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Tuesday, July 18, 2006
NELSON: WE ARE IN A “WORLD WAR AGAINST TERRORISM”

As war continues and tensions escalate in the Middle East, Nebraska’s Senator Ben Nelson encouraged the White House to send Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the region to begin to address the violence between Hezbollah and Israel.

“There’s no region we need to be more directly engaged in than the Middle East right now,” said Nelson. “We are engaged in a World War Against Terrorism and the international community must have a strong presence in this latest front against terrorist groups like Hezbollah.”

Nelson views Israel’s recent attacks in Lebanon as retaliations against the terrorist organization, Hezbollah, and not against the Lebanese people. “We wouldn’t allow al-Qaeda to kidnap American soldiers without responding,” said Nelson. “And I believe Israel is justified to act in response.”

Nelson also expressed his support for United Nations Resolution 1559, which passed in 2004 and called for foreign forces like Hezbollah to disarm and leave Lebanon.

In 2003, Senator Nelson became a cosponsor of S.982, the Syrian Accountability Act, which passed both houses of Congress and was signed into law by President Bush. That bill called for Syria to halt their support for terrorism, including Hezbollah, and end its occupaton of Lebanon.

Last year in cooperation with Senate colleagues, Nelson wrote President Bush urging him to place al-Manar, the official television network of Hezbollah, on the Treasury Department’s Specially Designated Global Terrorist Entity (SDGTE) list for their promotion of suicide attacks against Israel and the United States. President Bush added Hezbollah to the SDGTE list in March.

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