A year or so ago, DHS Secretary Napolitano made a statement I was critical of - and rightly so, but for different reasons, ultimately, than the one I now make - several terrorists have crossed the border into the US from Canada. I criticized her at the time and in some ways it is irony - given Obama's position on immigration and allowing anyone into this country, they should not be bothered by who crosses into the US from Canada. On another level, our security - up until 5-6 years ago Canada had no tangible policy on foreigners being expelled from Canada. You land in Canada, often without a passport (in part because the host country really wanted you to leave) and claim refugee status. The Canadian Immigration people take them aside, have them fill out paperwork, question them, hand then credits for room and board, give them a notice informing them they need to show up for an immigration hearing in 45 days, and smile and tell them to have a good day, eh. Nearly 95% never showed up for any hearing. I am willing to bet many simply crossed into the US (their original intent).
Leading terror suspect tied to Canadian cell
Imad Mugniyah: Academic fears operations could be launched 'in and from' Canada
Stewart Bell
National Post
Tuesday, November 12, 2002
Authorities in the United States believe that one of the world's most wanted men is behind a Canadian terrorist cell that has raised money, falsified documents and bought military equipment for the Lebanese group, Hezbollah.
The agents dispatched to Canada to garner support for the terrorist group are now suspected by the United States of working for Imad Mugniyah, a senior Hezbollah leader and the suspected mastermind of attacks worldwide.
Despite a US$25-million reward posted by the FBI, Mr. Mugniyah remains on the loose and is reportedly planning strikes against U.S. and Israeli targets in retaliation for any American military action in Iraq.
Kenneth Bell, a U.S. Justice Department lawyer prosecuting a Hezbollah cell that uses Canada as a base, told the National Post he is convinced the Lebanese-Canadian operatives were working for Mr. Mugniyah.
The U.S. claim that Mr. Mugniyah's agents have established a clandestine network in Canada may add fuel to the ongoing debate over whether Ottawa should ban the Hezbollah under the new counterterrorism law.
While the Opposition wants the government to outlaw Hezbollah outright, Bill Graham, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, said he will not impose sanctions on the group [as the U.S. has done] because of its social and political activities.
"Imad Mr. Mugniyah is a key Hezbollah operational commander," said Martin Rudner, director of the Canadian Centre of Intelligence and Security Studies at Carleton University's Norman Paterson School of International Affairs.
"Reports of his presence at a recent Hezbollah-led planning meeting of terrorist groups at a remote region of South America could signal an intention to extend Hezbollah terrorist operations in the Western Hemisphere," he said.
"In such a scenario, Imad Mugniyah's control over a Canadian Hezbollah network could presage the launching of terrorist operations in and from this country."
Mr. Mugniyah is the alleged head of the Hezbollah security apparatus and is wanted in the United States for planning and taking part in the 1985 hijacking of a commercial airliner that left an American dead, according to the FBI.
He is also thought to have been behind a lengthy list of terror attacks spanning the past two decades, including the 1983 bombing of a U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut and the 1992 bombing of the Israeli embassy in Argentina.
Mr. Bell said what convinced him of Mr. Mugniyah's involvement in Canada was a fax intercepted by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service -- a message sent by Mohamad Hassan Dbouk, a Hezbollah agent in Vancouver, to his boss in Lebanon, Hassan Laqis.
"Dbouk sent one of these Palm Pilots to Laqis and the closing line to this was, 'I want you to know that I will do anything I can for you and the father, and I mean anything,' " Mr. Bell said. He believes the term "the father" referred to Mr. Mugniyah.
Later, in a telephone conversation monitored by CSIS agents, Mr. Dbouk admonished his alleged accomplice and brother-in-law, Ali Adham Amhaz, a resident of Burnaby, B.C., for mentioning the name Haj Imad on the phone.
"What a terribly dangerous thing to say," Mr. Dbouk said in the June 2, 1999, conversation. "Would anyone bring up Imad's name here or in any other country and stay alive?"
A CSIS report on the conversation said Mr. Dbouk referred to Haj Imad as "the whole story" and advised Mr. Amhaz to deny knowing the man. "Dbouk cautioned Amhaz to be careful and to pretend to know nothing," CSIS wrote.
Mr. Bell said he believes the Haj Imad mentioned in these exchanges is Mr. Mugniyah. According to Mr. Mugniyah's FBI "most wanted" poster, he uses the alias Hajj.
He is now believed to be living in southern Lebanon or Iran, but lately his name has surfaced in connection with planning in South America for a new wave of attacks against the United States and Israel.
Last week, authorities alleged that Mr. Mugniyah was directing al-Qaeda sympathizers based in the tri-border area at the junction of Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay. The plan is to launch attacks within Western countries if the U.S. military moves against Iraq.
There are only two known photographs of Mr. Mugniyah and some [people] deny he even exists. He may have had plastic surgery to disguise his appearance. Intelligence officials say all documents about his past were systematically stolen or destroyed in an attempt to erase his identity, but he is believed to have been born in Tayr Dibba, Lebanon, on July, 12, 1962.
After training with Yasser Arafat's Fatah and the Palestinian Liberation Organization, he fought in Lebanon's civil war and later served in Mr. Arafat's personal body guard, Force 17.
He is credited with establishing an Iranian-backed international terrorist network that operates within Western countries to help fulfill Hezbollah's goal of destroying Israel and establishing Islamic rule in the Middle East.
CSIS evidence presented in Federal Court called Mr. Mugniyah "an extremely violent man." A Hezbollah member caught in Canada in 1993 told CSIS agents that Hezbollah's political leaders would use Mr. Mugniyah to carry out operations outside Lebanon.
"When he joined Hezbollah -- by the way, he is a very fierce fighter -- they carried out many bombings and assassinations," Mohamed Hussein al-Husseini told CSIS. "Imad Mr. Mugniyah's group operates in great secrecy. He commands a number of men."
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