Here's a great example of one such tie in that's now out in the open:
In cooperation with various other countries, Dutch authorities have rounded up a big cocaine gang that had links with Hezbollah. Seventeen suspects were arrested on Curacao, the biggest island of the Netherlands Antilles, the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM) has revealed.
International cooperation between police and judicial services of the Netherlands and the Netherlands Antilles, Belgium, Colombia, Venezuela and the US led to the arrest of the 17 suspects by the Curacao police. They are believed to be part of a drugs and money-laundering organisation with international branches, thought to be responsible for the import and export of at least 2,000 kilos of cocaine per year, according to the OM. "The organisation maintained international contacts with other criminal networks, which in the Middle East support Hezbollah financially".
In this investigation, launched at the beginning of 2008, containers with cocaine were intercepted earlier in Rotterdam (300 kilos), the Spanish city of Valencia (20 kilos) and the Belgian city of Antwerp (140 kilos). Three Colombian suspects have for some time been in pre-trial custody for their involvement in the Rotterdam shipment, discovered in October 2008.
The 17 suspects now arrested are from Venezuela, Colombia, Lebanon and Cuba as well as Curacao. The organisation shipped containers with cocaine from Curacao to the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain and Jordan. From Venezuela, drugs containers went to West Africa and subsequently to the Netherlands, Lebanon and Spain. Couriers smuggled cocaine from Curacao and Aruba to the Netherlands as air passengers.
The suspects invested the drugs profits in property in Colombia, Venezuela, Lebanon, the Dominican Republic and in companies on Curacao. Large sums of money from the drugs trade have become available in Lebanon via underground bankers. From Lebanon, orders are also placed for weapons, which had to be delivered by the drugs organisation from South America.
Keep in mind that Hezbollah's stronghold in Lebanon's Bek'aa Valley is a major drug producing area.Hezbollah are not merely couriers and financial partners but suppliers. And while the article doesn't say so, there's no doubt in my mind that part of the deal involves obtaining scare foreign exchange for Hezbollah's boss, Iran.
As terrorism expert and best selling author Steve Emerson has documented, Hezbollah has cells of operatives already in America. Now you know one way they finance and sustain their infrastructure.
These are the people Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton want to normalize as 'just another political party'. Unbelievable.
Hat tip, the one and only Fausta..and an honorable mention to The Baron and Dymphna
A bit off topic but there were some reports, outside of the main stream news media of course, that in the run up to Operation Iraqi Freedom Iraq's WMD stockpiles may have been moved to Lebanon. The specific areas mentioned were in the Bek'aa valley.
ReplyDeleteIt is known that large convoys of trucks carried something out of Iraq prior to Operation Iraqi Freedom and something was buried in the Bek'aa Valley. Perhaps this was not Iraq's WMD stockpiles. Perhaps Iraq never had WMD. In any event, someone with proper resources should follow up on this to make certain.
What we know so far is Hezbollah has a stronghold in the Bek'aa Valley of Lebanon. Hezbollah maintains close contacts with South American drug kingpins. Hezbollah has celss in the United States. Our southern borders are extremely porous. If Iraq had WMD stockpiles and they were moved to Lebanon, this would mean they are under the control of Hezbollah right now. If this is the case, it may not be to difficult for Hezbollah to use their contacts in the illicit drug business to smuggle these accross the southern border of the United States.
Again, I'm not saying Iraq did have these WMDs or that they were moved to Lebanon but even as former head of the Iraq Survey Group David Kay stated this is an area that warrants further investigation. As I recall, Mr. Kay's successor did not exactly rule out this possibility either, as the security situation was such at the time that a proper investigation could not be conducted. Hopefully someone with the proper resources in the US government or some other Western government will follow up on this. Unfortunately given the current state of affairs in America in particular and the West in general I'm not optimistic that anyone will follow up on this.
At a minimum, SECURE THE BIRDERS. Unfortunately given the current political climate I don't see that happening either.
Finallyk, given the fact that US Intellegence failed on Iraq's WMD how are we supposed to trust any thing they tell us now?