MOSCOW MISSION

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP84B00049R001002490010-0
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 20, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 9, 2007
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: January 18, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2007/05110 :CIA-RDP84B00049R001002490010-0
Taunting Clues
And the terror spreads
n ominous voice delivered the mes-
Asage in identical calls to newspapers
in Rome and Milan: U.S. Brigadier Gen-
eral James Dozier, kidnaped from his Ve-
rona apartment on Dec. 17, had been exe-
cuted. The anonymous caller said the
corpse of "the Yankee pig General Dozi-
er" could be found in an abandoned build
ing 30 miles from Pescara on the Adr' tic
coast. Italian police searched the~rea
fruitlessly.
At the same time, Dozier's abd ctors
issued aten-page communique tha pro-
vided details of his interrogation a
"people's court." In the transcript, e
presiding officer explains to Dozier why
he was captured: "Your military career is
the story of American aggression against
the battle for liberation and revolution in
Southeast Asia and against the proletariat
struggle in Europe."
With no solid clues to go on, the au-
thorities were hoping to break the case by
enticing one of the terrorists to betray his
comrades and earn a 2 billion lire ($1.67
million) reward for information about the
kidnaping. The money is believed to have
been put up either by wealthy Italian in-
dustrialists, who fear that terrorism is
eroding business confidence, or anony-
mously by the Italian government.
Even as police tramped the hillsides
in search of Dozier, the Brigades struck
again. A tiny Autobianchi A-112 car
moved unnoticed through the deserted
streets of Rovigo, 40 miles southeast of
Verona, and parked next to the walls of
the town prison. Four masked men leaped
from the car and began spraying ma-
chine-gun fire at iwo guards in a watch-
tower. In the prison courtyard, four wom-
en inmates who were Red Brigades
members heard the shots and overpow-
World
ered a guard. Then the car exploded, kill-
ing a _ pedestrian, shattering windows
within aquarter-mile radius and blowing
a 4-ft.-wide hole in the wall. The four con-
victs scrambled through the smoking gap,
joined their rescue team and vanished
without a trace.
Three days later, Nicola Simone, 41,
local deputy head of the special antiter-
rorist police force that is leading the
search for Dozier, was shot three times in
the face by an assailant disguised as a
postman. As Simone lay critically wound-
ed in a hospital, the Red Brigades claimed
responsibility for the shooting. The attack
was staged in apparent retaliation for the
arrest of two Brigades suspects captured
in Rome with an arsenal of machine guns,
shotguns and grenades in their car. Police
also arrested eleven other suspected left-
wing terrorists, including Giovanni Sen-
zani, 42, a Florence University professor
who is thought to be a top Brigades leader.
The latest surge of terrorist activity
has spread uneasiness throughout Italy,
yet there are distressing signs that the
Red Brigades still enjoy latent sympathy
among younger Italians. In a poll of 20- to
24-year-olds by the newsmagazine
L'Expresso, 21% believed that the Red
Brigades were fighting for a better society,
while 35% felt that the terrorists had the
right ideals but were using the wrong
means to achieve them. Only 27% said
they would inform the authgrities-if--they ''~
knew someone who was a terror'st:-~~ --.._
MOSCOW Mi$SiOn
Just a friendly gesture
For months the Soviet Union has been
gaining along-coveted foothold _ing
'~3ran. In mid-October the ruling Islamic
Republic accepted Moscow's offer
to send agents to Iran to strengthen Teh-
ran's intelligence and security forces, as
well as bolster the Islamic Guard, the
I.R.P.'s military arm. Another Soviet
team was dispatched to assist in rebuild-
ing the country's devastated economy.
Now the Soviets, in their boldest ploy to
date, are pressing Iran to sign a mutual
cooperation pact that would effectively
draw Khomeini's revolutionary govern-
mentinto Moscow's sphere of influence.
The proposal was first made during a
Nov. 18 meeting in Tehran between Vla-
dimir Vinogradov, the Soviet Ambassa-
dor to Iran, and Iranian Prime Minister
Mir Hossein Mousavi.
Vinogradov argued that the growing
discontent of fundamentalist, right-wing
clergymen with Khomeini's policies, to-
gether with what he called the "CIA-
backed leftists" of the Mujahedin-a-Kha1q
(People's Crusaders), had brought Iran to
the brink of a civil war. Vinogradov told
Mousavi that Iran would be ripe for a
U.S.-backed counterrevolution. His deal:
increased Soviet protection, presumably
in the form ofarms and technical advisers,
in exchange for a formal five- to ten-year
"friendship and mutual assistance treaty"
between the U.S.S.R. and Iran. ThE;
Kremlin would stand ready to defend Iran
against "foreign-led subversion."
The following day Mousavi briefed the
Ayatullah on Vinogradov's proposal,
then officially informed the Soviets that it
was under consideration. Khomeini is
known to be deeply suspicious of Moscow
for its role in crushing Islamic revolution-
aries in Afghanistan, and is wary of allow-
ing Iran to become a strategic pawn of ei-
ther superpower. But growing numbers of
the ruling clergy are beginning to believe
the Soviets can be used for protection and
economic assistance without compromis-
~! ing Iranian autonomy.
The Soviets are keenly aware of the
Khomeini regime's vulnerability. Iran's
foreign reserves of $1 billion are drying up
rapidly. The government needs $800 mil-
lion more per month than its oil revenues
provide just to supply the basic needs of its
restive population. Since November the
regime has had to divert $1.5 billion in de-
velopment and welfare funds to help fi-
nance the prolonged war with Iraq. Oil.
exports have leveled off at 900,000 bbl.
per day, providing $966 million a month
in revenues, compared with $1.74 billion.
in 1978. In a nation of 39.8 million, 4 mil-
lion are now jobless, and as many as 2 mil-
"'lion are homeless because of the war.
Some observers believe that much of pri-
vate in ustry will come to a standstill by
spring ecause of a lack of raw materials
and sp re parts.
T e talks about the friendship treaty
betty en Iran and the Soviet Union are re-
po edly continuing. The mullahs seem
,intent on drawing out negotiations in or-
der to assure themselves of Soviet assis-
tance without paying the political price of
aligning the country with Moscow. But
the Kremlin wants a signed deal before it
will start to deliver. ^