In 1972 the summer Olympics
were held in Munich, Germany, a far cry from the prewar Olympics of Berlin
where Hitler’s efforts to prove the superiority of the Aryan race was destroyed
by the incredible performance of Jesse Owens.
With that knowledge in their background, in 1972 the Palestinian Liberation
Organization (PLO) sent a contingent of armed terrorists, the Palestine Black
September, to Berlin, not to compete, but to disrupt the peaceful activities of
the western world and in particular, Israel.
With the murder of the Israel athletes, terrorists throughout the world
opened a bloody campaign of increasing death and destruction that continues to
this day. It had been my intention to
maintain a diary of these terrible events and at some future date incorporate
the diary in an essay against terrorism.
Unfortunately, after over thirty years of killing it was obvious that
the terrorism wasn’t going to stop. This
essay has been prepared while the murderous activities of the terrorists
continue. Note that this essay covers
only major attacks, that there
are many other atrocities committed, but not reported for lake of space.
09-06-72 Palestinian Black
September terrorists seize Israeli athletes at the Olympics in Munich.
Germany,
in a
botched rescue attempt, nine hostages and five terrorists are killed.
11-04-79 66 Americans taken
hostage from the U. S. Embassy in Tehran,
Iran, by
radical Iranian students.
04-18-83 An Islamic Jihad car
bomb at the U. S. Embassy in Beirut,
Lebanon, kills
63 – including 17 Amer- icans
– and injures 120.
10-23-83 Islamic Jihad suicide
bombers attack the U. S. Marine barracks (241 killed) and the French mili- tary
barracks (50 killed) in Beirut.
12-12-83 Iranian Shiite suicide
bombers attack U. S.
and French embassies in Kuwait
City, killing 6 and injuring 86.
04-12-84 Hezbollah attacks
restaurant near a U. S.
Air Force base in Torrelon,
Spain, killing
18 U. S.
ser- vicemen and injuring 83.
09-20-84 Islamic Jihad
terrorists detonate a van full of explosives at a U. S. embassy annex in Aukar, Leba- none, killing two U. S.
servicemen and injuring 2o Americans, including U. S. Ambassador Reginald
Bartholomew. Visiting British Ambassador
David Miers also sustains injuries.
04-12-85 Bomb claimed by various
Islamic groups kills 18 and injures 82, including 15 Americans, at a Madrid,
Spain
restaurant.
06-14-85 Lebanese Hezbollah
gunmen seize TWA Flight 847 and force it to land in Beirut and later Algiers.
Navy Petty Officer Robert Stetham is
killed and his body is thrown onto the tarmac.
Hostages are
released in Damascus, Syria, after 17
days.
10-07-85 Palestinian Liberation
Front terrorists take more than 700 hostages on board the Italian cruise liner
Achille
Lauro.
02-17-88 Marine Lieutenant
Colonel William Higgins is kidnapped and murdered by Hezbollah in Southern
Lebanon.
12-21-88 Bomb planted by Libyans
on PanAm Flight 103 explodes over Lockerbie,
Scotland,
killing 259, including 189 Americans.
02-26-93 Followers of Egyptian
cleric Umar Abd al-Rahman detonate a bomb under the World Trade Cen- ter in New York City, killing 6
and injuring more than 1,000.
03-08-95 Unidentified gunmen
fire on a U. S. Consulate van in Karachi,
Pakistan,
killing two U. S.
diplo- mats, Jacqueline Keys Van
Landingham and Gary C. Durell, and injuring a third, Mark McCloy.
11-13-95 An Islamic Movement of
Change car bomb at the U. S.
military headquarters in Riyadh,
Saudi Arabia,
kills seven people, including five Americans, and injures 60.
06-25-96 A fuel truck bomb kills
19 U. S. Air Force personnel and injures more than 500 Americans and Saudis at the Khobar Towers
housing complex near Dharan,
Saudi Arabia. Several groups claim responsibility.
08-07-98 A car bomb kills 247,
including 12 Americans, at the U. S. Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya, and an- other ten
are killed at the U. S. Embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. More than 5,000 are injured.
Authorities suspect Osama bin Laden’s
al Qaeda.
10-12-00 Suicide bombers attack
the USS Cole (DDG-67) in the port of Aden, Yemen, killing 17 Sailors and
injuring more than 30. Authorities
suspect Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda.
05-27-01 Muslim Abu Sayal
guerrillas capture 16, including three Americans, on Palawan Island,
the Phil- lippines. One American is beheaded and two are in
captivity for a year.
09-11-01 Al Qaeda-hijacked
aircraft are crashed into the World
Trade Center
towers, the Pentagon, and in a field near Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Nearly 3,000 people are killed in the
attacks.
01- -02 Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel
Pearl is kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants in Karachi, Pakistan.
06-14-02 A suspected al Qaeda
and al Qanin car bomb kills 11 and injures 51 near the U. S. Consulate and the Marriott
Hotel in Karachi, Pakistan.
10-12-02 Al Qaeda claims
responsibility for a car bomb explosion outside the Sari Club discotheque in Bali that
kills 187 and injures 300.
05-12-03 Al Qaeda suicide
bombers attack foreign worker compounds in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia,
killing 35, including 10 Americans, and
injuring more than 200.
08-05-03 A suspected Jemaah
Islamiah car bomb kills 10 and injures nearly 150, including two Americans, at the Marriott Hotel in Jakarta, Indonesia.
03-11-04 Suspected al Qaeda
bombings of the commuter train system in Madrid,
Spain, kill 191
and injure more
than 1,800.
03-31-04 Gunmen
ambush and kill four U. S.
civilian contractors in Fallujah,
Iraq, drag
their burned bodies
through the streets, and hang them
from a bridge over the Euphrates
River. Brigades of Martyr Ahmed Yassim claim
responsibility.
05-11-04 Purportedly in revenge
for abuse of Iraqi prisoners, Nick Berg of Philadelphia is beheaded by Is- lamic militants on video.
06-18-04 Islamic militants
behead hostage Paul Marshal Johnson, an American engineer for Lockheed Mar- tin, in Saudi Arabia.
07-07-05 A coordinated bomb attack by
Islamic extremists on the subway and bus system in London, Eng- land, kills 52 and injures 700.
Root material edited from an
article published in Proceedings magazine,
September 2006 issue, of the USNI.
September 2006
LFC
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