EU: No intent yet to add Hizbullah to terror list

[Scurrilous]

Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja says, ‘Given the sensitive situation, I don't think this is something we will be acting on now’

<snip>

"The European Union does not intend to place Hizbullah on its list of terrorist organizations for the time being, EU President Finland said on Tuesday.

"Given the sensitive situation, I don't think this is something we will be acting on now," Finnish Foreign Minister Erkki Tuomioja, told a news conference following an emergency meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels.

Tuomioja's comments were in response to a letter signed by 213 members of the United States Congress sent to EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana asking that the EU add Hizbullah to its terrorist list.

Russia recently published a list of 17 groups it regards as terrorist organizations and did not include the Palestinian movement Hamas or Lebanon's Hizbullah group, both of which are regarded as terrorists in Washington."

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3284973,00.html

[Redstone]

1. Fucking Euroweenies.

"Let's do nicey-nicey with the terrorists, and they won't send any suicide bombers to our countries."

That's right, Euro-folks; just pull the covers up over your head; the Monsters Under The Bed won't get you if they can't see you.

Redstone

[eFriendly]

2. pathetic. . .

and before you get started: i'm not listening. :eyes:

[Redstone]

3. So don't fucking listen. That's what the "ignore" function is for.

Redstone

[The Straight Story]

4. Terrorists indeed

http://www.aijac.org.au/resources/hezb_00-06.html

http://www.intelligence.org.il/Eng/bu/hizbullah/pb/app4.htm

I think we are on the same page on a lot of things of late Redstone :)

[LivingInTheBubble]

14. They aren't terrorists

They are the only real defence lebanon has against invasion, in this case Israeli terrorists.

[Warren Stupidity]

16. Define terrorism. nt.

[Hav]

20. "Fucking Euroweenies"

Isn't that a bit over the line? What's next, EUrinals? I guess that's the common ground between the left and the right in the US :eyes:.
It's not like the "Euro-folks" all had a vote about it.

And to the other poster who insinuated that this is just a fuck you towards America (because all the Euroweenies just hate America so much), come on, that's just stupid. As if they have nothing else to do besides trying to find new ways to annoy the US.

[neoblues]

5. That Is Just Reprehensible...

ANY Organization that sends members, especially teenagers, with bombs strapped to their bodies into public destinations to self-detonate in order to kill as many innocent people and thereby generate as much "terror" as possible... IS BY DEFINITION, A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION!

Just because you, as a group of nations, generally dislike and/or disagree with a particular people/nation who also happen to be involved in political, idological and territorial disputes with these so-called "organizations" doesn't change the fact that if they walk like a duck, quack like a duck, make duck pellets like a duck, swim like a duck, mate with other ducks, and have duck DNA, they are ducks (that is, if they engage in terrorist acts, they are terrorist organizations, duh)!

This is an example of refusing to admit the obvious for obvious political reasons.

[Minstrel Boy]

7. edumacate yourself

Hezbollah doesn't do that.

[Ms. Clio]

11. oh, for pete's sake

don't confuse anybody with FACTS. Takes all the fun slam out of their self-righteous rants.

[megatherium]

21. Nonsense. They used a suicide bomber in Argentina in 1994 to kill 95.

http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/stories/lebanon/tl04.html

[LostinVA]

17. You're confusing Hezbollah with other groups

You know, how people still confuse Osama and Saddam... all those dudes look alike, eh?

[Minstrel Boy]

6. appropriately so

Canada only added it three years ago, under intense lobby pressure.

Hezbollah says Canada was duped into calling them terrorists

OTTAWA - Hezbollah says it has been the victim of a propaganda campaign and Canada made a mistake in listing it as a terrorist organization.

Until Wednesday, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham had resisted adding the organization to a list of terrorist groups, saying the social arm of Hezbollah was a legitimate charity.

...

Within Lebanon, Hezbollah is a heroic resistance movement.

To the Bush administration in the United States, it is the "A-team of terror."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/news/national/2002/12/12/hezbollah_rxn021212.html

[CHIMO]

8. Don't

Forget that 40% of the Lebanese government is composed of these people. So I guess that one would have to fight the government as a terrorist government. Now I wonder if other countries can call their ...., and use premtive...

[davidinalameda]

9. so when the Nazis took over the government in Germany

that legitimized them?

[Minstrel Boy]

10. They became a government, they weren't a terrorist organization

Though of course the Nazis had their own militia wing.

We need some precision of language. "Terrorist" has become a catch-all for "enemy," and it isn't always accurate.

[davidinalameda]

12. so Hezbollah is no longer a terrorist organization?

then what are they doing launching rockets from Lebanon into Israel?

[Minstrel Boy]

13. Before the recent escalation

their targets were military, not civilian. Militaries can be fought asymetrically, but they cannot be "terrorized."

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=364&topic_id=1760195

If you'd care to compare civilian atrocities since the escalation, be my guest.

[LostinVA]

19. Good point on language n/t

[LostinVA]

18. The figure I've always seen is 15%

[allemand]

15. Good.

They realize that putting an organization with hundreds of thousands of followers on a terrorist list will do absolutely nothing to solve the problem in Lebanon.

[VegasWolf]

22. Has the oil-frenzied Bush administration been added to that list? nt

[HannibalBarca]

23. How can you not call them terrorists?

I must say reading comments of late on these forums re: Israel and Hizbollah has begun to sow the seeds of doubt in me regarding the so called "progressiveness" of some here. Indeed they are terrorists and should be labelled as such. I'm Irish and never for one moment did I ever support the IRA or any of their actions even though my father grew up in the worst of "The Troubles". Add to the fact that one of my best friends is Lebanese and still I would never call those who blindly fire rockets in the hope of killing innocents "freedom fighters". Incidentally he despises Hizbollah and said support for them was waining, perhaps explaining their motivation for this latest conflagration. I cannot imagine an Israeli F-16 pilot getting up in the morning with anticipation of killing dozens of women and children which still does not mitigate the horror of that event when it occurs.

[neoblues]

24. Just a little Historical Perspective...

Born of the Israeli military seizure of Lebanon in 1982, Hezbollah, the Party of God, or rather, the Party of Allah, was started by Lebanese Shia under Iranian command-and it started hitting its enemies hard, using the classic Shia suicide bombing technique. (Back then, suicide bombs were still a shock.) From there on, it's just boom, boom, boom.

Boom #1: April 1983: Hezbollah suicide bomber destroys US Embassy in Beirut. 63 people killed.

Booms #2&3: October 1983: Hezbollah suicide bombers bring down highrise housing US Marines in Beirut** in which 241 Marines were killed. Exactly 20 seconds after that blast, Hezbollah suicide bombers hit French barracks, killing 58 French paratroopers. The U.S. and French were joint members of the International Peacekeeping Force and the attacks led to its withdrawal from Lebanon (further adding to the region's troubles).

Boom #4: November 1983: Hezbollah truck bombers destroy Israeli HQ in Southern Lebanon, killing 60 people.

The Marine Barracks Bombing...

Do we even remember?

[ButterflyBlood]

25. Too bad

Sorry, but Europe needs some common sense on this issue.