office of Bassam Abu-Sharif, the unofficial "recruiting officer" for the Popular Front. Abu-Sharif was impressed with the fervor of Ilich's convictions and made arrangements for him to begin his training. According to subsequent investigations, it was at that first meeting that Ilich was given the name that, in the years to come, would strike terror throughout the world. From that day forward, Ilich was known only as "Carlos."Within weeks of the meeting, Carlos traveled to a Palestinian training camp in the hills north of Amman, Jordan to begin training in weapons handling and explosives interspersed with heavy doses of political propaganda. Even though he did well in his studies there, the course was peppered with fake attacks and other tests of the trainee's bravery. Carlos refused to take them seriously and longed for "real action." In the final week of his training, he got his wish when Israeli jets bombed an adjoining camp and killed a member of Yasser Arafat's personal guard. A week later, Carlos returned to Amman. Anxious to move on to "more exciting" pursuits, Carlos contacted Abou Semir, a senior member of the Popular Front, and was sent to an advanced commando training camp. On September 6 1970, Haddad ordered the simultaneous hijacking of four airliners bound for New York. Leila Khaled, one of Haddad's trusted lieutenants, led the first attack. Khaled had come to notoriety when she had successfully hijacked a TWA flight to Damascus in 1969. In July 1970, Khaled had escaped serious injury when remote controlled rockets were fired into Haddad's house during a meeting. Incredibly, two of the four rockets failed to explode but Haddad's wife and eight-year-old son, who were in another room, received cuts and burns. Haddad blamed Mossad, Israel's secret service, for the attack.Khaled's mission was to hijack an El Al flight, which was en-route to New York from Tel Aviv via Amsterdam. The plan was for Khaled and her ac...
