"Hezbollah is a timely and landmark work. Richard Norton draws on his extensive expertise to offer a comprehensive history that will be of interest to anyone who seeks a better understanding of Hezbollah, Lebanon, or current developments in the Middle East."--Lee Hamilton, Vice Chair of the 9/11 Commission and Co-Chair of the Iraq Study Group.

Augustus Richard Norton. His membership on this blue ribbon panel (how about calling it a green and white-the colors of Islam- panel) is a surprise. His pedigree is thin to justify being on such an august (who can resist the pun?) Commission. He has served on the faculty of Cairo University and now serves as a professor of anthropology and international relations at Boston University. What does seem to qualify him for the Group is his anti-Israel attitudes. Key quotes:

"I can't recall any U.S. president who has subordinated American interests to Israeli interests like this one."

"Israel is primarily targeting Shiite Muslims and that's going to fuel the sectarianism that is feeding the civil war in Iraq."

Israel is now striving to turn parts of southern Lebanon into a largely depopulated "killing box," where Hizbullah and its capability can be whittled away. In the process, hundreds of thousands of people are being forced from their homes.

He has said that Israel's "vainglorious attempts to consolidate hegemony over its neighbors usually provokes the emergence of even fiercer adversaries."

He wrote in the Boston Globe : "ISRAEL'S WAR in Lebanon, like its 1982 forbear, was launched with the ambitious aim of buttressing Israel's regional hegemony and security."

Hezbollah is designated by the United States as a "terrorist group," a label that Israeli officials use with alacrity to cement support for their actions. The word "terrorism" is a convenient rhetorical bludgeon. It substitutes for serious thinking and leads to the nonsensical conclusion that whatever Hezbollah does is an act of terrorism. The result is a US policy that supports Israel's "counterterrorism" war to the point that a third of Lebanon's people are now refugees, hatred of America has become red hot, and the war has caused a major rift with important European allies.

In a New York Times article he stated that Hezbollah's "hatred was created by Israel; it wasn't there at the beginning."