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Prism

Dubai Police, Officials Pledge To Conduct A Complete Investigation Into The Execution-Style Murder Of One Of Hamas' Founding Leaders

Aired February 08, 2010 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

STAN GRANT, CNN ANCHOR: Targeting the Taliban. The U.S. plans a large-scale assault that deliberately won't come as a surprise.

Iran's plan to produce higher enriched uranium sparks new threats of sanctions from the West.

And dead in Dubai, a senior Hamas official is assassinated and officials say the hit was professional. In our "Prism Segment" should a country's counter-terrorism efforts respect international boundaries?

From CNN Abu Dhabi in United Arab Emirates, this is PRISM, where we take a story and look at it from multiple perspectives. I'm Stan Grant.

We'll go to our news stories in just a moment. First, though, our "Prism Segment", on a story of intrigue and murder. Officials in Dubai have identified several European passports holders as suspects in the killing of a high-level Hamas official last month. Iran has pointed the finger at Israel, as have many Palestinians. One month after the killing Paula Hancocks retraces what happened in Dubai, based on conversations with family members and what police have publically said.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Landing at Dubai International Airport on the afternoon of January 19, Mahmoud Al- Mabhouh made the five-minute drive to his hotel. The Albistan Rotana Hotel, where he would be killed just hours later.

One of the founding members of Hamas' military wing and wanted by Israel for 20 years, Al-Mabhouh probably attracted little attention on arrival. Dubai police say he was not traveling under his real name. He booked a room on the first floor, according to his family.

(on camera): He checked into a room that had no balcony and sealed windows so no one could enter. His brother said he never ate or drank in a hotel or on an airplane, because he knew he was a target.

(voice-over): Al-Mabhouh reportedly left the hotel and didn't return until the evening. Dubai police want to know where he was and who he was with. They told local media they were surprised he was traveling without security. The police refused to talk to CNN, but they have said Al-Mabhouh returned to his room around 9:30 p.m. He was killed shortly after.

Police told his family there were signs of five or six electric shocks on his legs, behind his ears, on his genitals and heart. There was also blood on the pillow. Police believe he was suffocated.

It is not yet clear if Al-Mabhouh opened the door to his killers or if they were hiding in the bathroom when he returned to his room. His brother says it is most probable they were following him and it is not difficult to bribe and buy people in a hotel. It is not difficult to get hold of a master key of a hotel to open the door while he's out and hide in the bathroom or behind the door.

(on camera): The chief of police here in Dubai, Lt. General Dahi Kalfan (ph), says that he has evidence this hit squad was a professional gang. He says many of them had European passports and it is thought that they had the left the country even before Al-Mabhouh's body was discovered. The Dubai police are now working very closely with Interpol to track the killers.

(voice-over): At least 2,000 mourners took to the streets of Damascus for Al-Mabhouh's funeral. He had lived there with his wife and two children since the early '90s. The finger of blame here points firmly at Israel.

Near his family home in Gaza, Al-Mabhouh looks down at you from 100 posters. Here, too, people blame the Israeli secret service, Mossad.

Al-Mabhouh's brother, Faet (ph) takes me to his parents' home. Again, the family says it has no doubt Israel was responsible for their son's death.

His father says, "There was an attempt to kill him in Lebanon, and he survived. Two other attempts in Syria and he survived." He says, "Israel has been after him for the past 22 years."

His mother tells me, "We were also expecting this to happen," but says, she is proud of her son.

Israel blames Al-Mabhouh for the kidnapping and killing of two Israeli soldiers back in 1989. Israeli security officials say it is hard to understate his importance within Hamas, even though he was not a household name.

BOAZ GANOR, INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR COUNTER-TERRORISM: He was engaged in administrative work that was bringing to Gaza weapons and munitions and conducting the relations between Iran, Hezbollah, and Hamas.

HANCOCKS: There is no denying he was high on Israel's most-wanted list, but Israeli security sources say an arms dealer could have many enemies. The Israeli military has openly targeted militants in Gaza in recent years. Many of those attacks were carried out by Israeli fighter jets for everyone to see.

(on camera): But when it comes to attacks overseas Israel has a policy of not commenting. There could be two benefits for this. There are not international repercussions if you don't admit to something. And also even if Israel falsely accused of an assassination, it can only play into their hands and add to the sense of deterrence.

(voice-over): But targeted killings have not always been successful. An attempt to poison Hamas leader, Khaled Mashal, in Jordan, in 1997, failed spectacularly. The Mossad agents were caught and Jordan's late King Hussein forced Benjamin Netanyahu-prime minister, then, as now-to send the antidote to save Mashal. And also, to release Hama's spiritual leader Sheikh Yassin, a man who Israel killed a few years later.

Danny Yatom was head of Mossad at the time, and has written a book about his experiences. He says he has no regrets about going after Mashal.

DANNY YATOM, FMR. HEAD OF THE MOSSAD: I'm not sorry at all. I think that no terrorist can enjoy any immunity. And they should know exactly that the free world will chance them if they continue to execute terror attacks.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Closed-circuit cameras within the Dubai hotel should help police identify Al-Mabhouh's killers.

The police chief told local media that it is certainly possible Mossad is responsible, but so far the evidence has not been conclusive.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Dubai.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRANT: So, through the PRISM tonight, counter-terrorism efforts. We are asking, should these operations respect borders. We turn to the U.S. use of unmanned aircraft, or drones, in Pakistan. It is a sensitive issue with the Pakistani government, while counter-terrorism officials hail their use as a success in fighting terrorists. Drones have generated anger among Pakistanis, because of civilian casualties and the question of sovereignty. Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour spoke with Pakistani Foreign Minister Mehmood Qureshi about this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you agree that the drone attacks have a significant effect on decapitating the Pakistan/Afghan Taliban and the Al Qaeda leadership there?

SHAH MEHMOOD QURESHI, PAKISTANI FOREIGN MINISTER: Well, the drones certainly have been able to take out some high-value targets, yes. We have got to admit that.

AMANPOUR: And what are you asking the United States regarding drones. Do you still want to have your own armed drones?

QURESHI: Yes. Why we are asking for ownership of the drone technology is simply because the issue of sovereignty is being discussed in Pakistan. The Pakistani parliament, the Pakistani media and the Pakistani people feel that we should be able to determine how to use them, when to use them, and who to use them against. If we get the ownership, we also get the responsibility. And it will resolve the issue of sovereignty, which is a very sensitive issue in Pakistan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Well, the CIA is accused of using extraordinary rendition with hundreds of terrorists suspects during the Bush administration. The practice is defended because of the intelligence gathered from the suspects. The Obama administration has ended the practice. Under extraordinary rendition suspects were flown from the battlefields in Iraq or Afghanistan to be interrogated in a third country. Government routinely denied taking part. Lithuania was the first European country to admit involvement, including the use of a facility outside Vilnius. Even then, politicians claim they were not privy to what security services were doing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB AYERS, FMR. CIA AGENT: To think that any national government would have foreign aircraft flying into its airspace, people being taken from aircraft and moved to controlled facilities somewhere within their sovereign territory and neither the central, the police, customs, air traffic control, no one knew anything about this except for the head of the security service. That is just not believable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: Well, human rights organizations and activists are highly critical of extraordinary renditions. Saying they amounted to legalized torture. Listen to what independent journalists, Stephen Grey, told CNN back in 2007.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN GREY, INDEPENDENT JOURNALISTS: We interviewed, for example, one of the most notorious victims of the extraordinary rendition, who was snatched in Milan, Italy, and taken to Egypt. His name is Abu Omar. And he told us he was electrocuted, beaten and even sexually assaulted inside a Egyptian jails, and you know, sadly, his account is not alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GRANT: We want to bring in another voice on this subject now. Sajjan Gohel is the director of the Asia-Pacific Foundation and a terrorism expert. He joins us from CNN London.

I want to put big question to you, I suppose, and that is should there be borders, boundaries, when it comes to counter-terrorism.

SAJJAN GOHEL, TERRORISM EXPERT: The problem, Stan, is that when we are dealing with terrorism it is an unconventional threat. Whether you are looking at transnational terrorist groups, like Al Qaeda, or more regional outfits based in say, the Palestinian Territories. There is no warning with a terrorist attack. The intention is to kill, to maim, now governments are responsible to their citizens to act decisively. And the threat being unconventional, the response is also going to have to be matched equally, in order to save lives, in order to prevent terrorists from plotting mass casualty attacks.

It is not an easy solution and there is no easy answer to this. But you have to look at the fact that by eliminating terrorists, regardless of where they are based. It is designed to undermine their own operation capability of conducting future operations. For example, the drone strikes in Pakistan have been very successful in eliminating senior members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda, even though they can be replaced at any time.

GRANT: And yet, there is still the question about sovereignty, even in Pakistan, where quite evidently these drone attacks have had a measure of success. To what extent should sovereignty override the quest to take out terrorism and terror suspects?

GOHEL: Well, if you look at the example of Pakistan. The U.S. decided to opt for the drone strikes primarily because there was a lack of faith and trust in Pakistan's own security apparatus in dealing with Al Qaeda and the Taliban. In fact, ironically, one of the things that the Obama administration has built upon, from the Bush administration, is the use of drone strikes. They have increased substantially.

There is this concern that elements within Pakistan's own military apparatus harbors ideological sympathies with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, and the drone strikes are cost-effective it reduces the burden on troops on the ground. And if and until the military in Pakistan is able to get a better grip on the situation the U.S. will continue to use drone strikes.

Look at the example of Rashid Rauf, who was arrested following the liquid bomb plot in 2006. Pakistani authorities detained him, he then escaped his captors and then disappeared. When such a high-value target is able to evade the security apparatus, it results in a fact of a lack of faith and trust. Then drone strikes are seen as the best alternative.

GRANT: Here is the dilemma. We just had a story, then, about the latest killing here, in Dubai. If-when people are actually identified as being involved in that killing, there could be prosecutions, people could be brought to justice for the killing itself. So where, again, does the law of that particular country come into play? Does that override the need to target individuals. It seems a very, very fine line and a very difficult balancing act.

GOHEL: And there are, of course, a number of caveats and different types of factors that come into the whole issue. Because the death of the founder of Hamas' military wing, still remains very unclear as to who was actively involved in it. Yes, I guess, Mossad would be seen as the obvious culprit, and certainly, in the Middle East there is the common perception that anything that takes place is often blamed on Israel.

But bear in mind that this individual also had a number of enemies throughout the Middle East, also, within all the different Palestinian factions. And the legal process is obviously this is the way to go forward, but first of all, they need to be able to identify who was actually behind this plot. There were a lot of criminal elements tied to this individual; in addition to the fact that he had spent time in prison in Egypt, as well. And a number of different outfits had, in fact, identified them as somebody to be targeted in the future.

So the legal apparatus has to be looked at, but the first priority needs to be ascertained as to who was responsible for this, and what systems can be brought to ensure that there is a genuine transparency in any legal scope on this. Because bear in mind, that the United Arab Emirates doesn't have diplomatic relations with Israel. If that is the direction they are trying to go down it might be a better option to actually formalize relations, which will actually help, in terms of how governments correspond and how they deal with covert activities that may be taking place -or may not be taking place.

Sajjan, a very difficult subject, we certainly appreciate you bringing your insight to this. Sajjan Gohel, there, from the Asia-Pacific Foundation, a terrorism expert, joining us from London. Thank you, again.

Well, some different perspectives there on the boundaries of counter- terrorism.

Coming up next, the mission is one of the worst kept secrets of the war. NATO and Afghan troops prepare for a major offensive against the Taliban stronghold in the Marjah Plain.

And Washington starts digging out from last weekend record blizzard that brought life in the capital to a snowy standstill. Is more snow on the way? We'll check the forecast with Mari Ramos.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRANT: Now to Afghanistan and a major battle that is brewing in Helmand Province. Civilians around Marjah have been heading out in anticipation of an upcoming NATO/Afghan offensive against the Taliban there. Fredric Pleitgen joins us now from CNN Kabul to set the stage for the planned assault on the biggest Taliban target in Southern Afghanistan.

And, Fred, obviously a bit test here for Afghan forces, who ultimately are going to have to take more control as troops are pulled back.

FREDERIC PLEITGEN, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. That is one of the things NATO forces and the British forces have been telling us throughout the past couple of days (AUDIO GAP) things to this offensive is going to be the soldier on the ground who are going to be helping out and were supposed to bear a brunt of that offensive, that it is going to be coming up. So, certainly this is really not a test of the Afghans (AUDIO GAP) a test of NATO strategy as a whole, which of course, aims to make Afghan forces strong enough to one day conduct operations (AUDIO GAP) as much as possible.

Now, one of the interesting things, of course, about this offensive is that everybody knows about it. Everybody seems to have been knowing about it for a very long time. The U.S. has been advertising this offensive. One thing that they have been telling us is the reason they have been doing this, is they have the hope that perhaps Taliban fighters will lay down their arms and leave the area without a fight, and perhaps they can move in, and that way (AUDIO GAP) possibly casualties.

Although, from what we are hearing from people who are leaving the area, right now, it does not seem to be the case; that the Taliban are packing up and running. They are telling us that a lot of Taliban are still in the area and that they have begun planting improvised explosive devices in that area, Stan.

GRANT: Fredric, thank you. Fred Pleitgen joining us there from Kabul.

Well, no choice, but new sanctions. The U.S. and France form a united front against Iran. This, after the Islamic Republic announces plans to enrich uranium to 20 percent. Ivan Watson joins me now from the Iran Desk- Ivan.

IVAN WATSON, CNN INT'L. CORRESPONDENT: Stan, the debate here about Iran's controversial nuclear program, which it insists is just for civilian peaceful means, for energy needs, but it was hidden from the International community, from the IAEA for years. And now, the statement, the declaration by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that despite months of negotiations with Western governments who had offered to supply Iran with 20 percent highly enriched Iran is going to go ahead and do it on its own.

And we heard some tough statements coming from the U.S. and its European allies, the French foreign minister saying that the negotiations, basically, have failed. It is time for sanctions. The German defense minister saying, this whole negotiation process has been a farce, Stan.

GRANT: Ivan, thank you very much for that. Ivan Watson joining us there from the Iran Desk.

Now, by all accounts Ukraine has handed a presidential runoff victory to a man once ousted by the Orange Revolution. Supporters of form prime minister, Victor Yanukovich held a victory rally in Kiev. Now the pressure is on his opponent, current Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko to step down. Our Senior International Correspondent Matthew Chance joins us now, live, from Kiev -- Matthew.

MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Thanks so much, Stan.

As you say, thousands of supporters of Victor Yanukovich flocked into the main square outside the central election commission here in Kiev to celebrate the victory, apparently, according to all of the exiting polls in this presidential election. With 99 percent of the votes now counted, it seems that Victor Yanukovich has emerged with 48 percent of the vote, which is just 3 percent more than his rival, Yulia Tymoshenko, but still enough if those continue to be translated through to the final result, still enough for him to become the next Ukrainian president.

A dramatic political comeback for this individual, because back in 2004, he was also declared the winner of presidential elections. Those elections were said to be rigged thought by the supreme court, a pro- Western, Orange Revolution, saw tens of thousands of people come out into the streets back then to sweep that election victory to one side. Since then, Ukraine has been run by a pro-Western leadership. But that leadership has been dogged by political infighting, it has lead to economic stagnation and many Ukrainians voting, over the past 24 hours, for change, for a return to the kind of stability they saw, at least, under the previous regime.

So, it seems that they pro-Western leaders have been cast aside by the people of the Ukraine, Stan.

GRANT: Matthew, but obviously with such a close result, this is still a very divided country. Is it a case of dissatisfaction with both candidates?

CHANCE: I think it is. I think there is a good deal of dissatisfaction with politics, in general, in this country, and with politicians in particular. There has been such political infighting, such mudslinging throughout this campaign. It has left many ordinary Ukrainians, who just want a better standard of living for the most part, pretty disillusioned with the whole political process.

About 4.5 percent of those who cast their ballots, in this election, cast them against all of the candidates. So, I think that is an indication of some degree of disillusionment. But I think it is also fair to say that the focus of the disillusionment is on the leaders that have run the country over the course of the past five years. Those pro-Western orange leaders as they are known where, and in the region. And a vote for Victor Yanukovich was almost certainly a vote against them as much as it was a vote for him.

GRANT: Matthew, thank you very much for that. Matthew Chance there.

We are going to take a look now at the global weather picture. Mari Ramos at the CNN World Weather Center with all of that.

Hi, Mari.

(WEATHER REPORT)

GRANT: Mari, just while I've got you there. Talking about snow, Winter Olympics coming up. We were just saying a week or so ago there was no snow in Vancouver. Has that changed?

MARI RAMOS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: That has not changed. We are still looking at a deficit as far as snow is concerned. No recorded snowfall, especially in the West Vancouver area. So, far, temperatures barely making it below freezing in some cases. And Vancouver proper, they haven't had a day that has been at freezing, or below, the entire year.

GRANT: What an irony.

RAMOS: I know.

GRANT: Snow everywhere except where they need it.

RAMOS: Where they need it.

GRANT: It will make interesting watching. Thanks very much for that, Mari.

That's it for me, Stan Grant, in Abu Dhabi. "Main Sail" coming up next. That is after we update the headlines.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END