12 September 2013

Craig Murray: the straightforward logic of anti-Zionist

This is a third post on the subject. The first two lead to a pretty unpleasant conclusion: the man who appeared to be at first simply unfair to Israel is, in fact, brimming over with anti-American and anti-Zionist fervor.

Now, in one of his latest posts, The Troodos Conundrum, he is showing that his antipathy to the Zionists* has already crossed the red line into dimly lit corridors of obsession. Fanatics of a cause usually don't bother with elementary logic, as this post abundantly shows. Let's see the highlights of the article:

  • There is a GCHQ listening post on Mount Troodos in Cyprus.
  • "It monitors all radio, satellite and microwave traffic across the Middle East".
  • "Troodos is highly effective – the jewel in the crown of British intelligence. Its capacity and efficiency, as well as its reach, is staggering."
  • Mr Murray has been there in person. "I should state that I have actually been inside all of this facility and been fully briefed on its operations and capabilities, while I was head of the FCO Cyprus Section in the early 1990s. This is fact, not speculation." And, indeed, this is the last fact in that article of any value, if at all.
  • "It is therefore very strange, to say the least, that John Kerry claims to have access to communications intercepts of Syrian military and officials organising chemical weapons attacks, which intercepts were not available to the British Joint Intelligence Committee." Now, does the fact that Mr Craig visited the installation in early 1990 make him privy to the intercepts (or lack of intercepts) by GCHQ in 2013?
  • And then, without further ado: "On one level the explanation is simple. The intercept evidence was provided to the USA by Mossad, according to my own well placed source in the Washington intelligence community." Hm... is Mossad the only intelligence agency other than MI6 that provides US information? And what if it was Mossad indeed, why does it matter? You shall see in a second:
  • "The answer to the Troodos Conundrum is simple. Troodos did not pick up the intercepts because they do not exist. Mossad fabricated them. John Kerry’s “evidence” is the shabbiest of tricks."
Let's try to condense this line of reasoning to a shorter chain. GCHQ are a top dog, if someone else has something GCHQ doesn't then someone else is lying, ergo Mossad has fabricated it, so Kerry was tricked.

Of course, one could ask a few questions like:
  • Is GCHQ really that infallible? Couldn't it happen that some outfit that sits practically on the outskirts of Damascus sees and hears a bit more than the famed GCHQ? Or, at least, something else the wizards of GCHQ might have missed?
  • Who said Kerry is using info provided by Mossad (not the Mossad, actually, but why try to confuse Craig Murray even more...)? Don't CIA, NSA, FBI, 6th Fleet etc have their own extensive listening networks?
  • Why should Mossad push for something the entire population of Israel, its government included, is not sure about, e.g. attack on Syria, that, most probably, will not benefit Israel at all - just the opposite? And fabricate something that so easily could be outed as a fabrication**.
But I am afraid these simple questions will remain unanswered by our hero. It's really a pity that a great progressive thinker like Craig Murray can't follow in the steps of that other famous Brit, one Sherlock Holmes, with his "when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth".

But at least one can admire the straightforward way of thinking. If it's not to my liking, it is them Zionists who concocted it, says intrepid Mr Murray. So there.


And I haven't yet addressed the following passage:
Israel has repeatedly been involved in the Syrian civil war, carrying out a number of illegal bombings and missile strikes over many months. This absolutely illegal activity by Israel - which has killed a great many civilians, including children - has brought no condemnation at all from the West.
(Emphasis mine) Now I am ready to address it. Here it comes: Indeed, Mr Murray? / End of addressing.

What can I add to that uninspiring picture of a man obsessed?

(*) For lack of a better term and not knowing the man better than that.
(**) Meanwhile more and more incontrovertible evidence about Syrian army being behind the gassing is piling up. But why care?

1 comments:

SnoopyTheGoon said...

Slippery fellow. But then so was Sherlock,who had the additional problem of being, often as not, stoned on cocaine.