Lightning Out of Lebanon

Hezbollah Terrorists on American Soil

By: Tom Diaz, Barbara Newman

Narrated by: Tony Call

Length: 2 hrs and 17 mins

Publisher's summary

Before September 11, 2001, one terrorist group had killed more Americans than any other: Hezbollah, the “Party of God.” Today it remains potentially more dangerous than even al Qaeda. Yet little has been known about its inner workings, past successes, and future plans–until now.

Written by an accomplished journalist and a law-enforcement expert, Lightning Out of Lebanon is a chilling and essential addition to our understanding of the external and internal threats to America. In disturbing detail, it portrays the degree to which Hezbollah has infiltrated this country and the extent to which it intends to do us harm.

Formed in Lebanon by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in 1982, Hezbollah is fueled by hatred of Israel and the United States. Its 1983 truck-bomb attack against the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut killed 241 soldiers–the largest peacetime loss ever for the U.S. military–and caused President Reagan to withdraw all troops from Lebanon. Since then, among other atrocities, Hezbollah has murdered Americans at the U.S. embassy in Lebanon and the Khobar Towers U.S. military housing complex in Saudi Arabia; tortured and killed the CIA station chief in Beirut; held organizational meetings with top members of al Qaeda–including Osama bin Laden–and established sleeper cells in the United States and Canada.

Lightning Out of Lebanon reveals how, starting in 1982, a cunning and deadly Hezbollah terrorist named Mohammed Youssef Hammoud operated a cell in Charlotte, North Carolina, under the radar of American intelligence. The story of how FBI special agent Rick Schwein captured him in 2002 is a brilliantly researched and written account.

Yet the past is only prologue in the unsettling odyssey of Hezbollah. Using their exclusive sources in the Middle East and inside the U.S. counterterrorism establishment, the authors of Lightning Out of Lebanon imagine the deadly future of Hezbollah and posit how best to combat the group which top American counterintelligence officials and Senator Bob Graham, vice-chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, have called “the A Team of terrorism.”

©2005 Gregory T. Diaz and Barbara Newman (P)2005 Random House, Inc. Random House Audio, a division of Random House, Inc.

Critic reviews

“Lightning Out of Lebanon is a combination true-crime story, adventure tale, and wake-up call for America. Investigative journalists Barbara Newman and Tom Diaz have detailed the activities of the Lebanese-based Hezbollah terrorist organization in the United States and if you thought al Qaeda was the only terrorist group you had to worry about, think again. . . . A revealing account of the terrorists among us that should be required reading for all Americans.”–Neil C. Livingstone, author of Inside the PLO

“An eye-opener . . . reads like a novel, but documents in detail how operatives of what many call the ‘A-Team of Terrorism’ have taken advantage of our freedoms, legal loopholes, and defense weaknesses to set up support cells in communities all over America. But it also tells of a success story–how dedicated federal and local law enforcement officials broke up and successfully prosecuted a secret terrorist cell, leading to other investigations that continue today.”–Senator Joe Lieberman

Not much supporting evidence

This seems to be a very abridged account. Lots of accusations but very little to back it up. Hopefully the unabridged version is more substantive.

Wake Up !!!

This is completely an eye and mind opening experience. How the Democrats are leading us to this Lighning by refusing to give the government and the armed forces all the power needed to fight this soon to be on our shores enemy MUSLIM HATRED for us !!

I state this today that if we do not remember 9/11 we will rue the day we had the chance but did not do anything to STOP this wave of destruction that is coming.
This book is not to be ignored, or to be cast aside because we are going to have terrible events to unfold IF we do not act and act now !

The authors Tom Diaz and Barbara Newmanare are right on the mark, well reseached and extremely well written, as you read this book you will understand that Hezbollah hates us/you because we are dogs and are to be put to the sword. Truth hurts, how can anybody hate someone this much, easy when you are raised from birth and eat words of hate and that the highest form of devotion to your people is to strap on a bomb and BOOM!!!

The Narrator: Tony Call is perfect for the mood and the subject, one very talented speaker, thanks Tom !!
Am I just trying scare people? NO, I look to pearl habour, 1982 Lebanon [248 brave marines murdered], 9/11 [almost 3,000 innocent peopled murdered], the pentagon, flight 93, the over 2,000 soldiers killed over in Iraq, the middle east conflict; these are all reality and have happened and are happening now !!
Please read this book as it is a non-stop page turner. This IS a MUST read.