'We Can’t Say for Sure What is Going On, But it is Clandestine and Secretive'

Something secretive going on between Iran,. Syria and Venezuela? You don't say. Don't worry though. The crack team of Obama, Napolitano and Clinton are on the job.

A Venezuelan airline's “mystery” flight that shuttled among the capitals of three of the world’s most terror-friendly nations — Venezuela, Syria and Iran — has abruptly canceled its regularly scheduled departures amid accusations that it was used primarily to transport spies, terrorists and lethal cargo among the pariah counties.

“I am sorry, but we are no longer flying to Tehran and I do not know when the flights will resume. It was a flight that left Caracas on Tuesdays, but it no longer does,” Jenny Gil Romero, who handles international departures for Conviasa, the national airline that operates the flight, said in a message to FOX News.

Messages to the airline seeking further information went unanswered.

Romero's comments came in response to FOXNews.com's efforts to buy tickets on the regularly scheduled, 48-hour round trip from Caracas to Damascus to Tehran, then back again.

Intelligence analysts with both the CIA and Israel said that, despite the listing of the flight as a regular commercial route and a code share with Iran air -- Flight IR744 is also Flight VO3744 -- there was no way that anyone could buy a ticket and travel without being vetted by the Venezuelan or Iranian government. And without passport controls, flight manifests and other documents, it meant some of the world's most dangerous men could travel without fear of being uncovered.

Curiously, unlike most other bookings on the national airline, calls for reservations on this particular flight were routed to a cell phone in Argentina, rather than to Conviasa's regular service in Caracas.

The Venezuelan ambassador to the United States had defended the flights as recently as two weeks ago in response to criticism in a State Department report that cited the flight’s questionable route and procedures. Messages left at the Venezuelan embassy's press office and the ambassador's office were not returned, and a list of questions submitted to the embassy's press office was not answered.

For the past three years, every other Tuesday, Flight VO3744 would roll out to a secluded loading platform at Simon Bolivar Airport in Caracas. Shrouded from public view and unencumbered by the normal exit procedures, a select passenger list would board the flight.

Over the next 48 hours, according to Western intelligence agencies, Venezuelan opposition figures and a former Iran-based spy for the CIA, the flight would carry illicit, lethal cargoes -- such as explosives and possibly radioactive materials -- and provide safe passage to terrorists, spies, weapons experts, senior Iranian intelligence operatives and members of both Hezbollah and Hamas.

Reza Kahlili, the pseudonym for an Iranian who the CIA has confirmed once spied for the United States as a member of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, told FoxNews.com these "special flights" have been "instrumental in creating an Iranian dominated worldwide terror network that now reaches the United States." He said the flights were used to expand Iran’s efforts to create a base of operations in the Western Hemisphere.

Peter Brookes, a former Defense Department analyst and CIA employee now with the Heritage Foundation, said there was a steady stream of elite Al Quds officers from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard who were transported to Venezuela aboard the flight and took up positions in the Latin American country’s intelligence service.

“We can’t say for sure what is going on, but it is clandestine and secretive,” he said.

By the end of the day Hugo Chavez will be parroting Media Matters in denunciations of Fox News.

Link to the report here.

'There's No Good Money in Teaching'

Well, I guess if there's no good money to be made as a New York City teacher then you turn to selling arms to Hamas and Hezbollah. Seems like an easy way to supplement your income.

He's graduated to gun running.

A former Stuyvesant HS teacher was busted last night for selling high-powered weapons to undercover operatives he thought were connected to Middle East terror organizations, The Post has learned.

Theophilus Burroughs wet his pants when he was slapped with cuffs at a Bronx warehouse, where he was arrested in a sting operation, law-enforcement sources said. The seats on a van waiting to transport him to the 49th Precinct had to be lined with plastic.

The arrest caps a yearlong investigation that saw Burroughs allegedly negotiate the sale of firearms -- including AK-47s, assault rifles with scopes and .40-caliber guns -- during "deals" with informants in which he praised Hamas and Hezbollah and suggested killing cops and Jews, sources said.

"There's no good money in teaching," Burroughs once griped.

Burroughs, 49, a former Marine from Newark, was on unpaid medical leave from the Department of Education.

He showed up at the Westchester Square warehouse expecting to collect a cool $10,000 for a pair of night-vision goggles, two bulletproof vests and 200,000 counterfeit cigarette stamps, a source said.

Burroughs was instead hauled away by city and state tax agents, and investigators from the Bronx DA's Office.

He faces a slew of charges, including weapons possession and forgery, the source said.

Burroughs began his teaching career as a sub in 1992, and taught music at Stuyvesant in 2002 and 2003.

He went on unpaid medical leave from a Brooklyn high school in September 2009 -- around the time he first went to the Bronx warehouse, where he allegedly bought hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of untaxed cigarettes from informants, sources said.

But he soon set his sights on a more deadly deal, allegedly proposing firearm sales on his third visit.

He later referred to Hamas as "my people" and declared, "Hezbollah good, Hezbollah strong," a source said.

On another occasion, the informants gave him a Koran and said they wanted to do "something big." He suggested they blow up a police station, a police car or the Jewish Community Center on Amsterdam Avenue at West 76th Street, the source said.

Naturally he's still on the NYC payroll, yet to be fired. He should be happy he's not a NJ Transit worker who ripped out pages of the Koran.

Hezbos in America: 'This is a Significant and Troubling Development'

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey seems genuinely surprised to discover we have enemies in our midst. Uh, Bob, I'm not in the Senate and I know this stuff. What's your excuse?

Three Lebanese nationals and one U.S. resident were charged yesterday with attempting to obtain 1,200 M4 military assault weapons for Hezbollah, in the second set of such charges in as many days from Philadelphia.

An alleged Hezbollah arms dealer was arrested in Philadelphia on Saturday, and U.S. Attorney Michael L. Levy said, "We are dealing with two different groups trying to buy M4s."

Three of the four men charged yesterday are still in Lebanon. A fourth man, identified as Moussa Ali Hamdan of Brooklyn, N.Y., is also overseas, according to prosecutors. Apprehending them is likely to be problematic.

Both the earlier allegation - that the Hezbollah arms supplier attempted to buy Stinger antiaircraft missiles and other weapons - and yesterday's charges grew out of the same investigative effort by the FBI and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said a senior ICE official in Washington.

The new case involves an informant who the indictment indicates has resided in Philadelphia.

The senior ICE official said the investigations were significant because "this one is the first in a while in which we've seen direct [attempted] arms sales."

Curiously, the story makes no mention of the primary sponsors of Hezbollah, namely Iran. Still, it's disturbing to find out the Democrat Casey is so apparently clueless we have terror moles in this country.

Welcome to reality, Bob.

An additional six men also indicted in the latest case allegedly participated in the purchase and transportation of stolen cell phones, laptops, computer games, and automobiles. They are from Brooklyn; Staten Island, N.Y.; Michigan, and Plainsboro, N.J., and do not face charges that they acted to support Hezbollah.

Five of those men are in custody in Philadelphia.

On the charges of supporting Hezbollah, the indictment says Dib Hani Harb of Beirut e-mailed the "cooperating witness" and asked for photographs of firearms available. On June 20, the informant met with a Hezbollah official and discussed selling weapons.

Three days later, Harb and a second Lebanese national, Hassan Hodroj, allegedly said they would buy 1,200 M4s for $1,800 per weapon. The indictment does not allege that any weapons changed hands.

The informant also discussed the sale of counterfeit U.S. currency, and in April met in Florida with Harb, who allegedly told him Hezbollah worked "18 to 20 hours a day counterfeiting many currencies."

In September, about $9,200 in fake currency allegedly was mailed to the informant in Philadelphia.

Harb and a third Lebanese, Hasan Antar Karaki, also allegedly supplied the informant with two fake passports, one for the United Kingdom, the other for Canada. The allegations are that the men raised money for Hezbollah by producing and selling fake passports.

Sen. Bob Casey (D., Pa.), a member of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the latest charges "seem to confirm a new avenue of support from, of all places, inside the United States. This is a significant and troubling development."

Man-Caused Disaster Foiled: Two Chicago Men Charged in Danish Cartoon Terror Plot

Don't be alarmed, folks, Bill Ayers isn't one of them.

Federal authorities have arrested and charged two Chicago-area men in connection with an alleged terrorist plot focused on targets in Denmark after a newspaper there published cartoons that enraged the Muslim community.

Prosecutors in Chicago and the District said that the men posed "no imminent danger" and noted that David Coleman Headley and Tahawwar Hussein Rana have been in U.S. custody for several days while they conducted further "investigative activity."

Headley, 49, allegedly identified targets in Denmark for a possible terror strike and traveled there twice this year to conduct surveillance and to report to overseers in Pakistan with ties to al Qaeda, according to court papers.

He was arrested earlier this month at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport in a flight that was to culminate in Pakistan, authorities said. He faces charges including conspiracy to murder people abroad and providing material support to terrorist groups.

A U.S. citizen who changed his name three years ago, Headley allegedly conspired with high-ranking operatives overseas, using code words to conceal the plot called the "Mickey Mouse Project." Among Headley's correspondents, prosecutors say, were two unnamed people with ties to the al Qaeda affiliated group Lashkar-e-Taiba and with Ilyas Kashmiri, the operational chief of another Pakistani organization connected to al Qaeda.

Rana, a Pakistani native who resides in Chicago where he owns a halal meat business and an immigration operation, has been charged with conspiring to provide support to terrorists by allegedly helping to arrange Headley's travels.

"The public should be reassured there was no imminent danger in the Chicago area," U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald said in a statement.

An immigration operation?

Hmm.

In other terrorist news, two men in New York are charged with aiding Hezbollah.

An Indian man and an alleged accomplice have been charged with agreeing to sell guns and military equipment in a sting operation to Lebanese Shi'ite guerrilla group Hezbollah, U.S. authorities said on Tuesday.

Patrick Nayyar, a 45-year-old Indian citizen who had been illegally residing in New York City, is accused of meeting with an FBI informant posing as working for Hezbollah and agreeing to sell guns, ammunition, vehicles, bulletproof vests and night vision goggles, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

Nayyar and an alleged accomplice, Conrad Mulholland, face charges including conspiring to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization after they had meetings with the informant between July and September of this year, according to the indictment filed on Monday.

Nayyar was arrested on September 24 at his home in New York on separate charges while Mulholland remains at large.

Here's an FBI press release.

Glad to see we've managed to avoid any man-caused disasters.

Update: A further look at the Chicago arrests and the neighboorhood Rana hails from.

Wonderful: Hezbollah Smuggling Drugs Through Mexico

Let's see if Mrs. Clinton's smart diplomacy can do anything about this. I wonder if she's even aware of it.

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.

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.

Hezbollah relies on "the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartels," said Michael Braun, who just retired as assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

"They work together," said Mr. Braun. "They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected.

"They'll leverage those relationships to their benefit, to smuggle contraband and humans into the U.S.; in fact, they already are [smuggling]."

His comments were confirmed by six U.S. officials, including law enforcement, defense and counterterrorism specialists. They spoke on the condition that they not be named because of the sensitivity of the topic.

What's so sensitive about it? Will it hurt Obama's outreach efforts with the Iranians?

Cousin of 9/11 Hijacker an Israeli Spy?

Wow, this ought to really fire up the 9/11 conspiracy kooks, who never need much evidence of anything at all to get worked up.

Just imagine what they'll come up with when they find out the cousin of 9/11 hijacker Ziad al-Jarrah may have allegedly been an Israeli spy the past 25 years.

The Loose Change clowns must be wetting themselves.

For 25 years, Ali al-Jarrah managed to live on both sides of the bitterest divide running through this region. To friends and neighbors, he was an earnest supporter of the Palestinian cause, an affable, white-haired family man who worked as an administrator at a nearby school.

To Israel, he appears to have been a valued spy, sending reports and taking clandestine photographs of Palestinian groups and Hezbollah since 1983.

Now he sits in a Lebanese prison cell, accused by the authorities of betraying his country to an enemy state. Months after his arrest, his friends and former colleagues are still in shock over the extent of his deceptions: the carefully disguised trips abroad, the unexplained cash, the secret second wife.

Lebanese investigators say he has confessed to a career of espionage spectacular in its scope and longevity, a real-life John le Carré novel. Many intelligence agents are said to operate in the civil chaos of Lebanon, but Mr. Jarrah’s arrest has shed a rare light onto a world of spying and subversion that usually persists in secret.

Mr. Jarrah’s first wife maintains that he was tortured, and is innocent; requests to interview him were denied.

From his home in this Bekaa Valley village, Mr. Jarrah, 50, traveled often to Syria and to south Lebanon, where he photographed roads and convoys that might have been used to transport weapons to Hezbollah, the Shiite militant group, investigators say. He spoke with his handlers by satellite phone, receiving “dead drops” of money, cameras and listening devices. Occasionally, on the pretext of a business trip, he traveled to Belgium and Italy, received an Israeli passport, and flew to Israel, where he was debriefed at length, investigators say.

At the start of the 2006 war between Israel and Hezbollah, Israeli officials called Mr. Jarrah to reassure him that his village would be spared and that he should stay at home, investigators said.

He was finally arrested last July by Hezbollah, which now has perhaps the most powerful intelligence apparatus in this country. It handed him to the Lebanese military — along with his brother Yusuf, who is accused of helping him spy — and he awaits trial by a military court.

Several current and former military officials agreed to provide details about his case on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to discuss it before the trial began. Their accounts tallied with details provided by Mr. Jarrah’s relatives and former colleagues.

It is not the family’s first brush with notoriety. One of Mr. Jarrah’s cousins, Ziad al-Jarrah, was among the 19 hijackers who carried out the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, though the men were 20 years apart in age and do not appear to have known each other well.

Mark Regev, a spokesman for Israel’s prime minister, Ehud Olmert, declined to discuss Mr. Jarrah’s situation, saying, “It is not our practice to publicly talk about any such allegations in this case or in any case.”

Update: Well, that didn't take long.

Cousin Of Alleged 9/11 Hijacker Exposed As Israeli Spy

Which other members of the Jarrah family were working for Israel as intelligence assets? Surely not Ziad al-Jarrah, one of the infamous “laughing hijackers” and the alleged pilot of Flight 93?

Al-Jarrah’s paper passport was one of those that miraculously survived to be legible, apparently avoiding being consumed by fires that were so intense that it took over 6 months just to identify the actual victims of Flight 93.

Israeli intelligence connections to 9/11 can be traced back to the five “dancing Israelis” who were witnessed setting up video camera equipment pointed at the World Trade Center in New York before the first plane hit the tower. The men were seen jumping and high-fiving with shouts of “joy and mockery” as Flight 11 and Flight 175 slammed into the buildings. They were later seen posing for photographs in front of the debris.

Cue the Twilight Zone music.

NY Man Admits Broadcasting Hezbollah TV

Aiding and abetting terrorism on television. Who knows, maybe CNN and MSNBC are next?

A New York City man pleaded guilty on Tuesday to providing material support to a foreign terrorist organization by broadcasting Hezbollah television channel Al Manar to U.S. customers, federal prosecutors said.

In a plea deal, Javed Iqbal, 45, a Pakistani who moved to the United States more than 25 years ago, admitted that between about September 2005 and August 2006 he provided satellite transmission services through his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd to Al Manar, in exchange for thousands of dollars payment.

Hezbollah, an Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shi'ite Muslim group with a powerful guerrilla army, was designated by the U.S. State Department as a terrorist organization in 1997.

The U.S. Treasury branded Al Manar a terrorist organization in March 2006, saying it supported Hezbollah's fund-raising and recruitment activities.

Iqbal was arrested and initially charged in August 2006.

An Idiot Who's No Longer Useful: Hezbollah Terror Gang Rejects Meeting With Carter

Idiot no longer useful

What does it say when even the Iranian-backed terror gang won't even meet with you?

A couple of weeks ago Zimbabwe wouldn't let him in, and now the Hezbos tell him tot ake a hike.

Officials from the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah have refused to meet with former U.S. president Jimmy Carter, who is in Lebanon, Carter's spokesman Rick Jafculca said Wednesday.

Carter requested the meeting with the Iran-backed movement - which is recognized as a terrorist group by the United States - as part of a two-day visit to Lebanon to assess whether his Atlanta-based Carter Center will monitor parliamentary elections, which are scheduled to take place by May 2009.

Jafculca confirmed a meeting had been requested with Hezbollah, but added that the group "were not able to meet" Carter.

They're probably holding out for some face time with Obama, who plans to reach out to Muslims.

Assad's 'Right-Hand Man' Assassinated

I'm sure the Israelis will be blamed, whether they're behind it or not.

Arab media reported on Sunday that a brigadier general thought to be the Syrian regime's liaison with Hezbollah in Lebanon has been assassinated.

The reports came almost six months after the killing in a Damascus car bomb of top Hezbollah military commander Imad Mughnieh, which the Shiite militant group blamed on Israel.

The Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat on Sunday quoted "informed sources" in London as saying that a senior Syrian officer had been found dead.

"The circumstances of the incident are not clear," the London-based paper said in its report, which said the sources suggested that the slain officer had been "in charge of sensitive files and closely linked to the Syrian top brass."

Al-Bawaba, an Arab news website, named the officer as Mohammed Sleiman and said he was "Syria's liaison officer with Lebanon's Hezbollah movement."

Hard to say at this point, but this may well make Nancy Pelosi's good friend Bashar Assad a tad nervous.

The Lebanese anti-Syrian daily al-Mustaqbal quoted a Syrian news site as saying Sleiman was the head of security at the presidential palace in Damascus and President Bashar al-Assad's "right-hand man."

The initial link has his name misspelled. It's actually Mohammed Suleiman.

A senior Syrian officer, in charge of Syrian President Bashar Assad's liaison with the Hezbollah guerilla group, was shot dead in mysterious circumstances in northern Syria last week, Arab media reports said on Sunday.

Pan-Arab al-Hayat newspaper, quoting "well-informed" sources in London, said the officer had been found dead on Friday night-Saturday morning. It said the officer had been in charge of "sensitive files" and was close to the Syrian leadership.

Lebanon's Future News television station identified the officer as Brigadier General Mohammad Suleiman whom it said was a military aide to Assad. It said his body was found at a hotel in the northern port city of Tartous.

Washington Post Doing Its Part to Help the Insurgents

Here we go again. You need only read any newspaper lately to know that we are making tremendous victories against the insurgents. How? Why? Lately every story has revealed some secret information, whether it is the names of interrogators or in the case of this story, reveals the tactics and techniques of the enemy in order to give them information on the effectiveness of those tactics. Why you would almost think the media is trying to encourage the insurgents to continue their struggle?

U.S. military officials in Baghdad have noted the use of rocket-propelled bombs in press releases in recent months. But they have not publicly discussed their use or their concerns about the weapons at length because most of the information about them is classified, U.S. military officials said.

So of course the reporter goes on to fill in the blanks. Gee with friends like this who needs enemies?

And here is some nice information on page 2 of the story.

Most such attacks have been carried out during the day and some have been videotaped and aired on the satellite television station operated by Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia and political movement. U.S. military officials said they have found Iranian-made 107mm rockets at some of the blast sites, which they said suggests the weapons -- or parts -- may have come from Iran.

So Hezbollah is now a "Lebanese militia and political movement" huh? Just like the Democrats. Well they would be if the Democrats supported gun ownership that is.

The weapon in question is called an IRAM (Improvised Rocket Assisted Munitions).

They are propane tanks packed with hundreds of pounds of explosives and powered by 107mm rockets. They are often fired by remote control from the backs of trucks, sometimes in close succession.

While the article talks about how deadly these devices are the only deaths so far seem to be from these devices accidentally going off and killing people in the proximity to the trucks which carry them. There have been very few successful attacks and in fact there have been more found unused then have actually used, but the Washington Post would like the insurgents to please keep trying, because after all, we all know if at first you don't succeed try, try again.

Israeli Cabinet Approves Prisoner Swap; Hezbos Party

What a deal. Israel gets back the bodies of two dead soldiers, while Hezbollah welcomes back a conquering hero, among other very live terrorists.

Hizbullah celebrated the decision of the Israeli cabinet on Sunday to approve the proposed prisoner exchange deal. Kidnapped soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, presumed dead by the military and government, will be traded for notorious terrorist Samir Kuntar and four additional Lebanese prisoners.

In Beirut, the organization said the decision reflected the group's strength.

"What happened in the prisoners issue is a proof that the word of the resistance is the most faithful, strongest and supreme," the Hizbullah-owned Al-Manar Television quoted the organization's Executive Council chief Hashem Safieddine as saying.

The Palestinian Authority also voiced its satisfaction of the deal. A Palestinian official told Ynet: "Everyone today knows that Israel only understands force. Prisoners, we see again, can only be freed by pressuring Israel and not through negotiations."

Now it's party time.

Kuntar's brother, Bassam, also praised Hizbullah, and told Al-Manar that the returning prisoners would receive a hero's welcome. "They will get their due respect in Beirut and in each of their hometowns. All of Lebanon will celebrate with Samir Kuntar in his village of Aabey. The majority of the celebrations will be organized by Hizbullah," he said.

Then they'll back to kidnapping and murdering more Israelis.

It's what they do.

Hezbollah to Strike in Canada?

Looks like Canada may be receiving thanks for bending over backwards to accomodate the Mohammedans.

Intelligence agencies in the United States and Canada are warning of mounting signs that Hezbollah, backed by Iran, is poised to mount a terror attack against "Jewish targets" somewhere outside the Middle East.

Intelligence officials tell ABC News the group has activated suspected "sleeper cells" in Canada and key operatives have been tracked moving outside the group's Lebanon base to Canada, Europe and Africa.

Officials say Hezbollah is seeking revenge for the February assassination of Hezbollah's military commander, Imad Mugniyah, killed by a car bomb in Damascus, Syria.

The group's leaders blamed Israel, an allegation denied by Israeli officials.

There is no credible information on a specific target, according to the officials.

Suspected Hezbollah operatives have conducted recent surveillance on the Israeli embassy in Ottawa, Canada and on several synagogues in Toronto, according to the officials.

I can already see the Canadian left asking "what did we do to offend them?"

"They want to kill as many people as they can, they want it to be a big splash," said former CIA intelligence officer Bob Baer, who says he met with Hezbollah leaders in Beirut last month.

"They cannot have an operation fail," said Baer, "and I don't think they will. They're the A-team of terrorism."

Alarms were first raised in Canada, where as many as 20 suspected Hezbollah members have been under surveillance after as many as four suspected "sleeper cells" were activated, including one known as "Rashedan," intelligence officials tell ABC News. The members also received instruction to send their family members home to Lebanon, according to officials.

U.S.-Based Hezbollah Supporters to Face Trial

Well, they won't be on trial until January, by which time I'm sure they're banking on hope and change having swept the nation and a new era of good tidings towards the Iranian-backed terror gang Hezbollah will be firmly in place.

Two men accused of agreeing to broadcast the Hezbollah television channel al-Manar to U.S. customers will face trial on terrorism charges in January, a U.S. judge ruled on Wednesday.

U.S. District Judge Richard Berman set January 5, 2009, as the trial date for Javed Iqbal, 44 and Saleh Elahwal, 55, in what defense lawyers said was one of the more unusual terrorism cases moving through U.S. courts.

Iqbal was arrested and initially charged in August 2006 on allegations he negotiated on behalf of his Brooklyn-based company HDTV Ltd with representatives of the Beirut-based al-Manar network to air the channel in America.

Iqbal, a Pakistani who moved to the United States more than 25 years ago, and Elahwal, who lives in New Jersey and who prosecutors say also operated HDTV, were indicted three months later. Initial court documents said they were paid more than $111,000 by al-Manar between December 2005 and March 2006.

Both men have been released on bail after pleading not guilty to 11 charges, including providing satellite services to al-Manar, providing support to Hezbollah and violating the United Nations Participation Act of 1945.

If convicted on all the charges, they each face a combined maximum of more than 100 years in prison.

Hezbollah, an Iranian- and Syrian-backed Shi'ite Muslim group with a powerful guerrilla army, was designated by the U.S. Secretary of State as a terrorist organization in 1997.

The U.S. Treasury branded al-Manar a terrorist organization in March 2006, saying it supported Hezbollah's fund-raising and recruitment activities.

Elahwal's lawyer, Ed Sapone, said little precedent had been set for a case that centered on accusations of supporting terrorism by providing satellite communications. Iqbal's lawyer was unavailable for comment.

Granted, Sapone was a Silky Pony supporter, but now that the Breck Girl is safely in the Obama camp, I'm sure he'll put in a good word.

Hezbollah Now Firmly in Control of Lebanon

There is no other way to say it or try to sugar coat it.

They now have veto power over anything the elected government wants to do.

The ruling party led by Fuad Siniora caved into the demands, portrayed as a deal brokered by Arab mediators from Saudi Arabia, made by Hezbollah while getting nothing in return. I predict very dark days ahead for the large Christian population inside of Lebanon and, really, for any Sunni Muslims, since Hezbollah is a Shiite sect.

Of course Iran and Syria were the first to send their congratulations.

I wonder what kind of pie-in-the-sky statement the Obamamessiah will make about this if any. Given his complete lack of knowledge of anything outside of Chicago, I doubt he even realizes what possible dire consequences this agreement has. Iran has, once again through its proxies, managed to take over a country with impunity. Now with both Lebanon and Syria basically Iranian satellite nations, and more western governments deciding that Hamas is just a little bitty terrorist group and therefore worthy of talking to, Israel is once again back in the crosshairs.

The only thing that can delay the looming conflict between Israel and its neighbors again is if the Hamas and Hezbollah gangs go after each other, which would probably be short-lived since their hatred of Israel is greater then their hatred of each other. After they get rid of Israel they will return to the job of settling their centuries-old conflict over which group is the true descendants of the blood god they worship.

Nancy Pelosi was unavailable for comment

Gateway Pundit is doing all of the heavy lifting on reporting of the Hezbollah takeover of Beirut, but I shamelessly lifted this picture and caption from his site. Be sure to visit his site for all the details.
A Hezbollah gunman poses as he flashes a victory sign after putting up posters of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and taking over of an office of the Future group loyal to Saad al-Hariri Majority leader, in the Rass al-Naba'a area in Beirut May 9, 2008. (REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir)

25 Years Ago Today: Beirut Embassy Bombing

I am so embarrassed that I have let this day slip by without mentioning this. It was 25 years ago today, April 18, 1983, that the terrorist bombing of the embassy in Beirut occurred. The attack was carried out by Hezbollah. 63 people including 17 Americans were killed that day.

The man believed to be responsible for the Beirut Embassy bombing – and numerous other attacks – was Imad Mughnieh, a leader of Hezbollah suspected to have been acting on behalf of the Iranians. He was killed in February in Damascus by a bomb placed in the headrest of his car.

And yet 25 years later we have Jimmy Carter in the region trying to make nice with some of the very people who carried out this attack. Yes, I know he is trying to talk to Hamas, but Hamas and Hezbollah are two different sides of the same coin.

'The Zionist Entity Can Be Wiped Out of Existence'

I guess such a statement rules out any hopes for peace.

No, it didn't come from Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, rather it was that Hezbollah freak Hassan Nasrallah.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Monday told tens of thousands of supporters in Beirut that Israel could be eliminated and that the prowess of its army had been exaggerated by "Zionist-American propaganda."

"The Zionist entity can be wiped out of existence," Nasrallah said in his address via video link, referring to Israel. "Our nation is stronger now than ever before," he added.

He's another one who sees nefarious Zionist media plots. Somehow he left the neocons out of it.

The Hezbollah leader also criticized what he called joint American and Israeli efforts to distort the truth throught [sic] the media, saying "Zionist-American propaganda is aiming to harm our nation's consciousness. They, using their violent system, are trying to tell us that we are weak and powerless. They want to tell us that we don't have any hopes of winning."

He argued that the victories presented by the Israeli military are blown out of proportion by this propaganda machine, that has been operating for 60 years (since the establishment of the state of Israel.) "The media has aggrandized this army and the Israeli soldier, officer and general," he said.

Meanwhile, this sure doesn't help Israel any.

The military police, the northern district police and the security services arrested a career Israel Defense Forces soldier last month on suspicion that he had handed over secrets to the Lebanon-based guerilla [sic] group Hezbollah.

Two other suspects were also arrested during the course of the investigation, who apparently belonged to a ring of drug smugglers from southern Lebanon into Israel.

The police suspect that the soldier, a Galilee resident, transferred information regarding military patrols along the border with Lebanon and the amount of troops to be stationed along the border. This activity was allegedly part of the suspect's involvement in the smuggling of drugs. The information was used to facilitate the smuggling across the border while circumventing Israeli authorities, the police suspect.

Inverted Reality Headline of the Day

This remarkable headline came via commenter Kenneth at LGF during the discussion of the mass murder of yeshiva students today in Jerusalem.

Two Palestinians killed in west Jerusalem attack: TV

Note it is an AFP story.

Two Palestinians were killed when they carried out an attack on a religious school in predominantly Jewish west Jerusalem on Thursday night, public television reported.

The attack with assault rifles was carried out at Merkaz Harav Yeshiva in the Kyriat Moshe neighbourhood, the report said, adding that there were numberous [sic] people wounded.

The report added that an explosives belt had been recovered from the body of one of the Palestinians.

Unbelievable.

This AFP dispatch is more realistic.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera English has a claim from Hezbollah taking responsibility.

Hezbollah's Al-Manar television announced that the perpetrators of the attack were members of the "Phalange of Free Men of Galilee - Groups of the Martyr Imad Moghaniyah and Martyrs of Gaza", a previously unknown group.

The claim was made in a tag line running across the bottom of the screen.

Imad Moghaniyah was a top Hezbollah commander assassinated in a bombing in Damascus, the Syrian capital, on February 12.

Naturally, the savages celebrated in Gaza.

Palestinian sources in the Gaza Strip are reported that Gazans are traveling in convoys and honking in celebration of the terrorist attack in Jerusalem.

The Palestinians are calling on the terrorist groups to continue attacking Israel and in several locations, people have been handing out sweets to passers-by.

Update: Another LGF commenter, Abolitionist, notes this from the BBC, via The Jawa Report.

More Insanity in Britain: Hezbollah Radical to Speak at Antiwar Meetings

The descent into madness in Britain continues unabated, the latest chapter of the Leftist-Islamist convergence.

The Home Secretary came under fire last night for allowing a radical Lebanese propagandist with links to the extremist group Hezbollah to enter Britain for a national speaking tour.

The Conservatives urged Jacqui Smith to ban Ibrahim Moussawi from the UK, warning that he was "likely to foment extremism or promote violence".

Mr Moussawi edits Hezbollah's newspaper and is former political editor of the Iranian-backed group's television station, which is banned in many countries including France, Spain and the U.S. where its output is seen as anti-Semitic.

He was recently barred from entering Ireland, where he was due to speak at anti-war meetings.

He is scheduled to appear at an event in London tonight organised by the Stop the War Coalition, with more events planned around the country over the coming week.

Shadow Security Minister Baroness Neville-Jones attacked the Government's record of allowing radical extremists into the UK, after ministers previously ignored calls to deny Mr Moussawi entry to the UK.

She said: "The Government has the power to deny entry to people whose presence is not conducive to the public good.

"Yet in the past they have let in extremists to preach hate.

"Jacqui Smith failed to stop Ibrahim Moussawi from coming last December, despite my specific request that she do so.

"Regardless of what Moussawi actually says when he is here, it is vital that the Government always makes the security of the UK its top priority.

"That means stopping those who are likely to foment extremism or promote violence from coming here to speak. Ibrahim Moussawi should not be allowed to return to the UK."

The Stop the War Coalition website describes Mr Moussawi as "Editor of the journal Al-Intiqad in Lebanon, linked to Hezbollah."

So a purported antiwar group welcomes in a member of Hezbollah? A bit of a disconnect, no?

Of course not, they're on the same side.

From their site:

This meeting is a chance to hear key figures from the Middle East and leading activists and writers from Britain discuss the impact of the War on Terror and the continuing campaign to get the troops out. Five years after the invasion of Iraq the world has become a much more dangerous place. As many as one million people have been killed during the occupation of Iraq. The country’s infrastructure is in shreds. Gordon Brown has promised British withdrawals, but there are still 5,000 British soldiers in Iraq. The only reason they are staying there is to give political cover to George Bush’s continuing occupation.

This cretin Moussawi masquerades as a journalist.

Al-Manar television - the Arabic word for "beacon" - where he worked until recently as foreign and political editor, is Hezbollah's main mouthpiece in the Middle East and around the world, broadcasting from Beirut.

It describes itself as the "station of resistance" and campaigns on behalf of Hezbollah and against the state of Israel, and American and British policy in the Middle East.

It routinely describes fighters who are killed and suicide bombers as "martyrs", and condemns Israeli forces as criminals.

The station has been widely condemned for anti-Semitism after it broadcast a 30-part series based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a forged document setting out a supposed secret Jewish conspiracy to take over the world.

Bosses at the station deny anti-Semitism, claiming they are merely anti-Israeli.

Savage Animal Calls Israel Savage Animal

The hairy munchkin has a serious case of projection.

PRESIDENT Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has called Israel a "dirty microbe" and "savage animal", as Iran stepped up its rhetoric against the Jewish state after the murder of a top Hezbollah commander.

"World powers have created a black and dirty microbe named the Zionist regime and have unleashed it like a savage animal on the nations of the region," President Ahmadinejad told a rally in the southern city of Bandar Abbas broadcast on state television.

The commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Mohammad Ali Jafari, on Monday had predicted Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah would destroy Israel in the near future.

President Ahmadinenjad's latest tirade came a week after the murder in a car bombing in Damascus of Imad Mughnieh, a top Hezbollah commander hailed by Iran as a great martyr who was killed by Israel.

Israel has denied any involvement in his murder although it welcomed the death of Mughnieh, who was on America's most wanted list for a string of anti-Israeli and anti-Western attacks.

The head of US intelligence Mike McConnell has suggested that elements within Hezbollah and Syria could have been responsible.

In a sign of Iran's respect for Mughnieh, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki attended his funeral in the Shiite suburbs of Beirut last week and gave a speech.

"They (Israel) assassinate pure and pious people and then they celebrate it, like what happened to the son of Lebanon who had stood against the savage onslaught of the Zionists and broke the Zionists' horns," said President Ahmadinejad.

As if the Iranians never celebrated death themselves.

This little punk Ahmadinejad may want to look to his boy the chinless ophthalmologist, since the killing took place in Syria.