At Last, It Feels Like a New Day

The telephone rang early yesterday morning. My husband Patrick was leaving for work, having been kissed quickly and told to drive carefully. I hurried back to the kitchen to answer the phone before the ringing woke the children. The information delivered by the voice of a friend in tears took my breath and I raced back to the garage to find my husband.

"Imad Mugniyah is dead."

Imad Mugniyah is, most tragically, a Stethem household name. His career of terror and exploits of destruction are well known to our family. One incident in particular is all too close to home. Imad Mugniyah was the Hezbollah mastermind of the 1985 TWA Flight 847 hijacking during which U.S. Navy Diver Robert Dean Stethem was brutally tortured and then murdered.

The memory of Robert's bravery and heroism during his ordeal was formally recognized and forever preserved for posterity in the commissioning of the USS Stethem, an Aegis class guided missile destroyer. The ship motto is "Steadfast and Courageous," a fitting tribute to this brave American son lost all too soon. The list of Imad Mugniyah's acts of hatred is heartbreaking. In addition to the 1985 TWA hijacking, Mugniyah was responsible for the planning and execution of such acts of terror as the1983 Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, the U.S. Embassy bombings in Beirut, the 1992 bombings of the Israeli Embassy in Argentina, the 1996 bombing of the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia, the kidnapping and torture of CIA station chief in Beirut William Buckley, the kidnapping and the murder of marine Colonel Richard Higgins. Mugniyah was wanted in more than 40 countries, including America and Israel. At the top of the FBI's most wanted terrorist list, the bounty on his head was $25,000,000.

As my husband held the phone and listened quietly, his expression was one of both relief and reserve.

There is, of course, the hesitancy of the civilized mind in the actual rejoicing over the death of another human being. That being said, this particular death is one for which we are thankful and in which we find relief. The future will not be plagued by Mugniyah's black heart of contempt for the West and our allies. His work is over. Not another grave is to be filled by the work of his hand. Not another mother will drop to her knees, groaning in shock and disbelief as a result of his wicked ambition.

There is something satisfying in that the demise of Imad Mugniyah came two days before the third anniversary of the February 14, 2005 assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri. Hariri was killed by explosives as his motorcade passed the Saint George Hotel in Beirut. Hariri was a friend of the West and a harsh and very open critic of Syria's domination of Lebanon. Blame for the loss of Prime Minister Hariri rests at the feet at Hezbollah and Syria.

A mastermind of terror, the right arm of Hezbollah, a bomb maker, Imad Mugniyah lived by the sword. It is fitting that he would meet the same kind of violent fate as did so many of his victims. This time, the blood on his hands was his own.

The evil mind that planned and implemented one scenario of terror, death, and destruction after another finally has been stilled. Hell's gates have swung wide open and swallowed one whom earth has regurgitated. He will not be comforted and his cries will be unheard. Imad Mugniyah is now denied the same mercy that he refused his victims.

The death of Imad Mugniyah does not bring back Robert Stethem. That son was ripped from his parents, snatched from his sister and brothers. He is a distant memory to one nephew and but a revered shadow to his other nephew and nieces. The murder of Robert Stethem was a devastating loss to his family. But it is the knowledge of Rob's unspeakably brutal suffering that was and remains their agony. Time heals the sting of a personal loss. What time cannot touch is an imagination haunted by thoughts of a loved one's torture for 15 hours, alone, on the other side of the world without a chance to be kissed goodbye or to be told how very much he would be missed.

This development cannot reach back into the past and dry tears or unwrench hearts. It does, however, soften the present. It does, however, brighten the future. At long last, it feels like a new day.

Katherine Stethem is married to Patrick Stethem, brother of the late Robert Dean Stethem.