Terrorists International

The jet age, which has brought a new kind of terror to the world, has also provided the means by which radical groups as ideologically alike but logistically separate as the Japanese and Palestinians can get together in a kind of terrorists international. Japanese Assassin Kozo Okamoto, for instance, was apparently recruited by an Arab who flew into Japan to show a film on commando warfare. While there, the Arab also surreptitiously offered disenchanted Japanese students forged passports, air fare and a chance for a twisted kind of glory.

Intelligence agents questioned last week in scattered capitals told of similar liaisons on a continuing basis among other radical organizations. Arabs were reportedly in Dublin last week to propose cooperation with their fellow Marxists of the I.R.A.; they were said to have held out the possibility of arms and explosives for Northern Ireland to be shipped under diplomatic cover.

Members of the French Canadian Front de Liberation du Quebec train in the Middle East, where among other things they learn assassination tactics. The bodies of an Eritrean and a Turk have been found among those of Palestinian guerrillas ambushed by the Israelis in the Jordan River valley; presumably they were on patrol as part of their training for eventual operations at home.

The links are not merely with Arabs. Fidel Castro's Cuban regime has so far trained more than 5,000 Latin Americans, Europeans, Africans and North Americans in politics and terror. But most contacts are not for the purpose of training and underground activity. Often, says one intelligence expert in Europe, they merely "get together from time to time over a joint to swap experiences and ideas." A diplomat in Beirut who has been keeping watch on international guerrillas there estimates that they number no more than 200 altogether and that "the links are more of a romantic nature than anything else."

The trouble is that no one really knows for certain. Jets cover the world so swiftly that guerrillas can gather together almost anywhere on short notice. Paris, Prague, East Berlin and Algiers, along with Beirut, are said to be favorite cities. Another handicap as far as police are concerned is that most of the groups are small and the members know one another. Infiltration, as a result, is almost impossible.

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