Page 226 - Encyclopedia Of Terrorism

K-Kushner.qxd 28-10-02 11:22 AM Page 204

204———Kilburn, Peter (1924–1986)

sentence was reduced to 21 years and 10 months upon card. By March 1986, the CIA and FBI had planned an
appeal. He is currently imprisoned at a maximum- elaborate sting operation in which the kidnappers were
security federal facility in Florence, Colorado. to be paid with chemically treated bills that would
dissolve a few days after the swap. Ross Perot, the
See also JAPANESE RED ARMY; POPULAR FRONT FOR THE
Texas billionaire, supplied the $100,000 to be paid to
LIBERATION OF PALESTINE; FUSAKO SHIGENOBU
the Canadian intermediary, and the altered money was
delivered to Europe. However, in the midst of these
Further Reading
transactions, a Libyan intelligence agent in Lebanon
Farrell, William. Blood and Rage: The Story of the paid to have Kilburn murdered, based on rumors that
Japanese Red Army. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath, 1990. the United States was planning a military strike against
Hanley, Robert. “Man Is Arrested Carrying Bombs on Libya’s Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi for his role in the
Jersey Pike.” New York Times, April 14, 1988, B4. La Belle discotheque bombing in West Berlin.
Kessler, Robert E., and Scott Ladd. “Sentence Ends Political On April 17, 1986, two days after the United States
Thriller; Prisoner Tied to Japan Terrorist Organization.” bombed Libya, the bodies of Kilburn and two British
Newsday, February 12, 1989, 7.
Sullivan, Joseph F. “Man Who Carried 3 Pipe Bombs Has schoolteachers, John Leigh Douglas, and Philip
Sentence Reduced by 8 Years.” New York Times, March Padfield, were found in the hills of eastern Beirut.
2, 1991, 26. They had been shot in the back of the head. Farid
Fleihan, Kilburn’s longtime friend and physician at
American University hospital, identified Kilburn’s

KILBURN, PETER (1924–1986) body in Beirut. A later autopsy at Bethesda Naval
Hospital revealed no signs of torture or mistreatment.
The Arab Fedayeen Cells (aka Arab Revolutionary
Peter Kilburn, a librarian at the American Cells), a pro-Libyan group of Palestinians affiliated
University in Beirut, is believed to have been the first with the terrorist Abu Nidal, claimed responsibility for
American hostage to be executed during the Lebanon these deaths. A note found with the bodies described
hostage crisis. the men as “two British intelligence agents” and a
Kilburn, who had worked for the American “CIA agent” who were killed in response to the U.S.
University library for more than 20 years, was air strikes against Libya and Britain’s cooperation in
reported missing after he failed to show up for work that action.
on December 3, 1984. He was last seen alive on Kilburn’s body was returned to the United States
November 30, 1984. Unlike most hostage takings, no on April 20, 1986, and buried later that month in the
group claimed responsibility for Kilburn’s disappear- Army cemetery in San Francisco’s Presidio. Six years
ance. During the 16 months Kilburn was missing, later, the United States offered up to $2 million for aid
his name was notably absent from the various videos, in capturing the individuals involved in Kilburn’s
letters, and messages sent by American hostages to death, as well as the deaths of Beirut CIA station chief
their families and the U.S. government. William Buckley and U.S. Col. Walter Higgins.
Little is known about the conditions in which
See also ABU NIDAL ORGANIZATION; WILLIAM BUCKLEY;
Kilburn was held or how he was abducted. Some have
LA BELLE DISCOTHEQUE BOMBING
suggested that Kilburn was kidnapped because he
hired a Christian over two Shiites for a library position Further Reading
at the university. Later CIA intelligence indicates that
thugs more interested in money than political causes Martin, David C., and John Walcott. Best Laid Plans: The
Inside Story of America’s War Against Terrorism.
abducted Kilburn and that he was to be “sold” to the
New York: Harper & Row, 1988.
highest bidder.
In the summer of 1985, a Canadian of Armenian
descent who claimed to be a representative of the
group holding Kilburn claimed that Kilburn’s freedom KING DAVID HOTEL BOMBING
could be purchased for $500,000. That figure later
jumped to $3 million once the Canadian offered On July 22, 1946, the primary Jewish underground
proof—Kilburn’s American University identification militant group, Irgun Zvai Leumi, blew up the southern