Palestinians pressured not to seek international probe into Arafat's death

Sign of the Times

The Palestinians' efforts to launch an international probe into the 2004 death of ex-leader Yasser Arafat face serious obstacles, a Palestinian official said Tuesday.

The obstacles stem from the opposition by some countries including the United States and France, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The United States has put pressure on the Palestinian leadership not to seek such an investigation because it can lead to some negative consequences on the Middle East peace process, which has been stalled since 2010, according to the official.

The amount of pressure mounted on the Palestinian leaders might foil their efforts to stage an international probe into Arafat's death, the official added.

The debate about ex-leader's death renewed last week after Arab satellite channel al-Jazeera aired an investigative report indicating that Arafat was poisoned with toxic radioactive polonium.

Arafat died three weeks after arriving at a French hospital near Paris in November 2004. No conclusive reason was given for his death. Before airlifted to France, Arafat had been ill for more than two years, confined by Israel in his West Bank headquarters.

On Monday, the Palestinian leadership asked Swiss scientists to come to the West Bank and take samples of Arafat's remains for additional tests.

The experts are from the Lausanne-based Institute of Radiation Physics, which al-Jazeera hired for testing Arafat's personal belongings.

Following al-Jazeera's report, the Palestinian leaders said they have no problem exhuming Arafat's body from his West Bank grave if his family requests more tests to be done on his remains.

Scientists’ Analysis Disputes F.B.I. Closing of Anthrax Case

New York Times
William J. Broad, Scott Shane

Martin E. Hugh-Jones is a co-author
of a new paper on the anthrax attacks.

A decade after wisps of anthrax sent through the mail killed 5 people, sickened 17 others and terrorized the nation, biologists and chemists still disagree on whether federal investigators got the right man and whether the F.B.I.’s long inquiry brushed aside important clues.

Now, three scientists argue that distinctive chemicals found in the dried anthrax spores — including the unexpected presence of tin — point to a high degree of manufacturing skill, contrary to federal reassurances that the attack germs were unsophisticated. The scientists make their case in a coming issue of the Journal of Bioterrorism & Biodefense.

F.B.I. documents reviewed by The New York Times show that bureau scientists focused on tin early in their eight-year investigation, calling it an “element of interest” and a potentially critical clue to the criminal case. They later dropped their lengthy inquiry, never mentioned tin publicly and never offered any detailed account of how they thought the powder had been made.

The new paper raises the prospect — for the first time in a serious scientific forum — that the Army biodefense expert identified by the F.B.I. as the perpetrator, Bruce E. Ivins, had help in obtaining his germ weapons or conceivably was innocent of the crime.

Both the chairwoman of a National Academy of Science panel that spent a year and a half reviewing the F.B.I.’s scientific work and the director of a new review by the Government Accountability Office said the paper raised important questions that should be addressed.

Alice Gast, head of a panel that assessed
the F.B.I.'s scientific work, said the
paper “points out connections that deserve
further consideration.”

Alice P. Gast, president of Lehigh University and the head of the academy panel, said that the paper “points out connections that deserve further consideration.”

Dr. Gast, a chemical engineer, said the “chemical signatures” in the mailed anthrax and their potential value to the criminal investigation had not been fully explored. “It just wasn’t pursued as vigorously as the microbiology,” she said, alluding to the analysis of micro-organisms. She also noted that the academy panel suggested a full review of classified government research on anthrax, which her panel never saw.

In interviews, the three authors said their analysis suggested that the F.B.I. might have pursued the wrong suspect and that the case should be reopened. Their position may embolden calls for a national commission to investigate the first major bioterrorist attack in American history.

But other scientists who reviewed the paper said they thought the tin might be a random contaminant, not a clue to complex processing. And the Justice Department has not altered its conclusion that the deadly letters were mailed by Dr. Ivins, an Army anthrax specialist who worked at Fort Detrick, Md., and killed himself in 2008 as prosecutors prepared to charge him.

New report claims Chile’s Allende was killed

EuroNews

Only days ago, the body of Chile’s late president Salvador Allende was exhumed to determine exactly how he died in a coup in 1973. Conspiracy theorists do not believe he committed suicide but was instead assassinated. Now new documents have come to light, adding to the mystery.

Forensic expert Luis Ravanal: “The report and the conclusions that I wrote established the existence of at least two projectiles, two impact wounds from bullets of two different weapons. One is clearly a low-calibre weapon, with a round exit wound and the other shattered the cranium. So they are different weapons and it is hard to imagine that an AK-47 would be used for suicide.”

Allende’s death in the midst of a violent coup has never been investigated. Some say he tried to kill himself but failed. His daughter remains cautious over the latest evidence.

Bin Laden Crime Scene Faces Demolition

A Pakistani family poses for photographs
in front of the final hiding place of al-Qaeda chief
Osama bin Laden in Abottabad.

 

 

The Age

PAKISTANI authorities are reported to be considering demolishing Osama bin Laden's hideout in the garrison town of Abbottabad to prevent it becoming a rallying point for extremists.

The walled compound where bin Laden was killed when US forces raided in the early hours of Monday has been transformed from mysterious hideaway to tourist attraction.

"The crowds have been getting bigger every day," said Hasnat Ahmed, a 22-year-old engineering graduate who can see bin Laden's compound from his rooftop. "We are not sure about international tourism yet, but I think we will be getting plenty of people from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi."

While al-Qaeda has finally admitted bin Laden's death, many Pakistanis are sceptical about claims the al-Qaeda chief was killed in the raid and question the White House's decision not to release photos of his body.

The US disposed of bin Laden's body at sea so his grave wouldn't become a shrine for extremists. But if the past few days are any guide, the al-Qaeda chief's house has pulling power.

Sources have told The Sunday Age that demolition of the concrete buildings and high perimeter wall is being considered to stop it becoming a shrine. No date has been announced for any demolition.
Extra security personnel have been deployed around the compound in recent days to tighten security and help with crowd control.

"Everyone is interested in this," said telco worker Shah Zaib Khan, who walked from his home more than an hour away to take a look at the walled compound. "Is it drama or is it a reality?"

Rashid-ul-Haq Qazi, a lawyer who visited the compound, had another suggestion: charge people to look inside. "It would be wiser to print some tickets and charge an entry fee," he said.

Bin Laden's fifth wife, detained after the raid on Abbottabad, has told Pakistani investigators that he lived in another town in northern Pakistan before moving to the neighbourhood where he was killed, the Dawn newspaper reported.

Amal Ahmed al-Sadah reportedly told investigators that bin Laden lived on the outskirts of Haripur, about 25 kilometres south of Abbottabad, from 2003 until late 2005.

This testimony suggests the world's most wanted man was living in urban settlements for nearly eight years before he was killed.

Meanwhile The New York Times reported that the US government has demanded Pakistan provide the identities of some of its top intelligence operatives, as the US tries to determine whether any of them had contact with bin Laden or his agents in the years before he was killed.

The paper said there had been a tense discussion between Pakistani officials and a US envoy sent to Pakistan last week, amid growing suspicion among US intelligence and diplomatic officials that someone in Pakistan's secret intelligence agency knew of bin Laden's location and helped shield him.