It remains one of the most intolerable and vile acts of terrorism on the high seas. 1985: Four PLO hijackers seized the cruise ship Achille Lauro off the coast of Egypt, demanding the release of prisoners held by Israel. After Syria denied them permission to dock at the port of Tartus, the terrorists executed a disabled Jewish American passenger named Leon Klinghoffer, shooting him twice as he sat in his wheelchair. They dumped his body and wheelchair overboard.
Egypt's president Mubarak then offered the hijackers safe passage by air to their headquarters in Tunisia, but American warplanes forced the Boeing 737 to land at a NATO airbase on Sicily. Though a U.S. citizen has been murdered, the Italian authorities refused to let Navy SEALs board the terrorists' plane and apprehend the hijackers.
After a tense armed standoff between Italian Carabinieri and American special forces lasting through the night, President Ronald Reagan ordered U.S. troops to stand down. The Italians allowed Abu Abbas, the mastermind of the hijacking, to escape to Yugoslavia. He remained free until his capture in Iraq in 2003.
Remember this story when you hear Glenn Beck's minions bray about conservative vigilance in the pursuit of murderous pirates.