Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Where I Stand — Mike O’Callaghan: Collecting a blood debt

CONGRESS IS MOVING to enforce sanctions against Syria and some national newspapers and publications don't see the necessity for such actions. All of us have memory problems as we age, but the actions of Syria and its cat's paw, Hezbollah, have been a continuing threat to peace for many years. This relationship hasn't withered in recent years and only last March the Syrians encouraged hundreds of Hezbollah terrorists to cross into Iraq. Their mission was to "kill Americans" entering Iraq.

Hezbollah or Party of God demanded that Israel withdraw from their security zone in Southern Lebanon. In 2000 the Israelis withdrew and the Hezbollah followed them right to the border and are now able to fire rockets deeper into Israel. A week ago they fired automatic weapons and mortars, killing one Israeli soldier and wounding others. The Israeli withdrawal was interpreted by the terrorists as a sign of weakness.

So what does this have to do with Syria? The Syrian army remains in Lebanon and provides the rockets and other weapons used by Hezbollah. Iran produces the latest model weapons and flies them into Damascus where they are then transported to the Hezbollah.

In 1997, during an interview, Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah made the following remarks: "We don't hide Iranian support. There is no need to deny that we receive financial and political support from Iran.

"We are not shy and they (the Iranians) are not afraid about it."

Nasrallah went on to indict Syria when telling Al Wasat magazine that that country has provided the party with "a political cover, moral support and field facilities."

Europeans want to view the Hezbollah as just another enemy of the Israelis and not promoting terror in other parts of that region. They are wrong and their intelligence agencies know better, but their governments keep it quiet for political reasons.

The October issue of the VFW magazine and hundreds of U.S. Marines haven't forgotten the impact of Hezbollah. On Sunday, Oct. 23, 1983, 241 Marines were killed by a truck bomber driving his deadly cargo into a building they occupied in Beirut. During that decade the Hezbollah were directly responsible for the killing of more than 270 Americans. The Marines had been sent into Lebanon to act as peacekeepers when there was no peace to keep. Earlier that same year 17 Americans were killed by Hezbollah when they attacked our embassy in Beirut. Today they are among the terrorists who left Lebanon through Syria to kill Americans.

The VFW magazine tells readers: " 'In the past, when the Marines were in Beirut, we screamed, "Death to America!" ' proclaimed Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. 'Today, when the region is being filled with hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, "Death to America" was, is and will stay our slogan.'

" 'Hezbollah may be the A-team of terrorists,' Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage said. The "Party of God," ' as it is literally translated, was founded in the summer of 1982 in southern Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards to export Iran's radical Shiite revolution.

"Its 3,000 regulars and 12,000 irregulars are augmented by 300 to 400 Revolutionary Guards. Hezbollah has the firm backing of Syria and Iran. In recent years, Iran has funneled $100 million annually to the organization."

In 1983, instead of going after the Hezbollah, we had members of Congress who wanted to hang Col. Timothy Geraghty, the Marine commander in Beirut. Marine Commandant P.X. Kelley was told if he offered up Geraghty a congressional investigation wouldn't go any farther. Kelley, after investigating, found that Geraghty had been following the exact orders given by our government to peacekeepers. Kelley refused to give up Geraghty as a sacrifice and told investigators of his decision.

The VFW magazine relates that Armitage, in a documentary, said the Hezbollah has "a blood debt to the United States. And their time will come." The countries that promote and protect the Hezbollah also must eventually pay a price. Unlike Congress in 1983, it appears that today's Congress is serious about punishing terrorists and those who help them.

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