Hezbollah (28 page)

166.
Ibid., 15, 21, 248; “Report of the Task Force of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI): Analysis of the Attack on the Seat of the Mutual Israeli Argentinean Association (AMIA).”

167.
Burgos and Nisman, 15.

168.
Arrest warrant for Samuel Salman el Reda.

169.
Ibid.

170.
“Iran as a State Sponsoring and Operating Terror,” Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center (Israel), Special Information Bulletin, April 2003.

171.
Burgos and Nisman, 333, 337–39, 354–55.

172.
Article in
Clarin
newspaper, as cited in Burgos and Nisman, 345.

173.
Burgos and Nisman, 334; Marc Perelman, “Argentine Authorities Said to Seek Arrest of Iranians in 1994 Bombing,”
Forward
, November 18, 2005.

174.
Burgos and Nisman, 299;
United States of America v. Bassam Gharib Makki
, Affidavit of FBI Agent James Bernazzani Jr.; William R. Long, “Islamic Jihad Says It Bombed Embassy; Toll 21,”
Los Angeles Times
, March 19, 1992; Bergman,
Secret War with Iran
, 170; US Department of State,
Patterns of Global Terrorism 1992
, Washington, DC, April 1993, 1, 9.

175.
Bergman,
Secret War with Iran
, 170–71.

176.
Burgos and Nisman, 301–2.

177.
Bergman,
Secret War with Iran
, 171.

178.
Burgos and Nisman, 301.

179.
Long, “Islamic Jihad Says It Bombed Embassy.”

180.
USA v. Bassam Gharib Makki
, Affidavit of James Bernazzani Jr.

181.
Statement of Ambassador Philip Wilcox,
Terrorism in Latin America/AMIA Bombing in Argentina
.

182.
Burgos and Nisman, 302.

183.
US CIA, “Lebanon’s Hizballah,” 8–9.

184.
Burgos and Nisman, 305–6.

185.
AMIA indictment, 84–85.

186.
Burgos and Nisman, 152.

187.
Author interview, Alberto Nisman, March 21, 2010.

188.
AMIA indictment, 31, 125.

189.
Ibid., 166.

190.
“Barakat Traveled to Iran with Paraguayan Passport” (Spanish),
ABC Color
(Asunción), June 9, 2003; Burgos and Nisman, 313.

191.
Bergman,
Secret War with Iran
, 172.

192.
Burgos and Nisman, 301.

193.
US CIA, “Lebanon’s Hizballah,” 8.

194.
Library of Congress, “Global Overview of Narcotics-Funded Terrorist and Other Extremist Groups,” 21.

195.
AMIA indictment, 231–32; Burgos and Nisman, 309.

196.
United States of America v. Bassam Gharib Makki
, Affidavit of FBI Agent James Bernazzani Jr.; Long, “Islamic Jihad Says It Bombed Embassy.”

197.
Burgos and Nisman, 305.

198.
AMIA indictment, 139–40.

199.
Bergman,
Secret War with Iran
, 171.

200.
Ibid.

201.
Burgos and Nisman, 239.

202.
AMIA indictment, 102.

203.
Burgos and Nisman, 228.

204.
US CIA, “Lebanon’s Hizballah: Testing Political Waters.”

205.
Burgos and Nisman, 377.

206.
“Panama Jews Fear Sabotage in Crash,”
Jerusalem Post
, July 21, 1994; “Bomb Caused Plane Crash, Panama Official Says,”
New York Times
, July 21, 1994.

207.
Statement of Ambassador Phillips,
Terrorism in Latin America/AMIA Bombing in Argentina
.

208.
“Lebanese Group Claims Responsibility for AMIA and Panamanian Aircraft Bombing,” Voice of Israel, July 23, 1994, acquired through
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
, July 25, 1994.

209.
US FBI, “International Radical Fundamentalism.” See also the finding of Hezbollah expert Magnus Ranstorp that Hezbollah (with help from Iran) was behind attacks in Argentina, Panama, and London in the wake of the July 1994 peace agreement signed between Israel and Jordan. Magnus Ranstorp, “Hizbollah’s Command Leadership.”

210.
Hudson,
Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area
, 35, 19.

211.
“Two Lebanese Are Linked to Hezbollah in the East” (Spanish),
ABC Color
(Asunción), November 27, 2002; “Argentine Prosecutors Link Tri-Border Hizballah Leaders to AMIA Attack,”
ABC Color
(Paraguay), May 28, 2003 (Spanish).

212.
Perelman, “Clandestine Operation Targeted Arab Suspects,”
The Forward
, January 17, 2003.

213.
Rotella, “Jungle Hub for World’s Outlaws.” See also Hudson,
Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area
, 77. According to Hudson, Kadi is the same as Marwan Safadi who, according to the Nisman/Burgos AMIA report, may also have played
a role in the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center in New York (see Burgos and Nisman, 315). Re Kadi/Safadi, see also “Lebanese Prisoner in Miami Is the Cousin of Individual Involved in Attack” (Spanish),
ABC Color
(Asunción), February 24, 2010.

214.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Islamic Extremist.”

215.
Hudson,
Terrorist and Organized Crime Groups in the Tri-Border Area
, 18; Goldberg, “In the Party of God: Hezbollah Sets Up Operations.”

216.
Author interview, former FBI agent, Washington, DC, February 23, 2011.

217.
Allan Woods, “Ottawa Was Terror Target, U.S. Reports,”
National Post
(Canada), February 9, 2004.

218.
Author interview, former FBI agent, Washington, DC, February 23, 2011.

219.
AMIA indictment, 154.

220.
US Congress, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform,
Transnational Drug Enterprises (Part II): Threats to Global Stability and U.S. Policy Responses: Hearing before the Subcommittee on National Security and Foreign Affairs
, 111th Cong., 2d sess., March 3, 2010, Statement of Anthony P. Placido.

221.
Wege, “Hizballah’s Bekka Organization,” 29–38.

222.
Ron Ben Yishai, “Hizbullah’s Drug Link: The Ayatollahs Allowed Drug Traffic as a Weapon against Israel,”
Yediot Ahronot
(Tel Aviv), June 6, 1997.

223.
US Department of State, Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement,
International Narcotics Control Strategy Report
1, 2011, 365.

224.
Author interview, DEA agents, Washington, DC, June 18, 2010.

225.
US Department of Justice, “Operation Green Ice (1992),”
DEA History Book 1990–1994
; Andelman, “Drug Money Maze,” 94–108.

226.
Author interview, DEA agents, Washington, DC, June 18, 2010.

227.
Ibid.

228.
Library of Congress, “Global Overview of Narcotics-Funded Terrorist and Other Extremist Groups”; Yishai, “Hizbullah’s Drug Link.”

229.
US Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, “International Radical Fundamentalism: An Analytical Overview of Groups and Trends,” November 1994, declassified on November 20, 2008.

230.
US Congress, Senate Armed Services Committee, Posture Statement of Admiral James G. Stavridis, United States Navy Commander, United States Southern Command, 111th Congress, 1st sess., March 17, 2009, 12.

231.
Jo Becker, “Beirut Bank Seen as a Hub of Hezbollah’s Financing,”
New York Times
, December 13, 2011.

232.
Ibid.

233.
Chris Kraul and Sebastian Rotella, “Drug Probe Finds Hezbollah Link,”
Los Angeles Times
, October 22, 2008.

234.
US Department of the Treasury, “Treasury Designates Medellin Drug Lord Tied to Oficina de Envigado Organized Crime Group,” press release, July 9, 2009.

235.
Associated Press, “17 Arrested on Curacao for Involvement in Hezbollah-linked Drug Ring,”
Guardian
(London), April 29, 2009.

236.
“Police Crack Down on Curacao Drug Ring with Ties to Hizbullah,”
Naharnet
, April 29, 2009.

237.
Statement of Ambassador Philip Wilcox,
Terrorism in Latin America/AMIA Bombing in Argentina
.

238.
Statement of Tommy Baer,
Terrorism in Latin America/AMIA Bombing in Argentina
.

239.
Benjamin Birnbaum, “General in Latin America Trains Eye on Middle East,”
Washington Times
, July 29, 2010.

240.
US Congress, House Armed Services Committee,
Fiscal Year 2013 National Defense Authorization Budget Requests from U.S. Southern Command and U.S. Northern Command: Hearing before the House Armed Services Committee
, 112th Cong., 2d sess., March 6, 2012, Statement of Douglas Fraser.

241.
Associated Press, “U.S.: ‘Unthinkable’ Terror Devastation Prevented,” June 3, 2007.

242.
“Exclusive: CIA Documents, the FBI and PF Show How the Acts of Islamic Terror Network in Brazil,”
Veja
(Brazil), April 2, 2011; see also “Brazil Latest Base for Islamic Extremists,”
Telegraph
(London), April 4, 2001.

243.
Author interview, retired FBI agent, Washington, DC, February 23, 2011.

244.
Reuters, “Report: Saudi Officials Warned of Iran Plot to Attack Israel Embassy in Argentina,”
Haaretz
(Tel Aviv), October 14, 2011.

245.
US Department of State,
Country Reports on Terrorism
2011, July 31, 2012, 184.

AS HE NAVIGATED
his motorcycle taxi through Bangkok’s notoriously congested streets, Boonserm Saendi likely had his eye out for oncoming traffic. It was about 9
AM
on March 11, 1994, and rush hour was at its peak. Saendi drove a passenger to the Chidlom branch of the Central Department Store in the Lumpini neighborhood of the city’s Patumwan district. Saendi was parked at an entry-exit zone when a truck turning left out of the department store’s underground garage hit him. Little did he know it, but Saendi had just inadvertently foiled a Hezbollah plot, almost a year in the making, to bomb the Israeli embassy located just another 240 meters down the road.
¹

The truck continued down the road, showing no signs of stopping until two motorcyclists who witnessed the accident stopped the driver some fifteen to twenty meters down the street. Presumably, the driver wanted to reach his ultimate destination, dismayed at being stopped so close to his goal. When one of the motorcyclists approached the driver, objecting to his failure to stop at the scene of the accident, the driver said nothing but quickly reached out his window and offered the motorcyclist what he described as “three greenish foreign currency notes.” Rejecting the money, the motorcyclist insisted the driver exit the truck, which he did. At this point, an agitated Boonserm Saendi insisted the truck driver return to the scene of the accident. But when the two got there, the driver, who spoke a foreign language, gestured that he had to make a phone call. He entered the shopping center and disappeared.
²

Saendi filed a victim’s complaint with the police concerning the accident, the police took the abandoned truck to the Lumpini police station, and no one thought much of the frustrating but not uncommon incident. So far as the police, the victim, and the witnesses were concerned, this was a simple hit-and-run fender bender.

Some time passed, and eventually the owner of the rented truck, Ms. Linchi Singtongam, was tracked down and summoned to claim her vehicle. When she arrived, the owner noticed odd, customized adjustments that had been made to the vehicle. The windows were tinted with filtering film, but only on the driver’s side. Two posts were removed from the truck’s platform, increasing the storage space, and an extra
spring was attached to the chassis, enabling the truck to carry more than a ton of cargo. She informed the police of the unauthorized alterations, which led them to examine the vehicle more closely. What they found amazed them, yet remained largely unexplained for another five years.
³

Inside the truck, police found a full, bolt-locked water tank, two oil containers, a battery, and a leather bag with Arabic writing on it. As soon as the police broke the lock on the water tank, a noxious odor of diesel fuel filled the truck, combined with a rotten smell. It was not water in the tank but rather “white granular objects,” which, after further investigation, were determined to be approximately a thousand kilograms of fertilizer. About thirty centimeters into the tank, investigators found wires connected to metallic objects. As they emptied the tank, they found detonators connected to metal tubes and bottles filled with C4 explosives. A circuit and a 12-volt battery led to a wire threaded through the handle of the tank, then through the truck and into the front cabin, where it ended at two manual switches located beneath the driver’s seat. The investigators were standing in a professionally built and highly combustible vehicle-borne improvised explosive device, or VBIED; in layman’s terms, a truck bomb customized for a suicide bomber.
⁴

Only when the Thai police removed the explosives from the water tank, which some police reports described as more of a metal drum, did they discover a dead body at the bottom of the drum, beneath the urea fertilizer and explosives. The owner of the truck recognized the murdered man as one of her company’s drivers, and confessed to police that she had rented out the truck to a person who preferred not to provide the standard documents required to rent a vehicle, such as a driver’s license or passport. The owner’s only condition had been that one of her employees drive the rented truck. This employee had been strangled before being stuffed into the drum. Had the bomb plot gone off as planned, no evidence of the driver’s death would have survived the blast.
⁵