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Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

debka.com

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Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#41

Post by eliben »

radicaldreamer wrote: post #24

Debka is thought to be an Israeli counterintelligence operation, so take its writing with a grain of salt. Of course, it's possible that the Israelis want everyone to know about their capabilities (the line about the attacks coming 12 hours after the Wikileaks cables release was interesting), but Debka's writing might not be extremely accurate.

"Debka is thought to be an Israeli counterintelligence operation, so take its writing with a grain of salt."

That's highly unlikely. Here in Israel, the original Debka File (http://www.debka.co.il/) is considered a speculation site at best, a hoax at worst. Most people consider it just a hangout of conspirators and paranoids, and it's almost never treated seriously.

So don't read too much into it :)

Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#44

Post by anigbrowl »

trotsky wrote: post #11

Note that this was published right after the attacks, and the only source for the claim that he was responsible for stuxnet cleanup was "Exclusive from DEBKAfile's [unnamed] intelligence sources". Many blogs republished the report (of course) but no other source has emerged, and no paper of record has suggested it was true.

Does anyone know of a decent tool to graph search results' external links? There is so much content farming these days that I often wish for such a thing.

Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#45

Post by nikster »

berntb wrote: post #38
natrius wrote: post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DARPA funds the Grand Challenge so the technology can eventually be used to defend the country. I would not consider killing scientists involved in the competition to be a war crime; it would just be a garden variety act of war. I know little about the international law involved in such distinctions, but it makes logical sense to me. In my estimation, attacking DARPA-funded scientists is more likely to be "okay" than…

>>if Iran is telling the truth is there anything at all supporting the Iranian version? We know that USA and lots of other countries don't believe Iran, are really worried and put lots of resources into stopping the program. We also know that Iran has had suspicious behavior and actively supports terrorism. And so on. The alternative would be an US conspiracy, which they obviously would have failed to keep quit about…

The King of of the UAE even begged the US to bomb Iran...

Obviously Iran wants the bomb, and given the crazy guy in charge it should make anyone feel _very_ uncomfortable. The last time they pursued this the Israelis at some point bombed their reactor.

Why would Iran risk an outright attack just to build nuclear power plants? Doesn't make sense on any level. A nuke on the other hand is a guarantee that nobody is going to attack your country, ever, again. Invaluable.

Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#46

Post by nikster »

natrius wrote: post #8
Leptosiphon wrote: post #5

I don't know how reliable a source "DEBKAfile" is, but just in general, it makes me very uncomfortable that civilian scientists may possibly now be considered legitimate targets for assassination or kidnapping by the US, Israel or others.

If you're a scientist working on weapons systems (which is a debatable claim in this instance), you're not a civilian.

Yeah. If you working on a nuke for Iran, you know you're a target for the Mossad (at the very least). Whether you call yourself a civilian or a soldier doesn't matter.

Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#48

Post by _djo_ »

nikster wrote: post #45
berntb wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>>if Iran is telling the truth is there anything at all supporting the Iranian version? We know that USA and lots of other countries don't believe Iran, are really worried and put lots of resources into stopping the program. We also know that Iran has had suspicious behavior and actively supports terrorism. And so on. The alternative would be an US conspiracy, which they obviously would have failed to keep quit about…

The King of of the UAE even begged the US to bomb Iran... Obviously Iran wants the bomb, and given the crazy guy in charge it should make anyone feel _very_ uncomfortable. The last time they pursued this the Israelis at some point bombed their reactor. Why would Iran risk an outright attack just to build nuclear power plants? Doesn't make sense on any level. A nuke on the other hand is a guarantee that nobody is goin…

The last time they pursued this the Israelis at some point bombed their reactor.

That was Iraq, at Osirak.

But your larger point is correct. Nobody in foreign policy circles takes Iran's claims about having only a peaceful nuclear program seriously. Especially not when two of the main facilities were built in secret before being uncovered by dissidents and Western intelligence agencies. No country pursuing a purely peaceful nuclear program builds enrichment facilities in secret.

Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#49

Post by [deleted] »

eliben wrote: post #41
radicaldreamer wrote: post #24

Debka is thought to be an Israeli counterintelligence operation, so take its writing with a grain of salt. Of course, it's possible that the Israelis want everyone to know about their capabilities (the line about the attacks coming 12 hours after the Wikileaks cables release was interesting), but Debka's writing might not be extremely accurate.

"Debka is thought to be an Israeli counterintelligence operation, so take its writing with a grain of salt." That's highly unlikely. Here in Israel, the original Debka File ( http://www.debka.co.il/ ) is considered a speculation site at best, a hoax at worst. Most people consider it just a hangout of conspirators and paranoids, and it's almost never treated seriously. So don't read too much into it :)

[deleted]

Re: Nuclear scientist killed in Tehran was Iran's top Stuxnet expert

#50

Post by [deleted] »

eliben wrote: post #41
radicaldreamer wrote: post #24

Debka is thought to be an Israeli counterintelligence operation, so take its writing with a grain of salt. Of course, it's possible that the Israelis want everyone to know about their capabilities (the line about the attacks coming 12 hours after the Wikileaks cables release was interesting), but Debka's writing might not be extremely accurate.

"Debka is thought to be an Israeli counterintelligence operation, so take its writing with a grain of salt." That's highly unlikely. Here in Israel, the original Debka File ( http://www.debka.co.il/ ) is considered a speculation site at best, a hoax at worst. Most people consider it just a hangout of conspirators and paranoids, and it's almost never treated seriously. So don't read too much into it :)

[deleted]
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