Lebanon: Fingering the Hijackers

Names are named, but the U.S. doubts that justice will be done

The news bulletin on Lebanese state radio late last week was cryptic and vague, perhaps intentionally so: Beirut judicial authorities would prosecute three of the most wanted men in America, the hijackers of TWA Flight 847. The Lebanese identified the two Shi'ite Muslims who seized Flight 847 and murdered U.S. Navy Diver Robert Stethem as Ahmed Gharbiyeh and Ali Youness. The third man, Ali Atwa, failed to board the plane in Greece, but joined the other two hijackers in Algiers after the Athens government released him in exchange for Greek hostages on board the Boeing 727.

The news report did not...

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