Hezbollah Schmezbollah

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) — A top special operations officer from Lebanon’s Iranian-backed militia Hezbollah has been captured in Iraq, where U.S. officials say he played a key role in a January attack that killed five Americans.

Ali Mussa Daqduq, an explosives expert, was captured in March in the southern Iraqi city of Basra, where he was helping train and lead Shiite militias fighting coalition troops, U.S. intelligence officials told CNN.

Daqduq pretended to be deaf and mute when captured, and his identity was not known for weeks, the officials said.

Once uncovered, however, they said he began to talk, and they now believe he played a crucial role in the January 20 attack in Karbala.

Intelligence officials say Daqduq is one of Hezbollah’s top special operations commanders, an expert in the use of roadside bombs. The Americans say he, along with the Iraqi militia commanders he worked with, has admitted working with Iran’s elite Quds Force special operations unit……..

In searching for Khazali, U.S. and allied troops found computer documents detailing the planning, training and conduct of the failed kidnapping. And they found Daqduq, whom intelligence officials said has admitted working on behalf of Iran.

Contacted by CNN, a Hezbollah spokesman in Lebanon said he would not dignify the U.S. allegations with a response. And it remains unclear why Hezbollah’s leadership would risk sending advisers to Iraq: American intelligence officers suspect Hezbollah — which is indebted to Iran for decades of military and financial support — had no choice.

Wait, what? How on earth can this be? Isn’t Hezbollah, according to President Jimmy Carter and other Saintly, oh so well-intentioned “Progressives”, a legitimately elected political party and a wonderful social organization? Who strives only for peace, equality and love? I’m so confused; When did they branch out into terrorist acts and murder? Impossible!

I, for one, question the timing. Or, at the least, I question his confession; he must have been tortured. It is the only logical explanation. Unless Rove the Magnificent planted the story to deflect attention from the failed Amnesty legislation? Or President Bush’s abysmal approval rating?

Either way, what’s the big deal? Anyone who gets caught is just an incompetent, low-level schlep, right? MSNBC told me so! And they wouldn’t lie would they? They clearly have no agenda. I’ll need to catch the repeat of Keith Olberman tonight. I’m sure he’ll explain it all for me. Or I’ll pop over to the Huffington Post for the real “truth”.*** They aren’t called Truthers for nothing!

*** In reality, since I am not suffering from Bush Derangement Syndrome, I’ll more likely drown my fears in a nice bottle of Riesling. Because, in all seriousness, this is some scary sh*t. I finding it more and more difficult to see any pragmatic way to avoid further military action in the Middle East.