'Carlos the Jackel' Blames CIA, Mossad, for Deadly 1980 Bombing

The 1980 bombing of Bologna's main train station was orchestrated by the CIA and the Mossad to 'punish Rome' for its tolerance of Palestinian guerilla groups. According to this interview from Italy's Corriere della Sera, the notorious Cold-War terrorist 'Carlos the Jackel' claims that leftists like his Communist Revolutionary Internationalist Movement were framed for crimes by neo-fascists 'manipulated' into committing them.

From our correspondent Paolo Biondani

Translated By Enrico Del Sero

November 23, 2005

Original Article (Italian)    

PARIS: Ilic Ramirez Sanchez, also known as "Carlos the Jackal," is jailed in the historic Le SantÈ prison [France], and denies any complicity or connivance in the (1980) Bologna massacre.

Being a top-security prisoner, the only person he can speak to is Mr. Sandro Clementi, his Italian lawyer. In the morning he spends over three hours analyzing and comparing dozens of attacks and concludes that the "Mitrokhin Commission wants to falsify history," as armed Marxist groups "never organized indiscriminate massacres," but always attacked "well-identified enemies or traitors."

According to Carlos, the August 2, 1980 massacre (85 victims) was not only "performed by young neo-fascists," but "organized by the CIA and Mossad" in order to "punish and subdue Rome."

In other words, [the attack] was a "reprisal" against our [Italy's] policy of tolerance toward Palestinian terrorist groups (in exchange for their commitment not to attack Italy). The train station bombing, then, should be attributed to a secret war between the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., the two sides battling one another through opposing terrorist and intelligence networks.

According to Carlos, what best confirms this is the very presence of Thomas Kram, the person who, according to Mitrokhin commissioners, allowed a new line of investigation involving the left in the bombing.

[Editor's Note: The Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM)[READ MORE] is an international Communist organization which upholds Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Carlos the Jackel is said to be the founder of the group. Recently discovered documents confirmed that one day before the attack in Bologna, Thomas Kram, a German citizen, at the time aged 32, who was thought to be a member of the RIM, stayed at a hotel in the center of Bologna the night before the bombing.]

That is, Kram's presence is evidence that could deny the sentences of two right-wing Roman terrorists, Valerio Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro [for the Bologna Bombing]. In answer to the questions we asked of him, "Carlos" dictated four long pages in Italian. He then spent four hours proofreading and editing them. Finally, he dated and signed them.

Corriere della Sera: When, by whom and what have you known about the Bologna massacre?

Carlos the Jackel: We have always been convinced that it was organized by the American and Israeli services, they are the true "lords of the black terror" in Italy. A while after the massacre, I received a written report from West Germany. It is very important and should still be in the archives of our Revolutionary Internationalist Movement (RIM). The report said that a German fellow had left the station a few seconds before the explosion took place. I recalled his name, Thomas Kram, in reading the Corriere. He was a communist and a teacher from Bochum [Germany], who had taken refuge in Perugia [Italy]. The day before the massacre he was in Rome, tailed by secret agents who also followed him onto a train to Bologna. Kram only carried a plastic bag with personal belongings, but had he died in the attack, it would have been very easy to blame him for everything that happened.

Corriere della Sera: Was Kram one of your men? Do you know whether the night before the massacre he stayed at the Centrale hotel in Bologna?

Carlos the Jackel: Kram has never been a member of the RIM. You should ask him whether he stayed in Bologna that night and why. I don't know.

Corriere della Sera: Do you know Abu Saleh Anzeh?

Carlos the Jackel: Saleh Abu Anzeh is by now known, after 30 years, as the one who represents the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) in Italy. The PFLP was the mother organization to us, to which we were connected through political and personal relationships.

Corriere della Sera: Do you know about threats from Palestine against Italy after the arrest of Saleh, together with Daniele Pifano of the Autonomous Movement, due to the Strela Missiles found on November 7, 1979 in Ortona?

Carlos the Jackel: That was just a logistical transport through Italy, and the arrests were a provocation by enemy agents inside the Italian services. The PFLP didn't need to take action against Italy and always observed bilateral agreements. Saleh was maintaining official contacts with the Italian civil and military services.

Corriere della Sera: What do you think about Mambro and Fioravanti's final sentence?

[Editor's Note: Neo-fascists Valerio Fioravanti and Francesca Mambro were convicted for executing the bombings in Bologna].

Carlos the Jackel: My idea is that, if they are guilty, somebody was backing them up. Somebody able to manipulate young neo-fascists. As happened with regard to Piazza Fontana [another bombing]. The fact that they never spoke, though, leads me to believe they are innocent.

Corriere della Sera: You are serving a life sentence for having killed two French policemen, but are still under investigation for two train bombings: 5 victims on March 29, 1982 and 2 victims on December 31, 1983.Ý

Carlos the Jackel: I have nothing to do with the train bombings, which is confirmed by the judicial acts themselves. The first bombing [March, 1982] was planted behind Jacques Chirac's chair, whom we [RIM] supported from 1974 until 1998. I never made an attempt on Chirac's life. And the second bomb was definitely part of the confession of Talbi, a mercenary [French] legionnaire.

Corriere della Sera: Would you undergo an interrogation by Italian magistrates?

Carlos the Jackel: It must be clear that I am not a police informer and would never denounce political militants. But I am quick to testify against all kinds of traitors.