The Inside Straight

Did Mossad Murder Iranian Physicist ?

There is a story - just now starting to "snowball" on the web. (Oooh-ooh-ooh ! Oh. Never mind !)

"Intelligence source says Mossad agents assassinated 44 year old Iranian nuclear physicist Ardeshire Hassenpour to keep Iran from developing nuclear weapons." So says The Times (UK) Online-followed by Fox News.

Wow ! I wonder who their intelligence source was ?

A little quick research suggests the story was copied - virtually word-for-word from a World Net Daily story - which quotes STRATFOR as its source. The realationship between World Net Daily (WND) and STRATFOR might best be summarized by this quotation from WND.

"Editor's note: In partnership with STRATFOR, the global intelligence company, WorldNetDaily publishes daily updates on international affairs provided by the respected private research and analysis firm. Look for fresh updates each afternoon, Monday through Friday. In addition, WorldNetDaily invites you to consider STRATFOR membership, entitling you to a wealth of international intelligence reports usually available only to top executives, scholars, academic institutions and press agencies. "

I don't want to sound picky, but so far, have not seen anything from WND or STRATFOR I would care to lay out good money for; so I decided to do my own homework.

I learned the Iranian government announced the Dr. Hassenpour's death on January 21,2007 - some 6 days after his death. The Iranians note the death was apparently caused by "gas poisoning".

Dr. Hassenpour, the Iranians say, had been working at a plant in Isfahan-where Uranium Hexaflouride is manufactured (for use in the Natanz enrichment facility).

Uranium Hexaflouride is very nasty stuff : inhale/ingest the slightest amount,and the moisture in your body will convert it to Flourine: an element that makes Chlorine look positively beneficial. One can just about promise a prolonged and hideously agonizing death .

If one is working in a Mullah-driven "crash program" , the dangers of working with such materials are multiplied. (For example, during Stalin's drive to produce a workable atomic bomb, it is said thousands of low-ranking workers "gave" their lives.)

Setting that aside for the moment, I find myself wondering how Mossad could manage to get through the intense security screen surrounding anyone involved in Iran's enrichment program. It is possible - just - but things seldom work out like that in real life for any intelligence agency !

So: much as Mossad might enjoy the publicity, I suspect this story - like so many others I've seen - belongs in the trash basket !

ps: I wonder if "the world's leading private intelligence firm" would care to calculate the effect of stories like this on "the world's largest tinderbox" ?

Emerging "Theories" in Poisoned Spy Case

The media is  weaning itself of the "Putin Must Have Murdered Litvinenko" theory ..with considerable reluctance. It was a theory handed to them -neatly packaged and fully orchestrated - by a Public Relations expert, working on behalf of the expatriate Oligarch billionaire , Boris Berezovsky. What's more, it was a "juicy" story : sure to attract viewers/readers, and beef up those third quarter advertising revenues.

It was also a story to gladden a billionaire Currency Trader's heart: Russia-on the verge of membership in the World Trade Organization-suddenly hit with a monstrous scandal ! If one has - ever so discreetly-taken a "short position" on the Ruble, who knows what extra millions may be reaped ? If that particular Trader is a heavy contributor to at least one major Russian newspaper - and one of America's dominant political parties , it is certain the "scandal" will have "legs".

Unfortunately, the story has been falling apart - with almost daily revelations - and another,more viable theory is emerging : The death of Litvinenko may be closely linked to Polonium smuggling .Moreover,the death may have been closer to manslaughter than murder: a death occuring by accident during the commission of another crime.

Polonium-210 is an extremely valuable commodity. Russia exports about 8 grams a month to the United States - thereby earning about 40 million Dollars. We use it for a variety of commercial and industrial applications - in microscopic quantities. The Black Market value of Polonium-210 is about 25 million dollars per gram !

It is also a very very dangerous commodity ! It can be carried - so they say - in a sealed vial with little or no risk ; but , once outside the vial, the risk is astronomical. It is reported to be 2.5 x 1000000000000 times more poisonous than Hydrocyanic acid (the stuff they use in gas chambers),and at least 50 times more energetic than Radium. Left in a warm environment (131F or above), it will vaporize within 45 hours-coating everything it touches with an ultra-thin layer of highly radioactive material - ideal for a "dirty bomb" . Mixed or alloyed with a super light metal called Beryllium, it becomes a Neutron emitter-and has been used as such in nuclear bombs.And yes, Virginia, there are people called "terrorists" who would gladly pay $25 million per gram for it !

The British, German, and Russian police are now investigating what the German police have tentatively identified as a smuggling operation; and the people they are looking at have absolutely nothing to do with Vladimir Putin.

So far, the following have come to the attention of the police in three countries:

Dmitri Kovtun - a businessman, with interests in oil and gas-has been exposed to radiation;

Andrei Lugovoi - a businessman who specializes in brewing kvas - a sort of weak beer-has been exposed to radiation,left trail of same in Hamburg;

Evgeny Limarev- a businessman with contacts, who is,at the moment, remaining out of contact.

One should not neglect to mention the victim: Alexander V. Litvinenko - a man with a distinctly checkered past. According to what Lugovi told Der Spiegel during a recent interview, the victim was no longer receiving money from his "patron" - billionaire Oligarch Boris Berezovsky- and needed money so badly he was actually ruining lucrative "deals" with his demands for large sums of cash.

It seems entirely possible at this juncture the unfortunate Litvinenko received a lethal dose of Polonium-210 poisoning because someone in his immediate circle was exceptionally careless with an exceptionally dangerous material.

The nature of the business these ill-assorted players were engaged in has not been made public-officially,anyway. What is officially acknowledged is the fact the business left a trail of radioactive contamination : in hotels, airplanes,lounges, a sushi bar,a football stadium, and (Oops !) the offices of Boris Berezovsky.

It is also notable the British police suddenly decided to take stock of their radiation-resistant protective garments, and found they needed to place a rather large order for same.

Might one suspect the existence of a "dirty bomb" component in the hands of terrorists ?

Time to Step Back on "Poisoned Spy" Case - and Let Police Do Their Job !

I've done a lot of posting on the matter of former FSB agent Alexander V. Litvinenko's death - but now it's time to step back and let "the authorities pursue their enquiries" - as our British cousins say.

They are, after all, extremely capable and well-equipped; have been investigating crimes rather successfully for a very long time ; and - unlike the hundreds of "investigative reporters" competing to see who can tell the most scandalous (and circulation-building) tale , the police have actual evidence available to them , and are pursuing leads we "conspiracy buffs" can only dream of.

It is only in fiction (with extremely rare exceptions) that the "hardboiled Private Eye" or the "Ace Reporter" , or the lissome - but - liberated- and -brainy ingenue crack the case. (Incidentally, if the leading lady is so damn smart, why is she always doing such dumb things ? Why does she always seem to trip on the only tree root in six counties when the villain chases her ? )

The way things stand, the notion that Russian President Putin - who has hundreds of thousands of people in Russia who disagree with him (quite publicly and vocally, too) would be so offended by a largely unread book, published by a disgraced former "spy", and paid for by a billionaire fugitive with alleged ties to the Chechen underworld, as to send someone out with 5 million dollars worth of Polonium to poison him is ...more than a bit over the top !

It looks to me quite a bit like a smuggling operation - perhaps involving  nuclear materials such as Polonium 210 , Cesium 137 , and/or other nuclear waste products may have gone quite far awry- (as suggested by the 12 contaminated sites found in London, the 3 contaminated aircraft,and the contamination reportedly discovered of late in Turkey.)

What I am speculating about might fan your interest ; but my speculations might easily be 180 degrees wrong : because they are based on media disclosures-rather than the carefully preserved evidence samples, medical treatment and autopsy reports, witness statements,cell phone records,flight manifests,etc. already in the hands of the police.

These "deadly dull details" are what will tell the story - someday ; but for now , our curiosity will have to remain unsatisfied.

For me, that means it's time to move on to other, more productive topics.

"Poisoned Spy Case" : the 800 lb. Gorillas in the Room

As more and more information about the poisoning of former Russian spy Alexander V. Litvienko emerges, the "800 lb. gorillas"  (notice the plural) in the room are finally getting noticed !

At the risk of being tedious Litvienko was poisoned on or about November 1,2006 - possibly during a meeting with an associate named Mario Scaramella at a sushi restaurant in London. Litvienko , who was supposedly being warned of dastardly plots against him , had soup and a sushi plate ; Scaramella, a glass of water.

Litvienko reported the following day he had been poisoned , and (not too surprisingly) wondered if Scaramella (who is reported to have questionable antecedents) might have done the deed.

Litvienko had been closely associated with Boris Berezovsky - one of the Russian "Oligarchs"- and-potentially,at least, a genuine "800 lb. gorilla".  In 1996 , Forbes magazine published an article suggesting Berezovsky might be " The Godfather of the Kremlin" : "Power.Politics.Murder.Boris Berezovsky could teach the guys in Sicily a thing or two."

Litvinenko is also reported to have had close ties to the (al-Qaeda trained) Chechen "Separatists"-one of whom, Ahmed Zakayev has been given asylum in Britain - despite claims he was linked to the Beslan school massacre. Litvinenko had-according to his father-embraced Islam , and he is regarded as a hero by the "Chechniks". So, glancing around, one can see another 800 lb. gorilla , sitting quietly in the corner !

Then there is Andrei Lugovoi (another former FSB agent-turned-businessman) and the reports that places he  - and assorted members of "the Berezovsky circle" - have been in Britain are now contaminated with radioactive material: hotels, residences, meeting rooms,airplanes etc. (The media refers to this as contamination with Polonium 210,but I seriously doubt this is the official analysis of the actual contaminant ; and imagine "Polonium" is being used as a lazy reporter's shorthand description-because it matches what was found in Litvienko's urine and is easy to spell.)

This brings attention to yet another "gorilla" : the very possible existence of a ring , engaged in smuggling nuclear materials into and (possibly) out of Britain . This gorilla could weigh a helluva lot more than 800 lbs. !!

Did Poisoned Spy Have Poisonous Friends ?

More mud and murk than usable information seems to be bubbling up in the media's "investigation" of the death of Alexander Litvinenko : The "spy who came in from the cold " - only to perish of Polonium poisoning.

There have been conflicting reports (sometimes in the same publication !) that Litvinenko was involved in the smuggling of radioactive materials out of one of the former Soviet Union countries-or that he had been revealing the names and methods of those involved.

There are reports of radioactivity being discovered (the media claims it was Polonium 210 , but never clarifies how they know this) in several locations used/frequented by the so-called Russian dissidents. There are other reports - much less stridently voiced-of links between these "dissidents" and Chechen terrorists-and fashionably left-wing Londoners, such as Vanessa Redgrave.

There are even reports of traces of radiation being discovered on airplanes that fly regularly between London and Moscow ; and appeals have been made to previous passengers on these planes to come forward.

Not everyone is convinced this is some sort of "Putin plot" , however. I found these opinions today:

The following opinion piece -attributed to John Weaver-was published via cut and paste on another site , and, as nearly as I can tell , was originally posted on the "Atlantic Free Press" website ,then copied on a Left wing site, then copied elsewhere- so I can't even begin to comment on its veracity. (It sounds like something that MIGHT have been printed in The Guardian originally.)

I'm pretty sure "copying a copy of what may have been a copy of a copy" is not plagiarism !!!

"If I simply stood anywhere near Boris Berezovsky, I’m sure my hair would fall out and my skin would turn yellow.

Alexander Litvinenko is simply the last in a long line of stiffs associated with Boris, a line of corpses that stretches back to the mid-nineties. One died from a mysterious nerve toxin applied to the rim of his coffee cup.

If you want to know about Boris Berezovsky, ask former Forbes editor Paul Klebnikov. Except you can’t, because he was blown away in 2004, shortly after writing up Berezovsky’s bullet-ridden bio, ‘Godfather Of Crime’.

The Litvinenko case is notable for the disinformation spread by the UK’s press, where the ‘facts’ have changed daily. Who makes this stuff up? Why, story and pictures supplied by The Godfather’s PR Firm - one with the sole aim of naming the killer as the Kremlin. Or might that just be a smokescreen for a mafia hit? At the very least, it’s a case of Pottinger calling the kettle black.
The media first linked Litvinenko with the poisoning of Yushchenko. How did that come about? Well, PR just happened to contact John Henry, the toxicologist, to put the Thallium rumour about. Shamefaced John now regrets his diagnosis and admits he was misled about aspects of the case. He stood near Boris and, as the Guardian put it today, got his fingers burned.

The BBC reported radioactive metal objects lodged in Litvinov’s intestines. Source? Potttinger PR. Litvinenko’s doctor subsequently complained about the BBC’s unhelpful speculation. But, who cares about facts as long as Putin gets maligned.

Litvinenko didn’t care much for facts either. He was a loose cannon who would say anything and was paid handsomely by Boris for so doing. A good example of one of Livinenko’s rants is an interview where he blames the London 7/7 bombings on Putin. According to Litvinenko, Yassar Arafat, Saddam and al-Zawahiri are all KGB agents too. Litvinenko would give gullible journalists declassified, old 1970s documents marked ’secret’ to prove his cred. Boris bought him a half a million pound house in London. Good job.

The other political link the media has sought to forge is between Litvinenko and Politovskaya. Well, there is a link, but not the one generally publicised. Shortly before Paul Klebnikov was hit, he was investigating the embezzlement of Russian funds intended for reconstruction in Chechnya - a fatal line of enquiry the investigative Politovskaya was also following,

Litvinenko’s rants were published in the UK Chechen press. An interesting link is between Berezovsky, Litvinenko and Zakayev, the Chechen warlord, is that they were all mysteriously given asylum in the UK as ‘needy human rights cases’. Yeah, right.

Why London needs a coterie of foreign criminals is beyond me, but they appear to have some friends in very high places. Even Zhirinovsky has asked the perfectly reasonable question ‘ why Cherie Blair works in a law firm which is servicing our Russian thugs, Berezovsky included.’

It’s bad enough having Lord Bell influence the media on behalf of the Mafia. Even more disturbing is that Scotland Yard did not investigate the case until several days after the poisoning was reported. Does Boris have friends there too? Not important. By this time Britain’s media had secured a conviction."

Another poster-who chose to remain anonymous- opined:

"Interesting angle. Fits with what little I know of Boris Abramovich Berezovskiy.

There was a popular tele-journalist in Moscow back in the late 1990s who ran afoul of mafiosi and had to pay some protection money. Supposedly he had to give the money to Berezovskiy, who was to hand it off to the gangster. Berezovskiy instead went shopping, and the journalist ended up dead.

BAB is also the Russian businessman who invented the salary-less payroll, where employees wouldn't get paid, but had to keep getting salary advances to survive month to month. If they quit, "they'd never work in Moscow again", in addition to losing their back pay. The idea got so popular among Russian businessmen in the mid-1990s that pretty much nobody was getting paid.

BAB paid off Yeltsin through frequent luxury gifts and vacations. He even hired Yeltsin's son-in-law (the husband of Tanya Dyachenko, who pretty much ran the Kremlin during Yeltsin's frequent drunks) to be on the board of the airline Berezovskiy owned at the time, Aeroflot.

His role (along with General Lebed) in ending the first Chechen war was probably the reason he can't safely venture outside. Before he fled, several tapes of BAB talking on the phone with terrorists were aired. I had a lot of transcripts posted here, but when FR went to its new format, lots of history disappeared as well.

I'm amazed that UK decided to give BAB and assorted Chechen terrorists asylum, but the world long ago moved beyond my comprehension."

Amen to that, my friend !!

Given my initial wild speculations on this case, I think I'll refrain from offering an opinion ...well: Okay. Just a teensie one:

Would the presence of all this unaccounted-for radioactive residue in so many places frequented by these (allegedly) sticky-fingered entrepreneurs suggest -ever so slightly-that someone in this charming expatriate circle was involved in the  smuggling of radioactive materials to the Chechens or, perhaps to terrorists now working up a new round of mischief in Britain ?

Poisoned "Spy" , Murdered Journalist : Related Events ?

I almost never read the (UK) Guardian : which I view for the most part as "the respectable version" of The Daily Worker : same general slant, but better cricket and football scores. It's the sort of paper the "inwardly rebellious" junior bureaucrat can bring to work without attracting undue attention.

Given their decidely left-wing outlook, I was a bit shocked to see an article counselling Britons to be cautious about blaming the Russian Security Service (FSB) for the death of former FSB officer Alexander V. Litvinenko !

"Don't Rush to Judgment !" says the Guardian's Moscow Bureau Correspondent , Tom Parfitt.

If you have read my previous entries, I had said much the same thing - but had speculated ( a bit wildly) that Litvinenko might have deliberately consumed something he thought would make him a bit sick for a day or so - but had been "double-crossed" by someone in his rather dubious circle , who was perfectly willing to commit a murder or two-just for drill.

Bu the next day, I realized the idea was probably stupid- and said so. ( It would be easy to pretend infallibility by deleting previous posts -as some undoubtedly do-but I prefer to keep them in front of me as a humiliating reminder to gather more information before posting .)

Nonetheless, I'll stick with yesterday's opinion : The "deathbed statement" allegedly dictated by Litvinenko to his "friends" sounds more like something composed by his companions , because: (a)The dying are usually much too involved in the intensely personal business of departure to make speeches; (b) News accounts I read today spoke of the victim as being on a ventilator .(Being kept alive by a machine generally has an adverse effect on one's ability to dictate deathbed declarations.)

Looking at today's crop of breathless news stories, I see five locations were contaminated to one degree or another with radioactive Polonium - the poison used in this murder: The sushi bar where he had his last-known meal, his home,the offices of his financial patron Boris Berezovsky,and the hotel lounge, where the victim often met his "circle".

Does this suggest the complicity of someone in that circle - or - the devious minions of Vlad Putin ? The media has, by and large, subscribed to the latter theory , because...well, just because !

Litvinenko was said  (by this same circle of confidants) to have been "investigating the murder of Russian journalist, Anna Politkovskaya , who was shot to death while in her elevator,by two assailants.The two pistols used in the attack were left at the scene : a rather professional touch, and so far, nobody but the media has a clue as to who did it and why.

The media assures us it was done by hired assassains - in the pay of Putin, or someone in FSB.

They know this has to be true, because the late journalist was a vocal critic of Putin, and the FSB, and the way the poor (murderous,al-Qaeda trained) "Chechen separatists" were treated.What other explanation could there be ?

At the risk of grossing folks out , accounts I've read suggest Politkovskaya's face was practically shot off. What is not generally mentioned is that this comes close to being a "Chechen signature" to the crime. Those who have had AQ training quite often "sign" their kills this way : as a means of showing how much they disapproved of the victim-( some would definitely disapprove of a liberated woman poking into Islamic-related affairs !) -  and sometimes, as a means of delaying identification of the victim, so escape may be facilitated.

As remarked earlier, I am not infallible .Putin and his Merry Monsters MAY have been responsible  for these two murders ... but at the moment , I seriously doubt it !

"Poisoned Spy" Case Heating Up

More and more information is emerging about the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko: the so-called "Poisoned Russian Spy" : enough to make me discard my original "death by misadventure" speculation-AND enough to reinforce my doubts that Vladimir Putin and/or the Russian Government and/or any agency of that government had anything to do with what clearly appears to have been murder.

The Russian Government has released a statement (source MOSNEWS) which I will quote briefly:

"Poisoned former spy Alexander Litvinenko’s deathbed message may have accused Russian President Vladimir Putin, but pro-Kremlin lawmakers and state-controlled television networks pointed the finger at a prominent Putin enemy in Britain — tycoon Boris Berezovsky, the Associated Press reports.

Legislators seconded a top Putin aide’s suggestion that Litvinenko’s death in a London hospital Thursday was part of a plot against Russia and claimed that Berezovsky, a major critic whose asylum in Britain has enraged the Kremlin, was involved in the killing."

Russian legislators point -quite reasonably - the death of Litvinenko "means nothing" to the government or to the security services.

The presence of Putin's "enemies" at Litvinenko's side may very well explain the long,florid, and somewhat poetic deathbed statement allegedly dictated by the victim.

Truth be told, the text of this statement should set off "BS meters" in the minds of anyone who has been around the gravely ill or dying. Let me phrase it politely: It is quite uncharacteristic - as those in this situation tend to be extraordinarily self-involved,and not especially coherent.(There are exceptions, of course ; but the very fact they are remarked upon underlines how rare such events actually are.)

"... as I lie here, I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death. I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like. I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition."

If one keeps in mind this message is being repeated by an alleged swindler , who has succeeded in fighting extradition back to the Russia he is charged with defrauding, the credibility of this "final declaration" dwindles - to say the least !

I'm not a big Putin fan , but I doubt he had anything to do with this death.

Additional Info on "Poisoned Spy" Case

The news being revealed in the Alexander Litvinenko case is a bit startling:

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23375897-details/Exclusive:%20Sushi%20bar%20man%20is%20nuclear%20waste%20expert/article.do

It seems, if the article is to be believed, the last person to see Litvinenko -and who almost had to be present at the time the poison was ingested-is described as "an expert in nuclear waste materials".

If he is as close an associate as the article suggests, he may very well have been in the victim's home-and his hotel and was admittedly present with him in the sushi bar - which - if reports are true-has tested positive for radioactive material.

Alexander Litvinenko's Death: Murder or "Misadventure" ?

The highly-publicized death of former FSB (Russian Security Agency) Colonel Alexander V. Litvinenko from what appears to have been Polonium poisoning has stirred accusations he was murdered on the orders of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Litvinenko is said to have dictated a final statement to certain friends as he lay dying -a part of which is quoted here:

"... as I lie here, I can distinctly hear the beating of wings of the angel of death. I may be able to give him the slip but I have to say my legs do not run as fast as I would like. I think, therefore, that this may be the time to say one or two things to the person responsible for my present condition.

You may succeed in silencing me but that silence comes at a price. You have shown yourself to be as barbaric and ruthless as your most hostile critics have claimed.

You have shown yourself to have no respect for life, liberty or any civilized value.

You have shown yourself to be unworthy of your office, to be unworthy of the trust of civilized men and women.

You may succeed in silencing one man but the howl of protest from around the world will reverberate, Mr. Putin, in your ears for the rest of your life. May God forgive you for what you have done, not only to me but to beloved Russia and its people."

This statement would seem to make it a "given" that Putin had Litvinenko murdered - but the actual circumstances suggest another less-attractive explanation: death by misadventure !

To begin with, let's consider the parties involved.

The Russian President Vladimir Putin needs no introduction. A former KGB apparatchik -who has surrounded himself with people drawn from FSB (successor agency to the infamous KGB),he has a reputation for being brutal and ruthless : qualities we can hardly admire ,but which the Russian people needed at a time when Russia was being bled dry by "The Friends of George Soros" (credited with stealing 100 Billion Dollars in foreign aid , and handing off Russia's most valuable assets to a close-knit circle of criminal Oligarchs) ; and being attacked almost continuously by al-Qaeda trained Chechen "separatists" - eager to seize control of the vital oil and natural gas fields.

Alexander V. Litvinenko , the "martyred victim" in this case , was himself a KGB man,and later joined the FSB: achieving the rank of Colonel.

In 1998, he accused his superiors of ordering him to murder one of the Oligarchs :Boris Berezovsky -described by some as one of the architects of the massive Yukos Oil swindle. Berezovsky fled to England , and was given sanctuary : much to the chagrin of Russian prosecutors.

Litvinenko was charged with abuse of office,and was jailed for 9 months in 1999, awaiting trial-but was acquitted-and promptly fled with his family to England, where he was given sanctuary,and eventually received citizenship.

What Litvinenko was doing for a living in England has not been mentioned . He did write a book,claiming the Russians had bombed their own citizens and had laid the blame on the Chechens. It seems unlikely he earned much from this enterprise , but seems to have lived rather well in a nation that is notoriously "high rent". 

Now, let's look at the circumstances.

Litvinenko met a friend at a sushi bar on the probable date he was poisoned.The meeting was arranged by e-mail : making a bit unlikely the dreaded minions of Vlad Putin could have known about it in advance. Litvinenko ate sushi during the meeting. His friend settled for a glass of water.

British media reports (and the NY Times-which is, as we know,never wrong) indicate police have found traces of Polonium - the poison allegedly used - at the sushi bar , at a hotel used by the victim, and ...in the victim's own home !

Now we all know (from James Bond movies) those Russian agents are deucedly clever - but this seems to go quite a bit beyond clever . It strains the limits of credibility, in my honest opinion, to suggest that someone-other than the victim-was able to transport this material to all three locations.

Much has been made in the media of the poison used : understandably so, since Polonium is a radioactive element . It is also a "heavy metal" poison - much like its inert neighbor on the Periodic Chart of Elements - Lead ; and may be treated in much the same way Lead poisoning is treated: via administration of chelating agents, which cause the metal to be excreted in the urine and/or solid wastes of the body. The key , of course, is prompt diagnosis and treatment.

If Litvinenko had taken this improbable poison in an attempt to draw attention and sympathy to his cause ,and to pump up interest in his "investigation" into the murder of Russian journalist Anna Polrikovskaya , his survival would have depended on telling the doctors exactly what was in his system : assuming he knew what it was.

I'm going to hypothesize here, and suggest someone he trusted -someone connected with the Oligarchs (or with their connections !) -may have furnished Litvinenko with a little bottle of nasty stuff: suggesting he take it in order to have a much-publicized, very serious illness, that would bring massive discredit upon the Putin government (reminiscent of Viktor Yushenko's Dioxin poisoning during the Ukraine's now-faltering "Orange Revolution"). I'm going to make another "wild guess" and suggest the "helpful" poison supplier didn't bother to tell his "good friend" what was in the stuff - because Litvinenko was, in the final analysis quite...expendable.

Why such a devious,cold-hearted scheme ?

It doesn't get much play in the Western Media, but Russia has become a "golden goose" again.Between sensible exploitation of her natural resources,and her policy of selling heavy-duty arms to anyone with two ruble to rub together, Russia has been able to pay off much of her foreign debt,and has excellent cash flow. She is, in a word, ripe for plucking.

If you think the Oligarchs and the assorted FOGS ( "Friends of George Soros") have given up on the idea of tumbling Russia in the dust again, I have some nice submerged real estate you might want to invest in ! There's more than enough gold in "them-thar hills" to warrant a few strategically timed murders - or the occasional "death by misadventure" !

Saddam to Hang for Crimes Against Iraqi People - His American Supporters Claim Sentence an Effort to Affect US Elections (!)

An Iraqi jury, taking part in one of the most transparent trials in modern history , found Saddam Hussein and some of his henchmen guilty of crimes against the Iraqi people , and sentenced Saddam and two of his closest advisers to death by hanging. Other defendants were sentenced to lengthy terms of imprisonment.

Two days ago, before the jury had begun its deliberations , Saddam's "cheerleaders" in the United States claimed the verdict was being "timed" to secure a Republican victory in the forthcoming mid-term elections : a sentiment picked up on (if not originated by) Saddam's defense counsel.(Following is a quote from the AP report.)

Saddam's counsel said the verdict was timed to help President George W. Bush's Republicans at Tuesday's congressional elections, and had urged a delay to prevent the sentence triggering bloodshed "for generations to come".

It should be pointed out Saddam's American "support group" is made up of a few "true believers" in Socialism - plus an overwhelming percentage of BDS sufferers: people so violently opposed to anything the Bush administration says or does ,they are said to be subject to "Bush Derangement Syndrome".

This is the group that totted up US casualties in Iraq , and chortled gleefully when the number approached the number of people murdered on 9/11; the group that multiplied the probable number of Iraqi casualties by a factor of 10 - and tried to palm it off as the truth; the group that trumpeted every mis-step , every mis-deed , every negative story to the world : thereby giving "heart" to the "heroic Iraqi Resistance" , and encouraging them to kill a few more Americans.

It includes such diverse groups as Socialists, Communists ,New Klux Klansmen, Alex Jones Liars (somehow,calling them "truthers" seems inappropriate !) ; Isolationists, and (Lord help us !) Immigration fanatics from both sides of the issue - plus a goodly serving of Straight Ticket Democrats who refuse to believe the American people have the right to reject their candidates from time to time.

In the Immortal words of Porky Pig : "A-thee-a-thee-a-that's all, folks ! "