Friday, April 24, 2009
Does anyone else find this disturbing ... ?
... indeed, nauseating?
Note: Hezbollah has not engaged in suicide bombing or even anything that could be called "terrorism" since the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1995, when it was in many ways an entirely different organization.
I am not idealizing Hezbollah. It is a violent fundamentalist organization.
I am sure al-Manar is not pleasant viewing -- I'm sure there is plenty of gory horror broadcast on al-Manar.
But: a) Hezbollah has been far less effectively violent than the Israeli Terrorist Army in the last 5 years. b) Hezbollah did the world, the cause of peace and justice, and in fact even Israel itself a big a favor by defeating the Israeli Terror assault on Lebanon two years ago. c) 6 years in prison for broacasting a TV channel?
posted by speakingcorpse : 4/24/2009 12:53:00 PM
By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press Writer Larry Neumeister, Associated Press Writer – Thu Apr 23, 6:56 pm ET
NEW YORK – A Pakistani immigrant described by prosecutors as "Hezbollah's man in New York City" was sentenced Thursday to nearly six years in prison for airing the militant group's television station.
U.S. District Judge Richard M. Berman handed down a sentence of five years and nine months to Javed Iqbal, who had pleaded guilty in December to providing aid to a terrorist organization.
Iqbal, 45, admitted as part of a plea agreement that he used satellite dishes on his Staten Island home to distribute broadcasts of Al Manar, the TV station of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah, which has been fighting Israel since the early 1980s and has been branded by the U.S. government as a terrorist group.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Eric Snyder said Iqbal recruited Al Manar, even traveling to "the belly of the beast, South Beirut," to meet with its general manager. "He was, in a very real sense, Hezbollah's man in New York City," Snyder said.
Snyder said Iqbal bought special satellite equipment to allow Al Manar to provide 24-hour programming from November 2005 through May 2006 so Hezbollah could use it to recruit followers and suicide bombers. Prosecutors said Iqbal's business was paid $28,000 monthly for at least five months for airing the station to its North American customers.
Note: Hezbollah has not engaged in suicide bombing or even anything that could be called "terrorism" since the bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina in 1995, when it was in many ways an entirely different organization.
I am not idealizing Hezbollah. It is a violent fundamentalist organization.
I am sure al-Manar is not pleasant viewing -- I'm sure there is plenty of gory horror broadcast on al-Manar.
But: a) Hezbollah has been far less effectively violent than the Israeli Terrorist Army in the last 5 years. b) Hezbollah did the world, the cause of peace and justice, and in fact even Israel itself a big a favor by defeating the Israeli Terror assault on Lebanon two years ago. c) 6 years in prison for broacasting a TV channel?
posted by speakingcorpse : 4/24/2009 12:53:00 PM
