European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 29, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday april 29, 1986 columns Howard Kleinberg where Are the demonstrators against terrorists when Russia stormed into Afghanistan did those who now Burn Ameri can flags and condemn us for the raid against Libya March throughout Europe and the Arab world burning russian flags and condemning the russians when americans were kidnapped and terrorized in the . Embassy in Iran did the marchers pour onto the boulevards or into the Ca Bahs damning an iranian government that not Only condoned the taking of hostages but participated in it hell no they did to when sikh extremists claimed responsibility for planting a bomb on an air India Jet killing 329 innocent people where were the marches and protests when Poland s Solidarity party reached out for support in the face of polish and russian steel where were the demonstrators when the britons and americans who were murdered in Lebanon first were kid napped where was world outrage at the taking of innocent persons were the same arabs who expressed Shock and disdain Over the american Tom Wicker raid on Libya As upset the week before when Arab terrorist organizations took credit for the bomb that went off in a Twa Jet killing four innocents were they aware that the next passenger about to be sucked out of the plane by his own account was a saudi arabian when a plan Load of american tourists was hijacked one murdered and tossed onto the Tarmac and later used As inter nationally televised propaganda pawns did enraged demonstrators spill out into the streets of Western. Europe and the Arab countries they did not when the chinese and French explode nuclear bombs in the atmosphere where Are the same thousands who protest Amer Ica s underground nuclear tests not that i support our tests either i m talking about hypocrisy. Yes the libyans Are terrorists one Brit ish journalist has written but America must not stoop to the level of the libyans. So in Exchange for not having thousands demonstrate against us in London Bonn or Damascus we Are to allow what is happen ing to continue. We Are to allow the Sav Ages to eat away at us to take our people hostage to blow up our commercial airliners to bomb our embassies. I wish Gordon Sinclair still was alive i would want to hear him today. Sinclair was a Canadian radio commen Tator who in 1973, made a remarkable newscast Over a Toronto radio station at a time when the american Dollar was taking a pounding throughout the world and no body was coming to America s Rescue. Sinclair died in 1984. The Marshall plan and the Truman policy pumped billions of dollars into discouraged countries Sinclair said. Now newspapers in those countries Are writing about the decadent warmongering newspapers today some even in this country Are writing about warmongering americans again instead of calling for drastic measures to Stop what it is that forced America to bomb Libya. When the americans get out of this bind As they will Sinclair said who can blame them if they said the hell with the rest of the world we got out of that bind in 1973 but we did t Tell the rest of the world to go to hell. And when we appealed especially to our so called allies for help against libyan terrorism if Only in the form of economic sanctions they told us to go to hell if i can fault president Reagan on any thing in the libyan affair it is that he did t try one last measure with our allies before the bombing. He should have told them once they refused economic sanctions to make a Choice either America or Libya. We should have called in just one of our chips. Sinclair s 1973 words i can name you 5,000 times when the americans raced to the help of other people in trouble. Can you name me one time when someone else raced to the americans in trouble Only once and that was after his broadcast when Sinclair s Canada stood up in january 1980 and helped six Ameri can diplomats escape the iranian lunatics. C Cox news service flying Over Atlantic safer than driving across . I it dec Mill. 1 a _ _ even before the bombing raids on Libya the fear of terrorism was causing a Sharp decline in americans air travel to Europe particularly to the Mediterranean. The raids May Well have increased the danger but the travelling Public has no need to exaggerate its risks. Every plane flying into Rome or Athens or Cairo this summer cannot be hijacked or bombed owing to tightened though far from foolproof Security measures the chances Are that very few of them or per haps none will be. The randomness of the risk the difficulty in foretelling which plane might be attacked rather than some other makes it More frightening. But it should be reassuring that the overwhelm ing majority of flights even to High risk airports will be completed without Inci Dent. Americans Are not in the habit of can celing vacation trips by automobile be cause of the High incidence of Highway accidents a substantially greater threat to most of them than the terrorist s bomb. In fact Newsweek Magazine reports that More americans drowned in the Bathtub last year than were killed in terrorist at tacks. The libyan crisis May cause americans to Overlook some other Points for in stance that Over the years europeans have suffered far More terrorist incidents and from a greater variety of sources than americans have that Arab groups Are not the Only perpetrators witness the red brigades Basque separatists sikhs in India the Ira and others almost too numerous to list and that the Mediterranean has not been the most frequent theater of terrorism a dubious Honor belonging to latin America. None of that Means of course that americans flying to Europe this summer have no need to worry about terrorism. The situation does suggest the possibility of a greater Effort against americans by terrorists under the control of of sympathetic to Libya Syria and Iran and concentrated in the Mediterranean. On the other hand increased Security is Likely to be noticeable in the same Region and countries like Italy Greece and Egypt that Are eager for american tourist dollars May be moved by fear of their loss to much stronger anti terrorist efforts. New technology available to terrorists for example plastic guns and bombs that can pass through Metal detectors and United feature syndic to /iamkuu6s so the wife ahp1cancellep our trip to Europe and close Disneyland instead Kipping can be quickly assembled in Airliner rest rooms May of a threat to air travel than khad Afy s vengeance. Security measures Haven t caught up with sophisticated devices like plastic explosive disguised to look like string on a package or a Detonator shaped like a Ball Point pen. The explosive that recently blew a Hole in a Twa Airliner Over the Mediterranean May have been smuggled aboard within a woman s body. The Peculiar vulnerability of an Airliner crowded with passengers taking off from overworked and Over crowded airports and flying at 30,000 feet makes it a natural target for the terrorist. But the kind of time con suming and inconvenient searches and passenger interrogation carried out by the israeli airline Al Al if applied to All planes travelling the crowded skies Over the ., the Atlantic and Europe would destroy most of the Speed and amenity that have made flying the most popular modern travel Mode. But More can and now probably will be done More extensive hand searches in creased use of dogs trained to detect explosives better International intelligence coordination. The woman suspected of planting the bomb in that Twa Airliner was a terrorist known to some intelligence services but not apparently to the computer records in Cairo where she boarded the plane. Better International Exchange of in formation might have caused her to be detained interrogated and More thoroughly searched. Passengers can help themselves too. Don t protest More strenuous Security Mea sures or otherwise distract Security officials from what might be a real terrorist. Don t carry packages or even letters for strangers who ask a favor. Check under your seat and in the baggage compartment near you and report anything suspicious. Don t add to Security burdens by demanding that officials Check out everybody who looks like an Arab or not like an american. Above All go ahead with any reasonable travel plans to be scared into staying at Home is to give a Victory of harassment and intimidation to a terrorist before he pulls his gun. And anyway you won t be much if any More at risk flying to Europe than driving on the interstates or walking the streets in some american cities or Mak ing your Way Home after a too convivial party. C new York times
