http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/usnews/060803a.aspx

Hezbollah Terrorists
Hezbollah Terrorists in America
By Dale Hurd
CBN News

CBNNews.com - (CBN News) - The leader of Hezbollah has declared America
the enemy. Many Arabs and Muslims in America openly support Hezbollah.

Is this treason?

Is this a potential threat to our safety?

Several thousand people marched through the Detroit suburb of Dearborn a
few weeks ago, chanting "Hezbollah" and holding up photos of Hezbollah
leader Sheik Nasrallah and posters comparing President Bush to Hitler.

Similar protests took place in San Francisco, New York, and other cities.

The U.S. government calls Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but don't
tell that to these Americans.

Osama Siblani publishes the Arab-American News, the largest
Arab-American newspaper in the United States. He said, "No, They are not
terrorists. Absolutely not. No. They are freedom fighters."

He told the Chicago Tribune that if the FBI wants to go after Hezbollah
supporters in Dearborn, ".they better bring a fleet of buses. I, for
one, would be willing to go to jail."

Hezbollah is an Iranian creation, and although it has a measure of
independence, it's considered Iran's proxy army in southern Lebanon. As
many as 15,000 of Dearborn's Arabs come from the Hezbollah stronghold of
Bint Jbeil, Lebanon.

In fact, the current mayor in Bint Jbeil, Haj Ali Bazzi, is from
Dearborn. He has an American passport and a Michigan driver's license.

The dominant Islamic leader in Dearborn is Mohammed Ali Elahi, an
Iranian-American whose Web site displays photos of Elahi with Hezbollah
spiritual leader Sheikh Fadlallah and former Iranian President
Rafsanjani, who once suggested nuking Israel.

He spoke with CBN News terrorism expert Erick Stackelbeck.

"We need to have another interview," said Elahi, "of talking about
Hezbollah - whether that is a terrorist organization or not. I know
that, legally, in the U.S. now, Hezbollah is on that list. And whether
we agree with the law or disagree, we have to follow the law of the land."

Before 9-11, Hezbollah killed more Americans than any other terrorist
group: 300 murdered in six separate attacks, including 243 Marines in
the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. Now, with America's building
confrontation with Iran over its nuclear program, the New York Post
reports that Hezbollah is prepared to activate terrorist sleeper cells
in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, and Detroit.

No less than nine Federal prosecutors are investigating Hezbollah ties
in the Detroit area alone. And the FBI has issued a nationwide alert for
local and state police to be vigilant in investigating Hezbollah
sympathizers.

Barbara Newman, a former investigative producer for ABC news, is
co-author of Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American
Soil.

Newman said, "Hezbollah makes al-Qaeda look like Sunday-schoolers.
They're the best light infantry in the world, and they're dangerous, and
they're all over America."

"It's an army that was started in 1982 by the Iranian Revolutionary
Guards," Newman explained. "And they wanted to impose the same type of
regime on Lebanon as they have in Iran. They're a mortal enemy of the
West and of democracy."

Hezbollah fighters have also already fought the United States in Iraq,
and Newman says it's building improvised explosive devices that kill GIs.

"The FBI just told me that Hezbollah is making the most advanced ones
that are coming into play. Plus, they're training. They have offices
there. It's not widely known," she said.

Arab and Muslim Americans who support Hezbollah have expressed anger
that their patriotism is being questioned. But critics wonder how it's
possible to support both Hezbollah and the United States.
 
 

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