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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (112365)	5/3/2005 9:04:49 AM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 793696

What action would you have taken? I would have used the Israelis. The Israelis were uniquely adept at such things at that point in time. Entebbe, for example. Besides, it was their people at risk. Well-trained German snipers were on the scene. That's not my recollection of what happened. My recollection, which could be faulty after so much time, is consistent with this: >>Demands. The Black September terrorists demanded the release of more than 200 Palestinians held in jails in Israel. They also demanded the release of two more Palestinians held in prisons in Germany. The Israeli's, no stranger to terrorist threats, rejected all demands by the terrorists. The Israeli's, in turn, offered the German government their special forces unit to assist in the recovery of their athletes. The Germans refused. The Germans would use their own police force which had no hostage rescue experience.<< >> The Rescue Attempt. Ten o'clock the evening of the 5th, two helicopters took the terrorists and hostages to Furstenfeldbruck Airbase, where an airplane was waiting. Also waiting was the German police, with five snipers ready to take out the terrorists. None of the snipers were trained as snipers. The snipers had inferior weapons, without scopes or night vision. Once the terrorists arrived at the airport, German authorities were surprised to find that there were eight terrorists. They had been led to believe there was only five. A firefight ensued, with two terrorists being killed and another wounded. As the early morning waned, one terrorist jumped out of the helicopter and threw a grenade back inside, blowing up the helicopter with four hostages inside. While the first helicopter burned, the remaining terrorists opened fire on the hostages in the second helicopter. In the investigation that followed, German authorities admitted that some of the gunfire that hit the hostages may have come from the German police, shooting at the terrorists.<< terrorism.about.com