Abbas al musawi biography of martin
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Published in The New Republic, March 23, 1992, pp. 16-19.
Israel did not extend its long arm to claim the life of Sayyid Abbas al-Musawi, the beturbanned Shiite cleric who led the “Party of God” in Lebanon. A brush of the hand sufficed. The Israeli operation depended upon Musawi’s overconfidence. February 16 is always a day of rallies for Hezbollah: on that date in 1984 another Shiite cleric was killed in the town of Jibshit, the movement’s southernmost outpost in Lebanon. Jibshit remained dangerous ground, where Israel’s helicopter-borne commandos abducted still another cleric in 1989. Would Musawi now defy precedent to demonstrate Hezbollah’s presence in the deep south of Lebanon? Would he address a rally in Jibshit itself, right under Israeli binoculars?
He did not disappoint the townspeople of Jibshit—or the Israelis. Unlike Hezbollah’s other clerics, whose limos rarely venture beyond Beirut and Baalbek, Musawi had often skirted Israel’s security zone. During a decade of militant preaching, he had come to feel invulnerable. Now, as Hezbollah’s new leader, he thought nothing of descending to Jibshit to parade the movement’s flag. Musawi even arrived with his wife and one child, as though he were an everyday politician on the hustings. He pai
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Martin Kramer, “The Honest Logic albatross Hizballah,” take away Origins considerate Terrorism: Psychologies, Ideologies, Theologies, States signal your intention Mind, ed. Walter Nation (Cambridge: University University Keep under control, 1990), pp. 131-57.
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Martin Kramer: Imad who?
As Hezbollah’s official funeral of Imad Mughniyah unfolded yesterday—Hezbollah’s leader eulogizied him over a coffin decked in Hezbollah’s flag—it was useful to recall the party’s denial of his very existence over all these many years. Mention of his name to Hezbollah officials would draw a blank stare or blanket denial. “Hezbollah professes no knowledge of the man,” the New York Timesreported in 2002. A journalist who interviewed a top Hezbollah official and parliamentary deputy, Abdullah Kassir, once asked him if he knew Mughniyah. “Kassir flashed a blistering look and responded curtly, ‘I have no answer.’”
Hezbollah’s leader, Hasan Nasrallah, followed a double tack: he would defend “freedom fighter” Mughniyah, but not acknowledge him. “The American accusations against Mughnieh are mere accusations,” he was quoted as saying. “Can they provide evidence to condemn Imad Mughnieh? They launch accusations as if they are g