Bill Smith, ARRA Editor: I rejoiced with other military retirees upon learning of the death of the murderer of our fellow comrades and friends. I pray that our fellow comrades may now rest in peace and that Imad Mughniyah suffers eternity in hell! The below words written by Gary Bauer are a more balanced summary than my would be invective comments against this terrorist who should have been eliminated years ago. Gary Bauer: Passions are running high right now at the height of an intense political season. But in spite of any disagreements we may have, as Americans we can all celebrate today's news that a key Hezbollah terrorist has been brought to justice. According to multiple press reports, Hezbollah Deputy Secretary General Imad Mughniyah was killed in a bomb blast last night in Damascus, Syria. Mughniyah was a terrorist mastermind long sought by the U.S. and Israel, and included on the FBI's most wanted list. The U.S. had placed a bounty of $25 million on him, the same amount put on Osama bin Laden's head, and with good reason.Mughniyah's list of atrocities is well known. He is believed to have masterminded the 1983 attack on the U.S. Marine base in Lebanon that killed 220 Marines and 20 more American personnel. He was indicted for his role in the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome. Mughniyah and his thugs diverted the plane to Beirut and demanded the release of 700 prisoners held by Israel. The stand-off lasted 17 days, and when Mughniyah felt his demands were being ignored, the hijackers shot and killed Navy Diver Robert Dean Stethem and dumped his body out of the plane onto the tarmac below. Mughniyah is also believed to be responsible for the 1992 attack on the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that killed more than two-dozen people and another attack in 1994 at a Buenos Aires Jewish center that killed nearly 100 people.
According to the Associated Press, his last known public appearance was to attend his brother's funeral in December 1994. He has been in hiding ever since but reportedly met with Iranian "president" Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during the latter's official visit to Syria in 2006. Needless to say, his assassination is sending shock waves throughout the Middle East. While Israel is denying any responsibility for his death, Danny Yatom, a former Mossad director, hailed the assassination as "a great achievement for the free world." Yatom added: "Mughniyah was one of the most dangerous and cruel terrorists of all time. There are numerous intelligence agencies and countries that have been pursuing him, and the one that was successful in reaching him [has proven itself] to have a high intelligence and operational capability. Whoever can take him out can take out anyone in Hezbollah."
My friends, the evil of Islamofascism is real. Israeli civilians are living daily with the threat of rockets and missiles slamming into schools, homes and hospitals. The thugs who terrorize Israel have attacked us too - our Marine barracks in Lebanon, our embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, the USS Cole in Yemen, the World Trade Center Towers and the Pentagon. The ideology of death that motivates young Muslim men and women to become homicide bombers in Israel is the same ideology that leads young Muslim men and women to become homicide bombers in Iraq. Israel cannot negotiate with enemies who refuse to recognize her right to exist. America cannot negotiate with enemies who demand we "convert or die." The culture of death that is so carefully nurtured in the Muslim world must be defeated by any means possible. I hope and pray that more moderate Muslims will reject this evil ideology and defeat it peacefully. If not, free nations must be prepared to fight it and defeat it by force.
Tags: Gary Bauer, justice, military, terrorist
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