VICE - Argentina Prosecutor Who Accused Kirchner Had Steady Contact With US Embassy, Leaked Cables Show

Argentina Prosecutor Who Accused Kirchner Had Steady Contact With US Embassy, Leaked Cables Show By Gaston Cavanagh January 31, 2015 | 7:40 am Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor who accused Argentina's president of a cover-up plot over the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center before being found shot to death, met repeatedly with the US embassy in Buenos Aires during his investigation, leaked diplomatic cables show. Nisman gave US officials advanced notice on his procedural moves and was apparently coached by the embassy in "improving" his requests for arrest warrants for Iranians that Nisman suspected of carrying out the deadly attack against the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association, or AIMA, according to cables published by Wikileaks. "Embassy can now more logically approach the [government of Argentina] about [its] anticipated next steps and ways we might be able to coordinate outreach to other governments [...] to bring attention to the warrants and pressure to bear on Iran and Hezbollah," says one US cable dated November 1, 2006, after a meeting with Nisman. The revelations are adding fodder to the entangled scandal over the AIMA center bombing, Nisman's mysterious death, and the reactions of President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her government loyalists. The president and her supporters have piled doubt on Nisman's investigation, suggesting he didn't himself write the inquiry accusing Kirchner of a cover-up deal with Iran, and that he was influenced by foreign agents in his claims. Kirchner said this week that Nisman was manipulated and double-crossed by government spies plotting against her.     'We know this was not your decision. We are sure that this was made by others.' Nisman on January 16 told VICE News he had proof that Kirchner sought a back-channel deal with Iran — swapping Iranian oil for Argentine grain — in exchange for abandoning efforts to prosecute former Iranian diplomats in connection to the Jewish center bombing. Eight-five people were killed in the terror attack, which remains unsolved. Survivors and opposition forces are now blaming Kirchner's government for Nisman's death. Nisman was buried at a Jewish cemetery in Buenos Aires on Thursday. His ex-wife, the judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado, directed herself to Nisman during the funeral, saying: "We know this was not your decision. We are sure that this was made by others." Days before dying, prosecutor accusing Argentina's president of cover-up told us his 'proof is strong.' Read more here. The prosecutor, who was found dead the night before making his blockbuster claim against Kirchner and her foreign minister in Argentina's Congress, is mentioned in 46 leaked US cables. In the cable from November 2006, Nisman informed US officials of the likelihood that a judge would follow his recommendations to seek charges against Iranian suspects for the bombing. American embassy officials discussed plans to inform "other governments" ahead of time, in an apparent push to make the case against the Iranians an international matter. Another cable, dated January 19, 2007, suggests the US embassy had a hand in shaping Nisman's warrant requests with Interpol, the international diplomatic police force. The cable shows US officials thought Nisman's work was shoddy and needed help. Before the Justice Department's Office of International Affairs intervened in the warrant applications, the cable says, Nisman's paperwork contained "statements that were presumptuous conclusions of guilt." Nisman took on the case of the AIMA center bombing in 2004, at the request of the then-President Nestor Kirchner, Cristina Fernandez's late husband. In his interview with VICE News — perhaps his last with a foreign news organization — Nisman denied connections with any foreign spy agencies. "You won't find reports from the CIA, Mossad, or the MI5 in my files. I have no doubt that there is a link between them and the Argentine intelligence agency, but I never dealt with any foreign intelligence agencies," Nisman said, two days before he was found dead. The US embassy in Buenos Aires declined to discuss its officers' interactions with Nisman. "We will not comment on the contents of these alleged cables that purport to include classified information," an embassy spokesman told VICE News. The relationship was apparently so involved that Nisman apologized for not letting then-ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne know that he would call for the arrest of former president Carlos Menem in relation to the case. "AMIA Special Prosecutor Alberto Nisman called the Ambassador on May 23 to apologize for not giving the Embassy advance notice of his request for the arrest of former President Menem and other [government of Argentina] officials for their alleged roles in the cover up of the 'local connection' in the 1994 terrorist bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center," says a cable from May 2008. The prosecutor also apologized that the judicial order coincided with a visit to Argentina from the former deputy director of the FBI, John Pistole, adding it was "completely unintentional," the cable shows. "He noted that he was very sorry and that he sincerely appreciates all of the [US government's] help and support and in no way meant to undermine that," the cable continues. The cable also notes that US officials "have for the past two years recommended to Nisman that he focus on the perpetrators of the terrorist attack and not on the possible mishandling of the first investigation." Santiago O'Donnell, author of two books based on the cables released by Julian Assange, said in an interview that the leaked cables show the US influenced Nisman throughout his work on the AIMA bombing investigation. "The embassy gave instructions to the prosecutor Nisman for him to follow the Iranian lead, and not follow other leads, like the Syrian lead, or the local connection, because that would detract from the terrorist image that the US was trying to impose on Iran," O'Donnell said. President Kirchner this week proposed in a nationally televised address to disband and reform the government's intelligence agency. In doing so, she said rogue government spies were responsible for Nisman's death. Opposition voices, meanwhile, said the reform plan for the Secretaría de Inteligencia, or SI, would further politicize the work of the embattled spy agency and make it more responsive to the president's political whims. https://news.vice.com/article/argentina-prosecutor-who-accused-kirchner-had-steady-contact-with-us-embassy-leaked-cables-show COMMENT I'm all Googled out right now, but I thought I'd quickly post this. Not quite sure what to make of it.

Argentina - Alberto Nisman - Laboratory Analysis - Nisman DNA Only

LAHT Article Argentine Probe Finds Only Prosecutor’s DNA on Gun BUENOS AIRES – The only DNA found on the gun that killed Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman belonged to the deceased, the person directing the investigation said Friday. Nisman was found fatally shot on Jan. 18, hours before he was supposed to brief Argentina’s Congress about his accusations that President Cristina Fernandez and other officials sought to conceal the involvement of Iran in a deadly 1994 terrorist attack targeting a Jewish organization in Buenos Aires. The prosecutor died of a single shot to the temple, fired at point-blank range from a .22-caliber pistol that was found under his body in the bathroom of his apartment. Nisman, who had a 10-person police security detail, borrowed the gun from a colleague. Laboratory analysis determined “categorically” that all of the DNA found on the gun, ammunition cartridge, bullets and shell-casings belonged to Nisman, prosecutor Viviana Fein said Friday in a statement. At the time of his death, Nisman was seeking to indict Fernandez, Foreign Minister Hector Timerman and five other people in connection with his probe of the car-bomb attack that left 85 dead at the offices of the Jewish organization AMIA. Investigators have labeled the case a “suspicious death.” Fein said her office’s technical staff have informed her that the stairways of Nisman’s apartment building do not have security cameras, while the camera mounted in the elevator was out of service the day of the prosecutor’s death.  [Gee, that was handy.] She said she took statements on Friday from the people who manage the computer network in the office of the special prosecutor for the AMIA case. Nisman, 51, was laid to rest Thursday at a Jewish cemetery on the outskirts of Buenos Aires. The Argentine government rejected on Friday a U.S. lawmaker’s call for an international enquiry into Nisman’s death.   [International inquiry?  US lawmaker call?  Something's going on here.] Argentina “is an autonomous and independent country,” Cabinet chief Jorge Capitanich said during his daily press briefing, calling Sen. Marco Rubio’s proposal the expression of an “imperial vision” that “ignores the principal of national self-determination.” Rubio, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere Affairs, sent a letter Thursday to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, saying that he was “deeply concerned about the ability of the government of Argentina to conduct a fair and impartial investigation.” The senator’s call for an international investigation is an “unwarranted intrusion appropriate to an imperial attitude that represents the most recalcitrant Republican right,” Capitanich said. The charges against Fernandez and Timerman were based on intercepts of telephone conversations about efforts “to erase Iran from the AMIA case,” Nisman’s office said Jan. 14 in a statement. The government wanted to eliminate any obstacle to forging closer trade and economic ties with Tehran, the prosecutor said. Timerman – himself a member of Argentina’s Jewish community – reacted angrily to the accusations, labeling Nisman a liar and saying that the prosecutor allowed himself to be unduly influenced by Jaime Stiuso, recently fired as chief of operations for the intelligence service. Many in the Argentine Jewish community believe the AMIA bombing was ordered by Iran and carried out by Tehran’s Hezbollah allies. Both the Iranian government and the Lebanese militia group deny any involvement and some have pointed out that the accusation relies heavily on information provided by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad spy agency, both with an interest in blackening the reputation of Tehran. [Note:  CIA & Mossad assassination of Imad Mugniyah claim.] [ . . . ] EXTRACT ONLY - FULL @ SOURCE http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2371997&CategoryId=14093 SENATOR MARCO RUBIO Marco Rubio Roman Catholicism Parents = Cubans who had immigrated to USA 1956 Pedro Victor Garcia (maternal grandfather) immigrated legally to the US in 1956 returned to Cuba to find work in 1959 On returning to USA in 1962 without a visa, US embassies in Cuba being closed, an immigration judge ordered him deported. US immigration authorities = used discretion to allow him to remain in the US without a visa. "In 2012, The Associated Press concluded that Garcia might have been undocumented for four years, from 1962 to 1966." "His parents left Cuba in 1956, during the dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista." "Rubio's previous statements that his parents were forced to leave Cuba in 1959, after Fidel Castro came to power, were incorrect." "The real essence of my family's story is not about the date my parents first entered the United States. Or whether they traveled back and forth between the two nations. Or even the date they left Fidel Castro's Cuba forever and permanently settled here. The essence of my family story is why they came to America in the first place; and why they had to stay." "According to The Washington Post, Rubio's "embellishments" resonated with many voters in Florida, who would not be as impressed by his family being economic migrants seeking a better life in the U.S. instead of political refugees from a communist regime." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marco_Rubio While studying law, Rubio interned for US Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen Ileana Ros y Adato was born in Havana, Cuba. Ros-Lehtinen was raised Catholic and is now an Episcopalian. Ros-Lehtinen's maternal grandparents were Sephardic Jews, originally from the Ottoman Empire, who had been active in Cuba's Jewish community. Ros-Lehtinen supported President George W. Bush's surge policy in Iraq, a supporter of Israel and supports continued sanctions against Cuba. Ros-Lehtinen opposes US support to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East and the Palestinian Authority. She describes herself as a "strong supporter of Israel" and regards the US relationship with Israel as "critical to the national security interests of both nations". Ros-Lehtinen has stirred controversy by calling for the assassination of Cuban Leader Fidel Castro. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ileana_Ros-Lehtinen In 2014 Rubio asked Pope Francis "to take up the cause of freedom and democracy" in Cuba after helping negotiate the release of Alan Gross. COMMENT Didn't expect investigations to come up with anything. How's the elevator camera being conveniently out of order? Washington Post, Newsweek and others are running a story on the CIA and Mossad assassination of Imad Mugniyah: Newsweek story re: Imad Mugniyah http://www.newsweek.com/imad-mugniyah-cia-mossad-303483 Mugniyah is allegedly the Hezbollah criminal 'super-villain' who is accused of committing the AMIA bombing and a host of other attacks, including attacks on US military and the 1992 Israeli Embassy bombing in Argentina. The Newsweek story is based on US intelligence sources: "according to former U.S. intelligence officials interviewed by Newsweek" While this is interesting and topical, in that (a) Imad Mugniyah's son was killed in a recent Israeli attack and (b) AMIA bombing Prosecutor Alberto Nisman has mysteriously been bumped off in Argentina, it is also interesting from the perspective that CIA and Mossad cooperation is in the media now, coming from former US intelligence sources.  The current media spotlight on this may serve to reinforce the alleged Hezbollah and AMIA link  and, under the circumstances (father and son side-by-side burial, both killed), could perhaps also be seen as waving a red flag to a bull, trying to maybe provoke a Hezbollah reaction -- ie baiting Hezbollah.  Either that, or I'm reading way too much into these affairs. It's also interesting that USA's Marco Rubio is simultaneously trying to get some mileage out of the Nisman development in Argentina, by taking the Nisman affair out of Argentina.

Adrian Salbuchi - AMIA Argentina attack: Mystery behind public prosecutor Nisman’s death

AMIA Argentina attack: Mystery behind public prosecutor Nisman’s death Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina.  [ . . . ] Spy versus spy versus spy The bombed building housed – then and now – not just the AMIA Mutual Association, but also the DAIA - Argentine Delegation of Israeli Associations – the powerful local Jewish lobby working for Israel. After more than 21 years, this has become Argentina’s most corruption-riddled case, where obscene meddling by Israel’s Mossad, and America’s CIA and FBI included such pranks as planting false evidence of a nonexistent car bomb, censoring other much more likely leads, and paying kickbacks to false witnesses in order to falsely incriminate Hezbollah, either through Syria at first, or Iran since 2006. The mainstream media – both local and international – has held public opinion ransom to programmed confusion, outright lies and an emotional roller-coasting on an event which left 85 civilians dead. The real behind-the-scenes players have been, however, carefully protected. One such key player is a powerful Argentine SI (Intelligence Service) agent by the name of Jaime Stiusso who has systematically promoted the US and Israeli version of this event which led to Argentina falsely accusing Iran of that dreadful crime. Counting with full CIA, Mossad and MI6 support and protection, Mr. Stiusso became public prosecutor Nisman’s mentor as the latter systematically and boisterously pointed an accusing finger at Iran ever since he was placed in charge of the investigation in 2004. The “Iran did it” myth went into high gear under the George W. Bush Administration, as part of its strategy of generalized overrunning of the Middle East after 9/11, and especially after July 2006 when Israel’s invasion and bombing of Lebanon and Hezbollah led to Israel’s being routed (an entire Israeli tank division was decimated by Mr. Nasrallah’s Hezbollah forces trained and armed by Iran).  Iranian connection? Then, just over two months after Israel’s Lebanon incursion, on September 22, 2006 a private meeting took place at the New York Waldorf-Astoria hotel between then Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, his first lady Cristina Kirchner (National Senator and soon to be president) and Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana, and key powerful Jewish leaders including the American Jewish Committee (AJC), the World Jewish Congress (WJC), the B’Nai B’Rith Jewish Masonic Lodge and its militant arm the Anti Defamation League (ADL). An agreement was reached in which Argentina would accuse Iran of the AMIA attack, to which end Mr. Kirchner immediately dispatched federal prosecutor Alberto Nisman to the US to “gather the necessary evidence against Iran” from the CIA and Mossad intelligence agencies who clearly had their Anti-Iran axe to grind. As proof of full US and Israeli satisfaction with Argentina, the World Jewish Congress’s political director Rabbi Israel Singer promptly expressed these organizations’ satisfaction with Argentina’s accusations against Iran, proof that the Waldorf-Astoria agreement was being executed by the Kirchner Administration. Mr. Nisman immediately accused former Iranian President Ali Rafsanjani and key ministers of masterminding the AMIA attack. However, he was never able produce proper, tenable proof. He actually requested Interpol to arrest former Iranian ambassador to Argentina, Mr. Hami Soleimanpour in London, his arrest by British authorities quickly ended because Mr. Nisman submitted no proper evidence of its accusations, even making the Argentine government pick up the £200,000 court costs. Irrespective of this, over the past decade Mr. Nisman became the darling of Jewish entities in the US, Israel and Europe where he regularly visited to brief them on the AMIA/DAIA case. In 2007, he actually went so far as to report on the matter to the Supreme Court… not of Argentina, but of Israel. Mr. Nisman became very popular and was very much in the media but had just one problem: He just could not put together a proper case with proper evidence against Iran, to the growing concern of US Neocons like Republican lobbyist-legislator Ileana Ros-Lethinen and Israel’s successive ultra-right-wing governments. The case sank to new depths of confusion when in January 2014, former Israeli ambassador to Argentina during the AMIA attack, Yitzhak Aviram, publicly boasted that “the people who blew up the AMIA building have all been executed by us (Israel).” He was immediately hushed up by Israel. In sync with the Kirchner Administration, Mr. Nisman continued to blame Iran, but when the Obama Administration came to power in 2009, the US began having second thoughts about Baby Bush’s aggressive Neocon strategy of “taking out Iran”. With things growing dramatically worse in Iraq, and a growing resistance from Russia and other players to US/UK war-mongering, America became much more moderate on Iran and, through “unofficial and discrete channels” it was made clear to President Cristina Kirchner that maybe the time had come for her to have a chat with the Iranians. Thus, in January 2013, Argentina announced that it would indeed “start talking” to the Iranians – something it had not done for almost seven years – and quickly a “Memorandum of Understanding” was signed which became local law in March 2013. As part of this, a “Commission for Truth” was to be set up (but wasn’t Mr. Nisman and his Mossad and CIA controllers supposed to have in their power all the “damning truth and evidence against Iran”?) Neocons in the US and Israelis went ballistic with rage. To add insult to injury, last December President Kirchner cleaned out the top brass at the local SI Intelligence Agency, specifically throwing out US/UK/Israeli operator-agent Jaime Stiusso. An undated handout combination photo released in Buenos Aires on November 9, 2005 shows Ibrahim Hussein Berro, who has been identified by Argentine prosecutor Alberto Nisman as a Hizbollah militant and the suicide bomber responsible for the 1994 car-bomb attack on the AMIA Jewish community center (Reuters / Argentine Prosecutor's Office) Mr. Nisman was supposed to be on holidays touring Europe with his 15-year-old daughter during all of this month of January. However, suddenly whilst visiting Amsterdam “somebody there” seems to have ordered him to fly back immediately to Argentina. So fast that he asked his wife to pick up their daughter at Madrid Airport where he dropped her off and flew on to Buenos Aires. Upon arriving, he produced out of his hat as if by magic, a 350 page dossier case accusing President Kirchner and her (also Jewish) Foreign Minister Hector Timerman of “covering-up” Iran. He was about to present this during a special emergency summer session in Argentina’s Congress at 3pm on Monday, January 19, but he may have realized that his case was still-born and had no chance whatsoever of holding up. Anyway - alas! - he (or “somebody”) conveniently killed him sometime early Sunday, January 18. Nisman’s case and the ensuing cross-questioning would have probably thrown the whole AMIA/DAIA investigation back to square one. For a second time, as already happened in 2003 when the case for a “Syrian connection” fell completely through ending up with the prosecution of Juan Galeano, the former federal judge hearing the case, and where even one of DAIA’s former presidents - Ruben Beraja - ended up in jail for helping to bribe a shady car-dealer by the name of Carlos Telleldin to the tune of $400,000, so that he would incriminate the Buenos Aires Police which was supposed to produce a false lead, in turn leading back to the elusive “car bomb.” That “car bomb” was never found save for a small bit of metal of a van engine “found” by an Israeli military intelligence officer “helping out” in the AMIA building rubble right after the 18th July 1994 bombing which, “luckily” had the vehicle serial number on it. Sounds a bit like Mohammed Atta’s intact passport “found” in the WTC rubble? Or maybe the masked Charlie Hebdo terrorist’s dropping his ID card in Paris a couple of weeks ago? If Mr. Nisman’s flawed case were unmasked then the beehive would once again be stirred and that represented something very dangerous for the US, Israel, local and international Jewish lobbies that have fought so hard to put the blame on Iran. And that a far more plausible lead should be investigated: a possible Israeli connection.  Israeli connection During the early nineties, there was sordid internal fighting over Palestine and Israel’s illegal settlements, between Israel’s left-wing, and the rising ultra-fundamentalist racist right-wing. When the AMIA/DAIA HQ was blown-up by a never-to-be-found ”car bomb,” Israel was governed by Yitzhak Rabin’s Labour Party which was honestly seeking a peaceful two-state solution with the Palestinians. In July 1994, Rabin even allowed PLO leader Yasser Arafat to return to Palestine from exile, just 18 days before the AMIA/DAIA building was blown up. Other events pointing to this internal fighting occurred at the time, but a huge conflict finally came to a head less than 18 months after the AMIA/DAIA attack, when Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated at a public rally in Israel in November 1995. Who was the assassin? A Muslim terrorist? No. Some whacko neo-Nazi? No. PM Rabin was assassinated by one Yigal Amir, a young ultra-right wing Israeli militant linked to the Shin Beth (which Rabin had downsized) and the illegal Jewish settlers’ movement inside Israel. The political results for Israel basically boiled down to the peace-seekers never coming back to power in the country, and for Netanyahu, Sharon, Olmert, Barak, Lieberman, Livni, Feiglin and their friends running Israel ever since. Thus, the Palestinians never got their sovereign state. Instead, they keep getting Israel’s bombs, attacks, humiliations, and that 8-meter tall, 800 kilometer long Wall Israel built around their country. Within this global backdrop, the “logic” behind the AMIA/DAIA attack takes on a very different dimension: an internal war where the Israeli ultra-right sent the peace broking left “an offer they couldn’t refuse,” probably engineered by clandestine groups inside or even above Mossad+CIA+MI6+some Blackwater-like black ops player. Echoing Godfather Don Corleone, these dark perpetrators were suitably briefed to “make it look like an Iranian-sponsored Hezbollah car bomb.” It just didn’t work out quite the way they expected. Busybody Nisman was coming too uncomfortably close to stirring the bee hive. Maybe that’s what led to his death. Just as the police commissioner investigating the Charlie Hebdo event was “suicided” on the night of that attack; or as London Underground electrician Jean Menezes, who may have “seen something” in the days prior to the July 2005 London Transport attacks was “mistakenly” gunned down by London Police only a few days later. Clearly, the “War on Terror” has come home to Argentina. Again. As we write, the powerful local Jewish lobbies DAIA and AMIA are yelling and whining that they “fear a third terror attack against Jewish interests in Argentina,” conveniently media-fed by the “unexplained disappearance” of an Argentine Army anti-tank missile earlier this month. The US Center for Security Policy just published an article in The Washington Times calling on the US and EU to impose “sanctions against Argentina.” Presidential elections will be taking place later this year in Argentina, and practically all the candidates – with favorites Daniel Scioli, Mauricio Macri, and Sergio Massa leading the list – are toeing the politically correct line, a fact that is most consistent considering that they regularly visit and report to the Rockefeller-Negroponte-William Rhodes “Americas Society,” and regularly pay homage to the World Jewish Congress, American Jewish Committee, DAIA, AMIA and other local and international Israeli lobbies. Finally, for Ms. Kirchner there are two lessons: (1) when ultra-right wing Israelis and Neocons fight amongst themselves, do not stray into the crossfire, and if you do pick one side then stay there; because (2) “Rome does not reward traitors.” Adrian Salbuchi is a political analyst, author, speaker and radio/TV commentator in Argentina. He is also the Founder of the Second Republic Project – Proyecto Segunda República. The statements, views and opinions expressed in this column are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of RT. EXTRACT - SOURCE:  http://rt.com/op-edge/226263-argentina-attack-prosecutor-death-amia/ .................................................................... COMMENT While I was just messing around largely playing devil's advocate putting forward alternate explanations for the Argentina events and unnamed intelligence officials speaking to the press etc, this guy has come up with a real CIA, Mossad and MI6 hand in Argentine events argument and had it published in RT. Not sure if I've already read this or not.  Know I've read something by him before. Not taking in all of the article.  Bit complicated for a newbie like me, but I suppose it's worth a read.

Scoop Journalist Damian Pachter - Flight from Argentina - Alberto Nisman Death

Argentina /Alberto Nisman Damian Pachter Article Why I fled Argentina after breaking the story of Alberto Nisman’s death In an exclusive column, Jewish journalist Damian Pachter – who first reported on the death of the special prosecutor – recounts the intimidation, the sleepless nights, the agent who stalked him and his ultimate decision to head for Israel. By Damian Pachter | Jan. 25, 2015 So here they are, the craziest 48 hours of my life. When my source gave me the scoop on Alberto Nisman’s death, I was writing a piece on the special prosecutor’s accusations against President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, her (Jewish) Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman, two pro-Iran “social activists” and parliamentarian Andrés Larroque. I learned that Nisman had been shot dead in his home. The vetting process wasn’t too tough because of my source’s incredible attention to detail. His name will never be revealed. Two things stood in my mind: my source’s safety and people’s right to know what happened that day, though not necessarily in that order. Of course, for both speed and the contagion effect, Twitter was the way to go. The information was so solid I never doubted my source, despite my one or two colleagues who doubted me because I only had 420 Twitter followers — a number now eclipsing 10,000. As the night went on, journalists contacted me in order to get the news from me even more directly. The first to do so was Gabriel Bracesco. Once I tweeted that Nisman had died, hundreds of people quickly retweeted the news and started following me. That was my first of many sleepless days. “You just broke the best story in decades,” lots of people said. “You’re crazy,” was another take. Either way, nobody questioned that the situation was very grave. The following days were marked by a government trying to create an official story. First, the head of state suggested a “suicide hypothesis,” then a mysterious murder. They of course were not to blame. In anything. That week I received several messages from one of my oldest and best sources. He urged me to visit him, but in those crazy days I underestimated his proposal. On Friday I was working at the Buenos Aires Herald.com newsroom when a colleague from the BBC urged me to look at the state news agency’s story on Nisman’s death. The piece had some serious typos but the message was even stranger: The agency quoted a supposed tweet of mine that I never wrote. Bus to nowhere I cursed in anger, adding amid the profanity: “I’ll tweet this and then they’ll see.” But I waited a few minutes to cool down and realized that this tweet was a kind of coded message. So I bounced it off my friend, who said: “Get out now and go to Retiro,” Buenos Aires’ central bus station. “And come visit me. You have to leave the city.” It was around 8:30 P.M. I was very lucky: When I arrived a bus would be leaving in two minutes. Where that bus was going I’ll never reveal either. After several hours on the road, I arrived at the bus station, where I remained for a couple of hours. It turns out this was a big mistake: I think that was the place someone started watching me. But I didn’t realize it back then. I didn’t want to stay too long in any one place, so I walked over to a gas-station joint nearby. My friend contacted me and said: “I’ll be there in 20 minutes.” I was sitting around there for two hours or so when a very strange person came in. He wore jeans, a jeans jacket and Ray-Ban sunglasses. I noticed him immediately but stayed where I was. He was sitting two tables from me. Suddenly I felt a finger on my neck and jumped like I never did my whole life. “You’re a bit jumpy son” — it was my friend making one of his jokes. “You’re under surveillance; haven’t you noticed the intelligence guy behind you?” “The one with the jeans and Ray-Bans?” “Yeah.” “What does he want?” “Stay calm and look into my camera,” my guy said as he took my picture. Well, actually he took a picture of the intelligence officer, who left five minutes later. I have that picture here with me. I then had to consider the best thing to do, because when an Argentine intelligence agent is on your tail, it’s never good news. He didn’t just want to have a coffee with me, that’s for sure. Montevideo and Madrid In any case, the decision came quick: I had to leave the country immediately. So I contacted one of my best friends, who got scared but understood the situation. We had to do it quickly, and I’m sure his efficiency saved my life. I will forever be grateful to him. So I did it: I bought a ticket from Buenos Aires, to Montevideo, Uruguay, to Madrid to Tel Aviv. I had to keep a low profile in order to get by the security forces. So I went back to the Retiro bus station — the scariest part of that long day. I was sure that if something happened, it would happen at the train station, a very dangerous place at night. I had the feeling someone was after me and I’d get shot from some strange angle. But then I suspected my taxi driver even more. I figured he’d stray and take me off somewhere. Meanwhile, text messages were sent to my two best colleagues, a friend and my mom. They were told where we would meet: Buenos Aires Airport. I couldn’t spend any time on the phone because I was being surveilled. When my mother arrived she of course cried but remained calm. We discussed a few things and I told her to leave. Then my journalist friends came and we did an interview that has already hit Argentina’s top newspapers. I was flying back home, to Tel Aviv, as I always wanted to. I have no idea when I’ll be back in Argentina; I don’t even know if I want to. What I do know is that the country where I was born is not the happy place my Jewish grandparents used to tell me stories about. After I left Argentina I found out that the government was still publishing wrong information about me on social media. The Twitter feed of Casa Rosada, the Argentine presidential palace, posted the details of the airline ticket I had bought, and claimed that I intended to return to Argentina by February 2 — in other words, I hadn’t really fled the country. In fact, my return date is in December. A tweet from the Presidential Palace showing Pachter's flight itinerary. Argentina has become a dark place led by a corrupt political system. I still haven’t figured out everything that has happened to me over the past 48 hours. I never imagined my return to Israel would be like this. http://www.haaretz.com/news/world/.premium-1.638933 COMMENT Writer is telling us: ^^ An unnamed source gave him the Nisman death scoop ^^ Never doubted the source because of 'solid' information ^^ Source didn't have to be vetted, b/c of 'incredible attention to detail' ^^ Source:  'his' name will never be revealed. Reference to 'attention to detail' and 'solid', convincing information, would indicate a source that had access to the crime scene, as that would be the 'detail' of relevance. Reference to 'his name', would indicate a male source. Mention of non-vetting of the source would perhaps indicate it is an untested (or new) source. Guessing source is:  male, with access to crime scene & not previously known to Damian Pachter.  Alternatively, this is merely what Pachter wishes to convey and the source could be anyone but the unknown male with crime scene access.  LOL. ^^ For speed and contagion got scoop out on Twitter ^^ Journalists would call the writer for information on the scoop Therefore the writer has become the central 'source' or central broadcaster, on behalf of whoever has given the information.   What is puzzling is that the writer hadn't bashed out the massive scoop and published it himself, before the Twitter broadcast. ^^ Argentine state news agency:  "quoted a supposed tweet of mine that I never wrote." Frustrating that we don't know what this fake or erroneous message was. Even more frustrating when the writer asserts it was a 'coded message' but doesn't go on to convey what that message was. Yet this appears to be the catalyst for the writer's departure from Argentina? ^^ Lucky breaks. Bus to unknown destination that will not be revealed.  But suspects someone watching him @ bus station -- so why not reveal bus station location, if likely already known? ^^ Suspects gas station Argentine intelligence agent (Denim & Raybans) on his tail. ^^ Friend takes photograph that captures photographic image of this suspected 'Argentine intelligence agent' Hmmm .. why Argentine intelligence when it could be (a) just some guy (b) CIA (c) Mossad (d) Rogue Argentine intelligence (d) Perhaps other Argentine opposition player ... or (e) Some other player that is a stakeholder in the Nisman affair or fall of the Argentine government. As a colleague from BBC gets a mention, I'm going to wager there's MI6 all over Argentina as well. ^^ Avoids phone calls as he suspects being surveilled -- but sends text messages, which would presumably also be surveilled (and a working mobile phone can pinpoint location). A government agency would have no problems finding someone travelling with a mobile phone and/or texting whereabouts to friends/family members, or covering the finite number of international departure routes, I am guessing. ^^ Takes flight 'home, to Tel Aviv' - via Montevideo & Madrid Aren't there direct flights to Tel Aviv? --------------------------- Find it hard not to be sceptical. The guy receives the scoop of the century but he doesn't bang out a story to publish it in a national Argentine newspaper (although he is a professional journalist).  Instead, he tweets -- as you or I would do and, wittingly or unwittingly, becomes the broadcaster for whoever fed him the story -- but we don't know who that is and it looks like neither does he, as he's taken the source as 'solid' without vetting what is likely an unknown or new source. While the Nisman death information was most certainly solid, what remains unknown is the messenger and therefore the likely motive/agenda of the messenger -- if you're looking beyond just a report of a death. If the source is someone who had crime scene access, as I suspect, that source is not necessarily government -- as any agent can get a foot inside government agencies (or, alternatively, government agency employees bribed etc -- especially in Argentina, where it has been exposed that two judges offered bribes in relation to the Nisman matter). Actually, you probably don't even need to be at the death scene to get solid or detailed information.  USA's NSA gather data on everybody around the world.  Latin America's communications cables ALL go across USA, if I understand correctly.  So all you probably need is NSA contacts to have solid info on what goes on in Argentina and you don't even have to set foot on Argentine soil to have that information, although you can have agents on the ground receiving instructions. CIA, Mossad and MI6 would all be likely NSA clients and collaborators. So whoever broke ranks and broke the story via the writer could be controlled by anyone. If the Argentine government can't get their act straight, and are alternatively pointing to a 'suicide hypothesis' and then a 'mystery murder', and if they are tweeting a bunch of crap on social media, wouldn't that indicate that they may not be the criminal masterminds behind the Nisman killing because if they were, wouldn't they have planned a better stance and cover than a bunch of confused social media crap? All that being watched speculation could just be paranoia and, if the writer was being watched, it could be watched by anyone in a place like Argentina. I'd be looking at right-wingers, CIA, Mossad and MI6 possibilities. Also, while we're all enthralled by the drama of the flight of the scoop journalist away from Argentina, what is it that we're not examining in Argentina? These are just some of the thoughts and feelings I have on the subject, taking a questioning perspective on what's presented.

Haaretz Article - Argentina’s Jews are serving the far right’s silent revolution | Argentina Undergoing Attempted Revolution

ALBERTO NISMAN / ARGENTINA Haaretz Article Argentina’s Jews are serving the far right’s silent revolution I ask myself how these wise and good-hearted people could have fallen into a trap and wound up on the same side as the country’s fascists. By Meir Margalit    Jan. 26, 2015 | 3:04 PM It has been proved once again that in Argentina truth is stranger than fiction. What appeared to be a conspiracy theory has taken on real form; who knows what monster is lurking. Dark forces from the past are returning, keen to reap vengeance on the Kirchner family because late Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, the husband of his successor Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, put them on trial for crimes against humanity. About a week ago I wrote in Haaretz’s Hebrew edition that the murder of prosecutor Alberto Nisman reeked of a well-timed right-wing conspiracy, in cahoots with former police and army officials, to overthrow the government and destroy Argentina’s democracy, still weak after 30 years. Indeed, as information leaks out, the conclusion that Argentina is undergoing an attempted revolution strengthens. This is an elegant, sophisticated and refined revolution. It’s being carried out not by tanks or attacks on the Casa Rosada, Argentina’s White House, but by stoking the kind of social and economic chaos that overthrew Chilean President Salvador Allende in 1973, which Naomi Klein described so well in her book “The Shock Doctrine.” And here, amid all the commotion, smoke and disinformation, surfaces the Jewish connection — mainly because the affair revolves around the 1994 terror attack on the AMIA Jewish community center in Buenos Aires — and the 85 victims who were buried underneath. Second, the journalist Damián Pachter who broke the news of Nisman’s death received death threats and fled to Israel, leaving behind a trail of speculation on his motives. Worse still is the role the Jewish community is unwittingly playing in this despicable affair as it protests the deal Argentina signed with Iran in the attempt to absolve Tehran of responsibility for the terror attack. This deal is controversial and problematic no doubt, but it does not measure up to Israel’s arms deals with Argentina’s junta during the dictatorship launched in 1976. In the 1970s, the number of Jews murdered by the junta by Israeli-made arms was several times greater than the number of Jews later murdered by Tehran’s minions in Buenos Aires. And the community doesn’t notice that the far right is latching onto the legitimate protest and building the revolution's foundations based on its criticism. Not only does this attempt not serve the Jews, but you don’t have to be a historian to know that it will target them sooner or later. Nisman, who was murdered a week ago, is an example of the Jewish drama in Argentina. He was infected by the obsession with Iran that infected the entire community. He was nourished by materials that Israel gave him (according to the local media), and was used by the right wing to promote a revolution he probably never wanted. In the end, he paid with his life. This is the story of Argentina’s Jews on a small scale. I ask myself how these wise and good-hearted people could have fallen into a trap and wound up on the same side as the country’s fascists. If that weren’t enough, there’s the Israeli connection. Israel has become an player in the Argentine drama, and not for the right production company. Argentines believe that it gave intelligence to Nisman, and now the reporter who broke the story has found refuge there. [ie in ISRAEL] Israel probably isn’t directly involved in the affair, but Argentines see it as an extremely powerful player making things complicated for two major reasons: first, because this is a chance to strike at Iran; second, because Israel has a score to settle with Latin America’s “left-wing” governments that embrace the Palestinians and vote against Israel at the United Nations. Even if this theory is far-fetched, the two reasons sound logical. As far as Israel is concerned, the Argentine right wing is more Zionist than the current government, and that’s enough reason to speed up regime change. So Argentina’s Jews, whose pain is real, have become pawns in the hands of foreign interests who have nothing to do with them. Worse, they are serving a historical process that has been timed by forces that not only care nothing about the Jews, but will settle accounts with them the first chance they get. Ironically, it seems that when Argentine Jews hit the streets last week to protest, holding signs reading “We are Nisman,” they knew what they were talking about. Dr. Meir Margalit, the coordinator of the Latin America desk at the Forum of Peace Organizations, heads the Center for Advancement in Peace Initiatives. http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/.premium-1.639110 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- COMMENT Great article.  Lots of interesting things to think about. Dr Meir Margalit is an Israeli civil rights activist; a founder of the Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions, among other things; PhD Haifa Uni; born Argentina, moved to Israel 1972 & did national service / injured Yom Kippur War 1973; Left-Wing Meretz Party 1998-2002; defender of Palestinian Jerusalem residents. Think he was also Jerusalem mayor, but not sure if that detail's significant. Anyway, thought I'd share this article because it offers another perspective when it comes to viewing and examining the recent (and distant) events in Argentina. [This is #2468A0 background]

Argentina - Nisman - Secret Passage

ARGENTINA - ALBERTO NISMAN Google Translation The secret passage Judicial investigators have found a private passageway floor Nisman. The front door and Service: Until the discovery, only two entrances to the house were known. It is a passageway that connects the home of a neighbor of foreign origin. The corridor is a narrow gorge, where they are located air-conditioning equipment, and has a protective barral. At either end of the corridor there are small metal doors. On the hallway floor researchers found a footprint of recent appearance and in the rod protection, a fingerprint. A specialist locksmith explained that the service door was not locked inside. So that anyone could hang out. "It took me a second to open".  Source:  http://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2015/01/21/54beb189e2704ed6628b457a.html COMMENT Looked at a couple more random articles and this information came up. Not the best of translations, but it should do. Anyway, that's one very strange 13th floor apartment:  with a back door and a secret passage. Something worth noting, I guess.

Pagina 12 - Alberto Nisman

Página / 12 Google Translation "He told me that Stiuso told him to be careful" Through a judge, sent his version to Página / 12. Ensures Nisman said that "the day before had called Stiuso" whose name first appears so designated by a direct protagonist. By Raul Kollmann The last man alive who saw Alberto Nisman, Diego Lagomarsino, was connected through another-a person magistrada- with Página / 12. "I'm not an agent Intelligence, I have nothing to do ever met Jaime Stiuso" sent word. The computer technician said that on Saturday called Nisman and asked the borrowed gun, "I said it was for security. The day before had called Stiuso and told him to take care of custody and also had precautionary safety of their daughters. " Lagomarsino reached the tower Le Parc de Puerto Madero, a place which normally would; guard consulted the prosecutor, it did happen and no checkup of any kind. Today, recapping what happened, says he feels guilt because then you will not occur to him that he should not pay a gun at someone in that pressure situation. Lagomarsino's version was transmitted to this newspaper through a friend Judge years Family computer technician. "It's a young, married daughters girls kid. It has a lot of work: you say 'Egghead' because fixes all problems on computers. I believe him, "said the judge. Obviously, this newspaper has no elements to believe or disbelieve the version of the computer technician. If it were true that transmits Lagomarsino version Pagina / 12, first appears directly appointed Antonio Stiuso in relation to the events of the last week. Former Director of Counterintelligence Intelligence Secretariat, fired last December when the President decided to change the leadership of the agency in recent years maintained a close relationship with the prosecutor Nisman, Judge Rodolfo Canicoba Corral last week defined as subordination of the judicial officer as of the intelligence services. Since the filing of the complaint unusual prosecutor in the Justice everyone saw the hand of the spy in the initiative, as a form of revenge for his dismissal, and drew Stiuso as possibly responsible for the abrupt return of Nisman your vacation to present to next day his writing. But the version of Lagomarsino places it in close relationship with the prosecutor until the last moment. Página / 12 was based on objective facts that make Lagomarsino in a strange character but essential protagonist in the story of the death of the prosecutor: - It is the last to see him alive. - He facilitated the gun that came the shot that led to his death. That no doubt: the lead found in the skull of fiscal corresponds to the sheath found in the bathroom and that thing came out of the Bersa, 22 caliber pistol. - I had a very high contract prosecutors, 40 thousand pesos per month. Prosecutors consulted by this newspaper were surprised with such a figure: "For that money, that contract is not what it seems" they said. - I was seldom the prosecution. - In most occasions, looked to the prosecutor in the home, while at the Le Parc building. The version of Lagomarsino, as the judge said he spoke to this reporter, is that in the SHU AMIA other senior contracts had the same value. Lagomarsino says he copied and unlock files and performing backups of files that asked Nisman. Is not it a disproportionate number for that job? -Diego Says that sometimes the prosecutor cited the one o'clock on a Saturday. He must be ready all the time. It is true that the prosecution was little. He claims that most of the work was done remotely: files sent him and he unlocked or copied or made backups. Diego says he never knew the contents of those files. And how he got that job as well paid? -A Judge in San Isidro had problems in your home computer and turned to Diego. As always it happens, Diego fix the problems. I assure you that is a great guy. Nisman also had computer problems and this judge is recommended. Thus began the relationship. After Nisman asked him if he wanted a contract in the prosecution. He was not only responsible monotributistas enrolled. Diego said that the unit had AMIA other contracts that level. Consulted by Página / 12, in the administration insist that such a contract is by far the highest in the AMIA Unit, who handled the fiscal Nisman, and all prosecutors in general. They note that, at the time of its inception, Lagomarsino had only completed high school. How was he borrowed the gun? -Diego That Nisman telephoned him and as stated before the prosecutor, he borrowed the gun. He said in that conversation that Stiuso had called on Friday and told him he should be careful. They distrusted their custody and put them safely to their daughters. That's what I told Nisman Diego to justify asking him the gun. Today, Diego cries all day. It is destroyed and feels guilty. -why? Basically because he did not think at that time. You wonder how he did not realize that Nisman should be easy to get a gun and did not evaluate why it is called on it. Now also thought it was odd that he ask something up when had such custody. But, of course, Stiuso allegedly advised him to distrust the trustees. Still, spends the day crying. Today, believes Nisman had taken the decision (to kill) on Saturday night when Diego took the gun. Are you afraid? I'd say, most of all distress. Day crying is passed. When he learned in the early morning of Monday, he sought advice from another judge, because it found me. That judge advised him to appear immediately. It was only to testify Monday at 9am. Fein were the prosecutor and the judge Manuel Campos. Diego cried during the entire statement. 'You know what the relationship Lagomarsino with the prosecutor? Not in detail. Diego always said he had a relationship of trust, but always the prosecutor made him feel that he was the boss. Maybe give a pattern that, in recent months, said he had left Nisman therapy and who had chosen to be supported in the Art of Living (name of group self-awareness, yoga and meditation founded by guru Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, born in India ). How was the last meeting when he handed the gun? -Diego Said he was not very long. As usual, did enter through the back door. Nisman was alone in the apartment and invited him for coffee. He noticed that it had to prepare himself. They sat at the table and Diego says he saw him quiet. After a while he left, but this time through the front door, which was unusual. Also remember that the dismissal was without shaking hands because just the elevator, where there were women, and did not have time opened. It -¿Relató a previous meeting? I think you said earlier was just the day that the prosecutor was going to make the complaint, the 13. And that day I noticed a Nisman phrase: "Yo what I do, I have no alternative." Researchers believe that Lagomarsino had no direct connection with the death of Nisman in the sense that it was not in the building when the autopsy fixed schedule of death between 14 and 15 on Sunday. The computer technician was to give the gun at 20 on Saturday and left the building a while later. Your ingress and egress they were registered with the guard. Their participation, at least in so far there is in the case, was to render the gun. That is the reason the Fein tax not charged with a crime. After his statement on Monday, Lagomarsino promised tax would not talk to the media, why was not possible to engage him directly. However, he resorted to a judge known of his family, to leave the crossing Version Tuesday he adjudicated a possible link with some intelligence. In the administration yesterday was handed to tax the details of successive contracts signed, but beyond that, no data because Lagomarsino depended directly on Nisman. raulkollmann@hotmail.com Source - Pagina 12 {Spanish} - here. ^^^ COMMENT This is a poor Google translation.  Left it as is.  In a warped sort of way, it already makes sense -- sketchy, jumbled sense. As I read this: ^^ Computer technician Diego Lagomarsino is the last person to have seen Nisman alive. ^^ Lagomarsino delivered a .22 Bersa handgun to Nisman, on Nisman's request. ^^ Nisman had told Lagomarsino that the fired intelligence guy (Jaime Stiuso) had told him to be careful and, as I read above, had warned Nisman to be wary of protection retinue. ^^ Lagomarsino met Nisman through the recommendation of a judge Lagomarsino was providing computer tech services to. ^^ Lagomarsino's wages were unusually high. ^^ Lagomarsino's work was done on a remote basis & he was expected to be ready on-call, I think. ^^ On another site, it was noted that the two had met in 2007. ^^ Lagomarsino entered the apartment through the back door & (unusually) left via the front door. ^^ Lagomarsino and Nisman did not shake hands on parting, as the elevator opened unexpectedly and the departure was rushed (I think). ^^ Lagomarsino arrival & departure logged by guard ... but it looks like the retinue of guards were not there, which was unusual? ++ Some error:  Jaime Stiuso or Antonia Stiuso discrepancy in text above. If I understand correctly, this is a statement given by Lagomarsino to the reporter via a judge. Further: Initial test of Nisman’s hand showed no gunpowder residue [timesofisrael] Gunshot residue = GSR / depends on: >type weapon >number times fired >calibre of weapon [Ciolino & Castle] Revolver produces more GSR than automatic. 38 will produce more than a .22  gun fired more times produces more GSR GSR exceptions exist, depending on: >quality of gun >brand of ammo >amount wear & tear on gun Due to exceptions: .22 Rossi revolver may leave HEAPS more GSR than .44 Magnum Ruger Redhawk!!! [Ciolino & Castle] Copyright Disclaimer under section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976 SOURCE:  BERSA, Argentine arms manufacturer, located in the city of Ramos Mejia in Argentina The absence of gunshot residue would be unusual, seeing that even automatic weapons give off some residue. Intelligence service name discrepancy mystery solved.  Looks like guy goes by two names: Antonio Horacio Stiles (Jaime Stiuso) - here.