Hezbollah Vows Anew to Target Americans

Los Angeles Times ^ | April 17, 2003 | Josh Meyer

[Kay Soze]

Hezbollah Vows Anew to Target Americans Bush officials, fearing attacks, debate whether to go after the group and backers Iran and Syria.

By Josh Meyer Times Staff Writer

April 17, 2003

WASHINGTON -- Hezbollah, a militant Islamic organization backed by Iran and Syria, has issued a new call to arms against Americans in the Middle East, touching off fears of terrorist attacks and debate withinthe Bush administration over whether to move more aggressively against the group and its key sponsors.

The military wing of Hezbollah, long considered by the U.S. to be among the world's most dangerous terrorist groups, has focused largely on Israel because of its past occupation of Hezbollah's homeland in Lebanon and other contested territory. But the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq has triggered a spate of anti-American rhetoric from the Shiite organization and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.

"The people of the region will receive [America] with rifles, blood, arms, martyrdom and martyrdom operations," Nasrallah said in a speech delivered a week before the war began. His remarks were broadcast on Al Manar, the group's Beirut-based satellite television station.

"In the past, when the Marines were in Beirut, we screamed, 'Death to America!' " Nasrallah said. "Today, when the region is being filled with hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, 'Death to America!' was, is and will stay our slogan."

Hezbollah's renewed focus on America has sharpened the long-standing debate among U.S. officials over whether the United States can, and should, go after the group. Some believe that a showdown has been overdue since 1983, when the group blew up the U.S. Embassy and a Marine barracks in Beirut. The attacks killed more than 300 people.

But any offensive would be fraught with political, diplomatic and economic risks for the United States, some officials say. Hezbollah's close ties with Iran and Syria — the major power broker in Lebanon — underscore the complexities of pressing the war on terrorism when it involves groups backed by governments, they note.

[Kay Soze]

Before Al Qaeda's Sept. 11 attacks, Hezbollah had killed other Americans — at least 300 in overseas strikes — often with Iran's help, U.S. officials say.

[ken5050]

say bye-bye to the Beeka Valley....

[kesg]

The only good anti-American terrorist is a dead anti-American terrorist.

[trebb]

Why don't we just go ahead and play theit game - let's target THEM...

[freedomson]

The word 'hezbollah' will soon be slang for tank tread grease.

[Kenton]

Well, as long as we're having this War on Terror, we may as well go right into the nest with our kingsized can of WHOOPASS...

[Norman Arbuthnot]

say bye-bye to the Beeka Valley....

Probably a good place to use a few MOAB's that we never put to use in Iraq.

[Southack]

Hizbollah's home base in the Bekka Valley could easily get the nation of Lebanon GWB's now famous Afghanistan-treatment.

Rogue nations and outlaw states are not going to be permitted to give safe haven to terrorists.

...And our military just happens to be in the neighborhood.

[Becki]

Good. Let them give us an excuse to go in after them.

Becki

[No Truce With Kings]

This is the next group that is going to learn that treating the United States as the Great Satan after 9/11/01 is inviting the Gates of Hell to swing open real close to home.

[Hodar]

Some people are simply slow, some are intellectually deprived, some are outright stupid; then we have Hezbollah.

Terrorists killed 3,000 americans on 9-11. How many hundreds of thousands of 'animals' have we killed since? Afghanistan is now under our control; as is Iraq. So, if they are this stupid, it is our job to clean the gene pool such that future generations will benefit from our efforts.

Go ahead, kill some americans, and we'll return the favor a hundred-fold times over, if not more. We'll start by hunting down the cowards, then taking their goverments. We'll leave them with a new and improved culture, one that will take pleasure in continuing the hunt for terrorists, and offers peace and human dignity to it's citizens. So, c'mon ... give it your best shot.

[CaptRon]

debate withinthe Bush administration over whether to move more aggressively against the group and its key sponsors

Seems to me they've provided the answer.

[EaglesUpForever]

Nasrallah

A 56th card in that deck needs to be printed up...

[Anamensis]

Yeah, Hezbollah, come and get some. I've had you scum on my list of people I want wiped out for years now. Come die in the dark and be buried in the rain.

[ken5050]

You know, if Torie Clark's media psy=ops unit wanted to write the PR for Hezbollah, they couldn't have done a better job..

[snooker]

well now. Aren't they the helpful types.

[pushforbush]

Buried in this article is the following gem, said by a DEMOCRACT Congressman no less:

""So they can expect harshly worded letters?" retorted Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Sherman Oaks), the panel's ranking Democrat. "That's pretty much the Clinton administration approach.

"Other than the fact that we're going to bad-mouth them, what else might we do to the government in Tehran?" Sherman asked. "Anything that might even cost them a nickel?""

Well the "Clinton Legacy" is certainly now secure, if even Democrats agree.

[MJM59]

Wow, another group that is shouting "death to america." Is this the part where I am supposed to act scared?

[pushforbush]

What to do, what to do? It's all so complicated to deal with these terrorist types, unless you just decide to Kill Them All With Overwhelming Force. ("KTAWOF")

Reagan's mistake was the failure to use overwhelming force in response to the Beruit bombing. In his defense, I doubt he had the political support of even the military to KTAWOF Hezbollah in 1982, coming on the heels of the Carter debacle in Iran.

[talleyman]

KTAWOF bump