All at once the images came flooding back. I can remember them so vividly. The airplane. The captain leaning out the window. The lifeless body being dumped onto the tarmac.

It was well past midnight in the Middle East when Flight 847 again landed in Beirut. The airport-tower operator did his best to refuse permission, but Captain Testrake was adamant: he was running out of fuel, and the terrorists were threatening to kill him. A hijacker may have clinched the argument by shouting, "We are suicide terrorists! If you don't let us land, we will crash the plane into your control tower, or fly it to Baabda and crash into the Presidential Palace!" The tower relented.

Once again, the hijackers asked to speak to an Amal official, and when none appeared, they responded by murdering an American passenger and throwing his body onto the tarmac. They claimed the victim, a young man with a crew cut, was a U.S. Marine who had taken part in "security blowups in Lebanon." It was then, after the pilot shouted over the radio, "He just killed a passenger! He just killed a passenger!" that a hijacker declared, "You see? You now believe it. There will be another in five minutes."

Moments after the killing of the passenger, an Amal official and his bodyguard went aboard the plane, where they remained for some time. As negotiations continued, a hijacker asked that all airport lights be turned off, and the demand was met. At the time, it seemed that the hijackers were fearful of an attack by the Israelis or by one or another of their enemies within Lebanon. In fact, however, it later became clear that they wanted the darkness for other reasons: to bring aboard about a dozen additional terrorists as reinforcements, as well as a supply of arms and ammunition; and to remove the six or eight passengers with Israeli- or Jewish-sounding names. A day later, a released passenger, Ken Lanham of San Francisco, reported that the hijackers went up and down the aisle calling out the names of these people, and then led them away.

The body of the murdered American had been lying on the tarmac for about two hours when a hijacker told the tower, "The Red Cross can come and get the body."

[Source: Patriotism vs. Terrorism]

Now, 20 years later, Mohammed Ali Hamadi has been released from a German jail and is already back in Lebanon, no doubt catching up with all of his Hezbollah allies.

German officials said Tuesday that they had released a Lebanese man jailed 19 years ago for killing an American Navy diver during the 1985 hijacking of a T.W.A. jetliner, an ordeal that shocked Americans during a tense 17-day standoff.

A State Department spokesman expressed disappointment with the decision to release the man, Mohammed Ali Hamadi, and vowed that the United States would pursue him and bring him to America to face justice for the murder of the diver, Robert Dean Stethem of Waldorf, Md. Mr. Hamadi was freed last Thursday and is now believed to be in Lebanon.

…

The American officials said they were aware that Mr. Hamadi would be granted a parole hearing at some point this year and had sought discussions with German security officials over the possibility of turning him over to the United States in the event he was released. But Mr. Hamadi flew to Lebanon before any agreement was reached, the officials said, adding that German officials had long expressed reservations about handing Mr. Hamadi over to the United States, where he might face the death penalty.

I actually got chills as I read the article this evening. Images from that hijacking flashed through my mind. The world has changed so much since the day Robert Stethem was killed, yet, it really hasn't changed at all.

The bad guys still hate us, and we are still trying to stay one step ahead of them, hoping to prevent further attacks. Who knows where or when Hamadi will surface again, let's just hope we have foreign intelligence and surveillance in place to catch him when he does.

I will never forget the image of Robert Stethem's lifeless body laying on the tarmac. I will never forget the price he paid. I am a year younger than Mr. Stethem would be if he had not been killed, and I can only imagine the type of person he would be today. I can only imagine the type of world it would be today.

Needless to say, it was a day that changed my life, and the world we live in, forever.

1. I was shocked to read the Ger I was shocked to read the Germans released a Muslim terrorist prisoner (that should have been turned over to the US years ago!)… and I did not see any coverage of this on any news network – including FOX! Is our media so threatened by the Muslims that they are afraid to report the news? What is next? Are we just going to sit by and watch them take over the world – thinking "as long as we don't make them mad" they are not going to kill us??? Wake-up America!!!!

   Comment by Gabrielle Christine on Dec 3rd, 2006 @ 02:06

   
   

2. When is our government going When is our government going to stop catering to the will of such a small minority, and kick some serious ass? If we dropped a couple of nukes on Iran and any other country that is not 100% pro- USA, the world might stop spanking our butts with straws. I, for one of millions am ready for a fight with panty-waiste liberals. Somebody had better do something before the majority begins to act independantly.

   Comment by John Breshers on Dec 3rd, 2006 @ 02:06

   
   

3. [...] Obama Supports Legalized Marijuana Murderer Of Robert Stethem Set Free David Groh Dies* John Stewart Dies Attention [...]

   Pingback by Slobokan’s Site O’ Schtuff : Checkin The Stats - February 2008 on Mar 3rd, 2008 @ 13:27

   
   

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.