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One less terrorist Oliver North (archive) March 12, 2004 WASHINGTON, D.C. -- It started on my 42nd birthday -- Monday, Oct. 7, 1985. No sooner had I arrived at my office in the White House that morning, than the senior watch officer in the Situation Room called. No hard intelligence was available yet, but something was amiss in the Mediterranean. What we did know was that it was an Italian cruise ship, the Achille Lauro, and it was about 30 miles from Port Said, Egypt where four Palestinian terrorists had embarked carrying grenades, guns and ammunition. Years before Sept. 11,...

<p>Was the capture of Abul Abbas really some turning point in the war on terrorism?</p> <p>The administration spins it that way. The State Department called it "a major victory in the global war against terrorism." President Bush said: "Terrorists and tyrants have now been put on notice, they can no longer feel safe hiding behind innocent lives."</p>

The United States believes it can indict captured Palestinian leader Mohammed Abbas (better known as Abul Abbas) for murder, and that his immunity under the Oslo Accords applies only in Israel and the PA, not in the U.S. Although no legal steps have been started to charge Abul Abbas, U.S. administration sources say this is expected to be done as he is responsible for a terrorist act - the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship - during which an American citizen, Leon Klinghoffer, was murdered. The Americans are also debating how to treat a request to extradite Abul Abbas...

The Palestinian Authority has launched a campaign for the release of a Palestinian terrorist captured in Iraq. PA Local Authorities Minister Saeb Erekat said the arrest of Abul Abbas, head of the Palestine Liberation Front, violates the 1995 accord with Israel that granted amnesty for all Palestinian insurgents. Erekat said the agreement was also signed by then-President Bill Clinton. "The Palestinian-Israeli interim agreement signed on September 28, 1995 stated that members of the Palestine Liberation Organization must not be detained or tried for matters they committed before the Oslo peace accord of September 13, 1993," Erekat said. "This interim agreement...

<p>Capturing Abul Abbas this week in Iraq may be the easiest part in bringing to justice one of the best-known Middle East terrorists. Figuring out what to do with him is a mess, involving sticky domestic and international issues and political and legal problems.</p>

Barry Rubin is the author, with Judith Colp Rubin, of "Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography," to be published by Oxford University Press in August. The capture of Abul Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, in Baghdad may turn into one of the biggest stories to come out of the Iraq war -- and it will serve as powerful proof of the operation's value for the war against terrorism. What's more, if he is brought back to the United States and prosecuted, it could make for the most spectacular international terrorist trial ever held in America. By now, most people...

<p>AS THE PENTAGON touts the welcome accomplishments of its war against Iraq -- the fall of Saddam Hussein and his regime, the arrest of terrorist Abul Abbas -- the question arises: What constitutes victory?</p> <p>The fact that Hussein was a ruthless tyrant, and the world would be better off without him, was never a point of debate between supporters and opponents of the war. Nothing that has happened in the monthlong fighting, including the scenes of celebrating Iraqis and the unveiling of the extent of the Iraqi regime's pillaging of the nation's wealth, underscores Hussein's barbarity. Good riddance.</p>

At Least Saddam wasn't at Tailhook! Despite liberals' calm assurance that Iraq wasn't harboring terrorists, this week Abul Abbas, mastermind of the 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, was captured in Baghdad. This is the second time the United States has caught Abbas. But the last time, the Europeans let him go. That's why liberals are so eager to have Europeans "help" with the war on terrorism. They did a bang-up job last time. In 1985, Muslim terrorists hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro and threatened to kill the passengers and crew unless 50 imprisoned Palestinians were released by Israel. The...

<p>Sitting in his Gaza Strip office 13 years after the slaying of American tourist Leon Klinghoffer, former PLO guerrilla chieftain Abul Abbas offered a short laugh and a hard look.</p> <p>''You never forget, all of you, do you?'' he asked a journalist.</p>