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Posse Comitatus———299

See also GEORGE HABASH; LEILA KHALED; PALESTINE After Pan Am Flight 103 exploded over Lockerbie,
LIBERATION ORGANIZATION; TWA FLIGHT 840 HIJACKING Scotland on December 21, 1988, killing 270 people,
U.S. officials originally suspected that PFLP–GC
Further Reading operatives were paid by Iranian officials to carry out
Goldenberg, Suzanne. “Attack on Afghanistan: Profile— the crime. The Pan Am bombing happened just four
Far-Right Leader Who Fell Victim to His Own Ideas: months after a U.S. military cruiser accidentally shot
Minister Fought for Strategy of Assassination.” The down an Iranian Airbus, killing 290. After the Airbus
Guardian (London), October 18, 2001, 7. disaster, Iranian government officials and affiliated
Hockstader, Lee. “Israel Kills Palestinian Activist; Missiles militant groups had issued threats of revenge. Jibril
Fly Through Windows of Building Housing Americans.” denied any involvement in the bombing, and a lengthy
Washington Post, August 28, 2001, A1. criminal investigation carried out by Scottish officials
Joffe, Lawrence. “Obituary: Abu Ali Mustafa: Palestinian later pointed to two Libyan Arab Airlines employees.
Leader Who Rejected Peace Accords.” The Guardian When Salman Rushdie published his novel The
(London), August 28, 2001, 14. Satanic Verses in 1988, Jibril made headlines by pub-
Khaled, Leila. My People Shall Live: The Autobiography of licly declaring that the PFLP–GC was prepared to carry
a Revolutionary. Edited by George Hajjar. London:
Hodder and Stoughton, 1973. out Iranian religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah
Reeves, Phil. “Arafat Angers Allies by Arresting PLO Khomeini’s fatwa against the author. The State
Official.” The Independent (London), January 17, 2002. Department listed the PFLP–GC as an active terrorist
Usher, Graham. “PFLP Threatens to Kill Arafat Aides If organization in its most recent report on global terror-
Leader Is Not Freed.” The Guardian (London), January ism. Recently, the group has focused on guerrilla
18, 2002, 14. attacks in southern Lebanon and small-scale attacks in
Israel, the West Bank, and Gaza Strip.

See also AHMAD JIBRIL; PAN AM FLIGHT 103 BOMBING;
POPULAR FRONT POPULAR FRONT FOR THE LIBERATION OF PALESTINE
FOR THE LIBERATION OF Further Reading
PALESTINE–GENERAL COMMAND
Claiborne, William, and Jonathan C. Randal. “Life in the
Shattered South: A Gangland Chicago in the Levant.”
In 1968, Ahmad Jibril led a number of discontented Washington Post, March 15, 1981, A21.
members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Fisk, Robert. “Jibril Protests Too Much in Face of Time and
Palestine (PFLP) to form a separate group. Claiming History.” The Independent, January 10, 1990, 11.
U.S. State Department. “Appendix B: Background
to focus more on fighting and less on politics, they
Information on Terrorist Groups.” Patterns of Global
created the Popular Front for the Liberation of
Terrorism—2000. Released by the Office of the
Palestine–General Command (PFLP–GC).
Coordinator for Counterterrorism, April 30, 2001, http://
According to the U.S. State Department, PFLP–GC
www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2000/2450.htm.
operatives carried out dozens of attacks in Europe and
the Middle East during the 1970s and 1980s. They also
engaged in various kidnappings. In May 1985, accord- POSSE COMITATUS
ing to press reports, Israel exchanged 1,150 Arab
prisoners for three Israelis held by the PFLP–GC.
Jibril, a former captain in the Syrian Army, origi- The Posse Comitatus, meaning “Power of the
nally based the group in Damascus. Although its County,” was founded in 1969 by dry cleaner Henry
headquarters remains in Syria, the PFLP–GC is now L. Beach in Oregon and William Potter Gale in
also closely tied to Iran. According to the State California (each claimed to have originated the idea).
Department, the group receives logistic and military Members believe that the only legitimate authority is
support from Syria, and financial support from Iran. the county sheriff and any power above that is illegal.
Press reports in the mid-1990s disclosed that the They object to and sometimes refuse to pay federal
PFLP–GC began to set up training camps in several taxes. Influenced by the racist, anti-Semitic theo-
areas of Iran. logy of Christian Identity, the Posse preaches that