Islamic
rogue regimes rank among the leaders of the unholy alliance of
state-supported and state-sponsored global narco-terrorism.
Narco-terrorism has become a most effective weapon – economically and
operationally – in the battle against the most effective opponent of
rogue regimes, the USA. These regimes aim to undermine the US homeland
security, to injure the US morale, morality and social fabric, to
instill fear and erode the confidence of Americans in the capabilities
of their own government, and to bankroll expanding global terrorist
operations.
Driven by ideology and greed, Iran, Syria, Hizballah,
Hamas and additional Palestinian, Arab and Islamic terror organizations
have targeted the US throughout the globe and on the mainland,
establishing beachheads in Central and South America and setting sleeper
cells in the US and in Canada.
The deep roots of the
narco-terrorist threat to the US and to the Free World were highlighted
by the Congressional Research Service in an April 30, 2010 report, and
by Anthony Placido, the intelligence chief of the US Drug Enforcement
Administration, during his March 3, 2010 testimony before the House
Government Reforms Subcommittee on National Security: "More than 31,000
Americans – or approximately ten times the number of people killed on
September 11, 2001, die each year as a direct result of drug abuse... It
is important to note that this is not an emerging threat per se, but
one that has existed since the late 1980s or early 1990s.... Eighteen of
44 designated international terrorist groups have been linked to some
aspect of the international drug trade.... The nexus between drugs and
terrorism is well established, and the threat to our national security
is evident... Some drug trafficking organizations, based in the
Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay Tri-border Area [which has a large Muslim
population], have ties to radical Islamic terrorist groups such as
Hezbollah.... There are numerous reports of cocaine proceeds entering
the coffers of Islamic Radical Groups (IRG) such as Hezbollah and Hamas
in Europe and the Middle East."
During the 1970s and 1980s,
Arafat's and Mahmoud Abbas' PLO controlled clandestine laboratories in
Lebanon, laying some of the foundations to the current narco-terrorism
infrastructure, which boosted PLO's stashed bank accounts. According to
Western law-enforcement agencies, 40 percent of PLO's weaponry
acquisition was then financed by the trafficking of heroin, hashish or
morphine. Much of the heroine consumed in the US and West Europe was
provided by Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, the PLO and other terrorist
organizations, in return for Soviet Bloc military supplies. Tom Smith, a
retired FBI Deputy Director for Intelligence stated, in a March, 1988
interview with the El Paso Times that PLO's large contingency in
Nicaragua aimed to facilitate a narco-terror offensive against the USA.
Narco-terrorism
in the service of America's enemies was discussed by Dr. Vanessa
Neumann, senior fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, in a
December, 2011 E-note: "Venezuela and Iran are strong allies.... Iran
also has a growing direct influence in Latin America, spurred by three
principal motivations: 1) a quest for uranium, 2) a quest for gasoline,
3) a quest for a base of operations that is close to the US territory,
in order to position itself to resist diplomatic and possible military
pressure, possibly by setting up a missile base within striking distance
of the mainland US, as the Soviets did in the Cuban Missile Crisis.
FARC, Hezbollah and Al Qaeda all have training camps, recruiting bases
and networks of mutual assistance in Venezuela as well as throughout the
continent... Latin America is an increasing source of funding for
Middle Eastern terrorism.... Hezbollah has high-level officials directly
involved in the South American cocaine trade and its most violent
cartels, including the Mexican gang Los Zetas.... The Tri-Border Area,
South America's busiest contraband and smuggling center, has long been
an ideal breeding ground for terrorist groups..."
Narco-terrorism
constitutes a most sinister weapon, aiming to maim and murder the soul
and the body of free societies. Regimes and organizations which are
involved in narco-terrorism are afflicted by a corrupt character, which
contrasts the essence of liberty and peace.
Narco-terrorist
regimes and organizations cannot engage in – or adulate -
narco-terrorism on the one hand, and claim to be engaged in the pursuit
of peace on the other hand.
The sweeping and comprehensive
uprooting of regimes and individuals which are involved in
narco-terrorism, directly and indirectly, constitutes a prerequisite for
the advancement of genuine, long term peace. On the other hand, the
engagement with - rather than the confrontation of - narco-terrorist
regimes and organizations, amounts to the sacrifice of permanent values
and long term interests on the altar of short-term convenience.
Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger
The Ettinger Report
"Second Thought: A US-Israel Initiative"
First published in "Israel Hayom" newsletter, January 6, 2012
