After Hezbollah pagers exploded in Lebanon, State Department mouthpiece Matthew Miller told NBC News that the United states was “not aware of this incident in advance,” and was not involved in it. Assuming that the United States has the ability to conduct such an operation – and there is room for reasonable doubt – the people have to wonder if the nation would authorize it, even with cause. When it comes to Hezbollah the nation does have cause, as the case of Robert Stethem confirms.
On June 14, 1985 the Navy diver was on TWA flight 847 out of Athens, hijacked and flown to Beirut by Hezbollah terrorists led by Mohammed Ali Hamadei. According to a U.S. Navy memorial:
The passengers’ passports were collected and when Steel Worker Second Class Stethem was identified as a U.S. sailor he was bound with rope and beaten in an attempt to force him to scream into a transmitter so that the tower would send fuel. However, Stethem steadfastly refused to cry out as he was beaten and tortured for several hours. Not a cry was heard to come from him as he endured the beating. Instead he chose to remain silent and endure the beatings because he knew that the only way a rescue attempt could be conducted was if the aircraft remained on the ground. Ultimately, because of his silence, he was shot in the head by an enraged terrorist who dumped Stethem’s body out a door onto the tarmac. His face and body was so badly mangled that he could only be identified by his fingerprints. The pilot was later asked about his impression of Stethem and he replied simply, “He was the bravest man I’ve ever seen in my life.”
According to the FBI:
Hamadei was indicted on November 14, 1985, Interpol Red Notice Control Number A-562/12-1985, reference #19890604066, and a reward of $250,000 each was offered for information leading to his and his accomplices’ arrests and convictions. He was arrested in the Frankfurt airport on January 13, 1987, carrying explosives in his luggage.
The U.S. sought extradition, but the Federal Republic of Germany decided to prosecute Hamadei in Germany and, on May 17, 1989, convicted him of murder, hostage taking, assault, and hijacking. Hamadei was sentenced to life in prison. On December 15, 2005, however, he was released from custody and returned to Beirut, Lebanon, on December 16, 2005.
By all indications, Hamadei is still in Lebanon, so maybe the terrorist was a casualty of the exploding pagers or handheld radios that went off a day later. Israel has great intelligence, and the will to use it. By contrast, the CIA failed to prevent 9/11 and Obama pick John Brennan, who believes that Islamic jihad has nothing to do with violence, targeted Obama’s enemies “at home” before actual enemies “abroad,” as the subtitle of his Undaunted book reveals.
An administration that knows its enemies would set up a special force, the Robert Stethem Response Unit (RSRU), to take down those who kidnap, torture and kill Americans, by any means necessary.
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