Debbie Schlussel: BREAKING SCHLUSSEL EXCLUSIVE: Germany Secretly Frees Hezbollah Terrorist Murderer of Navy Diver Robert Stethem (Trades Terrorist for Hostage in Iraq)


By Debbie Schlussel

In June, we wrote about the 20th anniversary of hijacking of TWA flight 847 and murder of Navy diver Robert Dean Stethem by Hezbollah terrorists.

Stethem was a true American hero. Only 23 years old, he was tortured, beaten, and trampled to death by the Hezbollah terrorists for the crimes of being an American, a U.S. serviceman, and refusing--to his last breath--to denounce America.

We're sad to report that yet another prediction of ours has now come true. We predicted in June that Mohammad Ali Hamadi, one of the Hezbollah terrorists who murdered Stethem, would be released by the German government.

On Friday, the Stethem Family informed us that our worst fears have been realized and that Hamadi will not face justice for his brutal act of terrorism. Germany secretly released Hamadi to freedom in Lebanon.

stetham.jpg
Robert Dean Stethem, American Hero, RIP

The German government captured Hamadi in 1987. (Stethem's other three murderers--Imad Fayez Mugniyeh, Hasan Izz-Al-Din, Ali Atwa--remain free, and are believed to be in Lebanon, Iran, or Syria.) Hamadi was carrying liquid explosives that were the same kind used in previous explosive terrorist attacks in France and Germany. Unfortunately, because Germany opposed our death penalty, Hamadi--who remains under indictment in the U.S.--was tried by the German government, not ours. He was given life in prison without the possibility of parole. But there was always an understanding that Hamadi would be extradited to the U.S. to face justice, if the Germans ever released him.

Germany kept none of its promises and showed the world that it really has no resolve in fighting terrorism. The Stethem family learned Friday that Hamadi was released to freedom. Despite a sentence of life without parole, Hamadi was up for parole twice and served only 16 years in prison. And unlike all other extraditions sought by the U.S. under an extradition treaty with Germany, Germany violated the extradition treaty and Hamadi's extradition was not granted. Reportedly, Germany did this for two reasons 1) to gain the release of a female German hostage, Susanne Osthoff (a German convert to Islam), from terrorists in Iraq (apparently, the Germans do negotiate with terrorists); and Hezbollah has a strong connection with the ones in Iraq); and 2) in retribution for reported CIA terrorist camps in Europe. This is an outrage.

What's worse is that Germany released Hamadi clandestinely and provided armed security to escort him to freedom in Lebanon, where his two brothers and other family members are high-ranking Hezbollah officers. Hezbollah-dominated and Syrian-controlled Lebanon--where Hamadi is a hero for murdering Stethem--will never extradite Hamadi to the U.S. to face justice.

The Stethem family is very upset. And all of us should be, too.

Germany is supposed to be our ally in the War on Terror. But actions like freeing Hamadi clearly demonstrate otherwise. The fact that the U.S. government is not making a big deal out of this also speaks volumes.

Before 9/11, Hezbollah murdered more Americans than any other terrorist group. Both the Wall Street Journal and New York Times have confirmed that Hezbollah is a component of the Al-Qaeda network and is training Al-Qaeda terrorists at camps in Lebanon. Both have also reported that Hezbollah is training insurgents who murder our troops in Iraq. British Prime Minister Tony Blair recently reported that Qaeda explosives used in Iraq bear the trademarks of Hezbollah "craftsmanship."

But instead of publicly denouncing the actions of the Hezbollah and the German government in allowing a Hezbollah terrorist and murderer go free, our government is making nice with the enemy.

Top ranking federal officials--U.S. Attorney Stephen Murphy III, FBI Special Agent in Charge for Michigan Daniel Roberts, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) Special Agent in Charge for Michigan and Ohio Brian Moskowitz, Citizenship and Immigration Services official Carol Jenifer--recently broke pita at the Detroit-area mosque of one of Hezbollah's and Iran's top agents in the United States. They laughed with him about Hezbollah being on the State Department terrorist list, seeming to scratch their heads as to why it's on the list. They clapped enthusiastically when he described what's going on in Southern Lebanon as "resistance, not terrorism."

It's not rocket science to make correct predictions like we make on this site--that Hamadi would be set free or that Islamic Jihad frontman Sami Al-Arian would be acquitted. Clueless, spineless appeasers like Murphy, Roberts, Moskowitz, and Jenifer, and the German government are running the show--and that makes the prospect of terrorists going free very predictable.

Robert Stethem must be looking down from Heaven and trying to make sense of what is happening here on mortal earth. He was an American patriot and for that, faced a brutal, early death. He would have been around 43, today. Around the same age, Murphy, Roberts, Moskowitz et al are patriotic only to themselves and their aggressive ambitions--and each continues to be promoted. When President Bush said, "You are either on our side or the terrorists' side," his own federal officials who oversee these three must not have been listening. (Moskowitz' boss, ICE Director of Investigations Marcy Forman-Friedman, reportedly told other ICE officials that she's glad Moskowitz "smoothed things over with the Islamic community of Detroit." That, not catching terrorists, is the priority at ICE.)

A lot has changed in 20 years since Robert Stethem gave his life in service to America. And not for the better. There is only one thing that hasn't changed: Robert Stethem and his family deserve justice.

And they have yet to get it.

*** UPDATE: Germany traded justice for Robert Stethem and freed terrorist murderer Hamadi in exchange for a German Muslim hostage's freedom in Iraq.


Posted by Debbie on December 19, 2005 02:15 PM to Debbie Schlussel