Posted on 11/02/2003 6:34:50 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife
For years, Abu Abbas was one of the world's most wanted terrorists, the mastermind of the hijacking of an Italian cruise ship in which an American in a wheelchair was shoved overboard.
Now, no one seems to want Mr. Abbas, leader of a faction of the Palestine Liberation Front, who was captured by American Special Forces here in April and is in American custody.
The Americans would like the Italian government, which convicted him in absentia and sentenced him to life in prison in 1986, to take him and put him in jail. But the Italians have made no move to extradite him, and have said they do not plan to, two American officials said. The Italian Embassy here declined to comment.
The Justice Department is not sure it can get a conviction of Mr. Abbas in the United States, the officials said. For one thing, most current antiterrorism laws were not in effect in 1985, when the hijacking occurred. Justice Department lawyers are not sure they could get a conviction for the murder of the American cruise ship passenger that took place so long ago, especially since Mr. Abbas has denied any direct role, a Justice Department official said.
After terrorists from Mr. Abbas's group seized the cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, they shot a 69-year-old American passenger, Leon Klinghoffer, then pushed him, in his wheelchair, into the Mediterranean.
During interrogation here, Mr. Abbas, has denied any direct involvement in the killing of Mr. Klinghoffer, officials familiar with the interrogation said. He has, however, admitted enough to make him a co-conspirator, one said.
Mr. Abbas has admitted that it was his idea to hijack the ship as a political statement, the official said. During the interrogations, Mr. Abbas has been "very charming and pleasant," he said.
Not long after Mr. Abbas and his men seized the Achille Lauro and then let it go, they were on a flight that was intercepted by an American military plan, which forced them to land at an American base in Italy.
The Italians released Mr. Abbas, angering Washington. Then under pressure from the Reagan administration, the Italians charged Mr. Abbas, but by then he had fled. Italian prosecutors tried him in absentia.
The Justice Department filed criminal charges against him later, but then withdrew them, saying that other countries that had evidence were refusing to cooperate.
Mr. Abbas continued to carry out attacks against Israel.
Under the Oslo accords between Israel and Yasir Arafat's Palestine Liberation Organization, he was given amnesty and said he was abandoning terrorism. He left Baghdad, where he had been living, in 1996. He returned to Gaza but came back to Baghdad in 2000.
In a rare interview, with The New York Times last year, Mr. Abbas condemned the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and denounced Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda. He argued that the Palestinian cause was completely separate from the fanatical terrorism of Al Qaeda.
After Mr. Abbas was captured in April, the Italian justice minister said his government would seek to extradite him.
It is not clear why the Italians have changed their minds, but American officials said it might be that they are worried about retaliation by other terrorist groups.
"He's in custody, sitting there, waiting for someone to decide what to do with him," an American official said. "They'll probably decide just to let him sit there."
The "here" was Baghdad as in Iraq, where the reporter wrote that report.
So tell us again NYTimes that Iraq has nothing to do with anti-American terrorism.
And there was Abu Nidal, also involved in the murder of American Leon Klinghofer.
Nidal had been holed up in Baghdad for years before he died in the last year.
Iraq said that it was suicide, but some were skeptical when it appeared that he had 14 bullet wounds. Stories appeared stating that Saddam gave him the bullets used for his suicide (i.e., shot the bullets at him) when he refused to reactivate some of his terrorist network to help Saddam fight the U.S.
Of course this is all meaningless because moslems are encouraged by their scriptures to lie to us infidels.
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