Hizbullah: "It was Bush Administration that practiced state terrorism", Beirut slams U.S. report as `inaccurate`

Source: Daily Star, 01-5-2006
BEIRUT: Hizbullah replied late Saturday to the U.S. administration`s report turning the accusations on President George W. Bush and his aides.
The group said in a statement that it was the Bush administration that practiced "state terrorism."
The statement noted: "The one who deserves to be at the top of the terrorist list is the one who is leading major state terrorism, Bush and his aides have filled the world`s skies with flying prisons in breach of international laws and spread torture bases from Europe to Asia without any remorse."
It added: "The right step is to blacklist the one who supports "Israeli" terrorism against Palestinians ... to blacklist the Zionist occupation and aggression toward Arab states."
"The U.S. as usual, gives itself the right to categorize countries and peoples according to an unjust criteria ... as if it were the guardian of the world."
However, Lebanese Foreign Minister Fawzi Salloukh slammed the United States Friday, saying it "lacks accurate information," and "should not work according to double standards."
Salloukh, who made his comments in reply to the U.S. blacklisting of Hizbullah, said: "The description which the U.S. administration used to dub Hizbullah as `the most important terrorist group` is completely wrong because Hizbullah is an honest liberation movement, which sacrificed much for Lebanon`s independence and sovereignty."
The U.S. administration issued a report on terrorist organizations and countries supporting terrorism late Friday, in which Hizbullah was described as the most significant (so-called) `terrorist` group in Lebanon.
Salloukh added that the U.S. had based its report on misinformation that Hizbullah was formed prior to 1982.
Salloukh said: "Apparently the U.S. administration lacks information on Hizbullah; or it is ignoring it or doesn`t know it ... the Federal Bureau for Intelligence claims Hizbullah was established before 1982, meaning they want to frame Hizbullah for atrocities done by battling groups during the war, and this is not true."
He added: "We have said more than once that Hizbullah emerged as a unified group in the second half of the 80s."
Hizbullah was first blacklisted by the U.S. administration back in 1997. America claims Hizbullah was responsible for the April 1983 U.S. Embassy attack and the October 1983 marine barracks attack.
According to Salloukh, "Hizbullah has created a balance of terror in its fight with the occupying "Israeli" forces ... Can the U.S. stop "Israel" from continuing to breach our air, land, and water sovereignty? Or force "Israel" to comply with international resolutions? The U.S. administration should work according to one standard when it is dealing with others."
Meanwhile, Hizbullah`s television station Al-Manar revealed the U.S. Congress had held a session last July to discuss the "re-birth of Lebanon."
U.S. Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, David Welch, attended the session and said Hizbullah should be disarmed, said Al-Manar.