Assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Tracked Through UAE Port

[kpete]

Shipping News

by digby

CNN just reported that Condoleeza Rice called for Syria to cooperate in the investigation of the assassination of the Lebanese prime minister. She really ought to keep that issue quiet for the moment.

Check out this report from Robert Parry:

The Bush administration is letting the United Arab Emirates take control of six key U.S. ports despite its own port’s reputation as a smuggling center used by arms traffickers, drug dealers and terrorists, apparently including the assassins of Lebanon’s ex-Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.

..................

But the year-old mystery of the truck-bomb assassination of Hariri also has wound its way through the UAE’s port facilities. United Nations investigators tracked the assassins’ white Mitsubishi Canter Van from Japan, where it had been stolen, to the UAE, according to a Dec. 10, 2005, U.N. report.

At that time, UAE officials had been unable to track what happened to the van after its arrival in Dubai. Presumably the van was loaded onto another freighter and shipped by sea through the Suez Canal to Lebanon, but the trail had gone cold in the UAE.

................

The UAE’s competence – or lack of it – in identifying the “consignees” or the freighter used to transport the van to Lebanon could be the key to solving the Hariri murder. This tracking ability also might demonstrate whether UAE port supervisors have the requisite skills for protecting U.S. ports from terrorist penetration.

more at:http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_02_19_digbysblog_archive.html#114072537725938920
and:
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2006/022206.html

[ewagner]

1. Great Find!

This speaks directly to the competence of the company to manage the ports and their security.


This will be headlines within 24 hours!!!!!

[democraticinsurgent]

9. it's not the competence imo

they are probably plenty competent. they are told what to watch for, what to ignore, and what to facilitate. many have thought from the beginning that Hariri was taken down by Bushco to embarass Syria, etc.

UAE is in league with Bushco lock stock and barrel. They are cohorts in fake and real terrorism. They help each other hide CIA and covert trails. They both work for and with Carlyle/Halliburton.

I like how Kristin Breitweiser called Bush "Dubai" instead of "Dubya".

She's right.

[ewagner]

10. My greatest fault

is that I'm not evil enough to think on those terms.....08)

[democraticinsurgent]

12. All of this is still hard to believe

except that there's this enormous trail of facts that follow Bushco around like a big black cloud. Trouble is they're not easy to find, it takes a lot of digging because the corp media don't exactly point them out.

I hate that I have to think like this, but I'm not willing to ignore stuff, i'd rather know reality and then find a way to deal with it.

;-)

[chalky]

14. It'll only be a headline if we send it around to enough people who'll

raise a stink about it.

I'm willing to do my part....

[Sydnie]

2. I agree - this is a great find! n/t

[Maine-ah]

3. K&R

[AzDar]

4. There you go! K&R......

[Pacifist Patriot]

5. Wonderful! Now when will Joe Q. Citizen find out and care?

Damn I hate being this cynical.

[blm]

6. Thank Justice that we have an investigative reporter like Robert Parry to

keep the truth front and center.

[nonconformist]

7. Excellent find. nt

[Marie26]

8. Wow

Weren't they trying to blame Syria at the time?

[wicket]

11. K & R

:kick:

[slipslidingaway]

13. Thanks, here is what the report says on page 10.

http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N05/636/79/PDF/N0563679.pdf?OpenElement

"3. Mitsubishi truck

41. As noted in the previous report (see S/2005/662, paras. 132-134), CCTV video
footage from the HSBC bank overlooking the crime scene showed a Mitsubishi
Canter truck entering the area of the explosion shortly before the arrival of
Mr. Hariri’s convoy. During their search of the crime scene, the Netherlands
forensic team recovered a piece of an engine block, among other vehicle parts. With
the assistance of the Japanese forensic team, that engine block was identified as a
part of a vehicle stolen from Japan on 12 October 2004. The Internal Security
Forces confirmed that they had no record of any vehicle in Lebanon with either the
chassis number or engine numbers identified on the recovered vehicle parts.

42. At the Commission’s request, the Japanese national police opened an
investigation into the stolen vehicle. They concluded that the vehicle had been
shipped, either in whole or in parts, from Japan to another country, most likely the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). Since September, UNIIIC has worked closely with
both the Japanese and United Arab Emirates authorities to trace the movements of
the vehicle, including reviewing shipping documents from the United Arab Emirates
and, with the assistance of the United Arab Emirates authorities, attempting to
locate and interview the consignees of the container in which the vehicle or its parts
is believed to have been shipped. This line of enquiry remains in its early stages."