps as a result of all that seething.

Posted by BH 2005-02-14 3:29:10 PM|| 2005-02-14 3:29:10 PM|| Front Page Top

#4 What's a guy with $3.8 billion doing living in a shithole like Lebanon?

Posted by Unagum Grenter5818 2005-02-14 3:52:43 PM|| 2005-02-14 3:52:43 PM|| Front Page Top

#5 Trying to run the place, UG.

Posted by Liberalhawk 2005-02-14 4:09:53 PM|| 2005-02-14 4:09:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#6 I read that there was something like 600lbs of explosive. Some ratbag group doesn't just scroung that up, even in the ME. Some state apparatus was behind this. The ID of the bomber is too quick for my taste.

Posted by Remoteman 2005-02-14 4:17:27 PM|| 2005-02-14 4:17:27 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 Actually, Hariri was trying to rebuilt Lebanon - almost single-handedly. Good man with vision - just the kind of person Lebanon cannot afford to lose. And I personally smell Baathist all over this hit - no way that much explosive is gathered in one spot in Beirut without Syrian participation and/or active non-interference.

Posted by Shieldwolf 2005-02-14 4:27:50 PM|| 2005-02-14 4:27:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 OK, I call the AQ connection bullshit. It has Syrian Military Spec Ops written all over it. They try to misdirect the attention, but no one in Lebanon seems to buy it.

Posted by Sobiesky 2005-02-14 5:07:31 PM|| 2005-02-14 5:07:31 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 I just had a nasty thought: what if this really was AQ, and this was a way of striking at the Royal Family in Saudi Arabia?

Posted by Phil Fraering 2005-02-14 5:44:30 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2005-02-14 5:44:30 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 Phil, think about it. How would be Soddies harmed by Hariri's assassination.
What is more significant, Hariri's 'friendship' with Soddy royals, or his drive for independent Lebanon?

Let's see what ol' Occam sez ... : "Chop, chop ... I pick the second."

Posted by Sobiesky 2005-02-14 6:07:54 PM|| 2005-02-14 6:07:54 PM|| Front Page Top

#11 Bin Laden is a Saudi construction magnet.
This guy was in the construction business in Saudi too.
Puts business competition into a new light?

Posted by 3dc 2005-02-14 6:13:57 PM|| 2005-02-14 6:13:57 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 3dc, magnet? Messmerism's involved? :-)

Oh! Magnate!

Well, it's not even a good conspiracy theory.

Posted by Sobiesky 2005-02-14 6:18:41 PM|| 2005-02-14 6:18:41 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Typo typing fast.... btw...
being its the Mid-East and being that there are even Magic Kingdom angles....
The arabesque will never be understood by those of us outside the culture.

So in that case.... help all players take each other out....

Posted by 3dc 2005-02-14 6:34:05 PM|| 2005-02-14 6:34:05 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 Sobiesky: I don't know. But consider that there are multiple factions of Saudi Royalty, rumored to be occasionally violently hostile to each other.

Posted by Phil Fraering 2005-02-14 6:43:16 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2005-02-14 6:43:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#15

Bin Laden is a Saudi construction ~~magnet.~~ magnate... Unless you are talking about magnets distributed by advertisers for the 'fridge...

Posted by BigEd 2005-02-14 6:53:01 PM|| 2005-02-14 6:53:01 PM|| Front Page Top

#16 Phil, ya're right. They are. However, why take out Hariri to hurt some Soddy? Magic Kingdom angles and such considered, it freakin does not make any sense. It would make a sense to take out a family member of the leader of a faction if the leader is not available or untouchable.

Lebanon--upcoming elections--strong tendency towards independence--Hariri its strong advocate with a chance to form a new government...

That makes sense. Very likely Syrians involved on planing level. Of course, there's a law of unintended consequences. Very likely it will backfire.

Posted by Sobiesky 2005-02-14 6:53:25 PM|| 2005-02-14 6:53:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#17 YES !!!!!!
We're back to the pre Achille Lauro days of nameless micro grudges precipitating vendetta slayings by unknown and unknowable groups with obscure, undefinable, and hallucenogenic goals.

It's the salafi palawan command general front dervish brigade of the kharjarite regenerative legion !

Posted by epaminondas 2005-02-14 9:50:33 PM|| 2005-02-14 9:50:33 PM|| Front Page Top

#18 I'm going to be paranoid here:

1. Zawahiri's tape was released yesterday.
2. That was the signal to move ahead with the Beirut boom.
3. Was it a signal for the US to move up its terror alert?

Posted by Seafarious 2005-02-14 10:17:53 PM|| 2005-02-14 10:17:53 PM|| Front Page Top

#19 Syrians with the blessing of Iran? It has Baathist fingerprints.

Posted by Sock Puppet of Doom 2005-02-14 10:22:25 PM|| [http://www.slhess.com] 2005-02-14 10:22:25 PM|| Front Page Top

#20 OK, had a phone call with a former SLA officer, living here in Canuckistan since 1986. Presented the theories (trade war conspiracy, AQ and Soddy royals connection) asking to comment on them after am done.

He seemed to be amused and responded with 3 words:

Pure unadulterated crapola

and then continued:

Ask any Lebanese and they will all tell you that they have no doubts about Syrian involvement. The AQ story is just a smokescreen for non-Lebanese consumption...Syrians hoping that it would be swallowed line, hook and sinker and absolving them of any wrongdoing outside Lebanon.

Posted by Sobiesky 2005-02-14 10:47:06 PM|| 2005-02-14 10:47:06 PM|| Front Page Top

#21 Well, Sobiesky, please give your friend my regards (and condolances if he knew the deceased.) I know the Syrians are the obvious possibility, I just get paranoid sometimes.

Posted by Phil Fraering 2005-02-14 11:55:22 PM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com] 2005-02-14 11:55:22 PM|| Front Page Top

18:47 3dc
18:47 3dc
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23:38 Aris Katsaris
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23:15 Penguin
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22:50 Jame Retief
22:49 Mrs. Davis
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22:47 Sobiesky
22:42 Alaska Paul
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22:36 Alaska Paul
22:25 Cheaderhead
22:23 Chase Unineger3873 aka Jarhead
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