A SOVIET PLOT TO KILL THE POPE - II

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140058-5
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 3, 2011
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: September 15, 1982
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Approved For Release 2011/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140058-5
ARTICLE AP EARED
ON PAGE 4
JEFFREY HART
WASHINGTON TIMES
15 SEPTEMBER 1982
chance to run for it. The Soviets did
not want it that way. The shots were
fired, and the two henchmen left
him in the lurch to be captured. They
were photographed running away,,
one jumping on a bus. The Soviets
I'wanted Agca captured, because he
is a Thrk - thus making 'ltirkey
.seem less desirable as a_ NATO ally,
an- unstable terrorist country -No
doubt, the Soviets hoped he would
be killed in Vatican Square, his last
political service.
But, Agca lives on in jail. He has
given Claire Sterling just enough
correct information to indicate that
1 he can give a lot more. He has
escaped from jail before. Stay tuned.
A Soviet plot
tokiflthepope-il
I n a recent column I noted that now know the facts. But, Though
Claire Sterling, the author of The much of its audience is serious and
Terror Network and a recognized intelligent, the Reader's Digest does
authority on 20th century political not count for much iin? so-called
terrorism, has established persua-. "opinion-making" circles. And these
sively in a major article in the cur- have definitely laid off- the, pope
rent Reader's Digest that Mehmet assassination story.
Ali Agca, the Ttirkish terrorist who Why? In effect, the story.has so
tried to kill Pope John Paul II, was far been "spiked" lathe best-selling
programmed by the Soviet KGB novel called The Spike, RobertMoss
through its Bulgarian catspaw to do and Arnaud de Borchgrave posit an
exactly what he tried to do. I said actual communist apparatus in the
that, outside of the Reader's Digest, major media that "spikes"- kills
this blockbuster story had received -crucial anti-Soviet stories.,
little or no coverage in the major I myself do not necessarlybelieve
media. that theory.
I stand corrected. Information In the present case the KGB kill-
reaching me from Dallas, Tex., indi- lag attempt upon the pope, if it came
cates that the story has received to light, would have been a major
full coverage there, at least, as it Soviet disaster.' ,
has in major European newspapers, There are hundreds of millions
and if it has been covered in Dallas of people around the world, includ-
it has probably been covered also in ? lag the Third World, who believe.
other cities across the country. that the pope is the Vicar of Christ.
In theBoston-NewYork Washington if a communist plot, directed from
media corridor, however, it has met Moscow, to kill the pope ever became
with silence. It has not been dealt widely credible, it would be a psy-
with by CBS-TV or the other major chological catastrophe. In launching
networks (although an NBC White this assassination operation, the
Paper titled The Man Who Shot the Soviets were terribly provincial and
Pope - A Study in Terrorism is Euro-centered. They were thinking
scheduled to air Sept. 21). It has specifically of Poland and. second-
~,,..
been downplayed by the New York arilyof Thrkey,
Times and relegated to back pages: What seems to me to be the case
It has not made a splash in the here is that,themajor media have
Washington Post, the Los Angles an investment ie the idea that the
Times, or the Chicago:Ttibune.. Soviet Union is a "norinal" country,
There is an ancient saying, cer- ` and that "normal" countries just do
tainly redolent of regional chauvin- not program a 'Ibrkish terrorist to
ism, but containing some truth, that
if it is not reported in the New York
Times, it didn't happen. As far as
the eastern corridorbrand of major
murder the ^`Come'to think of it, "The Plot to
to
pope didn't
Digest Kill the Pope" would make. a fine
Now, of course, the Reader's Digest
has 12 million readers, noinsignifi movie. Mehmet Ali Agca was re-
cant segment. Those readers, if they cruited and equipped and pointed
have read Claire Sterling's piece, toward the pope with his Bulgarian-
supplied Browning automatic and
his $50,000 in cash. He thought he
Jeffrey Hart, an English professor wis going to shoot and escape. Two
at Dartmouth College, is a syndi- henchmen were to create a distur-
cated columnist. bance, which would give Agca a
.precedence overthe facts m the spe-
.. cific case, which therefore became
"unimportant "just not "news."
Approved For Release 2011/05/03: CIA-RDP90-00552R000505140058-5