IPT: Hezbollah Presence in Mexico is More Significant than Previously Thought

According to a report from the Investigative Project on Terrorism (IPT), Hezbollah is working with Mexican drug cartels much more closely than previously thought.

Via IPT:

A series of recent law enforcement actions indicates the depth of Iranian-tied criminal activity in Mexico may be greater than previously known.

In October, a Texas-car salesman was arrested in connection with an Iranian plot to kill Saudi Arabia's ambassador to Washington. Prosecutors say officials in Iran's Revolutionary Guard Corps believed they were dealing with a "large and sophisticated" Mexican drug cartel to carry out the hit. A $100,000 down payment on the hit shows the Iranians were comfortable dealing with the cartel representative, who in fact was a Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) informant.

Earlier this month, prosecutors in Virginia unsealed an indictment charging a Lebanese man, Ayman Joumaa, with smuggling more than 100 tons of Colombian cocaine with the Los Zetas Mexican drug cartel. Hizballah, an Iranian proxy in Lebanon, "derived financial support from the criminal activities of Joumaa's network," the U.S. Treasury Department claimed earlier this year.

These cases are symptoms of a much larger problem the Obama administration seems more interested facilitating than it does in addressing:

The growing nexus between Hizballah and Mexican drug cartels allows the Iran-backed extremist group to make use of drug cartel transit routes to gain entry into the United States through its porous border with Mexico. Hizballah, in turn, offers Mexican syndicates expertise on smuggling and explosives as well as access to its drug trafficking networks in the Middle East and South Asia. 

Iran-backed Hizballah and Mexican drug syndicates share "the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts," former DEA operations chief Michael Braun told the Washington Times. "They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another they're all connected." 

Braun also alleged that members of Iran's Quds Force are "commanding and controlling" Hizballah's criminal operations in Latin America.

This adds an entirely new angle to both the immigration debate and the Fast and Furious scandal. Whomever is responsible for signing off on the gun-walking operation that sent thousands of guns to Mexico's drug cartels should have to deal with an entirely new set of charges - aiding and abetting an enemy of the United States.

Earlier this month, a Federal Judge in New York City signed an order stating that Iran and Hezbollah were responsible for the 9/11 attacks, along with al-Qaeda.

From the Declaration of Independence:

He (King George) has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

I'd say Hezbollah and the Mexican drug cartels qualify as 'savages.'

h/t Doug Ross

Al-Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri sending Jihadists to Libya

CNN, the news entity that essentially championed the 'Arab Spring' in its early days is now reporting that bin Laden's former #2 man, Ayman al-Zawahiri is sending al-Qaeda Jihadists to Libya in order to beef up its presence in that country. At some point, shouldn't any remaining credibility liberal media outlets like CNN still have, be given to those who saw all of this coming?

Via CNN:

Al Qaeda's leadership has sent experienced jihadists to Libya in an effort to build a fighting force there, according to a Libyan source briefed by Western counter-terrorism officials.

The jihadists include one veteran fighter who had been detained in Britain on suspicion of terrorism. The source describes him as committed to al Qaeda's global cause and to attacking U.S. interests.

The source told CNN that the al Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, personally dispatched the former British detainee to Libya earlier this year as the Gadhafi regime lost control of large swathes of the country.

The man arrived in Libya in May and has since begun recruiting fighters in the eastern region of the country, near the Egyptian border. He now has some 200 fighters mobilized, the source added. Western intelligence agencies are aware of his activities, according to the source.

I still can't get over how John McCain chastised Joe Biden for saying the Taliban is not our enemy when McCain is the one who called the Libyan rebels his 'heroes.'

h/t Weasel Zippers

Ron Paul Hearts OWS

No one has picked up more Democrat votes in Iowa than Ron Paul. It looks like he's chumming for more by heaping praise on OWS and comparing it to the Tea Party.

Via Weekly Standard:

While campaigning in Iowa on Wednesday, Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul praised the Occupy Wall Street movement, comparing it to the Tea Party movement. "In many ways, I identify with both groups," Paul said. Both groups are fed up with problems in Washington and "the two-party-system," Paul said while speaking at an insurance company in Des Moines.

Praising the left-wing Occupy Wall Street movement is an unusual move for a Republican presidential candidate, but Ron Paul is, of course, an unusual Republican presidential candidate. He jumped to first place in the Iowa caucus polls partly because of support from people who aren't Republicans. His comments that members of the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street are unhappy with the "two-party system" could fuel speculation that Paul will make a third-party bid of his own--something he has not ruled out.

Although “some people like to paint Occupy left and the Tea Party people right," Paul said, "I think it makes my point. There’s a lot of people unhappy, and they’re not so happy with the two-party system because we have had people go in and out of office, congress changes, the presidency changes, they run on one thing, they do something else. Nothing ever changes."

"The Tea Party and Occupy people are just tired of it all," he said. "And they would like to see changes."

With OWS, there is one argument the group has that is not without merit; Paul actually hits on it.

Paul praised the Occupy movement for focusing attention on the “very rich” who became wealthy because of government bailouts or contracts, but said that wealthy people who make an honest living “have to be protected. We shouldn’t be jealous or envious of those people.”

That paragraph, taken by itself is quite accurate but the elephant in the room when it comes to Paul supporting OWS is the fact that the movement wants much bigger government, not less, which flies in the face of everything Paul allegedly stands for. OWS has the support of public sector unions, the American Nazi Party, the Communist Party USA, and CAIR.

When it comes to profiling the Tea Party and OWS, there is absolutely no comparison. Just look at the more than $25 million in damages and over 5,000 arrests that have taken place at OWS protests. The Tea Party has no such blemish.

If Paul keeps this up, team Obama might end up being more concerned about a third party run than will the Republican Party.