Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil [Hardcover]

Tom Diaz (Author), Barbara Newman (Author)

Book Description

Release date: March 1, 2005

Before September 11, 2001, one terrorist group had killed more Americans than any other: Hezbollah, the “Party of God.” Today it remains potentially more dangerous than even al Qaeda. Yet little has been known about its inner workings, past successes, and future plans–until now.

Written by an accomplished journalist and a law-enforcement expert, Lightning Out of Lebanon is a chilling and essential addition to our understanding of the external and internal threats to America. In disturbing detail, it portrays the degree to which Hezbollah has infiltrated this country and the extent to which it intends to do us harm.

Formed in Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah is fueled by hatred of Israel and the United States. Its 1983 truck-bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut killed 241 soldiers–the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S. military–and caused President Reagan to withdraw all troops from Lebanon. Since then, among other atrocities, Hezbollah has murdered Americans at the U.S. embassy in Lebanon and the Khobar Towers U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia; tortured and killed the CIA station chief in Beirut; held organizational meetings with top members of al Qaeda–including Osama bin Laden–and established sleeper cells in the United States and Canada.

Lightning Out of Lebanon reveals how, starting in 1982, a cunning and deadly Hezbollah terrorist named Mohammed Youssef Hammoud operated a cell in Charlotte, North Carolina, under the radar of American intelligence. The story of how FBI special agent Rick Schwein captured him in 2002 is a brilliantly researched and written account.

Yet the past is only prologue in the unsettling odyssey of Hezbollah. Using their exclusive sources in the Middle East and inside the U.S. counterterrorism establishment, the authors of Lightning Out of Lebanon imagine the deadly future of Hezbollah and posit how best to combat the group which top American counterintelligence officials and Senator Bob Graham, vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have called “the A Team of terrorism.”

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a compact and cogent addition to the literature on terrorism, two expert journalists join forces for a portrait of how a Hezbollah cell in Charlotte, N.C., was broken up a little more than a year before September 11. In clear prose with a minimum of political ax-grinding, Newman (The Covenant) and Diaz (Making a Killing) provide biographies of cell leader Mohammed Youssef Hammoud (from his origins in the Shiite slums of Beirut) and member Said Harb; the FBI agents and federal prosecutors (who overcame bureaucratic inertia and civil libertarian–fostered barriers to accumulate the evidence that led to Hammoud's prosecution); and many incidental players along the way. They also provide clear historical summaries of the religious and ethnic divides in the Middle East, and portraits of lesser-known phenomena such as the role of Paraguay (and its borders with Argentina and Brazil) in providing havens for international terrorists. The authors' skill at characterization of friends and foes puts a great many thriller writers in the shade, and at no point do they fall into stereotyping. Embedded in the book is an argument for the kind of interagency intelligence sharing that is still in its infancy. (Mar. 1)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Before the terrorist attack of 9/11, Hezbollah in Lebanon had been responsible for more American deaths by terrorism, according to Newman and Diaz. The cell network of this "party of God" is broad and contains substantial sleeper cells throughout the U.S. that have been scrutinized by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies. Drawing on those investigations, the authors profile the activities of a Hezbollah cell in Charlotte, North Carolina. They detail activities involving cigarette and drug smuggling to operating front charitable organizations, all aimed at financing the purchase of weapons, high-tech equipment, and fraudulent passports. From its inception, the group has also received substantial support from Iran. While revealing our vulnerability to terrorists penetrating out national borders, the authors argue for greater latitude for law enforcement agencies to operate in controlling our borders, balanced against concerns about erosion of civil liberties. This is a frightening look at the need to recognize the potential for further terrorist danger on American soil and what will be required to prevent it. Vernon Ford
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Presidio Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345475682
• ISBN-13: 978-0345475688
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,546,531 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A timely, objective, eye-opening look at Hezbollah September 17, 2005

By Daniel Jolley HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

I was particularly interested in this book because I live reasonably close to Charlotte, North Carolina, and I remember being pretty surprised at the news in 2000 that a cigarette-smuggling ring of Hezbollah operatives had been broken up in the Queen City. My interest waned fairly quickly, though, as I thought of the suspects as criminals rather than terrorists. Back before 2001, you just didn't think about terrorists planning to take their murderous jihad to American soil - especially North Carolina. Of course, such perceptions changed after 9/11, and the story of law enforcement's success in crippling this particular terror cell is of paramount interest to me now. Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil is a real eye-opener. Besides making an unassailable case that Hezbollah terror cells are operating within numerous United States cities right now, it shows just how lax and inefficient our counterterrorism efforts were and still are, how uncooperative "friendly" governments can be in terrorist matters, and how obscenely easy it has been for terrorists to gain illegal entry into the country and establish themselves here. The ring leader of the Charlotte Hezbollah cell even secured a government small business loan to aid him in his money-raising efforts. The book is also inspirational and hopeful, however, as it shows how effective our law enforcement and security agents can be when they work together as equals.

This is not just the story of the Charlotte Hezbollah cell; Lightning Out of Lebanon gives an insightful overview of Hezbollah itself - its history, tactics, and deadly potential. According to the authors, Hezbollah is potentially much more dangerous than Al Qaeda because it is much more efficient, disciplined, and organized. And Hezbollah is most certainly here in America - in numerous cities from coast to coast. Today, these terrorists may only be engaging in criminal activities as a means for raising blood money, but tomorrow, at just a word from their bosses in Lebanon and Iran, they could awaken and commit terrible acts of mass murder and destruction in our very heartland.

It is infuriating to see just how easily a Hezbollah cell such as the one in Charlotte could prosper. These terrorists' secret has always been to fly under the radar and to engage in criminal activities that, in and of themselves, don't seem to be all that substantial. Smuggling cigarettes from North Carolina to tax-happy Michigan was unlikely to generate much more than a slap on the wrist (or to generate too much concern from potential Tarheel juries). Immigration Services were so prostrate and overloaded that the bad guys didn't even have to make fake IDs and personal documents - they could easily get them from agencies such as the DMV and Social Security themselves. The Charlotte ring leaders had multiple IDs provided by these official agencies. Multiple fake marriages were rarely discovered, providing terrorists with an easy way to remain in the country. The whole situation would be funny if it weren't so disastrously pathetic. In many ways, the Charlotte cell ran its operations from a Domino's Pizza establishment and even got a number of unscrupulous American acquaintances to take part in their nefarious crimes - Mohammed Hammoud's American wife, for example, came to serve as the true mastermind behind the group's highly profitable criminal schemes.

Fortunately, a number of dedicated law enforcement officials and prosecutors weeded out the true nature of Hammoud's organization - but it wasn't easy. It is always shocking to go back and see just how hamstrung our nation's defenders were before 9/11 thanks to the "China Wall" erected between criminal investigators and intelligence agents. You can't win many games when your own teammates aren't allowed to speak to one another. It took a man of daring and vision to get around that wall and get something done. FBI man Bob Clifford was such a man, and his strategy of deliberate aggressiveness proved very successful in the Charlotte case (despite Janet Reno's great concern over violating the civil rights of the terrorists). Clifford and his team even managed to secure the cooperation of Canadian law enforcement in developing evidence for the trial in question. Winning foreign cooperation was and is a rare achievement. This book recounts a number of cases where supposedly friendly governments such as France and Italy not only protected wanted terrorists from American justice, they actually let them escape to kill another day. One of the Charlotte Hezbollah cell members is sitting fat and happy in Vancouver because the Canadians won't extradite him. With friends like these, who needs enemies?

This book really is a history of both Hezbollah terrorism and recent counterterrorism efforts of the United States. Both the culture of the Lebanese hotbed of Hezbollah recruiting and the culture of US intelligence/law enforcement agencies are penetrated with great insight and objectivity by the authors. For every murderous terrorist in this story, there is a determined American hero who overcame great obstacles (most of which were put in place by the U.S. government itself) to truly save the day and make America a little bit safer.

This book is a less than gentle reminder of the incredible threat terrorists still pose to Western democracies, especially the United States. Hezbollah, the authors pretty much prove, may well be a bigger threat than Al Qaeda - and that's a pretty disturbing revelation. Having revealed all of the weaknesses of past counterterrorism efforts, the authors conclude by putting forth a number of recommendations on how to better reform a system that is still broken. There could not be a more timely and perhaps more important read than Lightning Out of Lebanon - especially for those who unwittingly aid the terrorists by putting the civil liberties of fanatical Islamist killers over the security concerns of this country in a time of war. This book provides ample evidence that we must do more, not less, to protect ourselves from the bloodthirsty killers of Hezbollah, Al Qaeda, and other terrorist groups.

15 of 22 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 10 stars Stunning must read April 25, 2005

By Beth DeRoos HALL OF FAMETOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Most Americans by now know of but how many know of Hezbollah and what it is and what it does? How many know who Mohammed Youssef Hammoud is? How many know how Special Forces, FBI, Dominos Pizza, cigarettes, Canada are connected? Al Qaeda and Usama Bin Laden are well known, but they are not, if one reads this book, the ones we should be worried about. What do these cities Charlotte, Dearborn, New York City, Newark, Boston, Chicago, Louisville, Houston, Atlanta, Tampa, Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Portland have in common and why should you be worried? Can we say 'terror cells'?

The authors are not some right wing or left wing nut people, but authors with reputable credentials and a sense of patriotism that is so refreshing. The way they talk about how so many in the FBI are willing to not only make lousy pay, but love this country enough that they are willing to die for it, speaks volumes. Also made me mad, because it seems that the higher ups in the FBI as well as the White House, don't seem to give much of a damn.

This book is a must read for anyone who doesn't want their head in the sand, and who wants mature, thought provoking reading material that will make them think and hopefully push for some real action.

And if you ever have the chance to hear the authors speak either in person on on C-SPAN you wont be disappointed.

17 of 25 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Hezbollah 101 April 23, 2005

By Steve Iaco

Format:Hardcover

This is a highly informative little book on Hezbollah, the Lebanese terrorist organization with a global reach. The authors detail the history of religious conflict in Lebanon, the birth of Hezbollah out of the early 1980s Lebanon Civil War, and the role of the Iranian government in financing and facilitating Hezbollah's illicit deeds. They review well chronicled tales of Hezbollah terrorist attacks on US interests abroad - most famously, the 1983 Beirut Marine barracks bombing and the Kohbar Towers bombing in Saudi Arabia in 1996 - and against Israel. They also tell us a great deal about Hezbollah's extensive operations in South America's lawless Tri-Border Region (the area bordering Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil) and its deadly attacks on the Israeli embassy (1992) and a Jewish community center (1994) in Buenos Aires. The experience in Argentina, the authors say, illustrates how Hezbollah operatives infiltrate a foreign country and establish support cells that can be activated with lethal effect whenever the leaders in Lebanon or their Iranian sponsors deem it in their interests.

In the U.S., the authors focus on Hezbollah support cells in Charlotte, NC and Dearborn, MI, although they identify at least 14 US cities where the terrorist organization is known to be active. The support cells engage in various criminal enterprises to raise funds for Hezbollah. In Charlotte, the illicit activity of choice was smuggling cigarettes into parts of Michigan in order to avoid heavy local sales taxes. This cost Michigan taxpayers some $3.7 million in lost tax revenue, much of which found its way to Hezbollah's coffers in Lebanon. In order to break up the nefarious ring, the authors show how the FBI, ATF and local law enforcement officials had to overcome ill-considered Federal laws strictly limiting cooperation between intelligence and criminal branches, and a timid, don't-rock-the-boat mentality that held sway prior to September 11th. The so-called "Chinese Wall" erected by Congress in 1978 and reinforced and heightened by Janet Reno's Deputy Jamie Gorelick (later a 9/11 Commission member) comes in for stinging criticism.

This book is especially timely now with the Cedar Revolution unfolding in Lebanon and Hezbollah vying for political legitimacy and international recognition. It will provide any reader with a better understanding of one of the world's most lethal terror networks.