this is a continuation of yesterdays journal, so read that unless you like stuff that makes no sense out of contextwhich describes about 75% of my jokes but anywaysorry I wasn't online last night. I was kinda sick-feeling yesterday, took the day off.
Carlos bragged that he knew all the tricks repeatedly to officialsbut his mission hung up on three snags: 1) an Algerian OPEC delegate, Belaid Abdesselam, and Algerias President, Houari Boumedienne, knew the potential political fallout of the killing of Arab state representatives would be great, and were already planning to negotiate heavily with Carlos. 2) the plane the gang received, a DC-9, was completely unsuitable for their mission. Minimal planning by Carlos would have meant acquisition of a plane capable of flying from Tripoli to Baghdad. The DC-9 simply wasnt. 3) Carlos was planning on aid from Libya and Qaddafi without actually having had any contact with them. Neither had Hussein or Haddad.
At this point, the kidnapping has cost everyone a nights sleep. The gang is subsisting on amphetamines.
When the plane landed in Algiers, Carlos was taken to President Boumedienne, who immediately began negotiating for everyones releaseplus, Carlos had a big mouth. As gang member Khalid explains:
Carlos; always he talked too much. By the time we got to Algiers, quite a number of people knew what we were planning for [Saudi minister] Yamani and [Iranian minister] Amouzegar. Boumedienne attempted to extract a guarantee from Carlos that the Saudi and Iranian would not be harmed.
At this point, Carlos lies and says hell consider it. His immediate goal is getting to Tripoli and the assumed assistance of Qaddafi. Carlos had boasted to Yamani that he would receive a kings welcome at Tripoli.
When they reach Libyan airspace, their request to land is refused. Only the pleading of Libyan minister Mabruk from the planes radio allows them to land. Carlos is told that he is categorically not to set foot from the plane. Only now does he learn from pilots that a flight to Baghdad is impossible on the DC-9. Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Jalloud begins to negotiate craftily:
Well yes, we can let you have a bigger plane, a Boeing 737, but Im afraid its at the Tobruk airport, and as I understand that you wish to then fly onto Baghdad, Im afraid that the 737 is of no use to you. You need a Boeing 707. We do not have one of those available at the moment. My people are trying to charter one for you from another airline. By the way, Carlos, weve just heard from Baghdad. Theyve refused permission to land.
(Two asides: 1) in his interview with Yallop, Qaddafi said that he wanted to storm the plane and arrest the gang but his ministers argued to was too dangerous. 2) Carlos, in Vienna, had made up a phony Palestinian group under whom the mission was lead, The Arm of the Arab Revolutionkind of like in Die Hardand as you see later, theres another parallel to the film)
Carlos became paranoid about Libya, feeling betrayed even though no agreement had ever been reached with them. After releasing some more hostages, the plane began to fly back to Algiers in an attempt to find the elusive plane with sufficient fuel for the mission. Carlos meant to further negotiate with Algeria but, inexplicably, had left Abdesselam in Tripoli. As the plane flew over Tunisia, Carlos suddenly got the great idea to force Tunis Airport to allow the plane to land. Permission was denied. The pilot warned that the runway would be blocked, but Carlos demanded they buzz the airport and then land. The airport killed all of its lights (well into nightfall, with the gang working on its second night without sleep); so much for that idea
Algiers airport made the plane circle until 3:30 am. On the ground, the diplomats further stalled Carlos. We have no 707. These things take time. We could let you have a 727 but, well, not enough range for Baghdad. Sensing fatigue and paranoia in Carlos, they turned up the heat on him. Have you considered all the implications if you carry out Haddads orders? The Saudis and Iranians will come after you. Who will be able to protect you? Saddam Hussein? Perhaps for a while, but as you know the Iranians have infiltrated Iraq for many years, and how could Saddam Hussein be seen to protect you when here in Algiers, just a few months ago, he kissed The Shah and signed a peace treaty? Wadi Haddad? If the Saudis bring pressure on South Yemen [Haddads home base], they will give you up. Theyll give you a fair trial, then behead you.
The Algierians then proposed a simple money swap. Ten million dollars for each minister, Yamani and Amouzegar, surely to be easily obtained from Iran and Saudi Arabia. They even fronted the money, from Algerias bank, to make the transaction swift (note-- while the Saudis later would give their share, the Shah never paid up).
Carlos went to democratically negotiate the deal with his colleagues. Khalid and Tiedemann, true gun-prone believers in revolution, were appalled, but Carlos continually insisted, But if we kill them I wont get the money. Carlos argued that the money would help Haddads cause, not telling the other gang members that it was all wired to himself. Khalid said to Yallop:
If I had known that as we argued on the plane I would have killed Carlos then and there. He was betraying Haddad, the Palestinians, everythingMy people are without their country and all he could think of was moneywe believed that he had probably sold out a lot earlier than when he called off the operation at Algiers airport. I think he had it in mind to sell out before the operation began in Vienna. (Like I said, similar to Die Hard; like Hans, Carlos was much more talk than ideals.)
So Carlos had decided to take the money. Khalid, bristling, had still planned to kill the two ministers at the Algerian airport, but said, I was carrying a shoulder gun. I planned to kill [Yamani] right there. Then [Algerian foreign minister] Bouteflika gave me a glass of orange juice. The next minute I was surrounded by Algerian security and disarmed.
Carlos, after selling out Haddad and carrying out one of the worst multinational kidnappings ever, was given asylum in Algeria. The rest of the gang had gone to South Yemen and Haddad, while Klein still healed from bullet wounds in Algeria. When Klein had healed, Carlos inexplicably headed to the man hed sold out, Haddadwell, there were two explanations 1) Carlos was a thrill-seeker, 2) he vainly thought he could do whatever he wanted.
it turned out he was partially right. Haddad was, as Yallop terms him, pragmatic. He split the money with Carlos, after publicly decrying his actions and having him beaten and jailed. Algeria had a partial last laugh; they had taken a quarter of the 20 million as a handling fee. How Haddad and Carlos split the remaining 15 million is a mystery to this day.
The morals to this tale? 1) Like most bullies, Carlos was an ignorant screw-up with delusions of grandeur and sophistication and a big mouth who was just out for cash and kicks. 2) With Wadi Haddad, we see that many leaders in the Middle East who seem like fanatics, true believers to be mortally feared, are merely pocket-stuffing politicians in their own right. They manipulate the true believers, like Khalid and Tiedemann, but are only to be feared as yet more political stuffed shirts on their own.
Carlos bragged that he knew all the tricks repeatedly to officialsbut his mission hung up on three snags: 1) an Algerian OPEC delegate, Belaid Abdesselam, and Algerias President, Houari Boumedienne, knew the potential political fallout of the killing of Arab state representatives would be great, and were already planning to negotiate heavily with Carlos. 2) the plane the gang received, a DC-9, was completely unsuitable for their mission. Minimal planning by Carlos would have meant acquisition of a plane capable of flying from Tripoli to Baghdad. The DC-9 simply wasnt. 3) Carlos was planning on aid from Libya and Qaddafi without actually having had any contact with them. Neither had Hussein or Haddad.
At this point, the kidnapping has cost everyone a nights sleep. The gang is subsisting on amphetamines.
When the plane landed in Algiers, Carlos was taken to President Boumedienne, who immediately began negotiating for everyones releaseplus, Carlos had a big mouth. As gang member Khalid explains:
Carlos; always he talked too much. By the time we got to Algiers, quite a number of people knew what we were planning for [Saudi minister] Yamani and [Iranian minister] Amouzegar. Boumedienne attempted to extract a guarantee from Carlos that the Saudi and Iranian would not be harmed.
At this point, Carlos lies and says hell consider it. His immediate goal is getting to Tripoli and the assumed assistance of Qaddafi. Carlos had boasted to Yamani that he would receive a kings welcome at Tripoli.
When they reach Libyan airspace, their request to land is refused. Only the pleading of Libyan minister Mabruk from the planes radio allows them to land. Carlos is told that he is categorically not to set foot from the plane. Only now does he learn from pilots that a flight to Baghdad is impossible on the DC-9. Libyan Prime Minister Abdel Jalloud begins to negotiate craftily:
Well yes, we can let you have a bigger plane, a Boeing 737, but Im afraid its at the Tobruk airport, and as I understand that you wish to then fly onto Baghdad, Im afraid that the 737 is of no use to you. You need a Boeing 707. We do not have one of those available at the moment. My people are trying to charter one for you from another airline. By the way, Carlos, weve just heard from Baghdad. Theyve refused permission to land.
(Two asides: 1) in his interview with Yallop, Qaddafi said that he wanted to storm the plane and arrest the gang but his ministers argued to was too dangerous. 2) Carlos, in Vienna, had made up a phony Palestinian group under whom the mission was lead, The Arm of the Arab Revolutionkind of like in Die Hardand as you see later, theres another parallel to the film)
Carlos became paranoid about Libya, feeling betrayed even though no agreement had ever been reached with them. After releasing some more hostages, the plane began to fly back to Algiers in an attempt to find the elusive plane with sufficient fuel for the mission. Carlos meant to further negotiate with Algeria but, inexplicably, had left Abdesselam in Tripoli. As the plane flew over Tunisia, Carlos suddenly got the great idea to force Tunis Airport to allow the plane to land. Permission was denied. The pilot warned that the runway would be blocked, but Carlos demanded they buzz the airport and then land. The airport killed all of its lights (well into nightfall, with the gang working on its second night without sleep); so much for that idea
Algiers airport made the plane circle until 3:30 am. On the ground, the diplomats further stalled Carlos. We have no 707. These things take time. We could let you have a 727 but, well, not enough range for Baghdad. Sensing fatigue and paranoia in Carlos, they turned up the heat on him. Have you considered all the implications if you carry out Haddads orders? The Saudis and Iranians will come after you. Who will be able to protect you? Saddam Hussein? Perhaps for a while, but as you know the Iranians have infiltrated Iraq for many years, and how could Saddam Hussein be seen to protect you when here in Algiers, just a few months ago, he kissed The Shah and signed a peace treaty? Wadi Haddad? If the Saudis bring pressure on South Yemen [Haddads home base], they will give you up. Theyll give you a fair trial, then behead you.
The Algierians then proposed a simple money swap. Ten million dollars for each minister, Yamani and Amouzegar, surely to be easily obtained from Iran and Saudi Arabia. They even fronted the money, from Algerias bank, to make the transaction swift (note-- while the Saudis later would give their share, the Shah never paid up).
Carlos went to democratically negotiate the deal with his colleagues. Khalid and Tiedemann, true gun-prone believers in revolution, were appalled, but Carlos continually insisted, But if we kill them I wont get the money. Carlos argued that the money would help Haddads cause, not telling the other gang members that it was all wired to himself. Khalid said to Yallop:
If I had known that as we argued on the plane I would have killed Carlos then and there. He was betraying Haddad, the Palestinians, everythingMy people are without their country and all he could think of was moneywe believed that he had probably sold out a lot earlier than when he called off the operation at Algiers airport. I think he had it in mind to sell out before the operation began in Vienna. (Like I said, similar to Die Hard; like Hans, Carlos was much more talk than ideals.)
So Carlos had decided to take the money. Khalid, bristling, had still planned to kill the two ministers at the Algerian airport, but said, I was carrying a shoulder gun. I planned to kill [Yamani] right there. Then [Algerian foreign minister] Bouteflika gave me a glass of orange juice. The next minute I was surrounded by Algerian security and disarmed.
Carlos, after selling out Haddad and carrying out one of the worst multinational kidnappings ever, was given asylum in Algeria. The rest of the gang had gone to South Yemen and Haddad, while Klein still healed from bullet wounds in Algeria. When Klein had healed, Carlos inexplicably headed to the man hed sold out, Haddadwell, there were two explanations 1) Carlos was a thrill-seeker, 2) he vainly thought he could do whatever he wanted.
it turned out he was partially right. Haddad was, as Yallop terms him, pragmatic. He split the money with Carlos, after publicly decrying his actions and having him beaten and jailed. Algeria had a partial last laugh; they had taken a quarter of the 20 million as a handling fee. How Haddad and Carlos split the remaining 15 million is a mystery to this day.
The morals to this tale? 1) Like most bullies, Carlos was an ignorant screw-up with delusions of grandeur and sophistication and a big mouth who was just out for cash and kicks. 2) With Wadi Haddad, we see that many leaders in the Middle East who seem like fanatics, true believers to be mortally feared, are merely pocket-stuffing politicians in their own right. They manipulate the true believers, like Khalid and Tiedemann, but are only to be feared as yet more political stuffed shirts on their own.
VIEW 3 of 3 COMMENTS
I'm reading your Carlos The Jackal story while listening to THE ORIGINAL STACK O'LEE BLUES. That's gotta be some form of omen.
"Hold on loosely, but don't let her go. If you cling too tightly, you might lose control"
GOD BLESS .38 SPECIAL AND GOD BLESS AMERICAN BEER.
Be sure to check out Cherry's journal.