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Lightning Out of Lebanon: Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil
Before September 11, 2001, one terrorist group had killed more Americans than any 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.”
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.”
- GenresNonfictionTerrorism
272 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
January 17, 2013
This book is a history of both Hezbollah terrorism and recent counterterrorism efforts of the United States.
September 9, 2017
Hezbollah is a terrorist organization located in the Middle East. Right?
Wrong.
Hezbollah is an international terrorist organization with groups or cells and sleeper cells located in many countries including the United States. This is the story of how these terrorists are raised, enter the U.S. and raise money plus support for Hezbollah. It is how one such cell was discovered and successfully destroyed.
The first reaction to this is to think it can't be true, it can't happen here. How can anyone hate the U.S. so much they can work and live here without changing their minds?
The U.S. tries so hard to help countries around the world. Why would anyone hate us with such passion?
We pride ourselves on having a free and open press, free speech and diverse lifestyles. Yet we really see ourselves through our own rose-colored glasses. We conveniently ignore how the rest of the world sees us or interprets our actions. After all, we are the greatest country on Earth.
This is an unsettling book. It tries to make us see ourselves as others see us. It tries to make us realize that those things we value so highly not only make us free but make us vulnerable to those who hate us. It is and is meant to be unsettling.
I heard the audio version read by Tony Call. He did an excellent job using a news anchor, no nonsense voice.
Wrong.
Hezbollah is an international terrorist organization with groups or cells and sleeper cells located in many countries including the United States. This is the story of how these terrorists are raised, enter the U.S. and raise money plus support for Hezbollah. It is how one such cell was discovered and successfully destroyed.
The first reaction to this is to think it can't be true, it can't happen here. How can anyone hate the U.S. so much they can work and live here without changing their minds?
The U.S. tries so hard to help countries around the world. Why would anyone hate us with such passion?
We pride ourselves on having a free and open press, free speech and diverse lifestyles. Yet we really see ourselves through our own rose-colored glasses. We conveniently ignore how the rest of the world sees us or interprets our actions. After all, we are the greatest country on Earth.
This is an unsettling book. It tries to make us see ourselves as others see us. It tries to make us realize that those things we value so highly not only make us free but make us vulnerable to those who hate us. It is and is meant to be unsettling.
I heard the audio version read by Tony Call. He did an excellent job using a news anchor, no nonsense voice.
December 16, 2020
Scary. The truth is more dangerous than fiction. Good details of the terrorist threat among us right now.
January 24, 2008
Read about the terrorist group that makes al Qaeda look like a bunch of boy scouts. They are here in America, running many kinds of legitimate and illegitimate businesses. You'll probably be frightened by the information in the book, but may also be uplifted to read about the dedicated professionals in local, state and federal law enforcement/anti-terror who are working hard to keep us safe.
January 1, 2017
this shirt read strings together hezballah financing based on the Michigan cigarette trade and an established presence in South America to paint a picture of islamist sleeper cells in the western hemisphere.
Read
August 29, 2008one sided story
Read
December 16, 2010Good explanation of the cigarette scam for fund raising by terror groups. These organizations are parasitic by nature. Follow the MONEY!
December 31, 2010
Must read
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews