Free Republic

International Law: Everyone has the right to an attorney. But as Ramsey Clark rushes to the side of Saddam Hussein, this may be a case where both the defendant and his counsel can plead insanity...."Clark has been using and aiding mass murders and other American enemies for the last 30 years," conservative pundit David Horowitz said in 2003 of a Clark trip in Iraq. "He should give it a rest." But that is unlikely. ...Clark has defended the who's who of mass murderers — not just Milosevic, but also Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, also accused of war crimes, as...

Recently, Lisa Klinghoffer e-mailed me about an important anniversary: the murder of her father, Leon Klinghoffer, by Islamic terrorists. 20 years ago, this past Saturday (October 8), Leon Klinghoffer -- a helpless 69-year-old in a wheelchair on a cruise ship -- was cruelly murdered for the dual crimes of being a Jew and an American. After hijacking the ship, cowardly Palestinian terrorists assassinated Klinghoffer by gunshot and threw his body overboard, a plot masterminded by Abu Abbas. Leon Klinghoffer: American Hero in Life & Death Here's what one of many, who've written posthumous notes to Klinghoffer over the years through...

To the Editor: Leon Klinghoffer, our father, was one innocent civilian among thousands who were murdered under the rule of Yasir Arafat and the P.L.O. As a family who has unfortunately been touched by Mr. Arafat's terrorism, we find that our only solace in his death is that he cannot kill anyone ever again. It is mind-boggling that some would view him as a diplomat, martyr, hero and even a peacemaker. This is definitely not how we know him to be. To us, Mr. Arafat will always be a murderer and a terrorist; and one less terrorist on this earth...

TROUBLE IN THE HOLY LANDPalestinians honor Achille Lauro hijackerTerrorist responsible for killing Jewish American 'great national fighter' Posted: March 26, 20041:00 a.m. Eastern © 2004 WorldNetDaily.com Known globally for ordering an attack in which a wheelchair-bound Jewish American tourist was shot and thrown overboard from a cruiseliner, Muhammad Abbas nevertheless was eulogized by Palestinians this week as a "great national fighter." Abu Abbas The leader of the Palestine Liberation Front terrorist group, who died in a U.S. prison in Baghdad, was buried Tuesday in Syria. He was responsible for the 1985 hijacking of the Achille Lauro in Italy in which Leon Klinghoffer...

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,...

Abu Abbas, mastermind of 1985 Achille Lauro hijacking, dies of natural causes in U.S. custody in Iraq, says source

Perhaps, somewhere in hell, Palestinian terrorist Abu Abbas has started to shovel coal into a giant fire for the next...forever. While the world will hardly miss the former secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Front, news of his death may have made Saddam Hussein weep. Born in 1948, Abbas died in American custody in Iraq Tuesday, apparently of natural causes. According to a news release from the Coalition Joint Task Force in the Iraqi capitol, "U.S. forces have held Abbas since he was captured in Baghdad on April 14, 2003." His path into American hands illustrates why Operation Iraqi Freedom...

<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 American capture of arch-terrorist Mohammed Abu Abbas in Iraq this week was applauded almost throughout the world. Senior PA official Saeb Erekat called for his "immediate" release, and other Arab sources also expressed dismay, but elsewhere the arrest was seen as the beginning of a process that will lead to the meting out of true justice against a major terrorist mastermind. Abu Abbas, a PLO Executive Council member and head of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF), is wanted in the United States for the hijacking of Americans on the Achille Lauro cruise liner and the murder of the...

Wednesday, April 16, 2003 The daughters of an elderly man who was killed by a violent Palestinian group during the hijacking of a cruise ship in 1985 hailed the arrest of the faction's leader and said it will send a message to other terrorists. "We are delighted that the murderous terrorist Abul Abbas is in U.S. custody," Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, the daughters of Leon Klinghoffer, said in a statement provided by family friend and spokeswoman Letty Simon on Tuesday night. Abbas, who led a faction of the Palestine Liberation Front, was taken by American special operations forces during a...

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...

Achille Lauro What happened during the hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in 1985? AP Photo Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, 1985 On October 7, 1985 four heavily armed terrorists representing the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) hijacked the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro, with some 100 mostly elderly passengers on board, in Egyptian waters. The hijackers demanded that Israel free 50 Palestinian prisoners, and to prove their determination, they shot and killed a disabled American tourist, 69-year-old Leon Klinghoffer, and threw his body overboard with his wheelchair. After a two-day drama, the Egyptian government, unaware that Klinghoffer...

<p>NEW YORK — The daughters of a wheelchair-bound American man who was shot and thrown overboard by the terrorists who hijacked a cruise ship in 1985 would like to come face-to-face with the mastermind of the terror attack.</p> <p>Lisa and Ilsa Klinghoffer, whose father, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed during the infamous hijacking of the Achille Lauro, told Fox News Wednesday they are thrilled Abu Abbas is in U.S. custody.</p>

he capture of Abu Abbas yesterday by U.S. special forces near Baghdad is an important victory in the war on terrorism. Abu Abbas, who's real name is Muhammad Zaidan, was the founder of the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF) and was best known for masterminding the November 1985 hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro, in which wheelchair-bound passenger and American citizen, Leon Klinghoffer was shot and his body dumped overboard. This cruel murder shocked the world, epitomizing the violence against the defenseless that defines terrorism. (Abu Abbas, by the way, would have been brought to justice 18 years ago,...

<p>April 16, 2003 -- Sitting in his Gaza Strip office 13 years after the slaying of American tourist Leon Klinghoffer, former PLO guerrilla chieftain Abu Abbas offered a short laugh and a hard look.</p> <p>"You never forget, all of you, do you?" he asked a journalist.</p>

<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>

U.S. troops near Baghdad have captured Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the Achille Lauro cruise ship hijacking in 1985. Abu Abbas The Palestinian Liberation Front leader is wanted for the murder of U.S. citizen Leon Klinghoffer, whose body was thrown overboard. Defense sources told NBC News that Abbas was taken into U.S. custody last night. His home on the outskirts of Baghdad, on the Tigris River, was raided by U.S. special operations forces, but he was not there. Later, he was apprehended at another location. Abbas tried to flee to Syria, according to sources, but had difficulty making it past...

Palestinian leader, Muhammad ‘Abbas (aka Abu Abbas) has fled from his home in Baghdad towards the Syrian border, Palestinian sources Sunday told Quds Press. According to these sources, the Syrian authorities refused to allow him to enter the Syrian territory. Abbas, a member of the PLO Executive Committee, heads the Palestine Liberation Front (PLF). The Abu Abbas-led faction has conducted several attacks against Israel. Abbas's group also was responsible for the attack in 1985 on the cruise ship Achille Lauro and the killing of a US citizen. A warrant for Abu Abbas's arrest is outstanding in Italy. Since the Achille...

The group at the forefront of the recent anti-war rallies, International A.N.S.W.E.R (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) is in reality a front organization designed to further the radical agenda of several extremist movements from the political Left. Despite the media’s assertions to the contrary, present incarnation of the peace movement, led by ANSWER, is anything but representative of mainstream America. ANSWER’s steering committee reads like a "Who’s Who" of radical political organizations. The most influential member of ANSWER’s steering committee, Ramsey Clark’s pet project known as the International Action Center (IAC), is considered by many observers to...

Egypt has told the United States that Palestinian guerrilla leader Abu Abbas is not in the country, contrary to some media reports, U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said on Thursday. Boucher said: "This is a dangerous man. I don't know the exact legal status, but certainly he's not a person that we believe should be allowed safe harbor or easy passage." Abu Abbas, also known as Mohammed Abbas, is the leader of the Palestine Liberation Front, which hijacked the cruise ship Achille Lauro in the eastern Mediterranean in 1985. A disabled elderly American, Leon Klinghoffer, was killed during the...