(Editor's note: These days, Al Gore refers to Yasser Arafat as America's "parnter in peace." But it wasn't so long ago that Gore and his colleagues in the Senate were seeking to have Arafat indicted for murder...)
February 12, 1986
The Honorable Edwin Meese III
Department of Justice
Washington, D.C. 20530
Dear Mr. Attorney General:
We understand that the Department of Justice has received information linking PLO leader Yasser Ararat to the brutal 1973 slaying of Ambassador Cleo Noel and Charge d'Affaires C.Curtis Moore in Khartoum, Sudan.
The material is reported to include various State Department cables that may confirm Ararat's role in the murders. It is also reported to include an assertion that the U.S. government has a tape recording of an intercepted message in which Arafat allegedly ordered the assassination of Ambassador Noel and Charge d'Affaires Moore, who were taken hostage when Palestinian terrorists seized the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Khartoum on March 2, 1973.
As you know, press reports indicate that the eight terrorists involved in the incident identified themselves as members of Black September. They demanded the release from prison of Sirhan Sirhan, the Baader-Meinhof gang, and a group of Fatah members being held In Jordan.
Press reports indicate that when their demands were not met, the terrorists selected the three Westerners among the hostages--U.S. Ambassador Cleo Noel, Charge d'Affaires C.Curtis Moore, and Belgian diplomat Guy Eid--and machine-gunned them after first allowing them to write farewell notes to their families and then beating them. A day later, the terrorists surrendered to Sudanese authorities after a lengthy round of transoceanic communications involving, among others, Arafat and the Vice President of Sudan.
Press reports indicate that Sudanese President Gaafar Mohammed Nimeiri went public at once with evidence showing that the operation had been run out of the Khartoum office of Fatah. One month after the slayings, the Washington Post reported that according to Western intelligence sources, Arafat was in the Black September radio command center in Beirut when the message to execute three Western diplomats was sent out. The Post also reported that Arafat's voice was monitored and recorded. Although according to the Post's sources, it was unclear if Arafat himself or his deputy gave the order to carry out the executions, Arafat reportedly was present in the Operations center when the message was sent and personally congratulated the guerrillas after the execution.
These allegations, if substantiated, leave little doubt that a warrant for Arafat's arrest should be issued, and a criminal indictment filed against him. To allow other factors to enter into this decision is to make a mockery of our laws and our stated commitment to eradicate terrorism. As President Reagan told an American Bar Association convention this July, "we will seek to indict, apprehend, and prosecute" terrorists.
We understand that this matter is presently
under review at the Justice Department. We urge the
Justice Department to assign the highest priority to
completing this review, and to issue an indictment of
Yasser Arafat if the evidence so warrants. We would also
ask that you keep us advised of the progress of your
investigation.
Sincerely,
(Signed by 47 U.S. Senators, including
Albert Gore, Democrat of Tennesseee.)
...The Jerusalem Post reports that former UNSCOM executive director Richard Butler, speaking at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs on July 18, reported that Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz (whom Butler dubs the "minister for disarmament resistance") told him that Iraq had biological weapons "to deal with the 'Zionist entity.'" Butler reported that the regime, now "awash with money" and for two years free of the UN monitoring agency, will only be spurred to produce more weapons following Iran's recent successful launching of a long-range missile...
...Abu-Jasser, age 14, who recently attended a Palestinian Authority-run summer camp, described his camp activiities to the PA newspaper Al-Hayat Al-Jadidah: "We are undergoing military training in order to defend our motherland Palestine, chase out the settlers, and return Jerusalem to us, because it is our eternal capital." The newspaper also interviewed 13 year-old camper Maru'an Barood, who just "completed special training on taking apart and re-assembling a weapon..."
August-September 2000 - 9 - Outpost