[Congressional Bills 112th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 429 Introduced in House (IH)]

112th CONGRESS
  1st Session
H. RES. 429

 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Western 
  Hemisphere should be included in the Administration's 2012 National 
   Strategy for Counterterrorism's ``Area of Focus'', with specific 
attention on the counterterrorism threat to the homeland emanating from 
Iran's growing presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere, and for 
                            other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                            October 11, 2011

Mr. Duncan of South Carolina submitted the following resolution; which 
            was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
 Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the Western 
  Hemisphere should be included in the Administration's 2012 National 
   Strategy for Counterterrorism's ``Area of Focus'', with specific 
attention on the counterterrorism threat to the homeland emanating from 
Iran's growing presence and activity in the Western Hemisphere, and for 
                            other purposes.

Whereas Iran is using the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), the 
        IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah as tools of statecraft to further its 
        geostrategic and geopolitical objectives in the Western Hemisphere, 
        specifically in Venezuela; the Tri-border area of Paraguay, Argentina, 
        and Brazil; Bolivia; Ecuador; Nicaragua; Chile; Cuba; and Mexico. 
        Hezbollah has also established a presence in the United States and 
        Canada;
Whereas officials from the IRGC's Qods Force have been working in concert with 
        Iran's chief global terrorist proxy, Lebanese Hezbollah, since the 
        1990s;
Whereas a 2009 Department of State Country Report on Terrorism found that 
        Hezbollah is the most technically capable terrorist group in the world 
        with thousands of supporters, several thousand members, and a few 
        hundred terrorist operatives;
Whereas Iran has opened 6 embassies in South America over the last 5 years;
Whereas the IRGC's Qods Force stations operatives in foreign embassies, 
        charities, and religious and cultural institutions to build 
        relationships with local populations, often building on existing 
        socioeconomic ties with the Lebanese Diaspora;
Whereas these networks operated by Hezbollah and the IRGC's Qods Force encompass 
        more than 80 operatives in at least 12 countries throughout the region;
Whereas Hezbollah's chief sponsors, Iran and Syria, have been forging 
        relationships with the governments in Latin America to achieve state 
        cover and effective immunity for their activities, and Hezbollah has 
        established a working relationship with the Revolutionary Armed Forces 
        of Colombia (FARC);
Whereas in August 2010, Jamal Yousef, a member of the Syrian military, was 
        charged in New York for his alleged involvement in a narco-terrorism 
        conspiracy to sell weapons to FARC in exchange for between 7,000-8,000 
        kilograms of cocaine;
Whereas the indictment stated that the ``weapons were stolen from Iraq and being 
        stored in Mexico at the home of Yousef's relative, who according to 
        Yousef, is a member of Hezbollah.'';
Whereas Iran has used Hezbollah in Latin America to engage in fundraising, money 
        laundering, recruitment, training, drug and arms trafficking, 
        counterfeiting, forging travel documents, pirating software and music, 
        assessing global banking facilities, ports and airports, mining rare 
        earth minerals and other materials in support of its nuclear objectives;
Whereas Iran seeks to use its base in Latin America to undermine United States 
        interests;
Whereas the Bolivarian states (Venezuela, Ecuador, Bolivia, and Nicaragua) have 
        expressed their intention to assist Iran in breaking international 
        sanctions by announcing at a 2010 joint press conference in Tehran their 
        determination to ``continue and expand their economic ties to Iran'' 
        with confidence that ``Iran can give a crushing response to the threats 
        and sanctions imposed by the West and imperialism.'';
Whereas the Bolivarian states' relationship to Hezbollah in Latin America is 
        bound by a common aim to asymmetrically defeat the United States;
Whereas the doctrine of Asymmetrical Warfare adopted by these groups explicitly 
        embraces the use of weapons of mass destruction, massive civilian 
        casualties as acceptable collateral damage, and the underlying belief 
        that the acquisition of nuclear weapons to destroy the United States is 
        a moral or religious imperative;
Whereas Iran's presence in Latin America through its proxy Hezbollah presents 
        incalculable risk to the security of the United States because Hezbollah 
        is the most effective, well-structured, and militarily proficient 
        terrorist group in existence with a host of skills and abilities to 
        support their objectives;
Whereas Hezbollah's 1980 fatwa explained its rationale for engaging in drug 
        production and trafficking: It explicitly stated that it was ``making 
        these drugs for Satan--America and the Jews. If we cannot kill them with 
        guns we will kill them with drugs.'';
Whereas in 2009, Dutch authorities on the Caribbean island of Curacao arrested 
        17 suspects on drug-trafficking charges;
Whereas the authorities accused the suspects of funneling part of their profits 
        directly to Hezbollah through informal banking mechanisms like the 
        Hawala system;
Whereas there is an established connection between Iran and Mexican drug 
        cartels: In 2008, El Universal reported that the Mexican Sinaloa drug 
        cartel was sending elite assassins to train on weapons and explosives 
        with Islamic radicals in Iran;
Whereas Hezbollah has demonstrated its ability to cooperate with Mexican drug 
        cartels to utilize smuggling techniques and routes in order to bring 
        drugs and people into the United States;
Whereas sophisticated narco-tunneling resembling the types used by Hezbollah in 
        Lebanon have been found along the United States-Mexican border, and 
        arrested Mexican gang members entering the United States with Farsi 
        tattoos also support a Hezbollah influence;
Whereas in 2008, Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was sentenced to 60 years in 
        prison after being arrested in 2002 by Mexican authorities on charges of 
        organized crime and immigrant smuggling;
Whereas Salim Boughader Mucharrafille was a Mexican of Lebanese descent who 
        reportedly smuggled 200 people, including Hezbollah supporters into the 
        United States;
Whereas in 2005, a Lebanese man named Mahmoud Youssef Kourani pled guilty to 
        providing material support to Hezbollah after crossing the Mexican 
        border illegally into the United States and driving his car all the way 
        to Dearborn, Michigan;
Whereas since the fall of 2008, at least 111 suspects of a Hezbollah-linked 
        international network of drug traffickers and money launderers have been 
        arrested in Drug Enforcement Administration operations;
Whereas the Administration's 2011 Strategy for Counterterrorism did not include 
        the Western Hemisphere in its ``Area of Focus''; and
Whereas in October 2011, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Drug 
        Enforcement Administration disrupted a plot involving Iranian-American, 
        Manssor Arbabsiar, the IRGC, and a member of the Zetas Mexican drug 
        cartel to assassinate the Saudi Arabian ambassador to the United States 
        with a bomb and subsequent bomb attacks on the Saudi and Israeli 
        embassies in Washington, DC and in Buenos Aires: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That--
            (1) it is the sense of the House of Representatives that 
        there exists significant cause for concern and further 
        investigation of potential counterterrorism threats from Iran's 
        growing presence and influence in the Western Hemisphere;
            (2) in order to effectively assess the risk to the United 
        States homeland, the Administration should--
                    (A) include the Western Hemisphere in the 
                Administration's 2012 National Strategy for 
                Counterterrorism's ``Area of Focus'' with specific 
                attention on the counterterrorism threat to the 
                homeland emanating from Iran's growing presence and 
                activity in the Western Hemisphere; and
                    (B) utilize an existing counterterrorism taskforce 
                to be led by the Department of Homeland Security and 
                ensure that representatives of the Department of 
                Homeland Security, the Department of State, the Federal 
                Bureau of Investigation, the Drug Enforcement 
                Administration, the Central Intelligence Agency, the 
                National Counterterrorism Center, and the appropriate 
                intelligence agencies are members of the taskforce; and
            (3) the taskforce referred to in paragraph (2)(B)--
                    (A) should examine--
                            (i) the presence and activities of Iran, 
                        the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps 
                        (IRGC), the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah in 
                        the Western Hemisphere, including within the 
                        United States;
                            (ii) the relationship of Iran, the IRGC, 
                        the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah with the 
                        governments in the Western Hemisphere;
                            (iii) the relationship of Iran, the IRGC, 
                        the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah with drug 
                        trafficking organizations; and
                            (iv) the fundraising efforts of Iran, the 
                        IRGC, the IRGC's Qods Force, and Hezbollah in 
                        the Lebanese Diaspora in Latin America; and
                    (B) should submit to Congress not later than 120 
                days after the date of the adoption of this resolution 
                a report that contains a comprehensive counterterrorism 
                and counter-radicalization strategy to defend United 
                States geostrategic interests and defeat Iranian 
                interests in the Western Hemisphere.
                                 <all>