unifil has in effect worked with hezbollah. peacekeepers have worked with hezbollah. they developed a relationship for future dialogue. now, i'm concerned that this resolution could make it even more difficult to enforce u.n. resolution 1701 and that if it's passed, one of the things that this congress has to consider, is that the lebanese army itself has to be strengthened. we -- can i have another half minute. mr. engel: i yield the gentleman another minute. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized for one minute. mr. kucinich: we have to look at the implications of this. if you have european countries who are essentially part of the unifil presence in south lebanon in furtherance of a u.n. resolution to end the hostilities between hezbollah and israel, to create safety for both the people of israel and the people of lebanon. we've got to be very careful here that we don't create a situation that is the opposite of what we are trying to achieve. and if this resolution passes, and unfortunately i am not going to be able to support it, if it passes we have

was israel and hezbollah came face to face was in two thousand and six since then. hizbullah has now it collated around forty five thousand missiles off various ranges. the it's run of all. the range goes beyond the and but what's three hundred fifty kilo because we each according to them at least they can reach the whole of. the south of the country this museum in the south of lebanon is designed to display has been claimed military prowess captured israeli tanks and weapons are meant to be a reminder of the danger has blown. this is the only hezbollah tunnel now open to visitors but a network of secret passageways just like this one stretches across lebanon they're used to move fighters and weapons across the country ensuring that hezbollah stands ready to strike at a moment's notice lucy caffein of r t southern lebanon and that was one my stories from a reporting trip to lebanon well in britain those unlucky enough to be spending christmas in hospital have some worrying facts to contend with on line world court on the revelations of years of neglect as well as mi

the last time israel and hezbollah came face to face was and. around forty five thousand missiles of various ranges there is run of or part of. the range goes beyond three hundred and what's three hundred fifty kilometers which according to them at least they can reach the whole of. the south of the country this museum in the south of lebanon is designed to display hezbollah self-proclaimed military prowess captured israeli tanks and weapons are meant to be a reminder of the danger has block impose if provoked this is the only has the tunnel open to visitors but a network of secret passageways just like this one stretches across lebanon they're used to move fighters and weapons across the country ensuring that hezbollah stands ready to strike at a moment's notice lucy caffein of r t southern lebanon opposition cries for want after referendum in egypt's draft constitution the results of having its limits charter has been approved but many claim that could only be possible with massive vote rigging. the market question as it's love the chorus for

who was israel and hezbollah came face to face was in two thousand and six since then. hizbullah has now it collated around forty five thousand missiles off various ranges. there is one of the all part of the range goes beyond three hundred and what's three hundred fifty kilometers which according to them at least they can reach the whole of. the south of the country this museum in the south of lebanon is designed to display has been proclaimed military prowess captured israeli tanks and weapons are meant to be a reminder of the danger has block impose. this is the only has the tunnel now open to visitors but a network of secret passageways just like this one stretches across lebanon they're used to move fighters and weapons across the country and showing that hezbollah stands ready to strike at a moment's notice lucy caffein of r t southern lebanon. time for a world update now an afghan police woman has shot dead a us security advisor at the police headquarters in kabul the female officer had walked up to the victim as he left her shop in the heavily guarded compound f

was israel and hezbollah came face to face was in two thousand and six since then. hizbullah has now it collated around forty five thousand missiles off various ranges. there is wrong of all part of. the range goes beyond three hundred and what's three hundred fifty kilometers which according to them at least they can reach the whole of. the south of the country this museum in the south of lebanon is designed to display has been proclaimed military prowess captured israeli tanks and weapons are meant to be a reminder of the danger has block imposed. this is the only has tunnel now open to visitors but a network of secret passageways just like this one stretches across lebanon they're used to move fighters and weapons across the country and sharing that has been lost and ready to strike at a moment's notice lucy caffein of r t southern lebanon for many at this time of year it seems it's the size of your wallet that dictates how much festive fun you'll enjoy but while shops are reaping the benefits of a commercial boost elderly people in the u.k. surviving on their pe

who was israel and hezbollah came face to face was in two thousand and six since then. hizbullah has now it collated around forty five thousand missiles off various ranges. the it's run of all part of. the range goes beyond three hundred but what's three hundred fifty kilometers which according to them at least they can reach the whole of. the south of the country this museum in the south of lebanon is designed to display has been cleaned military prowess captured israeli tanks and weapons are meant to be a reminder of the danger has blocked and. this is the only has tunnel now open to visitors but a network of secret passageways just like this one stretches across lebanon they're used to move fighters and weapons across the country ensuring that has been lost and ready to strike at a moment's notice lucy catherine of r t southern lebanon. position cries fraud after a referendum on egypt's draft constitution early results suggest they have islam as charter has been approved but many claim that could only be possible with massive voter a game. plan but the question is it

and the european union to designate hezbollah for as a terrorist organization. the response was unacceptable in the sense that it laid out a series of bureaucratic reasons or hurdles that would have to be surmounted to do that. i don't think that should be acceptable to us when it comes to this terrorist organization. in the coming days, r.i. and senator lieberman and senator rich which will make a -- we will introduce a resolution with the same message that was sent to catherine afton. the grading the destructive power of iran and hezbollah is in the national security interests of the united states. assad is the key link between the two of them. efforts to support moderate forces opposing him within syria should be considered now and considered seriously. i have recently called for a more robust u.s. response to the crisis in syria. i believe a political transition to a government that reflects the will of the syrian people is also the core national security interests of the united states in the region. moreover this change would align with our values supportin

remember, between iran to the east and hezbollah to the west, these shiite forces are determined be to do everything they can to prevent assad from falling and having a sunni regime emerge. now we're really talking about major sectarian war in that region. >> tough stuff. thankinin. >> we're going to switch gears and go to the union wars, literally. why does the main street media cover it all up by bare live recording it. alabama, louisiana or florida, they're gonna love it. shaul, your alabama hospitality is incredible. thanks, karen. love your mississippi outdoors. i vote for your florida beaches, dawn. bill, this louisiana seafood is delicious. we're having such a great year on the gulf, we've decided to put aside our rivalry. now is the perfect time to visit anyone of our states. the beaches and waters couldn't be more beautiful. take a boat ride, go fishing or just lay in the sun. we've got coastline to explore and wildlife to photograph. and there's world class dining with our world famous seafood. so for a great vacation this year, come to the gulf. its all fabulous but i give f

these are the designs of hezbollah. and this is the problem with iran. many believe that countries close to iran, that iran is courting in this hemisphere, they're doing it because they're trying to help them beat back these sanctions. the sanctions bill which chairman ileana ros-lehtinen and i will be meeting on this afternoon. this is an attempt of iran to extends their authority and try to convince those would-be allies that they should help them avoid these sanctions. well, i'll just quote our d.n.i., our director of national intelligence. he told us the dangerous activities of iran and hezbollah so near our borders demand a whole of government strategy beginning with an interagency review to understand and assess the transnational multi-faceted nature of this problem, and to mobilize friendly governments to respond. we're concerned that the administration is not doing that. that's why in this legislation

iran creating the shiite crescent iran iraq the syrian government under side which is shaky and hezbollah in lebanon and that a lion's is the united states is hoping to bring it down and wants regime change in syria and iran and wants to get rid of his mullah so it has politicized to a large extent a sunni shiite struggle with saudi arabia and turkey being the two pillars that increasingly egypt the pillars of a sunni arab world against against increasingly iran and iraq move it what do you think about that and is it a good strategy is it going to work. well no it's not going to work because by alienating iran from this equation they're making a lot of problems for themselves precisely in iraq because as renal. previously was much more willing to compromise with the americans than he is now so no this strategy by the you was continuing to alienate the shiites in the middle east which was one of the main policies of the of the bush administration and this policy of alienating the shiites in the middle east has effectively led to a sort of the goal is ation of the shiites in iraq. he was to

dopey missiles flying and from lebanon, from hezbollah. the hamas organization in casa will send hundred. if we choose today between the option of allowing iran to become nuclear to the option of fighting ourselves, i think it is a clear message what we will do. i'm a question if we do it with the u.s. or without the u.s. assault over asking today. one of the main points of my book that i know many people here are informed about the middle east initiative a two state solution. for the last 20 years, we hear about a two state solution. you must finish the conflict and their resolution will be a palestinian state in judea and somalia and jerusalem. president obama adopted this approach and is calling upon us, the israelis to be the palestinian state can go back to 1967 lines. in my book i referred to a new paradigm. enough of the two state solution. it doesn't work. we traded for the last 20 years. we signed the oslo accord and they haven't received any peace. we tried with different engagements from god for anything for the long one that sh

if they start to lose control and there are fores that hezbollah might get ahold of them, you might seeome special forces on the ground. the idea of chemical weapons, especially for close allies like israel getting into the hands of hezbollah is really frightening to them and us. short of military action, we're going to recognize the opposition next week, hillary clinton is we are sending patriot missiles, batteries for turkey for the border there. there's a lot going on behind the scenes just short of intervening. there was talk about armying the rebels. they've -- arming the rebels. they've overrun so many bases apparently they have enough weapons now to sort of turn the timed. >> isn't this the same thing we had in libya? you go in on the side of the rebels, but you don't know their own power structure. >> right, and we've held them in arm's way because we didn't feel comfortable. we didn't have enough confidence that those were the ones that would actually comb to the fore in doha we twisted arms to get a more umbrella inclusive group now recognized by all our all liss. there's a se

you look at hezbollah, there are rumors that hezbollah might get their hands on some syrian chemical weapons. hamas has been known to use cyanide gas in attacks on israeli civilians. the question of what to do about this, what can you do to stop nonstick actors such as al qaeda, -- non-state actors such as al-qaeda, hamas, from getting chemical weapons? talking about how wmd is prescribed by islam, and how it is o.k. under islam, one of the things to do is get allies in the middle east such as the saudis. you can make it very clear that if a state like syria or iran, if their wmd end up in the hands of terrorists, that state will be held to account and your not going to wait necessarily for perfect proof. the other thing you can do is improve detection and response. a lot of what you do to improve detection and response with regard to biological weapons is the same thing that you do to improve detection and response to naturally occurring diseases. talk about unfunded projects in the middle east, there is an interesting project still exists. middle east consortium for infectious dise

lebanon who feel like they're the natural leaders of lebanon are quite bitter about the power of hezbollah so those those two those two things are going to have an effect will it greatly change the balance of power in the region i don't think so on the other hand i do think we're seeing you know the biggest redrawing that we're seeing is amongst the kurds because the kurds were very were left out as a national group of the first world war settlement in the middle east and in eastern syria the kurdish region is now largely autonomous and there are many who would like to break off and secede from an arab syria and and join kurdistan in iraq and of course this is caused kurds and recrudescence of violence in eastern turkey where the pe k.k. is once again. engaged in violent acts in eastern turkey so that that has you know that is going to definitely be an area of some conflict. in the arabs fight in the kurds when. i don't know if the kurds when but i agree with josh i had the kurdish issue is huge in the middle east it tends not to get a lot of attention we've been focused very much on the s

after al qaeda, hezbollah has killed more americans than any ever terrorist organization.n recent years, it and its iranian backers have been tied to the terrorist attacks were planned attacks in turkey, cyprus, india, thailand and azerbaijan. the investigation into the dutch airline agent attack in bulgaria that killed five israeli tourists in the bulgarian bus driver that was killed as well appears to have the markings of a strike by hezbollah. last year i chaired a formulations hearing on the growing threat posed by hezbollah, and in september i lead a letter of 76 senators to the e.u. foreign policy chief kathryn ashton strongly urging the european union to designate hezbollah as a terrorist organization. the response we got simply was unacceptable in the sense that laid out a series of bureaucratic reasons or hurdles to would have to be surmounted to do that. i don't think that should be acceptable to us ever when it comes to this organization. so in the coming days on a and senator lieberman and senator risch will make it try partisan. we will introduce a resolution

so there is a nexus and an easy pathway between lebanon, hezbollah, syria, the regime in syria and iranour understanding that even the iranians are not in favor of the assad regime using these chemical weapons. so this is something that is really almost unthinkable that a regime would weapon nice saran gas and would appear to be making preparations to use those weapons that is what has people concerned in washington tonight. it is a red line as you said but there is very little that the u.s. can do to stop the assad regime because if, as we mentioned, this saran gas urengs, once it is mixed it has to be used within a certain number of days. within 60 days. this puts the obama administration in a very difficult position. it puts nato in a very difficult position. is there something preemptive that it must do in order to prevent the assad regime from using these weapons? is there any warning or emissary that can be sent to tell them that this is a red line and that it should not be done? >> excellent question about moving preemptively because the red line would mean that basically people

hezbollah firing katyusha rockets into israel. they believe housed some hezbollah leaders. we rushed over there to get some pictures and to do an on-camera piece. i remember telling the camera person, i could hear the israeli drone overhead which means they were still checking it out. maybe they wanted a follow upstrike. i said one take and we're out of here, and i'll never forget. i nailed it, one take. dada dada da to the lighting. i didn't like the lighting, let's do it again. dude! three takes and we were out of there. you can't see the drones, but you can hear it as it's flying over. very freaky. >> are there stories where you walk away with your faith in humanity having been restored? >> all the time. sometimes when i give speeches, one of the things i say, none of us -- first of all, none of us knows we're capable of until we are trulli tested and i see that all the time when i cover disasters, and i see horrible things, man, i couldn't get out of bed the next day if that happened to me. put one foot in front of the other b

is standing by. >> or hezbollah, with their intentions toward israel. a serious crisis, and we have to be prepared. we have to be prepared to put americans troop not to fight, not to be on the ground and fight, but perhaps american troops to secure these weapons storage areas that we know where they are. no one wants american boots on the ground anywhere in the middle east anymore, but this is a matter of securing weapons of mass destruction, which we know are there and we know where a lot of them are. >> and we may be seeing their effect. >> we may be. and again, i wish -- i hope that president assad appreciates this time the president of the united states is serious, and if the president feels he has to act, i know that every single member of congress will support that action. >> i don't know how we can expect the president of syria to sort of have some sort of change when you have been so evil to kill 40,000 of your people. it's sort of hard to think suddenly as an issue of self desency. >> he has family there. >> they are probably gone. >> another o

the president's concern about syria and chemical weapons is a good example, but hezbollah, which iran and syria have supported on israel's northern border in lebanon have somewhere in the order of 40,000 rockets and missiles, some of them pretty well advanced. i think one of the worries is that somehow maybe hezbollah could get ahold of some of those chemical weapons. >> from syria? >> if syria lets them go in some way. but i think you face a number of countries that have these capabilities and they are not -- there was a certain -- when you were dealing with great powers, if you will, you had more confidence in terms of the control systems, in terms of reduced risk of these weapons getting out of the hand of the government or of the military, and i think that the worry that people have now, i think, you know, people always ask us, you know, what is your biggest nightmare? well, it is a weapon of mass destruction falling in the hands of the terrorists, and we were very fortunate with al qaeda, we know al qaeda was trying their darnedest to get nuclear weapons and chemical weapons and

what we don't want is hezbollah, for instance, to get ahold of some of these chemical weapons and they'rer sop of these weapon sites. there's a political element here that might be changing, and that is russia's position. if russia unloads their support of assad, i think assad is almost gone, and you are seeing that happening with assad saying he's going to use some of these chemical weapons. it's desperation. what i think we also are seeing is stronger pressure from some of the other surrounding countries, turkey, qatar, i think the european union is seeing the effects of assad falling and by the way, the use of chemical weapons hasn't happened. they've brought some of the sarin together. >> i wonder if some of these chemical weapons could have been transferred from iraq and lead up to the war. dick cheney said last night, andy, that our alleys no longer trust us and our allies and our enemies no longer fear us. what do you think of that? >> well, look. i think he's right. i think in this equation it's clear that president obama again has moved the goal post on a commitment that he made.

assad is a strategic ally of hezbollah surveyor on the ground to help them. sort of transforming it into and alawite militia into the patronage is something they are preparing for a worst-case scenario. say someone does this control. if they can maintain a based on the coast, bordering lebanon, then at least they will cut their losses and maintained iranian foothold in syria, where is the primary u.s. object is, on humanitarian issues aside, the primary u.s. objective is really to break the arabian alliance. so then having footholds with the alawite on the coast with the pkk in the north and northeast to be a setback. >> yes. >> i agree with everything that tony has said, but i would mention that sort of retreat to the alawite heartland and maintaining that level of iranian strategic relationship, should be no doubt that the collapse of the assad regime in damascus, the great historic capital of the islamic world will be a big defeat for the iranian regime for hezbollah, but symbolically as well as in terms of their strategic rooms for maneuver in the region.

in fact he was supported of hezbollah, amass, iran, and other groups and states, that had a lot of street credibility in the arab world. so they thought it would pass them over. in fact i know that president bashar had mentioned -- commissioned three studies in february and march before the uprising broke out, and all three said, no, it's not going to happen in syria. so he felt pretty confident. i know for -- i can guarantee you that he was absolutely shocked when the uprising really started to seep into syria, particularly, of course, what lit the fire was the arrest and roughing up of the 15 school age children, teenagers, in the southern city of duras in syria. that touched a nerve. that sort of thing happened in syria quite a bit over the years, but in the new circumstances of the arab spring, and the regime didn't under the new circumstances -- it just grew and grew and grew after that. and it unleashed -- i think this pentup frustration, especially among an empowered and energized and largely disenfranchised youth, especially with the help of the new social instrument of the social

he's an ally of iran, a ally of he hezbollah.f jihadist come in it wouldn't be good but it wouldn't be as bad as the current situation. >> turning to egypt, egyptian president morsi resended most of a decree that gave him sweeping powers but he's moving ahead with a referendum next weekend on a new constitution. does israel care whether egypt becomes an islamic state? >> egypt's stability and democracy is important to us. israel has a interest in stable, peaceful and democratic egypt. we won't get into the internal politics just as we don't except them to get involved in our politics. egypt needs stability and peace. it's not just an israeli interest, it's egyptian, regional, a global interest. the egyptian israeli peace and we hope egypt overcomes the difficulties as appeal fully -- peacefully as possible. >> does the government, given his role in brokering the cease-fire in gaza, dow trust morsi to keep the peace? >> he says repeatedly to americans and others he has every intention of upholding the peace and he played a constru

fears the weapons could be transferred to hezbollah or fall into groups like al qaeda. knowing what you do about the facilities, the security, do you worry that these weapons will fall into the wrong hands? yes, he said. there's an extremely big concern they'll fall into other hands. he said he was interviewed by the cia when he left syria. now he's pleading for money and weapons from the u.s. so he can lead a brigade of fighters back into syria to secure those sites. alex marquardt, abc news, on the turkey-syria border. >> the major general gave an interview back in september. so several weeks back and says during his time there, we were in a serious discussion about the use of chemical weapons, including how we would use them and in what areas. we discussed this as a last resort. such as if the regime lost control of important areas such as aleppo. so not that we have them, but details have been discussed. >> he's the second in charge. he says that assad's forces are already spraying pesticides and dropping white phosphorous. claims that were also made by the oppositi

>> most likely by the fanatical wing of hezbollah, a group known as islamist jihads the comprised lebanese shia who had historically been underprivileged, excluded from the politics and economics of the country, had ideological affinity for the regime in iran, from 1979 and have been radical in the israeli purge to lebanon in the 1980s. there is a very toxic mix that let them should make steps the climax of the assassination of malcolm kerr. >> was he targeted? >> because he was an american. not only american, but very visible presence in the middle east. there is no more high-profile example of america's involvement in the region in the presence of uav. >> this american university put in beirut on purpose? back in 1850s, what was beirut like? >> a ruthless and still is a multicultural cosmopolitan international city, were east meets west. then and now, muslims and christians on mexico exist to a different degree and the american missionary presence in the middle east was significant in beirut and it became sort of launching pad for creating what became the greatest university in the regio

we launched a whole government approach to counter hezbollah and the activity including increased law enforcement, intelligence and diplomatic initiatives. we're targeting hezbollah's financing including three the see seizure of $150 million when facilitied a vast narcotics money learning scene. we're urging countries to take a crack down on hem including thereupon sanctions, increased law enforcement and intelligence focus and strong public messaging. we have been engaging with the partners in europe and cautionly optimistic at last about the perspective of the ue designation. we've been working with the participator partners in other regions where they have a great influence. we are pleased with the progress we're making. and we will continue to take action they recognize the behavior is unacceptable. so as we is seen the world of counter terrorism is changing fast. some of of the most dangerous threats have receded noticeably. new ones emerging. and while perhaps not as threatsen now. these cannot be viewed complacent sei. the au it's not apart of the popular uprising. that lead to