Posted on 08/06/2006 11:13:02 AM PDT by do the dhue
A handful of money scams uncovered across the United States in recent years bearing Hezbollah's fingerprints have some experts worried that if orders were given to launch a terror attack against the U.S. the means are in place to do so.
The FBI has made Hezbollah a central target of its counterterrorism efforts, setting up a unit dedicated to tracking the group and assigning agents to develop sources in Lebanese and other Middle Eastern communities across the country, report National Security Correspondent Dan Ephron and Investigative Correspondent Michael Isikoff in the August 14 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, August 7).
Security officials worry that if Hezbollah does one day decide to strike, it can exploit an already-existing network in this country.
"You often see in these groups that people who deal in finances also have military backgrounds," Chris Hamilton, who was the FBI's unit chief for Palestinian investigations until last year, tells Newsweek. "The fact is, they have the ability [to attack] in the United States."
American screw-tightening on Iran over its nuclear program, might prompt Hezbollah to issue such an order. Iran is Hezbollah's main political and financial backer.
Story Continues Below
"It would be enough for the Iranian leadership to say the word for Hezbollah to launch an attack," Congressman Ed Royce, a Republican from California who chairs the House subcommittee on international terrorism and non-proliferation, tells Newsweek.
Support for Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah runs high in Lebanese communities across the country, and it spikes when Israel's war with Hizbullah or with Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza heats up. But Arab-American leaders complain law enforcers are too quick to equate the pride some expatriots take in Hezbollah's stand against Israel --or even just the sympathy they feel for the Lebanese people-with support for terrorism.
"Any time somebody sends money to somebody in Lebanon, the [prosecutors] say it's for Hezbollah," said Maurice Herskovic, who initially represented one of the defendants in a recent case in Detroit.
Law enforcers say there's been no sign the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah, with all the Arab anger it stirs against America, will goad the group into action against the U.S.
Hezbollah has not targeted Americans since the 1980s, when attacks on a Marine barracks in Lebanon and on the U.S. Embassy there killed more than 300 people.
Our "leaders" hand 100,000 green cards yearly to foreign muslims. Islam is the "fastest growing religion" in our homeland because our government sees to it that it is.
Sobbering and well said.
Wars are won the will. To win, we must kill the will.
With said, who are the people that constitute Hezbollah both the military and political wing? The organization looks to be a national group but, the media is describing as a regional group made up of people from all over the mid-east.
As in all combat, you identify, isolate, and then destroy the enemy a piece at a time. The source of Hezbollah's "will" is something that can be destroyed only if we can identify the source/s.
Sobbering = sobering duh!
"Hezbolla has not targeted Americans since the 1980s....". Well, as they say, "Paybacks a b*tch". If or when an attack happens on American soil, round up the muzzies and inter them...somewhere in bumf*ck Alaska.
George W Bush. They know he won't take crap from Iran.
Islam is the "fastest growing religion" in our homeland because our government sees to it that it is.
-----
And our government ceased to be a responsible government quite a while ago.
Sobbering?
I nominate that one to be up there with 'hugh' and 'series'.
yes...but don't you think that they are hurrying the conflict a little bit?? If they would just stop lobbing rockets into Israel, our pc appeasers and deniers that there is a problem, here would have America disarmed a long while before Hillary(or some other equally despicable person) takes office.
It looks like the muzzies are deliberately picking a fight with the U.S.....didn't the hezzie rag-head in charge just a day or so ago say that they were taking the wah to everywhere westerners are, even the U.S. and Australia?
They are standing in line waiting for their virgins! They could care less about their own lives here. Maniacs, all!
So far, Congress has taken more action against people who overcharge their Visas, than people who overstay them.
Come on y'all...I corrected it in post #26! ;*)
That is a tagline material!
So why ain't we fighting with Israel
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.