Posted by
Christopher on Wednesday, February 13, 2008 9:34:55 AM
This is fantastic news. But on the other hand, sobering.
Imad Mughniyeh, who had been in hiding for years, was among the fugitives indicted in the United States for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed. He was also suspected of masterminding attacks on the U.S. Embassy and the Marine base in Lebanon that killed more than 260 Americans in the 1980s when he was then the Iranian-backed Hezbollah's security chief. He was also the reputed leader of a group that held Westerners hostage in Lebanon, among them journalist Terry Anderson, a former Associated Press chief Middle East correspondent who was held captive for six years. Mughniyeh is also believed by Israel to have been involved in planning the 1992 bombing of Israel's embassy in Argentina in which 29 people were killed and the blast at a Buenos Aires Jewish center two years later that killed 95. Mughniyeh is on an FBI wanted list with a $25 million bounty on his head. The bounty is equal to that the U.S. has put for al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden.
He was killed in Syria, by the way. This is sobering because the Iranian Hezbollah will likely retaliate harshly. They predictably blamed Israel, and they indeed may be responsible, but the US could have done it also. Either way, Hezbollah have cells in America right now (and in Europe) that can strike immediately if called upon. Of course, attacking Israel is likely as well. We would be wise to keep our eyes wide open in our day to day activities. We are at war, they know it, we must not forget it.