Hezbollah's Global Reach Joint Hearing
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HEZBOLLAH’S GLOBAL REACH JOINT HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND NONPROLIFERATION AND THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA OF THE COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED NINTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 Serial No. 109–233 Printed for the use of the Committee on International Relations ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.internationalrelations.house.gov/ U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 30–143PDF WASHINGTON : 2006 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2250 Mail: Stop SSOP, Washington, DC 20402–0001 COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS HENRY J. HYDE, Illinois, Chairman JAMES A. LEACH, Iowa TOM LANTOS, California CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH, New Jersey, HOWARD L. BERMAN, California Vice Chairman GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York DAN BURTON, Indiana ENI F.H. FALEOMAVAEGA, American ELTON GALLEGLY, California Samoa ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida DONALD M. PAYNE, New Jersey DANA ROHRABACHER, California SHERROD BROWN, Ohio EDWARD R. ROYCE, California BRAD SHERMAN, California PETER T. KING, New York ROBERT WEXLER, Florida STEVE CHABOT, Ohio ELIOT L. ENGEL, New York THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado WILLIAM D. DELAHUNT, Massachusetts RON PAUL, Texas GREGORY W. MEEKS, New York DARRELL ISSA, California BARBARA LEE, California JEFF FLAKE, Arizona JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia EARL BLUMENAUER, Oregon MARK GREEN, Wisconsin SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JERRY WELLER, Illinois GRACE F. NAPOLITANO, California MIKE PENCE, Indiana ADAM B. SCHIFF, California THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan DIANE E. WATSON, California KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida ADAM SMITH, Washington JOE WILSON, South Carolina BETTY MCCOLLUM, Minnesota JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California CONNIE MACK, Florida RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas TED POE, Texas THOMAS E. MOONEY, SR., Staff Director/General Counsel ROBERT R. KING, Democratic Staff Director (II) SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND NONPROLIFERATION EDWARD R. ROYCE, California, Chairman PETER T. KING, New York BRAD SHERMAN, California THOMAS G. TANCREDO, Colorado ROBERT WEXLER, Florida DARRELL ISSA, California, Vice Chairman DIANE E. WATSON, California MICHAEL MCCAUL, Texas ADAM SMITH, Washington TED POE, Texas BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky JERRY WELLER, Illinois DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California J. GRESHAM BARRETT, South Carolina RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri TOM SHEEHY, Subcommittee Staff Director DON MACDONALD, Democratic Professional Staff Member EDWARD A. BURRIER, Professional Staff Member GENELL BROWN, Staff Associate SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA ILEANA ROS-LEHTINEN, Florida, Chair STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, Vice Chair GARY L. ACKERMAN, New York THADDEUS G. MCCOTTER, Michigan HOWARD L. BERMAN, California JOHN BOOZMAN, Arkansas JOSEPH CROWLEY, New York CONNIE MACK, Florida SHELLEY BERKLEY, Nevada JEFF FORTENBERRY, Nebraska ADAM B. SCHIFF, California JO ANN DAVIS, Virginia BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky MIKE PENCE, Indiana DENNIS A. CARDOZA, California KATHERINE HARRIS, Florida RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri DARRELL ISSA, California YLEEM POBLETE, Subcommittee Staff Director YEVGENY GUREVICH, Professional Staff Member DAVID ADAMS, Democratic Professional Staff Member LEE COHEN, Staff Associate (III) C O N T E N T S Page WITNESSES Mr. Frank C. Urbancic, Jr., Principal Deputy Coordinator, Office of the Coor- dinator for Counterterrorism, United States Department of State ................. 9 Mr. John G. Kavanagh, Section Chief, International Terrorism Operations Section II, Counterterrorism Division, Federal Bureau of Investigation ........ 15 Eitan Azani, Ph.D., Senior Researcher, Institute for Counterterrorism, Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, Israel .......................................... 34 Mr. Christopher Hamilton, Senior Fellow, Counterterrorism Studies, The Washington Institute for Near East Policy ........................................................ 62 Mr. Ilan Berman, Vice President for Policy, American Foreign Policy Council . 67 LETTERS, STATEMENTS, ETC., SUBMITTED FOR THE HEARING Mr. Frank C. Urbancic, Jr.: Prepared statement .................................................. 11 Mr. John G. Kavanagh: Prepared statement ........................................................ 17 Eitan Azani, Ph.D.: Prepared statement ............................................................... 37 Mr. Christopher Hamilton: Prepared statement ................................................... 63 Mr. Ilan Berman: Prepared statement .................................................................. 69 APPENDIX The Honorable Dennis A. Cardoza, a Representative in Congress from the State of California: Prepared statement ............................................................ 77 The Honorable Gary L. Ackerman, a Representative in Congress from the State of New York: Prepared statement ............................................................ 77 (V) HEZBOLLAH’S GLOBAL REACH THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM AND NONPROLIFERATION, AND SUBCOMMITTEE ON THE MIDDLE EAST AND CENTRAL ASIA, COMMITTEE ON INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, Washington, DC. The Subcommittees met, pursuant to notice, at 10:33 a.m. in room 2172, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Edward R. Royce (Chairman of the Subcommittee on International Terrorism and Nonproliferation) presiding. Mr. ROYCE. This joint hearing of the International Terrorism and Nonproliferation Subcommittee and the Middle East and Central Asia Subcommittee will come to order. The title of the hearing today is ‘‘Hezbollah’s Global Reach.’’ The Hezbollah threat is grave, indeed. As the secretary general of Hezbollah, Hassan Nasrallah, has said, ‘‘Death to America is not a slogan. For us, death to America is a policy, a strategy, and a vision.’’ As our former Deputy Secretary of State, Richard Armitage declared in 2002, ‘‘Hezbollah may be the A-Team of terrorists and maybe al-Qaeda is actually the B-Team.’’ Hezbollah is lethal, and it is magnified by the support that it receives from state sponsors of terrorism, particularly Iran. That is what gives it its capability and makes it so lethal. Before September 11th, Hezbollah—which means ‘‘Party of God’’—was responsible for more American deaths than any other terrorist group. This included the 1983 suicide attack on the United States Marine barracks in Lebanon that killed 241 Ameri- cans and ushered in the modern age of suicide attacks, and it in- cludes the 1985 attacks on TWA Flight 847 and the 1996 attack on Khobar Towers. Hezbollah has again managed to seize the world’s attention. I was in Haifa this summer, as it rained rockets, as Hezbollah struck Haifa and much of northern Israel with some 4,000 indiscrimi- nately fired rockets in these terrorist attacks. When I was in Haifa, they were firing rockets not only at civilian populations; they also attempted to hit the hospital in Haifa. I had an opportunity to see one of those rockets, and to pick up the shrapnel with 50,000 ball bearings in every one of them, these rockets are intended to maximize civilian casualties. Haifa is a very cosmopolitan city. In the hospital there, I saw Arab Israelis, Druz Israelis, Jewish Israelis, all recovering. There were around (1) 2 500 people in that one hospital due to rocket attacks. Today, the Administration will testify that Iran and Syria have not stopped arming Hezbollah, despite U.N. Security Council Resolution 1701. Hezbollah is not just a menace to Israel, Lebanon and the region. According to the State Department’s terrorism report, Hezbollah has ‘‘established cells in Europe, in Africa, in South America, in North America, and in Asia.’’ One witness will tell us that Hezbollah’s organizational and logistical network exists today in 40 countries. This includes a significant presence in our own hemi- sphere, in the tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. The network operates in West Africa, where Hezbollah has been ac- tive trading ‘‘blood diamonds,’’ an issue the Africa Subcommittee explored when I chaired it. Many Americans may be surprised to learn that Hezbollah’s global reach includes significant activities on U.S. soil. A recent news report asserted that the FBI had more than 200 active cases involving suspected Hezbollah members at one point last year. The vast majority of this activity has been linked to fundraising, specifi- cally to attempts to use Visa cards and MasterCards for fraudulent funds to support Hezbollah along with other criminal fundraising activities. We must be concerned that this existing network could be used, should Hezbollah, perhaps prodded by Iran, decide to strike inside our country. A particular focus of this Subcommittee has been Hezbollah’s ability to enter the United States. Mahmoud Kourani, who was in- dicted in 2004 for being a ‘‘member, fighter, recruiter, and fund- raiser for Hezbollah,’’ having trained in Iran, paid $3,000 to be smuggled into Mexico. He then paid a ‘‘coyote’’ to travel in the trunk of a car across the border of my state, California, and up to Dearborn, Michigan, where he began efforts to raise funds to send Hezbollah back to the organization. Kourani’s brother is a top Hezbollah militia leader. Further, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille, a Lebanese-Mexican operating out of