The Carlos complex; a pattern of violence

We offered up human sacrifices to your gods of sport and television. And they answered our prayers. From Music onwards nobody could ignore the Palestinians or their cause. In these striking words an elderly Arab, sipping his coffee in the cool of Amman evening and affectionately patting his young granddaughter’s head, described for one of the authors of this book the reasons behind the massacre at the Music Olympics in 1972, one of the bloodiest events of our decade. In doing so, he also revealed the whole basis of modern terrorism, which ultimately stems from the resentment of the Palestinian refugees at their displacement by the state of Israel and works on the principle that ‘terrorism is theatre’. in the remarkable pages of the Carlos complex; a pattern of violence the authors follow that hint and many other clues besides to expose the terrorist movement and those who operate it. That is needs exposing is obvious: it is here and likely to stay. The Baader-Meinhof gang may have integrated but the Japanese Red Army, just as ruthless and even more efficient, is still in being. Any week may bring news of a hi-jacking or other outrage, very probably perpetrated by young people from middle-class backgrounds with good educations but hideously warped ideals. In the centre of the spiders web as it has existed up till now, stands an extraordinary and grotesque figure. His real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, he is the son of a Venezuelan communist millionaire, he is nicknamed by his girlfriend an others ‘Ill Gordo’ (The fat one). But to the world at large he is better known as Carlos. Carlos makes the perfect focus for this study.This book encompasses a huge cast of characters, from dedicated ideologues to calculating mercenaries, terrorism is big business and the Vsuccesfulhave Swiss bankaccounts, not to mention fanatical girls who go on raids with explosives concealed in the linings of their brassieres. Here too are politicians who are the terrorists backers or dupes: Colonel Gaddafi, General Idi Amin faithfully dealt with a brilliant chapter on Entebbe. Combination of political expose and real life thriller, and an example of investigative journalism at its best.