A proud moment for all the great spymasters.
Posted on 9/19/2005, 12:10:43 AM by Shermy
The Paris-based Intelligence Online has reported on its internet site that late Lebanon's premier Rafik Hariri managed to record the threats made by President Bashar Al Assad at their last face-to-face meeting in Damascus on a spy pen likely provided by the French secret service.
Hariri had provided copies of the threat to U.S. President Bush, French President Jacques Chirac and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf shortly before he was assassinated in a huge blast on Feb. 14, said the newsletter that specializes in intelligence affairs.
The Assad-Hariri meeting was held in the Syrian capital a week before the Lebanese parliament extended President Lahoud's term in office for three additional years on Sept. 3 under intensive Syrian pressure. Hariri was against the extension.
"It is useful for you to know that Lahoud's term will be extended no matter what. I shall not allow you to replace him with anyone else," the recording pen quoted Assad as telling Hariri. "You have to bear in mind that I am capable of destroying Lebanon, you included."
"If I am forced to leave Lebanon, I will leave it a pile of rubble. Your ally Walid Jumblatt must realize the fate awaiting him. The death of his father is the best lesson for him," Assad was reportedly recorded as telling Hariri.
Ping.
Someone has turned the heat up to full boil..
Lets see the validity of this report as more news feeds pick up on it.
A proud moment for all the great spymasters.
An investigation by The Times finds clear evidence that Syria assassinated Rafik Hariri, the Lebanese politician
DAYS before Rafik Hariri’s assassination last month, the Lebanese politician had played host to Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader, at his mansion in west Beirut. Mr Hariri had a warning for his old friend: the Syrians were after them.
“He told me that in the next two weeks it was either going to be me or him,” Mr Jumblatt told The Times. “Clearly he thought something was going to happen.” < /snip>
The Wireless Video Camera Pen contains the latest in miniaturised wireless video technology - squeezing a full colour video camera, microphone, power source and a 2.4GHz transmitter inside a smart stylish pen! And the pen writes, too ;-)
Just press the top of the pen and it begins transmitting high quality colour video, with sound, to the supplied receiver which can be hooked up to a TV, video recorder or PC (with video card) up to 150 metres away! Just imagine the possibilities for those undercover assignments!
Kidding.
If the battle lines are drawing up it is likely to be Druze vs. Hezbollah, with the former nominally disarmed and the latter heavily supplied by the Iranians for decades now. It is the latter who threaten to attack Israel with an avalanche of rockets.
Hezbollah was essentially unchallengeable with the Syrians occupying Lebanon. They aren't now. Should the U.S. decide on active measures against Syria it would be highly unlikely that the activity would be isolated to that country. The Bekaa valley would be very much in play and the Lebanese in need of an alliance to clear out one of the world's true cesspits. Were Hezbollah to launch their Katyushas (et al) it might very well be Israel. At which point it is quite possible the Iranians might try an incursion into Iraq to take the pressure off their clients in Lebanon.
A large number of hard-eyed people are making close calculations just now, and the lights are on late in the planning rooms in Damascus and Tehran, as well as Beirut and Tel Aviv, and Paris, and Washington D.C.
My guess is that Chirac and Musharraf won't remember this and if Bush brings it up it will be discredited as "faulty" intelligence.
If true, why not put the entire conversation in the public
domain and put it on the web (along with a translation) and let the whole world see and hear it?
Its easy for someone to sit in his pajammas and make this stuff up, but coming up with a recording would change the balance of power forever.
Of course! The old tape recorder in the pen trick! That's the 2nd time I've fallen for it this month...
"This evidence must be why Assad agreed to leave."
I think it had a lot to do with the Saudis. Some days after the assassination Assad made a quick trip to Saudi, day after he came back he announced the surprising turn around.
Hariri carried a Saudi passport, close to Saudi rulers. Probably read him the riot act.
"Intelligence Online" has a headline for its article, but it's a pay site.
Could be disinformation, but..., it comports well with what Jumblat said immediately after the assassination. Saw him on TV talking about what Hariri told him - no guile, a little scared.
I think the bombing was a bigger message to all of Lebanon, it was such a big bomb with lots of collateral damage, not a relatively neat assaination.
Lets assume the model Hariri used was twice as good. (No real reason to assume that, but work with me here....) So that's 300 meters, - less than 1000 feet.
You have to assume Assad is an idiot to not have a radio sweep running full time in his offices (as it is in the Whitehouse) and that the meeting place was not shielded, and that it was close enough to park a van with enough stuff to pick this up.
Seems dubious to me.
It was a recorder, not a transmitter.
Still the recording could be real but the spy pen story a diversion...
Kuwaiti paper claims Syria ready to cut deal with France over Hariri investigation
"I think the bombing was a bigger message to all of Lebanon, it was such a big bomb with lots of collateral damage, not a relatively neat assaination."
You could be right on the mark. I just hesitate when I see things hot off the press so to speak. I have no problem with the contents of the article. In fact I would not be surprised if it is geniune due to it's nature. Obviously Syria wanted to maintain control over Lebanon for multiple reasons.
The story is imprecise on this point. It simply states he recorded it, but not WHERE, or what exactly how the recorder worked.
French Secret Service?
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