I'm not always the brightest bulb on the Christmas Tree. But I get there in the end. Even if it takes me 27 years.
Those of you who have read my book (
Maggie's Hammer),
will know that there is an intimate connection between Ari Ben-Menashe,
his book (
Profits of War - just reprinted by my publisher, courtesy
of my intro) and my book. Indeed, it is why I made contact with Ari in
the first place.
It was back in 1992. I was trying to make some
sense of what it was my friend, Hugh Simmonds CBE, had been involved in.
What arms dealing, with which country, on behalf of whom?
I
found myself in Atlanta, Georgia in 1992. Working with my brother. But,
as co-incidence would have it (or was it co-incidence (?) - another
book, for another time). There was a major court case coming to a head
in Atlanta. Concerning the illegal provision of loans by a bank called
BNL to US and UK companies attempting to sell arms to Iraq in
contravention of a UN arms embargo.
So, my attention was on Iraq.
Ari first published his book that year. I bought it, as I had bought
hundreds of others, hoping to find some set of circumstances that might
fit Hugh's activities and death.
In his book, Ari described how,
among many other adventures, while Counter-Terrorism Adviser to Israeli
Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, he had been tasked by Shamir, in about
1986, with stopping the illegal trade in arms being engaged in by the
West (primarily Great Britain) with Iraq.
As part of this task,
Ari detailed an Israeli operation to send assassins into Europe in
November of 1988, to take out the primary protagonists in this illegal
trade of arms with Iraq.
I wrote to Ari, out of the blue, asking
him if he knew Hugh. Amazingly enough, he called me 24 hours later to
say that he had Hugh's name on a list of people of interest. According
to that list, Hugh had been arranging a deal to sell GEC (UK) engines to
Iraq, in order to extend the range of their SCUD-B missiles. An
extension which would have put Israel in range. And Hugh had died as a
result of being on that list.
I met with Ari twice, and spoke
with him on and off between 1993 and 1996. I liked him. I like rogues.
He was very generous with his time and his information. He was good
company. And I'm happy that my publisher has agreed to reprint his book.
All of this within certain boundaries. My British Intelligence source
once told me, 'once a boy scout, always a boy scout.' Ari is a
controversial figure. But, he is alive. Which means he is a former
nothing. And is likely being used by the Israelis to undertake stuff
they can't be openly associated with.
I have never been clear why
Ari spoke, and still speaks, with me. He could simply have ignored me.
Did he want to know what I knew? Was I useful to him? Was I being fed
false information, to deflect? If so, whom and from what?
All I
know is that he did speak with me. And, bless him, he lied on occasions.
And I have had, and still have, to sort out the truth from the chaff.
For the period 1993-1995, Ari's line was, Hugh is a name on a list.
'We' are interested in him because we now believe that he was a primary
component in the pipeline of arms to Iraq, and the flow of illegal arms
kickbacks to senior politicians within Great Britain, both Labour and
Conservative, and including the Thatcher family.
It follows as
night follow days that, if indeed Ari is correct, and Hugh was that
important component, then the Israelis would have liked to have known
about Hugh in the Eighties, because Shamir had tasked Ari with stopping
the pipeline of arms to Iraq.
I met Ari for the second time in
Montreal, in 1995. In a small hotel room. Eight storeys up. I know. I
counted. It was at this meeting that I told Ari that he was lying. Cf.
Counting storeys.
Ari went silent, and very frosty. Frosty looks
from Israeli Intelligence officers are right up there at the top of the
list of Tums moments. 'Why would you say that?' Because you keep
pretending Hugh is a name on a list. You can't know what you keep
telling me you know unless you knew Hugh.
Pause.
Got from 1-6 counting storeys before Ari spoke again. 'Yes,' he said with a smile, 'but he wasn't using that name.'
Bathroom break.
The last time I spoke with Ari was in 1996, after Hugh's British
Intelligence partner, Reggie von Zugbach de Sugg (I am honestly making
up none of this), told me that Hugh had been trained to kill.
I
had a fairly blunt conversation with Ari. In which he denied that the
Israelis had taken out Hugh ('we wouldn't take out someone like that'),
and merely posited that Hugh had got into such a tangle with so many
different agencies that he was going to have 'to go' sooner or later. In
some fashion.
For years, that is where I left it. Until these past two weeks. I told you. My brain is not always the fastest.
At the beginning of this year, Ari very kindly agreed to put an
up-to-date quote on the back of my book. Confirming that Hugh had been
part of the team that had laundered proceeds back from illegal arms
deals with Iraq in the Eighties.
At the end of August, I began my
series of interviews with radio programs around the US. It was during
one of those that a penny finally dropped.
Ari was tasked with
stopping the Iraq arms pipeline. He knew Hugh. He knew what Hugh was
doing. He told me. In glorious detail. SCUD-B missiles. Israel. Hugh
wasn't a name on a list. He was a living human being. Right in front of
Ari.
If Ari didn't take steps to stop what Hugh was doing, it begs the question, why didn't he?
The team of Israeli assassins was sent to Europe in November of 1988. Hugh died on November 15, 1988.
My publisher wants Ari and I to appear on a radio show together. I'm game.
I'm not angry. 27 years is too long to stay angry. But not too long to
remain determined. The soul-destroying eyes of an 11 year old girl,
desperately trying to understand why her father has left her alone, will
do that to a person's determination.
And I am now determined to
ask Ari if the Israelis were responsible for halting Hugh's activities,
and if that 'halting' included his death. Live. On air. For the world
to hear.
If he refuses the interview, I will write him an open letter.
If he refuses to answer, then I will write formally to the Israeli and British Prime Ministers.
I have always known that there was something deep and mysterious at the
heart of Hugh's death, which did not make sense. Even more dark and
mysterious than illegal arms deals, slush funds, kickbacks to senior
politicians, and strange covert arrangements between the US and the UK.
What if the Israeli's took out someone they did not realize was close
to Margaret Thatcher? Did not realize was a senior British Intelligence
officer? Did not realize was an MI6 contract assassin? And did not
realize would make front page news?
Actually, more to the point,
even if it sounds banal, what if the Israelis took out a rising British
politician, without knowing it?
And what if both countries decided it was simply too embarrassing to acknowledge?
Now, would that meet the criterion of uber-dark and mysterious? Would
that be something so extraordinarily career-destroying (i.e. its
cover-up) that two British Prime Ministers would go to unbelievable
lengths (unbelievable, but true, and in
Maggie's Hammer) to avoid even
discussing the name, Hugh Simmonds?
Now, I only mention all of
this because I have done so in my past two radio interviews. And it
occurs to me that maybe I should let a few folks know.
And yes. I will be checking under my car the next few days ...
[Oh. By the by (or, BTB), I attach a link to an article stating that
Russia is not bombing ISIS, only because I want a note of the article
somewhere!]
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