What appears to have been a bomb explosion on a bus outside a Bulgarian airport has killed as many as seven, with 30 or more injured. it appears the victims were Israeli tourists.
Before any investigation, despite there being no hard evidence of the perpetrators, despite Bulgaria having its own indigenous wahhabist radicals and having been a hangout for suspect groups like the KLA, Israel’s prime minister has decided that Iran is responsible for the attack. At least Washington is being more circumspect, with White House spokesman Jay Carney telling reporters, “I don’t have information yet on anything specific to the incident itself, if in fact it was terrorism and who was responsible for it.” However Netanyahu is talking of retaliation: “Israel will react powerfully against Iranian terror.”
If indeed this attack was carried out by or ordered by Iranian interests, it’s an incredibly stupid move at a time when the Obama administration is triangulating to the point of incompetence between negotiations to reduce tensions and sabrerattling to keep hawks at home and abroad happy. Other recent attacks attributed to Iran have largely targeted Israeli officials in clear retaliation for Israeli assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, however, rather than being general attacks on citizens. There’s enough doubt that Obama should be trying to rein in the hawks until more is known. However, in the longer term I worry that Obama’s love of keeping his options open ends up being the path of least resistance – and that path leads to a disasterous war.
if the attack was Iranian in origin:
to derail the O administration’s diplomatic efforts.
From higher oil prices? It’s always about money.
any direction the murders in Damascus and those in Bulgaria.
The origin of the universe has not as yet been shown to be a conspiracy theory
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
Anyone long the oil market can benefit. This is a metric of nothing.
eom.
I’m simply highlighting that the combination of “who benefits?” reasoning and “oil” as the great unicausal explicator really is serving as a replacement for thought (as I’ve said many times) if it doesn’t get to Iran as a strong possible in this scenario.
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
July 19
BBC News – The bombing of an Israeli tourist bus in eastern Bulgaria was probably carried out by a male suicide bomber with fake US documents, officials say.
At least seven people died and 34 were injured when the bus exploded at Burgas airport, by the Black Sea.
Israel has sent planes to Burgas with doctors and officials to bring back the dead and injured.
Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said Lebanese Hezbollah was the direct perpetrator, under Iran’s auspices.
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[Comment: This would be quite a departure for Hizbullah. My recollection is that they haven't been involved in these since the IDF withdrawal from Lebanon and that various of their sources have alluded to occupation being a requirement for the tactic (not that they're channeling Pape or anything). Not sure this one feels quite right, even given that the organization has to be under significant pressure given current events and speculated shifts in their relations with their patron. Wait and see. Did I mention Interesting Times? ~ JPD]
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
Meanwhile, former Israeli national security adviser Uzi Arad confirmed on Thursday, for the first time, that Israel had assassinated Hezbollah chief Imad Mughniyeh in 2008.
Referring to the attack in Burgas, he told Israeli Army Radio: “Now is Iran’s revenge.
Israel’s automatic and loud assertion that Iran is to blame is getting old.
…someone cries wolf, it doesn’t mean that the wolf isn’t eating the sheep. I seem to recall that that was rather the point of the parable. Looked at objectively, Iran certainly is a strong suspect – there are definitely others, but Iran is strong.
The relevant questions that we should be reflecting upon (assuming that it is true), IMHO, would be “why” and “who in the Iranian power apparatus exactly”? There are contingents in there that have the ability to carry out something like this without executive control and the interest to do so. If you’re a clever parker in that system wanting to weaponize on a medium term and not particularly picky about whether the velayetis stay in charge, derailing talks and provoking kinetics makes excellent sense. After all, consensus opinion out here is that kinetics can’t stop progress on the nuclear file and that the most likely Iranian response to eating ordnance is more broadly based consensus towards weaponization…
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
the why and who is important. I also wonder how easy it was for Israel to admit to a past deed so that their knee jerk response would look more credible. To me it just muddies the water and allows attention getting headlines.
EOM
“Everything around you that you call life was made up by people that were no smarter than you and you can change it, you can influence it, you can build your own things that other people can use.” ~ Steve Jobs
Mehdi Ghezali, Israeli Tourist Suicide Bomber? Bulgaria Press Reportedly Names Former Gitmo Detainee Responsible For Attack
According to a report by The Times of Israel, Bulgarian media named Mehdi Ghezali, a Swedish citizen and former detainee at Guantanamo Bay from 2002 to 2004, as the suicide bomber responsible for an attack in Burgas, Bulgaria, on Wednesday.
The report could not be independently verified.
On Wednesday, eight people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a bus carrying Israeli tourists in Bulgaria. Footage showed “a normal person with Bermuda shorts and a backpack” at the airport of Burgas.
Reuters described the man as in his mid-30s with long dark curly hair and wearing a dark blue cap. Bulgarian authorities reportedly were using DNA from the man’s finger to establish his identity.
According to The Long War Journal, Mehdi Ghezali was arrested in Pakistan in December 2001. His lawyers claim he was caught in the wrong place at the wrong time, The Weekly Standard reports
Apparently there’s some pushback on this identification coming from Swedish intelligence.
Terrorist said to have been a Swedish citizen with a history of Muslim extremist activities
Bulgarian media on Thursday named the suicide bomber who blew up a bus full of Israeli tourists, killing five Israelis and a local bus driver, in the Black Sea resort of Burgas on Wednesday as Mehdi Ghezali
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=a64_1342717291
McClatchy
and what will Bulgaria say?
July 19, 2012
Hezbollah Is Blamed for Attack on Israeli Tourists in Bulgaria
By NICHOLAS KULISH and ERIC SCHMITT
BURGAS, Bulgaria — American officials on Thursday identified the suicide bomber responsible for a deadly attack on Israeli vacationers here as a member of a Hezbollah cell that was operating in Bulgaria and looking for such targets, corroborating Israel’s assertions and making the bombing a new source of tension with Iran.
One senior American official said the current American intelligence assessment was that the bomber, who struck Wednesday, killing five Israelis, had been “acting under broad guidance†to hit Israeli targets when opportunities presented themselves, and that the guidance had been given to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group, by Iran, its primary sponsor. Two other American officials confirmed that Hezbollah was behind the bombing, but declined to provide additional details.
The attacks, the official said, were in retaliation for the assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists, for which Iran has blamed Israeli agents — an accusation that Israel has neither confirmed nor denied. “This was tit for tat,†said the American official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way.
The bombing comes amid heightened tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, which Tehran says is for peaceful purposes but Israel and the West say is a cover for developing weapons. The United States and Europe imposed sanctions this month aimed at crippling Iran’s vital oil industry, while Iran has sworn to exact revenge for the assassinations, as well as for cyberattacks on its nuclear industry.
A senior Israeli official said on Thursday that the Burgas attack was part of an intensive wave of terrorist attacks around the world carried out by two different organizations, the Iranian Quds Force, an elite international operations unit within Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, as well as by Hezbollah.
“They work together when necessary, and separately when not necessary,†the Israeli official told reporters on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss national security issues.
While the Burgas attack fit the modus operandi of Hezbollah, the Israeli official said, it was not clear whether the bomber intended to blow himself up or had suffered what the official called a “work accident,†adding, “We will never know.â€
The bomber had a fake Michigan driver’s license, but there are no indications that he had any connection to the United States, the American official said, adding that there were no details yet about the bomber like his name or nationality. He also declined to describe what specific intelligence — intercepted communications, analysis of the bomber’s body parts or other details — that led analysts to conclude that the bomber belonged to Hezbollah.
“This looks like he was hanging out for a local target, and when this popped up he jumped on it,†the official said, referring to a bus carrying Israeli tourists outside the airport in Burgas.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a news conference on Thursday in Jerusalem that the attack in Burgas was carried out by “Hezbollah, the long arm of Iran.â€
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bbc
Officials are still struggling to identify a suicide bomber, 48 hours after he killed five Israelis and a local bus driver in Bulgaria.
CCTV footage released earlier from the attack at Burgas airport had shown a white person with long hair.
But a witness said on Friday the suspect was a dark-skinned man with short brown hair and an Arabic accent, and appeared to be wearing a wig.
Fingerprints and DNA samples from the bomber’s body are being examined.
The FBI and the CIA are working with Bulgarian investigators on the case.
On Friday, the funerals were held in Israel for the five Israelis – four men in their 20s and a pregnant woman – killed in the bombing.
‘Shaven head’
Speaking on Friday, Bulgaria’s Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov said that 3kg (6.6lb) of TNT powder had been used in the attack.
He said the bomber was not thought to be a Bulgarian citizen, and that investigators had ruled out Mehdi Ghezali, a Swedish citizen and former Guantanamo inmate, who was mentioned earlier as a possible suspect.
The suspect tried to hire a car in the days before the bombing, but was turned down because of doubts about his driving licence photo, according to police and the car rental firm.
The attacker had a fake driving licence from the US state of Michigan. According to the AFP news agency, it was registered under the name of Jacque Felipe Martin of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, born in 1987.
Afrodita Petrova, from the car rental company, said: “He had an almost shaven head… His hair was brown.”
The suspect is thought to have been in Bulgaria for up to a week
She said that he was of Arabic appearance, had dark skin and spoke English with an Arabic accent. He also had a lot of money in 500-euro (£390; $610) notes and appeared upset.
Speaking to Bulgarian national TV, she insisted the man was the same person shown in the CCTV footage released by the authorities, and looked like he was wearing a wig.
The footage showed a man going in and out of the terminal, wearing a baseball cap over long blonde hair and carrying a bulky backpack.
Officials believe the backpack carried the bomb which was later placed in the luggage compartment of the tourist bus.
Prosecutors said on Friday that they now believe the man to be short-haired, but that it was unclear whether he was wearing a wig or had a haircut after the footage was taken, AP reported.
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Burgas, Bulgaria (CNN) — Bulgarian police have been alerted to the possibility of a second suspect in a bomb attack that killed five Israeli tourists in Burgas, a high-level source in Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry told CNN.
Investigators have determined that the bomb was detonated by a man caught on airport security videos about an hour before Wednesday’s attack at Burgas International Airport. But they are now looking at the possibility that he had help.
According to the source, investigators have spoken to several eyewitnesses in attempt to identify the bomber.
They describe a man with short hair who spoke English with a “distinct” accent.
This is different from the man seen on the security video who has long hair, however, leading investigators to look into the possibility that a second person may be involved, a source said.
Police in Burgas have been given an identikit photo of the man and told to look out for anyone matching this description.
Bulgaria investigators seeks clues to suicide bomber’s identity
Earlier, a lower-level source at the Interior Ministry told CNN that police were looking for a second suspect, possibly an American.
That was later corrected by a higher-level source, who said a second suspect was a possibility, but had not been confirmed.
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