Good point Roger…that’s why America suffers from a culture of violence

No, “Vigilant”, the real reason you responded to me is to show support for the THUGS in your government, in front of an audience, here on Personal Liberty. Judging by your comments you are probably a shill for, or, even employed by those same authoritarian criminals. Too bad because it is your type which are destroying your country. I am sure you are doing well considering the lack of political awarenes of so many, mainly in the U.S. but also in much the rest of the West. Happy days ahead for you, I am sure.

“In general, Hezbollah enjoys support by many in the Lebanese world community in part because of the numerous social programs it provides in Lebanon that include schools, hospitals, utilities and welfare.”

This statement is actually given a footnote reference which does not even refer to a ‘world community’ of Lebanese, but instead is even titled; “Poll Finds Overwhelming Majorities IN Lebanon Support Hezbollah, Distrust U.S.” (Emphasis mine) and was a poll based on 800 citizens of Lebanon, and comes from “World Public Opinions .com” http://www.worldpublicopinion.org/pipa/articles/brmiddleeastnafricara/236.php
Somehow this is translated to “world community” to serve the purpose of compelling everyone to be suspicious of Lebanese who have lived in Latin America.
When the report can’t even get the simplest of facts correct, from a reputable source, one has to question everything that comes out of their mouth in such reports… especially in trying to make the Lebanese population synonymous with Hezbollah.

Here is another example from the report:

“The evidence to suggest Hezbollah is actively involved in the trafficking of South American cocaine to fund its operations is mounting as well. In 2008, U.S. and Colombian authorities dismantled a cocainesmuggling and money-laundering organization that allegedly helped fund Hezbollah operations.
Dubbed Operation Titan, the enforcement effort uncovered a money laundering operation that is suspected of laundering hundreds of millions of dollars of cocaine proceeds a year and paying 12 percent of those profits to Hezbollah.29 Operation Titan has led to more than 130 arrests and the seizure of $23 million.30 One of those arrests was of Chekri Mahmoud Harb (also known as “Taliban” or “Tali”) who is a Lebanese national suspected of being a kingpin of the operation.”

Now let me point out that here it is claimed that “evidence” is mounting. What is the evidence according to the claim? – The dismantling of a criminal operation ALLEGEDLY to help fund 12% of profits to Hezbollah, for no other rationale than the suspected ‘king pin’ was Lebanese.

“The presence of Hezbollah in Latin America is partially explained by the large Lebanese
diaspora in South America.”

There has been great numbers of Lebanese in South America for a very long time, and considering that this article asks us to equate Lebanese with a terrorist organization is rather prejudiced considering most of the Lebanese who left Lebanon were Christian. I suppose the Columbian-Lebanese Shakira and her father are now suspected terrorist supporters?

I could go on as the theme of the report continues much the same with little real “evidence” and a great deal of speculation.

That said, I’m not arguing against border security, or even against possible real threats. In fact, I think we should stop worrying about the borders of other countries and spend that money in strengthening our own. I’m positive that we could secure more than 40 porous percent with the money we give in foreign aid. We should start spending our money on REAL defense; not imperialist political hegemony and militant economic interest abroad.

A couple of thoughts on the Cartel-Terrorist link. First if you want to get rid of the drug cartels, get rid of them. Do your homework (intelligence) and drop a few Daisy Cutters on known locations. Don’t try to take these guys down one by one. It’s the equivalent of playing whack-a-mole. One fell swoop, cartel disappears. I think that would be a good deterrent for others who might want to engage in this activity. Most likely some civilians would be killed, but look at the numbers that have been slaughtered already.
Secondly if the cartels think they are gaining ad advantage by hooking up with islamic terrorists they are sadly mistaken. Once the infidels are no longer useful it will all be over soon enough. In the meantime our border is nothing but a sieve and the terrorists are already here. It’s not a matter of if, but a question of when.

Any lies, or at best distortions of reality to discredit the opposition, to American/Israeli hegemoney. and provide another excuse for WAR. What is ignored, OF COURSE, is American DEEP and EVIL involvement in the Drug industry

Once again it all comes down to our huge appetite for drugs in America. No market = no profits= no traffickers. This article doesn’t surprise me in the least because the war on drugs has always been a failure. It did surprise me that 8 million Lebanese have recently moved into Brazil and Argentina. Which means more have moved into other countries also (who’s left)? The thing is is that the majority of their citizens who departed Lebanon are Christians not Hezbollah which wasn’t addressed. So how are they involved? Hezbollah members are not known for their wealth or influential status in the economic arena but anything is possible with world wide travel abilities. Are they the new Mafia? This article also tried to connect drug traffickers with terrorist attacks when they are for the most part two separate entities. Drug Traffickers can indeed be violent but they are in it for the money and Terrorists are generally in it for revenge and political power. Mexico and Columbia are still the pipeline for most drugs yet Venezuela was highlighted as being more important although I do see the Iran connection.

Exhibit A as to why continuing the failed Drug War hurts America. It empowers the drug cartels AND gives them incentives to work w/ MidEast terrorist organizations. Decriminalization would take away drug cartels’ main source of income and they would crumble.