REAGAN WARNS 5 NATIONS OF U.S. RIGHT TO DEFEND ITSELF AGAINST ACTS OF TERROR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505380062-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: August 12, 2010
• Sequence Number: 62
• Publication Date: July 9, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000505380062-4
ARTICLE APPEARED
ON U6 _
WALL STREET JOURNAL
9 July 1985
Reagan Warns 5 Nations of U.S. Right
To Defend Itself Against Acts of Terror
By DAVID IGNATIUS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
WASHINGTON - President Reagan
warned that the U.S. has a legal right to
defend itself against five nations that he
claimed are sponsoring terrorist "acts of
war" against America.
Mr. Reagan's remarks to a gathering
here of the American Bar Association ap-
peared to be an effort to provide a legal
framework for U.S. reprisals against ter-
rorist groups a the countries that spon-
sor them.
Mr. Reagan identified five countries-
Iran, Libya, North Korea, Cuba and Nica-
ragua-as part of "a confederation of ter-
rorist states" and "a new, international
version of Murder Inc."
In a significant passage of his speech,
Mr. Reagan said: "These terrorist states
are now engaged in acts of war against the
government and people of the U.S. And un-
der international law, any state which is
the victim of acts of war has the right to
defend itself."
Mr. Reagan said the U.S. would use
the full weight of the law . . . to indict,
apprehend and prosecute" terrorists. He
added that the U.S. will act, "unilaterally,
if necessary," to prevent terrorists from
receiving training or sanctuary "any-
where."
The tough-talking speech raises the
decibel level of the Reagan administra-
tion's anti-terrorism effort and seeks to
build public support for reprisals. But it
isn't yet clear whether it is a prelude to
actual U.S. strikes against terrorist train-
ing camps or bases.
An administration official said yester-
day that top officials would like to retaliate
against the hijackers of TWA Flight 847,
for example, but that they are weighing
the advantages and disadvantages of vari-
ous options.
One move that is under way, officials
said yesterday, is an effort to find and pun-
ish the individuals who hijacked the TWA
plane. The U.S. initially has asked the Leb-
anese government-including the minister
of justice, Shiite leader Nabih Berri-to ar-
rest and prosecute the hijackers or extra-
dite them to the U.S. for prosecution.
If legal cooperation with Lebanon fails,
as seems likely, then the U.S. may con-
sider a special "operation" to seize the
suspects and, perhaps, bring them to the
U.S. for trial, according to one administra-
tion official.
One precedent for such an operation is
the Israeli government's seizure in the
1960s of Nazi war criminal Adolph Eich-
mann; he was later tried, convicted and
executed in Israel.
U.S. officials note that one problem with
legalistic approaches to terrorism, such as
the arrest and trial of suspected terrorists,
is that such steps may encourage acts of
kidnapping or sabotage aimed at freeing
individuals held by the U.S. or other gov-
ernments.
For example, Kuwait has been a target
of repeated attacks ever since it arrested
17 terrorists involved in bomb attacks
against the American embassy and other
facilities in Kuwait.
Mr. Reagan's speech focused on the five
nations he contends sponsor terrorism,
rather than on individual groups.
He noted for exam le that "in 1983
alone the Central Intelligence Agency e i
t er confirmed or oun strop a ence of
Iranian involvement n 57 terrorist at-
tacks." This emp is on state-supported
terrorism suggests that the administration
may be considering new political, diplo-
matic or economic sanctions against the
five countries Mr. Reagan named.
Conspicuously absent from Mr. Rea-
gan's list was Syria, a country that re-
mains on the State Department's list of na-
tions that support terrorism, and one that
U.S. officials have often cited as a sponsor
of such activity in Lebanon.
By omitting Syria, Mr. Reagan seemed
to be noting the role of Syrian President
Hafez Assad in helping to free the TWA
hostages and seeking more help from him
to free an additional seven Americans held
by a pro-Iranian faction in Lebanon.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/08/12 : CIA-RDP90-00552R000505380062-4