33 thoughts on “Ex-CIA Analyst Confirms Beirut Blast Initiated by “Military Munitions,” Lebanese President to Examine Role of “External Actors” – Tikun Olam תיקון עולם إصلاح العالم
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  1. Dear Richard Silverstein,

    I have perused your blog for years, In general I do not agree with your politics but I have respect for your reporting, When it comes to facts you have a good track record.

    Now your story this time makes both hezbolah and Israel look really bad. What partisan could possibly accept this news!

    In any case you have my respect.

    1. @ Limey:

      Baer says that the cause of the explosion was likely, “an accident”; no evidence of an attack.

      That’s not at all what Baer said. Go to the CNN interview and read it. If you did that go back and spend more time reading it again. He acknowledges there may have been an accident, but certainly leaves open the possibility that this was an attack. BTW, arms caches stored by professional military as Hezbollah is don’t usually have ‘accidents.’

      No further comments in this thread.

  2. Major Chris Hunter QGM — Former Bomb Disposal Expert, Author, and Broadcaster …
     
    Robert Baer, Richard Clarke and the upper echelons of the Intelligence Community will never be trusted by me, not ever!
     
    Just like 9/11 was an “accident” waiting to happen, I’m afraid so was the blast in Beirut. Incompetence breeds disasters, dark forces will always look at the weaknesses of its foe to strike. The cover-up is more than well prepared.
     
    Chris Hunter is to my knowledge not a chemical expert, nor can I find a link to the STL and the Hariri bomb blast. The STL has a poor track record from the false start with Mehlis … more than shameful. Same with the OPCW in Syria once independence is replaced by political allegiance.

  3. Sky News is a rag just like any Murdoch enterprise, not to be trusted. Each and every news item has to be fully scrutinized.
     
    I too have watched and listened to experts on the AN explosion, and do agree the reddish colour combination reflects nitrate in correct order of sequence.
     
    The initial fire and explosions reflect a munition depot and not fireworks. Trajectory is a straight line. Hunter denies the munitions depot evidence.
     
    The Tragic Physics of the Deadly Explosion in Beirut | Wired |

  4. Obviously you care what your fans think of you. I still think you a valuable source, an essential opinion with which I see eye to eye more often than not, if not at all. I don’t care for the use of the word “loyalist” moreso since Trump. People have to use their own brains. You of course have to defend at this point. I respect Levy’s work. But Levy is just injecting the same doubt using you…. perhaps to pry more info.

    Your first report injected doubt into the assumption that this was an accident.I took that suggestion face value. Everyone else is saying accident but investigation needed. At this moment I don’t see anything that confirms or even suggests that this was a deliberate attack. I cannot imagine why Hezbollah or Israeli agents would cause such a catastrophe.I can imagine why both would hide this for sure. But that does not prove a positive, if we will ever have one. I’ll stick with there is plenty of blame. Who lit the match and whether it was on purpose or not expecting such a catastrophe remains the question for me and many others I believe. (This could have been the work of a loner.)

  5. @Oui

    “..dark forces will always look at the weaknesses of its foe to strike. The cover-up is more than well prepared.”

    By ‘strike’, I assume you mean an attack; an attack that nobody, not even Baer, alleges.

    Port security saw that the door of the warehouse had been damaged, and welders were dispatched to repair the door of the warehouse the same afternoon as the explosion.
    Reasonably minded people would say that the welders accidentally began a fire in the warehouse that caused flammable materials to ‘popcorn’.
    Small, bright explosions can be seen in the air, and at ground level, giving fair minded people reason to believe fireworks were involved. What’s Baer’s explanation for the low-explosive ‘pop corning’?

    Maybe shipping containers packed with munitions, paint cans, chemicals or fireworks, blew up like a giant pipe bomb and caused the unstable AN nearby to detonate.

    Does anyone really think Mossad sappers, operating in broad daylight, went about their dark business unnoticed by Port security and repairman at this busy port?

    Do you really think Mossad sappers would have to resort to prising open a warehouse door?

    1. @ Limey:

      Reasonably minded people would say that the welders accidentally began a fire in the warehouse that caused flammable materials to ‘popcorn’.
      Small, bright explosions can be seen in the air, and at ground level, giving fair minded people reason to believe fireworks were involved. What’s Baer’s explanation for the low-explosive ‘pop corning’?

      By reasonably minded people you mean pro Israel apologists like you. Which isn’t “reasonable minded” at all. A guy who used to work at the port claims he spoke to people who now work at the port who said that welders worked in some unspecified place in the vicinity of the explosion. From there we jump to a spark set off the explosion. Those are huge leaps of faith…and frankly I have no faith in you or the story.

      Again, you didn’t read Baer’s statement about the video he saw which explained the contents of the explosion as he saw it and which is consistent with what he knows about explosives. He has 30 year experience working in the Middle East for the CIA. What do you have?

      Does anyone really think Mossad sappers

      First, the Mossad doesn’t operate in Lebanon. You’d know that if you knew anything about Israeli intelligence matters. Apparently, you don’t. Second, there is no such thing as a Mossad sapper.

      But returning to your nonsense: No, no one thinks that. I don’t think that. I never said that. But you DID say it. So you’re the only one who wants to bring up such rubbish. Israel would have scores of covert ways it could cause an explosion in a warehouse. And it’s doubtful it would use an Israeli operative to do this. Israel probably has hundreds of Lebanese spies it’s recruited inside the country. It probably has spies within Hezbollah (which we know because the group periodically announces it has arrested some of its officials for precisely this reason). That’s how I would do it if I were in Israeli intelligence (which thankfully I’m not).

  6. There was a similar event in Tanjin (China) where 800 Tons of ammonium nitrate exploded.
    If you take a look at the fireball, it looks quite identical to the one of Beirut.

    https://youtu.be/4fjrCn39kk4

    The site of the demolished harbor also looks very similar to the Beirut harbor.

  7. You made a very confident and very serious accusation, with very little evidence, so it’s not surprising that you got angry pushback.

    They stored 2700 tons of confiscated fertiliser with zero safety precautions, ignoring repeated warnings from experts that this is very dangerous. This was public knowledge years ago, there are articles about it from as early as 2015, freely available online.

    “Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by incompetence”. Yes, it would make sense that the primary fire was Hezbollah ammunition stockpile, rather than “fireworks” as they claim, because it would be just like a massively corrupt militant organisation to store their explosives negligently. It would also make perfect sense they’d deny it was theirs. But how does that lead to Israeli involvement? It doesn’t. It’s a complete non-sequitur.

    The enormous leap of faith you expect your readers to make, going from “some explosives, maybe belonging to Hezbollah, caught fire” directly to “and Israel started the fire”, is not one you can bridge with just an assertion that you have “a good source”. You have to provide real evidence or at the very least be less assertive making such a grand accusation.

    1. @ David: You mean that Israel would have no interest in bombing a Hezbollah arms storehouse? Like it’s done repeatedly in Syria and the Bekaa? Are you daft?

      The enormous leap of faith you expect your readers to make, going from “some explosives, maybe belonging to Hezbollah, caught fire” directly to “and Israel started the fire”, is not one you can bridge with just an assertion that you have “a good source”. You have to provide real evidence

      Journalism 101: a source is evidence. That’s why journalists have sources. Some sources can be named others not. THe ones unnamed are, depending on circumstances, just as valid as the ones named. You have to consider the track record of the reporter and his unnamed source. If they’ve both produced hundreds of stories that turned out to be absolutely true before anyone in Israel or outside reported them, then that source is credible.

      So no, I don’t have to do or prove anything to you. The work and record stands for itself. Read all four of my pieces and you will see a clear pattern developing in mainstream media validating every major point of my research.

  8. Update on the Letfallah II investigation – Report UNSC in 2014 ..,

    Syrian citizens based in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia funded the shipment of weapons and munitions loaded in Misrata, Lybia with destination Tripoli, Lebanon … a Sunni enclave and port to support rebel fighters in Syria.

    Were these crates sitting in the warehouse next to 2750 tons AN and its explosion detonated the storage of warehouse #12??

  9. Attacking Iran Starting In Lebanon
    <em>
    Dispute public pressure to keep him behind bars, Amer Fakhoury, 57, was released by Lebanon’s military tribunal, and was airlifted two days later by a US marine helicopter from the US embassy in Lebanon to the United States.

    Fakhoury was arrested shortly after his arrival in the country last September on a family visit after spending nearly two decades in the US. He holds dual citizenship.

    “Today we are bringing home another American citizen… he is battling late stage cancer. I am very grateful to the Lebanese government,” said US president Donald Trump.</em>

    So Donald Trump a blabber mouth on intelligence said “it was an attack.”

  10. The gasfields conflict between libanon and israel: the destruction of the port of libanon would that be an advantage for Israel? The shipment of 2750 tons of ammonium nitrate was organized from Cyprus and Officially the destination was not Beirut.

  11. “You mean that Israel would have no interest in bombing a Hezbollah arms storehouse? Like it’s done repeatedly in Syria and the Bekaa?”

    I will transfer $100 right now, either to you personally, or to a pro-palestinian charity of your choosing, if you quote where in that comment I claimed Israel would have no *interest* in bombing *a* Hezbollah arms storehouse.

    What I said was there’s currently no evidence that Israel *did* bomb *that* stockpile. See the difference in the syntax? If you read carefully and apply your sparkling investigative mind, you will almost certainly be able to see the difference in substance too.

    But, since you bring up interest, then no, I don’t think Israel has interest in blowing up half of beirut out of nowhere, just to destroy one warehouse with some munitions in it. Even if you assume Israel is pure evil, it would be a deeply illogical, not to mention politically suicidal move.

    “Are you daft?” I’d say such imbecilic language is beneath you, but from reading your other replies, it clearly isn’t.

    My point about widely available open source evidence that the port fertiliser storage was a known hazard for years you just plain ignored.

    So we have: A strawman, followed by a lowbrow ad hominem, followed by a pompous and long-winded appeal to credentials and authority, and still zero substance. Yes, that’s some world class journalism right there.

    1. @ David:

      What I said was there’s currently no evidence that Israel *did* bomb *that* stockpile.

      Of course there is “evidence.” My well-informed source who’s reported accurately scores, if not more similar stories under military censorship. Such a source is evidence. And anonymous sources are used regularly in MSM news reports. Thus they are considered credible and reliable evidence.

      That this doesn’t constitute evidence to you is your problem, not mine. It’s not my job to convince someone who refused, based on pro-Israel bias, to be convinced.

      I don’t think Israel has interest in blowing up half of beirut

      It didn’t intend to blow up Beirut. It intended, and succeeded, in blowing up just an arms depot. The second explosion was unintended consequences. I’ve written this before here and don’t want to repeat myself.

      I’d say such imbecilic language is beneath you, but from reading your other replies, it clearly isn’t.

      Calling me an imbecile is a comment rule violation and you are now moderated.

      My point about widely available open source evidence that the port fertiliser storage was a known hazard for years you just plain ignored.

      No, I didn’t. The fertilizer was ignited by the Israeli attack. Israel is responsible. Of course the Lebanese officials responsible for the port are negligent. But the Israelis are murderers.

      As for my “journalism.” I’ve been referenced by Haaretz, interviewed by Lebanon’s leading TV news station, and have 250,000 site visits in the past 3 days. That proves you wrong.

      If your future posts (should you try to post) violate comment rules again, you will be banned. And do read the comment rules as you were instructed before you published your first comment here.

  12. Mr. Baer is convincing and believable.

    His research into the Kennedy assassination was nothing less than groundbreaking.

  13. Robert Baer can’t confirm something he does not know as a fact.
    He can believe, assume or guess but since he does so based on a bunch of videos, his guess might be better than mine but he cannot confirm anything.

    1. @ Jael: I’ll put Baer’s 30 years of experience as a CIA analyst specializing in the Middle East up against yours or anyone else’s for that matter–any day of the week. He can see with his own eyes what’s in the video. That’s what intelligence analysts do. They view visual evidence and make determinations. He would not have said what he did to CNN had he not absolute confidence in what he saw and what he knows.

      So stop with the nonsense. It’s tiring and a waste of your time and mine.

  14. Baer ‘believes’, ‘thinks’ and ‘ ‘isn’t confident we’ll ever know the truth.’

    He gives an opinion/analysts based on the info he has. He does not claim to KNOW exactly what happened.

    Not to mention he does not believe it was a result of an attack which you chose to not accept.

    1. @Jeal: Baer, undoubtedly knowing more now than he did when he made these statements days ago, feels differently about whether it was an attack. Since this interview the President of Lebanon has said the explosion could have been the work of a “foreign actor” and Lebanese intelligence officials have specifically said Israel was responsible. Nor had Baer read my own work offering an Israeli official source.
      None of that was known when Baer did this interview.

  15. “This is a critical new piece of evidence indicating that the country’s leadership is now prepared to abandon former claims that the tragedy was an accident or that an accidental explosion in a fireworks factory caused it.”
    You’re wrong about that. The country’s leadership never claimed much of anything at all. The entire narrative has been constructed by the Western media. There was enormous confusion in Beirut that night. Nobody who was in the middle of it had any idea what was happening. Someone told the Aoun that it involved ammonium nitrate and that was literally the only thing that he said to the press: we believe the explosion involved AN. By the time Beirut woke up the next morning, the media had constructed the official story: welder-fireworks-AN. That fell apart pretty quickly because the AN could not have blown up all at once. So the idea of munitions was floated. It may well be true. The point is: it’s irrelevant what was there, how it got there or how it blew up. The narrative will keep changing but it will always be Hezboollah’s fault.
    If we never find out what happens, it’s not because of what happens in Lebanon but because of what our media allows us to know.

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