Archive for Middle East
Analyzing Failure; The Business of Freelance Intelligence Contracting
Highlighting an earlier article written on trust in this business. It now comes to pass we see another blown intelligence operation. This time however it is a freelance intelligence operation that was blown as opposed to some state sponsored operation. What the earlier article highlighted was how hard it is to trust someone in the intelligence business. In this article I want to highlight just how that trust is misplaced or how easily it can be betrayed by others. Not only that, I will try and highlight the article written to see if there is anything to be gained in hindsight by looking at the story covered by the media, and the operation itself, which seemed to unfold through that media.
»» Analyzing Failure; The Business of Freelance Intelligence Contracting
Assassination Tools; The Mystery Unravels
A few things have come to light recently on the assassination of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh. Many new suspects have been identified via surveillance cameras, and as of today Dubai police have claimed a breakthrough using DNA to match the identification of at least one suspect in the assassination. Other details have also come through with the arrest in Syria of a top aid to Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in the guise of Muhammad Nasser, who was a top Hamas official. He has since been extradited to Dubai and has been undergoing questioning for his supposed role in identifying to the assassins when Mahmoud al-Mabhouh would be traveling to Dubai. Most of this has been going on this past week which is why I have not posted lately. I figured to wait and see where things would go internationally with the investigation, and decided instead to focus on some of the details of the operation itself that has not been discussed very much in the news. One of those issues is the speculation surrounding how the assassins got into the victims room. Since this key surveillance footage has not been shown, all we have is speculation on what actually took place at the critical moment of the operation itself. Questions continue to mount over why this hallway footage was available earlier in the day when the assassination surveillance team followed the victim to his room, but not available during the murder itself. Where is that footage and why are we not allowed to see it? Was the camera somehow disabled by the kill team prior? If so, and this footage does not exist, then all we have left is speculation on how entry to the room was achieved.
Assassination Tango; Mahmoud al-Mabhouh
The recent murder of Mahmoud al-Mabhouh in Dubai has many people discussing whether it was right or wrong to have done. However I wont really go into any of that here. What I would like to concentrate on are the way the job was carried out, the mistakes I see that were made in the operation, and finally, the end results and what the future possibly holds for those involved. So far I have not seen much in the way of a discussion on the merits of the hit team or the mistakes they made. I read on another blog that the mission was probably acted on or commenced in haste. I however disagree with that. I do not believe it was carried out in haste, rather I think it was planned well in advance, and was also the result of betrayal by someone close to Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, possibly even someone very high up in his inner circle.
