In Lightening out of Lebanon, Barbara Newman and Tom Diaz use this local story as a backdrop to investigate Hezbollah and the nature of the threat it poses to our national security. Diaz is a journalist and a consultant to the US government on counter-terrorism. Newman, a former host of NPR's "All Things Considered," is currently a senior fellow at the Washington, DC-based Defense of Democracies Foundation, a credit that doesn't appear in her bio for the book. Members of the foundation's board of directors include such neo-conservative luminaries as William Kristol, James Woolsey, Jean Kirkpatrick, Charles Krauthammer, and Frank Gaffney, the cheerleaders for the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003 who are now clamouring for a tougher stance towards Iran, Hezbollah's sponsor.

The authors contend that the US remains a major target of Hezbollah and that the group continues to infiltrate the US, making it "potentially" a more dangerous threat to our country than al Quaeda. It's a timely subject, indeed, and a book claiming to have the goods on the "enemy within" should merit our attention. I have to report, though, that, while an interesting read, Lightning out of Lebanon presents no hard evidence to support the authors' claims.

It's true that Hezbollah, the so-called Party of God, which the Iranian Revolutionary Guards founded in 1982, has done harm to our national interests abroad, and the authors spend considerable space recapitulating the legacy of blood and terror. As they point out, Hezbollah killed more Americans than any other terrorist group before the 9-11 trauma.

Some of the most high profile examples include the 1983 truck-bomb attack on the US marine barracks in Beirut that killed 241 US soldiers, the brutal torture murders of the CIA station chief William Buckley and Marine Corp Lt. Colonel William Higgins in the mid-1980s, the 1985 hijacking of the TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Beirut, and the 1996 attack on the Khobar Towers US military housing complex in Saudi Arabia.

But these events that transpired ten to twenty years ago and happened in the pre 9-11 world won't necessarily help us understand the realities of the Middle East today. As many Middle Experts are pointing out, Hezbollah appears to be positioning itself to become a major player in Lebanese politics, and it -- as well as its chief sponsor, Iran -- don't look eager for direct confrontation with the Bush administration or provoke the world's sole superpower with reckless action.

Still, the book is well written, and the information about the Hezbollah connection, interesting. The authors profile Hammoud's early life in Beirut's slums and his involvement with Hezbollah and how like many other local Shiite youth he grew up to possess a deep hatred of Israel. They chronicle the major events of Lebanese-Israeli relations but omit some relevant details important for an understanding of Lebanon's recent history.

For instance, no mention is made of Ariel Sharon's role in the 1982 Sabra and Shatila refuge camp massacres in which rampaging Christian militia murdered hundreds of unarmed Palestinian refugees. An official Israeli commission of inquiry found that Ariel Sharon, among other Israelis, had responsibility for the massacre, although it carefully avoided any accusation of direct involvement in the massacre.

The mysterious Imad Fayez Mugniyah, the coordinator of Hezbollah's cell network in the Western Hemisphere who has a $5 million US bounty on his head, sent Hammoud to Charlotte to establish the fund raising network. If bin Laden ever is taken down, look for Mugnuyah to be the next poster terrorist for the War on Terrorism.

The authors quote one anonymous Israeli intelligence official as assessing, "Bin Laden is a school boy in comparison with Mugniyah." They attempt to establish a connection between the two terrorists and Iran, but once again the reader will ask: where is the beef?

One might also ask: why Charlotte? According to the authors, "it fit the bill perfectly" because "Hezbollah was looking for American cities where the focused of law enforcement was far removed from terrorism, new operatives could infiltrate a legitimate expatriate Lebanese community and opportunities existed to engage in middling but profitable criminal schemes."

Hammoud and fellow employees at a local Domino Pizza store (some of whom were not Lebanese) pursued their smuggling activities until law enforcement brought the network down. The investigation, by the way, began in 1977, when a law-abiding member of the local Lebanese community told the FBI about his suspicious neighbours.

The authors contend that it was one of at least 14 US cities that "fit the bill." So how serious is the Hezbollah threat to our domestic security? Diaz and Newman draw this "conclusion" a few pages into the book: "One part of this story cannot be told, because it remains unknown -- and that is whether even more hidden layers of Hezbollah's dark enterprise lie undetected, coiled to strike in America." It's relevant to note that not one case has been tried since the conviction of Hammoud and his associates two years ago.

The ominous but substance devoid claims in Lightning out of Lebanon do more to chill and frighten than inform and enlighten, exemplifying the book's weakness. Current and well-researched books about Hezbollah are needed, given the War on Terror and the recent events in Lebanon. Discerning and informed readers, however, may be disappointed and somewhat confused by the findings of Lightning out of Lebanon.

Ron Chepesiuk is a visiting professor at Chittagong University and a Research Associate with the National Defense College in Dhaka.