Hezbollah In Mexico?
Is Hezbollah in Mexico?
As America debates the Arizona illegal immigration law there may be dangers far greater than most may realize or admit that are being attracted to our Southern border in hopes of gaining anonymous entry into the United States. The next deadliest event to happen on American soil may walk right across our border undetected. These individuals will more than likely be part of a larger terrorist cell network that leads back to our enemies abroad. Terror cells according to many reports are in South and Central America waiting for a conflict between the U.S. and Iran at which time they will be activated. All part of a global plan set in place by Iran utilizing the terrorist arm known as Hezbollah. Sounds far fetched but the facts are the facts.
Many believe that our border controvesy is not only about illegal immigration into our country but more about American security. America’s enemies are not uninformed. There are groups that seek to utilize any method possible to enter the country and to do damage to the United States even if it means only strolling across the U.S. Mexico border. Infiltrating America without a trace of information to be tracked by. Seems like a perfect plan for a would be terrorist. Far fetched probably not if you consider what many informed public officials and experts have stated over the past few years. Many believe and have stated that the miltitant group Hezbollah, also know as Hizbollah, is operating throughout South America and even along the troubled border of America and Mexico. Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Iran-backed Lebanese group has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America’s tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S.
In the past few days Rep. Sue Myrick has asked Homeland Security chief Janet Napolitano to step up investigations of terrorists who might be operating on the U.S.-Mexico border. Myrick, a member of the House Intelligence Committee, wants Napolitano to establish a fact finding task force on the presence of Hezbollah in Mexico. “I believe Hezbollah and the drug cartels may be operating as partners on our border,” Myrick wrote to Napolitano, who is secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, in a letter last week. “I believe we need to do more intelligence gathering on Hezbollah’s presence on our border.”
In March of 2009 the New York Times reported: Hezbollah is using the same southern narcotics routes that Mexican drug kingpins do to smuggle drugs and people into the United States, reaping money to finance its operations and threatening U.S. national security, current and former U.S. law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism officials say.
In a 2007 Telemundo and MSN report on the presence of Hezbollah in South America the article stated:The Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia has taken root in South America, fostering a well-financed force of Islamist radicals boiling with hatred for the United States and ready to die to prove it, according to militia members, U.S. officials and police agencies across the continent. Mustafa Khalil Meri, a Hezbollah militiaman in Paraguay, says the militant Islamist group would take violent revenge inside the United States if it were to attack Iran.
According to Mexican officials Hezbollah has been involved in training the opposition (drug cartels and zetas) to the Mexican Army and is starting to be seen throughout the country. Homeland Security has said that there are Hezbollah members operating in the U.S. and it is reasonable to believe they are in contact with other Hezbollah in Mexico and around the world.
In March 2006 FBI Director Robert Mueller said that his agency busted a smuggling ring organized by the terrorist group Hezbollah that had operatives cross the Mexican border to carry out possible terrorist attacks inside the U.S. “This was an occasion in which Hezbollah operatives were assisting others with some association with Hezbollah in coming to the United States,” Mueller told a House Appropriations subcommittee.
In November 2005, an al-Qaida operative who was on the FBI’s terrorist watch list was captured near the Mexican border, housed in a Texas jail and turned over to federal agents, according to Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas.
In December 2008 Mexican prosecutors say they won a 60-year prison term for a human smuggler who helped about 200 people sneak into the U.S., including Hezbollah supporters. Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was arrested in 2002 and convicted on organized-crime and immigrant-smuggling charges. Boughader, a Mexican of Lebanese descent, ran a cafe in the city of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego, California. Among those he smuggled were sympathizers of Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based group that U.S. authorities have labeled a terror organization.
From an investigation from an Atlanta news station: Channel 2 Action News anchor Justin Farmer traveled to Arizona to view a detention center near Phoenix. He viewed records that show illegals in custody from from Afghanistan, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen. ….
A recent congressional report on the border threat confirmed members of Hezbollah have crossed the Southwest border. It shows photos of military jackets with Arab insignias found on the border. One depicts a picture of a plane crashing into the twin towers in New York City. Dave Stoddard was a border patrol agent for 20 years. “The American public has been kept in the dark about this issue,” he said. “In my experience, for every one apprehended, at least 10 escape apprehension.”
The congressional report also revealed the route Middle Easterners take to get the United States. It showed they travel from Europe to South America, then to the tri-border region. That’s where they learn to speak Spanish. The report said they then travel to Mexico and blend in with other illegals.
Law enforcement officials believe one of the world’s most wanted terrorists may have traveled into the U.S. in 2004 by coming through the mountains on the Mexico border. Federal agents confirmed Adnan Shurkajumah spent time in Atlanta just prior to Sep. 11th, and left on a bus. He is a Saudi Arabian pilot and bomb expert with a $5 million bounty on his head. In 2004, Shurkajumah was one of seven Al-Qaida members agents were looking for after they were spotted in Central America and believed headed to the United States through Mexico . Federal agents now say Shurkajumah seems to have disappeared.
In August 2008 The LA Times reported Western anti-terrorism officials are increasingly concerned that Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite Muslim militia that Washington has labeled a terrorist group, is using Venezuela as a base for operations. As part of his anti-American foreign policy, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has established warm diplomatic relations with Iran and has traveled there several times. The Bush administration, Israel and other governments worry that Venezuela is emerging as a base for anti-U.S. militant groups and spy services, including Hezbollah and its Iranian allies.
In April 2010 Amid growing concern about the illicit drug trade across the U.S.-Mexico border, the terrorist groups Hezbollah and Hamas have been linked to South American drug trafficking organizations–and the money Hezbollah and Hamas make from narco-trafficking is used to finance their organizations, according to the non-partisan Congressional Research Service (CRS). “International terrorist groups, including Hamas and Hezbollah, have also reportedly raised funding for their terrorist activities through linkages formed with DTOs in South America, particularly those operating in the tri-border area (TBA) of Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina,” stated CRS in an April 30 report.
There are many reports that the street gang MS 13 has worked with and has ties to Hezbollah terror cells in Mexico and the United States. There is a lot of money to be made by both MS 13 and for Hezbollah in the international drug trade as well as human smuggling activities.
The sad reality of this article is no matter how many reports and investigations conclude the same thing, that Hezbollah is using our pourous borders to threaten America in case of a conflict with Iran, many will say that this is paranoia. An overeaction to right wing ideologies. In the end it may just be exactly what is happening. The immigration debate should not in anyway threaten the security of the American homeland. For those that are more concerned about the rights of illegal immigrants than their fellow Americans I ask of you to acknowledge that an unsecured border where individuals enter the country without a trail of information of knowing where they are from or why they are here is not a responsible stance in post 911 times.
See Also:
Terrorist Group Profile: Hizballah
Hizballah: a.k.a. Party of God, Islamic Jihad, Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine Back Ground Information Formed in 1982 in response to the Israeli invasion of Lebanon, this Lebanon-based radical Shia group takes its ideological inspiration from the Iranian revolution and the teachings of the late Ayatollah Khomeini. The Majlis al-Shura, or Consultative Council,…
