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Posts Tagged assassination
Diplomatic Security in Light of Benghazi
Posted by Brian in News, Threat Watch on 30/Sep/2012 13:50
“Diplomatic Security in Light of Benghazi is republished with permission of Stratfor.”
By Scott Stewart
It has been more than two weeks since the Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. diplomatic facility in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, yet the attack remains front-page news. One reason is that it has become unusual for a U.S. ambassador to be killed. After the 1968 assassination of John Mein in Guatemala — the first ever U.S. ambassador to be assassinated — several others were killed in the 1970s: Cleo Noel Jr. in Sudan in 1973, Rodger Davies in Cyprus in 1974, Francis Meloy Jr. in Lebanon in 1976 and Adolph Dubs in Afghanistan in 1979. However, following improvements in diplomatic security during the 1980s, no U.S. ambassador has died as a result of a hostile action since Ambassador Arnold Raphel, who was killed in the plane crash used to assassinate Pakistani President Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq in August 1988.
Another reason for the continued publicity is that it is an election year. Since foreign policy is an area where Republicans believe President Barack Obama is vulnerable, Stevens’ death has become highly politicized. In any event, the Benghazi attack remains in the headlines. Unfortunately, as one goes beyond those headlines, there are many misunderstandings that have persisted in both the media coverage and the public discussions of the incident. There simply are not many people who understand how diplomatic facilities work and how they are protected.
With that in mind, and because other U.S. diplomatic facilities remain in harm’s way due to the protests occurring throughout the Muslim world, it is an opportune time to again discuss diplomatic security. Read the rest of this entry »
Reflections on the Iranian Assassination Plot
Posted by Brian in Threat Watch on 20/Oct/2011 17:43
Reflections on the Iranian Assassination Plot is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Scott Stewart
On Oct. 11, the U.S. Department of Justice announced that two men had been charged in New York with taking part in a plot directed by the Iranian Quds Force to kill Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to the United States, Adel al-Jubeir, on U.S. soil.
Manssor Arbabsiar and Gholam Shakuri face numerous charges, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction (explosives), conspiracy to commit an act of terrorism transcending national borders and conspiracy to murder a foreign official. Arbabsiar, who was arrested Sept. 29 at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, is a U.S. citizen with both Iranian and U.S. passports. Shakuri, who remains at large, allegedly is a senior officer in Iran’s Quds Force, a special unit of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) believed to promote military and terrorist activities abroad.
Between May and July, Arbabsiar, who lives in the United States, allegedly traveled several times to Mexico, where he met with a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) confidential informant who was posing as an associate of the Mexican Los Zetas cartel. The criminal complaint charges that Arbabsiar attempted to hire the DEA source and his purported accomplices to kill the ambassador. Arbabsiar’s Iranian contacts allegedly wired two separate payments totaling $100,000 in August into an FBI-controlled bank account in the United States, with Shakuri’s approval, as a down payment to the DEA source for the killing (the agreed-upon total price was $1.5 million).
Much has been written about the Arbabsiar case, both by those who believe the U.S. government’s case is valid and by those who doubt the facts laid out in the criminal complaint. However, as we have watched this case unfold, along with the media coverage surrounding it, it has occurred to us that there are two aspects of the case that we think merit more discussion. The first is that, as history has shown, it is not unusual for Iran to employ unconventional assassins in plots inside the United States. Second, while the DEA informant was reportedly posing as a member of Los Zetas, we do not believe the case proves any sort of increase in the terrorist threat emanating from the United States’ southern border. Read the rest of this entry »
The Mohammed Cartoon Dust Has Not Settled
Posted by Brian in Opinion, Threat Watch on 6/Jan/2011 15:47
The Mohammed Cartoon Dust Has Not Settled is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
By Scott Stewart
When one considers all of the people and places in the West targeted by transnational jihadists over the past few years, iconic targets such as New York’s Times Square, the London Metro and the Eiffel Tower come to mind. There are also certain target sets such as airlines and subways that jihadists focus on more than others. Upon careful reflection, however, it is hard to find any target set that has been more of a magnet for transnational jihadist ire over the past year than the small group of cartoonists and newspapers involved in the Mohammed cartoon controversy.
Every year STRATFOR publishes a forecast of the jihadist movement for the coming year. As we were working on that project for this year, we were struck by the number of plots in 2010 that involved the cartoon controversy — and by the number of those plots that had transnational dimensions, rather than plots that involved only local grassroots operatives. (The 2011 jihadist forecast will be available to STRATFOR members in the coming weeks.)
Groups such as al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP) have gone to great lengths to keep the topic of the Mohammed cartoons burning in the consciousness of radical Islamists, whether they are lone wolves or part of an organized jihadist group, and those efforts are obviously bearing fruit. Because of this, we anticipate that plots against cartoon-related targets will continue into the foreseeable future. Read the rest of this entry »
Fourth Mexican mayor in less than six weeks killed by Assassins
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 25/Sep/2010 16:41
MEXICO CITY: Assassins have killed a fourth Mexican mayor in less than six weeks as a drug war continues to engulf formerly calm parts of the country, authorities said.
Gunmen ambushed and shot dead Prisciliano Rodriguez Salinas and an employee on Thursday night at his ranch near the industrial centre of Monterrey, in the northern state of Nuevo Leon. Mr Rodriguez was mayor of the town of Doctor Gonzalez, just north-east of Monterrey.
On Friday Ricardo Solis, who was to be sworn in as mayor of another town, was shot and critically injured in the border state of Chihuahua. President Felipe Calderon condemned the ”cowardly” killings and pledged to continue fighting the drug cartels.
http://www.smh.com.au/world/another-mayor-dies-20100925-15rkt.html
Mexican killers disquised themselves as Mexican Marines(Graphic Content)
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 7/Jul/2010 21:19
Three vehicles recovered in the murder of Rodolfo Torre Cantú, candidate for governor, were altered to look like military vehicles.
Here’s a news flash: Americans living in border states are not mean-spirited bigots with racist hatred of anyone with brown skin.
They are good, hardworking people who do not want this kind of violence spilling across the border into their back yards, and who object to people showing complete disregard to the laws of the United States.
“Sources close to the investigation carried out by the Attorney General of Tamaulipas and the PGR report that sicarios were disguied as Mexican Marines who apparently had inside information of the PRI candidate [Rodolfo Torre Cantú], and managed to execute the ambush in full military precision.
According to information published by the newspaper Reforma, witnesses report that the candidate’s convoy was passed by a truck that suddenly started traveling at low speed and a a few feet ahead of the the road was tractor trailer that was used to block the road.
Once the procession was forced to stop, two cloned trucks, made to look like military vehicles, came from behind and from inside numerous men that appeared to be wearing marine uniforms got out of their vehicles.”
http://www.borderlandbeat.com/2010/07/cloned-marines-responsible-for.html
Mexican Candidate for Governor Is Assassinated
Posted by Jack Sinclair in News, Threat Watch on 28/Jun/2010 21:51
“Forensic experts inspected the site where the candidate for governor in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, Rodolfo Torre Cantu, was assassinated, in Ciudad Victoria, Mexico.†- EFE, via European Pressphoto Agency
“MEXICO CITY — A popular candidate for governor who had made increased security his prime campaign pledge was killed along with at least four others Monday morning in a brazen attack, rattling a nation already alarmed by surging drug violence.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/29/world/americas/29mexico.html