The Obama administration is looking for ways to build up "moderate elements" within the Lebanese Hezbollah guerrilla movement and to diminish the influence of hard-liners, a top White House official said on Tuesday.
| Those would be the one who are content to let the armed wings and splinter groups attack Israelis using arms and funds provided by the political wing of Hezb'allah, instead of the ones who want Hezb'allah to get credit for the attacks. |
John Brennan, assistant to the president for homeland security and counterterrorism, met with Lebanese leaders during a recent visit.
"Hezbollah is a very interesting organization," Brennan told a Washington conference, citing its evolution from "purely a terrorist organization" to a militia to an organization that now has members within the parliament and the cabinet.
| That is to say, a terrorist organization which has made the long march through the institutions, and now owns the nation of Lebanon as well as the Shiite areas of Lebanon. Brilliant, Mr. Brennan. |
| It's what a successful group of terrorists do on their way to owning the place. Mao went from the Long March to becoming the top dog, too ... |
"There is certainly the elements of Hezbollah that are truly a concern to us what they're doing. And what we need to do is to find ways to diminish their influence within the organization and to try to build up the more moderate elements," Brennan said.
| Kill 'em. That's about the only thing that'll do it. Oh, and cut them off completely from Iran's Revolutionary Guard, which trains, finances, and provides them arms smuggled by Syria. That part will be a bit harder, and cannot be accomplished by a conference of leading nations in Washington, DC -- properly catered, of course. |
He did not spell out how Washington hoped to promote "moderate elements" given that the organization is branded a "foreign terrorist organization" by the United States.
"We don't deal with them," he acknowledged.
Last month, the United States and Israel accused Syria of arming Hezbollah with increasingly powerful missiles and weapons technology. Brennan said he raised those concerns during his recent visit to the region.
| Really? With whom did he raise those concerns, and under what terms? Expressing concern to a mid-level Israeli diplomatic corp assistant is not at all the same as mentioning to President Bashar al-Assad that the next shipment crossing the Lebanese border will result in American missiles hitting key targets in Damascus, including his bed. |
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