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ADDING to post no. 20:

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/66737

“Brennan Names Al-Qaeda and Affiliates as the Enemy, Silent on Hezbollah, Others”
Thursday, May 27, 2010
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

SNIPPET: “In his CSIS speech, Brennan repeatedly used the phrase “al-Qaeda and its affiliates” in identifying the enemy, and also referred several times to al-Qaeda’s “ideology.”

He did not mention groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Palestinian self-rule territories, which pre-date al-Qaeda, have killed Americans, and base their ideologies not on principles established by al-Qaeda but on Islam, the Koran and the sayings of Mohammed.

The U.S. government designated Hezbollah, Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad “foreign terrorist organizations” four years before al-Qaeda attacked the U.S. in 2001. Among the legal criteria for designation, “the organization’s activities must threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United States.”

Brennan raised eyebrows last week when he spoke about Hezbollah – which is represented in the Lebanese parliament – as having “moderate elements” which he said the U.S. should try to “build up.”

State Department spokesman Philip Crowley subsequently stressed that U.S. policy towards Hezbollah remained unchanged, saying that it does not recognize “separate military and political wings,” and that Hezbollah must be disarmed in line with U.N. resolutions.”

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stepping back in time...

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/57902

“America Is the Enemy, Says Hezbollah”
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
By Patrick Goodenough, International Editor

SNIPPET: “Nasrallah delivered the platform at an event held at a Beirut hall, where he appeared by video link on a giant screen. Lebanese media reports said he does not appear in public often, fearing Israeli assassination attempts.

Other elements of the document included:

— a lengthy diatribe against the U.S., including the accusation that it is the world’s leading exporter of terrorism, and that “the Bush administration has transformed the United States into a danger that threatens the whole world.”

— praise for Iran, the state whose Islamic revolution defeated “the Shah’s regime and its American-Israeli projects,” and which “supported the resistance movements in our region, and stood with courage and determination at the side of the Arab and Islamic causes and especially the Palestinian one.”

— the insistence that Hezbollah will never compromise with or recognize Israel, even if everyone else does.

— the view that “we are amid historical transformations that signal the retreat of the U.S. role as a predominant power and the demise of the Zionist entity.””