By Helen Klein
Calling upon Lebanon to extradite a convicted Hezbollah terrorist to the United States to stand trial for the murder of an American citizen, one local elected official has introduced legislation that would eliminate foreign aid to that country unless it complies. Rep. Vito Fossella, a Republican, held a press conference at Victory Memorial Hospital just a few days before New Year to announce the legislation, and to demand that the Lebanese government allow Mohammed Ali Hamadi, who was convicted in a German court of killing an American serviceman during a plane hijacking in 1985, to be tried in the United States for his actions. Joining Fossella at the press conference were two local Lebanese-Americans, James Kando and George Prezioso. Hamadi, who was convicted of the torture and murder of U.S. Navy Petty Officer 2nd class Robert Dean Stethem in a German court, and sentenced to life in prison in that country, was released in December by the German government and has fled to Lebanon, said Fossella. Victory Memorial, which is located at 92nd Street and Seventh Avenue, was chosen as the site of the press conference because of the existence of a plaque honoring Stethem at the facility. If the legislation passes, Lebanon stands to lose some $35 million in U.S. aid in Fiscal Year 2006, according to Fossella. “Officer Stethem,” noted Fossella during a phone interview, “was one of the first victims of terrorists. The names have changed, but the story remains the same. Hamadi is a member of Hezbollah. Groups like that seek to use innocent people as props, whether it’s a beheading on the Internet, or throwing a young man off a plan, or flying a plane into a building.” Fossella said he was seeking, “Justice for an American citizen who was killed only because he was an American citizen. We just can’t afford to be indifferent when it comes to blatant acts of terrorism. Otherwise, why engage in a war on terror? The way to deter terrorism,” he added, “is to keep terrorists behind bars as long as humanly possible.” Why put pressure on Lebanon to extradite Hamadi after he had been released by Germany? “First off,” noted Fossella, “this country still to me represents carrying out justice. Less than 20 years ago, Petty Officer Stethem was brutally murdered by a man walking free now, and we believe walking freely in Lebanon. We believe it’s a shame that he’s walking free, that there are no indications that he will be tried. “I think ideally the Lebanese government would cooperate publicly, try to get the man captured and, if possible, brought to the United States, but we haven’t seen anything like that,” Fossella went on. “Our recourse is to withhold aid to Lebanon till the government makes overtures to try to cooperate.” “We are trying to bring this man to justice,” remarked Prezioso, who said he supported efforts, “To hold countries accountable for harboring terrorists. If we believe that, we have to pressure countries that are harboring terrorists to turn them over. We turned the other cheek too many times before 9/11. This is very serious business.” The legislation introduced by Fossella, added Prezioso, would serve as, “Leverage. The legislation has to have some teeth. We can’t just say we’re disappointed. As a Lebanese-American, I’m even more passionate about this, being it’s Lebanon.” During the press conference, however, Fossella was asked to defend the legislation he has introduced by Antoine Faisal, the publisher of Aramica Arab/English newspaper, who called the legislation introduced by Fossella, “inflammatory. “Is it fair,” Faisal asked, “to base relations with a whole country on its dealing with one person on a terrorist list?” Fossella’s answer to that question was yes. “Ideally,” he explained in a subsequent interview, “if the Lebanese government is willing to cooperate and acknowledge that they’d like to see this individual face his day in court, the legislation would not be necessary. But, we’ve heard there is nothing they can do, and nothing they want to do. Here we are engaged in a global war on terrorism, spending billions a year. The flip side, we have a guy who’s clearly a terrorist and who, less than 20 years after a brutal murder, is walking freely. I don’t think we should be condoning such actions. Once in a while, someone has to draw a line in the sand, and say enough is enough.” Why not go after Germany, then? “We have more solid evidence regarding Lebanon vis a vis Germany,” responded Fossella who said, with respect to the actions of the German government, “On the surface, it appears a deal was cut, and it is very disturbing, but we have no proof a deal was cut. We shouldn’t stop and let the German government off the hook till we have satisfactory answers. But we do know that Hamadi was released to Lebanon and the Lebanese government has said it is not going to do anything about it.” Fossella acknowledged that getting the legislation passed would be, “Clearly, an uphill battle. But,” he went on, “we’ll do what we can, indicate strongly and loudly that we should allow this to happen, shake things up a little.”
