NCJ Number
80488
Journal
New York Times Magazine Dated: (March 1, 1981) Pages: 16-19,24,54-56,58-60
Date Published
1981
Length
11 pages
Annotation
The existence of an international terrorism network trained and armed by the Soviet Union and its surrogates is documented, with attention to terrorism's manifestations in Turkey, Northern Ireland, and Italy.
Abstract
The information presented is based on 25 years of researching leftist terrorist groups, talking to government officials and police in 10 countries, and examining court records and other public documents. The international terrorist network, as described by dozens of captured terrorists and volumes of courtroom testimony, consists of a multitude of disparate terrorist groups which help one another and receive aid from outsiders. The Central Intelligence Agency has reported that more than 140 such terrorist bands from about 50 countries on 4 continents are linked in some way. The roots of this terrorist network can be traced to the Tricontinental Congress held in Havana, Cuba, in January 1966. More than 500 delegates passed resolutions that emphasize close collaboration between 'socialist countries' and 'national liberation movements.' The delegates said their purpose is to devise 'a global revolutionary strategy to counter the global strategy of American imperialism.' Massive proof has since accumulated that the Soviet Union and its surrogates have provided the weapons, training, and sanctuary for a worldwide network aimed at the destabilization of Western democratic society. This pattern of Soviet-bloc influence can be documented in terrorist activity in Turkey, Northern Ireland, and Italy. The article states that the willingness of U.S. Secretary of State Haig and the President of Italy to go public with charges of Soviet involvement in the terrorist network may fuel public awareness and outrage at Soviet efforts to destabilize democratic societies through terrorist violence.