Al Qaeda is without a doubt America's top concern in its current war – in
fact, it would do us well to consider the concept of a "war on terror" as
hopelessly vague, and narrow the war to those groups who may do us definite harm.
Al Qaeda would be the first on that list. But they would not be the only
group. There is also the group Hezbollah.
Also called Lebanese Hizballah, the terrorist group was formed in
1982 after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon (which was itself the "fault" of
someone else, etc.) Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based radical Shi'a group; the Iranian
Revolution and the radical theology of the late Ayatollah Khomeini are its
primary influences.
The Consultative Council, or Majlis al-Shura, is Hezbollah's top
governing body. Hassan Nasrallah is the head, or Secretary General, of the
council.
Hezbollah is dedicated to "liberating" Jerusalem and eliminating
Israel – hence its hatred of the U.S., one of Israel's staunchest allies.
It has formally advanced the notion of absolute Islamic rule in Lebanon.
All the same, Hezbollah has actively participated in Lebanon's political system
since 1992.
Although Hezbollah does not advocate Syria's fairly secular government,
the terrorist group has been a strong ally in helping Syria advance its
political objectives in the region.
Hezbollah is often allied with the Shi'ite government of Iran, but has
been known to act alone.
Some of the first major anti-American terrorist attacks were Hezbollah's
suicide truck bombings of the U.S. Embassy and U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut
in 1983, followed by the U.S. Embassy annex in Beirut in September 1984.
Continued below...
Three members of the group – 'Imad Mughniyah, Ali Atwa and Hasan
Izz-al-Din – are among the FBI's 22 Most-Wanted Terrorists for their part in the 1985
hijacking of TWA Flight 847, in which an American Navy diver was murdered.
In 2003, Hezbollah seemed to initiate a presence in Iraq, but it appears
its activities there are limited.
Hezbollah currently enjoys the support of several thousands in countries
like Lebanon, Iran and Syria, as well as that of a few hundred terrorist
operatives.
The group primarily operates in southern Lebanon, especially in the
southern outskirts of Beirut and the Bekaa Valley. Hezbollah also has cells in
Europe, Africa, North America, South America and Asia. Like al Qaeda, it is one of
the few terror groups with a global reach.
Hezbollah receives its aid from Shi'ite factions. Hence it often enjoys
training in weapons and explosives, as well as diplomatic, political, financial,
and organizational aid from Iran; political, diplomatic and logistic aid from
Syria; and immense financial aid from Lebanese business interests and
individuals worldwide, especially through the Lebanese diaspora.
Many expatriate Lebanese reside in Latin America, and often utilize
certain countries' free trade zones for their own purposes.
Howard Vincent Meehan wrote a Master's Thesis in December 2004 for the
Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, CA entitled, "Terrorism, Diasporas, and
Permissive Threat Environments: A Study of Hizballah's Fundraising Operations in
Paraguay and Ecuador." Approved by James Wirtz, chairman of the National
Security Affairs Department, it serves as a good study into Hezbollah's
fundraising in Latin America.
The study states that:
"Most of the attention of international counter-terrorist organizations
has been directed toward Hizballah's fundraising operations in the Tri-Border
Area (TBA) of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay...
"For example, Paraguay's geostrategic proximity to the free trade zone of
the TBA is conducive to piracy and money laundering and explains their use by
Hizballah. Also, high levels of communal and ideological support for Hizballah
from Paraguay's Lebanese diaspora are conducive to extortion and donations
and explain their use."
Final verdict? "States and diasporas are significant sponsors of terrorist
organizations. Diaspora support will likely become increasingly vital for
terrorist organizations to continue their operations as the current
U.S.-sponsored global war on terror will decrease the quantity and quality of state
sponsored support for terror organizations."
So states should probably not be our principal anti-terrorism focus.
Instead, it's those places around the globe which contain significant numbers of
sympathetic nationalities who are most likely to have financial and ideological
ties with terror organizations.
In other words, places containing large numbers of Saudis will be most
likely to have financial backers of al Qaeda among its group; large Lebanese or
Iranian groups should be most likely to have among its number Hezbollah
supporters, and so on.
So what happens when the presidents of two countries in Central America (Venezuela and Nicaragua) join forces with Iran, which has been a public spectacle in recent months?
What happens when radical Islam has supporters in the Western hemisphere?
They can easily sneak terrorists, money, and weapons by the thousands into the United States using Mexican drug / alien smuggling routes. Mexico did it – in fact there's estimated to be over 11 million illegal aliens from Mexico inside the U.S.
So, how many illegal Middle Easterner are there?
Thousands?
Tens of thousands?
We need to secure our borders.
But it's probably too late.
Next: America's Future: Nuclear Attack By Terrorists On United States?
