London terror and an Egyptian mystery man

I do not have a theory about the recent unpleasantness in London, and I may never form one. However, I would like to discuss this piece by Craig Murray, which deals with the first car bomb. British police have said that this incident is probably related to the others, which have led, at this writing, to five arrests. Perhaps, though, we should consider the first episode separately.

Murray notes an odd geographical coincidence: Not far from this vehicle, another mysterious event recently took place -- the death of Egyptian wheeler-dealer and alleged Mossad spy, Ashraf Marwan. The Egyptians believe that his lethal defenestration was not suicide. One report holds that Marwan was writing a "tell-all" book about Egypt and Israel.

Ashraf Marwan was alleged to have worked for Israeli intelligence agency Mossad during the 1973 Yom Kippur war with Egypt and Syria. He was accused of tipping Israel off about the war. Police said "He appears to have fallen from a balcony. The death is being treated as unexplained." The 62 year old son-in-law of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser was found on Wednesday in St James's, Central London.

The fact that these two incidents are less than ten minutes walk apart does not make them connected. They may or may not be. But I note this, and the list above, to help those who have difficulty imagining that there is any need to consider any possibility other than Islamic terrorism to explain the apparent Haymarket car bomb. Astonishing things do happen in London.

In other words, the failed car bomb may have been meant for Marwan -- in which case, the perpetrators could have been, not terrorists, but Egyptian or Israeli or British spooks.

The party ordering the attack may even have been a private citizen -- a man of great wealth.

Marwan, it turns out, was a very mysterious figure -- and much more powerful than the recent news accounts suggest.

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He had close ties to Tiny Rowland, the great business rival of Mohammed al-Fayed, owner of Harrods and potential father-in-law to Pricess Diana. This chapter of a book on Diana discusses the "Marwan mystery" at some length. It's a fascinating read.

Marwan, born penniless, married the daughter of Nasser and quickly rose to power in Egypt. He became a sort of roving diplomat for Nasser. After Nasser's death, under Anwar Sadat, Marwan entered the arms trade. More than that:

He was, in effect, Chief of Staff for Information and Chairman of the Arab Corporation for War Industries. These two posts alone would represent great and lucrative power in Sadat’s Egypt. But then Sadat appointed him Head of the Security Forces. This made him not only the ultimate supremo of the army and air force, but also the civil and secret police. This was not only unprecedented, but almost inconceivable. It was this man, don’t forget, who would ultimately become a principal player against the Fayed family.

Between 1974 and 1978 Marwan masterminded a mass of arrests and created sophisticated torture chambers, which reflected Sadat’s terrible fear of assassination. Marwan played on this fear to consolidate his power. His name in Cairo changed from the "Miracle Child" to "Dr. Death." as wave after wave of legal terrorism swept the capitol. In his capacity under Sadat, Marwan managed to stash no less than £340 million, mainly in London where he was madly buying property.

Here's where the story gets very odd, especially in light of the recent revelations. At the onset of the Yom Kippur War, Marwan delivered important information to Mossad. Some believe that the Israelis had genuinely recruited him; others hold that he was a double agent whose loyalties remained with Egypt.

Marwan broke with Anwar Sadat as relations warmed between Egypt and Israel.

It is not known, but widely assumed, that Marwan was the brains behind the assassination [of Sadat].

I'd like to know the basis for this assumption. The assassination of Anwar Sadat is generally credited to the Muslim Brotherhood -- to Salafists who might be considered spiritual predecessors to Al Qaeda. Thus, we must ask: If Marwan really did work with the Israelis during the Yom Kippur War, what was his relationship with the Israelis at the time of Sadat's demise?

(I am not suggesting that Israel had a hand in the horrifying open-air murder of the Egyptian president. I am simply trying -- without much success -- to hammer these conflicting facts and claims into a coherent narrative.)

Marwan went on to work with Libya's Gaddafi at a time when America considered Gaddafi the epitome of evil. As noted earlier, the Egyptian wheeler-dealer also worked with Rowland, who formed an epic antipathy toward Mohammed Al Fayed.

My main question is simple. How was a man like Marwan able, for two decades now, to operate terrorist activity from the UK and France with complete impunity? It is absolutely impossible that he could have evaded the interest of the whole world’s intelligence services, including MI5, MI6, the CIA, Mossad, all the Arab states, France, and, because of his strong connections with Rowland - who had vast interests in Africa - most of Africa as well, without ever being molested or restrained in any way. As a friend of Gaddafi, for example, he would automatically have been an enemy of Israel. He faces immediate arrest in the US. Why not in the UK? Why has the US not tried for extradition proceedings?

These words were written before the recent revelations. Marwan's actual attitude toward Israel now seems a more complex matter. Rowland, we should note, was sympathetic toward Israel.

Back to the car bomb: The nature of the device made it an unsuitable terror weapon, as CIA veteran Larry Johnson pointed out to Keith Olbermann yesterday.

Johnson mentioned a very intriguing anomaly. Whoever financed this bomb had enough money to purchase a Mercedes. Yet the "terrorist" apparently could not afford to hire someone capable of creating a real car bomb -- the kind that would produce shrapnel and do widespread damage, the kind used all the time in Iraq.

These facts suggest that the planter of the bomb had a specific target in mind.