I see from various sources that the Israelis have finally done in one of Hezbollah’s senior-ranking terrorists, one Fouad Shakar, who had a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head for involvement in the bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. The mills of justice may grind very slowly, but they eventually grind very fine. Well, he got to live more than forty years longer than the 241 Marines blown up in 1983, and I hope without much conviction that he spent every one of those years looking nervously over his shoulder. The Hezbollah organization was also behind the kidnapping, gruesome torture and murder of Americans in Lebanon in the 1980s, and the protracted hijacking of TWA 847 in the summer of 1985.
I had to take an intense interest in all this at the time, because I was stationed in Athens, as part of the staff for the military radio station at Hellenikon Air Base. It was a particularly fraught time for Americans stationed in Europe generally, because of ongoing terrorism. Yes, there was terrorism aimed at Americans before 9-11, but the brunt of it fell on military, diplomatic staff and those generally alleged to be CIA operatives who stationed in Europe. The rest of the US might not have paid much attention at the time; we did, and almost obsessively, because it was a matter of life and very real death.
I was working the overnight shift in the days after the Marine barracks bombing and remember when the list of casualties came over the teletype – yard after yard of yellow paper, with triple-spaced names. The Marines are the smallest service, and the mesh in webs of relationships is probably closer and tighter than in most other services. It’s not six degrees of separation, it’s more like two or three. Three or four years later, I worked with another military broadcaster who had made a cross-service jump from the Marines to the Air Force. He had been assigned to the Beirut force and had rotated out a month or so before the bombing, so of course, knew many of the dead and injured Marines – including the young Marine troop who had been on the cover of a Time magazine issue.
The hijacking of TWA 847 was even more horrifying for those of us stationed in Athens for a reason that didn’t get much mention then. It was the regular flight rotating between the US and the Mediterranean – and military personnel and families rotating in and out of Athens, and Crete usually came and went by that flight. The military travel office just purchased seats on civilian airliners going back and forth from CONUS (continental US) rather than erratically-scheduled and usually very uncomfortable Air Force transports. And I was on duty again, when news of the high-jacking came over the teletype, just before lunchtime.
Oh, my god – a flight out of Athens! I looked at the flight number and absolutely froze with horror. TWA 847. I went running through the building to where there was a little balcony with an emergency fire exit staircase over our parking lot and called down to the station manager and program director, who were about to get into their cars to go someplace for lunch. “They’ve hijacked the TWA flight! The one that everyone rotates out on!”
They were also horrified, of course. We hung over the teletype for the rest of that day, the whole staff wracking our collective brains, trying to remember who we knew who had orders and was due to leave Hellenikon on leave, permanent-change-of-station or temporary duty, who might have had seats on that flight … and who would be traveling with their wives and children.
There might very well have been – but for the grace of G*d and good fortune, there weren’t any military families on that flight. There was a small party of Navy divers returning from a TDY to Iraklion, and I think some Army reservists. The reservists had the wit and foresight to hide their military ID and escape much abuse from the hijackers, if I am recalling correctly, but the Navy divers were traveling on orders and their ID cards, and so were readily singled out. Robert Stethem was beaten and murdered as a means of getting a demand for jet fuel met.
In the months after that, we had our eyes on swivel-stalks, whenever we traveled on by civilian means. We wore civilian clothes, ditched anything superficial what might indicate we were military, avoided known American hangouts, got civilian passports – and were told that if there were anything like the TWA 847 going down again, to conceal or ditch our military ID. For years afterwards, when anyone I encountered casually asked if I were American … I had this instant, paranoid hesitation in answering. Why do you want to know?
I attended the American College of Surgeons the fall after the bombing. A speaker was there who had been a surgeon on a hospital ship just offshore of Lebanon. He described the scene and what struck me most was the fact that all these medical personnel were on a hospital ship just offshore, waiting for patients and none came. The Marines were all dead.
Another aspect of this. Not long ago Hezbollah killed a bunch of Israeli 12 year old civilian Druze kids playing soccer, with a mortar barrage. Israel, rightly, promised that there would be payback. The official US State Department response was to demand that Israel NOT retaliate but “settle it diplomatically”.
You can see what the first step was. Fouad Shakar was on our most wanted list for terrorism. I kind of expect to see the US government complain that Israel did what they wanted to do with him, and somehow that makes Israel war criminals.
Subotai Bahadur
Another bloggier – Powerline, I think – has commented that it is rather like Michael Corleone, in the first Godfather movie, seeing that all of his gang rivals are wiped out in one fell swoop. The Israelis probably won’t get any thanks officially from our dullards in office for taking out the trash, but they certainly have my own personal gratitude.
Back in 2019 or so, Iran shot down one of our naval recon drones that was operating in international airspace. There was a big US retaliatory strike keyed up which Trump nixed because he didn’t think a downed drone was worth killing people.for
Fast forward to Jan 2020 when Trump ordered the hit on Solemani, a man responsible for hundreds of dead Americans over the years, a hit that took place when he thought he was safe and that turned him into the human equivalent of chopped salad.
That’s why Trump is special, there’s a price for killing Americans and some of us never forget.
If I’m the Iranian leadership I’m in major freakout mode. The Israelis are conducting hit after hit on Iranian soil. The latest one not only took place in Tehran but an very short notice and very little reconn. With apologies to Heyward at.Powerline, I’m not sure the Israelis are settling all family business as showing the Iranians that they can kill anyone at anytime so how about the mullahs just chill? After all martyrdom is for the little guys
If there is a Godfather meme here its the Supreme Leader waking up in the morning to find the heads of Haniyeh and Shukr in the bed next to him.
The leadership might be looking over their shoulders at ambitious colleagues who are trying to figure out how to make an assassination look like the Israelis did it.
Those old fuckers have learned a long time ago to never use a cell phone. I hope that the Israelis get them any which way though.
I remember reading about that time of Canadians putting lots of red maple leaf stickers on their luggage – so they wouldn’t be mistaken for Americans.
My ex-wife did the same when traveling to Turkey.
Maybe the hostility to Israel by Harris will free them to do as they chose and get it done fast.
As far as Canadians “labeling” their luggage…
Canadians have been doing this long before and after terrorist threats on the general principle that they hate being misidentified as Americans. One friend told me he took it to the extreme of speaking with a stereotypical Canadian accent.
Two can play that game. if you are ever in Quebec and your French isn’t up to it, just let the locals know you’re American, they do like us. Act like you’re from Texas, flash greenbacks, etc…. You don’t want to be in Quebec not knowing French and have them think you’re from English Canada.
To the Israelis:
Keep up the good work. There is still much to be done.
Barbaric murderers always deserve retaliation.
Pay no attention to the US State Department as they have a different goal is not congruent with yours.
Mike
Canadians have been doing this long before and after terrorist threats on the general principle that they hate being misidentified as Americans.
Similarly, Swiss and Dutch do not like being misidentified as German, even though they may share certain ethnic and cultural similarities with Germans. My mother was once subjected to an overly diligent Dutch border official. Her response: “more German than the Germans.”
Back in the day of airliner hijackings, one could buy a fake Canadian passport, not good enough to get you through customs, but good enough to fool a cursory examination by a hijacker.