Most Americans in Lebanon Are Hezbollah Supporters

debbieschlussel.com ^ | July 18, 2006 | Debbie Schlussel

[BigFinn]

One thing is lost in all the press coverage of the whining Americans who went to Lebanon of their own accord and now want us to pick up the tab to get them out.

THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS IN LEBANON ARE HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS.

Most of them are Shiite Muslims, many of whom hold dual U.S. and Lebanese citizenship. Many are anchor babies born here to Muslims in the U.S. illegally. Some are illegal aliens who became citizens through rubber-stamping Citizenship and Immigration Services (and its INS predecessor) coupled with political pressure by spineless politicians.

Of the 25,000 American citizens and green-card holders in Lebanon, at least 7,000 are from Dearborn, Michigan, the heart of Islamic America, and especially Shia Islam. These 7,000 are mostly Shi'ite Muslims who openly and strongly support Hezbollah. Ditto for many of the rest of the 25,000 that are there.

Many of the 7,000 plus Detroiters in Lebanon are active in Dearborn's Bint Jbeil cultural center (the Lebanese American Heritage Club also features mostly Hezbollah fans). Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah-dominated city in the South of Lebanon, a frequent destination of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who is very at home there. Bint Jbeil is a frequent source of shellings on Northern Israel.

Bint Jbeil natives now living in our country so strongly support Hezbollah that they got Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg (and his then top staffer, Paul Welday) and then-U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham to give Hezbollah forces in Southern about $86 million of our tax money, no strings.

Given this information, and the fact that several Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese U.S. citizens from Dearborn have been indicted and/or convicted of laundering money to Hezbollah, is it a good idea to rush to bring 25,000 such persons back to the U.S. at a time when Hezbollah is at war against our strongest U.S. ally? Does the fact, that Hezbollah numerous times--and especially now--has announced veiled and not-so-veiled intentions to attack Americans on U.S. soil, make the case to quickly bring these terror-sympathizing Americans back to U.S. soil? Many are individuals whose activity should have mandated prosecution and jail-time. But they are free because a spineless U.S. Attorney, Stephen Murphy III, and equally weak federal law enforcement chiefs of Michigan FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who pander to them.

These are people who hold U.S. citizenship but support a group that murdered over 300 U.S. Marines and civilians, some through torture; a group that is part of the Al-Qaeda network; a group that is training insurgent terrorists against our troops in Iraq and giving them IEDs to blow them up; a group that worked with Qaeda to bomb the Khobar Towers. Americans who support this group are not American. They merely possess the proper paperwork.

And they are very dangerous. One of them, Lola Elzein--a student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and an officer of the Hezbollah-supporting Arab American PAC--threatened my life and that of my family members because I've written about the group's Detroit-area's extremist Hezbollah sympathizers. Hezbollah's violence has already arrived in America, and we don't need to pay to transport 25,000 of its sympathizers back to our shores.

Wile the government has announced it will charge these individuals for the expensive transport out of Lebanon to Cyprus back to the U.S., they feds say they will accept IOUs for that transport. Think we'll get the money back? Just ask the Katrina aid administrators.

Do you want your tax dollars to subsidize Hezbollah supporters' return to America? Are these the kind of U.S. citizens we badly need back in our country at this time?

Should Hezbollah supporters be transported on a ship named for one of the most heroic events in U.S. history, the U.S.S Iwo Jima? Should U.S. tax dollars fund the charter of commercial ships to transport the rest of these terror-sympathizers?

The instant answer from all freedom-loving Americans to these questions should be a loud "NO."

These people went to Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon of their own accord. And they were safe there because they support the terrorist group. Now, their fortune has changed. Tough.

It is not the responsibility of U.S. taxpayers to rescue terrorist-supporters who voluntarily went to a dangerous area . . . just because their whines are loud and annoying.

We are picking up the tab for this unfortunate rescue. U.S. funds used to rescue terrorist-sympathizers--YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK.

So is America too slow to get these undesirable U.S. citizens out of Lebanon? On the contrary, not slow enough.

[SJackson]

As an aside U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark created anchor babies.

[The_Reader_David]

Implicit implications are a bit like unknown unknowns.

Apology accepted. Make a point of verbally assailing Mohammedans (or Moslems) both of which offend the enemy (unless of course you want to play along with the 'Religion of Peace' propaganda in hopes of not having to fight all of them, in which case calling them Muslims is fine).

[3niner]

I'm not the one accusing folks of malfeasance. You are;

Actually, the ones who are there to support Islamic jihad are being accused of much worse than that.

...you bear the burden of proof.

If this were a court of law (in the U.S.), and I were a prosecuting attorney, that would be true. However, this is FreeRepublic, and it is the court of public opinion. Sometimes the court of public opinion is more accurate than a court of law. (i.e. Did OJ do it?)

[winner3000]

(Why would a "loyal American" choose to live (or spend a large amount of time in Lebanon)?)

Because Lebanon without war is a slice of heaven. Think of country with beautiful temperate Mediterranean weather without the ridiculously high prices of a French Nice or Riviera. The Mediterranean water even in the dead winter is still warmer than the Pacific Ocean - Imagine skiing on Mount Lebanon and within half hour swimming in the Mediterranean (not many swim in the winter, but you could). The food, women, and nightlife are awesome and the Lebanese people are warm and hospitable and know how to have fun. Lebanon would be the perfect retirement spot for me.

Think of all the American citizens who live in places other than the United States. There are tons of them. Ask yourself why you are targeting only Americans who live in Lebanon. Regardless, most Americans citizens stuck there now were there for vacation or business and do not live there permanently.

[winner3000]

Thank you for bringing this info to the uneducated. Christians who lived in the Middle East have been quite useful to the War on Terror thanks to their language skills, and to their understanding (way before 9/11) that there are people dedicated to killing non-Muslims. To be lumped with the terrorists after all this is quite insulting until we remember people feel that way due to ignorance. I then remember not to take it to heart as we're fighting the same enemy.

[Fred Nerks]

"So, in 2004, a couple of months before Americans decided whether to put John Kerry in the White House, his wife’s money was being used to fund one of the participants in a virulently anti-American meeting held in Beirut and hosted by Hezbollah. Once again, we have reason to be grateful that American voters put their money on George Bush."

Needs to be repeated over and over again.

[rantblogger]

Here's the Teresa Heinz-Kerry link to Hezbollah: http://www.newsmax.com/archives/ic/2004/6/15/140140.shtml

Tuesday, June 15, 2004 1:59 p.m. EDT Heinz Kerry-Funded Web Site Praises Hezbollah

A Web site partially funded by Teresa Heinz Kerry offers a report glorifying Hezbollah (Hizbullah) suicide bombers as "deified in paradise and venerated on earth for fighting Israel" - and praises the terrorist group's support network for women widowed by their husband's "martyrdom" attacks.

Women's eNews.org still features the September 2003 report, written by Sarah Smiles, who's identified as a "WeNews correspondent."

Smiles interviewed a number of Lebanese women who were widowed after their husbands decided to join in the cause of killing Israelis and Americans.

At the end of her screed, the Web site notes:

"Women's eNews is supported by our readers; reprints and licensing fees; and the Fund for the City of New York, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III fund of the Heinz Family Foundations, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, the Rockefeller Family Fund, The Helena Rubinstein Foundation, the Sister Fund, the Starry Night Fund."

First noted yesterday by OpinionJournal.com, the Heinz Kerry-funded report reads like a recruiting brochure for suicide bombers. Here are some highlights:

• "Hizbullah has built up an impenetrable support network for the women. Through the Hizbullah martyrs' wives association some 2500 families in Lebanon receive a monthly salary, free health care and schooling for their children – to the tune of $1,200 each a month.
• "'We do everything in our power to make them feel they are not missing anything,' says Mohsan Shaheen, a spokesperson for the association. 'Anything a martyr's wife wants, we will give it to her, basically, because her husband sacrificed himself. The only thing we can't provide for her is to bring him back.'
• "On top of sending their children to the best schools and universities abroad if they choose, the association runs vocational training classes and seminars for the woman and offers a dating service to help them remarry if they wish. ..."

Comments from Hezbollah suicide widows:

• "A staunch, pious woman veiled completely in black, Naji shows little regret about her ultimately fateful marriage.
• "'When I married him, I knew he followed the party. I knew I had a martyr at home,' she says. Leaning closer, she confesses her ambitions for her sons, the youngest of whom was a nursling when Aboud died.
• "'When my sons tell me: "I hope to become a martyr one day," I say: "I hope so too. I hope God chooses you as a martyr.'"
• "'Although a mother doesn't need to tell the son of a martyr to do it,' she says, 'she may guide him towards it, but really, it's innate. He automatically has a feeling that he must follow his father.' ...
• "Pregnant when her husband Ahmed Fadlallah was killed in a Hizbullah operation in 1999, Zoorgoof has struggled to come to terms with the loss.
• "'I tell my daughter: "your father is a hero." I take her to his grave. But this feeling of loneliness and despair ...' she says, her voice growing distant.
• "Since Fadlallah's death, Zoorgoof has relied heavily on the Hizbullah martyrs' wives association, which is helping her buy a house and pays for her to go to university, where she is studying Arabic literature.
• "'Hizbullah is like a family. It takes care of us, provides for us,' she says."

[Criminal Number 18F]

Thanks for the post. At first I thought, "what the hell am I supposed to do with this? IANAL?"

So dual citizenship for disloyal Americans is one more slam that America got from the Warren court, mostly. (Not that Burger was any better. He was worse). Funny, I was just looking at Trop v. Dulles in reference to Lt. Watada.

Also, I didn't say anthing about Marc Rich, I don't know why you're quoting me on him. He was obviously a special case of an operator trying to play jurisdiction games, not a citizen of divided loyalty, like, say, Afroyim.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[WOSG]

Fascinating angle!

More consequences of our screwed up immigration system!

[ArrogantBustard]

You can wiggle all you like, but whether it's a court of law or the court of public opinion, rational, sane folks will demand that you, the accuser, bear the burden of proof.

We'll leave the emotion-driven ignorant bigotry to the DUmpster. If emotion-driven ignorant bigotry is all you have to offer, try peddling it there. They'll love it.

[Criminal Number 18F]

Can you elaborate on that? Sorry, but I hadn't heard about that before.

Schlussel's own page links that line to an earlier column of hers:

http://www.debbieschlussel.com/columns/column101104.shtml

I cannot find any reference to Spencer Abraham (whom I recall as being markedly pro-Arab) in her column. There is a link to a proposal of $268 million (not $86 million) in Hezbollah-controlled South Lebanon, but the link, to the Detroit News, is dead.

d.o.l.

Criminal Number 18F

[newfarm4000n]

" and the Lebanese people are warm and hospitable and know how to have fun"

Are you serious ?!?! I am certain that there are many peace loving lebanese but please spare me the generalized BS that they are friendly people as a whole. Remind me again what the Lebanese Christian position is on The god of Islam (allah) ?

[Fred Nerks]

Wayback Machine shows this:


Blocked Site Error.

http://www.detnews.com/2000/wayne/0007/11/d03-88722.htm is not available in the Wayback Machine

[Pharmboy]

The State Dept. has always had a strong arabist contingent (and yeah...I know...the Lebs aren't arabs).

[Fred Nerks]

"Women's eNews is supported by our readers; reprints and licensing fees; and the Fund for the City of New York, the Teresa and H. John Heinz III fund of the Heinz Family Foundations, the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, the Barbara Lee Family Foundation, the Rockefeller Family Fund, The Helena Rubinstein Foundation, the Sister Fund, the Starry Night Fund."

Friends in high places...

[madison10]

So evacuating these "American" Hezzie supporters is going to mean picking up a flock of possible Trojan horses who will be sailing aboard our battleships? Wonderful.

Sounds like someone's plan, but doubt if they're that smart.

[ChessExpert]

I still think that a lot of people put themselves in harm's way. There was a state department warning about US citizens traveling to Lebanon as far back as May. People who are there on vacation and are now complaining that the "Administration" did not get them out immediately need to bear some responsibility for the situation they now find themselves in. They were warned.

Well put.

Americans should realize that it is a dangerous world in general. Some places are especially dangerous. There is no valid reason to assume that American soldiers should risk their lives and tax payers foot the bill for foolish and, in some cases, unpatriotic Americans.

[PghBaldy]

I think the law has been changed. I've read it before, IIRC, on the State Dept website...

[ChessExpert]

I worry about the evacuators... NOT the evacuee's.

Amen.

I understand that the Armed Services have an obligation to risk life and limb in war zones when sent. But Americans in Lebanon put themselves in harm’s way. They should all be grateful when rescued. I expect there will be video. There is no telling which clips the MSM will choose to share. The best I can hope for is that there won’t be a clear way to spin this. But if there are Democratic party talking points, the videos will probably demonstrate their “truth.”

[dagoofyfoot]

THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS IN LEBANON ARE HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS.


Uummmm.....those aren't Americans. Theyr'e just transplanted Lebonese who are back where they belong.


I'll be damned if I have to help pay to evacuate them.