Carlos, the Jackal

Born in Venezuela, and named after Vladimir Ilyich Lenin, Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, also known as, Carlos, the Jackal had a textbook guerrilla career starting with studies at Moscow's Patrice Lumumba university for Third World students. Carlos joined the violent Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), cutting his teeth with the attempted murder of prominent British Zionist and Marks and Spencer department store chief Edward Sieff in his bath in London.

Carlos is most infamous for his participation in the 1972 massacre of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian commandos at the Munich Olympics. He plotted the 1975 seizure of all 11 oil ministers at a Vienna OPEC meeting, and the 1976 Palestinian hijacking of a French jetliner to Uganda.

Support for the well known terrorist dried up as Communism collapsed and Middle East governments began looking for peace. Carlos was said to have been invited to leave his Damascus refuge in 1991 and to have been turned away from Libya and Baghdad.

He found a last retreat in Sudan in 1993, whiling away time with his Jordanian wife Lana Abdel Salam Jarrar. He may have run out of sponsors for terrorism by the time of his capture, but former French intelligence director Pierre Marion said that had no apparent affect on his love for excess.

Carlos was arrested in the Sudan, when the Sudanese arranged for his arrest after he was anesthetized for minor surgery in 1994. He was handed him over to French agents, who bundled him into a sack and onto a plane bound for Villacoublay airbase outside Paris.

It is ironic since many in Carlos' old Paris neighborhood knew the story that even Ramirez himself bragged about -- the cold-blooded murder of two unarmed French police officers and an informant. In June of 1975, Ramirez was posing as a student in a small Paris apartment when two unarmed investigators and a fellow militant arrived at his door to question him. Ramirez subsequently opened fire, killing all three, and fled the country, to live a life of a terrorist, always on the run, and a fugitive.

To this day, it is said that from his isolation cell, the flamboyant terrorist has sometimes been heard screaming at night: "It's me, Carlos!"

Real name: Ilich Ramirez Sanchez

The Jackal is probably the world's most famous "revolutionary terrorist" having worked for the likes of Mohamar Qaddaffi, Saddam Hussien, President Assad of Syria, Fidel Castro, The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), the Italian Red Brigade, Columbia's M-19 Movement, the Baader-Meinholf Gang, and any number of other Commies and Socialists.

Born in Venezuela, Carlos became a member of the Communist Party at the age of 14. His father was a major figure in the Party as well and went so far as to name his three sons Vladamir, Ilich, and Lenin.

Educated at Patrice Lumumba University in Moscow, The Jackal has been linked to various covert operations including the 1972 Olympic Massacre of eleven Israeli athletes in Germany and the attempted assasination of Jewish millionaire Edward Sieff, owner of the Marks and Spencer stores in London.

In the 70s and 80s he was blamed for dozens of hijackings, skyjackings, bombings, executions and grenade attacks on French, British and Isreali targets. He was known as a "master of disguises" and was known to have obtained any numerous false identities, complete with passports and credit cards.

In the late 80s, Carlos dropped out of sight and many believed him to be dead. He was in fact hiding out in various countries until his capture in Sudan in 1994. He is currently in prison in France for the murder of three people.

The truly amusing part about the story of Carlos is that he wasn’t a very good terrorist. His one major successful operation was the seizure of an OPEC meeting in the early seventies. He was believed to have been responsible for orchestrating the Olympic massacre and a number of other high profile terrorist actions.

After his capture and trial in France it slowly came to light that Carlos was more of a clumsy braggart than anything else. His notoriety is entirely the work of agencies like the CIA and Interpol. These agencies used Carlos as a scapegoat and justification for increased funding for years. He was reported to be a master of disguise who never let his picture be taken, despite giving a television interview during the OPEC debacle.

Apparently, these same agencies knew of Carlos’s location for many years. He had “retired” to Sudan to live with his wife. Extradition was nearly impossible though and he served better as a monster in the closet to the western intelligence community. Every time a terrorist was unrecoverable or identification and extradition was unreasonable, it became the work of the feared Jackal.

In the early nineties Sudan began looking to normalize trade relations with western European countries. France saw its chance and included extradition of Carlos as part of the deal. Sudan agreed and he was soon taken prisoner. At his trial it became evident, despite Carlos’ objections to the contrary, that he was not responsible for many of the actions attributed to him. He was revealed to be an egomanical braggart who had assumed the life of a revolutionary terrorist in order to impress women and upset his family.

The exact details of his capture are actually pretty ironic. He was captured due to attempting to hide himself from authorities even further. As stated in Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy:

"And so he'd ended up in Sudan, where he'd decided to take his situation a little more seriously. Some cosmetic surgery had been in order, and so he'd gone to a trusted physician for the surgery, submitted to the general anesthesia-

-and awakened aboard a French business jet, strapped down to a stretcher, with a Frenchman saying, "Bonjour, Monsieur Chacal," with the beaming smile of a hunter who'd just captured the most dangerous of tigers with a loop of string."

Actually, Mr. Clancy is slightly off on his details.

       Carlos the Jackal was staying as a guest of the Sudanese government in Khartoum. The Sudanese were adamant in not giving up Carlos, for to give up a guest would amount to treachery.

       Carlos, a womanizer and frequent party-goer, helped secure his own departure. When a secret video of Carlos taken at a party was shown to Sheik Hassan al-Turabi, the Sheik finally agreed that Carlos should be given up on the stipulation that Carlos was not to be harmed during his capture.

       On August 13, 1994, Carlos was admitted into the Ibn Khaldoun hospital in Khartoum for minor sugery to correct his low sperm count. On entering Sudan, Carlos had used Muslim law, which permits polygamy, to marry another wife, and was anxious to father a child with her. The procedure was completed sucessfully, and while recovering, a Sudanese police officer entered his room and informed him that the government had uncovered a plot to kill him. Carlos was told he was being transferred to a military hospital for his own protection.

       He was instead driven to a villa in the town of Taif, close to the residence of Sheik al-Turabi. Despite the rather dilapidated conditions of the villa, Carlos was determined to rest.

       At approximitely 3 AM he was awoken by a group of men holding him down on the bed. He was bound hand and foot and a hood placed over his head. He was than administered a tranquilizer in the thigh. Within the hour, he was in an executive jet, flying back to France in the hands of the DST.

       Carlos' capture had in fact violated several international laws, so the French government was quick to place a spin on the capture. It stated that the Sudanese transported Carlos to France, and then the DST had captured him upon arrival.

       The Jackal had been caged.