Wednesday, Dec. 17, 2008

Imad Mughniyah, 1962-2008

'[The Americans] think ... I have the key to the universe. It is difficult for them to understand that I am part of an institution that patiently plans and designs its moves.'

Hijacking, kidnap, surprise explosions — for 25 years Mughniyah mastered the tools of asymmetrical warfare for Lebanese group Hizballah. Before Osama bin Laden, he was the world's most wanted terrorist, linked to the 1983 bombing of a U.S. marine barracks in Lebanon that killed 241. His end was sudden: a car bomb.

Eben Harrell