Is Darrell Issa a Muslim Terrorist Sympathizer?

Just sayin’…….

After all, Issa is one of a handful of members of Congress that is of Arab descent:  He is Lebanese and claims to be a Christian, but how do we know for sure?  We can only take his word for it….  Darrell Issa is the only member of Congress to have visited the turmoil ridden Lebanon.  You know, the country that has as its elected government a terrorist organization that has its strings pulled by Iran?  And prior to that the Lebanese government was heavily influenced—some say completely controlled—by Syria.

Issa has criticized Israel for the way it has dealt with Hezbollah, the Iranian backed terrorist group.  He laments that the Israelis have been too heavy handed with the group.  Hey, all they did was cross onto Israeli soil, kidnap and torture an Israeli soldier on patrol, and constantly lob rockets into heavily populated Israeli civilian areas.  Nothing much to be concerned about there.  Certainly there was no reason for the Israelis to launch the offensive of which Issa was heavily critical of “Israel’s wanton violation of Lebanese territory and its somewhat failed attempt to defeat Hezbollah.”

“You can’t end an idea or a terrorist organization by guns alone,” Issa said.  Great.  So am I right in assuming that Congressman Issa fully supports negotiating a settlement with the Taliban in Afghanistan?  What about Al Qaeda operatives who to our knowledge have not committed any acts of violence, and only want to be left to live in peace?  Does that mantra apply to EVERYONE, or just Israel?  Or when it comes to the United States military, does Mr. Issa subscribe to the Republican American exceptionalist theory that expressly forbids negotiating with any terrorist affiliated organization?

Israel should negotiate with Hezbollah, an organization whose primary function is to wipe the nation of Israel off of the map and kill as many Jews as possible in the process, but the U.S. can’t negotiate with the likes of Muqtada al Sadr?

And just exactly why is Mr. Issa so supportive of Hezbollah, anyway?  Where does this love for their Iranian benefactors come from?  Perhaps because being an Arab himself, he sympathizes with the government of his Persian cousins?

Why does Congressman Issa object so vehemently to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives having the necessary authority to stop gun sales to those who directly transport them across the Mexican border for sale to Mexican drug cartels?  In a hearing last week, Issa, the Chair of the House Oversight Committee, criticized the ATF for not doing its job in preventing weapons from being smuggled into Mexico during an operation they called “Fast and Furious,” an operation Issa had been briefed on over a year ago, and thus he knew all about it.

But in the same hearing he refused to allow ATF agents testifying before the committee to comment on the fecklessness of U.S. gun laws and the difficulty it creates in preventing assault weapons of all kinds—including AK47 assault rifles and .50 caliber rifles—from being purchased in bulk legally in the United States and smuggled into Mexico.  It would seem that since the activities of the criminal institutions across the border are such a source of fear and concern among Republican lawmakers, Mr. Issa would want to do everything he can to help the ATF prevent such transactions from taking place.  After all, destroying the Mexican drug cartels is in everybody’s best interests (except, of course, for the Mexican drug dealers), and the most effective way to prevent them from being able to slaughter massive numbers of people on Mexican streets and in U.S. border towns (latest estimates have tallied the body count at over 7,000 this year in Mexico) is by making it illegal to purchase such weapons in bulk in the first place.

The Flag of Hezbollah

It would seem outrageous to think that Issa would want to deliberately make it difficult for the ATF to do their job, until we uncover the extent that Hezbollah and the Mexican drug cartels are working collaboratively.  Given his ties to Lebanon, it doesn’t seem so outrageous anymore.

According to the Washington Times, the Iran-backed group Hezbollah “has long been involved in narcotics and human trafficking in South America’s tri-border region of Paraguay, Argentina and Brazil. Increasingly, however, it is relying on Mexican narcotics syndicates that control access to transit routes into the U.S.”  From the Washington Times story:

Hezbollah relies on “the same criminal weapons smugglers, document traffickers and transportation experts as the drug cartels,” said Michael Braun, who just retired as assistant administrator and chief of operations at the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

“They work together,” said Mr. Braun. “They rely on the same shadow facilitators. One way or another, they are all connected.

“They’ll leverage those relationships to their benefit, to smuggle contraband and humans into the U.S.; in fact, they already are [smuggling].”

The story goes on to state that Hezbollah has successfully ferried its people into the United States, although they have not (yet) carried out an attack on U.S. soil.  So why is Issa hindering the ATF from performing its appointed duties?

Hezbollah is based in Lebanon.  Darrell Issa is Lebanese, and is the only member of Congress to have visited Lebanon.  He was also very critical of Israel’s treatment of Hezbollah.

In 2006, Issa took a trip to Brazil and met with leaders of the considerably large Lebanese community in Sao Paolo.  WikiLeaks obtained sensitive communiqués detailing some of those meetings that Issa conducted separately from his official business on the trip.  Most of the information in the cables is pretty benign, but how do we know that Issa didn’t secretly meet with those individuals at other times; perhaps with individuals who have known ties to Hezbollah (which would be most people in the Lebanese government these days)?  How can we be sure that he did not exchange sensitive information that could be harmful to the United States, or even Israel?

Darrell Issa has a rather checkered past:  He was convicted of possession of an unregistered handgun in 1972; that same year while in the Army, he was accused of stealing a fellow soldier’s car, and in a separate incident, he and his brother were arrested on suspicion of auto theft.  In 1982, an Ohio manufacturing plant he owned was burned down in a suspected arson fire mere weeks after the insurance on the facility was beefed up.

Kind of makes you wonder now that he’s in a position of real power, has anything really changed?

You see?  We can play that game too.