A Slick Hit Job in Dubai

(AP Photo/Bassem Tellawi)

This story was written by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman.

The team of foreigners who assassinated a senior Palestinian Hamas man in Dubai in January surely knew there are cameras everywhere. The Dubai police chief says some of the dubious passports in this caper were used last year for reconnaissance visits, where Israeli intelligence officers would have noted the unblinking lenses. There is also no getting around the fact that in this day and age, authorities can check almost instantly with other governments on whether travel documents are genuine or bogus. The Mossad took a calculated risk.

The basic tactical goal of this kind of clandestine operation is to kill your target and get back to base without losing any of your own team members. The Dubai caper was a success but not perfect.

An unblemished operation also requires silence and invisibility with no trace of a crime and no evidence you were ever there. On that, the attackers – presumed to be Israelis – failed.

In counter-terrorism, Israeli style, it sometimes feels as if there is no choice but to combine high-tech with old-fashioned. Operatives have to get into foreign countries without revealing their names and nationality, so they need passports, credit cards and other documents to support credible cover stories. In the Dubai caper, that involved stealing or borrowing the identities of genuine Israelis who were entitled to passports from their families' original home countries.

The members of the hit team – at least a dozen men and two women – can be assumed to have been wearing disguises at every moment they were caught on camera. Antonio Mendez, former chief of disguises at the CIA, years ago revealed to CBS News that ultralight latex-type masks that fit completely over the face – and make you look like a completely different person – are real and not figments of the "Mission: Impossible" screenwriters' imaginations.

Still, these assignments are increasingly difficult. Some traditional forgery skills, such as meticulously gluing a new photograph into a passport, are rapidly becoming worthless. A growing number of nations adopt the latest passport format that includes a biometric chip that includes the holder's digital photo and soon may include entry and exit history, an "iris image" of the traveler's eye, and perhaps even the person's DNA code.

Ironically, while these steps were designed to foil terrorists and international criminals trying to travel under false identities, the security measures are also going to hamper counter-terrorism agents – the good guys who chase the bad guys.

What made Mahmoud al-Mabhouh, the Hamas man visiting Dubai, worth all the trouble and risk? He was not assassinated in revenge for his involvement in the killing of two Israeli soldiers 22 years ago. Well-placed Israelis say the hunters stalked him because of his key role in forging secret connections between the Palestinian radicals who rule Gaza and the Al-Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards in Iran. The Mossad believed that Mabhouh had a major role in arms shipments from Iran to Gaza, and rockets that get there have a high likelihood of being fired at Israeli civilians.

A more fundamental issue remains unresolved. The Mossad, other intelligence agencies in Israel, and the government have failed to develop a clear doctrine for when to assassinate, whom and where, and how to balance the benefits and risks.

Since 9/11, the CIA has adopted Israel's attitude – and even some methodology – in weighing extrajudicial killings. To the extent that intelligence chiefs pause to measure morality, they contend that ending the life of one enemy activist with little or no collateral damage is far better than waiting to encounter him on a battlefield or watch the lethal results of his terrorist plans.

The most common vehicle for targeted assassinations by the U.S. has been the drone aircraft. The Predator has excellent cameras aboard and can be directed to launch Hellfire missiles with devastating accuracy by operators at videogame-type consoles in comfortably air conditioned control rooms in the U.S.

If there were a Taliban leader, or perhaps a senior al Qaeda man, known to be in a luxury hotel in Dubai, would the CIA ever send in an assassination squad with guns, poisons, tasers, or some of the special weapons intelligence agencies constantly develop? Probably not. As far as we know, that's not the CIA's style. But the U.S. might persuade the local government to participate in a raid and arrest the enemy. That has occurred in Pakistan, most recently with the capture of top Taliban men.

Would Israel take all the risks again and do what the Mossad presumably did in Dubai? At least three mantras heard from Israeli intelligence veterans come to mind. First, if the target is important enough, then it is worth doing. Second, Israelis frequently say "there is no alternative." And third, Mossad chiefs have actually uttered these words: "Nothing is impossible."

This story was written by Dan Raviv and Yossi Melman. Raviv is a Washington-based correspondent for CBS News and host of radio's Weekend Roundup. Melman is a correspondent specializing in intelligence and strategic issues for the Israeli newspaper, Ha'aretz. They are the authors of several books including the best seller, "Every Spy a Prince: The Complete History of Israel's Intelligence Community."

[steeleweed]

Amid all the indignant holier-than-thou pseudo-moralizing by various nations over Mossad's work, how come nobody questions why it is necessary? Mossad goes to some country to kill their enemies only because those countries have given the enemies a 'safe haven'. Why didn't Dubai keep Mabhouh out of the country? Arab countries in general accommodate any enemy of Israel and often Arab intelligence groups actually assist people like him. By allowing Mabhouh to freely travel and do his deadly business, Dubai, UAE, Syria, Lebanon, etc. are 'aiding and abetting'. They should count themselves lucky that Mossad only went after Mabhouh and not the policy-makers of Dubai.

[Kufr_Akbar]

I wouldn't say Mossad was trying to leave no trace of a crime and no trace that they were behind it. When Mossad tracked down the Black September members responsible for the Munich Olympic massacre, they left a sort of signature alongside each body: all twelve 25-calibre shell casings from one Beretta magazine. They want Hamas to know that it was they who tracked down and eliminated al-Mabhouh, I'm pretty sure.

There are many unanswered questions about this extraordinary story. Just a few of them: Why did Mabhouh venture out of al-Bustan Rotana after he checked in? How did those wigs and radios and (probably) stun gun get into Dubai? And this digital key business -- "Peter" booked room 237 and got the key from the desk, but he never entered the room and he left the country before the assassination even occurred; plus the odd claim that someone had tried to reprogram the lock on room 230 at around 20:00; plus Dubai's very odd claim the they found Mabhouh's room locked with the chain in place. Dubai knows more than they are saying about how the room was entered. I wonder if a sexual agent played some role.

[starving1968-3]

Hey Zionists -- how would you feel if an Iranian hit squad carried out an assassination against an Israeli on American soil?

[U_S_Drug_Addict]

they would begin the museum building process.

[hateisafourletterword]

Me thinks the Palestinian gentlemen would have been advised to spend his time and energy helping his people improve their lives without killing innocent Israeli's. All people need to focus their energy on making their lives better without killing or maiming others to get there.

[porcine_aviator]

Agreed. Now if you or someone else could convince the Israelis to stop killing innocent civilians that would be great too. Don't forget to remind the Israelis that stealing land in the name of settlers is wrong too.

Neither side of this conflict has the moral high ground. They are both equally guilty of murder and hate. It's just that the Israelis have cooler toys and a far better PR department.

[VTchemist]

There are just too many mistakes for this to have been a Mossad operation.

[novamba]

Don't be fooled, what may appear to be a mistake can send authorities on a wild goose chase. the guy is dead, and all the operators are safe somewhere. This may or may not ever be solved, and I am inclined to believe the latter will happen.

[pensacola8-2009]

Israeli policy makers need to remember that if their hardliners are going to prevail and high-profile assassinations are going to be tolerated and pursued, then a big clue or signal becomes sent to the rest of the world that advertises the Israeli's biggest weaknesses - untrustworthy as an alliance member under pressure. Even the CIA has learned that assassinations bring upon the "Hydra Syndrome" where two heads grow back for every one that is chopped off. I will provide the example of good policy making that kept Cuba's Fidel Castro alive, by making his assassination unlawful. The compliance with that law has paid huge dividends about the credibility for the USA, until VP Cheney came along and authorized torture.

A world of lawless policy-makers is quite unsettling and breeds far more insecurity than facing differences with predictable and civil order. There is wisdom in knowing when to choose the right battle to fight.