Hezbollah now matches al Qaeda as terrorist danger, US officials say

The only other known terrorist group capable of mounting a threat comparable to al Qaeda is the Iranian-backed Palestinian group Hezbollah.

“I think in terms of capability and virulence, Hezbollah certainly is capable,” Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage told a joint congressional committee. “They have thus far confined themselves to, in the main to central and South America, and of course the Middle East. But capability – they could do it.” Earlier, Armitage called Hezbollah more powerful than al Qaeda.

Though the US has detected no Hezbollah plans to attack America, officials warn that Hezbollah has agents and operatives across the United States, as well as the means to stage September 11-like attacks. Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz cautioned that it is exceedingly difficult to collect intelligence on any given terrorist organization’s true intentions, but that open hostility to the US is an indicator.

Hezbollah is responsible for the 1983 terrorist bombing of the US Marines barracks in Lebanon, killing 241 Marines. It is also responsible for blowing up the American Embassy in Beirut, killing scores of people.

Hezbollah has networks of supporters in the United States, including leaders of the American Muslim Council (AMC). AMC Executive Director Eric Vickers repeatedly has refused to denounce Hezbollah by name when given the chance on national television. AMC founder Abdurahman Alamoudi, who remains in the AMC leadership, openly proclaimed his support for Hezbollah. Alamoudi has provided seed money and other funds to a variety of US Muslim activist groups, including the Islamic Institute.

Newsweek reports that radicalized Saudi interests connected to terrorism have “seize[d] control of hundreds of mosques in U.S. Muslim communities.” In a startling report on the foreign-funded radicalization of Muslims in America, Newsweek says, “by looking everywhere at once, investigators are often finding suspicious activity in unexpected places.”

“If you reject the evidence that comes from overt expressions of hostility, then you’ll be taken by surprise every time,” Wolfowitz told lawmakers. “We don’t know what countries or what groups have sleeper cells buried around the world now,” he added. “We know what people have capabilities, and we know what people have declared hostile intentions towards us.”