Hizb’Allah Via Mexico
At least one alleged Hizb’Allah terrorzoid has already used our sieve-like border with Mexico to sneak into the US: A question about Hizballah and Mexico.
Now, turn to May 3, 2003. That’s when FBI agents searched the Dearborn, Mich., residence of Mahmoud Kourani, a 32-year-old illegal alien from Lebanon.In a statement submitted last week in federal court, Assistant U.S. Attorney Kenneth Chadwell revealed words the FBI found on audiotapes there: “You alone are the sun of my lands, Nasrallah! Nasrallah!/… your voice is nothing less than my jihad.”
“We offer to you Hizballah, a pledge of loyalty,” said a tape. “… Rise for Jihad! … I offer you, Hizballah, my blood in my hand.”
Kourani pleaded guilty to harboring an illegal alien. A judge sentenced him to six months. On Jan. 15, a second indictment was unsealed, charging Kourani with conspiracy to provide material support to Hizballah.
“Kourani was a member, fighter, recruiter and fundraiser for Hizballah,” said the indictment. “Operating at first from Lebanon and later in the United States, Kourani was a dedicated member of Hizballah who received specialized training in radical Shiite fundamentalism, weaponry, spy craft, and counterintelligence in Lebanon and Iran.”
“Kourani,” Chadwell added in his statement, “is charged with conspiring with individuals at the highest levels of the terrorist organization, including one of his brothers who is the Hizballah chief of military security for southern Lebanon.”
Kourani got to America, the prosecutors allege, with the help of a Mexican official.
“On approximately Feb. 4, 2001, Kourani surreptitiously entered the United States by sneaking across the U.S./Mexico border in the trunk of a car,” wrote Chadwell. “He reached Mexico by paying $3,000 used to bribe an official in the Mexican Consulate in Beirut, Lebanon, to give him a Mexican visa.”