LEBANON: CANDIDATE FOR TERRORIST LIST?

By Michael Kraft

by Michael Kraft
The Lebanese Government�s stonewalling attitude in protecting the Lebanese convicted murderer of an American sailor during the TWA 847 hijacking should prompt the U.S. Government to consider placing Lebanon on the State Department�s list of state supporters of terrorism.

This is the time of the year that the State Department traditionally reviews the terrorist list while preparing its annual international terrorism report to Congress at the end of April.

Lebanon provides sanctuary to a number of terrorists sought by the United States, as well as allowing terrorist groups to operate from its soil.

Mohammad Ali Hamadi, who was released last week from a German jail after serving nearly 19 years for the killing of Robert Stethem during 1985 airline hijacking, flew back to Lebanon last week. According to press reports, he was briefly detained in Lebanon and then released.

The Beirut Daily Star reported that the Lebanese government has criticized the U.S. demand that Lebanon hand over Hamadi. "Originally they [the U.S. government] could have requested that Germany hand him over. Why are they asking us?" Prime Minister Fouad Siniora was quoted as telling reporters Wednesday. The Prime Minister should know better.

In fact the U.S. had repeatedly asked Germany to extradite Hamadi, ever since he was arrested in 1987 while trying to enter Germany. We approached the Germans again recently when he was coming up for parole hearings in January. However the Germans quietly released him last week in what had the earmarks of a deal to obtain the release of a German archeologist who was kidnapped in Iraq. (See my Dec. 21 item)

Providing terrorists with sanctuary from prosecution or extradition is one of the grounds the Secretary of State can use for formally designating a country as one that has repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism. This is one of the illustrative criteria that the Secretary of State can use in making the determination. Another criteria is providing safe houses or headquarters.

These criteria arguably apply to Lebanon.

A number of terrorist groups, such as Hezbollah and the PFLP, have long enjoyed the ability to operate from Lebanese territory. The U.S. has long been seeking a number of terrorists who were also involved in the TWA 847 hijacking. The U.S. also wants to bring to justice those who kidnapped and killed American hostages during the 1980�s and blew up the Marine Barracks and U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

The criteria are outlined in both the Senate and House Congressional Report language that accompanied the Anti-Terrorism and Arms Export Amendments Act of 1989 (Pub. Law 101-222.) That legislation codified the original 1979 Export Administration Act�s terrorism list provisions and laid out procedures for adding or removing a country from the terrorism list.

(Bit of History: Both pieces of Legislation were partly prompted by events in Lebanon. The Export Administration Act�s (EAA) controls over export of dual use items to designated terrorist list countries was fueled in part by the Commerce Department�s approval of export licenses to Syria for C-130 aircraft despite Syria�s shelling of the Christian sections of Beirut during the Lebanese civilian war. The 1989 revisions reflected Congressional reaction to the Reagan administration�s removal of Iraq from the terrorist list several years earlier without advance consultations and Ollie North�s illegal shipments of missiles to Iran to help release Americans held hostage by Iranian allies in Lebanon. I was involved in drafting both laws, the EAA as a Congressional staffer and the 1989 legislation while in the State Department)

Designation of a country as a state sponsor triggers a half dozen economic sanctions, such as suspension of economic and military aid, tighter controls over the export of dual-use equipment that can be used to support military or terrorist activities, and denial of tax credits for American companies or individuals doing business in the designated country�a disincentive to investment.

U.S. foreign assistance legislation also authorizes the President to suspend economic assistance to a country that supports terrorism by providing sanctuary, even if the country is not formally designated on the terrorism list.

Lebanon has enjoyed a pass on the terrorist list designations because the State Department concluded that the Bakka Valleyarea, where most of the terrorists were and still are based, was under Syrian control. But now that Syria is largely out of Lebanon, that productive rationale has lost its validity.

Nobody really wants to punish Lebanon, a country which has had it share of difficulties, including its relations with Syria and Hezbollah�s cross border attacks on Israel to bolster the group�s domestic political activities. Lebanon is generally regarded as a friendly country and has received a considerable amount of assistance from the U.S.

But issuing statements from the State Department podium or sending demarches that the U.S. wants Hamadi is not enough.

The Lebanese government should be made aware that it is vulnerable to U.S counterterrorism laws and possible economic sanctions if it continues to harbor terrorists who killed Americans in cold blood.

After all, it was President Bush who once said �you are either with us or against us.�

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