Report: Mossad wipes Iranian nuclear scientist off the map
posted at 1:42 pm on February 4, 2007 by Allahpundit
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I doubt it’s true, but I liked my headline so much that I had to link it.
There’s another report out today about the alleged secret shambles that is Iran’s nuclear program. The Guardian had this story last week and now the Times is saying the same thing:
The many setbacks and outright failures of Tehran’s experimental program suggest that its bluster may outstrip its technical expertise. And the problems help explain American intelligence estimates that Iran is at least four years away from producing a nuclear weapon…
What the Iranians are not talking about, experts with access to the atomic agency’s information say, is that their experimental effort to make centrifuges work has struggled to achieve even limited success and appears to have been put on the back burner so the country’s leaders can declare that they are moving to the next stage…
To enrich uranium on an industrial scale, the machines must spin at very high speeds for months on end. But the latest report of the atomic agency, issued in November, said the primitive machines of the Iran’s pilot plant ran only intermittently, to enrich small amounts of uranium. And the Iranians succeeded in setting up just two of the planned six groupings of 164 centrifuges at the pilot plant…
The dimensions of Iran’s technical woes are suggested by its delayed schedules. Tehran originally planned to have all six cascades of its experimental plant operating by 2003, and to begin installing centrifuges in the industrial halls in 2005.
And yet:
The Iranians appear to have sped ahead. In interviews, diplomats and nuclear officials said recent inspector reports of rapid centrifuge mobilization and installation at Natanz show that Tehran had worked hard for the past year, even as it engaged in increasingly harsh language that some experts took as a cover for technical failings.
Mohamed ElBaradei, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, recently suggested that the Iranian strides amounted to something of a bargaining chip that might be traded away to head off a larger confrontation.
Maybe it’s a feint to create diplomatic leverage, maybe it’s an ostentatious scare tactic to invite a western attack, or maybe it’s an earnest effort to build a bomb. Exit question: Since no one seems to have any idea, why even continue to blog this story?
Update: All right, here’s a real exit question to which I already know everyone’s answer: Should scientists be fair game for assassination?
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Because the blog post headlines are so good?
flipflop on February 4, 2007 at 1:47 PM
According to what I read at FOX there was a statement about it being a ‘gas incident’. Maybe he just plain goofed up.
Of course the press will play ‘it’s the Joooos’ angle. Anything to keep those Zionists in their place. If it was Mossad; This Bud is for you!
Limerick on February 4, 2007 at 1:50 PM
‘According to Radio Farda, Iranian reports of Hassanpour’s death emerged on Jan. 21 after a delay of six days, giving the cause as “gas poisoning”. ‘ FOX
Natural gas? Damn how did that line get cut anyway?
Limerick on February 4, 2007 at 1:56 PM
If true, Mossad did him a favor;
he’s with the 72 black-eyed virgins as we speak.
mountainmanbob on February 4, 2007 at 1:57 PM
Only if they deny global warming. Of course.
lorien1973 on February 4, 2007 at 1:59 PM
ROFL!
flipflop on February 4, 2007 at 2:03 PM
It’s because they keep trying to face the magnets west.
- The Cat
MirCat on February 4, 2007 at 2:06 PM
Should Wernher v Braun or Joseph Mengele have been assassinated?
I believe that’s your answer, right there.
Misha I on February 4, 2007 at 2:06 PM
If it was Mossad … good job, but they’re getting sloppy.
Exit question: Yes
Who’s next on the list … get cracking
darwin on February 4, 2007 at 2:12 PM
Gas as an assassination tool? Radioactive tea too? Whatever happened to the good old derringer from behind technique or a good old fashioned sniper? Are todays assassins involved in some weird contest to see who can kill with tho most creativity?
Guardian on February 4, 2007 at 2:20 PM
This gets a qualified response. If you are furthering a murderous regime’s attempt to commit genocide, you are a target. Any iranian scientist involved with the nuclear program fits that bill. If you are a foreign born scientist helping that program, I wouldn’t feel too comfortable either.
still468 on February 4, 2007 at 2:32 PM
Because the skitzo writings of the MM are hysterical?
Works for me.
Whose rules are we working under? The US rules or Iran’s rules?
According to them … anyone is open game who doesn’t martyr themselves.
One Angry Christian on February 4, 2007 at 2:32 PM
I kind of see this being natural and Mossad taking credit.
Just the idea that they can do this would make some Islamic sceintists have many sleepless nights.
heck if he had only gotten killed in a car crash Id start a rumor that “maybe you should check the tires” on a website and just watch the worry fly !
William Amos on February 4, 2007 at 2:33 PM
Another possible angle: if their program is in a shambles, and he is somehow responsible, or a scapegoat, the mullahs may have capped him “pour encourager les autres”.
In that case, it would be entirely in character for the regime to tell the rest of the world it was the Joooooz.
LagunaDave on February 4, 2007 at 2:53 PM
Assassination? Absolutely. You can add kidnapping, also.
tomk59 on February 4, 2007 at 3:15 PM
-AP
Gives them the same status as bakers, bus drivers, school kids, coffee shop patrons, and beach goers.
Limerick on February 4, 2007 at 3:25 PM
Assassination isn’t fair. We don’t do, or condone, such actions. Officially, of course…
JetBoy on February 4, 2007 at 3:56 PM
Because it makes a difference whether Iran can make a nuclear explosive device, or make a nuclear explosive device that functions as part of a viable weapons system.
It belive that Iran can make a bomb, and probably has been able to do so for a long time. But just making a bomb can often be more dangerous to the maker than the target.
What we need to worry about is Iran’s ability to incorporate their bombs into weapons system capable of continental or global targeting.
Lawrence on February 4, 2007 at 4:18 PM
Look, those reports are not contradictory. Iran is “pressing ahead” on building centrifuges and the associated infrastructure, but they still have a limited ability to operate them. To make a car manufacturing analogy, they’re “speeding ahead” on building a car, but they’re having trouble learning how to drive.
As for assassinating scientists, it would seem preferable to capture and interrogate them. Better yet would be to strike a deal with one and have him/her defect in exchange for information.
NPP on February 4, 2007 at 4:30 PM
Because we can’t get enough of the charming, clean, tall, brilliant and good-looking Mr. Ahmadinejad.
Not in the case of Messrs Gore and Carter.
Entelechy on February 4, 2007 at 4:31 PM
Nah, scientists shouldn’t be assassinated. Of course, they run the risk of becoming collateral damage in airstrikes, and that sort of thing, but killing the scientists seems a bit over the line.
I am a “computer scientist” who does work on federal contracts. If someone doesn’t want the US to build a high tech fighter plane, I don’t want them whacking me… of course, killing me wouldn’t stop anything, but still.
DaveS on February 4, 2007 at 5:01 PM
No. Even if they were killed their work remains to be picked up by someone else. At best, killing the scientist only slows down the research – but not by much. Instead, go after those funding the research – leaders, governments, etc…
thedecider on February 4, 2007 at 5:06 PM
Exit question answer….
Yes. Kill em all.
csdeven on February 4, 2007 at 5:11 PM
Tollbooth question: Should warbloggers be fair game for assassination?
pedestrian on February 4, 2007 at 5:53 PM
As long as anti-warbloggers are fair game also.
After all, fair is fair.
Lawrence on February 4, 2007 at 6:20 PM
If, as many on this blog agree (myself included), scientists are fair game for assasination. Then why in the world do many say the leaders aren’t “eligible”. There’s a double standard there that I just don’t understand. As a matter of fact, the assasination of that leader (assuming the scientists are working for a terrorist regime)would probably result in fewer deaths down the road than just wacking the one scientist. I wonder where our American policy of not whacking leaders started and came from. If it was out of fear of our own being assasinated, yet we condone the killing of the scientists, there’s kind of a double standard there as well.
rayvet on February 4, 2007 at 6:26 PM
There really shouldn’t be any “science” in the Iranian nuclear program. The science has already been done – over 60 years ago, using pencil and paper and skull sweat instead of computers. This should be pure engineering, and again, the engineering problems were solved by others, over 60 years ago. So what’s up with these guys? How come it’s taking them so long to make it happen?
Lehuster on February 4, 2007 at 7:21 PM
Cut off the head and the body dies.
That would be a lot of heads. Listen to me! I talk like a terrorist.
I think that if there was a way to spoil the ingredients of Iran’s nuclear soup…..but there isn’t, is there?
TwinkietheKid on February 4, 2007 at 8:15 PM
Uh, yeah. Does the name Gerald Bull ring a bell? He was building a “supergun” tha would have been the largest artillery peice ever built, for Saddam Hussein. When he didn’t heed Israeli warnings to stop working on the gun for Saddam, he was killed.
I’d make the argument that sometimes killing scientists isn’t only moral in some circumstances, but that on occasions (and this would seem to include everyone above the janitorial staff in Iran’s nuclear weapons program), killing htem may be a moral imperative.
Bob Owens on February 4, 2007 at 9:12 PM
Not just Gerald Bull, in the early 60s, the Mossad and Shin Bet assassinated a number of former Nazi German rocket scientists working for Egypt. I seem to recall them doing something similar in the 70s as well.
rokemronnie on February 4, 2007 at 10:13 PM
Sounds most likely to me. Or maybe the Iranians were tired of the Russians getting all of the attention with the spy poisoning a while back. /sarc
If the Mossad really did arrange this inside an Iranian facility, then they are even slicker than I thought, and that was pretty good to start. More likely, others (read Iranians) want the Jooooos to get the blame to cover their own incompetence.
I’d bet the application rate at the Iranian nuclear job fair just took a dip.
IrishEyes on February 4, 2007 at 11:28 PM
Moe Berg, the third-string major-league catcher, who was a spy in WWII, was sent to find out how close the Nazis were to the bomb and if close to kill Heisenberg. He posed as a graduate student of physics, as I recall, and got up real close before deciding they weren’t nearly there yet.
Attila (Pillage Idiot) on February 4, 2007 at 11:55 PM
We’re (USA,Israel) moving too slowly. We should be removing these scum-sucking turds at a much higher rate. However, this is a start and congrats to those Mossad agents/warriors. Bravo and “keep on truckin’”
x95b10 on February 4, 2007 at 11:56 PM
They are at war with us so we don’t need to even get to the “fair game” question. They have already answered it for us. If someone promises to kill you as soon as his gun is loaded then it’s okay for you to kill him first. Iran has committed to annihilating Israel so it’s okay for Israel to defend itself. Killing a scientist whose developing the weapon that is going to wipe you out AS PROMISED should be a no brainer.
Mojave Mark on February 5, 2007 at 12:48 AM
I’ll get bact to that….
Sure, why not… since the left is OK with abortion. Right Mz. Hillary? MZ. Pellosi? Mr. {lollypops} Frank?
To the first point…….. imagine this…… ten years into the future…………..
“The days have been getting colder, since the nuclear blasts, I struggle to keep things as normal as possible for my children….
I remember when “Home Schooling” was a choice, but since the war came home, I have to keep mine close….
Today’s lesson, “Modern American History”…
“Listen up, kids”, since some of my neighbors who have “circled their wagons” with me, trust me in a few measures including teaching, “I have a story to be told”.
The wind blows, carrying the smell of the uncounted dead only a hundred miles away, but no one dares venture thier yet. Those who have, have not been seen again…
“In the year 2007, the country that was known as the United States of America was warned that nuclear weapons were being developed by it’s enemies…. but we were currently entreched in a war that was being subverted by local politicians, just for political power.”
“This gave them time for the enemies of the United States, both foreign and domestic, to develop and deploy nuclear weapons to be used by faciasist under the name of religion to deploy and detonate them…….”
“The wind blows again, I have to stop and drink from a tin cup that stings my toothless mouth….. the children start to cry as thier eyes start to bleed, …. the “cloud” is coming agian…..”
“Time to stop”, I tell the children, we must put up our shelters……… “Tomorrow, I will tell you again, the tail of Hillary Clinton…..”
PinkyBigglesworth on February 5, 2007 at 2:07 AM
Exit Question: Yes
Viper1 on February 5, 2007 at 6:45 AM
As a historical comparative note, when the British RAF did their bombing raids at the Nazi Peememunde missile complex, they killed a large number of the scientists and technicians working on the V-1 and v-2 projects. Subsequent analysis and reports indicate they pushed back the German missile projects by at least a year.
Given the damage the V-1s and V-2s did later in the war, and given that the Nazis had an even more dangerous missile, the V-3, on the drawing boards, a very sound military and moral argument can be made for those raids.
By logical extension, assassinating important Iranian nuclear scientists,OR BOMBING IRANIAN NUCLEAR WEAPONS FACILITIES would also be militarily and morally justified.
DavePa on February 5, 2007 at 8:26 AM
“fair game”??? Ha! We’re ALL fair game to *them*!
Do we kill the guys plant IEDs?
Yes, they are fair game.
But do we not also kill the guys who MAKE the EIDs?
Yes, but that’s a jihadi, a scientist is just doin’ his job.
And it’s OUR job to prevent a nuke from killin’ millions of our people.
But, but the Iranians might be FORCING him to make nukes!
Well then the Iranians are FORCING us to kill their scientists. And for all we know, the scientists might just be jihadis too and makin’ these bombs in the name of allah to kill infidels. Better safe than sorry. Kill ‘em.
Tony737 on February 5, 2007 at 8:57 AM
Exit Q – of course.
Alden Pyle on February 5, 2007 at 9:35 AM
Assassination is ugly business. I suppose the scientist is acting as an agent of the government, making him fair game. He may have been working against his will and all…but the world is a rough place.
No neat clean answers but that’s why we need the Jack Bauers.
jdpaz on February 5, 2007 at 9:47 AM
They very simply are targets for assassination, just like anyone else, and a few spectacular examples would remind them of that circumstance. As for jdpaz’s remarks at 9:47 AM, I don’t know whether a scientist working for Islam is fair game or not, but I say that even if he’s not fair game, he’s still game.
Kralizec on February 5, 2007 at 10:39 AM
http://www.cashill.com
So if Scientists are fair game then what about Loral Aerospace honcho Bernard “Bernie” Schwartz?
Then how about Sandy Berger.
Then how about er……..
there it is on February 5, 2007 at 11:41 AM
I’m against the assassination course of action. Instead we should take a course of action first suggested by my personal hero. Lets get in a time machine, travel to their place and date of birth, and kill them.
/sarcasm off/
SPIFF1669 on February 5, 2007 at 12:22 PM
It depends … if they past the Litvinenko criteria test, perhaps.
MoonbatMedia on February 5, 2007 at 4:25 PM
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