Regarding the front page article in the New York Times. I will say this right at the outset: I don't know anything about the finances or intelligence work of secret organizations. They people who know, don't know, and the people who talk are paid or unpaid propagandists for the Government of Israel. Remember this. There is absolutely nothing convincing in the New York Times article. Let me also say: the US government officials are here proud of themselves that they blew the cover on Hizbullah's drug activities but they are too ignorant to know that the case received barely any coverage in the Arabic press. This is a US obsession and not an Arab obsession (the "war on drugs", that is--the "morality" or immorality of it, does not travel across cultures. Also, the case against the bank was revealed just after the fall of Sa`d Hariri cabinet: so the political motives of the US were underlined in few articles on the matter in Lebanon. Thirdly, the guys of the bank are known to be close to Amal and NOT to Hizbullah. But those differences mean nothing to the propagandists of Israel. Who cares about facts when the motives are serving Israel. The paper says: "involvement of high-level Hezbollah officials". Not one high-level official was named in the article. Not one. Also, the article reveals that the writers knows nothing about the Middle East: I read in the articles evidence of the footprints of propagandists for Israel, and March 14 folks in Lebanon. The story about the purchase of the land over the Mediterranean has never ever been tied to Hizbullah: this story in the piece came from Walid Jumblat, I can tell. The article says that Syria partly funds Hizbullah. Hilarious. Anyone who knows anything about Syrian activities in Lebanon knows that Syria does not fund anyone: the government of the Asad dynasty is known to be very stingy: they may give weapons but never money. Even to the Ba`thists in Lebanon: Syria's government basically tells them: go fund yourselves. Help yourselves to the loot. But giving money to a vastly funded organization like Hizbullah is not true. The Latin American connection to Africa and then to Lebanon read like the case against the Iranian-American car dealer who was accused of plotting against the Saudi ambassador in Washington, DC. So the source maybe the same. You don't need to read the long article. Here is the most important part: "The officials have refused to disclose their evidence for that allegation." OK, thanks. So we have to take your word, nay the word of Israel, for it. OK. Who can dare distrust the liars of Israel and the US government on the Middle East? They talked about a mushroom cloud over Iraq and they indeed delivered the Iraqi WMDs. And then the report thought that he scored a coup by interviewing Hizbullah's MP, `Ali Fayyad introduced as "Hezbollah's chief political strategist." Anyone who knows anything about Hizbullah would find the title of Ali Fayyad in the paper as laughable. Fayyad is probably the least politically senior member of the Hizbullah's parliamentary delegation. So the reference is just hilarious. Political strategist? Where did that come from? Let me guess. March 14 propagandists in Lebanon. And then the writer arrives a revelation: " Yet much of its power, and its ability to operate with some impunity, derives from elsewhere: from its status as a state within the Lebanese state." But o smart one: that begs the question. How was Hizbullah able to reach that power? Certainly, other political parties in Lebanon had access to external funding. So there are other reasons that make the party the most popular among Shi`ite voters in free elections, right? Dig further. And then this best gem: "After Mr. Harb bragged that he could deliver 950 kilos into Lebanon within hours, the undercover agent casually remarked that he must have Hezbollah connections. Mr. Harb smiled and nodded, the agent reported." Wait. WAIT. So this secret operation is undertaken by this Harb guy, and the guy not only bragged but even nodded when accused of Hizbullah link? Let me guess: is he also involved in the car salesman operation in Washington, DC against the Saudi ambassador? He must have been utilized because he seems to operate in the same fashion. In two days, there will be as follow up story and I am sure the name of the commander of the Quds Force will be dropped in the same story. But wait: there is another source of the story: "Jordanian officials, after extensive surveillance, later told the D.E.A. that the Syrian leg of the shipment was coordinated by a Syrian intelligence officer assigned as a liaison to Hezbollah." Jordanian intelligence? Now this is a credible source here? Finally, is this sentence offensive: "the drug-smuggling nations of West Africa, many of them known Hezbollah supporters"? Those nations of West Africa are drug-smuggling? Even women and children are involved? And why are those nations supporters of Hizbullah? Explain that one, please.