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wage war with the Uni ted States
because it could result in a nuclear
holocaust. So they don't do so but
instead they use terrorist groups in
other countr ies to wage their wars
for them.
It's like sending out a small boy
to pick on the boy of another family
when the father doesn' t dare hit the
father. With the smaller countries,
those that don't have the power to
wage war against big countries can
use acts of terror-small hit
squads, small bomb squads- to
strike at those majar countr ies
which they would otherwise be
frightened to attack.
The Third World press seems to
focus on Israel as being the num–
ber one terrorist power in the
world today. What is your opinion
on this seeming phenomenon?
Of course, the T hird World
would concent rate on it because of
thei r support for the Arab cause.
This is a perfectly natural pol itical
development.
1t is true that the Israelis them–
selves used terrorism against the
British mandate forces to force the
British a rmy to leave Palestine.
The ir excuse, then, was that thei r
people had suffered nearly six mil–
lion dead from the holocaust and
they need ed the homeland of
Israel.
In fact, tbey committed various
acts which are still regarded in
Britain as acts of the most appallíng
terrorism.
However, during the " War of
1ndependence" in 1948, acts of ter–
rorism were committed by both
sides. The Arabs committed acts of
terrorism against tbe Israel is and
the Israelis committed acts of ter–
rorism agai nst the Palestinians.
After they acbieved indepen–
dence, the Israel is forswore terror–
ism, until the Palestinians used it
agains t them. And then, because
Israelis couldn't strike back in any
other way, they started to use their
cou nterterrorist forces against the
Palesti nians operating in Europe.
After the 1972 Munich mas–
sacre, when it seemed impossible
that the people wbo planned it
would ever be caugbt , the Israelis
said, "We will deal with this our–
selves." They believe in an eye for
an eye anda tooth for a tooth . They
May 1984
sent out their hit teams, their assas–
sination squads, to try to wipe out
the people who were committ ing
acts of terror ism against them.
There was a war of kili and coun–
terkill throughout Europe.
Would terrorlst groups dare to
undertake such. a fanatlcal mission
as kidnapping the Britlsh Queen?
Could they really get past the
security torces?
Given the present leve! of securi–
ty it would be a d ifficult task to
kidnap tbe Queen. The security
forces are well aware of the danger
and bave worked out cont ingency
plans to cope with all foreseeable
sets of circumstances. They have
even made dummy kidnap runs on
the Royal Family. This does not, of
course, mean t hat it would be
impossible to kidnap the Queen–
anything is possible in the world of
terrorism.
It
is the threat of assassination
rather than kidnapping which is the
constant nightmare for the Queen's
security men.
She is aware of the danger but
persists in her walkabouts both at
home and abroad during which she
walks through c rowded streets
g reeting people.
lt
would seem that the terrorist
groups have decided that the inter–
national outrage caused by such an
attempt would be counterproduc–
tive to their cause. There is no
doubt that if the IRA decided that
such an attempt would benefit their
cause then they would attempt it.
But as we have seen recently, they
prefer softer targets like the people
doing their shopping at Harrods in
London.
How many terrorlst organiza–
tio ns are there in the world
today?
It
is impossible to say precisely
how many terrorist groups exist
today, as they are like amoebae,
constantly splitting, dying and
regenerating. However, a nation by
nation count of the groups now
operating on a serious leve! gives us
a figure of 45 to 50.
To what extent do these
groups cooperate?
There is no Terrorist Interna–
t ional as such but there is a great
d eal of free-lance cooperation.
Most of this stems from a meet ing
of international terrorists held in
Lebanon in 1972 under the aus–
pices of the Popular Front for the
Liberation of Palestine. There have
been simi lar meetings, especially in
Ireland, of so-called freedom move–
ments which have been covers for
ter rorist cooperative planning.
They seem to. work on a basis of
doing favors for one another.
German members of the Red
Army faction- the successors to
the Bader Meinhoff gang- helped
the Popular Front for the Libera–
tion of Palestine (PFLP) in the
Entebbe, Uganda, hijack for exam–
ple.
There is also extensive exchange
of arms and expertise.
It
is known,
for example, that the Irish bomb
makers have passed on their tech–
n iques to the Ara bs and the
Basques in exchange for arms.
More recently, the most desper–
ate acts of terrorism have been car–
ried out in tbe name of religion
among the warr ing factions in
Lebanon. But in most cases the
religious cause is used only to dis–
guise the real purpose of the terror–
ism: the acquisit ion of poli tical and
therefore commercial power.
One exception to this rule are
the Shias who carry out bombings
and killings on bebalf of Ayatollah
Khomeini of lran. They are con–
vinced that they are acti ng on
behalf of their version of Allah
through the commands of the Aya–
tollah, and they are convinced that
if they are killed they will become
martyrs and go directl_y to.heaven.
T he on ly theme uniting all these
elements is that tbey are prepared
to ki li to further tbeir cause.
Which countries in the world
provide safe havens for terrorists
and glve substantial financia! sup–
port to terrorist groups and mili–
tary trainlng and equipment?
Libya, Cuba and South Yemen
are the three main havens for the
terrorists. The various Arab nations
also give shelter, t raining faci lities,
arms and money to the various
groups which attacb tbemselves to
the government of the day. Russia's
satelli tes also give succor to the ter–
rorists, but quietly.
(Continued on page 38)
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