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On October 11, 1986, theUS intercepts Egyptian Boeing with Achille Lauro terrorists. From the article:
"Seizure of the ship
On Monday, October 7, 1985, four PLF militants hijacked Achille Lauro off Egypt. The hijackers had been surprised by a crew member and acted prematurely. The Palestinians had hidden their weapons in the gas tank of a car parked in Italy in preparation for boarding the ship. Their smuggled weapons still with gasoline residue on them, gave off a smell that the crew had noticed but had not acted on. A cabin steward, with the hijackers' stateroom in his responsibilities, surprised the four Palestinians (as they were trying to use a hairdryer to clean the residue off their weapons) by entering the unlocked door to their room in order to deliver complimentary fruit. The hijackers plan to launch an attack on Ashdod, Israel was put aside as the terrorists panicked and moved to hijack the ship instead.[2][4]
The four terrorists stormed into the ship's dining room. They shot their automatic weapons over the heads of the eating passengers. Screams from the passengers meshed with the shouting of the gunmen and with the sound of falling glass shards and splinters. Viola Meskin tried to run to a door but was intercepted by a terrorist with a gun who turned her back. Austrian passenger Anna Hoeranter ran to an exit but was pushed down an adjacent flight of stairs by one of the terrorists. Other passengers ran in a panic from the dining room into the kitchen and were chased by one of the terrorists. Inside the kitchen the pursuing terrorist beat two of the kitchen staff to the floor.[4]
The ship's executive officer notified Captain Gerardo de Rosa that there were armed men on board shooting at passengers. Captain De Rosa descended quickly through several decks moving towards the ship's stern. An agitated voice came over the ship's loudspeakers requesting he come immediately to the bridge. Arriving there, De Rosa was faced by machine guns. The terrorists fired some shots into the deck and then shouted in Arabic. They demanded he sail the ship 300 miles to the northeast to the Syrian port of Tartus.[4]
Due to most of the passengers having disembarked at Cairo to tour the pyramids, only 97 remained on board when they became hostages.[7]
The hijackers rounded up the rest of the passengers aboard and herded them into the dining room. They missed Hoeranter, who after having been pushed down the stairs by a terrorist had entered the first open cabin she found and hid in the bathroom. She would remain there until found by the cleaning staff four days later (after the hijackers had left). She had survived on two apples she had found and rationed.[4]
The terrorists ordered Captain De Rosa to instruct the 450 crew members to continue with their normal duties but to stay clear of the hostages. They claimed to have a total of 20 hijackers on board. Only later would De Rosa and his officers discover that there were only four hijackers.[4]
Within the dining room the terrorist put on displays of power to cower the hostages, menacing them with their machine guns, pulling the pins from their grenades but keeping the safety lever depressed. They had two of the women hostages hold the live grenades, causing the worry that if they fell asleep the safety levers would detach causing an explosion. The hijackers veered erratically from politeness to barbarity – one moment one would wash a cup for a hostage to use, the next a hijacker would ram a gun stock into Mrs. Klinghoffer to force her from the floor, then a hijacker would escort a captive to her cabin to change out of a wet swimsuit. The hijackers also tried to engage in some political persuasion, telling the hostages "Reagan no good, Arafat good."[4]
Before the hijackers enforced radio silence, the crew of the Achille Lauro managed to send out an S.O.S. that was picked up by a monitoring facility in Sweden. This alerted the international community that Palestinians had seized an Italian ship.[4]
As night approached the hijackers took all the hostages up several decks to the Arazzi Lounge on the Promenade deck and gave them blankets to spend the night. While they ordered the ship's kitchen to send food up for the hostages, they placed containers they claimed were filled with gasoline around the room (apparently as a bluff to ward off the ship's crew). Despite fears of grenades and gasoline, the passengers attempted to sleep on the floor while the ship steamed towards Syria.[4]
The tourists that had visited the pyramids reached Port Said by 10:30 but found no ship. At first they were told that traffic in the canal had delayed the ship but at 1:30 a.m. were given the truth. Passengers, like Frank Hodes, who had family or companions left on the ship began to worry.[4]
Government reactions
Upon learning of the hijacking and that there were Americans on board, members of the Reagan administration in Washington D.C. (in a time zone seven hours earlier than Egypt) moved to take decisive action. The Terrorist Incident Working Group (which included National Security Council staff member Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North) met in accord with predetermined counter-terrorist procedures. They recommended that a State Department Emergency Support Team be sent to Rome to assist the embassy there as the vessel was Italian. The Group also recommended that the Pentagon dispatch a team of special operations forces to Europe in case the ship needed to be seized to rescue the hostages. These recommendations were approved by the Operational Sub-Group chaired by John Poindexter and orders were sent to the State and Defense Departments. U.S. Army Major General Carl Stiner put two platoons, drawn from the Navy's counter-terrorism unit, SEAL Team Six, Army commandos from Delta Force and Air Force Combat Controllers from BRAND X en route to Europe to be operating with NATO ally permission from a British base at Akrotiri, Cyprus. The U.S. State Department asked countries along the Mediterranean to deny Achille Lauro access to their ports in order to keep it in International Waters. They also sought to keep the press away from the ship to prevent giving the terrorists a worldwide stage.[4]
The Italian Government took a mixed approach. Defense Minister Giovanni Spadolini had the military send sixty paratroopers, four helicopters, and experts on the ship's layout to the British base at Akrotiri. Prime Minister Bettino Craxi looked for a diplomatic solution beginning a near-continuous dialogue with every country involved, including the nations with citizens aboard, and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Tunisia.[4]
Italy had called on the PLO to publicly declare if they had any involvement. In response Yasser Arafat denounced the hijacking and offered to assist in negotiating for a peaceful conclusion to the incident. Arafat sent two men to Egypt to join a joint negotiating team alongside Italians and Egyptians – one of his advisors and PLO executive committee member Hani al-Hassan and Abu Abbas. At Port Said, Egypt, these two joined the PLO representative from Cairo – Zohdi al-Qoudra. (It is unknown if Arafat was ignorant of Abbas involvement or if he was sent to ensure the incident would end quickly).[4]
Demands
On Tuesday morning, October 8 the hijackers began to separate the hostages. They were looking for Jews and Americans asking for the hostages to identify themselves but meeting refusal. They collected the passports of the passengers and pulled aside twelve Americans and six female British dancers who had been hired as entertainers (originally set to perform in the very lounge they were being held hostage in). Looking at the passports of an elderly couple, the hijackers asked if they were Jewish. Upon hearing that they were, one of the terrorists knocked the man to the floor and repeatedly hit him with the butt of his gun.[4]
The terrorists ordered the twenty separated passengers up the stairs but Leon Klinghoffer's wheelchair could not make the climb and his wife Marilyn refused to abandon him. She was ordered by the terrorists to leave him, when she protested they put a machine gun to her head and ordered her up the stairs. Fellow passenger Anna Scheider offered to take Mr. Klinghoffer but was refused, with one of the hijackers saying "You go! We will take care of him."[4]
On Lido Deck, below the bridge and above the lounge the other hostages were being held on, the separated hostages were forced to lie on the deck. Containers said to contain fuel were placed around them with threats from the terrorists that they would shoot the cans if provoked. One of the terrorists told hostage Evelyn Weltman that if commandos tried a rescue all the hostages would be executed. At this point it became clear to the hostages and Captain De Rosa that one of the four hijackers was their leader – twenty-three year-old Youssef Majed Molqi (recruited by Abbas from a crowded Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan).[4]
The Achille Lauro arrived off Tartus at 11:00 a.m. and Molqi broke radio silence. He asked Syrian authorities to allow him to dock the ship at Tartus and demanded that they send someone from the International Red Cross to the ship, along with British and American representatives. He stated that he was with the PLF and demanded that the Israeli Government be contacted and given the demand that 50 Palestinians held in its jails be freed, including specifically Samir Kuntar.[4]
If the prisoners were not released, Molqi said they would begin killing hostages, "We will start executing at 3:00 p.m. sharp." Syria, having consulted with the U.S. and Italian governments did not respond to any of the demands.[4]
Murder of Leon Klinghoffer
As 3:00 p.m. neared the terrorists began to decide whom to kill by shuffling the U.S., British, and Austrian hostages' passports. They selected Leon Klinghoffer to be killed first, to be followed by Mildred Hodes.[4][7]
Several reasons have been put forward that may have contributed to why Klinghoffer was chosen. Earlier in the hijacking he had refused to be silent when gunmen took his watch and cigarettes, becoming brusque and complaining in his slurred speech which antagonized some of the hijackers though one of them gave Klinghoffer his possessions back. Additionally Klinghoffer was Jewish and American, and his wheelchair made him both hard to move around the ship and meant his extended absence from the main group was less likely to trigger a chain reaction of resistance among the surviving hostages. Molqi later gave a statement on why he was chosen "I and Bassm [al-Ashker] agreed that the first hostage to be killed had to be an American. I chose Klinghoffer, an invalid, so that they would know that we had no pity for anyone, just as the Americans, arming Israel, do not take into consideration that Israel kills women and children of our people."[4]
Molqi ordered Manuel De Souza, a Portuguese waiter to accompany him and push Klinghoffer outside onto the open deck. Klinghoffer was taken back along the entire deck of the ship to the stern. Molqi ordered De Souza to return into the ship.[4]
The other terrorists moved the rest of the hostages back down into the lounge. Marilyn Klinghoffer noticed that Leon was not there and began to weep. A hijacker told her that he had been moved to the ship's infirmary due to illness.[4]
Molqi shot Leon Klinghoffer once in the head and again in the chest. He died instantly toppling onto his face. Molqi then went in and ordered De Souza to throw the body over the side of the ship. When De Souza was unable to do the task alone, Molqi found Italian hairdresser Ferruccio Alberti and forced the two of them at gunpoint to throw the body and then the wheelchair into the sea. Several of the hostages heard the shots and splashes including Marilyn Klinghoffer. She pleaded with the hijackers to let her see her husband in the infirmary, but they refused. She feared the worst but remained hopeful.[4]
Molqi, with blood splattered clothing returned to the other terrorists and told them "I have killed the American." He and Bassam al-Ashker then went to the bridge. Handing Klinghoffer's passport to Captain De Rosa he raised a finger and said "boom, boom." He then handed Mrs. Hodes' passport to him and said "This will be the second one." At that point De Rosa told them they could kill him instead of the passengers.[4]
Molqi ordered De Rosa to tell the Syrians that a passenger had been killed and that they were prepared to kill another. The Syrians responded by telling Molqi to "go back where you came from." Finding no help in Syria, Molqi ordered De Rosa to sail for Libya.[4]
Negotiations
In an effort to resolve the situation communications with the hijackers and discussions about their fate took place.
Abbas' interaction
Before Achille Lauro could head towards Libya, Abbas unable to contact the ship using Egyptian Naval communications, called into Cyprus' Arabic language station Radio Monte Carlo. He, using the name "Abu Khaled" asked the station to broadcast a message to the vessel, instructing the hijackers to return immediately to Port Said and treat the passengers "kindly." Molqi on the bridge with Captain De Rosa was listening to the station and became overjoyed ordering the captain to set course for Port Said at 7:20 p.m., Tuesday, October 8.[4] Following the instructions of Abbas, the Achille Lauro headed back towards Port Said, where it had previously made a tourist stop.[8]
Abbas, still using the name "Abu Khaled" was later able to contact the ship by naval radio from Port Said. Abbas told Majed to treat the passengers well and to apologize to them, the crew, and the captain. He told Majed to tell them that their objective was not to take control of the ship and that their friendship with Italy was "so important that it is unthinkable that any action would be taken against our European friends."[4]
Abbas then spoke to Captain De Rosa, he apologized to him saying "We are truly sorry, because we didn't intend to hijack you, but our situation was such that we had to assume control for several hours." De Rosa replied "I am familiar with your situation and I understand it well. We understand the Palestinians, we understand the Palestinian aspirations, and for that reason we are all with you."[4] The radio contact allowed the International community to pinpoint the location of the vessel. The Israelis were able to provide information about Abba's radio discussions with the ship to the Reagan administration and notified them that it was Abbas' faction behind the hijacking. Fearing that the terrorists threat to kill passengers had been followed through, and not wanting a repeat of the TWA Flight 847 terrorist incident where the administration looked impotent to act, the American special forces staged in Cyprus were ordered to make preparations to storm the vessel.[4]
Government discussions
Maxwell M. Rabb, U.S. ambassador to Italy advised Prime Minister Craxi that Tuesday afternoon of the U.S. intention to mount a military assault on the vessel after that Italy had anyway arleady valued the same action.[9] Craxi protested saying the ship was Italian therefore only Italy should act and that there was no confirmation of any killings. He maintained negotiations for the release of the ship seemed possible. He relayed that in response to his inquires the Egyptians had told him that no one had been killed.[4] The Egyptian Government began to conduct negotiations through the medium of PLO representative Muhammed "Abu" Abbas.[8]
By Tuesday evening, the PLO began seeking to have the hijackers turned over to them should they surrender. Arafat had Abbas communicate to Italian Prime Minister Craxi that the hijackers promised to release unharmed all the passengers and to drop demands for the release of prisoners. Arafat, through Abbas, also got Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to pledge to turn over the hijackers to the PLO in Tunis for prosecution.[4]
The PLF issued a statement from Nicosia, Cyprus apologizing to the passengers for the hijacking, "The aim of the operation was not to hijack the ship or its passengers, or any civilian of any nationality. The operation was likewise not aimed against states that are friendly to our people and their cause. ...[The mission was to] travel on an ordinary sea journey to Ashdod harbor in occupied Palestine, from where our comrades were to proceed to a specified Israeli military target, as a reply to the war of extermination and terrorism against them and to avenge the martyrs of the Israeli raid on Tunis. Our comrades were compelled to take control of the ship before reaching the specified target. We wish to mention that the course toward Arab ports was the result of the situation and the confusion into which the squad fell."[4]
At 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, October 8 the Achille Lauro anchored off Port Said. While the hostages remained in the lounge, a small boat approached the ship. Molqi descended to speak with the new arrivals which included Abu Abbas and Hani al-Hassan.[4]
Speaking with the support of both the Egyptian and Italian officials, Abbas and Hassan began talking to the hijackers – giving the appearance of real negotiations. The PLO hailed the incident as successful negotiations and took credit for it. Hassan notified Arafat of the talk and Arafat called Italian Prime Minister Craxi midday Wednesday. Arafat told him that the hijackers would release the captives if two demands were met, that the ambassadors from U.S., Italy, West Germany, and Great Britain visit the ship, then the hijackers be given safe passage off the ship.[4]
Italian ambassador Giovanni Migliuolo asked the other ambassadors to accompany him on a helicopter flight to Port Said in order to speak to the hijackers. U.S. ambassador to Egypt Nicholas A. Veliotes refused, saying it would give the hijackers the media platform they wanted and that more importantly the U.S. policy was not to negotiate with terrorists.[4]
While the diplomats were reviewing their options the Egyptian foreign minister Abdel Meguid telephoned and asked them to report to his office. There he proposed a new offer – the hostages would be released if the four governments promised not to pursue the hijackers. The ambassadors told him that they could not commit to that without consulting with their governments. Meguid loaned each an office and telephone. He demanded an answer in twenty minutes, the ambassadors ignored his deadline and began discussing the matter with their governments. The American and British ambassadors informed Meguid that their governments refused, repeating their policies of not negotiating with terrorists.[4]
By Wednesday morning, the Reagan administration had implemented a plan for the Achille Lauro to be liberated by the U.S. military that evening. SEAL Team Six embarked on board the USS Iwo Jima an Amphibious assault ship which then steamed for Port Said. It was decided that the raid would go ahead as long as the ship was in International waters, but would be put on hold if it was found in Egyptian waters.[4]
At mid-afternoon Wednesday, a ship-to-shore radio broadcast was made by Captain De Rosa, "I am the captain. I am speaking from my office, and my officers and everybody is in good health." It was later discovered that De Rosa had made this false claim because Molqi was holding a gun to his head.[4]
Hijackers disembark
Citing De Rosa's broadcast the Egyptian foreign minister met again with the four ambassadors urging them to accept a transfer of the hijackers to PLO control rather than seeking their arrest. Veliotes refused, holding that even without any murders the terrorists must be arrested for the hijacking itself. The British ambassador also refused to sign-off on the proposal. The Italian ambassador embraced the agreement, and the West German ambassador offered general but undefined support. The split positions was enough for the Egyptian government, and Foreign Minister Meguid informed Abbas and Hassan that the hijackers could leave the ship. Captain De Rosa told the passengers that the Palestinians had told him to relay an apology and the message that they had never intended to hijack the ship, "They had an assignment to do something in Israel."[4][8]
At 5:00 p.m. the four Palestinian hijackers left the ship being taken ashore by the Egyptians in a tugboat.[4][7] The terrorists waved goodbye to the former hostages, who applauded in relief at finding themselves freed. A crowd of Egyptian civilians ashore burst into cheers for the hijackers as they came into view of land, "Fedayeen, fedayeen, Allah akbar!" ("The guerrillas, the guerrillas, God is great!").[4] British Journalist Robert Fisk reported from the shore that one could see a streak down the side of the vessel, which turned out to be Klinghoffer's blood.[2]
As soon as the hijackers left the ship Marilyn Klinghoffer rushed to the infirmary looking for Leon. Not finding him the staff informed her to ask the captain who was still on the bridge. Klinghoffer climbed the steps on the infirmary's level – near the bottom of the ship, all the way to the bridge – near the top of the vessel. Captain De Rosa informed her of her husbands murder. Klinghoffer collapsed uncontrollably sobbing, friends helped her to her cabin.[4]
Freed hostages from Achille Lauro returning to the US by military aircraft
De Rosa received a call from Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti in Rome. He confirmed that he had regained control of the ship but inexplicably relayed that all of the passengers were well. Andreotti informed Craxi who was about to have a new conference on the successful conclusion of the situation. Craxi decided that it was best to double check the condition of the passengers and called De Rosa who finally admitted the murder of Leon Klinghoffer. Craxi altered his prepared remarks and at the new conference the world learned from him of the murder for the first time. The Klinghoffer's daughters and friends in New York had been celebrating the previous news which claimed all the hostages were safe, were contacted by the New York Times which had a reporter at the Craxi press conference, and informed of the death of their father and friend – turning their joy into despair.[4]
American ambassador Nicholas Vliotes boarded the Achille Lauro to confirm Craxi's information about Klinghoffer's death. He found De Rosa distraught, learned that Molqi had held the gun to his head during the ship-to-shore communication that claimed all the hostages were healthy. De Rosa in tears handed the ambassador Klinghoffer's passport. Veliotes called the American embassy with the ship-to-shore radio to give orders "Leon Klinghoffer was murdered by the terrorists off of Tartus when they were trying to get the attention of the Syrians. In my name, I want you to call the [Egyptian] foreign minister, tell him what we learned, tell him the circumstances, tell him in view of this and the fact that we – and presumably them – didn't have those facts, we insist that they prosecute those sons of bitches."[4]
The American passengers of the Achille Lauro, having been held hostage for 51 hours, were taken by a U.S. military aircraft back to America on October 12, 1985. The aircraft had flown out of Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany and stopped back there for refueling when heading to America from Egypt.[7]
Hijackers in Egypt
With the hijackers on Egyptian soil and the knowledge of Klinghoffer's murder revealed different state actors put forward their position on what should be done. Italy's position was that the ship being Italian, it was legally Italian territory and therefore the hijackers should be extradited to Italy. Israel demanded that the hijackers be prosecuted, Benjamin Netanyahu (its representative to the United Nations) declared "Klinghoffer and his wife were singled out for one thing – because they were Jewish."[4]
Ronald Reagan speaks at Sara Lee
On Thursday, October 10, 1985 U.S. President Reagan, while on a tour promoting his tax-overhaul plan, at a planeside news conference at O'Hare International Airport, he told reporters it would be "all right" for the PLO if Arafat has "kind of a national court set up, like a nation that they can bring them to justice." The President's aides realized that this would be tantamount to recognizing the PLO as a legitimate government which would be a reversal of the current policy that named them as a terrorist organization. At the next stop national security affairs adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane told the press that Reagan "meant that he wants the PLO to turn these hijackers over to competent authority for trial." Minutes later, and less than an hour after his initial comments, Reagan held another question-and-answer session with the press, saying "I really believe that the PLO, if the hijackers are in their custody, should turn them over to a sovereign state that would have jurisdiction and could prosecute them as the murderers they are." Administration officials (implying that the hijackers were also guilty of piracy) said the president's position was complicated due to uncertainty if the pirates had been released to the PLO or were still in Egypt. Later speaking to reporters at a stop to tour the kitchens of Sara Lee, Reagan said on the issue "apparently there's a little confusion, and maybe I'm responsible." He said he had "not meant to imply" that the PLO should try the hijackers.[10][11][8]
When Abbas had ordered the hijackers to return the ship to Port Said, and the ship's captain had radioed Egyptian port officials – the problem fell onto Egypt's President Mubarak. The Egyptian government had competing interests he was attempting to balance. Mubarak wanted to maintain Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, the 1978 Camp David Accords, but also keep good relations with its fellow Arab states in the Middle East. The Israeli bombing of the PLO's Tunis headquarters the previous week had left many innocent Tunisians killed or wounded, adding to the pressures on Mubarak. He also wanted to maintain good relations with the US to not jeopardize billions of dollars in foreign aid.
Mubarak decided to try to get the hijackers out of Egypt quickly. He thought this would work because of the recent previous precedent where the U.S. had "made no claims on the hijackers" of the TWA airliner earlier that summer. Additionally President Reagan had told the media that it would be "all right" if the PLO put the hijackers on trial. Mubarak's main impetus for his decision was Captain De Rosa's false report of no casualties.[4] The Egyptian Government had intervened solely for humanitarian reasons to secure the release of the hostages and the vessel. Egypt had no normal basis for jurisdiction as the ship was of Italian registry, carried no Egyptian passengers, none of the hijackers were Egyptian, and their actions were outside Egyptian territorial limits.[8] The Egyptian Government decided to honor its agreement to allow the Palestinians access to a plane to travel to a place of safety.[8]
The Egyptian government had given PLO officials in Tunisia 48 hours to take control of the four hijackers by Egypt. Arafat had told the Egyptians that he needed time to find a nation that they could take the four for trial. If the PLO could not find a cooperative nation, Egypt would release the men or turn them over to Italy. The PLO did not feel anxious about the agreement, one of its officials saying "Italy is a friend of ours, so it's no problem." The PLO also asserted that the four were not PLO members but only a part of the PLF. Some in the International community, such as the US, held that this was a common tactic by Arafat. Holding that when one of the PLO's constituent groups committed an act of violence, he would claim that the group was rebelling from PLO control and beyond his control or influence.[4]
PLO official Farouk Kaddoumi also said that the claim that Kilinghoffer had been murdered was "a big lie fabricated by the intelligence service of the United States." At a United Nations meeting in New York, he suggested to the UN Security Council that Klinghoffer might have died naturally, "Is there any evidence that those hijackers had killed the civilian? Where is the evidence?"[4]
The Reagan administration set a series of urgent messages to Cairo, urging the Egyptians to swiftly turn over the hijackers for prosecution either to Italy or the US. Reagan approved of a draft message to be sent on his personal behalf to Mubarak stating the same to be delivered by Ambassador Veliotes. Apparently seeking to avoid having to lie directly to the Americans, Mubarak refused to see Veliotes and also refused to take calls from George Shultz.[4]
On October 11, the day after the hijackers had disembarked the ship, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak lied to the media when asked about them saying they had left within hours of coming ashore, "They have actually left Egypt. I do not know exactly where they have gone. Perhaps they have left for Tunisia." His foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid reiterated the same message "They left Egypt. I know where they are, but I am not going to tell you." Mubarak would also falsely insist that the hijackers had left Egypt before he had information about Captain De Rosa's correction, "If the captain had told us that a passenger had been killed, we would have changed our position toward the whole operation. But when this [news of the murder] emerged, we already had sent the hijackers out of the country." Mubarak also repeated the suggestion that no one had been killed "There is no body and no proof he has been murdered. Maybe the man is hiding or did not board the ship at all." At the time of Mubarak's statements to the news media, the U.S. Administration had already received intelligence information that the hijackers were still in Egypt.[4]
Interception of EgyptAir jet
Learning of the murder of a U.S. citizen, fearing the escape of the hijackers, and desirous for a victory over terrorism, the Reagan administration ordered the EgyptAir passenger jet to be forced to land so the perpetrators could be brought to justice.
Planning
On the morning of Thursday, October 10, 1985, Oliver North had contacted Israeli Major General Uri Simhoni, the military attaché at the Israeli embassy in Washington. (Simhoni had been helpful in giving information that helped locate the Achille Lauro during the hijacking.) He relayed to North that the four hijackers were at the Al Maza airfield near Cairo. Later that morning American sources confirmed the information and added that the Egyptians were planning to transport the men out of the country at night, presumably to Tunis, aboard a commercial EgyptAir jet. James R. Stark realized that due to ongoing disputes that Egypt had with Libya and Chad that the plane would most likely fly over the Mediterranean sea which raised the option of intercepting it with U.S. Navy fighters. Stark recalled that during World War II, American fighters had acted on intelligence to intercept Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and advocated a similar action (with a forced landing rather than shooting the aircraft down). Due to anticipated political problems the idea of forcing the plane to land in either Israel or Cyprus was dismissed. The NATO base at Sigonella, Italy was chosen.[4]
North and Stark passed the idea onto John Poindexter who agreed with it and called Robert McFarlane who was traveling with Reagan to run the idea past the President. Reagan speaking with employees of Chicago's Sara Lee Bakery was informed of the option along with potential problems (such as finding the correct EgyptAir jet and possibly damaging relations with Egypt and Italy).[4]
A desire for successful assertive action against terrorism in the Reagan administration was further spurred by the memory of the political cost born by President Jimmy Carter for a lack of the same (his inability to free American hostages seized by student demonstrators in Iran was held to been a major factor in his failed 1980 reelection bid). Despite covert CIA searches, the Reagan administration had also been frustrated in its inability to find American hostages held being in the Lebanon hostage crisis that had begun in 1982, nor had they had an opportunity for decisive action in the recent TWA hijacking.[4]
After listening to the idea of intercepting the EgyptAir jet, Reagan approved the operation in principle in what was called the "Sara Lee decision". Reagan's decision style was to reflect the broad-bush issues and leave details to his staff and Poindexter was tasked with fulfilling the President's decision. North was to remain in contact with Simhoni for any situational changes regarding the hijackers. Poindexter called Vice Admiral Art Moreau (then serving as assistant to Admiral William J. Crowe – the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). Poindexter, on behalf of the President, told Moreau that Crowe was to start planning an intercept mission.[4]
Communications for planning began between the Pentagon, U.S. military headquarters in Europe, and the Navy's Sixth Fleet. Progress on difficulties (such as how to force the airliner to land or if weapons could be fired in warning) proceeded quickly, largely due to a lack of criticism from Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who had developed a reputation for objecting to "incidental" use of armed forces. Upon learning of the idea while traveling in Ottawa, Canada Weingberger objected, telling Crowe on a phone call "That's a terrible idea. I'm dead set against it, interfering with a civilian aircraft. We'll be castigated all over the world." He told Crowe to "stop everything" and then called President Reagan in Air Force One to argue against the idea. Speaking to the president on an open, unencrypted radio channel Weinberger listed reasons to abort the plan. This discussion later became public because it was monitored by a ham radio operator. The operator revealed to the press that Reagan had not been convinced by his defense secretary and ordered him to make it happen.[4]
The final go-ahead was given by Reagan late that afternoon while returning to Washington on Air Force One. McFarlane contacted Poindexter who alerted the Pentagon. Orders were sent across the Atlantic to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and her aircraft made ready for the intercept.[4]
On October 10, 1985 the four hijackers boarded an EgyptAir Boeing 737 accompanied by Abu Abbas, Ozzuddin Badrakkan (also called Mohammed Oza – he served as chief of PLF military operations and a PLO official), and several members of Egypt's counterterrorism unit Force 777. The flight was set to fly to Tunisia, which was where the PLF headquarters were located. The airliner took off from Cairo at 4:15 p.m. EST.[12][13][14][15][16]
Search for Flight 2843
The Saratoga was the flagship of a Sixth Fleet taskforce commanded by Rear Admiral David E. Jeremiah. It had just finished participating in a NATO exercise and was headed for Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia when late in the evening it received the orders from commander of the Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral Frank Kelso and reversed course along with the rest of its task group.[4]
The Saratoga had been following the news of the Achille Lauro and had earlier tried to help locate it by dispatching aircraft, but the new orders came as a surprise to Jeremiah. He was to locate and intercept a commercial jet with the hijackers onboard coming out of Egypt but he did not know from where at what time and which jet. Jeremiah sent out F-14 Tomcat fighters along with an E-2C Hawkeye early-warning aircraft which carried a special radar that allowed its crew to track all aircraft within hundreds of miles. The operation would only be successful if the Hawkeye's crew could find the Egyptian airliner.[4]
The Saratoga launched several planes from Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) – four Grumman F-14 Tomcat (two belonging to VF-74 Be-Devilers and two belonging to VF-103 Sluggers), one Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye (belonging to VAW-125 Tiger Tails), two Grumman A-6 Intruder (belonging to VA-85 Black Falcons) and one Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler (belonging to VAQ-137 Rooks). Additionally another E-2C, three more F-14s and two electronic intelligence aircraft (a Boeing RC-135 and a Douglas A-3 Skywarrior) joined the mission. The flight operation was planned by Robert "Bubba" Brodzky.[13]
Before the Tomcat's could be launched they had to have their radar-guided missiles removed and simpler weapons including tracer bullets installed. Around this time, Israeli intelligence agents found that the plane carrying the hijackers was an EgyptAir Boeing 737, flight 2843. They also determined its tail number and departure time. The information was passed onto Oliver North, relayed to the Pentagon, who relayed it to the Sixth Fleet, who relayed it to the Saratoga. The Hawkeye crew received the information before taking off.[4]
Ralph Zia, commanding officer of the Hawkeye monitored the airways designated for commercial jets focusing on a converge point south of Crete. He and his crew tracked radar contacts flying west out of Egypt, presumably towards Tunisia. Zia had to send a Tomcat to visually determine if the contact was an EgyptAir 737, as there was no sensor that would confirm the exact identity of each radar blip.[4] The fighter jets were commanded to perform the operation with lights out.[13]
Steve Weatherspoon, one of the Tomcat fighter pilots later recalled that the nighttime intercepts were not overly difficult "It wasn't a big deal. We got a good radar picture which safely controlled the intercept, and pulled close enough to get a visual identification. As we slowly closed, either we illuminated the aircraft with he glow of our exterior position lights, or tried to make out a silhouette by starlight. If its shape was similar to a 737, we had to get closer to see the carrier or national markings."[4]
Two of the blips checked on by the Tomcats were U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-141 Starlifter transport planes flying without lights. They were carrying Carl Stiner and his special operations troops who had been set to storm the Achille Lauro. They were now being moved to Sigonella to capture the hijackers should the Navy jets succeed at their mission.[4]
After approaching between six and eight aircraft without finding the airliner, Weatherspoon and the pilot of the other Tomcat (William Roe "Skid" Massey) were instructed by Zia to approach another aircraft. Massey saw that the plane was a 737, his Radar Intercept Officer in the backseat, Dennis "Doc" Plautz, saw that it had an EgyptAir logo. Shining a flashlight on the fuselage they made out the tail number "SU-AYK". A radio call to the Saratoga confirmed that this was the correct plane.[4] (Massey was able to close to within 15 feet of the Boeing 737 to read its registration.)[13] The time was 5:30 p.m. EST.[14]
Intercept
Unknowingly being shadowed by Tomcats the EgyptAir Boeing 737 sought permission to land at Tunis but was refused. A request for permission to land at Athens was also refused.[14]
The Hawkeye had directed additional Tomcats to close with the airliner, and it began to communicate with the Boeing 737 on a VHF frequency demanding it divert to Sigonella, Italy.[13] When the pilot of the EgyptAir Boeing 737 refused to comply, the Hawkeye gave the command to the Tomcats "Lights on, now!" With the illumination of the American aircraft, the Egyptian pilot suddenly realized he was surrounded by advanced war planes. The Hawkeye relayed to the Boeing that one way or another they must reach Sigonella.[13] The Egyptian pilot later reported that the American fighter pilots had ordered him to comply with their commands or be shot down. He also stated that the military jets were in such close proximity that he had to request that they give him more room to safely maneuver.[8]
The airliner flying wing to wing with several of the Tomcats complied with the order to divert to Sigonella, touching down at 6:45 p.m. EST.[14]
The American position had hardened with news of the murder and it was ascertained that the PLO did not have plans to try the terrorists, rather they were being flown to a place of asylum. It was further discovered that the negotiator Abbas had actually been the mastermind behind the hijacking. This discovery also threw Arafat's claims of authority within a fractious PLO into question for the Americans and raised questions of his own culpability.[8] Reagan viewed Egypt's allowing the terrorists safe passage to asylum as an unfriendly act when he had ordered the US military to intercept the Egyptian plane.[8]
Securing the airliner
Minutes after the 737 touched down, two United States Air Force C-141 cargo planes landed with counter terrorist members of SEAL Team Six who quickly surrounded the airplane at the airstrip as it came to a halt. The Seals were prepared to assault the aircraft and secure the terrorists.[17][16] With the 737 safely on the ground in Sigonella the Naval warplanes had closed the airspace overhead for all incoming aircraft.[13][16]
Steiner called the Egyptian pilot on the radio telling him that his plane was now in the custody of US military. The pilot informed Steiner that an Egyptian ambassador was aboard and wanted to talk with him. A ladder was lowered from the forward door and the pilot, Captain Amed Moneeb, descended followed by Egyptian diplomat Zeid Imad Hamed. SEAL Team SIX commanding officer Robert A. Gormly met them and examined Hamed's credentials – finding them in order he escorted Hamed into the base and let him phone Egypt's foreign minister.[16]
Steiner then boarded the plane with an officer from SEAL Team Six. They found the four terrorists, Abbas, and Badrakkan onboard being guarded by ten armed members of Egypt's elite Force 777. Though Steiner had orders to arrest the terrorist he made no attempt to do so at this time.[16]
The American special forces had surrounded the airplane, but soon found themselves surround by Italian military security (from the Italian Air Force and Carabinieri – the military police). They insisted that Italy had territorial rights over the base and jurisdiction over the hijackers. A standoff between both United States and Italian armed forces began.[13]
Sigonella crisis
The choice of the Sigonella base to divert the EgyptAir 737 that had the hijackers of the Achille Lauro aboard caused a dispute between the governments of the US and Italy and included elements of their militaries.
Jurisdiction dispute
On the orders of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, the Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers was intercepted by F-14 Tomcats from the VF-74 "BeDevilers" and the VF-103 "Sluggers" of Carrier Air Wing 17, based on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga,[18] and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella (an Italian NATO air base in Sicily under joint Italian-American military utilization).[8]
The choice of Sigonella's airport became problematic for the Americans as they had no jurisdiction, and the Italians were not consulted regarding its use for this operation.[8]
The Egyptian flight, having been authorized by its government, was lawful under international law. The Egyptian government protested the American interception of its plane, which was not legal under international law. (Egypt's arguments were somewhat diminished by its own previous justification for its 1978 raid at Locna airport in Cyprus).[8] Not only had the Americans not received consent from the Italians to forcibly land a non-hostile plane flying in compliance with international law at Sigonella, but the American military action was taken solely for American purposes (not those of the NATO alliance) and was taken in order to secure criminals – this was in violation of the purely joint military purposes that the Italians had agreed to when deciding to share the utilization of the base.[8]
Armed standoff
A standoff occurred when 20 Carabinieri and 30 VAM (Vigilanza Areonautica Militare) contested for control of the plane with the 80 armed operatives of the U.S. Delta Force and SEAL Team Six. These contesting groups were soon surrounded by 300 additional armed Carabinieri (the Italian military police) who had also blocked off the runway with their trucks.[19][20][16] The Italian Air Force (VAM) personnel and Carabinieri had already been lining up facing the US special forces soon after the American's main contingent had arrived by C-141s. Other Carabinieri had been sent from Catania and Syracuse as reinforcement. These events became known as the Sigonella Crisis.[21]
Steiner and Gormly contacted the Pentagon to inform them of the situation, and this information was passed onto the Reagan Administration. Members of the President's staff told the Italian government that the US special-operations team intended to arrest the hijackers. The Italians dismissed the Americans' claim of a right to do so, maintaining that the matter fell within their own jurisdiction due to the ship sailing under an Italian flag.[16]
A phone call took place between the US President Ronald Reagan and the Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi. Craxi claimed Italian territorial rights over the NATO base.[22] Reagan informed Craxi that the US would seek extradition of the terrorists to face charges in US courts.[16]
Steiner and his men standing eyeball-to-eyeball with the 300 armed Italians, relayed to the Pentagon "I am not worried about our situation. We have the firepower to prevail. But I am concerned about the immaturity of the Italian troops. ...A backfire from a motorbike or a construction cart could precipitate a shooting incident that could lead to a lot of Italian casualties. And I don't believe that our beef is with our ally, the Italians, but rather with the terrorists." The American leadership in Washington concluded that while Steiner and his men could take the terrorists it was unlikely they would be able to get them out of Italy. By 4:00 a.m. CET the next day, orders arrived for Steiner and his men to stand down.[16]
After five hours of negotiations, and with the knowledge that the Italian troops had orders (confirmed by President Francesco Cossiga) to use lethal force if necessary to block the Americans from leaving with prisoners, the U.S. conceded the Italian claim of jurisdiction over the terrorists.[23] The Americans received assurances that the hijackers would be tried for murder and Steiner and three US officials were to remain at the airport to witness the arrest of terrorists by Italian authorities.[19][24][13]
Talks between Italy and Egypt
After the US turned over control of the 737 to Italy, Egyptian diplomat Hamed returned to the plane with Italian base commander Colonel Annicchiarico. Hamed told the men of Force 777 that the Egyptian government had agreed to turn over the hijackers to the Italians. Both Abbas and Badrakkan refused to leave the plane claiming diplomatic rights – maintaining that they had diplomatic immunity as representatives of the PLO and Arafat. Learning of this the Egyptian government changed its position, declaring that the two were on board an Egyptian aircraft on a government mission – thus accruing extraterritorial rights. Egypt requested Italy let the plane leave with the two men on board as they had been brought to Italy against their will.[4] When the Italians refused this demand the Egyptians denied Achille Lauro permission to leave Port Said.[16]
Prime Minister Craxi sent his personal foreign affairs advisor, Antonio Badini to interview Abbas after boarding the airliner. Abbas' account held he had been sent by Arafat due to his persuasive argumentation style, that the four Palestinians had been triggered by panic to stage the hijacking, and that decisive role in releasing the passengers was his alone. Craxi appeared at a press conference late on Friday, October 11, acknowledging the role the two played in ending the hijacking, but inviting them to provide "useful testimony" and turning the matter over to the Italian court system.[4]
After continued talks between Italy and Egypt the four hijackers were eventually removed from the 737, arrested by the Italian Carabinieri at Sigonella, and taken to the air base jail, then transferred to a local prison. The public magistrate in Syracuse announced late on the 11th that his inquires were complete and EgyptAir 2843 could depart for Rome with Badrakkan and Abbas aboard. Craxi saw this as a stalling tactic that was a courtesy to the US. The Italian foreign ministry contacted the U.S. embassy and informed them of the flight, saying that the two wanted to consult with the PLO office in Rome. The American's viewed this as a prelude to Abbas being released.[4] The 737 was then cleared by the Italians to fly to Rome's Ciampino airport with Abbas and Badrakkan still aboard.[16]
Jet fighter showdown
U.S. Major General Steiner, in command of the American Special Operations Forces at Sigonella, upon learning that the 737 had been cleared by the Italians to proceed to Rome with members of the PLF still onboard became concerned that there was no guarantee that once airborne it would travel to Rome rather than back to Cairo. He boarded a T-39 Navy executive jet (the North American Sabreliner) with other American Special Operations personnel and planned to shadow the 737. When the Egyptian airliner took off from Sigonella at 10:00 p.m. the T-39 was not granted clearance from that runway. In response the Americans used a runway alongside without receiving Italian permission to do so.[16]
"Seizure of the ship
On Monday, October 7, 1985, four PLF militants hijacked Achille Lauro off Egypt. The hijackers had been surprised by a crew member and acted prematurely. The Palestinians had hidden their weapons in the gas tank of a car parked in Italy in preparation for boarding the ship. Their smuggled weapons still with gasoline residue on them, gave off a smell that the crew had noticed but had not acted on. A cabin steward, with the hijackers' stateroom in his responsibilities, surprised the four Palestinians (as they were trying to use a hairdryer to clean the residue off their weapons) by entering the unlocked door to their room in order to deliver complimentary fruit. The hijackers plan to launch an attack on Ashdod, Israel was put aside as the terrorists panicked and moved to hijack the ship instead.[2][4]
The four terrorists stormed into the ship's dining room. They shot their automatic weapons over the heads of the eating passengers. Screams from the passengers meshed with the shouting of the gunmen and with the sound of falling glass shards and splinters. Viola Meskin tried to run to a door but was intercepted by a terrorist with a gun who turned her back. Austrian passenger Anna Hoeranter ran to an exit but was pushed down an adjacent flight of stairs by one of the terrorists. Other passengers ran in a panic from the dining room into the kitchen and were chased by one of the terrorists. Inside the kitchen the pursuing terrorist beat two of the kitchen staff to the floor.[4]
The ship's executive officer notified Captain Gerardo de Rosa that there were armed men on board shooting at passengers. Captain De Rosa descended quickly through several decks moving towards the ship's stern. An agitated voice came over the ship's loudspeakers requesting he come immediately to the bridge. Arriving there, De Rosa was faced by machine guns. The terrorists fired some shots into the deck and then shouted in Arabic. They demanded he sail the ship 300 miles to the northeast to the Syrian port of Tartus.[4]
Due to most of the passengers having disembarked at Cairo to tour the pyramids, only 97 remained on board when they became hostages.[7]
The hijackers rounded up the rest of the passengers aboard and herded them into the dining room. They missed Hoeranter, who after having been pushed down the stairs by a terrorist had entered the first open cabin she found and hid in the bathroom. She would remain there until found by the cleaning staff four days later (after the hijackers had left). She had survived on two apples she had found and rationed.[4]
The terrorists ordered Captain De Rosa to instruct the 450 crew members to continue with their normal duties but to stay clear of the hostages. They claimed to have a total of 20 hijackers on board. Only later would De Rosa and his officers discover that there were only four hijackers.[4]
Within the dining room the terrorist put on displays of power to cower the hostages, menacing them with their machine guns, pulling the pins from their grenades but keeping the safety lever depressed. They had two of the women hostages hold the live grenades, causing the worry that if they fell asleep the safety levers would detach causing an explosion. The hijackers veered erratically from politeness to barbarity – one moment one would wash a cup for a hostage to use, the next a hijacker would ram a gun stock into Mrs. Klinghoffer to force her from the floor, then a hijacker would escort a captive to her cabin to change out of a wet swimsuit. The hijackers also tried to engage in some political persuasion, telling the hostages "Reagan no good, Arafat good."[4]
Before the hijackers enforced radio silence, the crew of the Achille Lauro managed to send out an S.O.S. that was picked up by a monitoring facility in Sweden. This alerted the international community that Palestinians had seized an Italian ship.[4]
As night approached the hijackers took all the hostages up several decks to the Arazzi Lounge on the Promenade deck and gave them blankets to spend the night. While they ordered the ship's kitchen to send food up for the hostages, they placed containers they claimed were filled with gasoline around the room (apparently as a bluff to ward off the ship's crew). Despite fears of grenades and gasoline, the passengers attempted to sleep on the floor while the ship steamed towards Syria.[4]
The tourists that had visited the pyramids reached Port Said by 10:30 but found no ship. At first they were told that traffic in the canal had delayed the ship but at 1:30 a.m. were given the truth. Passengers, like Frank Hodes, who had family or companions left on the ship began to worry.[4]
Government reactions
Upon learning of the hijacking and that there were Americans on board, members of the Reagan administration in Washington D.C. (in a time zone seven hours earlier than Egypt) moved to take decisive action. The Terrorist Incident Working Group (which included National Security Council staff member Marine Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North) met in accord with predetermined counter-terrorist procedures. They recommended that a State Department Emergency Support Team be sent to Rome to assist the embassy there as the vessel was Italian. The Group also recommended that the Pentagon dispatch a team of special operations forces to Europe in case the ship needed to be seized to rescue the hostages. These recommendations were approved by the Operational Sub-Group chaired by John Poindexter and orders were sent to the State and Defense Departments. U.S. Army Major General Carl Stiner put two platoons, drawn from the Navy's counter-terrorism unit, SEAL Team Six, Army commandos from Delta Force and Air Force Combat Controllers from BRAND X en route to Europe to be operating with NATO ally permission from a British base at Akrotiri, Cyprus. The U.S. State Department asked countries along the Mediterranean to deny Achille Lauro access to their ports in order to keep it in International Waters. They also sought to keep the press away from the ship to prevent giving the terrorists a worldwide stage.[4]
The Italian Government took a mixed approach. Defense Minister Giovanni Spadolini had the military send sixty paratroopers, four helicopters, and experts on the ship's layout to the British base at Akrotiri. Prime Minister Bettino Craxi looked for a diplomatic solution beginning a near-continuous dialogue with every country involved, including the nations with citizens aboard, and the Arab states of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, and Tunisia.[4]
Italy had called on the PLO to publicly declare if they had any involvement. In response Yasser Arafat denounced the hijacking and offered to assist in negotiating for a peaceful conclusion to the incident. Arafat sent two men to Egypt to join a joint negotiating team alongside Italians and Egyptians – one of his advisors and PLO executive committee member Hani al-Hassan and Abu Abbas. At Port Said, Egypt, these two joined the PLO representative from Cairo – Zohdi al-Qoudra. (It is unknown if Arafat was ignorant of Abbas involvement or if he was sent to ensure the incident would end quickly).[4]
Demands
On Tuesday morning, October 8 the hijackers began to separate the hostages. They were looking for Jews and Americans asking for the hostages to identify themselves but meeting refusal. They collected the passports of the passengers and pulled aside twelve Americans and six female British dancers who had been hired as entertainers (originally set to perform in the very lounge they were being held hostage in). Looking at the passports of an elderly couple, the hijackers asked if they were Jewish. Upon hearing that they were, one of the terrorists knocked the man to the floor and repeatedly hit him with the butt of his gun.[4]
The terrorists ordered the twenty separated passengers up the stairs but Leon Klinghoffer's wheelchair could not make the climb and his wife Marilyn refused to abandon him. She was ordered by the terrorists to leave him, when she protested they put a machine gun to her head and ordered her up the stairs. Fellow passenger Anna Scheider offered to take Mr. Klinghoffer but was refused, with one of the hijackers saying "You go! We will take care of him."[4]
On Lido Deck, below the bridge and above the lounge the other hostages were being held on, the separated hostages were forced to lie on the deck. Containers said to contain fuel were placed around them with threats from the terrorists that they would shoot the cans if provoked. One of the terrorists told hostage Evelyn Weltman that if commandos tried a rescue all the hostages would be executed. At this point it became clear to the hostages and Captain De Rosa that one of the four hijackers was their leader – twenty-three year-old Youssef Majed Molqi (recruited by Abbas from a crowded Palestinian refugee camp in Jordan).[4]
The Achille Lauro arrived off Tartus at 11:00 a.m. and Molqi broke radio silence. He asked Syrian authorities to allow him to dock the ship at Tartus and demanded that they send someone from the International Red Cross to the ship, along with British and American representatives. He stated that he was with the PLF and demanded that the Israeli Government be contacted and given the demand that 50 Palestinians held in its jails be freed, including specifically Samir Kuntar.[4]
If the prisoners were not released, Molqi said they would begin killing hostages, "We will start executing at 3:00 p.m. sharp." Syria, having consulted with the U.S. and Italian governments did not respond to any of the demands.[4]
Murder of Leon Klinghoffer
As 3:00 p.m. neared the terrorists began to decide whom to kill by shuffling the U.S., British, and Austrian hostages' passports. They selected Leon Klinghoffer to be killed first, to be followed by Mildred Hodes.[4][7]
Several reasons have been put forward that may have contributed to why Klinghoffer was chosen. Earlier in the hijacking he had refused to be silent when gunmen took his watch and cigarettes, becoming brusque and complaining in his slurred speech which antagonized some of the hijackers though one of them gave Klinghoffer his possessions back. Additionally Klinghoffer was Jewish and American, and his wheelchair made him both hard to move around the ship and meant his extended absence from the main group was less likely to trigger a chain reaction of resistance among the surviving hostages. Molqi later gave a statement on why he was chosen "I and Bassm [al-Ashker] agreed that the first hostage to be killed had to be an American. I chose Klinghoffer, an invalid, so that they would know that we had no pity for anyone, just as the Americans, arming Israel, do not take into consideration that Israel kills women and children of our people."[4]
Molqi ordered Manuel De Souza, a Portuguese waiter to accompany him and push Klinghoffer outside onto the open deck. Klinghoffer was taken back along the entire deck of the ship to the stern. Molqi ordered De Souza to return into the ship.[4]
The other terrorists moved the rest of the hostages back down into the lounge. Marilyn Klinghoffer noticed that Leon was not there and began to weep. A hijacker told her that he had been moved to the ship's infirmary due to illness.[4]
Molqi shot Leon Klinghoffer once in the head and again in the chest. He died instantly toppling onto his face. Molqi then went in and ordered De Souza to throw the body over the side of the ship. When De Souza was unable to do the task alone, Molqi found Italian hairdresser Ferruccio Alberti and forced the two of them at gunpoint to throw the body and then the wheelchair into the sea. Several of the hostages heard the shots and splashes including Marilyn Klinghoffer. She pleaded with the hijackers to let her see her husband in the infirmary, but they refused. She feared the worst but remained hopeful.[4]
Molqi, with blood splattered clothing returned to the other terrorists and told them "I have killed the American." He and Bassam al-Ashker then went to the bridge. Handing Klinghoffer's passport to Captain De Rosa he raised a finger and said "boom, boom." He then handed Mrs. Hodes' passport to him and said "This will be the second one." At that point De Rosa told them they could kill him instead of the passengers.[4]
Molqi ordered De Rosa to tell the Syrians that a passenger had been killed and that they were prepared to kill another. The Syrians responded by telling Molqi to "go back where you came from." Finding no help in Syria, Molqi ordered De Rosa to sail for Libya.[4]
Negotiations
In an effort to resolve the situation communications with the hijackers and discussions about their fate took place.
Abbas' interaction
Before Achille Lauro could head towards Libya, Abbas unable to contact the ship using Egyptian Naval communications, called into Cyprus' Arabic language station Radio Monte Carlo. He, using the name "Abu Khaled" asked the station to broadcast a message to the vessel, instructing the hijackers to return immediately to Port Said and treat the passengers "kindly." Molqi on the bridge with Captain De Rosa was listening to the station and became overjoyed ordering the captain to set course for Port Said at 7:20 p.m., Tuesday, October 8.[4] Following the instructions of Abbas, the Achille Lauro headed back towards Port Said, where it had previously made a tourist stop.[8]
Abbas, still using the name "Abu Khaled" was later able to contact the ship by naval radio from Port Said. Abbas told Majed to treat the passengers well and to apologize to them, the crew, and the captain. He told Majed to tell them that their objective was not to take control of the ship and that their friendship with Italy was "so important that it is unthinkable that any action would be taken against our European friends."[4]
Abbas then spoke to Captain De Rosa, he apologized to him saying "We are truly sorry, because we didn't intend to hijack you, but our situation was such that we had to assume control for several hours." De Rosa replied "I am familiar with your situation and I understand it well. We understand the Palestinians, we understand the Palestinian aspirations, and for that reason we are all with you."[4] The radio contact allowed the International community to pinpoint the location of the vessel. The Israelis were able to provide information about Abba's radio discussions with the ship to the Reagan administration and notified them that it was Abbas' faction behind the hijacking. Fearing that the terrorists threat to kill passengers had been followed through, and not wanting a repeat of the TWA Flight 847 terrorist incident where the administration looked impotent to act, the American special forces staged in Cyprus were ordered to make preparations to storm the vessel.[4]
Government discussions
Maxwell M. Rabb, U.S. ambassador to Italy advised Prime Minister Craxi that Tuesday afternoon of the U.S. intention to mount a military assault on the vessel after that Italy had anyway arleady valued the same action.[9] Craxi protested saying the ship was Italian therefore only Italy should act and that there was no confirmation of any killings. He maintained negotiations for the release of the ship seemed possible. He relayed that in response to his inquires the Egyptians had told him that no one had been killed.[4] The Egyptian Government began to conduct negotiations through the medium of PLO representative Muhammed "Abu" Abbas.[8]
By Tuesday evening, the PLO began seeking to have the hijackers turned over to them should they surrender. Arafat had Abbas communicate to Italian Prime Minister Craxi that the hijackers promised to release unharmed all the passengers and to drop demands for the release of prisoners. Arafat, through Abbas, also got Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to pledge to turn over the hijackers to the PLO in Tunis for prosecution.[4]
The PLF issued a statement from Nicosia, Cyprus apologizing to the passengers for the hijacking, "The aim of the operation was not to hijack the ship or its passengers, or any civilian of any nationality. The operation was likewise not aimed against states that are friendly to our people and their cause. ...[The mission was to] travel on an ordinary sea journey to Ashdod harbor in occupied Palestine, from where our comrades were to proceed to a specified Israeli military target, as a reply to the war of extermination and terrorism against them and to avenge the martyrs of the Israeli raid on Tunis. Our comrades were compelled to take control of the ship before reaching the specified target. We wish to mention that the course toward Arab ports was the result of the situation and the confusion into which the squad fell."[4]
At 7:30 a.m. Wednesday, October 8 the Achille Lauro anchored off Port Said. While the hostages remained in the lounge, a small boat approached the ship. Molqi descended to speak with the new arrivals which included Abu Abbas and Hani al-Hassan.[4]
Speaking with the support of both the Egyptian and Italian officials, Abbas and Hassan began talking to the hijackers – giving the appearance of real negotiations. The PLO hailed the incident as successful negotiations and took credit for it. Hassan notified Arafat of the talk and Arafat called Italian Prime Minister Craxi midday Wednesday. Arafat told him that the hijackers would release the captives if two demands were met, that the ambassadors from U.S., Italy, West Germany, and Great Britain visit the ship, then the hijackers be given safe passage off the ship.[4]
Italian ambassador Giovanni Migliuolo asked the other ambassadors to accompany him on a helicopter flight to Port Said in order to speak to the hijackers. U.S. ambassador to Egypt Nicholas A. Veliotes refused, saying it would give the hijackers the media platform they wanted and that more importantly the U.S. policy was not to negotiate with terrorists.[4]
While the diplomats were reviewing their options the Egyptian foreign minister Abdel Meguid telephoned and asked them to report to his office. There he proposed a new offer – the hostages would be released if the four governments promised not to pursue the hijackers. The ambassadors told him that they could not commit to that without consulting with their governments. Meguid loaned each an office and telephone. He demanded an answer in twenty minutes, the ambassadors ignored his deadline and began discussing the matter with their governments. The American and British ambassadors informed Meguid that their governments refused, repeating their policies of not negotiating with terrorists.[4]
By Wednesday morning, the Reagan administration had implemented a plan for the Achille Lauro to be liberated by the U.S. military that evening. SEAL Team Six embarked on board the USS Iwo Jima an Amphibious assault ship which then steamed for Port Said. It was decided that the raid would go ahead as long as the ship was in International waters, but would be put on hold if it was found in Egyptian waters.[4]
At mid-afternoon Wednesday, a ship-to-shore radio broadcast was made by Captain De Rosa, "I am the captain. I am speaking from my office, and my officers and everybody is in good health." It was later discovered that De Rosa had made this false claim because Molqi was holding a gun to his head.[4]
Hijackers disembark
Citing De Rosa's broadcast the Egyptian foreign minister met again with the four ambassadors urging them to accept a transfer of the hijackers to PLO control rather than seeking their arrest. Veliotes refused, holding that even without any murders the terrorists must be arrested for the hijacking itself. The British ambassador also refused to sign-off on the proposal. The Italian ambassador embraced the agreement, and the West German ambassador offered general but undefined support. The split positions was enough for the Egyptian government, and Foreign Minister Meguid informed Abbas and Hassan that the hijackers could leave the ship. Captain De Rosa told the passengers that the Palestinians had told him to relay an apology and the message that they had never intended to hijack the ship, "They had an assignment to do something in Israel."[4][8]
At 5:00 p.m. the four Palestinian hijackers left the ship being taken ashore by the Egyptians in a tugboat.[4][7] The terrorists waved goodbye to the former hostages, who applauded in relief at finding themselves freed. A crowd of Egyptian civilians ashore burst into cheers for the hijackers as they came into view of land, "Fedayeen, fedayeen, Allah akbar!" ("The guerrillas, the guerrillas, God is great!").[4] British Journalist Robert Fisk reported from the shore that one could see a streak down the side of the vessel, which turned out to be Klinghoffer's blood.[2]
As soon as the hijackers left the ship Marilyn Klinghoffer rushed to the infirmary looking for Leon. Not finding him the staff informed her to ask the captain who was still on the bridge. Klinghoffer climbed the steps on the infirmary's level – near the bottom of the ship, all the way to the bridge – near the top of the vessel. Captain De Rosa informed her of her husbands murder. Klinghoffer collapsed uncontrollably sobbing, friends helped her to her cabin.[4]
Freed hostages from Achille Lauro returning to the US by military aircraft
De Rosa received a call from Italian Foreign Minister Giulio Andreotti in Rome. He confirmed that he had regained control of the ship but inexplicably relayed that all of the passengers were well. Andreotti informed Craxi who was about to have a new conference on the successful conclusion of the situation. Craxi decided that it was best to double check the condition of the passengers and called De Rosa who finally admitted the murder of Leon Klinghoffer. Craxi altered his prepared remarks and at the new conference the world learned from him of the murder for the first time. The Klinghoffer's daughters and friends in New York had been celebrating the previous news which claimed all the hostages were safe, were contacted by the New York Times which had a reporter at the Craxi press conference, and informed of the death of their father and friend – turning their joy into despair.[4]
American ambassador Nicholas Vliotes boarded the Achille Lauro to confirm Craxi's information about Klinghoffer's death. He found De Rosa distraught, learned that Molqi had held the gun to his head during the ship-to-shore communication that claimed all the hostages were healthy. De Rosa in tears handed the ambassador Klinghoffer's passport. Veliotes called the American embassy with the ship-to-shore radio to give orders "Leon Klinghoffer was murdered by the terrorists off of Tartus when they were trying to get the attention of the Syrians. In my name, I want you to call the [Egyptian] foreign minister, tell him what we learned, tell him the circumstances, tell him in view of this and the fact that we – and presumably them – didn't have those facts, we insist that they prosecute those sons of bitches."[4]
The American passengers of the Achille Lauro, having been held hostage for 51 hours, were taken by a U.S. military aircraft back to America on October 12, 1985. The aircraft had flown out of Rhein-Main Air Base, West Germany and stopped back there for refueling when heading to America from Egypt.[7]
Hijackers in Egypt
With the hijackers on Egyptian soil and the knowledge of Klinghoffer's murder revealed different state actors put forward their position on what should be done. Italy's position was that the ship being Italian, it was legally Italian territory and therefore the hijackers should be extradited to Italy. Israel demanded that the hijackers be prosecuted, Benjamin Netanyahu (its representative to the United Nations) declared "Klinghoffer and his wife were singled out for one thing – because they were Jewish."[4]
Ronald Reagan speaks at Sara Lee
On Thursday, October 10, 1985 U.S. President Reagan, while on a tour promoting his tax-overhaul plan, at a planeside news conference at O'Hare International Airport, he told reporters it would be "all right" for the PLO if Arafat has "kind of a national court set up, like a nation that they can bring them to justice." The President's aides realized that this would be tantamount to recognizing the PLO as a legitimate government which would be a reversal of the current policy that named them as a terrorist organization. At the next stop national security affairs adviser Robert "Bud" McFarlane told the press that Reagan "meant that he wants the PLO to turn these hijackers over to competent authority for trial." Minutes later, and less than an hour after his initial comments, Reagan held another question-and-answer session with the press, saying "I really believe that the PLO, if the hijackers are in their custody, should turn them over to a sovereign state that would have jurisdiction and could prosecute them as the murderers they are." Administration officials (implying that the hijackers were also guilty of piracy) said the president's position was complicated due to uncertainty if the pirates had been released to the PLO or were still in Egypt. Later speaking to reporters at a stop to tour the kitchens of Sara Lee, Reagan said on the issue "apparently there's a little confusion, and maybe I'm responsible." He said he had "not meant to imply" that the PLO should try the hijackers.[10][11][8]
When Abbas had ordered the hijackers to return the ship to Port Said, and the ship's captain had radioed Egyptian port officials – the problem fell onto Egypt's President Mubarak. The Egyptian government had competing interests he was attempting to balance. Mubarak wanted to maintain Egypt's peace treaty with Israel, the 1978 Camp David Accords, but also keep good relations with its fellow Arab states in the Middle East. The Israeli bombing of the PLO's Tunis headquarters the previous week had left many innocent Tunisians killed or wounded, adding to the pressures on Mubarak. He also wanted to maintain good relations with the US to not jeopardize billions of dollars in foreign aid.
Mubarak decided to try to get the hijackers out of Egypt quickly. He thought this would work because of the recent previous precedent where the U.S. had "made no claims on the hijackers" of the TWA airliner earlier that summer. Additionally President Reagan had told the media that it would be "all right" if the PLO put the hijackers on trial. Mubarak's main impetus for his decision was Captain De Rosa's false report of no casualties.[4] The Egyptian Government had intervened solely for humanitarian reasons to secure the release of the hostages and the vessel. Egypt had no normal basis for jurisdiction as the ship was of Italian registry, carried no Egyptian passengers, none of the hijackers were Egyptian, and their actions were outside Egyptian territorial limits.[8] The Egyptian Government decided to honor its agreement to allow the Palestinians access to a plane to travel to a place of safety.[8]
The Egyptian government had given PLO officials in Tunisia 48 hours to take control of the four hijackers by Egypt. Arafat had told the Egyptians that he needed time to find a nation that they could take the four for trial. If the PLO could not find a cooperative nation, Egypt would release the men or turn them over to Italy. The PLO did not feel anxious about the agreement, one of its officials saying "Italy is a friend of ours, so it's no problem." The PLO also asserted that the four were not PLO members but only a part of the PLF. Some in the International community, such as the US, held that this was a common tactic by Arafat. Holding that when one of the PLO's constituent groups committed an act of violence, he would claim that the group was rebelling from PLO control and beyond his control or influence.[4]
PLO official Farouk Kaddoumi also said that the claim that Kilinghoffer had been murdered was "a big lie fabricated by the intelligence service of the United States." At a United Nations meeting in New York, he suggested to the UN Security Council that Klinghoffer might have died naturally, "Is there any evidence that those hijackers had killed the civilian? Where is the evidence?"[4]
The Reagan administration set a series of urgent messages to Cairo, urging the Egyptians to swiftly turn over the hijackers for prosecution either to Italy or the US. Reagan approved of a draft message to be sent on his personal behalf to Mubarak stating the same to be delivered by Ambassador Veliotes. Apparently seeking to avoid having to lie directly to the Americans, Mubarak refused to see Veliotes and also refused to take calls from George Shultz.[4]
On October 11, the day after the hijackers had disembarked the ship, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak lied to the media when asked about them saying they had left within hours of coming ashore, "They have actually left Egypt. I do not know exactly where they have gone. Perhaps they have left for Tunisia." His foreign Minister Esmat Abdel Meguid reiterated the same message "They left Egypt. I know where they are, but I am not going to tell you." Mubarak would also falsely insist that the hijackers had left Egypt before he had information about Captain De Rosa's correction, "If the captain had told us that a passenger had been killed, we would have changed our position toward the whole operation. But when this [news of the murder] emerged, we already had sent the hijackers out of the country." Mubarak also repeated the suggestion that no one had been killed "There is no body and no proof he has been murdered. Maybe the man is hiding or did not board the ship at all." At the time of Mubarak's statements to the news media, the U.S. Administration had already received intelligence information that the hijackers were still in Egypt.[4]
Interception of EgyptAir jet
Learning of the murder of a U.S. citizen, fearing the escape of the hijackers, and desirous for a victory over terrorism, the Reagan administration ordered the EgyptAir passenger jet to be forced to land so the perpetrators could be brought to justice.
Planning
On the morning of Thursday, October 10, 1985, Oliver North had contacted Israeli Major General Uri Simhoni, the military attaché at the Israeli embassy in Washington. (Simhoni had been helpful in giving information that helped locate the Achille Lauro during the hijacking.) He relayed to North that the four hijackers were at the Al Maza airfield near Cairo. Later that morning American sources confirmed the information and added that the Egyptians were planning to transport the men out of the country at night, presumably to Tunis, aboard a commercial EgyptAir jet. James R. Stark realized that due to ongoing disputes that Egypt had with Libya and Chad that the plane would most likely fly over the Mediterranean sea which raised the option of intercepting it with U.S. Navy fighters. Stark recalled that during World War II, American fighters had acted on intelligence to intercept Japanese Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto and advocated a similar action (with a forced landing rather than shooting the aircraft down). Due to anticipated political problems the idea of forcing the plane to land in either Israel or Cyprus was dismissed. The NATO base at Sigonella, Italy was chosen.[4]
North and Stark passed the idea onto John Poindexter who agreed with it and called Robert McFarlane who was traveling with Reagan to run the idea past the President. Reagan speaking with employees of Chicago's Sara Lee Bakery was informed of the option along with potential problems (such as finding the correct EgyptAir jet and possibly damaging relations with Egypt and Italy).[4]
A desire for successful assertive action against terrorism in the Reagan administration was further spurred by the memory of the political cost born by President Jimmy Carter for a lack of the same (his inability to free American hostages seized by student demonstrators in Iran was held to been a major factor in his failed 1980 reelection bid). Despite covert CIA searches, the Reagan administration had also been frustrated in its inability to find American hostages held being in the Lebanon hostage crisis that had begun in 1982, nor had they had an opportunity for decisive action in the recent TWA hijacking.[4]
After listening to the idea of intercepting the EgyptAir jet, Reagan approved the operation in principle in what was called the "Sara Lee decision". Reagan's decision style was to reflect the broad-bush issues and leave details to his staff and Poindexter was tasked with fulfilling the President's decision. North was to remain in contact with Simhoni for any situational changes regarding the hijackers. Poindexter called Vice Admiral Art Moreau (then serving as assistant to Admiral William J. Crowe – the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff). Poindexter, on behalf of the President, told Moreau that Crowe was to start planning an intercept mission.[4]
Communications for planning began between the Pentagon, U.S. military headquarters in Europe, and the Navy's Sixth Fleet. Progress on difficulties (such as how to force the airliner to land or if weapons could be fired in warning) proceeded quickly, largely due to a lack of criticism from Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, who had developed a reputation for objecting to "incidental" use of armed forces. Upon learning of the idea while traveling in Ottawa, Canada Weingberger objected, telling Crowe on a phone call "That's a terrible idea. I'm dead set against it, interfering with a civilian aircraft. We'll be castigated all over the world." He told Crowe to "stop everything" and then called President Reagan in Air Force One to argue against the idea. Speaking to the president on an open, unencrypted radio channel Weinberger listed reasons to abort the plan. This discussion later became public because it was monitored by a ham radio operator. The operator revealed to the press that Reagan had not been convinced by his defense secretary and ordered him to make it happen.[4]
The final go-ahead was given by Reagan late that afternoon while returning to Washington on Air Force One. McFarlane contacted Poindexter who alerted the Pentagon. Orders were sent across the Atlantic to the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga and her aircraft made ready for the intercept.[4]
On October 10, 1985 the four hijackers boarded an EgyptAir Boeing 737 accompanied by Abu Abbas, Ozzuddin Badrakkan (also called Mohammed Oza – he served as chief of PLF military operations and a PLO official), and several members of Egypt's counterterrorism unit Force 777. The flight was set to fly to Tunisia, which was where the PLF headquarters were located. The airliner took off from Cairo at 4:15 p.m. EST.[12][13][14][15][16]
Search for Flight 2843
The Saratoga was the flagship of a Sixth Fleet taskforce commanded by Rear Admiral David E. Jeremiah. It had just finished participating in a NATO exercise and was headed for Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia when late in the evening it received the orders from commander of the Sixth Fleet, Vice Admiral Frank Kelso and reversed course along with the rest of its task group.[4]
The Saratoga had been following the news of the Achille Lauro and had earlier tried to help locate it by dispatching aircraft, but the new orders came as a surprise to Jeremiah. He was to locate and intercept a commercial jet with the hijackers onboard coming out of Egypt but he did not know from where at what time and which jet. Jeremiah sent out F-14 Tomcat fighters along with an E-2C Hawkeye early-warning aircraft which carried a special radar that allowed its crew to track all aircraft within hundreds of miles. The operation would only be successful if the Hawkeye's crew could find the Egyptian airliner.[4]
The Saratoga launched several planes from Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) – four Grumman F-14 Tomcat (two belonging to VF-74 Be-Devilers and two belonging to VF-103 Sluggers), one Northrop Grumman E-2 Hawkeye (belonging to VAW-125 Tiger Tails), two Grumman A-6 Intruder (belonging to VA-85 Black Falcons) and one Northrop Grumman EA-6B Prowler (belonging to VAQ-137 Rooks). Additionally another E-2C, three more F-14s and two electronic intelligence aircraft (a Boeing RC-135 and a Douglas A-3 Skywarrior) joined the mission. The flight operation was planned by Robert "Bubba" Brodzky.[13]
Before the Tomcat's could be launched they had to have their radar-guided missiles removed and simpler weapons including tracer bullets installed. Around this time, Israeli intelligence agents found that the plane carrying the hijackers was an EgyptAir Boeing 737, flight 2843. They also determined its tail number and departure time. The information was passed onto Oliver North, relayed to the Pentagon, who relayed it to the Sixth Fleet, who relayed it to the Saratoga. The Hawkeye crew received the information before taking off.[4]
Ralph Zia, commanding officer of the Hawkeye monitored the airways designated for commercial jets focusing on a converge point south of Crete. He and his crew tracked radar contacts flying west out of Egypt, presumably towards Tunisia. Zia had to send a Tomcat to visually determine if the contact was an EgyptAir 737, as there was no sensor that would confirm the exact identity of each radar blip.[4] The fighter jets were commanded to perform the operation with lights out.[13]
Steve Weatherspoon, one of the Tomcat fighter pilots later recalled that the nighttime intercepts were not overly difficult "It wasn't a big deal. We got a good radar picture which safely controlled the intercept, and pulled close enough to get a visual identification. As we slowly closed, either we illuminated the aircraft with he glow of our exterior position lights, or tried to make out a silhouette by starlight. If its shape was similar to a 737, we had to get closer to see the carrier or national markings."[4]
Two of the blips checked on by the Tomcats were U.S. Air Force Lockheed C-141 Starlifter transport planes flying without lights. They were carrying Carl Stiner and his special operations troops who had been set to storm the Achille Lauro. They were now being moved to Sigonella to capture the hijackers should the Navy jets succeed at their mission.[4]
After approaching between six and eight aircraft without finding the airliner, Weatherspoon and the pilot of the other Tomcat (William Roe "Skid" Massey) were instructed by Zia to approach another aircraft. Massey saw that the plane was a 737, his Radar Intercept Officer in the backseat, Dennis "Doc" Plautz, saw that it had an EgyptAir logo. Shining a flashlight on the fuselage they made out the tail number "SU-AYK". A radio call to the Saratoga confirmed that this was the correct plane.[4] (Massey was able to close to within 15 feet of the Boeing 737 to read its registration.)[13] The time was 5:30 p.m. EST.[14]
Intercept
Unknowingly being shadowed by Tomcats the EgyptAir Boeing 737 sought permission to land at Tunis but was refused. A request for permission to land at Athens was also refused.[14]
The Hawkeye had directed additional Tomcats to close with the airliner, and it began to communicate with the Boeing 737 on a VHF frequency demanding it divert to Sigonella, Italy.[13] When the pilot of the EgyptAir Boeing 737 refused to comply, the Hawkeye gave the command to the Tomcats "Lights on, now!" With the illumination of the American aircraft, the Egyptian pilot suddenly realized he was surrounded by advanced war planes. The Hawkeye relayed to the Boeing that one way or another they must reach Sigonella.[13] The Egyptian pilot later reported that the American fighter pilots had ordered him to comply with their commands or be shot down. He also stated that the military jets were in such close proximity that he had to request that they give him more room to safely maneuver.[8]
The airliner flying wing to wing with several of the Tomcats complied with the order to divert to Sigonella, touching down at 6:45 p.m. EST.[14]
The American position had hardened with news of the murder and it was ascertained that the PLO did not have plans to try the terrorists, rather they were being flown to a place of asylum. It was further discovered that the negotiator Abbas had actually been the mastermind behind the hijacking. This discovery also threw Arafat's claims of authority within a fractious PLO into question for the Americans and raised questions of his own culpability.[8] Reagan viewed Egypt's allowing the terrorists safe passage to asylum as an unfriendly act when he had ordered the US military to intercept the Egyptian plane.[8]
Securing the airliner
Minutes after the 737 touched down, two United States Air Force C-141 cargo planes landed with counter terrorist members of SEAL Team Six who quickly surrounded the airplane at the airstrip as it came to a halt. The Seals were prepared to assault the aircraft and secure the terrorists.[17][16] With the 737 safely on the ground in Sigonella the Naval warplanes had closed the airspace overhead for all incoming aircraft.[13][16]
Steiner called the Egyptian pilot on the radio telling him that his plane was now in the custody of US military. The pilot informed Steiner that an Egyptian ambassador was aboard and wanted to talk with him. A ladder was lowered from the forward door and the pilot, Captain Amed Moneeb, descended followed by Egyptian diplomat Zeid Imad Hamed. SEAL Team SIX commanding officer Robert A. Gormly met them and examined Hamed's credentials – finding them in order he escorted Hamed into the base and let him phone Egypt's foreign minister.[16]
Steiner then boarded the plane with an officer from SEAL Team Six. They found the four terrorists, Abbas, and Badrakkan onboard being guarded by ten armed members of Egypt's elite Force 777. Though Steiner had orders to arrest the terrorist he made no attempt to do so at this time.[16]
The American special forces had surrounded the airplane, but soon found themselves surround by Italian military security (from the Italian Air Force and Carabinieri – the military police). They insisted that Italy had territorial rights over the base and jurisdiction over the hijackers. A standoff between both United States and Italian armed forces began.[13]
Sigonella crisis
The choice of the Sigonella base to divert the EgyptAir 737 that had the hijackers of the Achille Lauro aboard caused a dispute between the governments of the US and Italy and included elements of their militaries.
Jurisdiction dispute
On the orders of U.S. President Ronald Reagan and his Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger, the Egyptian airliner carrying the hijackers was intercepted by F-14 Tomcats from the VF-74 "BeDevilers" and the VF-103 "Sluggers" of Carrier Air Wing 17, based on the aircraft carrier USS Saratoga,[18] and directed to land at Naval Air Station Sigonella (an Italian NATO air base in Sicily under joint Italian-American military utilization).[8]
The choice of Sigonella's airport became problematic for the Americans as they had no jurisdiction, and the Italians were not consulted regarding its use for this operation.[8]
The Egyptian flight, having been authorized by its government, was lawful under international law. The Egyptian government protested the American interception of its plane, which was not legal under international law. (Egypt's arguments were somewhat diminished by its own previous justification for its 1978 raid at Locna airport in Cyprus).[8] Not only had the Americans not received consent from the Italians to forcibly land a non-hostile plane flying in compliance with international law at Sigonella, but the American military action was taken solely for American purposes (not those of the NATO alliance) and was taken in order to secure criminals – this was in violation of the purely joint military purposes that the Italians had agreed to when deciding to share the utilization of the base.[8]
Armed standoff
A standoff occurred when 20 Carabinieri and 30 VAM (Vigilanza Areonautica Militare) contested for control of the plane with the 80 armed operatives of the U.S. Delta Force and SEAL Team Six. These contesting groups were soon surrounded by 300 additional armed Carabinieri (the Italian military police) who had also blocked off the runway with their trucks.[19][20][16] The Italian Air Force (VAM) personnel and Carabinieri had already been lining up facing the US special forces soon after the American's main contingent had arrived by C-141s. Other Carabinieri had been sent from Catania and Syracuse as reinforcement. These events became known as the Sigonella Crisis.[21]
Steiner and Gormly contacted the Pentagon to inform them of the situation, and this information was passed onto the Reagan Administration. Members of the President's staff told the Italian government that the US special-operations team intended to arrest the hijackers. The Italians dismissed the Americans' claim of a right to do so, maintaining that the matter fell within their own jurisdiction due to the ship sailing under an Italian flag.[16]
A phone call took place between the US President Ronald Reagan and the Italian Prime Minister Bettino Craxi. Craxi claimed Italian territorial rights over the NATO base.[22] Reagan informed Craxi that the US would seek extradition of the terrorists to face charges in US courts.[16]
Steiner and his men standing eyeball-to-eyeball with the 300 armed Italians, relayed to the Pentagon "I am not worried about our situation. We have the firepower to prevail. But I am concerned about the immaturity of the Italian troops. ...A backfire from a motorbike or a construction cart could precipitate a shooting incident that could lead to a lot of Italian casualties. And I don't believe that our beef is with our ally, the Italians, but rather with the terrorists." The American leadership in Washington concluded that while Steiner and his men could take the terrorists it was unlikely they would be able to get them out of Italy. By 4:00 a.m. CET the next day, orders arrived for Steiner and his men to stand down.[16]
After five hours of negotiations, and with the knowledge that the Italian troops had orders (confirmed by President Francesco Cossiga) to use lethal force if necessary to block the Americans from leaving with prisoners, the U.S. conceded the Italian claim of jurisdiction over the terrorists.[23] The Americans received assurances that the hijackers would be tried for murder and Steiner and three US officials were to remain at the airport to witness the arrest of terrorists by Italian authorities.[19][24][13]
Talks between Italy and Egypt
After the US turned over control of the 737 to Italy, Egyptian diplomat Hamed returned to the plane with Italian base commander Colonel Annicchiarico. Hamed told the men of Force 777 that the Egyptian government had agreed to turn over the hijackers to the Italians. Both Abbas and Badrakkan refused to leave the plane claiming diplomatic rights – maintaining that they had diplomatic immunity as representatives of the PLO and Arafat. Learning of this the Egyptian government changed its position, declaring that the two were on board an Egyptian aircraft on a government mission – thus accruing extraterritorial rights. Egypt requested Italy let the plane leave with the two men on board as they had been brought to Italy against their will.[4] When the Italians refused this demand the Egyptians denied Achille Lauro permission to leave Port Said.[16]
Prime Minister Craxi sent his personal foreign affairs advisor, Antonio Badini to interview Abbas after boarding the airliner. Abbas' account held he had been sent by Arafat due to his persuasive argumentation style, that the four Palestinians had been triggered by panic to stage the hijacking, and that decisive role in releasing the passengers was his alone. Craxi appeared at a press conference late on Friday, October 11, acknowledging the role the two played in ending the hijacking, but inviting them to provide "useful testimony" and turning the matter over to the Italian court system.[4]
After continued talks between Italy and Egypt the four hijackers were eventually removed from the 737, arrested by the Italian Carabinieri at Sigonella, and taken to the air base jail, then transferred to a local prison. The public magistrate in Syracuse announced late on the 11th that his inquires were complete and EgyptAir 2843 could depart for Rome with Badrakkan and Abbas aboard. Craxi saw this as a stalling tactic that was a courtesy to the US. The Italian foreign ministry contacted the U.S. embassy and informed them of the flight, saying that the two wanted to consult with the PLO office in Rome. The American's viewed this as a prelude to Abbas being released.[4] The 737 was then cleared by the Italians to fly to Rome's Ciampino airport with Abbas and Badrakkan still aboard.[16]
Jet fighter showdown
U.S. Major General Steiner, in command of the American Special Operations Forces at Sigonella, upon learning that the 737 had been cleared by the Italians to proceed to Rome with members of the PLF still onboard became concerned that there was no guarantee that once airborne it would travel to Rome rather than back to Cairo. He boarded a T-39 Navy executive jet (the North American Sabreliner) with other American Special Operations personnel and planned to shadow the 737. When the Egyptian airliner took off from Sigonella at 10:00 p.m. the T-39 was not granted clearance from that runway. In response the Americans used a runway alongside without receiving Italian permission to do so.[16]
Achille Lauro hijacking - Wikipedia
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