THERE'S NO NEED EVER TO TAKE TERRORISM LYING DOWN - NINE WAYS U.S. CAN STRIKE BACK

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000807220004-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 5, 2012
• Sequence Number: 4
• Publication Date: October 22, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

'' Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807220004-2
NEW YORK POST
22 October 1985
There's no need ever to take
terrorism lying down
nine ways U.S. can strike back
WHILE Americans are all
still pumped up by the daring
in-flight interception of ter-
rorists, perhaps we ought to
look at the grim facts of the
terror situation. Only then
can we plan ahead.
First: The terror war is di-
rected in large measure
against America. There have
been 600 to 700 terror inci-
dents this year, terror ex-
perts say that one-third to 40
percent of these have been
directed against us.
The terrorists claim to at-
tack America for a variety of
reasons: our support for Is-
rael or for our European
allies, because we won't put
pressure on Kuwait, because
they want ransom money,
because they don't like West-
ern values.
Second: The sad truth is
that terror is often a success-
ful strategy. A terror story
By BEN WATTENBERG
dominates our media. This
puts the Spotlight on terror-
ist grievances. Sometimes it
forces a change in policy.
Terrorism drove our Ma-
rines out of Lebanon.
Third: Our potential re-
sponses are limited. We can't
count on much help from
others, even friends. The Ital-
ians won the Olympic gold
medal for cravenness when
they released Mohammed
Abbas. The Egyptians and
the Yugoslavians weren't
much better.
Fourth: The Soviets are be-
hind much of the terror-
training infrastructure. But
the Soviets are off-limits;
we're not going to risk a
major conflict to combat ter-
ror.
Fifth: We're not going to
win this war wholly, no mat-
ter what we do. Terrorists
willing to die can continue to
cause turmoil.
What can we do? Beef up
all our options, in order to
provide a better menu for
case-by-case response. Here
are some ideas, some reason-
able, some far-out - many
gleaned from American anti-
terror experts:
? The President should re-
peal the executive order
against assassination. If we
are able to hunt down a ter-
rorist, our agent should be
able to kill him.
? Appoint more sky mar-
shals and travel marshals.
(If the Italians had a couple
of marshals on the Achille
Lauro, the murderers prob-
ably could have been stopped
nomic sanctions that might
be usable In certain circum.
stances. What would the
Yugoslavs have done with
Abbas if they knew that if he
were released we wouldn't
allow any of those new
"Yugo" cars into the U.S.?
Would the Italians or Egyp-
tians have behaved differ.
ently if they knew that we
might discourage tourism
for a few months? (We have
Steel quotas - how about
tourist quotas?)
? Deploy some of our anti-
terrorist Delta Force over
there, not over here. There
may be occasions when we'll
want to use it without wast-
ing hours.
? Bolster our
covert intel
li ence capability. We don'
paying for the emasculation
? Ask the television indus-
try to see if it can develop a
code of self-restraint in deal-
ing with terror incidents.
Other professions have self-
policing codes. We don't have
to be,on the air about terror
every minute of every day.
? Consider covert or direct
strikes against non-Soviet re-
gimes that encourage terror-
ism: Libya, Iran, Syria, the
Palestine Liberation Organi-
zation.
? Get very tough, very
fast, on terror in America.
Pull out all stops to find the
killer of Alex Odeh of the
American-Arab Anti-Dis-
crimination Council. The
worst result of all would be if
terror came here.
? Ston the turf wars in the
U.S. bureaucracy D,)On, an
anUA-arTortam czar to knock
heads at State. Defense. Jus-
t CLO&
Is it worth it? Action will
cost us - even if we pick and
choose carefully from an ex-
panded set of options. But
lack of action has its conse-
quences too.
In our case it would mean
the perception of national
impotency. An impotent na-
tion is not called "leader of
the free world."
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/01/05: CIA-RDP90-00965R000807220004-2