Mossad Accused Of 1987 Assassination Of German MP – OpEd

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Uwe Barschel may be about to join the infamous line of Mossad assassination victims killed outside the immediate conflict zone, including Mahmoud al-Mabouh, Khaled al-Meshal, Gerald Bull, and Imad Mugniyeh among others.  In 1987, he was a rising star in Germany’s Chrisitian Democratic Union.  He had just resigned his position as state secretary for Schleswig-Holstein after a press publicist accused him of digging for dirt against a political opponent.  After a mysterious individual invited him to meet at a Geneva hotel to receive information that would tarnish the publicist, he was found the next day fully clothed in the hotel bath.  He had ingested or been force fed a lethal dose of barbituates.

Undoubtedly, given today’s forensic pathology capabilities they would’ve been able to more definitively answer how Uwe Barschel died.  Remember, originally authorities in Dubai thought al Mabouh died of a heart attack.  It was only with a subsequent toxicology test that was far more sophisticated that they isolated the drugs that incapacitated al-Mabouh.

In one of his books, rogue ex-Mossad agent, Victor Ostrovsky, argued that the Mossad killed Barschel due to matters related to Iran-Israeli weapons deals.  Israel wanted to use the port of Kiel in Schleswig-Holstein to ship missiles to Iran.  In an interview with Yediot, Ostrovsky adds that Barschel had partial knowledge of military collaboration among Iran, Germany and the U.S.  This included the shipment of replacement military parts to Iran along with weapons purchases and the training of Iranian pilots in Germany.  After he resigned, he threatened to blow the whistle on the whole operation.  Had he talked, there would’ve been severe political repercussions, which caused the Mossad to get rid of him:

According to Ostovsky, Germany knew what was planned and the killing was not done “behind its back.”

Now, Die Welt will publish a extensive article tomorrow documenting Ostrovsky’s claims through the work of a distinguished Swiss toxicologist, Dr. Hans Brandenberger, who will argue that the methods used to kill Barschel fit within the parameters of what could’ve been a Mossad killing:

“The chemical results indicate a murder…due to the complexity of the murder scene.  [For a crime] like this [it] must be a professional team that was at work, not a single person.”

Brandenberger is the first such expert to corroborate Ostrovsky’s claims and point the finger at the Mossad.

I’m trying to get the full article translated when it is published tomorrow.

This article was published at Tikun Olam

Richard Silverstein

Richard Silverstein is an author, journalist and blogger, with articles appearing in Haaretz, the Jewish Forward, Los Angeles Times, the Guardian’s Comment Is Free, Al Jazeera English, and Alternet. His work has also been in the Seattle Times, American Conservative Magazine, Beliefnet and Tikkun Magazine, where he is on the advisory board. Check out Silverstein's blog at Tikun Olam, one of the earliest liberal Jewish blogs, which he has maintained since February, 2003.

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