Lebanon: Foreign accent, advanced support, resignation

Follow-up, Discussion

Three things not looking good for the Americans

1. More of the Osama bin Ladin-bad-tape-producer

We don't know if it was a recording or an actual person.

person who called in to claim responsibility for the bombing wasn't a native arabic speaker -- they said the person spoke arabic with a foreign accent Ref

If someone is going to claim responsibility or be involved, they need to actually be involved. Sounds like more of the Powell-UN briefing.

Are they using the same arabic-speaker-actors that they hired for Powell's sham-US briefing on WMD? Looks like the Agency hired a really bad PR person.

2. High tech capability

With high tech capability like this, there's no excuse for Echelon not picking it up.

defense was so advanced that it jammed cell phones and televisions and therefore the attack must have been carried out by an intelligence agency Ref

3. October 2004 Resignation: Harari wasn't a threat to Syria

Hariri, 60, resigned in October after parliament amended the
Lebanese Constitution to extend pro-Syrian President Emile Lahoud’s term three years. Hariri had opposed the extension, but Syria supported it.Ref

There was no reason for Syria to go after him--he was out of the picture. He's more of a symbolic figure, at best an obstacle to American business interests.

Lebanon Rafik, Hariri, JTTF Echelon 9-11 Intelligence