Posted on 10/10/2012 8:59:04 PM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
In the night between Oct. 10 and 11, 1985 a scarcely known mission took place in the skies above the Mediterranean Sea.
That night, several combat planes belonging to the Carrier Air Wing 17 (CVW-17) lauched from USS Saratoga (CV-60) to intercept the Egyptair Boeing 737 which was carrying the terrorists who had hijacked the Achille Lauro liner off Egypt.
On October 7, 1985, four PLF militants men had hijacked the cruise ship. Holding the passengers and crew hostage, they directed the vessel to sail to Tartus, Syria, and demanded the release of 50 Palestinians then in Israeli prisons.
After two days of negotiations (and the killing of Leon Klinghoffer, a Jewish retired businessman who was in a wheelchair) the terrorists agreed to abandon the ship in exchange for safe conduct and were flown towards Tunisia aboard an Egyptian commercial airliner.
(Excerpt) Read more at theaviationist.com ...
It really doesn’t seem that long ago. Those were moments of high drama, and we were lucky enough to have a real President in office to deal with it.
God bless you, RWR.
I heard a story that the idea for the intercept came from an NSC staffer. Not sure if it is true, but the staffer was Oliver North.
Yep, that’s true.
If only Ronald Reagan were our current president as he would have never let OBL walk this earth for three years of his administration.
Neat story. Thanks
I never knew the Italians sold us out. Too busy carousing at the DLI in Monterey at the time :)
The Italians have a long history of kowtowing to mafia, fascists, and other undesirables. They’re our scumbag brother-in-law who is happy to take our money or let us pick up the tab, but will work against us behind our backs and tell us to F-off if we tell them “no” on something.
No doubt. It torques me off that we don’t have a president with balls to tell the UN to go take a flying leap. Even Bush felt like he had to bow at the UN altar. Result: he telegraphed the war in Iraq by 8 months and allowed Saddam to truck off or bury all of his real toys.
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