Posted on 07/18/2006 10:58:12 AM PDT by 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.
Really? Do you have a reason for that, or are you just pro-Jihad?
If they are supporting these terrorists, then they should stay put. Anyone - Americans included - who supports terrorism is our enemy.
Sheets? Mr. Byrd? I didn't know you were on this forum!
You might find this forum more suitable to your ignorance, racism, and bigotry.
None whatsoever.
The truth owes nobody an apology.
Just why would 25,000 Americans choose to live in Lebanon? I can't imagine that even a large minority of them really support America.
And for your information, I don't have one racist bone in my body.
Why would a "loyal American" choose to live (or spend a large amount of time in Lebanon)? I could imagine enough legitimate reasons to account for a few, but 25,000 is a large number, and it's almost unimaginable that the majority are loyal to America.
I don't have one racist bone in my body.
Attacking Arabs (rather than mohammedans) is explicitly and specifically a racist comment. I'm glad you chose to quickly revise and extend your remarks ... I'd suggest that thismight be an appropriate time for a bit of introspection on your part.
and it's almost unimaginable that the majority are loyal to America.
I think the problem here might be the limits on your imagination.
Sheets? Mr. Byrd? I didn't know you were on this forum!
You might find this forum more suitable to your ignorance, racism, and bigotry.
Anyone who considers themselves to be a hyphenated American, whether Arab, Jewish, African, Italian, German, or Other, is not really an American. Real Americans are not something else first!
Irrelevant.
Dawn, and FReepers, here's the state of dual citizenship law: once it was banned. You were an American, period, or you were something else.
Now if you are entitled to US citizenship and entitled also to foreign citizenship by birthright, you may claim that citizenship. This came about because of Jews who want to have both Israeli and US citizenship, and have a strong voice in Congress. They wanted the change because anti-Semites in the USA could make it hard for someone who served in a foreign military or political office, for instance, under the old Neutrality Act.
Put the irony is, this law that was meant to accommodate these Jews who pose no imaginable threat to the USA, of course applies equally to all. Mexico recently permitted its diaspora to claim citizenship. Irish can do it as long as the Irish ancestor is within three generations. And many third-worldian hellholes let their citizens take US citizenship while retaining loyalties to the home turf -- Lebanon, for instance.
Schulssel is certainly wrong to imply that all the dual citizens are Hezbollah fans, or that all the Americans stranded are dual citizens. But the time is long past to end the dual citizenship charade. You're an American, or you ain't. When I hear "dusl citizen" I immediately process it as "disloyal" -- Shia, Christian, Jewish, Lebanese, Mexican, Israeli, it doesn't matter, pick up another passport and your loyalty to the US is compromised.
If you guys think this NEO is a nightmare, imagine what Tel Aviv would be like, if the Israelis lose. How many dual citizens in Israel? A million?
And they'd all come here and immmediately start voting for left-wing Democrats. Therefore it is strongly in the US national interest that Israel win its wars.
d.o.l.
Criminal Number 18F
In September 2004, there was a huge gathering of anti-American, anti-Israeli organizations in Beirut to attend a conference entitled “Where Next For The Global Anti-War And Anti-Globalization Movements? An International Strategy Meeting.” The resulting manifesto, simultaneously turgid and strident, has as its primary goal attacking the U.S. war in Iraq. It’s secondary goal is to challenge Israel’s “occupation” of Palestinian lands. It’s a nasty document, with a decidedly anti-American tone. What makes it interesting today is the identity of one of the organizations playing host to all these anti-American Leftist organizations: Hezbollah (identified on the last page as one of the Local Welcoming Committees).
Aside from the little refresher about American and Israeli friends and enemies, the document has a couple more interesting participants. First, George Galloway was one of the attendees.
One of the participants from the United States was a group called United for Peace and Justice. Women for Peace also attended this little American and Israel hatefest. What distinguishes United for Peace and Justice is that Teresa Kerry funds it.
*Leslie Cagan, United for Peace and Justice national coordinator, a long-time communist revolutionary, also runs International ANSWER, dominated by the Communist Workers World Party. The Communist Party USA is also one of the affiliated groups under the United for Peace and Justice coalition. http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=39502
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.
Thank you very much my fellow freeper.
Or the lack of limits to your credulity.
Since your imagination stretches so much further than mine, how about you list some legitimate (non-Jihad supporting) reasons for Americans to spend a lot of time in Lebanon. Remember these reasons need to be able to account for a good portion of 25,000 people.
Let's see, I'll get you started. Some could be there for legitimate (non-Jihad supporting) work. That should account for a few dozen. Others might be there for a short vacation, and just got there at the wrong time. That should be a few dozen more.
Well, that still leaves almost 25,000 to go. How do you account for them?
Only to those who are not really Americans.
I don't know. At times like this, all these numbers have to be suspect, but 25,000 is the one thrown out for Americans in Lebanon. I have to assume many of them live there permanently.
Beyond that ... I'm not the one accusing folks of malfeasance. You are; you bear the burden of proof. Thus far, the burden has crushed you.
The pertanent cases regarding dual citizenship.
U.S. v. Wong Kim Ark (1898)
Perkins v. Elg (1939)
Kawakita v. U.S. (1952)
Mandoli v. Acheson (1952)
Perez v. Brownell (1958)
Trop v. Dulles (1958)
Schneider v. Rusk (1964)
Afroyim v. Rusk (1967)
Rogers v. Bellei (1971)
Vance v. Terrazas (1980)
Miller v. Albright (1998)
Nguyen v. INS (2001)
U.S. Federal Appeals Courts
Richards v. Secretary of State et al. (9th Cir. 1985)
Action and Deltamar v. Rich (2nd Cir. 1991)
U.S. v. Ahumada Aguilar (9th Cir. 1999)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.