Everything You Wanted To Know About Imad Mugniyah (And Were Too Afraid To Ask)

Okay, not everything you wanted to know about Mugniyah, which would undoubtedly include more facts about his role in Hezbollah and international terrorism, and the identity of his assassins. Nevertheless, there have been some pretty good analyses of Mugniyah in the international press recently:

• Martin Kramer points out that Hezbollah's posthumous embrace of Mugniyah is an embarassment to scholars who bought Hezbollah's company line, during the past two decades, that they had no idea who Mugniyah was.

  "One of [Hezbollah's] paramount interests is concealing from scrutiny that apparatus of terror that Mughniyah spent his life building. Hiding the clandestine branch protects it from Hezbollah's enemies, and makes it easier to sell the movement to useful idiots in the West, who insist that the movement hasn't done any terror in years, and maybe never did any at all," writes Kramer.

• Nicholas Blanford floats the idea that Syria was behind Mugniyah's assassination, as part of some broader deal with the Americans involving the international tribunal. He gets Walid Jumblatt's tentative support for the idea: "It could have been the Syrians," he said. "Damascus is well protected, and I don't think somebody else could do it." I mean, come on.

• Andrew Exum begins a long, informative thread where he and commentators including Michael Young, David Schenker, and Lee Smith bat around ideas regarding who could have killed Mugniyah. The general consensus seems to be that Syria is not in the business of giving high-profile gifts to the West, and especially ones that are irrevocable. Furthermore, the fact that Mugniyah was killed in the middle of Damascus is an embarassment to the Syrian regime -- if they wanted him dead, they would have killed him elsewhere. "Occam's Razor seems to apply here: Given what we know now, the simplest answer is probably the correct one," writes Exum. And that, of course, is Mossad.

• The LA Times compiled a list of Mugniyah's alleged "greatest hits" (excuse the pun). Ex-CIA officer Robert Baer and Magnus Ranstorp, who wrote a Hezbollah primer, seem to be the go-to guys in the press for commentary on Mugniyah. Quoth Ranstorp: "Certainly within the U.S. intelligence community, some were as eager to get Imad Mughniyah as they were Bin Laden...I'm sure there will be champagne corks popping [in Washington]"