Why We Support Israel: They Track Down & Kill Terrorists

The Israeli's never forget anyone killed by an act of terror. Even if it was an American Sailor or US Marines murdered decades ago. They hunt down the perpetrators and liquidate them:

BEIRUT, Lebanon - Imad Mughniyeh, one of America's most wanted, has been killed by Israeli agents, Hezbollah announced in a statement Wednesday. An Iranian television station said he was killed in a car bomb in Syria.

The car bombing Tuesday night in Damascus marks the second attack in Syria in less than six months, following Israeli war planes destroying a suspected nuclear site in September deep in the Syrian desert.

Mughniyeh, who has been in hiding for years, was among the fugitives indicted in the United States for the 1985 hijacking of a TWA airliner in which a U.S. Navy diver was killed. He was also suspected of masterminding attacks that killed more than 200 Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s when he was then the Iranian-backed Hezbollah's security chief.

That US Navy Sailor was Robert Stethem and his murder was cruel and grotesque. MSNBC didn't even mention him by name so I will:

"When the plane was at the Beirut airport in Lebanon, Petty Officer Stethem was singled out because he was in the US military. After many hours of being cruelly beaten, tortured, and finally killed by the terrorists, they threw his body from the plane in a final disgraceful, cowardly act. The wounds were so terrible that his body had to be identified by its fingerprints.

Throughout the ordeal, Robert Stethem did not yield, and instead encouraged his fellow passengers to endure by his example. He was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for heroism and bravery. He is buried at Arlington Cemetery."--Mark Crawford, Bryantown from "Who Was Robert Stethem"

The Marines were those killed in Beirut when Hezbollah terrorists sammed a bomb-laden truck into the front while many were sleeping. The one regret I believe Reagan always had was pulling out of Lebanon after that cowardly attack.

While it's not clear this was an act by the Israeli's IDF (look at the source), it sure wouldn't be surprising and sends one hell of a message to any would-be terrorists who plan on attacking them or us. The Israeli's don't play by conventional rules when it comes to terror and our hand-wringers in Congress whine and moan about three terrorists being waterboarded.

Update: Israel denies as expected and it may well have been Assad's or Nasrallah's henchmen but it is a benefit for both Israel and the US so I'll continue to give Israel the credit until it's proven otherwise.

Update: Bill Roggio:

Mugniyah likely played a support role in al Qaeda’s Sept. 11 attacks on the US. The 9/11 Commission Report was explicit about Iran's connections with al Qaeda. "The relationship between al Qaeda and Iran demonstrated that Sunni-Shia divisions did not necessarily pose an insurmountable barrier to cooperation in terrorist operations." Contacts between Iran, Hezbollah, and al Qaeda were established in Sudan in the early 1990s. "Al Qaeda members received advice and training from Hezbollah," according the 9/11 Commission Report. Many of al Qaeda's Sept. 11 hijackers transited through Iran. "After 9/11, Iran and Hezbollah wished to conceal any past evidence of cooperation with Sunni terrorists associated with al Qaeda."

Emphasis mine. This guy was a big fish and hit the link above to read more evidence that was indeed Israel.