One Man's Terrorist Is Another Man's Targeted Assassin

A bomber on a motorcycle has blown up yet another Iranian nuclear scientist, leading to this intriguing headline at the NY Times:

Iran Reports Killing of Nuclear Scientist in ‘Terrorist’ Blast

Why the quotes - was this terrorism, or not?

The safe answer is that they are quoting the Iranians:

“The Islamic Republic of Iran expresses its deep concern over, and lodges it strong condemnation of, such cruel, inhumane and criminal acts of terrorism against the Iranian scientists,” Iran’s United Nations ambassador, Mohammad Khazaee, wrote in a letter sent to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and other U.N. officials.

Hmm.  Personally, I think "terrorism" connotes an attack on a random civilian population. But who am I?  The UN has never agreed to a formal definition of terrorism.  However, the US criminal code seems clear enough:

From U.S. Code Title 22, Ch.38, Para. 2656f(d) (d) Definitions

As used in this section—

(1) the term “international terrorism” means terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than 1 country;

(2) the term “terrorism” means premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against noncombatant targets by subnational groups or clandestine agents;

As an examle, back in 1993 when Saddam Hussein tried to assassinate former President Bush during a visit to Kuwait both President Clinton and the Pentagon described it as terrorism.  Here is the President:

We could not, and have not, let such action against our nation go unanswered.

From the first days of our Revolution, America's security has depended on the clarity of this message: Don't tread on us. A firm and commensurate response was essential to protect our sovereignty, to send a message to those who engage in state-sponsored terrorism, to deter further violence against our people and to affirm the expectation of civilized behavior among nations.

And the Pentagon:

The Iraqi Intelligence Service, the I.I.S., is the largest of the Iraqi intelligence agencies. It is responsible for investigating and acting against any suspected disloyalties. It's also responsible for monitoring Iraqi citizens and political activities, and countering dissident Iraqis and opposition groups outside the country. It is responsible -- the primary agency responsible for terrorist attacks abroad, as it tried to do in this case.

More recently, the bizarre plot to kill the Saudi AMbassador was also described by the Times as terrorism.  Without quotes:

Unlikely Turn for a Suspect in a Terror Plot

Well - my quirky interpretation notwithstanding, "terrorism" can certainly include targeted killings, under US law and common usage.

Glenn Greenwald marvels at the silence on the left today now that Obama and/or the Israelis are doing this, in contrast with the outraged howls that greeted a mere suggestion of targeted assassination by Glenn Reynolds three years ago.

As to the prospective legality of this, in the hypothetical case of US involvement - the rationale used to kill Al-Awlaki would scarcely seem to apply:

"The administration has tried to make very clear that this was an act of self-defense, that Awlaki was part of not only al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the al Qaeda affiliate in Yemen, but he was the external operations chief. He was ongoing in his plotting against American citizens - not only having done so in the past, but continuing to do so in an imminent way," said CBS News national security analyst Juan Zarate.

"So based on the rules of self-defense, based on the principles that we're at war with al Qaeda and the fact that he was a part of the group, self-professed, all of that suggests that it's lawful and appropriate to go after him and to kill him," Zarate said.

But of course we are not at war with Iran, or with the University of Teheran.  Don't ask about Berkeley.

Comments

[MarkO]

Bang! You're dead.

[Clarice]

A stitch in time saves 9..think how much better Venezuela would be today if the coup leaders had simply killed Chavez when they could have.

[narciso]

The folks in charge, were apparently at the bottom of their respective SOA class,

[Clarice]

(SOA=School of America) I take it.

[MarkO]

"Lawful?" "Self defense?" "imminent?"

Come on. Have Gun Will Travel.

[Jim,MtnViewCA,USA]

Bush 2004 got more votes than Obama 2012 in NH. I guess all the Dems were voting in the Repub primary? (via InstaPundit)
http://www.buzzfeed.com/buzzfeedpolitics/bush-beats-obama

[Jim Ryan]

Clarice have you heard this? It's "switch." The SCOTUS switched to FDR's point of view and saved themselves from getting packed with six additional justices. "A switch in time saves nine." Or so I've heard recently.

[matt]

more like "Boom! You're dead!"

I am very proud of my School of the Americas Alumni T shirt obtained a number of years ago. I just don't wear it in certain parts of the world.

Clarice, far better would it have been to have quietly made him vanish when he was in prison.

[PaulV]

Either the Russians or Iranian dissidents.

[narciso]

Why is Delong so impenetrably dense, not to see the distinction, rhetorical question,

[Clarice]

Exactly, matt. Honduras learned the right lesson.

[Boatbuilder]

Clarice--think how much better off the people of Venezuela would be if Jimmah hadn't pre-emptively declared Chavez' fraudulent re-election "clean." No need for asassination, just upholding the rule of law.

[Threadkiller]

I did not know GM made an electric motorcycle.

[Extraneus]

Considering how it turned out, Jimmah was pretty smart to get in on that election observer gig. How much damage has that tool done so far?

[Ignatz]

--Personally, I think "terrorism" connotes an attack on a random civilian population.--

Not sure "random" belongs in there.

[Thomas Collins]

This is not terrorism. If it's being done by the US or Israel, it is war without a formal declaration. If it's being done by Iranian dissidents, it's revolution. Either way, it's fine with me that scientists helping Iran with its nuke program may be a little nervous now.

[Gmax]

How do you say in Farsi: "holy **it!"

After the third one bites the dust and all the exposure to radiation to boot, what is the life expectancy of an Iranian nuclear scientist. Do let the Democrats know, this could become their solution for global warming, medicare, medicaid, social security etc.

[Cecil Turner]

I'm having a real hard time getting upset about this. But the whole point of covert ops is plausible deniability, right? What the spokesman should've said: "who, us?"

[narciso]

The historical parallel is the sabotage of the Egyptian rocket program in the early 60s,
which involved a fair number of Nazis, (and was the subplot of Forsyth's Odessa File) and
a similar situation against Iraqi scientists in France, prior to the Osirak strike, at no point were those considered terrorism,

[daddy]

Last month there was a big stink in the MSM about AGW making things so bad that for the first time in recent memory scientists had witnessed the unthinkable: Polar Bear Cannibalism.

"Polar bears normally hunt seals but if these are not available, the big predators will seek out other sources of food - even their own kind However, there are increasing numbers of observations of it occurring, particularly on land where polar bears are trapped ashore, completely food-deprived for extended periods of time due to the loss of sea ice as a result of climate change."

The story was posted everywhere.

Well last summer Alaska Biologists fitted a Brown Bear, who always has tons and tons to eat, with a collar camera. Today video from that collar is available, and if you care to click on the link you can watch the unthinkable; Brown Bear Cannibalism.Shocking!

Thought it surprising that from the ADN story on the Bear Collar Video's, there is no mention at all of the Brown Bear eating another Brown Bear. Instead we are told:

"The 13-minute compilation records one day in the life of a 700-pound, 10-year-old male bear...He breeds with a female, scavenges on a pile of fish along a lake, swims, rips hunks of meat off the carcass of a moose, breeds with another sow and beds down for the night."

Cannibalism I guess didn't fit the narrative.

[Thomas Collins]

Cecil Turner, could this be a case of plausible affirmation? That is, even if this is a purely internal Iranian operation, do Mossad and CIA get some benefit in rattling Khamenei's cage by making him think they may be involved?

[Danube of Thought]

I say kill 'em and don't worry about it.

For those who haven't heard, Peanut Man has now blessed the Egyptian elections, and has said that if the will of the people is that the Brotherhood run the country, that doesn't bother him a bit. And of course it wouldn't: they hate America, and he has never met an America-hating regime that wasn't just ducky.

[Melinda Romanoff]

I hate to be the pessimist in the bunch, but does anyone else see the parallels with a certain 1939, America First strategy with regards to Japan? I know the oil flow is reversed in this case, but it's not that different. Also, Iran has daily price changes on goods now, in case anyone was curious. The inflation is that bad.

If this gets the mullahs riled up enough, they will try and close the Straits and someone in election mode will have their new, dreamed of, crisis.

[Gmax]

Well the Iranians are a bit fanatical. But I have always believed that the mullahs are fine for others to act as splodey dopes, just not that interested in participating themselves. Saddam miscalculated and got his @ss kicked thoroughly. If it was not Zero in office, I was be pretty convinced they might bluster but never step over the line as they have seen the movie and the US Airforce always achieves air superiority and the US Army and Marines are a machine.

[Thomas Collins]

Mel, I am fatalistic about that. If Obama wins because he acts in no uncertain terms to communicate to Iran that closing the Strait is a no go, that to me is better than Obama wimping out. If the US lets tinhorn countries close sea trade, nothing Romney or anyone else can do to undo Obama's economic policies will help.

[Jim Ryan]

No, my mistake. "Switch" is a play on the older "stitch" in time.

[Thomas Collins]

DOT, the Algerians are lucky that their military officers didn't take the Tom Friedman/Jimmy Carter approach to Islamist electoral gains.

[MarkO]

Mel, I see more parallels with WW I.

[Tom Maguire]

Not sure "random" belongs in there.

Good point. Is "non-targeted targets" a meaningful concept? Let's say that I consider terrorists to have very broad selection criteria, like "Mostly American".

And I am skeptical that "civilian" ought to be a requirement - what about the Fort Hood shooting?

[Danube of Thought]

"the US Airforce always achieves air superiority and the US Army and Marines are a machine."

The SEALs, the carriers and the Aegis missile ships may take part as well.

[Danube of Thought]

"nothing Romney or anyone else can do to undo Obama's economic policies will help"

Romney could promptly re-open the sea lanes if Obama does not respond to their closure. And he would have a strong mandate to do so. I don't think Iran willclose the Straits, and I don't think Obama would fail to respond if they do. But if both events happen, Obama has zero chance of being re-elected.

[Gmax]

DoT, I hear the Marines need a ride! JK

Did not mean to disparage the Navy.

The joke I heard from the young officer corp at Ft Benning? Well they are saying that thanks to the repeal of dont ask dont tell, that straight guys can now serve in the Navy!

[Ignatz]

--If this gets the mullahs riled up enough, they will try and close the Straits and someone in election mode will have their new, dreamed of, crisis.--

For a Twelver it would be more irrational to try and close the Strait than it would be to lob a Fat Boy at Tel Aviv.
Their Navy will be obliterated, the Strait will very quickly be opened and will remain open and they will have committed an act of war which leaves them wide open to any retaliation that Barry would like to pursue and all they might gain is a blip in oil prices rather than the destruction of Israel and a pop goes the weasel date with the 12th Imam.

[MarkO]

"nothing Romney or anyone else can do to undo Obama's economic policies will help"

This makes me rethink the definition I give to "doom."

[Gmax]

anyone needing cheering up, can buck themselves up with this new Quinny poll of FLA:

The poll shows Obama's job approval rating among white voters at just 33 percent, and his approval with Hispanic voters at 46 percent. Obama trails Romney by 21 points among white voters, 55 percent to 34 percent, and only holds a one-point lead among Hispanics, 46 to 45 percent.

Back in 2008, Obama won 42 percent of the white vote against John McCain in Florida; his level of support has dropped eight points since then. Even more stark is the president's 11-point slippage with Hispanics (he won 57 percent of the state's Latino vote against John McCain).

Obama's carefully-tailored message focused on fighting for the working class seems to have fallen on deaf ears in the Sunshine State, at least so far. Florida has been particularly hard-hit by the recession, with the state's unemployment rate and foreclosure rate ranking as one of the highest in the country.

Quinny tends to find more Democrats than ever show up at the polls too, so its actually worse than this.

[RichatUF]

Even if the Iranians wanted to close the Straits, I'm doubtful that it would be for long or as disruptive as generally assumed ($160-$200/bbl oil?).

Not sure how Obama would capitalize on bombing the Iranians either given all the bad things that could happen between now and the election, although I'm sure the media will make it out to be the best strategic decision since Clinton got into an airwar in Iraq (that a Rep presidnt had to end). Isn't it more the case that economic weakness globlly is reducing oil demand globally and that the corrupt Iranian government needed ever higher oil prices to prop up their dictatorship?

[Gmax]

If Zero is at 33% with white voters, what do you think he is at with white males? Whoa.

I have a good friend who is confused. He is a somewhat bashful Obama supporter. I tried to tell him that I thought he was likely the last non gay white male in Texas supporting Obama. If nothing else man, people may get the wrong idea!

[sue]

I would like to think we are doing this.

[Jane]

LOL GMAX, that's great ammunition!

[Danube of Thought]

Ask the jokesters at Benning why nobody asked them to take out bin Laden.

[Captain Hate]

For all the caterwauling we've been doing about our crummy candidates, Gmax's poll points out the JEF is completely toxic with no sign of that changing. Worf's bitching about how people don't kiss her fat ass is gonna go over real well with the people that've run out of unemployment benefits thanks to Ear Leader's wonderful policies. Keep that harridan in front of microphones; what could go wrong?

[Gmax]

DoT dont take it so hard, Navy did beat Army this year, although it was a hell of a lot closer than anyone expected.

[Gmax]

Think about how stupid Jesse Ventura is. He insulted a Navy Seal to his face. At least he can tell people that he lived to tell about it, although I hear he now talks out of his left ear!

[Danube of Thought]

I don't take it hard at all, Gmax. It's all in good fun, and always has been.

[Gmax]

Karl Rove btw was just commenting on the Fla poll. His point was as soon as we get over carving each other up, we will coalesce and Zero will be down 8 or more points in Fla. And Karl points out that if you are losing Fla by 8, you are in trouble in a lot of places in the country.

Could not happen to a nicer guy...

[rse]

Now dot, you realize gmax and I are going to gang up on you on this point.

I think we should send him a TSAF sticker for his car.

[sue]

I got a kindle fire for Christmas. Anyone know how to refresh a page?

[Captain Hate]

Sue you should read the Sunday book threads @ AoS; at least half of the comments are geeks morons talking about their effing kindles.

[sue]

I'm sorry captain. I think I figured it out. I don't use it much.

[centralcal]

I think Clarice has one too, Sue. Maybe the two of you could exchange tips.

[Rick Ballard]

CH,

Different sue. sue, 'moron' is a term of endearment among AoS habitues.

[Gmax]

RSE

In Arabic I am told ( dont speak the language myself ) its:

Harra Karra Mubahlesh

[sue]

I should get back on my comptuter.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Three weeks at $250-300 WTI would do enough damage to the world economy that it might be just enough to coordinate things through some global entity, just for the duration, of course.

[Rick Ballard]

Mel,

I'd look due north before considering that explanation. It's not as if Russia is anxious to see Iran making super splodey dope toys and a nice uptick in oil helps them more than anyone else.

[Captain Hate]

Thanks for pointing out the different poster, Rick. I thought the use of "moron" per AoS was universally understood here. Although truth be told the kindle talk detracts from those of us that are there strictly for the printed word (pixels or dead trees).

Btw to switch to music: Anybody heard of Lera Lynn? She's a bit more straight country than Lydia Lovelace, who's as close to punk as she is to country (too bad her lyrics are strangely hard to understand because she sounds *really* pissed off at the men in her life which I never tire of hearing IN SONGS) and if I were a betting man I'd say a 12 step program is in her future. She's got raw talent to burn though and her song "Steve Earle" is one of the funniest I've ever heard.

[rse]

mel-

That's nothing to joke about. I know you are not but I have been shocked by how many people seem capable of typing new world order without recognizing they sound like a science fiction novel and an Onion spoof. It's a serious aspiration for a substantial number of EU and UN bureaucrats not to mention quite a few consulting firms whose primary clients are governments and agencies. They hear little to no growth and start figuring out how to lock down at least their current share of the pie.

[Rick Ballard]

CH,

I only mentioned it due to the initial confusion concerning Anne (with an 'e' for ediot) the other evening. It might be Miss Ear Muffs but she generally uses an upper case S.

[Melinda Romanoff]

Putin's Folly plays an Iran gambit directly in his, albeit temporary, favor.

I don't think he'd mind if iBama ceded sovereignty to "make things right", so long as the "correct" goals were achieved. Monti's already tipped his hand that this is what they're doing.

[OldTimer]

John Bolton to endorse Romney according to WSJ:

http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/01/11/bolton-to-back-romney/

[Captain Hate]

Understood Rick; it might be MEM on an iPhone or something similar from her last comment.

[Melinda Romanoff]

rse-

I know.

That's why I'm bringing it up.

[sue]

I'm pretty sure it was me not another sue. I know what moron is at aces.

[Melinda Romanoff]

But I don't know what a Kindle works like, either.

So there.

[Sue]

I fixed my name.

[Melinda Romanoff]

rse-

As the money pie contracts, the leeches get desperate and clingy, instead of allowing the growth new money sources.

[Rick Ballard]

"I fixed my name."

But are you wearing ear muffs?

[jimmyk]

John Bolton to endorse Romney according to WSJ

According to Sara on the other thread, he already did on Greta.

And that after Newt had named him his SoS.

[Danube of Thought]

From the AP:

"WASHINGTON - President Dwight D. Eisenhower's family wants a memorial in the nation's capital redesigned, saying the current plans overemphasize his humble Kansas roots and neglect his accomplishments in World War II and the White House. Architect Frank Gehry has proposed a memorial park framed by large metal tapestries with images of Eisenhower's boyhood home in Abilene, Kan. In the park, a statue of 'Ike' as a boy would seem to marvel at what would become of his life, leading the Allied forces and becoming president."

Call this one too good to check, but I was once told that the entry Ike wrote for himsel for Who's Who read, "Graduated West Point 1915. Commanded Allied forces liberating Europe, 1944-45. Served as 34th U.S. President, 1953-61." Maybe he would have liked the Gehry design as is.

And no, they dont make 'em like that anymore.

[Sue]

Rick,

Yes. Pink ones.

[Sue]

Dirk is amazing.

[Sue]

Jason Terry ain't bad either. Night y'all.

[Captain Hate]

Go MAVS

[rse]

Yes I have a lot of the blueprint. Once you see how it works you can just do a search and up turns panel after panel discussion of the plans. I remain in shock over the "make up for a contracting economy through the quality of personal relationships and then recommending the communal atmosphere of pubs". Or my and henry's favorite vendor given a presentation on global prospects where they told the various govts in attendance that they could adopt policies and everyone could make money off the ripple effect of knowing what the policies to be enacted would be. Now that sort of behavior has no impact on diminishing growth.

[Pofarmer]

Hey Capn, thanks for the Lera Lynn reference. Ever try any Corb Lund?

[Carol Herman]

Ah, but there were no Israelis on the streets of Tehran. They don't get visas.

Could'a been an inside job, for all you know.

Or do you believe you just pop into Iran. Stick a bomb on a car. And, flee?

How do you rent the motorcycle?

How do you "practice?

So easy to blame Israel. But try and carry this out, and see how far you get.

[Rocco]

I noticed an oddity with Anne's postings too. The punctuation she uses is very similar to our friend Carol Herman's. If you'll note the way Carol uses ... in her 11:23 pm post on the Back in New Hampshire thread here to the way Anne uses the same ... in her 11:07 am post on the huntsman thread here, you'll notice they both use a space before and after the ... probably just a coincidence!

Oh well, good night all

[Captain Hate]

Never heard of him before your comment, Po; I'll check him and the Hurtin' Albertans out.

I'm pretty sure Anne isn't Carol Herman. If Carol started using socks that might be the end of the world as we know it.

[Carol Herman]

Iran's just peppering the Straits of Hormuz with mines. (They've done it before.) All you need is one ship carrying oil to run into a mine.

And, Rocco, you're no Sherlock Holmes. Who the hell is Anne, here?

[Clarice]

niters..

[Rocco]

Carol Herman says:
November 28, 2010 at 7:16 PM

On #4. Okay. So Helena is a model. It still looks like she was scratching her ass. And, decided to then smell her fingers. I am definitely not impressed.

Now, a long time ago. On TV. Candid Camera would have fun with beautiful women. Usually blond, if I remember. Who’d be put into cars that had no engines. Off camera the car would be shoved. And, the DITZY dame ended up in a gas station. Where the cameras rolled in secret.

It was a hoot to watch the men come out. As the woman explained “her car trouble.” And, they’d lift the hood. And, there was nothing inside.

Then, people had no trouble having a good laugh.

Helena smelling her fingers? You think this is unusual? I think a car steered into a gas station, so that when the mechanic comes out and lifts the hood … there’s nothing THERE! That would have even been a good counterpoint to Ross Perot. But Perot lost, anyway.

When was there a culture shift so that people today think pretty faced women are geniuses?

Are we that removed from truth, already?

http://blogs.dailymail.com/donsurber/archives/25370

[Rocco]

DITZY

DITZY

[Danube of Thought]

"Iran's just peppering the Straits of Hormuz with mines."

Is there evidence of this?

[Porchlight]

her song "Steve Earle" is one of the funniest I've ever heard.

Is she making fun of him? Because I can't stand that jerk. And I'll stand on his coffee table in my cowboy boots and say that.

[Porchlight]

I don't think Anne is Carol Herman or Ben-Dana. She is her own brand of moron. A troll type we haven't seen much of - the aggro RINO.

[Danube of Thought]

I'm pretty much in favor of seeing a woman scratch her ass, provided that it's a nice ass. Smelling her fingers, not so much.

Can someonep rovide a link?

(Yeesh.)

[RichatUF]

Mel-

Not sure I'm following the 1005 or 1020.

[Uncle BigBad]

Carol Herman is the only commenter who can hijack entire threads without even being present.

[Sara]

From Fox and Friends just now:

Michael Moore is Iran's favorite film maker and they play his movies over and over.

[Captain Hate]

Is she making fun of him? Because I can't stand that jerk.

Not only is she making fun of him, she's acting as if he's this deranged, still-on-the-pipe stalker who keeps pathetically bugging her to do musical duets with him. I was listening to it in stunned disbelief; the positive kind. She may eventually crash and burn but she's leaving a mark on the way.

She's from Chillicothe, Ahia and probably plays around Ann's neck of the woods often. I think her stepfather plays in her band (does any sentence scream "white trash" more than that one?). My buddy who gave me the disc told me she played in a club around here a few months ago but the idiot promoters had 3 warmup groups on a week night and he said NFW. I'm not sure the gainfully employed is her target audience.

[bunkerbuster]

Iran's mullahs are the big winners in these assassinations. They have dramatic, undeniable evidence of subversion -- their most powerful lever against internal opponents -- and a freshly compelling demonstration that Israel is engaged in a dirty war against them.
It's no irony, either, that the other big winners are Israel's right-wing militants who get to slake their followers' bloodlust without really hurting a regime that the need first and foremost to remain a menace to Israel because, without that, they have no reason to exist as a political grouping.
And as Melinda points out, this is essentially a win for Obama. It distracts powerfully from the GOP's most potent message (Obama kills jobs), gives Obama another chance to follow up on the bin Laden kill with another big win and puts Republicans into a position to demand a war they have no idea of how to fight or win and, most important, have no way to pay for other than by proposing tax cuts. Paying for war with tax cuts is one of the pithy, and true, sound bites that killed McCain. The cannier Republicans know that and are praying whoever's pulling these terror attacks on Iran will stop...

[Captain Hate]

Looks like the troll's halfway house got new copies of Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

[Porchlight]

It distracts powerfully from the GOP's most potent message (Obama kills jobs)

Snort. Keep telling yourself that, bunky.

CH, thanks for that tip on Miss Lovelace. Anyone making fun of Steve Earle is aces in my book.

[Neo]

I love the quote at Glenn's site ...

“Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational blog!”

[narciso]

This surpasses the Ron Paul threshhold of stupidity, seen in that last ad;

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/11/opinion/give-guantanamo-back-to-cuba.html?_r=2&ref=todayspaper

[narciso]

Sometimes parody is still too close to reality;

http://pjmedia.com/lifestyle/2012/01/11/iran-halts-nuclear-program-because-nice-diplomat-asked-them-to/2/

[GMAX]

They have halfway houses for the criminally insane?

[GMAX]

Someone ask bunky if the press reports yesterday of indictment for ballot fraud in upstate NY were just figments of the horribly conservative media's overactive imagination, would you? I cant I am laughing too hard at his last post.

[PD]

More woes in the green market.

Vestas to lay off more than 2,300 workers

COPENHAGEN, Denmark—Vestas A/S, the world's biggest maker of wind turbines in terms of revenues, said Thursday it will lay off around 2,300 employees, mainly in Denmark, because of a market downturn caused by the global financial crisis.

The company, headquartered in Aarhus, Denmark, said a potential slowdown in the United States could also result in the layoff of an additional 1,600 employees there.

[PD]

More:

"I am truly sorry that we have to say goodbye to so many skilled and loyal Vestas colleagues," CEO Ditlev Engel said in a statement, but noted the changes were necessary "in order to prepare for a market with low growth and increased competition."

Hey, at least he didn't say he *likes* firing people. Those intentions make all the difference when it comes to business realities.