Hezbollah Is Using 'Christian Cover' To Penetrate The West

A great article on Hezbollah's use of the support from Lebanese Christian leader, Gen. Michel Aoun, can be found here at Family Security Matters - give it a read. Here's what the author of the article has to say about Aoun and what it means to the West:

Maronite Christian, parliamentarian, and former Lebanese Army commander, Gen. Michel Aoun, has reiterated his support for –and alliance with – Hezbollah, the Lebanese-based international terrorist army supported by Iran and Syria. Speaking earlier this week, Aoun said that his “Memorandum of Understanding (translation, “alliance”)” with Hezbollah is not only national, but international.

Hezbollah is attempting to use “a Christian cover [Aoun] to penetrate the West,” says Sami El-Khoury, president of the World Maronite Union. “The U.S. administration should add him to the designated terrorist list and withdraw the visas from all members of his bloc.”

Several months after Al-Manar was placed on the State Department’s terrorist list, Aoun founded Orange TV (OTV), the now publicly-traded satellite-television company whose coverage extends around the world, including North America. And OTV’s footage and logo have since been broadcast as part of American newscasts

So, what we have here is Hezbollah putting a Christian face on their operations - using Michel Aoun to legitimize its operations and so far, the West is buying it. Don't get me or the author wrong here, Michel Aoun is not being "used" - he is an asshat who literally hates America, he is a jihadist who just happens to be a Christian. I have no problem at all with Michel Aoun being put on the terror list of the U.S. and hunting him down like any radical islamist. He's worse than the islamists - he's a turncoat traitor and a despicable excuse of one who has abandoned his faith.

Exclusive: Hezbollah Using ‘Christian Cover’ to Penetrate the West?
W. Thomas Smith Jr.

We also have to consider the fact that Aoun frequently condemns the United States, and has issued veiled threats against us. In an interview last month on OTV, Aoun defended Syria and Hezbollah, and he said, “U.S. policy is against Lebanon and no one can convince me of the opposite. …We should defend ourselves against the American policy.” Aoun makes such statements as his signatory ally, Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah, continues to rally much of Lebanon’s Shiia population with public cries of “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Moreover, sources are telling me Hezbollah has been providing military training to “Aoun’s people” in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.

John Hajjar, U.S. director for the pro-democracy World Council of the Cedars Revolution, says, “Aoun's declaration of collaboration with Hezbollah worldwide puts him in the ranks of a terrorism associate, and the U.S. must take strong measures against him and his militant network. U.S. officials should stop seeing him, and his visa and the visas of his party’s officials should be revoked.”
Najib Zwein, director of the Beirut-based Bureau Central de Coordination Nationale, agrees, adding, “Hezbollah is using Aoun to penetrate international and Western security.”
For the past two years, Aoun has served as a political tool for Hezbollah’s three-part goal of continuing to exist (when Hezbollah should have long been disbanded under UN mandate), continuing to strengthen its political base (while strengthening its military wing), and ultimately achieving an Islamic state in Lebanon. With Aoun’s statement this week, Shiia Hezbollah’s Christian soldier is now increasing his commitment to his terrorist-ally’s geostrategic objectives. Aoun knows it. Hezbollah knows it. And we had better figure it out.