Hezbollah Inside America..ON NOW

[RugerNiner]

On at 8:00pm EST tonight


Hezbollah Inside America: FOX News Tells All in Documentary

Thursday , January 18, 2007

By David Asman


Does any terrorist organization pose a greater threat to Americans than Al Qaeda?

The shocking answer to that question unfolds this Saturday, January 20th, at 8 p.m. EST, as FOX News Channel presents a breakthrough documentary, “Smokescreen: Hezbollah Inside America.”

While Americans are still largely focused on Al Qaeda and Usama bin Laden — who’s presumably rotting away in some cave — the terrorist group Hezbollah has been setting up shop right here in America’s heartland. And most Americans don’t know a thing about it. But we should know more about Hezbollah — a lot more.

As tensions with Iran are increasing, it’s important to keep in mind that Hezbollah is largely funded by Iran and has operated as its tool in terror operations around the world. As former Director of National Intelligence John Negroponte recently reminded us: “Hezbollah’s self-confidence and hostility toward the U.S. as a supporter of Israel could cause the group to increase its contingency planning against U.S. interests.”

But Hezbollah has been focused on U.S. interests for quite some time. In fact, Hezbollah operatives have been quietly setting up operations in the U.S. for years.

One of those operations is the subject of “Smokescreen: Hezbollah Inside America,” an exhaustive FOX News report about a Hezbollah cell that was operating for several years in Charlotte, North Carolina. FOX followed the many tentacles of this cell, which extended far beyond Charlotte — to Michigan, to the West Coast, to Canada and to Beirut, Lebanon, where most of the members were from. FOX News spent months tracking this story to all these places and more.

At least one member of the Hezbollah cell first came to the U.S. on forged visa picked up in Venezuela. Others overstayed their tourist or student visas. Once here, they began making millions through a combination of tobacco smuggling, credit card schemes, and arranging phony “green-card” marriages. They even succeeded at obtaining a $1.7 million loan from the Small Business Administration.

Even though the team succeeded in gaming our system and making millions of dollars in criminal enterprises, the FBI was on to them almost from the start.

But this was before 9/11 (and before the Patriot Act) when the FBI was prevented from combining its terrorist surveillance with criminal investigations. A “Chinese Wall” separated criminal investigations from terrorist investigations, so ATF that had launched its own probe into the case, knew nothing of the gang’s terrorist connections.

This is just one of the many hurdles the FBI, ATF, state and local law enforcement needed to overcome in bringing this cell down. We highlight their heroic efforts and the flaws in our own system that allowed this terror network to flourish.

Initially, the hardest part of the job for FBI terror investigators was convincing their cohorts that Hezbollah was a genuine threat to Americans. There was much skepticism, despite the fact that before 9/11, no terrorist group had killed more Americans in the Mideast than Hezbollah. And Hezbollah extended their killing spree to this hemisphere, with a 1994 bombing that killed dozens of women and children at a Jewish center in Argentina. But the FBI, as much of the nation, was still in its pre-9/11 mindset, refusing to devote the resources or concern that we should have been devoting to the terrorist threat.

The exceptions to that rule are the heroes of this story: An FBI agent who refused to allow the taunts and skepticism of his colleagues to dissuade him from tracking the connections that linked a group of Lebanese illegals operating in Charlotte to terror cells in Canada and Beirut. An alert sheriff’s deputy, working part time at a tobacco wholesaler in Charlotte, who spent his own time tracking down a suspicious group of Arabic-speaking customers who were trading wads of cash for tons of cheap tobacco. A young prosecutor willing to bet his reputation on a case that had to leapfrog over terrorist laws that were either antiquated or hadn’t even been written yet.

While arrests were made in this case a year before 9/11, the case was tried just after 9/11, and that brought with it a whole new set of questions that we examine.

Were members of the terror cell too readily convicted by a jury that was still caught up in a post-9/11 panic? Certainly that’s the contention of Stanley Cohen, the lawyer for the cell’s ringleader, Mohammad Hammoud.

FOX News wanted to find out more about the case. So we got Cohen to take us to Beirut to talk to members of the cell indicted in the case. Only by seeing the volatile environment in which the cell members were raised did we get an appreciation of what motivated them. But we also witnessed why the United States needs to stay vigilant in its efforts to stop those who want to do us harm.

We went to Beirut, and our timing was auspicious. Our visit coincided with an explosive power struggle in Lebanon between Hezbollah and its opponents in government. While we were filming in Hezbollah's stronghold in Southern Beirut, a FOX producer rushed to the scene to tell us that cabinet minister Pierre Gemayal had just been shot and killed in an ambush not far from where we were filming. The decision was made to get out quickly.

The night before the assassination, Cohen appeared shaken after a conversation with Sheik Abbas Harake, a man we were supposed to interview the next day.

According to the U.S. government, Harake was a military commander in Beirut and received money from Mohammad Hammoud, Cohen's client. Harake was the alleged conduit connecting the Charlotte cell to the military wing of Hezbollah. Cohen argued that Harake was just a used car salesman, who ran a humanitarian aid group for Hezbollah. But the night before the assassination, it appeared Harake knew that something was up. He called Cohen to say he couldn't make the interview the next day. "Things are about to get ugly," a nervous Cohen told me after speaking with the sheik.

What makes "Smokescreen: Hezbollah Inside America" particularly relevant today is not merely how it connects with the growing conflicts in the Mideast and our growing conflicts with Iran, but the fact that the case in Charlotte is about to be reopened. In February, the leader of the Charlotte cell, who was sentenced to 155 years in jail, is up for re-sentencing. This story will undoubtedly shed more light on the case and help decide whether this man will ever see the light of day outside of a U.S. prison.

A gripping story that's must see television, "Smokescreen: Hezbollah Inside America" airs on Saturday night at 8 p.m. EST. Don't miss it.

[KeithPA]

Sorry but I find this to just be more fear mongering.

During the war this summer with Israel in people came on several times from Fox, CNN, and MSNBC all saying that Hezbollah is in the United States but doesn't pose any threat. They all spoke about how Hezbollah is solely based and solely thinks about the destruction of Israel. All 3 networks stated that they don't really care about the United States, just Israel. Considering these people were caught in the United States working on illegal businesses and funneling the money back to Lebanon just proves the point. They aren't here to attack us; just fund the fight in the mainland. Not much of a fan of Fox's fear mongering. Al Qaeda are the people that hate us, Hezbollah already has a large enough of a fight with Israel. They aren't thinking about attacking us. Those "10 idiots in a wharehouse" as Jon Stewart points out that thought they were swearing allegiance to Al Qaeda are more of a threat than these people trying to funnel money back.

[LorDiego01]

Sorry but I find this to just be more fear mongering.

+1,000,000

I lost all faith on the article when I read..

"Fox News Investigates"

I have enough Duct Tape to cover my entire home. So Im safe either way.

[Frenchy]

Always good to see there are people who can think terrorism had limits, I mean after all this group is after the Jews only right? Not Americans… Wait are there Jews in America?

News flash, they are after any thing that is not Muslim, Jews just happening to be closer to their homeland! Mind you, there are as many Jews in America as there are any where in the world.

If you choose to close your eyes and go to sleep while they say they are “only” doing certain things, then so be it, go to sleep, others will wait and see what is happening. I suppose this story also bores you.
January 19, 2007 · The governments of Britain, Japan and Australia are voicing concern over China's apparent test of an anti-satellite missile. The United States says China shot down one of its own aging weather satellites last week, in a kind of target practice in low Earth orbit.
Not much information about the event has been released. But scientists say hitting a satellite from the ground takes fairly sophisticated technology.
The satellite was 500 miles above the Earth's surface. The explosion created a cloud of debris in space, adding to the amount of "space junk" circling the Earth.
Hans Kristensen, a weapons expert at the Federation of American Scientists, says that while it has been assumed that China was working to develop such capabilities, the satellite strike still surprised him.
"I was surprised that they were able to do it," Kristensen says.
U.S. officials say the Chinese hit the satellite with the help of a medium-range ballistic missile — most likely the DF-21.
A satellite is a fairly small thing to hit with a missile. Kristensen says the DF-21 can probably hit a spot on the ground with an accuracy of several hundred feet. But the satellite was probably close to the size of a refrigerator.
So the assumption is that the Chinese device had some sort of advanced guidance system — maybe a kind of telescope to pick out the satellite. Then, it used thrusters to steer it toward the target. The force of the collision would have destroyed the satellite.
Kristensen says that when the United States and Russia were developing anti-satellite missiles in the 1980s, hitting the target was the hard part.
The United States successfully shot down one of its own satellites in 1985. So could a Chinese missile now take out a U.S. satellite? A rule of thumb is that a missile can go to a height about half of its horizontal range. So this missile might be able to reach an altitude of 600 miles.
The Global Positioning System satellites, now in common use, are much higher, tens of thousands of miles out.
But Kristensen says there are plenty of targets lower in the atmosphere. Spy satellites tend to be very low," he says, "because you need to get close."
David Wright, a physicist with the Union of Concerned Scientists, has been using computer models created by NASA to estimate debris from collisions. He says the latest smash-up would have been the equivalent of a half ton of high explosives going off.
This satellite was maybe 3/4 of a ton in mass," Wright says. "And it would have thrown off about 2 million pieces that were bigger than a millimeter in size. Sounds pretty small but at speed going a millimeter object could be deadly."
Deadly, that is, for other satellites. The odds of the debris hitting something look small he says. But this single event probably doubled the number of pieces of space junk at its altitude range.

Wake up people, the Chinese are not looking at shooting down satellites just to see if it can be done, Israel is not dusting off its nukes for nothing. http://www.pafoa.org/forum/21435-post-1.html How about the Koreans? http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13361343/
Wake up, these all need to be looked at, including the possibility that the missing nuclear from Iraq is right here in the US. Why do you think Homeland security is asking people to keep their eyes and ears open? Why do you suppose you often see trucks being pulled over to check what they are carrying?
Smoke screen is right, the news may have it wrong, but there is quiet a screen out there that people cant or wont see through. It is much easier to say its not there and ignore it then to try to do any thing about it…
Bottom line, here we are worrying about “some” people trying to disarm us, and the fact is, they are doing so while these other countries are silently invading us and are armed to the teeth! Will some one please wake up Paul Revere? If the news doesn’t say what they see as happening, who will? Who will ride to town with his horse and say the Nukes are coming the Nukes are coming!? Better yet, who will say who the dangerous persons are? I am in no way saying the news is always right, but Please don’t disclaim every thing they do just because they are mainly wrong on issues that pertain to your favorite hobby.

[KeithPA]

Frenchy

I'm a thousand more concerned about Iran with nukes, the PRC shooting down satellites and DPRK having nukes. The leaders of all three of these countries are crazy and have the ability to do something if they wish.

I watch CNN, FOX, and MSNBC. CNN loves showing americans dying in Iraq. FOX loves showing how we aren't safe and shows how taking away liberty's is OK and won't hurt good, honest Americans. They also always stand up for the Establishment and Big Business. MSNBC sticks mostly to politics, ripping on FOX, and catch child predators.

So when FOX has a special on how dangerous Hezbollah is, it is nothing more than fear mongering. They used to talk about how dangerous Al Queda is. Next they'll talk about how dangerous Chileans are or something. Thats what FOX is in the business of doing, making us scared. Just like the saying is "If it doesn't explode, it isn't on CNN" when speaking in regards to the Iraq war. Is the war going as bad as CNN makes it sound like? No. Each channel has their own agenda.

[RugerNiner]

Before 9/11 more Americans were killed by Hezbollah then by Al Quada.

[KeithPA]

Hezbollah was blowing up our embassys while we were supplying Al Queda with weapons to fight the Soviets. Now we're fighting Al Queda. Same thing wih us aiding Saddam in his fight with Iran. Merry-go-Round of enemys

[KeithPA]

Palestinian terrorism trial ends in split verdict

CHICAGO - Two men accused of furnishing money and recruits to Palestinian terrorists were acquitted Thursday by a federal jury of racketeering conspiracy charges but convicted of lesser counts.

Muhammad Salah, 53, a former Chicago grocer, and Abdelhaleem Ashqar, 48, beamed broadly at the split verdict in the three-month trial in a case federal officials billed as a major element in the war on terrorism.

"We are not terrorists," Salah told reporters as he left the courthouse with his 8-year-old son, Ibrahim, on his shoulders.

"I feel good," he said as he was hugged by relatives and well wishers. "I thank God and I hope justice will prevail."

Prosecutors said the men sent cash to Hamas terrorists fighting the Israeli government to pay for murders, bombings and kidnappings. But defense attorneys portrayed them as freedom fighters, comparing them to Nelson Mandela, Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Salah was convicted of obstruction of justice for providing false answers to questions in a civil suit filed by parents of an American teenager who was shot and killed by Hamas terrorists at an Israeli bus stop.

Ashqar was convicted of obstruction of justice and criminal contempt for refusing to testify before a federal grand jury after receiving immunity from prosecution for anything that he might have revealed.

Defense attorneys said they hoped to have the convictions reversed on appeal but added that, at worst, the men would likely serve comparatively short sentences.

"I call this victory," said Salah attorney Michael E. Deutsch. "I think the jury rejected (the government's) effort to criminalize resistance to occupation" of the West Bank and Gaza by Israel.

Ashqar attorney William Moffitt said: "It is very hard for an American jury to find people guilty if they're fighting for their rights."

It was the second time Moffitt has scored significant success against the government in a cases involving alleged Palestinian terrorism.

He was chief defense counsel in the December 2005 terrorism trial in Tampa of former professor Sami Al-Arian. Al-Arian was acquitted of eight of 17 charges, and the jury deadlocked on the rest.

The charges against Salah and Ashqar were announced by then-U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft, who said the government had broken up a terrorism financing cell in the Midwest.

Prosecutors said they were not disappointed by the verdict.

"We convicted them, so its hard to say that we're disappointed," said Gary Shapiro, first assistant U.S. attorney in Chicago.

Salah and Ashqar, who lives in Springfield, Va., have always denied being members of Hamas. But they have made no secret of their dislike of the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

Jurors, who deliberated 14 days, declined to comment before leaving the courthouse. They left a statement with federal Judge Amy J. St. Eve saying that the verdict was based "solely on the facts as applied to the law."

Salah was arrested in Israel in January 1993 and made a series of written admissions while being held for weeks in a detention center run by Israel's Shin Bet security service in Ramallah.

He claims that he was denied access to a lawyer and tortured into admitting he was delivering money to leaders of the Hamas underground.

Salah, who is an American citizen born in Palestine, ended up serving 4 1/2 years in Israeli prisons before returning to the United States. Ashqar is a Palestinian and hopes to return there when he is free.

Federal prosecutors called as witnesses two Shin Bet interrogators who testified under pseudonyms to avoid any chance of Hamas reprisals. They said that Salah was treated well and made the admissions voluntarily.

Former New York Times reporter Judith Miller testified as a prosecution witness that she visited the detention center and Salah had seemed "jaunty" while being questioned. Defense attorneys emphasized that she could not remember such details as whether she had brought a tape recorder or the name of the editor with whom she discussed the story.

Also charged in the case is Abu Mousa Marzook, described as one of the top leaders of Hamas. Prosecutors said it was Marzook who sent Salah on his mission to Israel and supplied him with money to give to Hamas leaders.

FBI agents also intercepted phone calls between Ashqar and Marzook.

Marzook is currently living in Damascus, Syria, and is classified by the government as a fugitive.

Saw this on the google today. Figured I'd trhow in here here, basically on the same subject.