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U.S. Sought Hizbollah Help After September 11 Attacks
BEIRUT, Nov. 17 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United States sent a "political bomb" to end the activities of Lebanese resistance movement Hizbollah immediately after the September 11 deadly attacks, top official from the movement told Kuwaiti daily newspaper
Al Rai Al Aam.
Speaking to Al Rai Al Aam, the organization's leader Hassan Nasrallah said, "After September 11 events the United States thought that we will panic and so they sent representatives thinking that after September 11 we would agree to things that we didn't agree to before that."
Nasrallah said two U.S. representatives contacted the party and attempted to "forge a new relationship."
They suggested, Nasrallah said, that Hizbollah distance itself from "terrorists in Islam's name," end its struggle against Israel's occupation of Lebanon and break off relations with Syria and the resistance Palestinian organizations, Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
"Because we are an Islamic movement, they think that we have relations with all Islamic movements and that we obtain information about them. Therefore, we were asked to provide intelligence assistance and to give them information on who we think may have committed the September 11 attacks," Nasrallah told
Al Rai Al Aam.
Hizbollah refused the U.S. representatives' request because calling off the struggle against Israeli occupation "would mean the martyrs had shed their blood in vain," Nasrallah said.
"It would also mean abandoning our legitimate religious obligation to support the Palestinians," he insisted. "We don't accept that any one teaches us the different between what is religiously legitimate and what is criminal and terrorist," he added.
Nasrallah added that the U.S. representatives tried to force them into confrontation with what they called "fundamentalist Sunnis".
"They said that the conflict between the Shiites and the Sunnis will increase in the future," said Nasrallah, "but we did not fall trap to the argument of the danger of fundamentalist Sunnis and our position from the American War on Afghanistan has been clear from the very beginning."
Hizbollah's refusal to cooperate with Washington was the reason it was included on the U.S. State Department's list of terrorist organizations, Nasrallah charged.
Speaking on the U.S. request to freeze the assets of Hizbollah, Nasrallah said that the aim was to force Lebanon to dub Hizbollah as a "terrorist group" and to create an internal conflict in Lebanon between the government and the people.
He added that they do not have any assets in the name of the movement, and that all they have come through donations and are immediately spent.
"The issue goes beyond freezing the assets," said Nasrallah. "It is an invitation to eradicate Hizbollah starting with freezing the assets and then arresting the resistance fighters and then disarming the movement and finally stopping its political life."
But this is not the first time that the movement has been approached by U.S. representatives, Nasrallah revealed.
"After the liberation of South Lebanon the U.S. representative contacted Hizbollah and requested that it stops it's resistance in the occupied Shebaa farms, to promise, even verbally, to stop any attacks against Israelis on the borders and finally to stop supporting the Palestinian Intifada and to break off relations with Syria," said Nasrallah.
In return the movement was offered great amounts of money to rebuild southern Lebanon, which had been occupied by the Israelis before Hizbollah drove them out in May of 2000. This would have allowed Hizbollah to enter Lebanese political life by having it represented in the government after the United States lifts its veto against its participation.
They were also offered to have their prisoners of war being held in Israel released.
"Of course the American offer was refused because to agree is to them means to five up our faith and history," said Nasrallah. "It is obvious that the United States will only approach matters in the Middle East from an Israeli perspective."
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