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headquarters in Langley, Virginia. He shot and O’Harrow, Robert, Jr., and Bill Miller. “CIA Suspect Left
permanently injured three other persons. Kasi was Trail of Conflicting Personal Data.” Washington Post,
sentenced to death in 1998. February 18, 1993.
Born in 1964 to a wealthy family in Quetta, Stein, Jeff. “Convicted Assassin: ‘I Wanted to Shoot the
CIA Director.’” Salon.com, January 22, 1998. http://
Pakistan, Kasi inherited about $100,000 after his
www.salon.com/news/1998/01/22news_kasi.html
father’s death. Reportedly involved in a militant nation-
alist group in Pakistan, Kasi traveled to the United
States in 1991, entering the country on a business visa.
On January 25, 1993, Kasi stepped out of his car near KHALED, LEILA (1944– )
the CIA gates in Langley. While morning commuters
waited at a traffic light outside CIA headquarters, Kasi A member of the Popular Front for the Liberation
used an AK-47 assault rifle to shoot through car win- of Palestine (PFLP), Leila Ali Khaled became
dows, walking between the lanes and spraying bullets famous in the late 1960s and early 1970s for being
left and right. Kasi first shot 28-year-old CIA commu- one of the few Arab women publicly involved in
nications worker Frank Darling in the back. Kasi also terrorist activity.
shot and killed 66-year-old CIA analyst and physician One of 13 children, Leila Khaled was only four
Lansing Bennett, and wounded three others. years old when her family was forced to leave her
Kasi fled to Pakistan the next day; he evaded capture birthplace of Haifa in Palestine due to the creation
for more than four years. He spent much of that time of the Israeli state in 1948. They settled in a refugee
in Afghanistan. At first, the U.S. government did not camp in Tyre, Lebanon. Khaled and her siblings
label the CIA killings an act of international terrorism, shared the belief that Palestine should be liberated and
reportedly to minimize problems with Pakistan. Judy the refugees should be allowed to return home.
Becker-Darling publicly spoke about what she saw While Khaled was a teenager, she joined the Arab
as the CIA’s indifference to her husband’s death and Nationalist Movement to fight for her beliefs. To help
became a gun control activist. Originally, the govern- her struggling family, in 1963 Khaled became an
ment offered a $100,000 reward for information leading English teacher in Kuwait. There, she became a mem-
to Kasi’s capture, later raising the amount to $2 million. ber of the political group that would lead to her fame,
On June 17, 1997, Kasi was arrested in a Punjab the PFLP, created by George Habash.
hotel room and then extradited to the United States, The 1967 Israeli defeat of the Arabs was the impe-
where he was tried in Virginia. Prosecutors in his trial tus for Khaled’s move to Jordan to join the resistance.
said that his actions aimed to protest and take revenge She was trained by Wadi Haddad to hijack airplanes.
for U.S. involvement in Muslim countries. Kasi did On August 29, 1969, Khaled and a colleague hijacked
not testify at his trial but wrote a series of letters to a TWA Flight 840 en route from Rome to Tel Aviv; no
reporter at Salon.com, explaining that he had intended passengers were harmed. The case attracted extensive
to assassinate CIA director James Woolsey or the for- media coverage because female hijackers were not
mer director Robert Gates. common, especially not ones with a conservative Arab
The jury found Kasi guilty on November 10, 1997, background. Khaled became well known as a terrorist
and began deliberating its recommendation on his to some and a hero to others. The most famous picture
sentence. The next day, four auditors from the U.S. oil circulated depicts her holding a gun and wearing a
company Union Texas were shot, along with their ring made of a hand-grenade pin and a bullet.
Pakistani driver, in Karachi, Pakistan. Because the jury Before attempting her second hijacking, Khaled
was still deliberating, jury members were sequestered underwent several cosmetic surgeries so that she
to shield them from news of the Karachi shootings. would be unrecognizable. On September 6, 1970, she
The jury recommended the death penalty, and the and Patrick Arguello hijacked an El Al jet flying from
judge sentenced Kasi to death on January 24, 1998. Amsterdam to New York. No passengers were harmed,
but security guards on the plane opened fire and killed
Further Reading Arguello. The plane landed at London’s Heathrow
Melillo, Wendy. “Kasi Jurors Recommend Death Penalty; Airport where Khaled was arrested and detained in the
Decision Cites ‘Vileness’ of Shootings Outside CIA.” Ealing Police Station for 23 days. Prime Minister
Washington Post, November 15, 1997. Edward Heath set her free in exchange for the release