US Declares Lebanese Group Terrorists

Eurasian Badger (Meles meles)
Also works as cat blogging
Another catch 22?

The story itself isn't that interesting. Soon Greenpeace will be labeled a terrorist group.

The Bush administration has blacklisted as a "foreign terrorist organization" a Lebanese Islamist group blamed for major fighting at a refugee camp, the Associated Press has learned.

The State Department is expected to announce the designation against al-Qaida-inspired Fatah al-Islam, which is suspected of having links with Syria, on Monday.

...

The officials said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice signed off on the decision to place the radical group on the international terror list on Friday. The sanctions took effect with her signature. [emphasis mine]

...

The designation freezes the assets of the group in U.S. jurisdictions, bars its members from U.S. soil and makes it illegal for U.S. citizens or those subject to U.S. laws to provide it with "material support or resources."

Nope. The story here is this is being reported to US now. So what happens if you emailed Fatah al-Islam and sent off a check to them Friday night not realizing you are providing "material support or resources" to a terrorist organization? You are unaware you're dealing with a terrorist group, right? Are you in trouble?

Inquiring minds want to know.

Oh yeah, don't ya love the way they had to work al-Qaida (al-Qaida-inspired) in there? They never give up. Its like a Hydra. Ya just can't kill the thing.

Or perhaps a badger is more appropriate. Once it latches on to something it won't let go. Yeah. I vote for the badger.

Clarification: By "you" in the above post I don't mean me. The first time I encountered the activities of Fatah al-Islam, they were already doing things I could never support in any fashion. I'm talking about the little old couple in Dubuque who were hoodwinked into thinking they were supporting a humanitarian organization.

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