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day ordeal which left four hostages
dead.
• The hijacking of an Air France
jetliner bound from Tel Aviv to
Paris by pro-Palestinian guerrillas in
late June 1976. The plane was flown
to Uganda, where the 150 non-Jew–
ish passengers were released and the
remaining 100 Jewish passengers
were rescued a few days later in a
daring raid on Entebbe airport by
Israelí commandos.
• The three-day intercontinental
hijacking of a TWA New York-to–
Chicago jetliner by five exiled Croa–
tion nationalists in September 1976.
The hijackers demanded that an
eight-page communiqué on Croa–
tian demands for independence
from Yugoslavia be printed in five
major newspapers.
America, Get Ready
Though certain countries- notably
the United States and Great Brit–
ain- have, for the most part, es–
caped the brunt of international
terrorism, experts feel those days
are rapidly nearing an end.
Take the United States, for ex–
ample. "Terrorism is about to be–
come the biggest single problem
facing America," warns a top U.S.
law enforcement official.
The FBI has estimated that there
may be as many as 15,000 people–
both homegrown terrorists and resi–
dent aliens- involved in over 20
groups in the United States that
preach violence as a means of
achieving their political goals. Best
k.nown among these groups are the
Weather Underground, Symbionese
Liberation Army (SLA), and the
New World Liberation Front.
J. Bowyer Bell of Columbia Uni–
versity's Institute of War and Peace
Studies expects their ranks to grow:
"Revolutionaries frorn abroad, at–
tracted by soft targets [in the U.S.]
may strike at what they see as the
center of the imperialist-capitaüst–
racist conspiracy."
American police officials are pre–
paring for the worst.
Terrorist Rogues' Gallery
There are between
50
and 100
groups in the world at present which
ernploy terrorist tactics, including
the indiscriminate slaughter of in–
nocent civilians when it becomes
16
" necessary." Those involved in ter–
rorist activities differ widely in their
motivations and objectives. Sorne
are revolutionaries out to overthrow
a prevailing political system. Sorne
are anarchists seeking to provoke a
total breakdown of society and gov–
emment. Sorne are separatists, mi–
norities within nations seeking to
break away and form their own au–
tonomous countries.
In addition, there are individuals
who are not affiliated with actual
terrorist groups, but who resort to
terrorist acts to protest a specific
grievance or to seek revenge for a
supposed wrong, often nonpolitical
in oature. Sometimes their acts are
of a highly personal nature, relating
to a famlly or job problem.
Finally, there are the free-lance
mercenaries who offer their services
to political terrorist groups although
they thernselves are oot politically
motivated. Their primary interest is
rnoney.
Major terrorist groups operating
throughout the world today include:
• The Japanese Red Army, an ul–
traradica l, Japao-based g roup
formed about 1970 aod operating in
the Far East, Middle East aod Eu–
rope. It is a1lied with various Pales–
tinian groups.
• The Baader-Meinhof Gang, a
West German-based anarchist orga–
nization.
• The Palestine Liberation Orga–
nization (PLO), an urnbrella for the
diverse guerrilla groups operating
against Israel, dorninated by Yasir
Arafat's Al Fatah. Once known as
the most energetic of internationa1
terrorist organizations, the PLO has
been bogged down in the Lebanese
civil war since ear1y 1975.
• The Popular Front for the Lib–
eration of Palestine (PFLP) , a
Marxist terrorist group operating
prirnarily in the Middle East and
Europe. A split-off from the PLO,
the PFLP-1ed by Dr. George Ha–
bash-is possib1y the most extreme
group within the terrorist commu–
nity.
• Black September, formed in
197 1, an offshoot of Yasir Arafat's
Al Fatah.
• The Provisional Wing of the
Irish Republican Army (IRA), re–
sponsible for most of the bombings
in Britain and Northern lreland.
• The Mohammed Boudia Coro–
mando (a1so known as the
Arm
ofthe
Arab Revolution and the Carlos
Group) , an anti-Zionist, radical left–
ist group, an offshoot of the PFLP.
The elusive "Carlos," identified as
Venezuela n-born Illich Ramirez
Sanchez, is the world's most-wanted
terrorist, a member of numerous
groups and allegedly involved in the
OPEC kidnappings and the Air
France hijacking to Uganda.
• There are many other groups of
note, including the Basque ETA, the
Italian Red Brigade, the Puerto Ri–
can nationalist FALN, the Turkish
Peoples Liberation Army (TALA),
the Spanish organization FRAP,
and the South American Junta for
Revolutionary Coordination led by
Uruguayan and Argentine Tupa–
maros.
Global Brotherhood
Intelligence sources say that many
of these diverse groups have now
begun coordinating their opera–
tions-sharing weapons, money,
training facilities and rnanpower- to
increase their effectiveness. In sorne
cases, cooperation is based on a spe–
cific operation, with the groups in–
volved sometimes acting with
widely differing motives. In other
cases, cooperation is ongoing. The
1975 guerrilla raid on the Vienna
OPEC conference, for example, was
reportedly the combined work of
the PFLP, the Baader-Meinhof
Gang, anda Latín American group.
The glue holding together the
many seemingly diverse terrorist
groups is their common ideological
struggle against the "Evil Three" :
imperialism, Zionism, and capital–
ism.
Moreover, terrorists in many
cases now have the active or tacit
support of a number of 1ike-minded
govemments, including those of
Libya, lraq, Somalia and South Ye–
roen, which serve as havens for es–
caped or released terrorists and
often provide financial and other
support for them. Under erratic dic–
tator Col. Muammar K.hadafi, the
chief pirate state colluding with ter–
rorism is Libya.
Intelligence specialists note that
rnuch of the weaponry used by ter–
rorists has passed into their hands
through these sympathetic coun-
The
PLAIN TAUTH June 1977
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