A SHADOW WAR AGAINST TERROR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000302910001-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 22, 2010
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302910001-7
ART1CtE APPf,6I ED NEW YORK TIMES
ON PAGE ti1 26 November 1985
A Shadow War Against Terror
The following article is based on reporting by Richard Halloran and David
Shipler and was written by Mr. Shipler.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 - Amer-
icans have been attacked in 72 coun-
tries since 1968, and American citizens
and property are now the targets of
about 30 to 35 percent of 'all inter-
national terrorist incidents, according
to State Department figures. Attacks
so far in 1985 have left 17 Americans
dead and 154 wounded.
Slowly, almost ponderously, the "Terrorism is
policy makers, inte ce age nctee Went factor on th,
andse security systems or e unitou l landscape for
11
id R
b
!are. wasi Lull cr=,~URT1119 WIUMILLCM rescue 10a=
rier at m5assies-anddiploa -f-
f3
r-ff -Mist to o r countries
tie. A task force on terrorism, headed
also counts more than 90 planned at- give rest
tacks on American citizens and sites men ons m late DecemBer.
abroad that have been foiled in the last
12 months.
For the United States, these are the
silent victories in a shadowy war. The
international range of the battle was il-
lustrated by one of those thwarted
plots.
About a year ago a Libyan rouelk$-
genre n cer acrd a Palestinian frnm
Jordan met in Rome to discuss an am-
bitious dramatic clot With nearly
pounds of explosives a truck bomb
would aysem parked near the
United States L'mhOeav in C'aim and
set off by remote control on a busy
,may.
i At the Rome meeting. according to
American and E tian intelligence,
the Libyan promised $500,000 to the
Palestinian for his part in the plot.
Over the next six months the Pales-
tinian conducted surveillance on the
embassy in Cairo, went to Syria for
weapons and explosives training from
the radical Abu Nidal Palestinian
group, traveled to Lebanon to pick up
the explosives-laden truck, took it by
ship to Egypt and turned it over to
other Palestinians for the attack.
But in that period one of the plotters
also served as an informant for Egyp-
tian security, which sealed off the em-
bassy's surrounding streets and foiled
the attempted bombing on the after-
noon of May 22, 1985.
This invisible record of success
stands against a dramatic run of highly
publicized violence, including the
bombings of American Embassy build-
ings in Beirut, the destruction of the
United States Marine compound at the
Beirut airport, the hijacking of a Trans
World Airlines jetliner in June, the sei-
zure of the Italian cruise ship Achille
Laura last month and the hijacking last
weekend of an Egyptair jetliner.
tsut noooay mvoivea sees a sviuuvu
to the problem, and some specialists
are worried that overreaction may
drain resources away from more im-
portant areas of concern. + be-
lieve that intelligence information,
passive Tsecunry and military force are
never o to a ua e to the task.
Nor can rescue operations counted
on to succeed, as was demonstrated
Sunday by the Egyptian commando
unit that stormed the Egyptair plane in
Malta, setting off a battle and fire that
killed 57 hostages.
"We have rhetoric on terrorism, we
have policy statements, we don't have
strategy," said Brian Jenkins, an ex-
pert at the Rand Corporation. "We
have a lot of terrorism in the world; we
can't eradicate it any more than we can
homicide in the United States."
A Trail of Terror
As long as people have used organ-
ized violence against each other's
tribes and nations, they have invented
methods of magnifying small attacks
into major political assaults. The rela-
tively weak have often found the vul-
nerable points of the powerful.
Indeed, the word "assassin" is be-
lieved by scholars to derive from
"hashish," used by a Shiite Moslem
sect, the Hashashin, to drug those
about to be sent out on suicide missions
C-.--.4-
d S i M lens
nnt os
a
fury, s o
c
State Departmen
gan Administrati
tal Group on Ten
system of competitive arms sales
makes weapons available more easily
to terrorist groups.. Mass communica-
tions assure instantaneous publicity for
terrorist acts. Travel is becoming
easier between different countries.
Border controls are diminishing,
particularly in Europe."
Many governments find regular war-
fare too costly, he added, "and terror-
ism is, therefore, viewed by several
countries as a cheap way to strike a
blow at their enemies."
While past efforts by the United
States against terrorism have been
spasmodic, Mr. Jenkins noted, the
Reagan Administration appears to be
maintaining steadier interest, partly
because of terrorism's recent impact
on American policy.
The truck bombing of the Marine
garrisot,in Beirut in 1983, which killed
241 Americans, for example, was in-
strumental in driving the United States
military out of Lebanon. It was carried
out by a Shiite Moslem group, report-
edly with direction or support from the
Governments of Syria and Iran.
The high priority given to combating
terrorism also derives from Mr. Rea-
gan's having come into office in 1981 on
a groundswell of outrage over the 444-
day captivity of American diplomats in
Iran, an event that helped weaken
President Carter and contributed to
Mr. Reagan's election on a promise of
tough retaliation.
"Let terrorists beware," the new
President said seven days after his
first inauguration, "that when the rules
of international behavior are violated,
our policy will be one of swift and effec-
rs an u
against
in the 11th century. rive retribution."
But the strategy of terrorism has But when it has come down to spe-
found an especially supportive environ- chic cases, the Reagan Administration
ment in an age of modern technology has been divided on the practicality
and expensive weapons. Unlike com- and wisdom of retribution, often be-
mon crime, it involves not only victim cause a clear military target has not
and assailant, but a third party - an been found. Mr. Reagan said at a news
audience - whose policies and politics conference during the T.W.A. hijack-
audience
the real targets of the assault. gg last June, "If you just aim in the
Complex factors now encourage it as a general direction and kill some people,
means of combat. well, then, you're a terrorist, too.'
The most precise use of military
force against terrorists came in the
Achille Lauro episode last month, when
Navy F-14 fighters forced down an
Egyptian airliner carrying Palestin-
ians who had hijacked the Italian pas-
senger ship. It was that same plane
that was. hijacked last weekend.
STAT
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/22 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000302910001-7