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March 20, 2009
Exclusive: CRC Open-Source Intelligence Briefs
W. Thomas Smith Jr., Director of the Counterterrorism Research Center
BRAZIL-PARAGUAY-ARGENTINA: Reuters is reporting (what we’ve been reporting here and elsewhere for months): “Iran is increasing its activity in Latin America and the Caribbean, including actions aimed at supporting the Lebanese militant group Hizballah.”
According to the report:
“Navy Admiral James Stavridis, who oversees U.S. military interests in the region as head of U.S. Southern Command, also said Hizballah was linked to drug-trafficking in Colombia. ‘We have seen... an increase in a wide level of activity by the Iranian government in this region,’ Stavridis told the Senate Armed Services Committee. …
“Stavridis said Hizballah activities in South America have been concentrated particularly in the border region between Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, but also in Colombia. …
“Stavridis is the latest U.S. defense official to express concerns about Iranian influence in Latin America, where the left-wing governments in Venezuela, Cuba, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Bolivia have all become allies of Iran in recent years.”
SYRIA: Speaking of Hizballah – just when you thought the lunacy of attempting to open dialogue with terrorists could not devolve into something even more bizarre than the idea of such an attempt – “Syrian President Bashar Assad has encouraged all parties who acknowledge Hizballah's significant role in the region to engage in dialogue with the Shiite group. ‘We need pragmatism and realism,’ Assad told the Italian newspaper ‘La Repubblica’ in remarks published on Wednesday, adding that ‘it is not important whether the West considers Hizballah a terrorist organization or a state within a state. The important thing is that Hizballah has weight in the region.’”
Great. So the president of a state sponsor of terrorism, which provides operational support to Hizballah and other terrorist groups, says more “weight” should be given to Hizballah because the group already has “weight” (meaning legitimacy, respectability, and strength).
According to Naharnet, Assad (keep in mind, a terrorist supporter and enabler) even goes so far as to praise the current U.S. administration for its willingness “to engage in dialogue with political elements that the previous administration had refused to deal with,” and he even offers to serve as a go-between in any talks between the U.S. and Iran. What’s worse; Assad’s comments are being treated as if they are the rational comments of a fair-minded head of state?
“This week Russia heralded a military buildup with President Dmitry Medvedev calling for ‘comprehensive rearmament’ of the once-mighty Russian armed forces. …
“Russia is also pumping itself up in an effort to quash the US missile-defense system (intended to guard against Iranian launches) proposed for Eastern Europe and to deter possible NATO expansion into Ukraine and Georgia.”
— Visit W. Thomas Smith Jr. at uswriter.com.
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