Legislation signed into law in December calls on the US State Department to assess the dangers to the United States - and particularly to Upstate New York - from
the presence of Hezbullah in North America. Hezbullah has a large presence in Toronto. It has also become a major player in drug running in Mexico.
Though the law is formally titled the Countering Iran in the Western
Hemisphere Act, the counterterrorism legislation correctly views
Hezbollah and Iran’s anti-American clerical regime as a merged terror
apparatus.Iran’s
rulers generously fund Hezbollah’s global terrorism activities. And
there is no shortage of compelling evidence to explain why Hezbollah
remains a lethal threat to Americans and U.S. interests in both North
and South America. Hezbollah — a Lebanese-based Shiite group founded in
1982 — launched a terror campaign against the United States shortly
after its 1982 inception. David Cohen, under-secretary of the Treasury
for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence, said in August, “Before Al
Qaeda’s attack on the U.S. on Sept. 11, 2001, Hezbollah was responsible
for killing more Americans in terrorist attacks than any other terrorist
group.”
...
The United States designated Hezbollah a terrorist entity in 1995.
The growing involvement of Hezbollah in the Mexican narcotics trade
coupled with its clandestine operatives across the U.S. and Canada
present a significant security threat. “Does Hezbollah use Buffalo as a
pathway to its other operations in the U.S.?” Higgins asked, according
to the Buffalo News.
“Or do they use Buffalo as a pathway to Canada?”The
new legislation will require the U.S. State Department to address the
types of questions posed by Higgins in a study and examine other gaps in
U.S. national security in connection with Iran and Hezbollah. The
terrorism reach of Iran and Hezbollah has inflicted damage on our allies
in Europe and in the Middle East. U.S. and Israeli intelligence
officials attributed the suicide bombing in July, which blew up a bus
full of Israeli tourists in the Bulgarian village of Burgas, to a joint
Iran-Hezbollah operation. The terror attack resulted in the murders of
five Israelis and their Bulgarian bus driver.
Doing a study is very nice but the real question is what the US will do with the results. And why Canada is allowing a situation like this to continue.
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