Hezbollah could be one of the first security challenges faced by the new Obama administration. An official government report concludes the Iranian-backed Islamic terror group has been forming sleeper cells throughout the United States that could become operational. The report estimates Hezbollah could become a much more potent national security threat by 2014. The group was responsible for the 1983 Beirut Marine Barracks bombing, which killed 241 U.S. Marines and 58 French servicemen. ...

In the early days of the War on Terror, back when the United States was only fighting one war, in Afghanistan, Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage made a bold statement: “Hezbollah may be the ‘A-Team of terrorists,’” Armitage said, referring to the Lebanese-based, Iranian-controlled organization, “and maybe al-Qaeda is actually the ‘B’-Team.” Hezbollah has certainly been killing Americans for longer than al-Qaeda has - beginning in 1983...

I have been traveling, but am somewhat surprised at how little attention the recent multi-country drug bust firmly tying Hezbollah to Latin American drug trafficking structures has received. This is the clearest publicly-available case that shows how organized criminal groups and terrorist organizations are broadening and strengthening their links. The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), responsible for several significant busts recently, led this one too. The operation has been underway...

The networks of global terrorism--both formal and informal--leave no region untouched. The Western Hemisphere is no exception, as we recently learned from the tragic events of September 11th. The Americas, from Canada to Tierra del Fuego, is a breeding ground for Islamic radical and extremist organizations that take advantage of the region's ill-equipped, and poorly trained security agencies. Canadian intelligence officials acknowledge that their country is riddled with terrorists and have...

Islamic leaders are allying with South American indigenous groups, because they see this impoverished, illiterate population, as the ideal environment for starting an extremist revolution and converting them to Islam. The process may take hundreds of years, but time means nothing to the fundamentalist. After all Allah is immortal and if Muslims waited 1300 years before invading Europe again, they can wait to convert Christians, animists and pagans. In 711 C.E. Muslims crossed the Straight of...

Iran's growing commercial ties with Venezuela are bringing with it Iranian intelligence operatives and Hezbollah members seeking to expand Islamic radical operations in South America. Hezbollah has long had a foothold in several local Arab immigrant communities in South America. But Venezuela gives them a secure local base of operations. It is feared that Hezbollah and Iran will seek to carry out terror attacks against Israeli and Jewish targets in South America, using these new Venezuelan...

Since the September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, U.S. attention to terrorism in Latin America has intensified, with an increase in bilateral and regional cooperation. In its April 2008 Country Reports on Terrorism, the State Department highlighted threats in Colombia and the tri-border area of Argentina, Brazil, and Paraguay. Cuba has remained on the State Department’s list of state sponsors of terrorism since 1982, which triggers a number of economic sanctions. In...

For more heartening coverage of the hostage rescue in Colombia, see from Saturday's Wall Street Journal and this opinion article, from Saturday's Washington Post. Schumacher-Matos usefully takes on Human Rights Watch for overstating Colombia's human rights problems; this organization seems interested only in proving that "right-wing" regimes are terrible and seems entirely willing to overlook the depredations of "left-wing" narco-guerrillas. It seems to be a prisoner of the...

Praised be Allah, Creator of the universe, peace and blessings be with the Prophet Muhammad, with his Family and with all his Companions. Praised be He who made us noble through the Coran and illumined our hearts with faith. Dear brothers and sisters: Assalamu ?Alaikum wa Rahmatullah Introduction: I am pleased to present this compact study on the muslims in Latin America, begging God Allmighty will assist me to provide an image that is clear and correct. In this study I will try, with...

Introduction Colombia, one of the closest U.S. allies in Latin America, has been ravaged for decades by a civil war pitting left-wing guerrilla groups against right-wing paramilitary organizations. The two predominant rebel groups-the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN)-are included on the U.S. State Department’s list of foreign terrorist organizations. Under Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who took office...