In Propaganda War, US Changes Policy On One Terrorist

Reuters: Abu Abbas, the graying Palestinian guerrilla leader seized in Iraq, appears to be far less of a catch in the U.S. war on terror than Washington is claiming.

In recent years, Abbas, leader of the Palestine Liberation Front and mastermind of the 1985 hijacking of the Italian cruise ship Achille Lauro in which an elderly American Jew was killed, has been clearly visible in the Gaza Strip, but largely out of mind.

The Israelis had left him alone, saying he was immune from prosecution in Israel under interim peace deals with the Palestinians. The United States dropped warrants for his arrest years ago.

Five years ago, Abbas, now in his mid-50s, won a "get out of jail free" card from none other than the Israeli Supreme Court.

It said he could not be prosecuted for crimes committed before agreements signed by Israel, the Palestinians and the United States in the early 1990s, an argument the Palestinian Authority is using to demand his release.

Abbas -- bodyguard at his side -- was allowed to return to live in the Gaza Strip in 1998 by an Israeli Security Committee that concluded he had renounced violence.

He was seized by U.S. forces in Iraq on Monday.

Sharon had never agreed with that decision and U.S. foreign policy is in the hands of Sharon worshippers. They have now arrested him in Iraq and claim he is proof that Iraq harbored terrorists.