On June 20th, the Department of Defense was mandated by law to report to
Congress on the status of efforts of the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) to
extricate Hezbollah from both its entrenched position in southern
Lebanon and its infiltration of the US-backed Lebanese military. Sadly,
June 20th came and went with no report.

On its own, this failure to thus far issue the report to Congress is
highly problematic. But ever since the CUFI Action Fund took on the
issue of unconditional American aid to the LAF, it's become clear that
forces with the Departments of Defense and State would rather these
taxpayer funds receive no scrutiny or oversight from Congress. The
failure to issue the report is just the latest example of bureaucratic
stonewalling of Congressional and public efforts to ensure that American
assistance is not going prop up terror run regimes.

Who's Getting Your Money?

According to a CUFI primer

on US aid to the LAF, "Since  2005 the United States has provided
over $2 billion in aid to the Lebanese Armed Forces. These  taxpayer
dollars enable the LAF to procure American military weapons and
training."    

This unconditional aid continues despite LAF coordination with and
infiltration by Hezbollah. Moreover, late last year, a CUFI staff member
authored an op-ed

noting that in Beirut, "Hezbollah's governing coalition holds a
majority. Furthermore, the president of Lebanon is an open ally of
Hezbollah, and a majority of the Cabinet are members of or allied with
Hezbollah - including the ministers of Defense, Justice, Finance and
Public Health."

In sum, US taxpayer dollars are going to a military that is led by a
government allied with Hezbollah, commanders coordinating with the
terrorist organization, and an army comprised of many rank-and-file
soldiers in league with the world's most strategically relevant
terrorist group.

Why (on earth!) are we Sending Americans' Hard Earned Cash to the LAF?

None of the above facts are in dispute. And though the aforementioned
report would have given the Department of Defense the opportunity to
highlight any relevant progress made in Lebanon, that report never came.
So why are entrenched forces inside the Departments of State and Defense
working so hard behind the scenes to defend this aid? Because they think
that it buys stability in Lebanon. They're wrong. It does not purchase
stability; it rents it. And the one ultimately cashing the check is the
Iran-backed and Hezbollah-allied government in Beirut.

Historically, making such deals with devils in the Middle East has not
ended well for Western interests in the region. While at times American
national security interests necessitate alliances with country's whose
leaders do not share our values, in those cases the governments' end
goals are similar to the ours. Lebanon is not an example of such

**realpolitik**.

Lebanon's government is backed by openly hostile forces. And each day,
their boots on the ground grow in strength and sophistication. Case in
point, Hezbollah is receiving precision guided munitions from Iran with
the Lebanese government's and the US-backed LAF's acquiescence.
Those missiles have one target: Israel.

So What's Being Done About It?

When the Action Fund first set out to address this issue, we met with
stakeholders, listened to differing viewpoints, and ultimately supported
legislation that would condition just twenty percent of US aid to the
LAF on the Lebanese army meeting certain benchmarks concerning
Hezbollah. The hope was that conditioning a portion of the aid would
allow those within the LAF who are not affiliated with Hezbollah to
leverage this issue internally. But the Defense Department's failure
to issue the report and unwillingness to reassess our failed policy in
Lebanon show a more forward leaning approach is warranted.

The Action Fund is now supporting two amendments to the Fiscal Year 2021
State Foreign Operations Appropriations bill that focus on US funding of
the LAF. The first amendment, offered by Rep. Joe Wilson (R-SC), would
withhold funding to the LAF if it is determined that the Lebanese
military and Internal Security Forces (ISF) are engaged in human rights
abuses.

The second, offered by Rep. Mike Johnson (R-LA), would withhold US aid
to the Lebanese military unless the Secretary of State certifies to
Congress that the LAF and ISF "are dismantling Hezbollah's precision
guided missile assembly and launching facilities embedded in civilian
areas, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon has complete access
to all sites determined necessary to enforce United Nations Security
Council Resolution 1701, and the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
has access to and has suspended cross border tunnels into Israel."

Regardless of party or political ideology we should all be able to agree
that US taxpayer funds should not be sent to a human rights abusing,
terrorist-allied government. If the Departments of Defense and State
disagree, let them say so publicly and justify sending taxpayer money to
a Hezbollah controlled nation such as Lebanon. We at the CUFI Action
Fund will not relent until no more American taxpayer dollars are sent to
those who would do harm to us and our ally Israel.

______________________________________________________________________

Sincerely,CUFI Action Fund Team

SUPPORT CUFI ACTION FUND
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