CIA DENIES CAR BOMB INVOLVEMENT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP91-00587R000100720053-6
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 18, 2011
• Sequence Number: 53
• Publication Date: June 23, 1985
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/18: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100720053-6
STAT
UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL
23 June 1985
CIA DENIES CAR BOMB INVOLVEMENT
WASHINGTON
The CIA says it had nothing to do with a March car bombing that killed 80
people in Beirut, Lebanon, and criticized a report for giving ''the totally
false impression'' the government was involved in terrorism, The Washington Post
reported Sunday.
Lebanese and other foreigners, for strikes against suspected terrorists before
they could attack U.S. targets.
The story said members of the units ''acting without CIA authorization,
went out on a runaway mission and hired others in Lebanon,'' to plant a car bomb
in March outside the residence of a Shiite Moslem leader believed to be behind
terrorist attacks against U.S. facilities.
' This misleading theme has been picked up by a number of other journalists
as fact and has even been cited by the Shiite terrorists as one of the motives
for hijacking TWA Flight 847,'' CIA spokesman George Lauder wrote in a letter
to the newspaper, which was published in Sunday editions of the Post.
In the May 12 article, the newspaper reported that President Reagan directed
the CIA last year to train and support counterterrorist units, made up of
The bomb's explosion killed 80 people.
Lauder wrote that the House Select Committee on Intelligence investigated the
report and said on June 12. "The committee's review has uncovered no evidence
that any U.S. intelligence agency has encouraged or participated in any
terrorist activity in Lebanon. '
Two committee members, however, told the Post Saturday the report did not
directly address the newspaper's article but dealt with a resolution by House
members who accused the CIA of financing hit teams as a result of the bombing.
Sanitized Copy Approved for Release 2011/02/18: CIA-RDP91-00587R000100720053-6