State Department's View of Hezbollah: "the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world"

I've excerpted a portion of the text of a report by officials from the U.S. State Department that was submitted to the Senate committee on Foreign Relations regarding an assessment of the terror group, Hezbollah. Believe me, the findings are sobering.

I want you to see a few passages from that report at the State Dept's website:

Hizballah remains the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States. Hizballah is responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in history, and the United States has designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. While we recognize that Hizballah is not directly targeting the United States and U.S. interests today, we are aware that could change if tensions increase with Iran over that country’s nuclear program. The administration has also reiterated that it will not deal with or have any contact with the terrorist organization.

Hizballah’s insistence on remaining armed, aggressive, and unaccountable threatens important American interests and goals – especially our interests in Middle East peace and regional security, in containing the spread of destabilizing weapons and terror financing, and in a strong, democratic, and independent state of Lebanon.

So, a couple of points to make - first of all, surprisingly, this report from the State Department is chock full of warnings and concerns about Hezbollah - if you read the entire report you cannot POSSIBLY walk away without believing that Hezbollah is one of the biggest terror threats in the world. Now, with that being said, I want to repeat one line from the excerpted passage above:

The administration has also reiterated that it will not deal with or have any contact with the terrorist organization.

That's pretty clear, right? Well, let's try and reconcile that with this from Haaretz:

"Hezbollah is a very interesting organization," Brennan told a Washington conference, citing its evolution from "purely a terrorist organization" to a militia to an organization that now has members within the parliament and the cabinet.
"There is certainly the elements of Hezbollah that are truly a concern to us what they're doing. And what we need to do is to find ways to diminish their influence within the organization and to try to build up the more moderate elements," Brennan said.

That is Obama's assistant to the President on counterterrorism, John Brennan, saying that the U.S. needs to build up moderate elements of Hezbollah at approximately the same time that the U.S. State Department is painting a picture of Hezbollah as the most dangerous terror organization in the world.

And people fucking wonder how America is seeing a siege of terror attempts now, why we are seeing suicide bombers on our airlines, why the general use of islamic terror in the world has doubled in the past year and why most Americans don't feel safe - it's because we have an Administration that can't even get its act together BETWEEN THEMSELVES. We have the State Department issuing a grave warning and we have one of Obama's top advisors saying we should extend an open hand.

If you are an American who plans to vote for Barack Hussein Obama in 2012, don't come crying to me when the islamists cut the heads off your kids some day at school or your spouse is blown up at the office by the likes of Hezbollah - the blood will be on your own hands, you've been warned of the dangers of this President.

Assessing the Strength of Hizballah


Chairman Casey, Members of the Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today to discuss Hizballah. We share this Committee’s deep concerns about the threats posed by this terrorist group, its activities, and the support and direction it receives from outside actors. We look forward to discussing Hizballah’s position within Lebanon, its destabilizing role in the country and the wider region, and our ongoing efforts to promote the sovereignty and independence of the state of Lebanon, as well as peace and stability in the broader Middle East.

Hizballah’s persistence as a well-armed terrorist group within Lebanon, as well as its robust relationships with Iran and Syria, and the transfer of increasingly sophisticated missiles and rockets to Hizballah, threaten the interests of the United States, Lebanon, and our partners in the region, especially Israel. Our ongoing efforts to counter those threats include cutting off terrorism financing and interdicting illicit arms shipments, as well as bilateral and multilateral diplomatic efforts aimed at ending those arms transfers and supporting the legitimate Government of Lebanon. We have warned Syria directly about the potential consequences of these destabilizing actions. Most importantly, we are working to achieve a comprehensive peace in the region, centered on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. To be successful, this comprehensive peace needs to include a solution to the problem of Hizballah's weapons and hostility. A comprehensive peace by definition must also include Lebanon and Syria as full partners.

A Threat to Lebanon’s Interests

Lebanon is a state with a vibrant civil society; however, its people also have a history of relying on sectarian and community leaders. Over the years, this tradition of political decentralization has inhibited the rise of strong state institutions and a truly unifying sense of national citizenship. Hizballah has exploited this environment and managed to attract popular support among segments of the population that have felt traditionally neglected by a weak state or particularly vulnerable to threats from within and outside the country. Hizballah attempts to portray itself as a natural part of Lebanon’s political system and a defender of Lebanese interests. But its actions demonstrate otherwise. Hizballah has demonstrated repeatedly its unwillingness to adhere to the rule of law and submit to the Government of Lebanon’s legitimate authority. The group’s maintenance of a large and potent militia; its repeated use of force, including against Lebanese civilians and civilians of other nationalities; its ongoing violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1701; and its refusal to comply with the disarmament called for in both the Taif Accord and UNSCR 1559, render it a dangerous and destabilizing player in Lebanon and in the region. Hizballah continues to pursue its interests and those of its chief outside sponsor, Iran, by manipulating the Lebanese political system to protect its own power. Hizballah refuses any public oversight or accountability of its activities, which have plunged Lebanon into war in the past and could do so again, while at the same time Hizballah demands the right to veto decisions taken by the Lebanese government.

Hizballah remains the most technically-capable terrorist group in the world and a continued security threat to the United States. Hizballah is responsible for some of the deadliest terrorist attacks against Americans in history, and the United States has designated it as a Foreign Terrorist Organization since 1997. While we recognize that Hizballah is not directly targeting the United States and U.S. interests today, we are aware that could change if tensions increase with Iran over that country’s nuclear program. The administration has also reiterated that it will not deal with or have any contact with the terrorist organization. There has been much debate over the political identity of Hizballah, as well as the prospects for Hizballah to become a legitimate political party within Lebanon. Following Lebanon's bloody civil war, other militias disbanded or were integrated into Lebanon's legitimate defense force, the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF). However, despite the group’s rhetoric and political campaigning, there remains today no meaningful distinction between the military and political wings of Hizballah, as Hizballah’s own leaders regularly acknowledge publicly. Should Hizballah truly desire to join the ranks of Lebanon’s other political groups in its democratic system, its path would be clear: it would fully disarm, like all other militias, renounce terrorism and political intimidation, and acknowledge the authority of the Government of Lebanon (GOL) and that government’s right, like other governments, to a monopoly on the use of force. Under those circumstances we could reconsider the group’s status. Make no mistake, these are significant hurdles and we have seen no indication to date that Hizballah is ready to take these steps. The fact that Hizballah is not willing to take these steps reveals its real motivations: since we have no doubt that Hizballah could remain a powerful political voice inside Lebanon even without maintaining arms that violate Security Council Resolutions and endanger Lebanon, its refusal to forswear violence and pursue its interests through political means demonstrates that its agenda is not purely Lebanese. As we noted above, unlike other Lebanese groups that currently seek to play a productive role in Lebanon’s political system, Hizballah is the lone militia that refused to disarm following the signing of the Taif Accord, which marked the end of Lebanon’s tragic civil war. Even following the “Cedar Revolution” of 2005, when the Lebanese people turned out in droves to reassert Lebanon’s full independence and sovereignty, culminating in the withdrawal of Syrian forces, Hizballah has remained in open defiance of the legitimate authority of the Lebanese government, even when it has been part of the same government. In March 2005, as other Lebanese were preparing for the massive March 14 Cedar Revolution in reaction to the shocking murder of Rafiq Hariri, Hizballah actually hosted a counter demonstration, in defiance of Lebanese public opinion, to thank and show its appreciation for Iran and Syria. Hizballah's arsenal of illegal weapons poses a clear and present danger to the security of Lebanon and the region. Its actions belie the “resistance” rhetoric that it is fond of repeating. One need only look to the disastrous 2006 conflict, precipitated by Hizballah’s kidnapping of Israeli soldiers from across the Blue Line in indisputably Israeli territory, to see that its arms and aggressive action are a source and motivator for violence in the immediate region. Hizballah’s maintenance of arms caches in Southern Lebanon, in clear violation of UNSCRs 1701 and 1559, demonstrates that Hizballah seeks to project its military power in destabilizing fashion. In the 2006 case, Hizballah, without consultation or approval of even its electoral allies, unilaterally chose to take actions that dragged the country into an agonizing and destructive conflict. Hizballah's actions highlighted the impotence of the words of its primary Christian ally, Michel Aoun, who struggled to justify his controversial February 2006 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Hizballah by saying that, with this MOU, Hizballah accepted limits to its use of its arms.

Even more striking than the external conflict instigated by Hizballah are the events of May 2008. In trying to mask its Iranian agenda, Hizballah had regularly insisted that its arms would never be used against the Lebanese people. Yet in May 2008, Hizballah did exactly that, attacking Lebanese citizens -- the very people it claims to protect -- in order to protest decisions of the Lebanese government with which it disagreed. Using force to settle domestic political disputes clearly distorts and perverts Lebanon’s democracy.