TWA Flt 847 Hijacker Dead: Mohammad Ali Hamadeh Dies by US Drone

I read today that Mohammad Ali Hamadeh was blown right into the arms of 72 virgins today, or whatever, by a U.S. drone attack in Pakistan. After being secretly released from a German prison in 2005 for the hijacking of TWA Flt. 847, he went directly to Lebanon and joined with Hizbollah, then to Pakistan's North Waziristan to fight with Islamic Jihad. Ten days before the hijacking, hubby and I flew from Rome to the U.S. on TWA Flt. 847. Islamic jihad was in full jihadi mode 25 years ago.

Hooded man believed to be Mohammad Ali Hamadeh

In 1985 hubby and I enjoyed our last evening in Rome. We had gelati at a sidewalk restaurant in front of a beautiful hotel. The small tables were screened off from the traffic and the gelati was superb. We had ice cream there every night for about a week. We walked back to our hotel by the American Embassy, I think it was the Excelsior, and chatted about how everything was so very beautiful in that historic city.

The next day we boarded TWA Flight 847 and arrived safely back home. 

Ten days later, we watched in horror the same flight number on a tarmac somewhere. The flight from Athens should have traveled to Rome. Instead it was hijacked by Mohammad Ali Hamadeh and second man. After Athens, the flight went to Beirut, then Algiers, back to Beirut, then Algiers and finally Beirut again. Eventually twelve additional terrorists boarded the plane.

A U.S. Navy diver, Robert Stethem, only 24 years-old, was beaten, tortured, shot dead and thrown to the tarmac while the press cameras clicked away, getting it all live. Another U.S. Military man was beaten and tortured, but lived. I believe hostages were held on the plane for about two weeks before it was finally all over.

The hijackers demanded the release of 766 Lebanese and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. Both of the hijackers identified themselves as members of Hizbollah.

See folks, it never, never ends. This was June 1985.

In September 1985, a bomb destroyed a British Airways office located just off the Via Veneto...and our sidewalk gelati spot received a hand grenade, injuring 38 people. My memory is that 9 people died, but this report says there were no deaths. Eleven of the injured enjoying their Italian ice cream were Americans. A "Palestinian youth" confessed to the British Airways bombing, and another Palestinian was charged with the sidewalk bombing.

The heavily guarded U.S. Embassy is less than one block from both targets.

A Muslim terrorist organization, the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims, claimed responsibility for the cafe bombing a week ago in an anonymous telephone call in Beirut. The group threatened more attacks.

 Discover The Networks on the Revolutionary Organization of Socialist Muslims, says it is a spin-off of the PLO, and is also known as the Abu Nidal Organization and Black September, the perpetrator of the Munich Olympic games massacre in 1972.

On December 27, 1985, the same group that blew up the British Airways office and the sidewalk cafe, walked into the Rome airport to Israel's El Al Airline's desk, opened fire, killed 16 and wounded 80.

Petty Officer Robert Stethem

Petty Officer Robert Stethem was laid to rest in Arlington Cemetery. The Navy launched the USS Stethem in his honor. Today The Robert D. Stethem Memorial Park park is home to 10 ball fields. The U.S. Navy Seabees named the Port Hueneme Naval Construction Training Center Headquarters Building in his honor.

Twenty-five years ago, did you think of these widely-reports events, as Islamic jihad? I didn't.