[Peace-discuss] The muder of Hariri

[C. G. Estabrook]

[I don't know how reliable this report is, but it makes some sort of sense
of the sophisticated killing of Hariri, and it's consistent with the known
views and activities of Abrams.  --CGE]

	Hariri reportedly assassinated to make way 
	for large US air base in Lebanon
	By Wayne Madsen
	Online Journal Contributing Writer

March 11, 2005 -- According to high-level Lebanese intelligence
sources -- Christian and Muslim -- former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik
Hariri was reportedly assassinated in a sophisticated explosion-by-wire
bombing authorized by the Bush administration and Ariel Sharon's Likud
government in Israel.

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.
That 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. The Hariri assasination used wire-bombing technology because
Hariri's security personnel used electronic countermeasures to fend off a
remote control bomb using wireless means. It has been revealed that the
Bush administration has used Syrian intelligence agents to torture al
Qaeda suspects through the program known as "extraordinary rendition."

Hariri, a pan-Arabist and Lebanese nationalist, was known to adamantly
oppose the construction of a major U.S. air base in the north of Lebanon.
The United States wants Syrian troops completely out of Lebanon before
construction of the base is initiated. Hariri's meetings with Hezbollah
shortly before his death also angered Washington and Jerusalem, according
to the Lebanese intelligence sources.

Washington and Jerusalem media experts spun 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
claim that Hariri's assassination was not in the interests of Assad, but
that the Bush and Sharon administrations had everything to gain from it,
including the popular Lebanese uprising against the Syrian occupation.

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.

Wayne Madsen is a Washington, DC-based journalist and columnist and the
co-author of "America's Nightmare: The Presidency of George Bush II."