Most Americans in Lebanon Are Hezbollah Supporters

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.

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.

While it is true the US requires someone who is naturalized to renounce his foreign citizenship, there are a number of ways to gain dual citizenship:

1) You are born in the US to foreign parents. You are a citizen of the US and your parents' country (jus soli).

2) You are born outside the US but at least one of your parents is a US citizen.

3) You become a naturalized American citizen, but the other country doesn't recognize your relinquishment of citizenship in that country. Just because your husband doesn't consider himself Canadian, the government of Canada might still consider him Canadian. Therefore he does have dual citizenship according to Canada, if not the US.

4) A person can be naturalized in the US but regain his or her foreign citizenship. The US does not automatically yank American citizenship status. They have the right to, but at this time do not.

Finally, there could be many people who have US citizen children and/or who are resident aliens who use the term "dual citizen" colloquially, meaning that they are residents of the US, but not citizens. Also, this number is being tossed around by the MSM, but perhaps it is a bit inflated to give the talking heads an impressive sounding number to gush and wring their hands about. I also heard the number 5000 tossed about which seems to represent the number of Americans who actually are seeking to get out of Lebanon.

Do Hezbollah operatives in the U.S. pose a greater risk of committing terrorist attacks in the U.S.? Hezbollah has a significant international presence with thousands of operatives located throughout the world, to include the U.S.

Since 9/11, Hezbollah has been listed along with Al-Qaeda and Hamas as posing the most serious threat to the U.S. However, unlike Al-Qaeda, who is intent on carrying out attacks in the U.S., Hezbollah and Hamas have been viewed as less likely to do so. The U.S. represents a significant source of fundraising for Hezbollah and Hamas. In that context, Hezbollah and Hamas have not wanted to risk diminishing or losing their fundraising capabilities by alienating their U.S. supporters by carrying out terrorist acts in the U.S. In keeping with that strategy, they did not want to draw the attention to their activities in the U.S. that a terrorist act would generate.

Law enforcement and intelligence services are well aware of the Hezbollah presence and fundraising initiatives in the U.S. Since early 2002, there have been numerous criminal cases successfully prosecuted in the U.S. involving Hezbollah operatives and sympathizers. An internet search under “Hezbollah fundraising” delineates a number of media reports of such cases. The compelling question for law enforcement and intelligence services today is…will the fundraising strategy or mindset give way to a retaliatory posture which thereby would escalate the threat level in the U.S. and make us more susceptible to a domestic attack by Hezbollah? I defer to my former law enforcement and intelligence colleagues to answer this vexing question.

As we well know, Hezbollah is a radical Shia group that was formed in Lebanon. It is dedicated to the creation of an Iranian style Islamic republic in Lebanon. Hezbollah is anti-West and anti-Israel. It is closely aligned to Iran. Iran provides Hezbollah with substantial amounts of financial, training, weapons, explosives political, diplomatic and organizational aid. Syria also provides Hezbollah with support. Somewhere between one fifth to one half of Hezbollah’s operating budget comes from Iran and Syria. Other sources of funding include charitable organizations, individual donations, legitimate business, and illegitimate businesses such as illegal arms dealers, cigarette smuggling, currency and product counterfeiting, credit card fraud, product theft, operating illegal telephone exchanges, and drug trafficking.

Hezbollah primarily generates funding in the U.S. through a variety of criminal activities. They operate in close knit cell structures that seem more identifiable with organized crime than terrorism. The front line cell members not only raise money for Hezbollah, but they keep large portions of their illicit gains and tend to live more elaborate life styles. These operatives are not consistent with the typical terrorist ideologists. That’s why these operatives tend to be more identifiable with organized crime than terrorism. A core group of Hezbollah members are identifiable as ideologists and are more consistent with jihadists. Hezbollah cells in the U.S. are proficient in operating small businesses and using these businesses to sell legitimate and counterfeit goods. They conduct a variety of business and credit card scams, and have made considerable profits perpetrating cigarette smuggling schemes. Hezbollah cells are adept at invoicing schemes, import/export schemes and money laundering through structured deposits.

One of the most noteworthy criminal cases involving a Hezbollah cell in the U.S. was known as “Operation Smokescreen”, a cigarette smuggling, bank fraud and money laundering case. This case originated in North Carolina. Ultimately, 25 individuals were convicted to include Mohamad Youssef Hammoud, the main subject and cell leader. Hammoud was convicted of charges to include providing material support to a terrorist organization (Hezbollah). As a consequence, he was sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 155 years.

Law enforcement is currently assessing a business scheme involving Hezbollah cells in multiple jurisdictions in the U.S. The scheme may or may not involve criminal activity but invariably results in generating funds for Hezbollah. Schemes like this are reason for Hezbollah to continue its current track in the U.S. However, emerging developments in Lebanon concerning Hezbollah could trigger violent responses by Hezbollah operatives throughout the world, to include the U.S. http://counterterrorismblog.org/2006/07/hezbollahfundraising_or_securi.php

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