Debbie Schlussel: Most Americans in Lebanon Are Hezbollah Supporters; U.S. Taxes Shouldn't Fund Their Return
**** AS READ ON THE AIR TODAY BY RUSH LIMBAUGH--THANKS, RUSH! **** ALSO, SCROLL DOWN FOR UPDATES ****
One thing is lost in all the press coverage of the whining Americans who went to Lebanon of their own accord and now want us to pick up the tab to get them out.
THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS IN LEBANON ARE HEZBOLLAH SUPPORTERS.
Most of them are Shi'ite Muslims, many of whom hold dual U.S. and Lebanese citizenship. Many are anchor babies born here to Muslims in the U.S. illegally. Some are illegal aliens who became citizens through rubber-stamping Citizenship and Immigration Services (and its INS predecessor) coupled with political pressure by spineless politicians.
Of the 25,000 American citizens and green-card holders in Lebanon, at least 7,000 are from Dearborn, Michigan, the heart of Islamic America, and especially Shia Islam America. These 7,000 are mostly Shi'ite Muslims who openly and strongly support Hezbollah. Ditto for many of the rest of the 25,000 that are there.
Many of the 7,000 plus Detroiters in Lebanon are active in Dearborn's Bint Jbeil cultural center (the Lebanese American Heritage Club also features mostly Hezbollah fans). Bint Jbeil is a Hezbollah-dominated city in the South of Lebanon, a frequent destination of Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who is very at home there. Bint Jbeil is a frequent source of shellings on Northern Israel.
Bint Jbeil natives now living in our country so strongly support Hezbollah that they got Republican Congressman Joe Knollenberg (and his then top staffer, Paul Welday) and then-U.S. Senator Spencer Abraham to give Hezbollah forces in Southern Lebanon about $86 million of our tax money, no strings.
Given this information, and the fact--as I've detailed numerous times on this site--that several Shi'ite Muslim Lebanese U.S. citizens from Dearborn have been indicted and/or convicted of laundering money to Hezbollah, is it a good idea to rush to bring 25,000 such persons back to the U.S. at a time when Hezbollah is at war against the strongest U.S. ally? Does the fact, that Hezbollah numerous times--and especially now--has announced veiled and not-so-veiled intentions to attack Americans on U.S. soil, necessitate urgently bringing these terror-sympathizing Americans back to U.S. soil? Many are individuals whose activity should have mandated prosecution and jail-time. But they are free because of a spineless U.S. Attorney (and, incredibly, Bush Federal Court of Appeals nominee), Stephen Murphy III a/k/a "Abu Porno," and equally weak federal law enforcement chiefs of Michigan FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) who pander to them.
These are people who hold U.S. citizenship but support a group that murdered over 300 U.S. Marines and civilians, some through torture; a group that is part of the Al-Qaeda network; a group that trains insurgent terrorists against our troops in Iraq, giving them IEDs to blow our soldiers up; a group that worked with Qaeda to bomb the Khobar Towers. Americans who support this group are not American. They merely possess the proper paperwork.
And they are very dangerous. One of them, Lola Elzein--a student at the University of Michigan-Dearborn and an officer of the Hezbollah-supporting Arab American PAC--threatened my life and that of my family members because I've written about the group's Detroit-area extremist Hezbollah sympathizers. Hezbollah's violence has already arrived in America, and we don't need to pay to transport 25,000 of its sympathizers back to our shores from their chosen vacation destination.
While the government has announced it will charge these individuals for the expensive transport out of Lebanon via Cyprus back to the U.S., the feds say they will accept IOUs for that transport. Think we'll get the money back? Just ask the Katrina aid administrators.
**** UPDATE, 11:08 p.m.: Even more outrageous, our government has now relented and will not charge these people for exorbitant, tax-paid transport back to the U.S. $3,000 per person on the U.S. taxpayer dime. This is ABSURD! And unprecedented (in other airlifts/evacuations, Americans must pay). Who told them to visit Lebanon? Not us (State Dept. warned against travel to Lebanon). Just Sheikh Nasrallah. Let him and his Iranian/Syrian patrons pay. ****
Do you want your tax dollars to subsidize Hezbollah supporters' return to America? Are these the kind of U.S. citizens we badly need back in our country at this time?
Should Hezbollah supporters be transported on a ship named for one of the most heroic events in U.S. history, the U.S.S Iwo Jima? Should U.S. tax dollars fund the charter of commercial ships to transport the rest of these terror-sympathizers?
The instant answer from all freedom-loving Americans to these questions should be a loud "NO."
These people went to Hezbollah-dominated Lebanon of their own accord. And they were safe there because they support the terrorist group. Now, their fortune has changed. Tough.
It is not the responsibility of U.S. taxpayers to rescue terrorist-supporters who voluntarily went to a dangerous area . . . just because their whines are loud and annoying.
We are picking up the tab for this unfortunate rescue. U.S. funds used to rescue terrorist-sympathizers--YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK.
So, is America too slow to get these undesirable U.S. citizens out of Lebanon? On the contrary, not slow enough.
**** UPDATE: Brave, gracious, and beautiful Lebanese woman, Brigitte Gabriel, agrees with my assessment and gives a fantastic one of her own (also posted at IsraPundit). A MUST READ! Visit Brigitte Gabriel's site, too. ****
Posted by Debbie on July 18, 2006 12:31 PM to Debbie Schlussel