FACING UP TO REALITY ON TERRORISM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000503810006-2
• Release Decision: RIFPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 12, 2012
• Sequence Number: 6
• Publication Date: May 20, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000503810006-2
A TCLEA?PEA ED
UK E me
NEW YORK POST
20 May 1985
Facing up to reality on terrorism:
AMONG the traumas of our
time, the political use of ter-
ror ranks high. And, among
the quirkier neuroses of our
time. the anti-int iaence
syndrome in America
e Tall hiigh.
he'Ir- two make no sense to-
gether.
Americans like to be nice,
open guys and suspect any-
thing covert. But alas, in the
real world, terrorists operate
in secret and must be met by
secret information gathering
and secret action.
An Indian prime minister
is killed. Her son, the new
prime minister, is being
stalked for the kill.
The British prime minister
barely escapes a bombing
death. The Pope is shot in a
secret plot, but survives.
A Marine troop dormitory
6 By MAX LERNER
This is the context for the
newest attack on the Ameri-
can effort to counter the ter-
ror coming out of Lebanon.
A Washington Post story,
probably leaked, tells of a
March 8 bombing by a secret
Lebanese unit that killed about
80 people but missed its prime
target - Mohammed Fadlal-
lah - the man known to have
planned, blessed and directed
the terror against the Ameri-
can Marines.
American intelligence,
everyone e
its connection with the Leba-
nese unit. The CIA denies any
vance knowledge of
tack.
Wt that doesn't mute the
exulting because the CIA has
again becomg a rtrd.
Us ace It The dirtying of
the as t e American
e rice mmunity ma -
' we be the most letha
weapon that America's ene-
mies possess.
Is it a self Ag that Is
happening to the CIA? I read
editorials saying that Ameri-
cans must not "fight fire with
fire," lest they end by abandon-
ing their values and embrac-
ing those of their enemies
But anyone watching a for-
est fire knows that "fighting
fire with fire" is exactly
what gutsy firefighters -
their faces sooty. their lungs
smoke-scorched - must do.
principle, there would be no
Israel
Or do we follow the model
set in our handling of the Te-
hran hostages?
Nothing is more real in the
real world than the dark
operations of secret terror.
You fight it as you can, by
preemptive and preventive
operations, and by warnings
of retribution meant as a
deterrence.
Americans are not terribly
good at these secret ways.
Two fellows named Shultz
and McFarlane are new at
counter-terrorism but they
are trying.
8111 Casey and the CIA may
have an egg on this one.
tjQn& But we can't have the
this
e
?w.v
force field
--: [:I If ?
Beirut are terror-bombed with i.: press. .nor _ _ does it . keep Can't be ,handled with acos- to by monopolised by our eu
hundreda.of deaths,., forcing A ericas'enemies in eve - ; mic `dance of- virtue ,in the emcee, we may find we na-
Americana.to decamp in pain hostile intelligence a enc sunlight of the media: If-the. - no civilization left in whic-
and humiliation. patraam sewedthis irlsh ourvaluen: -- - - -
Declassified and Approved For Release 2012/01/12 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000503810006-2