European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 26, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 columns the stars and stripes wednesday september 26, 1990 Richard c. Gross Iraq sponsored terrorist attack unlikely expressions of concern Over possible terrorist attacks against the United states in the persian Gulf and elsewhere increased dramatically last week but analysts doubt that iraqi president Saddam Hussein would dare employ terrorist tactics. The View among experts on terrorism is that Saddam recognizes that a terrorist attack backed by him against . Installations in saudi Arabia where most of the americans arc concentrated or anywhere in he Gulf Region would be the springboard for a . Attack against iraqi forces in Kuwait and against Iraq itself Quot the iraqis believe that the americans arc just waiting for such a pretext a said Yuliya Sadowski an analyst on Middle haste in affairs and terrorism at the Brookings institution a Washington study group. A major concern among . Forces deployed in saudi Arabia is an attack similar to the suicide truck bombing of the Marine Barracks at the Beirut Airport oct. 23, 1983, in which 241 american servicemen died. The marines left Lebanon several month Slater. Despite its repeated warnings and expressions of concern in the past week about the possibility of terrorist strikes against . Or Allied interests the state department has been careful to note that it has not received terrorist threats a a that Are both specific and but it is Clear that the United states would retaliate for a Saddam sup por cd terrorist act. Quot the United states would View with utmost seriousness any iraqi sponsored terrorist attack Quot the state department has said More than once. Quot utmost seriousness is a weighty diplomatic nicety that translated Means there would be a . Counterattack. President Bush weighed in with his own warning in response to reporters questions Quot we hold Saddam Hussein responsible if there is any terrorist act against us Quot he said. Bush added that the iraqi president was to a blame Quot for the meeting of several terrorist leaders in Amman Jordan earlier last week. George Habash head of the popular front for the liberation of Palestine and Nayif in watch Leader of the democratic front for the liberation of Palestine were the headliners among members of terrorist groups that met in the jordanian capital. Both Are backed by Syria and Libya. Habash warned that his group would strike at the United states. But analysts dismissed the threat and any significance attached to the meeting of the terrorist leaders. They argued that Habash and Hawatmeh Are aging palestinian terrorist leaders who no longer command the following of an Abu Nidal or an Abu Abbas head of the Palestine liberation front. A a when you threaten terrorism i done to think much is going to happen a said Robert Kupperman a terrorism specialist at the Center for strategic and International studies. A i think that the threats Are empty. I done to think Habash amounts to but he said a Zabu Nidal is quite a differ ent matter. An Abu Nidal threatening terrorism i would take Abu Nidal whose real name is Sabri Khalil Al Banna leads an extremely violent palestinian group whose most notorious attack was the machine gun and grenade strikes in december 1985 against the Rome and Vienna airports in which 16 people died and 60 others were wounded. A what worries me is not Saddam Hussein a Kupperman said. A Zabu Nidal is not completely under Saddam Hussein a control. He s hooked to Libya a Cia director William Webster recently told the foreign policy association of new York that Saddam now a has both Strong ties to palestinian terrorists and an elaborate network within his own intelligence service capable of planning and carrying out terrorist attacks against a variety of International but the Csiss George Carver jr., an intelligence Security and terrorism specialist who has his own consulting firm said he did not think Saddam will try to launch a terrorist strike that will a provoke something from the United states in response. A i done to think he would like to give the United states any pretext for attacking a Carver said. A we should respond very quickly to any provocation. But before we do we should make sure we know the cause. We should keep control of the situation not surrender it to someone Brookings Judith Kipper an expert on the Middle East agreed with Carver. A an iraqi backed terrorist act would mean instant retaliation a she said. A and if we re going to go on the offensive we re going to go big a United press International William Safir changes Are most evident in tourist China on a foggy morning about a dozen years ago passengers on a flying Jalopy were told that Beijing was socked in and the Pilot had been diverted to Shanghai. We landed at a deserted Airfield no planes were expected at Shanghai that morning and nobody on the ground quite knew what to do with us. Hungry and disconsolate we sat in a Barren waiting room a handful of westerners stranded in a communist wasteland. Then an aged Bent chinese woman muttering to herself came hustling onto the dreary scene carrying a Large tray with bowls of noodles. These weren to your Ordinary noodles but a wondrous Shanghai breakfast with chunks of Chicken and exotic Green vegetables in a Broth dominated by wide Slippery handmade noodles. I can taste those magic noodles today in my minds taste buds As i Overlook the City of 13 million from the 37th floor of the Shanghai Hilton having just ordered a Waffle with Vermont manic syrup for breakfast while watching a live telecast of the Abc nightly tourist China ainu to the same. In the 70s, you could count on unrelieved must incas uncomprehending Telephone operators and Stark White dining rooms where Western guests were strictly segregated. Drains in the bathrooms were plugged by rubber stoppers attached to Rusty chains and Only your shortwave radio kept you in touch with the outside world. The visitors life was uncomfortable in Many ways in those Days but the feeling was gloriously foreign. Today the momentum of the economic open door of the �?T80s is carrying China a major cities into the 21st Century. High Rise hotel and convention complexes create new skylines. The must iness has been replaced by the smell of Metal polish because proud new managers of these half occupied Glass and Chrome palaces live in terror of tarnish. The Well trained Young staff members help eagerly and courteously address visitors in English. Some things have not changed off the tourist track the real China exists in All its bravery and squalor. Outside the travel Erst cocoon the dead hand of communism stifles dissent just As brutally As it did in the �?T70s. But the sense of repression is not the same everywhere. Lets use two contrasting cities to illustrate the forces going head to head in China today. Shanghai is to Beijing As new York is to Washington bigger More colourful and cosmopolitan its people More outspoken and Sassy resentful at having to pay taxes to prettily the parasitic capital but warily respectful of its greater Power. Shanghai is a real City unplanned with traffic clogged narrow streets and no state Security goons tailing resident foreign reporters Beijing is Laid out to Rule Majestic in its wide boulevards conscious of history in the forbidden City and Tiana men the National Center of control and corruption. Beijing permeated by a fear of chaos if a billion people break Loose represents the stiff spirit of order. Shanghai which did not shoot its protesters last summer and does not join in the jamming of the voice of America today stands for the spirit of Enterprise that flourishes in a Freer Calmer atmosphere. We cannot carry this analogy too far Shanghai was the hotbed of maoist radicalism that was Defeated by Dengl St reformers. But the Point is valid the farther you get from the socialist Center the More China becomes chinese. Shanghai a mayor Zhu Rongji although a Friend of Beijing a fearsome u Peng bears a curious resemblance to former new York mayor de Koch. When i tried to set him up with an opening softball question at a dinner last week Zhu responded with a bit of Politico Media Wisdom that deserves adage status a a softball question is usually followed by a hardball not even a peripatetic Bigfoot knows the answer to that. China could go completely totalitarian or break completely free or muddle Down the Middle until the Beijing Way or the Shanghai style emerges triumphant. But i can conjure a vision. The stultifying octogenarians Are gone the politburo is meeting in the forbidden City the opposing forces Are in deadlock getting hungry and irritable. Suddenly this aged Bent chinese we and guttering to herself appears with a magic bowl of Shanghai noodles. C new Yolk times
