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Israel Matzav: Hezbullah partners with the Mexican drug cartels

israelmatzav.blogspot.com2/22/11

Some of you in the US may not realize it, but just south of your border there's a war going on. The war is between the Mexican drug cartels and the Mexican government. The cartels are getting help from a familiar name in …

Maysaloon – ??????

www.maysaloon.org10/11/11

Over the past few years there have been many allegations that Iran, and Hezbullah, have connections with drug gangs and extensive networks in Latin America. This is the first time that something this substantial and is …

U.S. authorities stated on Tuesday Dec 13, 2011 that a Lebanese national, Ayman Joumaa,is the ringleader of a huge international drug smuggling ring that has links to the militant group Hezbollah.

At the indictment in federal court in Alexandria Va. it was alleged that he led a conspiracy that, among other activities, sold nearly 100 tons of Colombian cocaine to the Zetas drug cartel in Mexico between 2005 and 2007 that was later smuggled into the United States.

Joumaa, who is currently at large was indicted on drug and money laundering charges after allegedly realizing more than $850 million in illicit profits.

According to court documents, the conspiracy was said to have run since at least 2004 and at times brought in as much as $200 million in a single month.

Law enforcement officials believe Joumaa is currently in Lebanon and it’s unclear whether U.S. officials will be able to obtain his extradition.

The indictment seeks the forfeiture of at least $850 million, which is the amount that Joumaa allegedly obtained over the course of the conspiracy, according to the grand jury.

The Hezbollah Connection

Earlier this year, the Treasury Department designated Joumaa as a drug trafficker and described how Hezbollah profited from his network.

One of the members of Joumaa’s network is a suspected Hezbollah supporter; bank managers had links to Hezbollah officials; and the treasury accused a major Lebanese bank, the Lebanese Canadian Bank, of being complicit in Joumaa’s money laundering and turning a blind eye to massive cash transactions.

In The Courtroom

The court’s documents show that Joumaa’s network played a major role in the global drug trade for years, helping Colombian producers get their product into the hands of cartels in Central America and Mexico, and from there into the U.S.

It needs be said though, that the criminal indictment itself makes no mention of links between Joumaa, 47, and Hezbollah, which the U.S. government designated a terrorist group in 1997.

Neil MacBride, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, whose office is prosecuting the case said:

“Money fuels the drug trade, and Mr. Joumaa is alleged to be at the center of it all, working with those producing the vast majority of the world’s cocaine to get their drugs safely into the hands of Mexican cartels. Organized crime networks know no borders, and neither can U.S. law enforcement".

According to the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), The Lebanese Canadian Bank was sold to an affiliate of France’s Societe Generale in March to restore confidence after those accusations triggered concerns in Lebanon that the U.S. would begin targeting Lebanon’s banking sector as a way to exert pressure against Hezbollah.

Lebanon is a major financial hub for the Middle East and its banks, like those in Switzerland, have a reputation for secrecy so it’s not surprising that attempts to contact the bank for comment were unsuccessful after working hours Tuesday.

Mounting Evidence That Hezbollah Is Involved

This is the second time in recent months that federal prosecutors in Alexandria have announced charges against major international drug trafficking rings.

In July, authorities announced they had taken down a major drug ring that was smuggling drugs from Ghana through Dulles International Airport near Washington and most of those charged in that ring, including the ringleader, were eventually extradited to the U.S. and are facing trial.

In addition, two men of Bangladeshi origin were caught by Customs and Border Protection illegally crossing the US-Mexico border last June and they confessed that they were members of a terrorist organization that’s allied with Bin Laden against America.

This latest Mexican-Hezbollah revelation should make one thing clear though:

Hezbollah’s infiltration of Latin American is an increasing threat, and in the absence of greatly improved border security measures, it is likely to worsen.

Obama approves secret sale of 'bunker buster' bombs to Israel

Eli Lake has a scoop for Newsweek outlining President Obama's secret approval of bunker busting bombs to Israel, which could presumably be used in an attack on Iran. The deal was cut early in the Obama administration. …

Publish Date: 09/24/2011 15:47

http://mondoweiss.net/2011/09/obama-approves-secret-sale-of-bunker-buster-bombs-to-israel.html

US sold bunker-busting bombs to Israel: report

Washington (AFP) Sept 23, 2011 – President Barack Obama secretly authorized the sale of 55 powerful bunker-busting bombs to Israel, Newsweek magazine reported Friday.

Publish Date: 09/25/2011 1:08

http://www.spacewar.com/reports/US_sold_bunker-busting_bombs_to_Israel_report_999.html

A New Feud Between Turkey And Iran

What Iran Is Saying

A key aide to Iran’s supreme leader said on Saturday that,

"Turkey must radically rethink its policies on Syria, the NATO missile shield and promoting Muslim secularism in the Arab world, or face trouble from its own people and neighbours".

And in an interview with the semi-official Mehr news agency, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s military adviser described Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan’s invitation to Arab countries to adopt Turkish-style democracy as,

"Uunexpected and unimaginable".

Following The Summer Of Discontent

Turkey and Iran, the Middle East’s two major non-Arab Muslim states, are now vying for influence in the Arab world as it goes through the biggest shake-up since the Ottoman Empire fell, and it’s a rivalry that is seriously straining their previously close relations.

Although cheering crowds greeted Erdogan on his recent tour of North Africa, Tehran accused Erdogan of bowing to U.S. interests by opposing Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s crackdown on street protests, and by agreeing to NATO’s missile defence.

Major-General Yahya Rahim-Safavi said via the Mehr news agency:

"The behaviour of Turkish statesmen towards Syria and Iran is wrong and, I believe, they are acting in line with the goals of America".

"If Turkey does not distance itself from this unconventional political behaviour it will have both the Turkish people turning away from it domestically and the neighbouring countries of Syria, Iraq and Iran reassessing their political ties".

The Islamic Awakening?

Khamenei has dubbed the Arab uprisings an "Islamic awakening", and predicts that peoples in the Middle East that have overthrown dictatorial, Western-backed regimes will follow the path Iran took after its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Many analysts say however that the uprisings have for the most part been secular in nature.

The Gap Between Turkey And Iran

Erdogan’s advocacy of secular Muslim democracy, which is something that he extolled during his tour of Egypt, Tunisia and Libya last month, is far from the message that the Islamic Republic of Iran wants to spread throughout the region and Iran’s Rahim-Safavi said:

"I think the Turks are treading a wrong path. It might very well be that the path was set for them by the Americans".

"The Turks have so far committed a few strategic wrongs. One was Erdogan’s trip to Egypt and his presentation of the secular model there. This fact was unexpected and unimaginable since the Egyptian people are Muslims".

While Tehran has publicly urged its close ally Syria to listen to people’s legitimate demands, Erdogan has predicted Assad will be ousted "sooner or later" and is set to impose sanctions on Damascus despite a veto on U.N. action by Russia and China.

Turkey, Iran And The Missiles

It’s likely that Turkey’s decision to deploy a NATO missile early warning system angered Tehran the most, since it’s views the deployment as a U.S. ploy to protect Israel from any counter-attack, should the Jewish state target Iran’s nuclear facilities.

And it should perhaps be noted that the US supplied Israel with bunker-busting bombs in 2009.

Turkey, Iran And Israel

Rahim-Safavi said,

"Trade ties with Turkey, which is an importer of Iranian gas and exporter of an array of manufactured goods would be in jeopardy if Ankara does not change tack".

"If Turkish political leaders fail to make their foreign policy and ties with Iran clear, they will run into problems".

"And if, as they claim, they intend to raise the volume of contracts with Iran to the $20 billion mark, they will ultimately have to accommodate Iran".

And all this at a time when many were concerned that the whole Islamic middle east would line up against Israel.

Have you noticed that every time it appears that Israel will fight a deadly enemy that the enemies end up fighting each other?

Maybe Read This?

2 Chr. Chapter 20

The Ammonites and others attack Judah—Jehoshaphat and all the people fast and pray—Jahaziel prophesies the deliverance of Judah—Judah’s attackers war among and destroy themselves.

1 It came to pass after this also, that the children of Moab, and the children of Ammon, and with them other beside the Ammonites, came against Jehoshaphat to battle.

2 Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee from beyond the sea on this side Syria; and, behold, they be in Hazazon-tamar, which is En-gedi.

3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a afast throughout all Judah.

4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

5 And Jehoshaphat stood in the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,

6 And said, O Lord God of our fathers, art not thou God in heaven? and rulest not thou over all the kingdoms of the heathen? and in thine hand is there not power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee?

7 Art not thou our God, who didst drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel, and gavest it to the aseed of Abraham thy friend for ever?

8 And they dwelt therein, and have built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying,

9 If, when evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we stand before this house, and in thy presence, (for thy name is in this house,) and cry unto thee in our aaffliction, then thou wilt hear and help.

10 And now, behold, the children of Ammon and Moab and mount Seir, whom thou wouldest not let Israel invade, when they came out of the land of Egypt, but they turned from them, and destroyed them not;

11 Behold, I say, how they reward us, to come to cast us out of thy possession, which thou hast given us to inherit.

12 O our God, wilt thou not judge them? for we have no might against this great company that cometh against us; neither aknow we what to do: but our eyes are upon thee.

13 And all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children.

14 Then upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeiel, the son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in the midst of the congregation;

15 And he said, Hearken ye, all Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou king Jehoshaphat, Thus saith the Lord unto you, Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the abattle is not yours, but God’s.

16 To morrow go ye down against them: behold, they come up by the acliff of Ziz; and ye shall find them at the end of the bbrook, cbefore the wilderness of Jeruel.

17 Ye shall not need to fight in this battle: set yourselves, stand ye still, and see the asalvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem: fear not, nor be dismayed; to morrow go out against them: for the Lord will be with you.

18 And Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground: and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord.

19 And the Levites, of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children of the Korhites, stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a loud voice on high.

20 And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; aBelieve in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; bbelieve his prophets, so shall ye cprosper.

21 And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the Lord; for his mercy endureth for ever.

22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they awere smitten.

23 For the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of mount Seir, utterly to slay and destroy them: and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy aanother.

24 And when Judah came toward the watch tower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude, and, behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none escaped.

Whether you’re religious or not, the above perhaps bears thinking about?