ROBERT STETHEM'S KILLERS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP90-00965R000605720002-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 1, 2012
• Sequence Number: 2
• Publication Date: March 14, 1986
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

STAT
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605720002-3
~Y PA{~r
WASHINGTON TIMES
14 March 1986
Robert Stethem's killers
RUSHER
Somewhere in the Middle East,
under the protection of Syria
or Libya or perhaps simply
hidden by their relatives and
friends, are the three men who last
June hijacked TWA flight 847. Their
names are: Mohammed Hammadei,
Ali Atwa, and Hassan Izz-al-Din. On
June 15 at the Beirut airport, in the
course of that hijacking, they put a
gun to the head of Robert Stethem,
23, and blew him away, for the crime
of being a member of the U.S. Navy.
Outrage over the killing was wide-
spread in the United States, and no-
where more so than among the Rea-
gan administration's most staunchly
conservative supporters. There
were ill-considered demands for in-
stant and bloody reprisal, not
against the killers (they hadn't even
been identified yet), but against
loosely described groups alleged to
be ' supporting them: "the terrorist
camps in the Bekaa Valley," etc.
Aside from relieving the frustra-
tions of their proponents, these spas-
tic yelps for revenge served little
purpose save to demonstrate how
difficult it was to devise and execute
a practical plan for reprisal.
The individuals and organizations
that actually sponsored the hijack-
ing and supported the hijackers are
difficult, perhaps impossible, to
identify. It is certainly far from clear
that they are, or ever were, based in
specific camps in the Bekaa Valley
or anywhere else. And the indis-
criminate bombardment of Leba-
nese villages, on no better ground
than that their inhabitants are
Arabs, would merely shock and out-
rage the whole Middle East, damag-
ing America's interests still further.
Some conservatives, therefore,
counseled patience when the Rea-
gan administration made it clear
that it would not go along with such
rash proposals. Revenge, we re-
minded the hotheads, is a dish best
eaten cold. There was no real need
for hurry: there would be time to
identify the actual killers, locate
their hideouts, and arrange for their
extermination. Some of us i,,for
one - were prepared to go a"step
further; if the three killers proved
permanently beyond our reach, it
should be possible to bring about the
death of enough of their blood rel-
atives and close friends to make the
murderers regret their crime, and
also to generate heavy communal
pressures against further such con-
duct. (This, apparently, was what the
Russians did when four of their peo-
ple were kidnapped and one of them
was killed, and it swiftly resulted in
the release of the remaining three.)
President Reagan, however, de-
cided against such indirect re-
taliation, feeling - perhaps
rightly - that it would lower us to
the. hijackers' own level of indis-
criminate slaughter, and that this
would not be acceptable to the
American people. Guilt, he insisted,
is personal, and so must punishment
be.
Very well, but more than eight
months have aased and although
our intelligence facilities have iden-
tified.the killers, all three remain at
large. Some observers are con-
vinced that the matter is being al-
lowed to slide slowly toward a back
burner, where it can simmer indefi-
nitely.
But the murderers of Robert Ste-
them are in a different category than
America's other terrorist foes in the
Middle East. The drivers of the
explosive-laden vehicles that de-
stroyed the Marine barracks and our
embassy annex in Beirut gave their
own lives to ensure the success of
their missions. The hijackers of the
Achille Lauro, who cold-bloodedly
killed Leon Klinghoffer, are -
thanks to Mr. Reagan's prompt inter-
vention when an Egyptian airliner
tried to fly them to sanctuary in lb-.
nisia - in an Italian prison, awaiting
trial.
Mr. Stethem's killers are known,
but in hiding. Surely enough money,
scattered around the Middle East,
could locate them. If and when it
does, it will of course be splendid if
they can be kidnapped a la Eich-
mann and brought to this country for
trial; but it is not essential.
What is essential - absolutely es-
sential - is: they must die.
William Rusher, publisher of Na-
tional Review, is a nationally syndi-
cated columnist.
Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2012/05/02 : CIA-RDP90-00965R000605720002-3