Darrell Issa: Traitor or Useful Idiot?

I thought there was no one worse in Congress than Cynthia McKinney, aka Jihad Cindy, D-Ga.

But I was wrong. She's met her match on the other side of the aisle, in the form of Arab-American Congressman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., – Jihad Darrell. He makes McKinney – who wrote an egregious apology letter to Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal in which she attacked the U.S. and New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani for returning the prince's $10 million after he justified the attacks – look like a patriot extraordinaire.

During a just-concluded trip to the Middle East, Jihad Darrell announced that terrorist group Hezbollah is legitimate and has never been involved with terrorist activities, according to the Teheran Times, IRNA (the official Iranian news agency), and the Beirut Daily Star.

Oh really? I guess he forgot about that insignificant event in the early '80s, in which Hezbollah blew at least 241 U.S. Marines to bits in Beirut – not to mention several other Americans the group murdered between 1975 and 1990, for a total of at least 261 dead Americans. This charming organization committed the torture, murder and hanging display of the body of U.S. military attaché Col. Richard Higgins' body. These are the monsters who kidnapped CIA Chief William Buckley in the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, transferred him to Iran, and tortured and bludgeoned him to death.

They are all turning over in their bloody graves, thanks to congressional useful idiot, Darrell Issa. Talk about aid and comfort to the enemy.

Then there's that stubborn little fact that Hezbollah, Arabic for "Warriors for Allah," or "Party of Allah" (hint: it's not a birthday party), is one of the three major components of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terrorist network, according to the Wall Street Journal and countless other sources.

Jihad Darrell's new Hezbollah buddies officially support "the use of hostages" and "suicide in jihad operations." When the State Department released this year's terrorist list, Hezbollah was on it – yet again. Hezbollah's response: "We regard the hostile [act] of the American administration as proof that we are following the right path." Hezbollah declares that, "it is the duty of all Muslims to engage in Islamic jihad if it ensures the ultimate goal, which consists in inflicting losses on the enemy." That enemy is the West, particularly America. Maybe these were the "humanitarian" actions of Hezbollah that Jihad Darrell was quoted as praising.

"I have a great deal of sympathy for the work that Hezbollah tries to do," he told the Beirut Daily Star. Hmmm. To which work is Jihad Darrell referring? Is it 1986 Hezbollah's torturing to death of Ibrahim Benesti, aged 54, of Beirut, and his elderly relatives, Yehudah and Yosef, whose only crime was being Jewish? Benesti, whose family – like many Lebanese Jews – had been in Lebanon since 2,000 B.C. (before the birth of Mohammed), was a charitable and kindly candy store owner who gave free candy to children of all religions. Or maybe Jihad Darrell was referring to the "humanitarian" 1985 Hezbollah torture-murder of Isaac Tarab, 63, and Chaim Halala Cohen, 39, also guilty of being Jewish.

More disgusting is that Issa was representing the House International Relations Committee on which he serves, leading a congressional delegation including Arab-American Congressman Nick Joe Rahall, D-Va.

And he hangs out with disgusting people. Issa partied with terrorist-in-chief Yasser Arafat, gushing over him as "a charismatic individual, despite being a very small man and very old. He gives you food off his plate if you sit next to him."

Political consultant and columnist, Michael Andreen, an Issa constituent, is outraged, saying it's time for apologist Issa to go. But he still has "a good laugh at Arafat using the naïve junior congressman as his own personal food taster."

Issa also hung out in Syria, the country which sanctions Hezbollah and other terrorist groups, and which allowed Hezbollah to get its explosives through security checkpoints to kill the 241 U.S. Marines.

Issa buddy Arafat provided much of the explosive weaponry and was involved in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, mining the perimeter of the U.S. embassy in Iran during the hostage crisis, the torture-murders of U.S. Ambassador to Sudan Cleo Noel and Charge D'Affaires George Curtis Moore (the highest ranking black in the U.S. Foreign Service at the time) – beaten so badly authorities couldn't tell which was black and which was white.

If he sounds familiar, Jihad Darrell is the same congressman who threw a temper tantrum, screaming about profiling, when he showed up an hour late for an Air France flight, with a suspicious one-way ticket to Saudi Arabia, and was refused entry to the already boarded plane. Issa didn't fool security, but he managed to charm others with his phoniness. Columnist Debra Saunders wrote a whole column, "Ahsan Baig's Molehill," lauding Issa for denouncing racial profiling lawsuits and advocating that Arabs "adjust" and make "sacrifices in wartime." Problem is, at the same time, he was telling every other press source about his plans for new, anti-profiling legislation against airlines, to line Arabs' and their trial lawyers' pockets and risk our security.

Many advocate that America emulate Israel in its dealings with terrorism. That's a great idea, with regard to Issa. Recently, Israel stripped Arab Member of the Israeli Knesset, Azmi Bashara, of his immunity from prosecution for urging the Palestinians to attack Israel and copy Hezbollah, its murders and suicide bombings. Israel is prosecuting Bashara, and we should do the same with the treasonous Issa.

Ironically, Jihad Darrell's last name, Issa, means "Jesus" in Arabic. But, instead of turning the other cheek in 2002, voters in his 48th district should eagerly mark the ballot for his opponent.

THE REST OF THE STORY

NEWS FROM:
CONGRESSMAN DARRELL ISSA
Serving California's 48th District
1725 Longworth House Office Building, Washington,
DC 20515 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: DALE NEUGEBAUER 202-225-3906
November 28, 2001

ISSA DENOUNCES FALSE TEHRAN TIMES STORY

Propaganda Designed to Undermine Anti-Terror Mission

WASHINGTON, DC - Representative Darrell Issa today denounced as false a recent Tehran Times story (11/19/01) sourced to the Iranian government news agency (IRNA), that claimed the lawmaker had said the Iranian backed terrorist group Hezbollah was "legitimate" and had never committed terrorist acts. Issa recently led an official delegation of U.S. lawmakers to the region to solicit support for the U.S. War on Terrorism and to explore opportunities for progress in the Middle East Peace effort.

"The story printed in the Tehran Times is an outright lie," Issa declared. "They made it up. Our message was just the opposite. We repeatedly called on Hezbollah's state sponsors to pressure the group to renounce terrorism."

The three major western news services, Associated Press, Reuters and Agence France Press all reported Issa's call for Hezbollah to renounce terrorism, which was repeated as the group's visit to several Middle East countries progressed.

Issa made the statements in response to concerns raised by heads of state in Syria and Lebanon who objected to the United States listing Hezbollah as a terrorist organization of global-reach. "We made it very clear that renouncing terrorism was a requirement for removal from the target list," Issa explained. Excerpts from the wire service articles appear below:

Headline: Hezbollah must renounce terrorism:

US Congressman US Congressman Darrell Issa called here on Saturday for Lebanon's fundamentalist Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group to give up "terrorism." "Hezbollah must renounce terrorism," Issa, a Republican from California, said on a visit to Damascus with a congressional delegation. Hezbollah, which is sponsored by both Syria and Iran, was slapped on a US State Department list of terrorist organisations on November 2, with the aim of freezing the movement's financial assets.

-- Agence France Presse, 11/17/01

U.S. congressmen ask Lebanon to rein in Hizbollah

BEIRUT, Nov 18 (Reuters) - A U.S. Congressional delegation urged Lebanon on Sunday to end a standoff with Washington over its Hizbollah guerrillas by reining the group in and ensuring it stays out of the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

The comments follow a U.S. decision earlier this month to put Hizbollah on a list of groups subject to financial sanctions as part of the anti-terror campaign launched after the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington.

From the Associated Press, 11/17/01

The delegation's leader, Darrell Issa, R-Calif., told reporters that for the United States to remove Hezbollah from its list of terrorist organizations, the Lebanese-based group must renounce terrorism and confine itself to its humanitarian and parliamentary activities.

Hezbollah, which receives Syrian support, was the principal guerrilla force opposing the Israeli occupation of south Lebanon until the Israelis withdrew last year. It continues to attack Israeli troops over a tiny parcel of disputed land on Lebanon's southern border. However, it also operates as a political party, with nine members in parliament, and provides social services to low-income people.

Issa believes the Tehran Times story was an attempt by Hezbollah's Iranian backers to discredit the U.S. delegation. "We were delivering a very tough message," Issa said. "They didn't like it, so they made up their own and put our names on it."

Issa led a four member congressional delegation to the region on a trip sponsored by the House International Relations Committee. The lawmakers met with heads of state and government leaders in Syria, Lebanon, Egypt and Israel as well as representatives of the Palestinian Authority.

"We worked closely with U.S. State Department and Embassy officials in each country to ensure that the message we delivered was consistent with U.S. foreign policy and our interests in the region," Issa explained. "As a result, we had a tremendously successful trip."

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