Behind the Headlines a Snag in the Fight Against Terrorism

President Reagan reiterated last Tuesday that he remains committed to combatting terrorism throughout the world.

He stressed this point at the end of a short televised address in which he announced the appointment of Frank Carlucci as his new National Security Advisor and said that the Justice Department will ask that an independent counsel be named to investigate if any federal laws had been violated in the secret sale of American arms to Iran and the deposit of excess funds from the sale in a secret account for the Contras in Geneva.

“It is my policy to oppose terrorists throughout the world, to punish those who support it and to make common cause with those who seek to suppress it,” Reagan said.

In fact, one of the reasons Reagan has given for agreeing to begin secret negotiations with “moderates” in Iran was “ending its participation in political terror.” At his press conference November 20, Reagan denied that the United States had sent Iran arms in order to gain the release of American hostages held in Lebanon, but maintained instead that the Iranians were asked to show their opposition to terrorism by obtaining the release of the hostages.

However, the revelation that the U.S. had shipped arms to Iran, a state it includes on a list of those that support terrorism, has put the Administration’s anti-terrorism policy in question. That is why Secretary of State George Shultz was so opposed to the Iran arms sales deal, especially as he had been working hard to get the West European countries to join with the U.S. in a coordinated policy against terrorism

A POSSIBLE COINCIDENCE

It may have only been coincidence but the secret U.S. dealings with Iran was revealed November 3 by Al Shiraa, a pro-Syrian Lebanese weekly magazine, at the time Syria was being castigated in the U.S. and West Europe for having been behind the attempt to blow up an El Al airliner that was to have departed London for Israel with some 400 persons aboard last April 17.

Britain broke diplomatic relations with Syria after Nezar Hindawi, a 32-year-old Jordanian, was convicted in a London court October 24 of attempted murder for having tried to have smuggled a suitcase full of high explosives aboard the El Al plane. Testimony at the trial said he acted on the instructions of the Syrian Ambassador to Britain, Loutof Haydar.

The U.S. recalled its Ambassador from Syria and pressure was on the West European countries to act against Syria. But as the U.S. was studying the next step to take against Syria, the negotiations with Iran were revealed and have dominated the news ever since. Syria was no longer the focus of attention.

This was true even though Hindawi’s brother, Ahmed Hazi, 35, and another Jordanian, Farouk Salameh, 40, were convicted in a West Berlin court November 26 of bombing the German-Arab Friendship Club in West Berlin last March. The court issued a warrant for the arrest of Haythem Saed, a Syrian Embassy intelligence officer, as an accomplice.

Since the Iranian dealings have become public the U.S. has taken several steps against Syria which have received scant attention.

First, the State Department forbade the sale to Syria of technical equipment such as computers and planes and spare parts for planes and urged U.S. oil companies in Syria to leave. Then, on November 24 the State Department announced its support of a Council of Europe resolution to cut down on the abuse of diplomatic immunity.

“Its principle provisions concern a closer scrutiny of diplomats who are suspected of having connections to terrorism, exchanging such information among their states subscribing to the resolution, considering refusing to accept diplomats about whom another member state has concrete information of their involvement in terrorism and considering restricting the size of diplomatic or consular posts when there is evidence of involvement in terrorism by that state,” State Department spokesman Charles Redman explained. He added that the U.S. has already been doing this.

Redman announced last Thursday that the U.S. will no longer issue visas to persons holding Syrian “service passports,” which the Syrians use to indicate the person is a government employe.

“Our decision is the direct result of evidence that the Syrian government has been issuing service passports to non-Syrians who have conducted terrorist acts in Europe,” he said. He noted that Hindawi had such a passport. West Germany has taken a similar step, according to Redman

He said any visas issued to Syrians, except diplomats going to the U.S. or the United Nations on official business, will be for a single entry. Visa applications from Syrians will take a minimum of 20 days to be processed, Redman said.

The U.S. has still not broken diplomatic relations, probably because many in the State Department consider Syria important to the Middle East peace process despite its avowed rejection of the peace process.

Yet the peace process, as well as the war on terrorism, remains on hold until the Iranian situation in its many ramifications gets the full public airing that Reagan said he wants.