Terrorist ProfilesCarlos “the Jackal Abu Nidal Osama bin Laden

Most notorious terrorist of the 60's and 70's was Carlos "The Jackal,“Real name was Ilyich Ramirez Sanchez.Up to 1975 he passed as a South American playboy His father had made himself a million dollars in Venezuelan real estate, his mother was an attractive divorcee popular in London's diplomatic set.

Carlos “the Jackal”

Carlos was was nicknamed "El Gordo" by his schoolmates: "Fatso," in rude English.)

Latin women liked him a lot, and he often kept three or four on the string at a time.

In an interview he said, "Marxism has always been my religion…….It was hereditary, first of all. It was in the atmosphere of our house, in my parents' blood. Later, I acquired a personal culture by traveling in Russia....“

Joined Venezuela's hard-line Moscow-oriented Communist Party in 1964.

In 1968, he went to Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow

In Havana he studied urban guerrilla tactics, automatic arms, plastic explosives, sabotage, map making and map reading, photography, forgery, and disguise.

Until 1973, Carlos was mostly a sleeper in England staying out of trouble; later lived in France

Next to France it was the best place for him to be. Like France, Great Britain had time-honored

Carlos pioneered the technique of diplomatic hostage-taking in Europe.

Seizure of the French embassy in The Hague. Bombed the three Parisian newspapers, used

Dutch and Belgians to survey international airline routes as possible terrorist targets

Used attractive South American girls to carry booby-trapped parcels aboard planes

Helped the Baader-Meinhof Gang to steal U.S. Army grenades for use in other campaigns around the world.

 In 1974, he bombed the London branch of Israel's largest bank, bombed two right-wing French newspapers, and killed 2 and injured 30 in a bomb attack on a Jewish-owned cafe called Le Drugstore.

Carlos masterminded a failed attack on Israeli El Al planes taking off from the Rome airport.

Greatest accomplishment was the taking of OPEC hostages in Vienna, Austria in 1975,

Supposed to have killed Saudi Oil Minister, Sheikh Ahmed Yamani and the Iranian Oil Minister, Amusegar. Instead, he cut a deal with them that netted him a cool $5 million in exchange for their lives.

 After the Vienna affair, Carlos dropped out of sight, retired from the terrorist racket and lived comfortably abroad in Russia and on the beach in Libya.

When the Ayatollah Khomeini came to power in 1979, he announced solemnly that he had sent Carlos to Mexico to assassinate the former shah of Iran and the rest of the royal family.  

In 1994 while Carlos was in a hospital in Sudan, he was recognized, turned over to French authorities who placed him on trial 

Given a life sentence in a French jail for his crimes

Abu Nidal

Sabri al-Banna, a.k.a. Abu Nidal, was one of the most notorious terrorists in 70’s and 80’s.  

Al-Banna was born in May 1937 in Jaffa. His father, Khalil, was one of the wealthiest men in Palestine, with homes all over the world.

All of the al-Banna land in Palestine was confiscated by the Israeli government in 1948

Family forced to flee, ending up in the al-Burj refugee camp in the Gaza Strip.

In early 1949, they moved to Nablus, on the West Bank which was under Jordanian control before 1967.

Studied at Cairo University without having completed his degree.

 Served as an electrician's assistant with a construction company in Saudi Arabia. While there, he became involved in the illegal Ba'ath party

His involvement was noted by his employers and the Saudi regime. He was fired, and later imprisoned, tortured, and expelled from the country.

Became an active member of PLO but later broke with them when Arafat began to explore a more peaceful strategy for achieving Palestinian rights.

Most illustrious terrorist action was an attack on the Rome and Vienna airports where hosts of civilians were killed.

His attempted assassination of the Israeli ambassador in the UK in 1982 became the pretext for Israel to invade Lebanon.

In the 70's, his organization attempted to kill Yasser Arafat several times, and the PLO placed a death sentence on his head.

He successfully assassinated scores of well-respected PLO emissaries in Europe who were attempting to open up a dialog of peace between the PLO and Israel.

 Close to Saddam Hussein and Muammar Qadhafi who gave him sanctuary in their respective states.

He carried out terrorist assignments on behalf of these leaders on several occasions.

 He also created alliances with Lebanese Shite terrorists who bombed the Marine barracks in Beirut in 1982

He reportedly recruits only Palestinians to his group, whose motivations are similar to his own.  

Several years ago Abu Nidal was thought to be under Egyptian custody.

Since 2001 he is presumed to be in Iraq where he is reported to be in bad health

Osama bin Laden

Today, the most wanted terrorist in the world is Osama bin Ladin.

New breed of terrorist who uses modern technology to accomplish his purposes.

One of 53 children of Saudi construction magnate Muhammad Awad bin Ladin who amassed a fortune in the construction business

Bin Ladin family fortune is estimated at $5 billion, of which Osama has access to an estimated $300 million.

The seminal event in Bin Ladin's life was the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.  

Recruited Muslim mujahedin (Islamic fighters) to prosecute this holy crusade against the Soviet infidels.  

The Americans at that time had the same goals as bin Ladin's mujahedin the ousting of Soviet troops from Afghanistan.

America's Central Intelligence Agency launched a $500 million-per-ear campaign to arm and train the impoverished and outgunned mujahedin guerrillas to -fight the Soviet Union.

Significant quantity of high tech American weapons, including "stinger" anti-aircraft missiles, made their way into his arsenal as well as old Soviet weapons

The Afghan veterans returned to their own countries steeped in Islamic fundamentalism with a mission to topple "western-oriented” governments.

Mujahedin veterans began showing up in Islamic struggles in such places as Somalia, Bosnia, Kosovo, Egypt, Algeria,and Chechnya.

 In the 90's Osama bin Ladin returned to his native Saudi Arabia

He saw the Saudi monarchy as a corrupt and depraved government that needed to be replaced by a government more in tune with the principles of Islam.

In April 1994, his Saudi citizenship was revoked for "irresponsible behavior," and he was expelled from the country.

Together with his family and a large band of followers, Bin Ladin moved to Khartoum in Sudan.

In May 1996, he moved to Afghanistan, leaving behind him in Sudan a network of Afghan Veterans

Mastermined host of terrorist actions in 90’s December 92. Hotel bombing in Yemen against

US service men in route to Somalia. February 93. Bombing of the World Trade Center

in NY City   June 93. Attempted assassination of Jordan's

Crown Prince Abdullah  June 95. Attempted assassination of Egyptian

President Hosni Mubarak

November 95. Bombing that killed 5 US servicemen in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

June 98. Bombing of Al Khobar housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia killing 19 US service men and injuring 300 others nearby.

August 98 . Bombing of US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania killing 257 Americans and Africans and injuring more than 5,000 others.

September 11th 2001 World Trade Towers and Pentagon hit by commercial airliners with over 2,000 killed

US War on Terrorism has followed