No License to Kill

There is an extremely disturbing development in the investigation of the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri: "unidentified sources" are saying he was killed by a suicide bomber. Though, it matters less how he was killed than by whom, the story is almost certainly bogus. Here's why doubt is in order:

The alleged suicide bomber didn't know how to drive, as his father told investigators. So, in the words of a most amusing friend, it would be the first suicide attack where the perpetrator was … a passenger!

Secondly, as this story (sorry it's in French) from a Lebanese newspaper makes clear, the video imagery is taken from the cameras of the HSBC bank, near the site of the attack. I know several people who have viewed the footage, and the fact is you cannot see the point of impact from the angle at which the bank is located. You see the cars racing by, then they are concealed by a building, then the blast.

Third, the Lebanese authorities are pointing to satellite photos of the blast to make their case (visible in the first story linked above). An opposition MP observed that the satellite imagery of the area did not correspond to the video imagery, so that the disposition of boats in the nearby St. Georges port was different.

Finally, you know something's wrong when unidentified sources leak a story before the official investigation issues its report. If you smell cover up, that's probably because everybody else does too.