By Stan Goodenough
Jan 08, 2008
The Lebanese Hizb'allah terrorist organization or a "Palestinian" protest group are thought to be responsible for firing two Katyusha rockets into northern Israel Monday night in what analysts believe may have been an attempt to disrupt US President George W. Bush's imminent visit to the Middle East.
It may also have been a "positive" response to an Al-Qaida message earlier in the day calling for Muslims to welcome the American "Crusader" with bombs and booby-trapped cars.
Bush is scheduled to arrive in Israel Wednesday afternoon for three days out of a nine-day regional tour during which he hopes to "nurture" the Israeli-"Palestinian" peace process back into motion.
He hopes to see a peace agreement resulting in the creation of a Palestinian state on historic Jewish land before he leaves the White House a year from now.
While there is no proof yet that Hizb'allah launched the missiles - a number of other groups in southern Lebanon could have done so - the Iranian-backed organization is definitely suspected.
Iran is an enemy of America which would prefer to restrict US-influence in the Middle East as much as possible.
In a possibility related incident, five Iranian gunboats played "chicken" with a flotilla of US warships in the Persian Gulf Sunday, racing to within a hundred yards of the ships before veering away.
The "stunt" could have been a practise run for a suicide bombing attack on American ships at some stage in the immediate or interim future.
Anti-American Muslims have launched "suicide" attacks on US warships before, as in the strike on the USS Cole in October 2000 in which 17 American sailors were killed.