BBC reports of death of Iranian nuclear scientist.

[cherenkov]

Straight away the BBC News fell in with the Iranian government's accusation that the killing was the work of the Israelis and the US.

No other possibilities were suggested such as the fact that the nuclear scientists being forced by the Supreme Leader of Iran to work on an Islamic Nuke are an intelligent bunch who have to be kept in line and forced to work on a WMD project they abhor and are all too aware of the possible consequences of. Almost certainly some of these scientists start to look as if they're thinking of defecting, or at least supplying information to the West.

It seems at least as likely an explanation as that predicably given by the Iranian government and equally predictably embraced by the BBC, if not more so, that it was in fact the Iranians themselves that killed the scientist today to make an example of him and to keep the others in check.

As Newsnight's coverage ends no alternative is offered. They even suggest that yes, Iranians did the killing but that they didn't know they were acting for the Israelis!

I mean it took the BBC two days to conceed that the hysterical tears for the death of the Dear Leader had all the sincerity of those of people who could be arrested or even shot if they didn't cry hysterically enough!

Naive, stupid, gullible, or following a predefined politically idealistic agenda? Take your pick. For me it's all four!

[cherenkov]

edition.cnn.com/2012/01/11/world/meast/iran-who-kills-scientists/index.html?iref=obinsite

"But it's also "conceivable this could be carried out by Iranians who oppose the government even without the support of outside governments," Hibbs said.

The nuclear program "is a centerpiece for Iran, a very, very important aspect for this regime," he said. Groups inside Iran dedicated to overthrowing the regime would have reason to target the program, he said. "This is a program which is right at the heart of the legitimacy of this government."

Rubin, of the American Enterprise Institute, said there is another "plausible" explanation: that "Arab intelligence services" are involved.

"The assumption that many Americans have that the Mossad," Israel's foreign intelligence unit, "is the most skilled intelligence service" in the Middle East is "a couple of decades out of date," he said.

Some intelligence services in the Arab world "could have recruited Shiites" in the region, potentially in Iraq, to take action against the nuclear program, he said.

There is also some speculation that the Iranian regime itself could have been involved in at least one of the killings.

The first, in January 2010, left university professor and nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammadi dead in a car bomb. That attack came shortly after major riots against the regime, and many people thought the regime was behind that killing, Parsi said.

Mohammadi "did not seem to be a particularly valuable nuclear target," he said. Some reports suggested Mohammadi was an outspoken supporter of the "green movement," and had helped organize protests, Parsi said."

Not quite so cut and dry then.

[Teddy Bear]

Excellent posts Cher

[thehighlandrebel]

Good posts. The b-bbc doesn't seem too keen to tell people that countries like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, UAE etc. are also under threat from Iran, but, hey, why mention that when they have Israel to blame.