European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 1, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes James j. Kilpatrick when will airlines learn faulty Security can kill Kuwait airways right 422 took olt from bang Kok on april 5. Headed Back to Kuwait on a aniline return. I never got there. A gang of murderers armed with pistols and hand grenades hijacked the aircraft and look the passengers hostage. Officials in Thailand insist tic weapons must have been already on Board when the plans arrived in bang Kok. Very Well. Question How did these assassins Man age 10 smuggle their weapons on Board in Kuwait answer As easily to they could have smuggled weapons on Board in los Angeles Memphis or Chicago. Despite insistent prodding from the . Government Over the past two Yean there has been Imle improvement insecurity at major .  that is the conclusion reached by the House commit to on  operations in a report released last week. If the fearful Story of fight 425 does t disturb frequent fliers this report surely will. It describes an investigation by the general accounting office Over a period of 10 months at six major airports. The investigation revealed that screening personnel failed to detect on average 20 percent of weapons or dangerous test objects passed through the system. At some airports the Gao found a detection rate of More than 90 percent White at others a crooners failed to detect More than 50 percent of the lest objects including one Airport where two thirds of the test objects a Cal  the Gads dismaying findings confirmed an earlier investigation by the Federal aviation administration. In tests conducted Over a four month period in 1986.rates of successful detection ranged from a Low of 34 percent to a High of 99 percent. These lest result May actually have been overstated in part because Faa inspectors were allowed to place Only two or three objects High is a sweater and Book in a suitcase that Alia contained a lest handgun. Thus the inspector could not hide the test object among other Obj cos to simulate realistic conditions besides the Faa inspectors Al some airports were will known to screening personnel. Viewed from one statistical perspective these appalling findings May not be so appalling. Passenger screening was mandated i . Airports in 973. Since then More than b billion persons have been screened and More than 9 billion carry on items have been inspected. In this period Over 3s.ooo firearms have been detected 16.000 persons arrested and in least 117 pole Lial hijackings averted by airline and Airport Security  in Light of the test investigations those data arc not air july reassuring. The familiar detection wickets and x de Blanche the most rangers vie Ponon Earth atomic to 19am1cbqmb choose one. Ray screens Are Only the most visible part Ofair part Security. The committee report indicates that other programs especially those involving Airport personnel Are As looses sieves. Following the crash of a Pacific  airlines flight in California on a. 7. Hie Faa instituted new rates on Airport per Connel that crash was blamed upon a disgruntled former airline employee who toed an zip Rcd id card to get around the passenger wicket. The Man. Who had been fired by Southwest earlier smuggled a handgun aboard the plane and murdered his former supervisor. Now All Airport and airline employees arc required la Wear current ids and to go through screening like everyone else. In practice the Roqu Irmen is easily evaded. Thousands of id cards Are unaccounted for. It appears to be no trick at All for unauthorized personnel to Sam Access to non Public areas. At la International five airlines wilfully have ignored the new requirement where docs the fault lie it lies squarely upon he air lines. Contrary to popular Assumption Security Peu Onnel an not employed by local Airport authorities. Those air lines serving a Given Airport form a Security Comotti flee the committee then con Racli with Pinkerton or some other Agency and the Agency hires the people who Man the wicked and a Ray machines. The airlines Ore inter ested in minimizing the costs of providing Security. In practice screening employees receive inadequate training. They arc paid at or near the minimum wage which contributes to rapid turnover and diminished compe tence. Some fault also lies with the Faa. The govern ment has authority to Fine airlines that do poorly on inspections Bui no such fines have been imposed. The situation is worse now than it was in 1978. Kuwait s flight 422 tells us once More is if another retelling Wen necessary what can happen when terrorists elude Security. When will the airlines listen iranians Are having to rethink their strategy l vhf Tell la. Al of i if i i _ a. _ .1kan s twin defeats by the iraqis on the Faw Peninsula and the . Navy in the persian Gulf have undermined its strategy thai a War of attrition would eventually exhaust Iraq military analysts say. Time is no longer on our Side Hashemi kafe Anjani Iran s powerful parliament speaker and 3 member of the supreme defense Council admitted in a Tehran radio interview. That s very indicative thai Mayhe the so called prag Mai Isis in Tehran Are now going to Jet the upper hand. The iranians have had a lot of sense knocked into them in the last few weeks said Hans Chino Kopietz a mid ilk Loisl specialist with the London Bawd International Institute for strategic studies Iran s defeats on land and sea were i hair Insl urious in several years and analysis believe Tehran needs a spectacular operation to regain the Inisi Tii a in he 7"i ear old Gulf War. Iraq s Faw Peninsula captured by the iranians in february i jb6, was considered a strategic Boon but in 1 Villa. An iraqi Force led by nails of inc Eliric pm denial Juans seized the Peninsula april 16-18. I is lost has had a major psychological Impact to Piet said Iran s loss of iwo frigates and a missile boat sunk or disabled by the Navy on april is in the first scr Ioui clash Between the iranians and americans is consid ered More important because those warships cannot be replaced. Already Iran s Navy suffers a Lack of spare parts and missiles and most of its major surface ships including two .-built destroyers Are believed non operational. The iranians Are having to rethink their whole strategy Kopicz said in a Telephone interview. They be lost the initiative in Many ways and they la have Loda some thing to get it Baric. The pressure is on them to pull Oft something  Kop if 12 and Oiher Western analysis said an Cecal action in the iraqis use of outlawed chemical weapons in recent weeks and a seven week missile bombardment of iranian cities has also taken its loll on iranian morale. A sustained bombing Campaign by Iraq s Superior air Force has damaged Iran s already battered Economy. Prime targets have been Oil refineries and installations and Power plants. Sources in the Petroleum Industry speaking on Condi Tion of anonymity said the bombing has Cut Iran s refining capacity by about a third. Oil exports Iran s economic Lifeblood. Have been disrupted by iraqi air raid on tankers in the Guf. A drop in demand far Oil and increasingly shaky prices on the world Mark have eroded Oil Revenue on which the iranians depend to pay for their War Effort. The Middle East economic Survey a respected Oil Industry weekly newsletter published in Cyprus reports that Iran has imported about 3 million barrels of refined Petroleum products such As kerosene and aviation Gas in recent weeks. This unprecedented sudden Imp on of Gas Oil could be due to damage inflicted on iranian refineries because of Floc War the newsletter says. Diplomats rec Reily in Tehran reported that almost two thirds of the country s fact Lrich have been shut Down by shortages of raw materials and spare parts. Others Are operating at half i hair Normal capacity or less. Only factories producing weapons ammunition and other War related items ate working Al full till they said. Iran is also increasingly isolated diplomatically. Saudi Arabia s decision on tuesday to sever its Long Touchy relations with Tehran citing terrorism and subversion was another blow. I m sure other Arab states in the Gulf will follow Kopies said. Despite the War Iran relics on countries like the United Arab emirates for Trade and if that s affected it could have very serious  since april 1 a iranian leaders including a Sfanjani and president All Khamenei have been calling on their countrymen to Mobil in vowing revenge against Iraq the United Stales and reactionary Stales like Saud Arabia and Kuwait. We Are prepared to conduct military operations on several fronts a Sfanjani declared. But the iranians failed to launch their big Winter offensive this year triggering speculation that despite boasts of having Rainea 5 million men and women Teh ran is having recruiting problems. Gen. George b. Crist the Marine officer who com mands . Forces in inc Region Iusti cd before the sen ate armed forces committee recently thai Iran was not capable of launching a major offensive in inc foreseeable future because of manpower and Materiel problems. Although the iranians outnumber the iraqis 3-to-l in population. Crist said the fact is that the iraqis right now have More men under arms than the iranians do. Bui despite the problems inc analysts do not believe the iranians Art Likely give up what islamic Patri Arch Aya Tonah Ruhollah Khomeini considers a crusade to crush his longtime adversary president Saddam Hus Seidof Iraq. Poiror s Mote ed8ttrttn. Baud m by Pius 4 Mridah f Jil neat Votor