America Seen as Weak by Hezbollah and Al Qaeda

Nov 15
2007

Hezbollah constantly denies responsibility for bombing the U.S. Marine barracks and French paratroop headquarters in 1983. Although the U.S. was privy to Hezbollah – Al Qaeda cooperation as far back as late 1998, it did not take decisive steps to criminalize Hezbollah leadership , even though the group and kidnapped as well as killed many Americans. This was interpreted by Hezbollah as a sign of weakness , prompting it and Al Qaeda to think that it could attack Americans and the USA with great impunity. This feeling was reinforced by the realization that after the debacle in Somalia, American politicians were loathe to risk the lives of their armed forces , by deploying them in high risk areas overseas. It was only after September 11 and the Sept 111 bombings that the FBI placed Mughmiyeh , now thought to be living in Iran, on its list of twenty two persons designated as ” wanted terrorist leaders”.

Despite Iran being responsible for the deaths of over 1500 Americans and being the world’s most active sponsor of state terrorism, the U.S. has failed to bring key leaders such as Mughinyeh to justice. U.S. intelligence suffered two major losses that deleted their strategic capabilities in the middle east ; the C.I.A.’s section Beirut station chiel Robert Armes was killed in the Embassy bombing of April 23,1983 , while William Buckley was kidnapped in March 1983 and killed soon afterwards. Moreover the Iranian intelligence services shielded Hezbollah from U.S. intelligence penetration. Mughaniyeh operated for Hezbollah and Iran, depending on either’s political or security interests at the time.

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