SYMPOSIUM REVIEWS RAID ON LIBYA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700036-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: July 28, 2010
• Sequence Number: 36
• Publication Date: May 6, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/28: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700036-3
AKT1Ct W NAPLES DAILY NEWS (F
owp - 6 May 1986
Symposium Reviews Raicowtwya
By MARTY BONVECHIO with the continuing problem of ter-
Staff Writer rorism, with no Instant solutions,
A former high-ranking CIA offs- Polgar said.
cer said Monday that if covert ac- Over. 50 Islamic terrorist groups
bons exist In the world. And those are
against Col. Moammar just the Islamic groups. Polgar said
Khadafy had been allowed, they there are probably more than 100
would have yielded better results other terrorist groups with differ-
than the U.S. air raid April 14 in., ent motivations.
Libya. The bad news, Polgar was forced
Thomas Polgar was one of four to tell the, audience, is that terror-
former Intelligence officers, along Ism is not going to go away. There
with CIA Director William Casey, is no Instant solution to interna-
to address the Fourth National In- tional terrorism.
telligence Symposium held Mon- lv DON'T think it will be re-
lay at the Naples Beach Club solved any more than you resolve
Hotel. heart disease, or the common
b cold," he said. "We must learn to
The symposium, sponsored by
the Naples Daily News and Palmer live with terrorism as we learn to
with heart disease."
Communications, was coordinated live There has always been terrorism
igen a Officers. Association of Former Intel- around the world and there always
will be, Polgar said. But there are
POLGAR TOLD the audience. of things that can be done to combat
about 350 former intelligence offi- it. .
cers and interested citizens that He suggested a more disciplined
counterterrorism may call for un- approach to the publicity terrorists
conventional responses from the receive. "Terrorism feeds on pub-
CIA, but he noted that the CIA is licity," he said.
not free to handle all situations in Covert actions can also be an im.
the way they see fit. portant tool for combating terror-
"The CIA could not kill a known ism, and less expensive than mili-
terrorist," Polgar said. The U.S. tary force. He suggested that in.
government will not allow that. Yet stead of the bombing attack of
Libya, a small team of men could
the government sends planes tci an-
have e gone l t the country and ry
other country to drop bombs that stroyed all
may kill a large number of Inno- planes. the Libyan byan military
cent people - as happened in planes.
Libya last month, he said. Polgar also said a sound working
There's a saying in Latin Amer- relationship with other countries is
ica, Polgar said, that if you cut off important in the fight against ter.
the snake's head, that's the remedy rorism.
she stressed that the United
against the snake. States must not
Polgar said the U.S. raid may reactions to go terrorism. The n overboard
The nation's its
end up breeding new terrorism overwhelming from Libya. owhelming fear of terrorism -
"1'1LiBROTHER or son of those to the point that European vaca.
bons are longer being
killed in the Libya bombing will erect by many reaction t -
remember and come back to haunt - is a reacton to
us some day," he said. the publicity and not an accurate
saidthe gravity of the
Polgar said he did not com- perooblem, blem, he of
pletely disagree with the adminis- p.
tration's decision to attack Libya in THE
may also
retaliation for terrorist acts. But he be in danger of overreacting. There
believes covert actions would have is talk of building fences around
yielded better results without the White House, billions of dollars
creating a personal motivation in are going toward shoring up Amer.
the Libyan people to do something 'can installations around the world.
against America. "The terrorists are succeeding in
Polgar, a former CIA chief of sta. doing something they have been
tion in Saigon and Bonn, is a con- unable to do before - place physi-
sultant to the Vice President's cal barriers between our govern-
Task Force on Combating Terror- ment and the people, just like at
ism. That task force is confronted the Kremlin," Polgar said.
He stressed that the violence
must be placed in perspective.
There were over 800 terrorist inci-
dents in the world in 1985 that left
23 Americans dead. But also that
Year 18,000 Americans were homi-
cide victims and 40,000 died in
auto accidents.
If the government permits terror-
ist acts to be the motivating force
of its policy and American Individ-
uals and businesses change their
lifestyles, then terrorists have ac-
complished their purpose, Polgar
said.
Polgar did draw some murmurs
of displeasure -from the crowd
when he questioned some of Amer-
ica's own policies.
He noted that Britain's Prime
Minister Margaret Thatcher took
exception with American citizens'
financial support of the Irish Re-
publican Army. There is more
financial support from the united
States to the IRA than Libyan sup-
port to terrorists abroad, he said.
"One man's terrorist Is another
man's freedom fighter," Polgar
noted. "Some things aren't always
evaluated in the same manner."
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2010/07/28: CIA-RDP90-00806R000200700036-3