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Hariri assassinated to make way for U.S. air base
BEITRUT (aljazeera) - According to high-level Lebanese intelligence sources,
both Christian and Muslim, the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri
was assassinated in a sophisticated explosion-by-wire bombing authorized by
the Bush administration and Ariel Sharon's Likud government.
There are also strong indications that the Hariri assassination was carried
out by the same rogue Syrian intelligence agents used in the 2002 car
bombing assassination of Lebanese Christian leader Elie Hobeika, who was
prepared to testify against Sharon in a Brussels human rights court.
The infamous case involved the Israeli Prime Minister's role in the 1982
massacre by Israeli troops of Palestinian refugees at the Sabra and Chatilla
camps in Beirut.
Wire-bombing technology was used to assassinate Hariri simply because
Hariri's security personnel used electronic countermeasures to fend off a
remote control bomb using wireless means.
It was a well known issue that the pan-Arabist and Lebanese nationalist
Hariri was adamantly opposed to the construction of a major U.S. air base in
the north of the country.
On its part, the U.S. wants Syrian troops completely out of Lebanon before
construction of the base is initiated. While Hariri's meetings with
Hezbollah shortly before his death angered Washington and Tel Aviv,
according to the Lebanese intelligence sources.
Israeli and American media experts went into overdrive spinning Hariri's
assassination as being the work of Syrian intelligence on orders from
President Bashar Assad.
However, a number of Middle East political observers in Washington insist
that Syria stands to gain nothing nor is it in its interest to assassinate
Hariri unlike the Bush and Sharon administrations who stand to gain
everything from it, including the popular Lebanese uprising against Syrian
presence.
Lebanese intelligence sources report that even without a formal agreement
with Lebanon, the contract for the northern Lebanese air base has been let
by the Pentagon to Jacobs Engineering Group of Pasadena, California. Other
construction support will be provided by Bechtel Corporation.
Jacobs Engineering and Jacobs Sverdrup are currently contracted for work in
Saudi Arabia for Aramco, Iraq for the U.S. occupation authority, Bosnia,
Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Yemen, Oman, and the United Arab
Emirates.
The Lebanese air base is reportedly to be used as a transit and logistics
hub for U.S. forces in Iraq and as a rest and relaxation location for U.S.
troops in the region.
In addition, the Lebanese base will be used to protect U.S. oil pipelines in
the region (Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan and Mosul/Kirkuk-Ceyhan) as well as to
destabilize the Assad government in Syria.
The size of the planned air base reportedly is on the scale of the massive
American Al Udeid air base in Qatar.
A number of intelligence sources have reported that assassinations of
foreign leaders like Hariri and Hobeika are ultimately authorized by two key
White House officials, Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove and Deputy National
Security Adviser Elliot Abrams.
In addition, Abrams is the key liaison between the White House and Sharon's
office for such covert operations, including political assassinations.
"Abrams is the guy they
[the Israelis] go to for a wink and a nod for such ops," reported one key
source.
--
"I will never apologise for the United States.
I don't care what the facts are."
-- George H W Bush after the US shot
down a civilian airliner over Iran killing all
290 innocent passengers.
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