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EU Confusion on Hizbullah
(American Interest) Walter Russell Mead - "There is no consensus for putting Hizbullah on the list of terrorist organizations" since it had a political wing as well as an armed wing, said Cypriot Foreign Minister Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis, whose country currently holds the rotating EU presidency. However, she left the door open for a change in policy if anybody could find some "tangible evidence" of Hizbullah wrongdoing. Apparently word has not reached the EU about some of Hizbullah's past activities: The 1983 U.S. Embassy bombing in Beirut, which killed 63 people. The 1983 Beirut barracks attacks, the deadliest terrorist assault on a U.S. target prior to 9/11, which killed 241 Marines, sailors and soldiers and wounded over 100 others. The 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. The 1994 bombing of the Jewish Community Center in Buenos Aires, which killed 80 and injured over 300. The indictment of Hizbullah leaders by a UN tribunal for the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. Attempted 2009 attacks on Egyptian and Israeli targets, foiled by Egyptian security (with similar incidents in Thailand and elsewhere this year). The U.S., UK and Canada have all listed Hizbullah as a terrorist group. Perhaps there are reasons. Worth following up with a phone call, anyway. The EU has at least provided a new answer to an old question. Q: What do you call something if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck? A: A political wing.