[Middle East Strategy at Harvard] Martin Kramer - At Hizbullah's official funeral of Imad Mughniyeh Thursday, where Hizbullah's leader eulogized him over a coffin decked in Hizbullah's flag, it is useful to recall the party's denial of his very existence over all these many years. Mention of his name to Hizbullah officials would draw a blank stare or blanket denial. Nasrallah's eulogy has placed Mughniyeh officially in the pantheon of Hizbullah's greatest martyrs. That his relationship to Hizbullah was ever a question is a testament to the discipline of Hizbullah in sticking to lies that serve its interests. Hiding its clandestine branch makes it easier for Hizbullah to sell the movement to useful idiots in the West who insist that the movement hasn't done any terror in years, and maybe never did any at all. The truth is that Hizbullah has always included within it a clandestine terrorist branch, and it probably always will. Indeed, Nasrallah's threat in his eulogy - to commence an "open war" with Israel outside the Israel-Lebanon theater - alludes to the "global reach" that Mughniyeh helped to build. Hizbullah's official send-off to a most-wanted terrorist has exposed the core of Hizbullah that lies deep beneath the schools, the hospitals, and all the other gimmicks the party uses to get support.
2008-02-15 01:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive