A SHADOW WAR AGAINST TERROR

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100510021-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: April 26, 2011
• Sequence Number: 21
• Publication Date: November 26, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/26: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100510021-4
ARTICLE A
ON PAGE
NEW YORK TIMES
26 November 1985
A Shadow War Against Terror
The following article is based on reporting by Richard Halloran and David
K. Shipler and was written by Mr. Shipler.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25 - Amer- Srdwly, almost ponderously, the "Terrorism is
icans have been attacked in 72 coup- Policy ake , int 111 ce agencies vent factor on
tries since 1968, and American citizens and ems or me 1 landscape f
," said Ro
fury,"
e
and are now the targets of 412 property ism as an
m o war- Departm
about 30 to 35 percent of all inter- expanaing
0 tawated gan Administra
national terrorist incidents, according - tal Group on Te reacueleams, to State Department figures. Attacks tiers a emassaies anoma c ex- system of competitive arms sales
so far in 1985 have left 17 Americans torts to 0= otner corn - makes weapons available more easily
dead and 154 wounded. tle. A task force on terrorism, headed to terrorist groups.. Mass communica-
Nevertheless, the state Department 41 m- tions assure instantaneous publicity for
also counts more than 90 planned at- ve Presiam terrorist acts. Travel is becoming
different countries.
easier
,
tacks on American citizens and sites menda~T a ecem er. Border
abroad that have been foiled in the last u solution controls are diminishing,
to the problem, and some specialists particularly in Europe."
12 months. are worried that overreaction may Many governments find regular war-
For the United States, these are the drain resources away from more im- fare too costly, he added, "and terror-
silent victories in a shadowy war. The portent areas of concern. ~i*. be? ism is, therefore, viewed by several
international range of the battle was il- lieve that intelligence information. countries as a cheap way to strike a
lustrated by one of those thwarted passive and moltary force are blow at their enemies."
plots. Tn to a e o While past efforts by the United
Nor can rescue operations cotim Staten against terrorism have been
About a year alto a Libyan never
gencg Smm on to succeed, as was demonstrated spasmodic, Mr. Jenkins noted, the
Jordan met in Rome to discuss an am- Sunday by the Egyptian commando Reagan Administration appears to be
bitious. dramatic plot. With nearly 20~ unit that stormed the Egyptair plane in maintaining steadier interest, partly
of exDlosives, a truck bomb Malta, setting off a battle and fire that because of terrorism's recent impact
pounds killed 57 hostages. on American policy.
we assem oar ed near the "We have rhetoric on terrorism, we The truck -bombing of the Marine
'^ s an d have policy statements, we don't have garrisot,in Beirut in 1983, which killed
United States 17m Q
b
nt
set off by remote cont rol on a
usy strategy," said Brian Jenkins, an ex-
v4okday. pert at the Rand Corporation. "We
At the Rome meeting. according to have a lot of terrorism in the world; we
edcan and E tian intelli ence, can't eradicate it any more than we can
the Li van promised $500,000 to the homicide in the United States."
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
Lauro last month and the hijacking last
weekend of an Egyptair jetliner.
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
about to be sent out on suicide missions our policy will be one of swift and effec-
against Crusaders and Sunni Moslems tive retribution."
in the 11th century. But when it has come down to spe-
But the strategy of terrorism has eific cases, the Reagan Administration
found an especially supportive environ- has been divided on the practicality;
ment in an age of modern technology and wisdom of retribution, often be-
and expensive weapons. Unlike con- ' cause a clear military target has not
mon crime, it involves not only victim been found. Mr. Reagan said at a news
and assailant, but a third party - an conference during the T.W.A. hijack-
audience - whose policies and politics ing last June, -If you just aim in the
are the real targets of the assault.
Complex factors now encourage it as a general direction and krroristome 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.
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.
"
the new
"Let terrorists beware,
President said seven days after his
first inauguration, "that when the rules
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/04/26: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100510021-4