The American Spectator : The Spectacle Blog : One Of World's Most Wanted Terrorists Killed

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The Spectacle Blog

One Of World's Most Wanted Terrorists Killed

By Philip Klein on 2.13.08 @ 9:38AM

This is huge:

BEIRUT, Lebanon -- Imad Mughniyeh, a senior but shadowy Hezbollah commander accused by the United States and Israel of masterminding suicide bombings, hijackings and hostage-takings that spanned 25 years, was killed by a car bomb in the Syrian capital of Damascus, the Shiite Muslim group and other officials said Wednesday.

Among other major attacks, Mughniyeh was behind the 1983 Marine baracks bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines. He also helped train Al Qaeda on how to pull off large scale terrorist attacks. I came across his name when researching a piece about the U.S. withdrawal from Lebanon, and I wrote at the time:

More specifically, there is a strong relationship between the Beirut bombing and al Qaeda's attacks on U.S. Embassies in Africa 15 years later. The attack on the Marine barracks was studied at al Qaeda training camps, and bin Laden sent al Qaeda operatives to Lebanon to obtain explosives instruction from Hezbollah and to learn how to bomb large buildings, according to Peter Bergen's Holy War, Inc. In Sudan, Bin Laden met with Hezbollah's Imad Mughniyeh, who was the mastermind of the attack on the U.S. Marines as well as an April 1983 attack on the U.S. Embassy in Beirut.

Hezbollah has blamed Israel for the attack on Mughniyeh, which Israel denies. Believe who you want, but either way, this is a great moment. The man had the blood of more Americans on his hands than any terrorist other than bin Laden.

topics:
Israel, Africa