Political speeches and public rhetoric paint the phenomena of
terrorism with a black-and-white brush, presenting it as a
clear-cut battle between evildoers and heroes. With "The "Achille
Lauro" Hijacking,"" Michael K. Bohn, who watched the incident
unfold from the White House Situation Room, uses one of the most
infamous terrorist incidents of the past twenty-five years to
illuminate the folly of such oversimplified jingoisms. The 1985
hijacking of the Italian cruise ship, the amazing capture of the
terrorists, and a previously untold story of American bigotry come
together in this book as a case study in the complex forces that
shape both terrorism and the responses that it triggers. In October
1985, four Palestinian men hijacked an Italian cruise ship,
"Achille Lauro," holding hundreds hostage for two days. The
hijackers killed a partially disabled, sixty-nine year old Jewish
American, Leon Klinghoffer, and threw his body into the sea. Many
remember Klinghoffer's death, but few know of the other murder
associated with the hijacking, that of Alex Odeh. Odeh defended on
television Yasser Arafat's apparent role in defusing the hijacking.
He was killed the next day by a terrorist's bomb, which exploded as
he opened the door of his Los Angeles office - the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee.Palestinians killed Klinghoffer
because he was Jewish, yet Jewish extremists killed Odeh because he
was a Palestinian. The Klinghoffer family's long crusade to bring
the hijacking mastermind, Abu Abbas, to justice was partially
satisfied with his April 2003 capture in Iraq. The Odeh family
still waits for charges to be brought against Alex's murderers, a
particularly disheartening situation asIsrael, America's friend and
ally, refuses to extradite two suspects.These two deaths pale in
comparison to the atrocities of September 11, 2001. Yet
understanding both the "Achille Lauro" incident, and the
extraordinary sequence of events that followed, will help Americans
better understand the threat of terrorism. Terrorism is not an
enemy, it is a tactic chosen by some to further political goals.
Terrorism is not just about crime and punishment; it is about
violence, power politics, prejudice, hatred, land, religion, greed,
money, and a host of venal factors that influence human society.
All of these forces are present in the "Achille Lauro" hijacking
and its aftermath.
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