Hezbollah

by Hala Jaber

Hezbollah lifts the shroud of secrecy covering the Shiite Muslim organization that has been synonymous with terror since it first made global headlines with the 1983 suicide bombing that killed 241 U.S. Marines in Beirut. For the first time, Hezbollah has allowed an outsider to talk to its fighters, leaders, and strategists, and to question them about the motives and operations behind some of the most destructive terrorist attacks in recent history. Does Hezbollah deserve its reputation? Can its role in the Beirut hostage crisis be justified? And what do former hostages John McCarthy, Terry Anderson, and Terry Waite now feel about their experience? Born in the grinding poverty of the Bekaa Valley, Hezbollah - or "Party of God" - has ties to Iran and exerts influence far beyond Lebanon. In many ways it is the model organization: passionate, demanding of its members, and devoted to furthering an Islamic way of life. Above all it is driven by the ultimate mandate: whatever it has done, an