MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD: Mojo and the terrorist mastermind

You might not remember Robert Dean Stethem's name, but who could forget the incident? Stethem, a 23-year-old U.S. Navy diver, was on board TWA Flight 847 when it was hijacked by Hezbollah terrorists in Athens, Greece, in 1985. After many hours of beating and torture, the terrorists finally told the other passengers to put their heads down and close their eyes. They then shot Stethem in the head and dumped his body out onto the airport tarmac in Beirut.

Despite the beatings, Stethem refused to denounce the United States or to identify other military personnel onboard. His body was so disfigured that he had to be identified by fingerprints. Stethem was posthumously awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star for heroism and bravery.

Imad Mugniyah, a Lebanese Shi'ite suspected of the actual torture and execution of Stethem, left behind something more than fingerprints aboard Flight 847. Someone also got a picture, the only known photo of this terrorist mastermind, who reportedly has had plastic surgery to change his appearance.

Authorities believe that Mugniyah was also the man behind:

· The 1983 Beirut embassy bombing
· The 1983 truck bombings of the U.S. and French compounds in Beirut with massive casualties.
· Most of the abductions of Western hostages in Lebanon in the mid-'80s.
· Personally interrogating, torturing and possibly killing the CIA's William Buckley.

So, what's Mugniyah been up to in the interim, besides keeping a really low profile? Well, allegedly plotting anti-Israeli and anti-U.S. strategies with the rabid regime in Tehran, for one thing. Talk about kindred spirits. One again, Regime Change in Iran has the goods here.

Quoting intelligence experts and a former U.S. national security official, the Sunday Times of London puts Iranian President Mahmoud "Mojo" Ahmadinejad and Mugniyah together, traveling from Tehran to Damascus, Syria, earlier this year for a secret meeting. Probably on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy, or something like that. The Times story calls Mugniyah the Lebanese commander of Hezbollah's overseas operations and says he has "taken charge of plotting Iran's retaliation against Western targets should President George W. Bush order a strike on Iranian nuclear sites."

You can read the story here. Just thought you might like to know about the fellows who hold the fate of our children and grandchildren in the palms of their hands.