Anyone else see the Dubai assassination video on YouTube? (NOT graphic)

[Poll_Blind]

Wow.

It covers the movements of the assassins and the target almost 24 hours (IIRC) before the assassination to something like 12 hours after it.

I just caught it and I gotta say, for like the half-hour that it runs, my jaw was pretty much on the floor. Not about the assassins who were clearly very, very well-trained. But the job the Dubai government/intelligence service (or whomever) did to piece it together. Outstanding work- I cannot imagine pouring over what must have been hundreds (at least) video sources to piece it together from nothing, in a situation where the victim appears to have died from natural causes.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I don't think I've ever seen anything related to assassination/spycraft/whatever that was so thoroughly documented. I guess this level of analysis is pretty common for a governmental security organization but...I've never seen anything like that being shared publicly before.

It's got international assassins, an unsuspecting victim and at least THREE WIGS! Only one of the wigs is passable. I thought bad wigs was just the movies.

PB

[DJ13]

1. I saw the first two

I kept waiting for the Mission Impossible theme and Tom Cruise.

[Poll_Blind]

2. Heh heh- yeah. I think the only resemblance to the movies was the wigs.

And, I'm just reading a nice article Wired had with Victor Ostrovsky (sp?) he said it looked rushed because so many people (the video points out 10, specifically, with passports and names at the end) would not be needed if (whomever) had time to plan it better.

I'm not sure I've even seen a movie with 10+ assassins just to take out one person.

Such a crazy world.

PB

[Vinnie From Indy]

13. Smokin' Aces

That movie is about multiple hitmen coming after the same guy.

[CoffeeCat]

3. Thanks for posting this...

I'll watch it, because I think it's incredibly fascinating.

When I first saw this story, I was astounded that these assassins were so young. They
looked like college kids. I was also shocked at how brutal and ruthless this was. The
victim was given a drug that paralyzed him. That's something straight out of a horror
flick.

Cold and calculating.

I'm totally repulsed and curious about this entire crime. How in the world do you
get so many people to comply with killing someone?

I wonder if this is how other people are "suicided". Paralyze them and then stage
the scene (hanging, overdose, cutting, etc.).

I think it's terrifying!

[Poll_Blind]

6. Hey, post back when you've seen the full thing if you have the time- I'd love to...

...know what your thoughts are. My spy/assassination knowledge is limited to silly shit I've seen on the History channel (for instance) or the random Digg article. I'm not a fan of "true crime" (those are usually a little too bleak for my tastes) but the whole espionage thing is usually intriguing.

BTW, you might want to check out this interesting list (spawned by the incident) from Newsweek: World's Greatest Spy Capers. I knew about some of them, others completely new to me.

PB

[hack89]

10. Getting young people to kill is the history of the world in a nutshell nt

[fujiyama]

20. Well he was a terrorist

and the Israelis get back at those that kill their people. The Hamas guy was an idiot. He was wandering around without any bodyguards. If you're a Hamas leader, it should be fairly obvious that you'll be under surveillance.

Though in some cases the Israelis fail to get their guy - with disastrous and horrific results like in Lilehammer Norway, when they killed an innocent Moroccon waiter in front of his pregnant wife...It's why extrajudicial killings are not to be encouraged.

[CoffeeCat]

23. Both sides engage in terrorist acts...

It's distressing to see human beings act this way.

Our species is devolving.

[MannyGoldstein]

4. Thanks, That Was Fascinating, Chilling. nt

[Mojorabbit]

5. bookmarking to read in the am nt

[harun]

7. That's wild they posted that analysis to Youtube.

[Poll_Blind]

9. They released it to the international media- someone else cut the video into segments and...

...posted it to YouTube.

For me, though, the fact that it was released at all...

PB

[proteus_lives]

8. The comments sections of YouTube are always disgusting.

BTW, I'm not shedding any tears for a Hamas terrorist.

[fujiyama]

21. Youtube comments are always cesspools of the internet

They're a perfect display of how stupid humans are.

[Poll_Blind]

11. Kick. Cause it just IS that interesting!

PB

[Emit]

12. So the victim was found dead with his door locked from the inside?

Was he poisoned?

I have not been keeping up with the specifics of this story, although I find it very interesting and will go have a look at the details.

Thanks for posting, Poll_Blind.

On edit, according to this article, the victim was

... drugged and then suffocated with a pillow.

Deputy Police Chief Khamis al Mazeira revealed the results of forensic tests on al Mabhouh's body, which was found to contain high levels of a muscle relaxant drug called Succinylcholine.

http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/dubai-hit-police-mahmoud-al-mabhouh-killed/story?id=9973592

Another article I read said that the initial report indicated that he died from sudden high blood pressure in the brain, and that his family told CNN that there were signs of electric shock on the back of his knees, behind his ears, on his genitals and on his chest. They say he was also smothered.


How did the assassins get in to his room, kill him and then leave with the door locked and chained from the inside? Left through a window, maybe, or an adjoining room?

Wow, this is the stuff movies are made of, huh?

[Poll_Blind]

15. In some ways, definitely movie-like. In fact, right down to the hotel...

...guest who (I think) got off on the (wrong) victim's floor and ran into the guy posing as hotel security or whatever, delaying the hit or causing them to use a different tack.

As far as the chain-locked door- and I know this may sound far-fetched but I've actually seen this in action- there are long stiff wire-like things you can slide under a door which (when rotated upward) can be used to turn the knob to the door, opening it from the other side.

If you have watched the video, there's a certain duffel bag/satchel/suitcase thing that gets passed from one of the team to the other. I suppose it could have contained any number of things, including electronic tools to recode the electronic door lock (that's another movie-like thing the video shows) or contain devices to allow re-chaining the door from the outside.

A real-life "locked-door" mystery.

PB

[Emit]

16. I read an article just a bit ago on Wired.com

where they interviewed a Former Mossad Intel Officer who suggested that the operation "has all the earmarks of a Mossad operation" and that it was likely rushed due to the amount of suspects involved, their elaborate get ups and the notion that some of them appeared not too professional on tape (like the two guys with tennis rackets who kind of fumbled around a few seconds trying to decide who was going to follow the victim.)

The article also suggests that the operation was "likely sanctioned by Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu." I have no idea who this person (Victor Ostrovsky) is who made these claims, his background, etc. and whether the sources are credible.

That being said, Dubai police recently called for arrest of Netanyahu:

JERUSALEM — The diplomatic fallout over the assassination of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Mabhouh took a new turn Wednesday as Dubai's police chief said he would seek the arrests of Israel's prime minister and spy chief over the killing.

Though Israel has refused to comment on its involvement in the slaying, Police Chief Lt. Gen. Dahi Khalfan Tamim said he would ask the United Arab Emirates' prosecutor to file Interpol arrest warrants for Mossad chief Meir Dagan and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, adding that he was "completely sure that it was Mossad," referring to Israel's intelligence agency.

~snip~

"There are an increasing number of fingers pointed at Israel and the Mossad, but we have faced these kinds of accusations before and always maintained that we do not comment," said an Israeli official with military intelligence. He added that Israeli defense officials have been asked not to comment on the incident to "avoid inflaming tempers further."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2011248730_dubaikilling04.html



Fascinating to see this played out on tape.

[Poll_Blind]

17. Ostrovsky claims to have been a former...

...Mossad agent, actually a former katsa or case officer, IIRC. I read his first book, By Way of Deception which is extremely interesting, to say the least. If you check out his Wiki page, you can learn quite a bit more about him. While there was some controversy at the time of his first book's publication it does appear that he is/was who he claimed to be.

While there was much furor over the release of his first book (you can read more about that at the Wiki link), there isn't all that much that's shocking or particularly damning to Israel. However, his description of how the Mossad works is fascinating in that it is an entirely different model than pretty-much any other intelligence-gathering organization- for instance having a very small staff of actual agents/case managers and relying on sayanim or "helpers" in various countries to help operations.

He's sort of the Israeli Robert Baer in a lot of ways.

Ostrovsky is also a hell of a painter, btw, although I can imagine that much of what he paints could be considered hackneyed.

PB

[Emit]

18. I just realized, Poll_Blind, that the article I read was the same you referenced above thread

duh! Could've saved myself the search. At any rate, interesting thread, thanks again. I imagine that every time I travel now, and stay in hotels, I'm gonna be thinking about these assassins and these videos. :crazy:

[thread-bear]

19. Allowing the Marine barracks bombing wasn't damning?

It's been a while since I read it, but didn't he claim they knew about the truck that blew up the Marines and allowed it to pass. Also that they framed Libya for the Berlin bombing? That's pretty damning in my book.

[Scurrilous]

14. Kick

:kick:

[Joe the Liberal]

22. Wow that is eerie.....

The kind of thing you see in movies and video games, like the Hitman series which is a personal favorite of mine. Usually though it just follows one guy doing the killing, here they must have had about 15 people working together to kill the guy. Did you notice one of the executioners had his left hand wrapped in white bandages, or at least that's what it looked like. He was the buff looking guy wearing the green shirt, my guess is that he must have carried out the murder with his buddy being an assistant/lookout. Anyways that's scary and fascinating, thanks for posting.

[Poll_Blind]

24. Was that after the killing when they're getting in the elevator?

Yeah, I caught that too! I thought it was actually (thick) rubber glove or gloves. I thought it was on both hands because (IIRC) he punches the elevator button with his right hand and (again, IIRC) he was wearing the same thing on that, too.

I'll have to watch it again.

PB

[Joe the Liberal]

25. Yup right after the murder has taken place......

you see them start to get on the elevator and his left hand is wrapped in something white. I only noticed his left hand wrapped in it, his right hand could have had it too, I'll have to look again.