CNN Newsroom: Global View

home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search

/ CNN Newsroom: Global View / CNN Newsroom: Global View.iso / wld / wldliby1.mi2 < prev next >

Wrap

Text File | 1994-05-02 | 22KB | 453 lines

<text> <title> Libya's Responsibility for Terrorism </title> <article> <hdr> Patterns Of Global Terrorism: 1991 Libya's Continuing Responsibility for Terrorism </hdr> <body> Introduction This appendix is designed to provide context for the allegations in the US and Scottish indictments of Libyan nationals for the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 in December 1988. To this end, it discusses the attitude of the Qadhafi government toward terrorism and outlines Libyan responsibility for terrorist acts. Based on analysis of Libyan behavior over many years, on the results of investigating the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 since 1988, and on the structure of the Libyan regime and the relations among leading officials in that regime, we conclude that the bombing of Pan Am 103 was not an aberration and was an action authorized by the Libyan Government. Libya's support for terrorism began in the earliest days of the Qadhafi regime. As early as 1972, Libyan leader Mu'ammar Qadhafi publicly offered to help extremist movements--including the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the Black Power movement in the United States--and to support any group in the Middle East willing to attack Israel. Qadhafi dispatched terrorists to Italy in 1973 to shoot down an Israeli airliner and at least as early as 1975 ordered the murder of Libyan dissidents living abroad. Although dissidents historically have posed little--if any--threat to Qadhafi's rule, the Libyan leader has concentrated on eliminating them. Assassinations took place in the early and mid-1980s and included two attempts (one of them successful) against Libyan students in the United States. Libyan involvement in and support of terrorism expanded throughout the early 1980s. Tripoli provided passports to Abu Nidal organization (ANO) members who attacked the El Al ticket counter at the Vienna airport in December 1985. Libya also sponsored the bombing of the La Belle disco in Berlin in April 1986 that killed three people, including two US servicemen. Over the years, even as Libyan agents and their proxies planned and carried out terrorist attacks, Qadhafi regularly sought to calm international concerns through public denunciations of terrorism. For example, in 1977, Qadhafi plotted to assassinate a US Ambassador, just after assuring President Carter that he sought good relations with the United States. Moreover, Qadhafi periodically has issued public denials of his involvement in terrorism while his intelligence apparatus was preparing for acts of terrorism. Libyan action has not been limited to Israeli and Western targets. In the mid-1980s Libya backed plots against President Mubarak of Egypt, former President Nimeiri of Sudan, President Mobutu of Zaire, former Tunisian President Bourguiba, and former President Habre of Chad. In addition to using and supporting terrorism, Qadhafi also has a long history of trying to subvert governments in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The Record Over the Past Five Years The 1986 airstrike on Libya by the United States, combined with other international pressures, did not end Tripoli's support for terrorism. Following the air attack, Qadhafi began to use front companies and other organizations to hide Libya's hand. In addition, Qadhafi has placed a premium on masking Libya's support for terrorism in an attempt to avoid jeopardizing Libya's economic links to his African neighbors and major European trading partners. The Libyans sponsored a series of anti-US operations immediately after the US airstrikes in April 1986. Tripoli was responsible for the shooting of a US Embassy communicator in Sudan on 15 April 1986 and for the shooting of another Embassy communicator in Sanaa, North Yemen, on 25 April 1986. In addition, two Libyans were apprehended on 18 April 1986 as they attempted to attack the US Officers Club in Ankara with grenades obtained from the Libyan People's Bureau there. The Libyans confessed that they were ordered to cause the maximum number of casualties, particularly women and children. We believe that Libya was responsible for the destruction of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, on 21 December 1988 and that senior government officials involved in previous terrorist attacks around the world orchestrated the operation. Forensic evidence indicates that the bomb's timer was unique to Libyan inventories, and an official of the Libyan national carrier, Libyan Arab Airlines, used his credentials to circumvent security procedures in Malta to assist in the operation. Over the past several years, Libya has provided assistance to Palestinian terrorists, enabling them to launch attacks against Israel and Western targets: -- In May 1990, Palestinian Liberation Front (PLF) members attempted a seaborne raid on Israel; the operation failed, and four terrorists were killed and 12 captured. Libya provided the group with training, sophisticated equipment, weaponry, and the mother ship used in the operation. -- In July 1988, ANO operatives attacked the Greek cruise ship The City of Poros, killing nine and wounding over 100 people. Libya provided the weapons used in the operation. Libya has regarded Africa as an attractive environment for its operations and is responsible for several attacks there: -- On 30 October 1991, a French judge issued international arrest warrants, charging four Libyan officials with involvement in the bombing of UTA Flight 772 in September 1989. -- In March 1990, Libyan diplomats were expelled from Ethiopia after a bomb exploded in the Hilton Hotel in Addis Ababa in an apparent attempt to kill the Israeli Ambassador who was staying there. -- In February, 1988, two known Libyan terrorists were arrested in Dakar, Senegal, in possession of explosives and weapons. -- In October, 1987, a bomb exploded in the office of World Vision, a private relief organization operating in Moudou, Chad. Libyan diplomats based in Cotonou, Benin, assisted the terrorists who carried out the attack. -- In March 1987, a bomb exploded at the cafe "L'Historil" in Djibouti, killing 11 and wounding 50. The Libyans ordered a Palestinian group, The Popular Struggle Front, to conduct the attack or risk losing Tripoli's financial support. The Libyans have supported terrorist groups in Europe, particularly the Provisional Irish Republican Army (PIRA), which Colonel Qadhafi has called a popular national liberation movement. Throughout the mid-1980s, Libya provided the group with arms. Libya's hand was openly revealed in October 1987, when French authorities intercepted a freighter, The Eksund, off the coast of France and seized 150 tons of weapons and explosives destined for the PIRA. Libya has also provided financial support to the PIRA. Since April 1986, Libyan assassins have murdered three anti-Qadhafi Libyan dissidents residing in Greece, Italy, and France. Tripoli has continued to target other exiles deemed "opponents" of the Libyan Government. Current Support for Terrorism Despite the efforts of the international community, Libyan involvement in terrorism today remains extensive. Tripoli is one of the largest financiers of terrorists worldwide, and it continues to permit terrorist groups to operate at camps throughout Libya. In the Middle East the Libyans continue to support a wide range of terrorist groups: -- The ANO--which has conducted over 100 terrorist attacks resulting in the deaths of more that 280 people and the wounding of over 650 since its founding--continues to receive significant Libyan support. The group is headquartered in Tripoli, and Libya provides the ANO with major training facilities and several million dollars annually. -- Qadhafi provided well over $1 million to Ahmed Jabril's Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command in 1990. The group wa